Stupid Pictures of Ice
Canon XTI – My first digital SLR
I just found a few pictures I took a few years ago with my first digital SLR, a Canon Rebel XTI and an EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS. When I looked at these photos for publishing, I chuckled because I don’t think they are that good. I actually thought they were cool pics when I took them. I must have been drinking the cheap stuff that day or maybe I am developing a better eye. Maybe there is something to this thing called practice.
A Great Lens that Wasn’t: The EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS
The XTI was a good camera but the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS lens was considered excellent with some saying it should be classified as an “L” lens. “L” stands for “Luxury” and is reserved only for Canon’s top quality lenses. I was not impressed and most of my pictures came out soft. I could not understand why and figured the stuff on the net was either exaggerated, or what I had was really good even though it didn’t look that way to me.
Later, I purchase a famous Canon 70-200 f2/8 IS zoom and got fantastically sharp shots. So it wasn’t the camera but it may be the lens. But there was another piece to this puzzle: sometimes shots came out great with that “bad” lens. Hmmm…
When I shoot dopey pictures of things that don’t move, like the ice here, I snap a ton of shots at different apertures just to see and learn about what different settings do to a picture. In my first pass of reviewing, I delete the blurry ones. I don’t even look at composition or anything else; I just make a pass deleting the pictures where the focus was soft. Some come out super sharp but most don’t cut it. Such is the result of a system that is just a bit out of specification.
Today, I am not sure but I suspect it was because of the focus system was just a bit off and if the XTI had the micro focus adjustment system, I could have had super sharp pictures. As I noted before, I will never buy a camera body that does not have that adjustment system. See here for more on what Canon calls Micro Focus Adjustment.
The Equipment:
- Canon XTI
- Canon EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS
