Travel Technology: Experiments with a Canon 40mm F2.8 Lens.
A Celebratory Trip to Chicago
Contents:
- So, Chicago eh. That’s really different.
- Take the National Express, Manchester Airport, British Airways Terraces Lounge
- BA1385 Manchester Airport to London Heathrow
- T5 – Pick a lounge. Any Lounge – British Airways Galleries South, Galleries T5B
- BA295 London Heathrow T5 to Chicago O’Hare International
- The joy of O’Hare and Crowne Plaza O’Hare
- Experiments with a Canon 40mm lens
- Hyatt Regency O’Hare
- Using Amazon out of your home country in a pinch
- Back to O’Hare, The New AA Flagship Lounge
- AA86 Chicago O’Hare to London Heathrow T3
- Terminal change shenanigans, British Airways Galleries North
- BA1386 London Heathrow to Manchester Airport
- Luggage delivery incompetence, last-minute changes, and CrossCountry Trains home
- Why celebrate?
One of the lenses I have a very soft spot for is this – a Canon 40mm f2.8STM. Why? It’s so small – yet powerful.
Canon 40mm F2.8
With this lens, whilst it really performs on a Canon 6D, I prefer it on a smaller body. And when I say small – I mean small. Of course, I’m referring to it on a Canon 100D.
Canon 40mm F2.8 with a Canon 100D (Canon SL1/Kiss X7 depending on your market).
Why this combination? It’s almost pocket-able set, extremely lightweight and great for street photography (coming in at 537grams – or just over a 1lb).
Most of all – it doesn’t look threatening as a camera combo when walking out and about. It looks… normal (compared to a Canon 6D with a red ringed monster on the front of it).
Last time in Chicago – I played with this lens (unwillingly) in the wet. Let’s see what it’s like to use in when weather conditions are a lot more favourable.
A few notes:
- I used a Canon 100D with a Canon 40mm F2.8STM
- These images have been processed from the RAW files I shot, and converted into JPG.
- The images were processed using Adobe LightRoom CC
- I’ve applied some tonal correction to the images to bring out the colours (I tend to shoot around a 1/3 of a stop from the “normal” settings as I prefer a bit of moodiness in my photos. Your mileage may vary.
A bit of street photography is easy with this lens. You do need to take a step back sometimes to frame your subject .
Good for dog photography? 12/10. Would boop and take pictures of.
Crossing over the Chicago River. A bit of blowout on the L stainless steel cars, but I’ve seen worse.
A lot more blowout when shooting towards the sun. Shooting Camera RAW and using Adobe Lightroom CC helped in pulling back some of the brightness, and recovering the tones..
Insert standard L train picture here. Most of this photo is in shadow, so using Adobe Lightroom to pull out some of the muted colours help.
The 40mm on a crop body works well when you have statues like this Picasso statue here.
Yes. State Street is closed. When I passed through here, it was Columbus Day.
Lets look how it deals with something with lots of reflections – heading to Millennium Park.
The Jay Pritzker Pavilion – the images is not overblown except in a few points – with the overblows contrasting nicely with the shadows in the image
Let’s go to Cloud Gate/The Bean.
A toughish shot for a camera to work with, with sunlight everywhere and reflections left right and central. With minimal correction (and more importantly – no barrel distortion), the 40mm lens passes with flying colours.
Whilst people might be distorted in the reflection, there’s no barrel distortion.
Again, the 40mm lens is helping render some lovely colours in the greens, whilst the blue of the Divey Bikes can be seen. The Silver of the L train against the brown of the building really works here.
Heading toward the Wrigley building, we can see how blue sky and this lens get on.
Shooting into the sun is never a good thing – and there are signs of blowouts all over this image.
At least flare is reasonably controlled with this lens.
And again – little distortion on the lens – making it good to shoot the Jetsons style building.
In the evening and in low-light, the lens can perform petty well. At Paulina in the evening, the sun is setting. All it takes are a few twiddles with the settings, and patience.
Overall: There is a lot to like with the Canon 40mm f2.8. Whilst it is a small package, it can deliver a punch that is way above its weight. As it’s so pocketable, it travels with me everywhere (and is normally mounted on my 100D as its default lens).
If you need a lens that’s discreet and helps you take better photos, I can’t recommend the Cannon 40mm F2.8 STM enough.
Least of all – it will remind you to take a step back and look at your composition – and that’s no bad thing when taking photos.
Next: More time at The Hyatt Regency O’Hare
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