How To Stop Worrying And Start Loving Your Photography Gear

Whenever I look at a great picture in a magazine or in a gallery or even on the web, almost instantly there’s a voice in my head that says, “I should try that. It looks so good. I’m inspired.”

99% of the times there’s a much louder voice that checks me and says, “Only if I had the proper gear and the access to a studio and props and models and lenses and camera…”. The list goes on.

If you have experienced the scenario mentioned above or any of its variants, you should read further.

One of the biggest photography related hurdle I have experienced apart from ‘Photographer’s Block’ was the inability to love my gear. To come to terms with the fact that whatever lenses and camera I have are great. To accept them wholeheartedly and love every moment I spent with them. The need and inaccessibility of newer gear leads to a dissatisfaction with your present equipment.

Most of us are crippled by the thought of technologically advanced sensors and bigger and better camera and faster lenses. Ask yourself – Is my current gear really making me lag in the wonderfully adventurous and exciting photographic journey I once undertook?

Here are some of the things I did (and you should too) to overcome this hatred (if you may) of the gear I have:

1. Learn What You Have
I think it has been emphasized enough everywhere but I’m going to say it again – Read the manual. It’s the best piece of documentation you have on your camera. If you haven’t read your camera manual yet, do it and you’ll be amazed at what you can learn from it. There must be about 50 functions you don’t know about your camera yet. What does that little button next to the pop-up flash do? What’s that symbol on the display? How do I lock the focus on the subject? There’s just one answer – Read the manual.

Knowing your camera is like knowing a person. Once you know you are close and know them inside out, it’s hard keeping yourself from loving them.

2. Do-It-Yourselves and Make your own gear
Don’t have access to a studio? No problem. Make your own home studio with some white sheets and lights. Don’t have an external flash to light your portraits? No problem. Flash Lights galore!

There are many DIY websites that help you design many photography accessories yourself for cheap (external flashes, lightboxes, backgrounds – you name it!) It’s fun to make anything new and you’ll be surprised what your current gear has to offer you and how you can enhance it by just some simple DIYs. They’ll make you love your camera more and open up new genres of photography too.

The motto here is to make your own gear. You can. I did.

3. Look At Your Shutter Count
Have you used your camera enough? Are you sure you’ve exhausted and taken the most out of the kit lens before you go for that prime? In most cases it turns out we haven’t even used the current lenses and camera to their maximum potential. Check the shutter count of your camera. If you find it too low (say less than 15K), then you haven’t really used it enough and chances are you won’t be using your updated gear either.

Have you shot light trails or tried light painting? How about self-portraits? Abstracts? HDRs?

Get out with your camera and start clicking.

© Anant Nath Sharma (the Lensor)

Light Paintings are a fun way to explore and learn your camera funtions.

EXIF Data: Camera: Nikon D3000;Exposure:30;Aperture: f/11.0;Focal Length:18 mm;ISO Speed:100;Exposure Bias:0 EV;Flash:No Flash
 

4. Substitution
So, you’ve heard the 50mm prime lens is the best for street photography and portraits. Most of the street-photographers out there shoot at 50mm on f/4 and since you don’t have it you want to buy it so you can start off with your street photography. So how does the 18-105 that came with my camera body help me here? Simply put, you can use substitution. Just adjust to 50mm and there is a fair chance you can easily get somewhere close to f/4 – f/5. You can shoot excellent portraits with the kit lens.

You want to give Macro photography a go. But macro lenses cost a lot. And you’re not even sure if you’ll like that genre of photography and don’t want to invest money in the lens. Thankfully, we have the internet which is full of ways to help you out. Check out Diopters/Reverse Mounts/ Extension tubes and see if Macro is for you. There are many products available which can fulfill these special needs and are easier on the pocket.

© Anant Nath Sharma (the Lensor)

This picture was taken using a pair of Diopters (Macro filters in popular internet language)

EXIF Data: Camera :Nikon D3000; Exposure: 13; Aperture: f/22.0; Focal Length: 60 mm; ISO Speed: 100; Exposure Bias: +2/3 EV; Flash: No Flash

The idea is not to stop but look for things that might stand in for real gear.

