East 42nd Street

I’ve had this lens for a long time and I’ve posted quite a few pictures taken with it. But I can’t recall that I’ve ever said anything about it.

I like it a lot. It’s small and light and provides autofocus, but not unfortunately image stabilization. The autofocus is maybe a touch slow, but that doesn’t bother me much as I don’t usually take pictures of things that move quickly. It’s solidly built (something rattles inside when it’s not in use, but I’m led to believe that this is normal. The 19mm “rattles” too. When the camera is turned on it stops “rattling”). I used to feel that f2.8 was too slow, but after using a number of faster lenses I’m finding that I more and more incline towards the smaller aperture. The faster lenses are harder to focus (particularly with my aging/aged eyes) and the depth of field is very shallow. I’m sure that there are occasions where you need the extra speed, but most of the time I don’t. The focal length (equivalent 45mm) is one that I like. The lens is very sharp and contrasty – maybe a little too contrasty for my taste, but that’s easily fixed. The colors as also a bit too saturated for my taste, but that’s easily fixable too. I find the chromatic aberration to be a little high. As I write this it’s available for $169 – a great value.

Silos and Barn

In a Bar on 2nd Ave.

Inside the Alex

A house in Ossining,NY