The new Canon 35mm MkII, fixed focal length F1.4 lens.

For me this was an interesting review task, firstly because the last time I used a prime lens of this focal length was on a 35mm Film SLR, this lens is massive compared to the 35mm lenses of those days, secondly I currently use a cropped Sensor camera (7D Mk1) and my main lens selection are all zooms, ranging from 11mm to 200m (plus extender). Just to really add to things on the day I had available to use this lens the weather was rubbish!

This 35mm F1.4 from Canon is a bit of a beast, compared to my memory of earlier film day 35mm’s, but of course the lenses I had then didn’t have the marvel of auto-focus, USM etc. Given its size and therefore weight it was surprising how balanced it felt on my camera, taking I do use a grip.

With its cropped sensor the 7D gives me a 1.6x multiplier, meaning that when on my camera the lens has the effective field of view of a 56mm lens on 35mm Film SLR or a Full Frame DSLR. So for most purposes this lens gives me more like a “Standard” lens field of view rather than anything approaching wide angle. For this reason this review may be of more interest to cropped sensor users than full framers

My normal genre’s are sport, wildlife and landscape. So given its effective focal length, not really being even at the top end of the wide angle bracket, and it being nowhere near what you would need for most sport or wildlife applications this lens, for me, would fit into the possible general (walk around) and people / portrait applications, Which I generally use my 24-70 2.8L for.

I guess the main requirement of any lens is that it gives the sensor the best chance of capturing the maximum amount of detail from the subject in front of the lens. The great thing about this lens of course, to me, is the F1.4 aperture, or any of the stops between that at the F2.8 maximum I am used to.

Given the potential use I would put this lens to, indoors with no flash or added light seemed to be the area I should look at mostly.

The detail seen was excellent, at the focal point when wide open, and a good bokeh was also achieved, even on a cropped sensor camera. In reality though the depth of field, at the distance that was necessary to achieve a filled frame and minimise background was too short.

To get the desired features even at a short distance either side of the focal plane in focus either required stepping down, to a stop approaching F2.8, or moving away from the subject a fair distance (this is where I would miss the zoom capability of my normal lenses), thus introducing more unwanted background.

Moving away and keeping the F stop fully open would of course be OK in a studio with a controlled plain background, or even in a church situation where the blurred background is acceptable and gives context, but in a everyday walk around mode, in low light where you may want to use the shutter wide open, and have the subject fully in focus would introduce more background than you may desire, and the bokeh becomes less pleasing. Looking at the various shots of our cat and balancing the distance and F stop F1.8 to F2.2 seemed to give a good compromise to filling the frame, having a reasonable depth of focus and reasonable bokeh.

F1.4 – Not unpleasant but closer scrutiny reveals the depth of focus fades as the back of the cat’s head is approached.

F1.6, slightly more depth of focus, but to me still needs a little more to get the top of the head sharper and more defined.

F1.8 – This is, to me, is getting more where I would like to see the definition and compromise in relation to background content and blur, although as can bee seen below at 100% the contrast against the background is softer than some may desire.

F1.8 100% crop – definition on the lower ear and across the head is still soft.

F2.2 – more definition around the subject edges, but beginning to loose the background blur such the objects start to distract.

The colour reproduction was faithful (auto colour balance) and sharpness of the image where it was needed was good, particularly in the indoor shots, For the couple of external shots I did try, given the bad weather, were a little lacking, but this may be more sensor than lens.

F1.6, ISO800, 1/25^th – straight from the RAW file saved as Jpeg to insert here, the colour reproduction is very accurate.

F20, ISO 100 1/40^th – straight from the RAW file saved as Jpeg to insert here. Given a less than ideal day, never the less the colour accuracy is s little off, not so far that a little post processing in Lightroom wouldn’t fix if the picture was for anything but this.

I also took the above to look at the hand holding abilities ( I know I have a fair bit to do with that of course), particularly in relation to the 1 X focal length being the minimum hand holding shutter speed.

F20, ISO 100 1/40^th 100% crop. Given the aperture of F20 then the focal point should not effect the overall sharpness, so my conclusion is that the blurriness, looking at the building (eliminate wind movement of the trees) is purely related to my ability to hand hold this lens at the 1 x Focal length speed. So with my cropped sensor should I have used something more equating to 1 x 56mm?. Exactly what that might be would require more time with this lens to develop my personal requirements, but needless to say this is a large lens to hand hold at low speeds.

Conclusion

Of course the lens’s optical quality, which appears excellent, construction (as would be expected of an L lens) and ease of use would be the same to users, but the type of use is likely to vary. For my purposes, with a cropped sensor body, this would be in the studio, wedding portrait areas rather than my more normal genres.

