General Photography

koffiejunkie said:
Put your lens hood on and make the lens stand on the hood. How far is the front element from the surface that it's standing on? On my 24-105, it's a good 2 inches. And unless you use lens hoods made of metal, the hood's elastic properties will absorb more shock if you drop it than a filter ever will.
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stand your lense without any filter on and you will notice it still does not make contact with the surface.... (cept fish eye)

other than fungus storage posses not danger though.
sea spray, dirt, and general exposure to our contaminated air, plus high levels of acidity in rain if you happen to do the type that might get your glass wet.

with filter you never... ever have to clean your primary and you should never do so... same goes for your back element. I have never had to clean my primaries 5 cameras handful of lenses each, not once. (besides some of my doggier purchases, first needed thorough cleaning)
 
bwana said:
A quick blast of compressed air and a swipe with rolling paper and its done and dusted ... Literally.
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besides for the obvious risks if blasting does not remove all the grit, every time you clean you damage, not noticeable if you only do it a few hundred times over 5yrs but, if you going to keep it any longer you will start getting problems.

hence lense makers suggest never cleaning back primary and getting a filter for front primary.

Why risk it?
 
Saalocin Rekked said:
besides for the obvious risks if blasting does not remove all the grit, every time you clean you damage, not noticeable if you only do it a few hundred times over 5yrs but, if you going to keep it any longer you will start getting problems.

hence lense makers suggest never cleaning back primary and getting a filter for front primary.

Why risk it?
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Where does canon make these suggestions?
 
Saalocin Rekked said:
besides for the obvious risks if blasting does not remove all the grit, every time you clean you damage, not noticeable if you only do it a few hundred times over 5yrs but, if you going to keep it any longer you will start getting problems.
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My old man has lenses that are 40 years or older that have been cleaned regularly since they were bought new, and none of them show any signs of wear. And the lens coatings they had in those days are nowhere near as tough as what we have today.

Of course, it never hurts to be extra careful, and if you regularly shoot in sandstorms or take your camera with you on your surfboard or something, then sure, take every precaution.

But for the majority of places I shoot (and I drag my camera everywhere with me), it 's unlikely to make any difference. Weather or not it does or doesn't provide protection, that's not the only factor. I don't want to have to mess about with the UV every time I want to use a CP. I'm more than willing to pay £100-200 or so to have the lens re-coated once every 5+ years (assuming your blatant generalisation holds any truth) and save myself 5+ years worth of inconvenience.

Different strokes...
 
koffiejunkie said:
(assuming your blatant generalisation holds any truth)
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Generalizations where made but only two, and also only because they were estimates, it should have read like this... after extended cleaning, lense coatings could acquire micro scores that could impact on image quality. reference my first hyper link.

so generalizations yes, blatant generalizations no.
 
Saalocin Rekked said:
If you have 100 + foreign bucks to spend, why not?
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I didn't mean to flaunt my foreign currency, sorry it came across that way. All I meant to say is, we choose the conveniences we're willing to pay for. Some people drive to work when they live close enough to walk or cycle. It's a convenience they're willing to pay for. And staying with the car analogy, you could also choose not to wash your car, for fear of accidentally scratching your paint job, and put those tacky plastic shields on the tip of the bonnet to protect against "flying debris" but most people don't - you decide how acceptable the risk is. A professional paint job costs more than a service on my lenses - more, in fact, than any of my lenses.

Saalocin Rekked said:
Here...
http://www.usa.canon.com/app/html/EFLenses101/lens_care.html
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This links says nothing about not cleaning the rear element. If anything, it leaves me thinking that careful cleaning with the right materials is safe.
 
Sorry guys, Im on bad form tonight. argued badly.
I think we where talking in circles, I agree with you. I prefer to take the precaution and I understand your argument. like the link says its a preference issue.
 
From my own experience, you need *very* good quality filters for them not to influence image quality. An average quality UV or skylight filter is going to have more of an impact on the image quality than micro scratches on the lens coating.
 
guys a quick Q, when taking photo's, do you select one autofocus point and use that to focus on the subject or do you use all 9 to lock on and track?
 
chau said:
guys a quick Q, when taking photo's, do you select one autofocus point and use that to focus on the subject or do you use all 9 to lock on and track?
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Personally I only use the centre point. Focus and recompose.

BTW - spoke to the guys at katz the other day and they're not closing down.
 
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chau said:
guys a quick Q, when taking photo's, do you select one autofocus point and use that to focus on the subject or do you use all 9 to lock on and track?
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Depends on the situation. Most of the time I use all. Sometimes, especially when using shallow DOF, or just if there are very contrasty/bright things in the background, I'll choose one AF point (not necessarily the centre point though).
 
bwana said:
Personally I only use the centre point. Focus and recompose.

BTW - spoke to the guys at katz the other day and they're not closing down.
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yeah i see they're still open and trading. The person that told told me they were closing must have been wrong or been thinking of another shop.

i mainly use the centre point but was wondering if i was doing it wrong and meant to use all the points, but i do find that the autofocus locks onto the wrong object and its not so precise
 
I just picked up a 4gb SDHC card for my new P&S at Makro for R169 - how come SD cards are so much cheaper than CF? :o
 
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