5. Google Your Gear
Most of the time, we find ourselves incapacitated not by our gear but by lack of ideas. The internet comes in handy here. Most of the websites (including Flickr) offer a search filtered on the basis of your camera model and lens. Search your camera/lens and you see what can be accomplished using your gear. Even a simple Google search of “<Camera Model> + sample images” returns a huge amount of images you can work on. Now you can’t tell yourself you have used your gear. Try to take pictures like these and then better their quality.

As I said before, there’s so much to explore yet and you can’t really hate what you don’t know.

6. Join a community group with the same gear or interests.

Join a community group on Flickr or any other website that concerns your camera or lens(es). This would open you up with people using the same set of equipment and taking breathtaking pictures. There are DIY groups that post tutorials regularly and answer queries. Be socially active. Ask them for any tips they have. Join a discussion. Learn and grow.

7. Read EXIF
Flickr allows a photographer to share his EXIF values with the viewers. That’s one of the best things about Flickr. Now that you have searched an image with your camera model try reading these values. You’ll get a fairly good idea how a certain picture was taken. This would not only make you content with your gear, it will also improve your photography.

Note: Some of the photographers are not that generous and don’t share EXIFs. Don’t lose heart; there are plenty of photographers that do (including me).

8. Learn Post-Processing

When I started photography, the web disheartened me. There were so many pictures that were so much better than mine. Pictures of everyday objects, with nice popping colours and
brilliant contrasts, deep blacks and tints. I was crestfallen. Why can’t I make that soda can look that pretty even though I did everything by the book? I got my answer after I spent a little time browsing through these pictures. PHOTOSHOP. Now I’m not talking about photo manipulation. That’s a totally different area. Learn the basics. Adjust contrasts and exposure. Play around with saturations and highlights and shadows. These are things that you can’t usually achieve in camera (OK! OK! You can but that’s discussion for another day). You’ll be surprised beyond imagination what 2 minutes in Photoshop (or any other post-processing software. GIMP? Anyone?) can do to your pictures. If your camera supports exposure bracketing (read the manual my friend) why not give HDR a go?

© Anant Nath Sharma (the Lensor)

An example of what a little time spent in post-processing can do to an otherwise bland image. Total time spent in Lightroom : < 3 minutes. Parameters adjusted: Contrasts, shadows, highlights and saturation.

I’m sure if you think and implement what I have said in this article, you’ll not only enjoy your photography equipment more, you’ll also improve a lot. The idea here is to learn and enjoy your camera with all its shortcomings (if you still want to believe they are shortcomings). Just keep clicking and learning. And when you can take mind-blowing pictures with your present equipment at all times; when you can use your camera like a Samurai uses his sword (sorry for the lame analogy but you know what I mean); and when you want to exceed that – you’ll know when the time is right for an upgrade. So until then, love what you have and enjoy.

I am adding a little description of the camera and lenses I use. Be the judge yourself of how important gear is:

  • Nikon D3000 (I have read reviews calling it the worst DSLR Nikon ever came up with; I made faces when I read that and didn’t pick up my camera for a week.)
  • Nikkor 50mm f/1.8D (Doesn’t autofocus on my camera body; I used to cry about that.)
  • Nikkor 18.0-55.0 mm f/3.5-5.6 (The DX Model; No Vibration Reduction)
  • 55.0-200.0 mm f/4.0-5.6 (The DX Model; No Vibration Reduction)

Never stop clicking!

Anant. (The Lensor)
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Anant Nath Sharma, a 26 year old self-taught photographer based out of Pune, India.  Currently pursuing street and fashion photography; taking pictures that tell stories and enjoying every moment of it.

Blog: www.thelensor.tumblr.com

Review: Tamrac Velocity 9x vs. Lowepro 250 Fastpack Camera Bag

Like many other photographers I’ve tried numerous brands and designs. I don’t have an enormous amount of gear, but with a 70-200mm, a 100mm macro and a 17-50mm, along with a speedlite, filters, cables, diffuser and batteries my on the road kit begins to add up, both in terms of weight and required accessibility. After all, if we can’t easily access our gear then we’re inclined not to carry it or use it. Having only one camera body at present makes the situation worse with regard to having to change lenses frequently, but naturally this helps in terms of weight carried.