I am not a studio type, but if I were, or for shooting weddings, I would be temped by this for close in work, where low light would demand a larger aperture whilst trying to keep the ISO down as low as possible. Maybe on the second body to catch times such as exchanging rings, signing the register in the church vestibule etc., maybe a close up of cutting the cake at the reception.

Given my normal genres this is probably not a lens for me, but it is an excellent lens, if not a little pricy. Without the need for the F1.4, for my money the 24-70 2.8L MKII may be a better buy, for my type of work, because of flexibility of uses etc. but if you are in the portrait and wedding genres I could see this being a big asset.

It’s that time again, and the Team at Kingsize will be closing our doors:

HOLIDAY HOURS
December 24th: 7:30am – 3pm
December 25th – January 4th: CLOSED
January 5th: 7:30am – 7pm
January 6th: 7:30am – 7pm

If you need to get a hold of us over that time, please call us:
25th Dec to 3rd January: Call Christian on 021 1800 525
4th January: Call Adam on 021 908 179

From all of us at Kingsize, have a safe and happy holiday, and we’ll see you in the new year!

Kingsize sells film for 35mm, 120 and Polaroid / Instax cameras. We offer a variety of cover and B&W in a range of ISO/ASA speeds. Often we will stock some unique films that we find from around the world, so there is often some unexpected variety. SHOP NOW

CHRISTMAS SPECIAL

Rent any gear from 24th Dec to 5th January, pay for 1x day. Call / email us now.

We covered a lot in the 2015 Summer School. Here are a few examples of images the photographers made as they did exercises in portrait lighting, high speed flash, stroboscopic photography and lots of gels!

In January 2016, we are running two Summer School weeks. Places are limited and they’re booking up fast. Find out more and book a place here:

2016 Kingsize Summer School.

Images by John Shen, Evan Xiao, Leila Wrathall, Hazel Anson, Isabel Clarke, Michael Kooge, Hayden Worsfold

Photography Summer School at Kingsize Studios

SECOND WEEK ADDED

For over 15 years, Kingsize Studios has been at the heart of fashion and advertising photography in New Zealand. For the first time, we are opening up the studios for an intensive 5 day photography course. We live in an age of social media and the “slashie” generation where photography isn’t just for photographers. Whether you’re a designer, writer, brand manager, working in media or in sales- an ability to make great photographs is an invaluable asset.

Mon 11 – Fri 15 January 2016
9:00am – 4:00pm each day
$475 per person

NEW DATES

Tues 5 – Sat 9 January 2016
9:00am – 4:00pm each day

ENROL NOW

For the past 3 years or so our studio and education manager, Luke White, has written a regular article for D-Photo magazine on lighting. In the last issue he wrote about about a recent studio shoot where he collaborated with Paul Alsop to make a series of collodion wet plate portraits.

D-Photo 68 In the Studio

Behind the Scenes video:

In January this year, we ran our first ever Summer School programme. Every day on this week long programme, photographers met for a class in the morning on a specific topic before being tasked with shooting a technical exercise or creative brief in studio or on location. Each afternoon was a critique and a different class before more shooting. It was a lot of fun. As we keep the number of participants in Summer School small, we were able to tailor the workshop topics to ones most relevant to the group. The photographers had the opportunity to spend time making work which most interested them whether it was portraiture, food, still life, video or conceptual image making to sharpen their skills and make portfolio work.

Being Kingsize, there was a real emphasis on shaping light and working to master control of flash lighting in studio and on location. Participants also worked with constant light (tungsten, LED, Fluro, HMI) and to make the very most from natural and available light. We spent time discussing the great photographers working today and through history, looking at their work for inspiration and to see what is possible.

Here are some behind the scenes photographs from the week. We’ll follow up with another blog post showing some of the great work the students produced.

As well as students and graduates, we had professionals from the worlds of architecture, videography, food and graphic design. There is no minimum skill requirement to be part of Summer School but it is open to photographers aged 16 and over only. If you’re interested in being part of the 2016 Summer School, click through this link for more information and to book a place.

KINGSIZE SUMMER SCHOOL 2016

Last week we send photographer Bas van Est out with the new Canon 100 – 400mm L lens to test out. Here are his thoughts…

By now the Canon 100 – 400mm lens is well covered with high profile reviews and, in the world of technology, pretty much old news. However, it did take Canon 10 years to release the Mk2 so I feel this lens is worth the extra chat.
I had a good read at the reviews online (Ken Rockwell, DP preview etc) before taking it out into the field myself. And by field I mean, stash it in my backpack on a 5 hour roadtrip  up north to test it on some lifestyle / surf photography vibes.

It’s considered to be amazing, yet I still had my reservations due to past experience with lenses that cover such extensive focal range.

On this trip I matched the lens up with a Canon 5D mk 3 as well as an EOS 1DV SLR and below are some of my findings.

