Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens

Last weekend I rented the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens.

The main reason that I rented this lens was to use it for the Liquid Motion workshop that I attended.  It seemed to work well for this, but due to where I had to stand many of my shots were taken with my kit lens for increased focal length.  Other than the workshop, the rest of the weekend was filled with hanging out with great old friends. Therefore, the amount of time dedicated to using this Macro lens was not abundant.  However, I did manage to take a few shots while at Golden Gate Park and around where I live.

The Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens retails for around $450 on Amazon.com (it was only $25 to rent it for the weekend).  It is an EF-S lens and can only be used on Canon crop sensor cameras.  Therefore, if one is thinking about upgrading to a full frame sensor in the near future this would probably not be a prudent investment. However, if you like Macro photography and plan on using a crop sensor camera for a few years then I would definitely recommend it.  The Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens is reasonably priced compared to other Macro lenses offered by Canon and offers good optical quality for the money.  The lens is sharp and reasonably fast.  It can also double as a portrait lens producing some nice bokeh (especially if you don't already own a 50mm).  The f/2.8 is also a good aperture for shooting portraits in lower light situations.

The Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens does lack Image Stabilization found on the more expensive lenses which hinders some sharpness when hand held in lower light situations.  Additionally, the auto-focus was a little slow at times.  Although, in my opinion these are only minor complaints and the Canon EF-S 60mm f/2.8 Macro Lens is a good investment.  Below are some pictures that I took from over the weekend.  Thank you for checking out Dirty Thirty Photography and take care!

Macro Water Drops

Last week I attended a Liquid Magic: Stop Motion Photography workshop with Scott Dickson.  Basically, Scott has developed a few rigs to effectively capture liquid in motion through special triggers that fire off camera flashes.  The workshop was a lot of fun, and the amount of skill and effort it took for Scott to create the system is very impressive.  I was definitely inspired to explore more macro and liquid motion photography.  This workshop was well attended and located in a small room, so the amount of shots per person was limited.  The following are the images that I made and like best...

Tea Party Rally

Since moving to San Francisco I have witnessed and photographed several protests.  Most of the events that I have attended so far have been very left-leaning politically; such as Occupy SF and the BART Police Protest. On Sunday, I had a chance to see how the other half dissents.

The San Francisco Tea Party held a rally at the Justin Herman Plaza across from the Ferry Building in downtown San Francisco.  The crowd was not huge, but was enthusiastic.  The event was aimed at showing discontent with the current administration and calling for support to elect conservative politicians.  There were several politicians on hand that gave short speeches to ask for support in upcoming elections.  There were also short speeches made by event organizers and volunteers from those gathered.

Obviously, the demographics of the attendees was much different than what I have seen at previous protests. The dress was also in stark contrast, with an apparent affinity for adding the American flag into one's outfit wherever possible.  Overall, people seemed cordial towards me and were mostly accommodating in having their pictures taken.  Although, my long hair probably gave them some pause as to my intentions.  If you haven't been to a Tea Party rally I hope the following images will give a good sense of the event and a glimpse into a point of view that may not be your own.

Thank you for stopping by Dirty Thirty Photography and take care.