I typically shoot fine art nature and landscapes, and as a result I’m always carrying my gear from place to place, unlike say a portrait or studio photographer who generally remains in the one locale . I don’t want to generalize too much here, but … you know what I mean. Therefore, over the course of a day my gear gets pretty heavy and my back and shoulders can sometimes begin to ache, like recently when I traipsed about Angkor Wat in Cambodia for three days straight. Amazing, though painful it was.

As you would expect, I’ve had a number of bags throughout the years, but in this hands on review I’m going to talk about a bag that didn’t work for me and why that was, and a bag that I have found to be almost perfect. I’m not comparing the two bags, they’re different in style and many other facets. I’m simply stating my experiences here, I’m fully aware that others may have had different experiences with these same bags. However, I wish I could’ve read a review like this earlier as it would have saved me some money and frustration. These respective bags are: the Tamrac Velocity 9x and the Lowepro 250 Fastpack.

Let’s start with the Velocity 9x. After perusing numerous YouTube clips and researching this bag on Tamrac’s site I was sure it was the bag for me. It boasted easy access to one’s camera with the longest (70-200mm) lens attached. It has removable partitions to suit the size of your other lenses. The front pocket is large and can easily accommodate batteries, filters and most other miscellaneous essentials. The flip top opening away from the body is an ingenious design. I’d like to see it on more bags. It is also a sling bag that couples as a backpack. It seemed perfect, if a touch small. The advertising that accompanies this bag shows it as being comfortable to wear and it allows quick and easy access to your camera for those on-the-spot photo opportunities. This all sounded great, but in reality I found this bag to be incredibly uncomfortable.

There are a few reasons for this. Firstly, the padded shoulder strap is too short. I’m not tall by any means yet I found that when slung there wasn’t any padding remaining on my shoulder, it instead hung down my back. Secondly, the cross sling strap is so incredibly uncomfortable for a woman that with a heavy load you could do some permanent damage to your chest area, something akin to a mastectomy! And finally, when the bag is tightened to wear as a backpack the sling strap almost chokes you as it comes far too high up across your throat and under your arm. Moreover, the weight of the bag is still halfway down your back and not even remotely comfortable. The literature selling this bag does not show front on views with women wearing it, nor does it show the bag with any weight in it. Both of these scenarios make all the difference. Needless to say, I’m more than disappointed with Tamrac, usually such a reliable company, in this case, producing such an ill-fitting camera bag.

Conversely, the Lowepro 250 Fastpack is a real gem. As the advertising suggests you can “go all day” with this lightweight comfortable bag. It is extremely well-padded both for your gear and your shoulders, and it sits nice and high on your back so as to promote good posture. It also has a waist strap to help deflect the weight onto your hips when carrying extra heavy loads. The compartments are cleverly designed with no need to take the bag off in order to reach for your camera. The backpack slings sideways to reveal a smart side pocket through which you can access your camera in just seconds with any sized lens attached up to a 70-200mm or a 300mm. There are a few small pockets and a mesh area to put a smallish tripod – though more useful for a water bottle than a tripod it must be said. The front zip pocket is nicely hidden and protected with a weather panel which also acts as a deterrent to wandering hands when in crowded cities or event arenas. The top portion of the bag is surprisingly large, big enough to put a light sweater, a water bottle, along with a book and even some extra camera gear. I often find myself putting my speedlite and a few cables in there as well. Another smart feature of this bag is the side slot compartment for a laptop. Great for long location shoots when you want to upload your images and get to work right away. The generous and well-padded storage area accommodates a 15.4” wide-screen laptop. More than enough for the work conscious photographer.

I don’t want to sing Lowepro’s praises too loudly, but they have a winner here without doubt; this bag is incredibly versatile and comfortable. The moveable partitions for your gear work well. My only complaint is that there isn’t any room to carry a 70-200mm lens if it’s not attached to your camera, unless it’s left loose in the top compartment which then wouldn’t leave it with much protection. Lowepro may respond and say it would be possible to make the partitions horizontal to the opening in order to achieve this but, in reality it doesn’t work. The bag, although superbly designed, is therefore a touch small. I found the next model up, the 350 AW to be a touch big. Perhaps Lowepro might consider putting out a 300 AW? As I think this would be an optimum size for many semi-professionals.

 

Susan Blick is the founder of Photoopolis and an Australian freelance photographer in Auckland, New Zealand.