Ergonomics
The size of the 100-400mm when packed away is similar to the 70-200 f2.8 so if you’re already used to carrying that around then you will barely feel the difference. The ability to shoot at 400mm without an extender and still have the range to pull back to 100mm for a wider shot was super useful for the landscape shots that I got on this trip. It definitely beats carrying a 200-400mm around, from a weight (and price point) perspective.

Focus
I tested the speed of the focus as the sun was shining directly into the lens but not once did it hesitate or delay when grabbing focus. This was probably one of the most impressive features for me, which I think will apply very well for shooting outdoor adventure sports aimed straight into that morning or evening light. Unfortunately the surf wasn’t pumping enough to put the focus modes to the test but the odd seagull were a dream to capture, even at 400mm.

IS
I was standing on rocks shooting handheld at 1/80 @ 400mm and some motion blur was showing in the image….no surprises there. I only had to push it another stop to 1/160th and the IS managed to get me a stable shot @ 400mm.

Aperture
Ok, so the lens is not as fast, especially with an minimum aperture of f5.6 @400mm, but the ISO performance on all the latest camera’s will make up for the 2 stops difference, and don’t forget….it’s @ 400mm!!!!

I didn’t work with an variable ND or Circular polariser but the access latch in the lens hood to adjust such filters is a pretty clever addition.

The lens is so sharp that the screen on the back of the camera cannot render the image to the full capacity, and thus the results in post were far better then I had initially expected.
With outstanding industry reviews, a growing number of emerging photographers combined with my own experience from this trip I can see why a specialist focal range has been popular at since they got the lens in at Kingsize. If only I could justify the purchase!!

ps: It works just as well on the latest Canon Automatic SLR film cameras, for those that want to #staybrokeshootfilm

Check out what Bas shoots when he’s not testing lenses over on his WEBSITE.

For the past 6 weeks I’ve been working with some very talented photographers who are part of the Kingsize NZIPP Scholarship. We devised the Scholarship as a way for professional photographers to up-skill in all areas and take their careers to the next level over 12 weeks. Each week we have a group critique, discuss on a specific topic and meet with a different guest speaker to talk about a specific area of photography such as production, posing or gallery curation. I also give each photographer a weekly technical assignment. Last week the assignment was about lighting on location. Although they are all experienced photographers, none had much experience taking battery powered studio lights on location.

The reason I love introduced lighting so much is that it is completely controllable and repeatable. As wonderful as natural light is- it cannot be trusted to give you the results you need because of things like seasons, clouds, location of the Sun and time of day. There are also locations where the natural light will never look nice such as on an open beach in direct sunlight- the shadows are much too hard. Or next to a shady cliff face where it is simply too dark.

Alice Doig wanted to achieve a fresh, light, summery look to her portrait of Keeley (Unique Model Management) with the beach and ocean as the backdrop. First Alice needed to create shade for her model to block the harsh, direct sunlight. To do this, she set up three lightweight Chimera frames with black fabric as a sort of makeshift arch which also acted as a negative fill, giving more definition to the model and providing edge separation from the light background. A single key light way used to give directional illumination and shaping. While the large dish used is relatively quite ‘hard’ and directional, it is far more flattering than direct sunlight and is just hard enough that it could pass for sunlight. A major benefit, of course, is that the key light could be positioned wherever Alice liked in order to include the most photogenic background. Which is something you can’t do with the Sun. The ambient daylight bouncing from the beach and everywhere else provided a relatively flat ‘fill’ which means that the shadows cast by the key light are distinct but not too dark.

Mandi Lynn took dancer Grace Woollett to a West Coast beach and wanted the capture the drama of performance in the landscape. Using a powerful (1,200j) Broncolor Move Pack and single flash head, she balanced the ambient light with the flash. The sun was low in the dusk sky and behind the subject meaning that she would be in shadow if ambient light only had been used. A standard P70 dish was selected to replicate the feel of sunlight and freeze the movement. By utilising both flash and constant light (daylight) to make this image, Mandi froze the action with an exposure time just long enough for a little motion blur to be present and communicate movement.

Penny Aspin found a perfect location for her dramatic portrait but the light was awful. The cliff is high and the model overshadowed by trees making for dark and flat lighting. The dim location required both a fill light and a key so she used a Broncolor Move Pack with two MobLED flash heads. The key light was positioned high to camera right. Penny chose a Chimera Octa 2 Beauty softbox which is a fantastic 24” collapsable beauty dish and perfect for this type of photograph. It provides light which is just soft enough to be flattering to sitters but also small enough to give good shape and definition to people and garments.

In each of these images, I think the photographer perfectly matched the position and quality of the light with the environment to make for a balanced and realistic result. All three of these portraits would be impossible without location lighting.

Luke