Links:

www.photoopolis.com

Twitter: @photoopolis

Canon unveil the future of imaging

Canon have unveiled a wide range of new products and concept imaging technologies which will shape the future of imaging for consumer, professional, business, and healthcare environments at Canon EXPO 2010 in Paris.

Building on a history of continuous innovation and re-affirming its goal to develop products recognised as number one in their categories, Canon will be demonstrating new technologies from image capture through to mixed reality interaction and digital radiography at the EXPO exhibition.

The company will also be outlining its commitment to further develop its services business to deliver value for customers by unveiling a new Consultancy Services business, entering the enterprise information and media management market.

Imaging Innovation

The highlights of the new imaging innovations are being demonstrated at Canon EXPO 2010 Paris, 12 – 14 October, and include:

  • In the New Perspective of Imaging zone, Canon’s imaging technologies will give visitors a unique view into the power of image by allowing them to see images in a way they could not have seen before – making the invisible, visible
  • Multi-purpose camera – a compact and lightweight camera which supports both video and still image capture with ultra-high definition 4K resolution. Suitable for both work and professional use it features a newly developed CMOS sensor that enables video shooting at high frame rates in excess of 60 frames per second
  • Interactive mixed reality - Combining the real and virtual worlds in real-time, creating a visual experience in which users can not only “see” images in a visual space, but also control and create them. Canon’s Mixed Reality concept system uses a head-mounted display with built-in cameras and a computer which processes video to blend real and virtual realities
  • Medical imaging – a range of new imaging innovations, from Canon’s first fully integrated low-dose digital radiography system, to eyecare imaging solutions that enable healthcare professionals to visualise the retina in 3D for quicker and more accurate diagnosis for patients.

“Canon EXPO 2010 Paris is an exciting demonstration of Canon’s vision for the way in which people incorporate imaging technology into both their personal and working lives,” said Mr Ryoichi Bamba, President and CEO, Canon Europe, Middle East and Africa. “Imaging innovation is at the heart of Canon’s business strategy and today we have brought together Canon’s present and future visions for the industry, showcasing the power of image”.

About Canon EXPO 2010

Canon EXPO 2010 Paris is a global showcase which takes place once every five years, held in the impressive Grande Halle de la Villette in Paris. Covering almost 8,000 square metres of exhibition space, the exhibition will introduce new products for the home and office and demonstrate how great innovations impact a wide range of new business areas within consumer imaging products, office equipment, print production, broadcast and communications, medical systems and security solutions.

Canon EXPO 2010 is the ultimate experience of ‘We Speak Image’ – expressing Canon’s vision to provide imaging solutions that encourage customers to explore their own passion for the power of image.

Get Creative : The Lensbaby Composer

It is one thing to use post production software such as Aperture or Lightroom to enhance the look of your photos but what about getting creative at the point of capture.

This morning I have been playing with the brilliant Lensbaby Composer. If you haven’t heard of this lens before well in short if offers greater focus / bokeh control with a selective focus on particular areas of the view (known as the “sweet spot”).

1. Unboxing

The Lensbaby comes in a compact box with everything you need for some creative soft focus photography :

The Lensbaby comes with the Composer lens and a number of different sized aperture disks (these can be changed easily). The sizes included are :

f/2.8, f/4, f5.6, f/8, f/11, f16, and f22

These control the size of the “sweet spot” i.e. the area that is in focus.

2. Installing the Lens

The lensbaby composer comes in a number of different camera fitting types so obviously as a Canon owner I needed the Composer with the Canon fitting.

Attaching the lens involves the same process and installing any other lens. My advice would be to install your selected aperture disk before putting the lens on the camera. I am using disk f/4 for this demo.

3. Getting Started

To get the best from the Lensbaby they recommend using the Aperture Priority Mode (AV). First you have to set the focus by ensuring the lens is pointed straight ahead (i.e. no tilt).

Then using the focus ring ensure the centre spot is in focus. You can lock the lens in focus at any point.

Having Fun

This is where the fun starts. Pointing the camera at your subject you can gently tilt the end of the lens to move the area of focus. You may need to adjust the focus slightly with each move.

Initially I was moving the Lensbaby composer to extremes but after an hour or so of getting to know what it can do I found I was able to adjust the lens in smaller steps to gain more controlled photos.

I would also definitely recommend locking the focus in place once you are happy so all you have to worry about is adjust the “sweet spot”.

I have uploaded three photos to flickr of my first trip around the garden with the Lensbaby. It is great fun to use, I found I had to be 18-20inches from the subject to ensure clear focus in the sweet spot.

There are more photos in the flickr set here.

You can add additional optics to the Composer including a fisheye which I would love to have a play with. On the whole the Composer is amazing. One difficulty I did face was ensuring my shot was in focus.

Obviously there is no auto-focus available (which I rely on too much). Using the Lensbaby Composer will definitely help train my eye to ensuring shots are in focus.

Conclusion

The Lensbaby Composer isn’t cheap costing just under £170 so if you are starting out on your lens collection journey it might not be at the top of your list. That said it is definitely worth the investment, the creative scope of controlled bokeh is massive and the Lensbaby puts you in control.

The additional optics cost just less than £70 and would make for the ideal christmas or birthday gift to complete your collection !

A whole hearted 5/5

Full Specs : Double Glass (Multi-coated Optical Glass Doublet) included Focal Length: about 50 mm Focus Type: Manual Aperture Type: Interchangeable, magnetic aperture disks Apertures: f/2, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/11, f/16, f/22 Minimum Focus: about 18″ (45cm) / Maximum Focus: infinity Size: 2.25″(5.7cm) h x 2.5″(6.35cm) w / Weight: 3.7 oz (104.9g) No electronic communication between the lens and the camera body.

Poll Results : How many Lenses do you own ?

I know a photographer who swears that he only needs one lens, a 24-70mm f2.8. In a recent poll we asked readers if they were only allowed one lens which would it be with the 50mm lens coming out firmly on top (read more here).

Over the last few months I have been looking at what lens I own and what they are used for and I am beginning does too much choice hinder creativity. Instead of carrying one lens I end up wasting time swapping between wide lens to fast glass.

The Poll

This week’s poll asked “how many lenses do you own” but we also would like you to comment on what lenses these are and how you use them. For example a many of our readers are interested in street photography so you might want to mention your favorite lens for this purpose.

 

I was actually surprised that the majority of readers (just) owned four or more lenses. Only 5% of readers own only one lens but I can’t help asking would restricting yourself to a single lens for a month fuel you creativity ? It was interesting to see how popular the 50mm lens was when we asked if you were only allowed one lens which would you own. If you own more than 4 lenses are there any that are rarely used ?

Lensbaby Release Nikon Fit Tilt Transformer

I have been using a Lensbaby Composer lens for a few months now (read the review here) and I am particularly excited and the newest addition to the Lensbaby family, the Tilt Transformer. Sadly it isn’t available (yet) with a Canon fit but lets come this changes in the near future.

The Tilt Transformer allows photographers to mount any Nikon mount lens onto their Micro Four Thirds or Sony NEX camera and tilt up to twice the amount of standard tilt-shift lenses, delivering photos that have a slice of focus through the image, bordered by a soft blur.

The Tilt Transformer also serves as the foundation for the Composer Focus Front. When used together, they become the Composer with Tilt Transformer, for use on Micro Four Thirds or Sony ? NEX cameras. This provides photographers with access to the limitless creativity offered by the Lensbaby Optic Swap™ system.

The Tilt Transformer allows photographers to fluidly tilt their Nikon mount lens up to twice as much as a standard tilt shift lens, giving photographers extraordinary control over the size and placement of a slice of focus through their photograph. The Tilt Transformer’s swivel ball is based on the patent pending design Lensbaby developed for the award winning Lensbaby Composer creative effects camera lens.

The front of the swivel ball has a Nikon mount, allowing photographers to mount Nikon mount lenses.

Tilting a Nikon mount lens on the Tilt Transformer will place the slice of focus in different orientations within the image. Vertical, horizontal, and diagonal slices are possible depending on the direction the lens is tilted. Objects in both the foreground and background can be in focus within that slice.

Photo by : David Akoubian

For example, a photographer can focus on one person close up in the left portion of the frame while also focusing on someone standing much further away from the camera on the right side of the frame. The ability to focus on several items at once (while blurring out the rest of the image) when each item is placed at a different distance from the camera, is typically possible only with traditional tilt-shift lenses or view cameras.

The size of the slice of focus is dependent upon the aperture used. For example, f/1.4 will produce a very thin slice of focus with abundant blur. F/22 will produce a very wide slice of focus with just at tiny bit of blur. Also, when tilting extremely and shooting at a very wide open aperture like f/1.4 the slice of focus will appear even thinner than when shooting at f/1.4 with minimal tilt.

Due to the extraordinary tilt available with the Tilt Transformer, photographers can produce a more extreme angled slice of focus than possible with standard tilt-shift lenses. For instance, with the Tilt Transformer a photographer can focus on an object very close to the camera in the extreme lower left hand corner of the frame while simultaneously focusing on an object in the extreme upper right hand corner at infinity.

Specs and features:

  • • All of the Tilt Transformer Specs and Features, plus the following:
    • Ships with the Double Glass Optic and optical adapter installed
    • The photographer can change the aperture using the included aperture disks from f/1.6 with no disk
    installed to f/1.8, f/2.8, f/4, f/5.6, f/8, f/13, f/22
    • Supports the Lensbaby Optic Swap System*, allowing photographers to swap out the Double Glass
    Optic and swap in Single Glass, Plastic, Soft Focus, and Pinhole/Zone Plate
    • Optical adapter reduces actual focal length of above lenses to ~40mm (~80mm effective focal length)
    • Focus Type: Manual
    • Aperture Type: Interchangeable levitating aperture disks
    • Minimum Focus: approximately 12” (30 cm) / Maximum Focus: Infinity (and beyond)

[Main Photo Credit : Keri Friedman ]

Links:
LensBaby

What Lens Filter is Essential Kit ?

We had a community request by @minibtweet on how best to use lens filters and if anyone out there had a list of essential filters for every photography kit.

Like most people I use a UV filter on all my lenses more as a way of protecting the class than any real creative reason.

So Do you use filters, if so which do you use and why!

It would be great if you could retweet this to other photographers so we gain as wide an insight on lens filter usage as possible ?

Only allowed One Lens : The Nifty Fifty

Last week we asked you ‘if you were only allowed a single lens which would it be?‘ There were a large number of responses but probably the most popular lens was the 50mm at f1.4mm. The 50mm range of lens is probably the most affordable and popular prime lenses on the market.

The f1.4 costs £300 (Amazon link), which is out of the affordability range for many amateur photographers. The compromise is the exceptionally affordable 50mm f1.8 which only costs £88 (again from Amazon).

The “nifty fifty” offers a number of benefits, not only is it affordable the fact that it is a prime lens (i.e. no moving parts) means it is highly precise and thus offers superior image quality. Many photographers swear by prime lenses explaining that the massively superior photo quality is worth the lack of zoom.

The f1.8 could possibly be deemed essential given the low price tag. Manufacturers have made the lens affordable by making it with a plastic body and a metal mount but the maximum aperture of f/1.8 gives this lens the ability to create depth of field effects.

F1.8 also means it is particularly suited to low light photography on occasions when a flash isn’t appropriate. Professional music photographer Ramsey Cardy recommends the 50mm f1.8 as an essential lens for music photography (read the full article here).

This photo was taken during an intimate gig in near darkness, I had to forgo my 24-70 f2.8 as the 50mm f1.4 was the only lens capable of coping with the unbelievable lack of light.

I won’t even pretend to be an expert though and I am sure many of the Pro’s in the Seven by Five group will be able to offer a much better reason why the 50mm is an essential piece of kit.

I think the top reasons for owning the 50mm f1.8

1. Prime lens offers superior image quality.
2. A wide aperture offers brilliant bokeh effects (great for portrait work).
3. It is exceptionally light and portable.
4. It is exceptionally affordable.
5. Great for low light photography (e.g. music).

If you want to add your photos to the Flickr Pool then tag them 50mm. Click here to see the 50mm already added to the group.

If you only had one lens ?

Over the last number of years I have managed to build up a little collection of lens. Every so often I feel a little guilty and wonder if I should sell a lens but can never decide which to part with as for me they all do specific jobs.

I have a 50mm at f1.4, 24-70 at f2.8, a 60mm f2.8 macro lens and a 15-85 std lens that I keep for landscape work.

Last week I asked the question on twitter “If you were only allowed one lens which from your collection would you pick ?” The responses were interesting and varied so I thought I would risk a blog discussion on the same topic.

So please comment below on which lens you would select and why  and we will try and post a review of the feedback in the next few weeks.