New Lens Wide Angle Wednesday!!

Recently, I was able to obtain the Canon EF 11-24mm f/4L USM lens. I haven't used it too much for personal photos, have used it to capture a couple of my company's events we lit. So the shots I have taken are mostly of my commute. This post is my initial feedback on this lens.

LIRR M7 Interior shot at Penn Station

The lens is big, the front glass element protrudes very far, almost to the point of pushing past the built in lens hood. The lens cap is very large because of that fact, and you cannot mount normal screw filters to this lens. There is a filter slot in the back, and I believe Lee makes an adapter set, but I haven't tried those yet.

In addition to the size, it also is one of the heaviest lenses I have handled. It weighs about 2.5 pounds, which doesn't seem like much until you start lugging it around, either on the camera or in the camera bag. 

Downtown Bound M Train from Queens

But the sharpness of this lens! So far I am finding it to be sharp throughout the frame. And there is also minimal flare from light sources hitting the lens, unlike the fisheye lens and the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 lens I used before. 

I need to spend some more time with this lens. It is wide though!! 11mm on a full frame body is amazing! So far I am loving it, I just need to build up my strength so I can bring it everywhere. 

Seagram's Building in Manhattan at night

Stella!

"Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds"
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

Winter storm Stella hit NYC yesterday. I had to go to work in the afternoon. The train was deserted. Manhattan was empty of cars and people, very few people were out. I grabbed my camera and threw the 40mm pancake lens on with the intention of capturing some snowy images on my commute. 

Long Island Rail Road M7 pulling in
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/10, 1/320sec, 640ISO, 40mm

I didn't take my camera out of the bag until I got to the train station. The snow was falling, it was cold and breezy. My camera worked fine, I tried to keep it dry, but it did get a little wet. Putting it in my bag or jacket pocket after use caused it to fog up the viewfinder a bit, so some of the photos I was shooting were basically done blind, hoping that the composition and focused was spot on, and hoping the exposure wasn't blown out or too dark. 

Older style MTA Logo on the rear door of the F-350
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/320sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

The Joyce Theater
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/640sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

Graffiti and Greek Food
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/320sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

Clearing the streets
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500sec, 1600ISO, 40mm

Penn station was empty for a weekday rush hour time. I wish it was always so empty. 

Tuesday at 5:36p, usually very limited space to walk around the waiting people in the area
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/5.6, 1/100sec, 320ISO, 40mm

When I got off the train at my station, the lens got some condensation on it, and I failed to notice until I reviewed the photograph of the station and train.  Oops.

condensation on the lens
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/5.6, 1/160sec, 1250ISO, 40mm

My wife had sent me a text stating that the lights were flickering in the house and half the wall circuits around the house weren't working. And when I got close to home, I noticed a burning electrical smell, with lots of FDNY trucks present. Black smoke was pouring out of a subway grate (not for a subway though). FDNY left, then ConEd showed up with their emergency service vehicles. A manhole cover near the grating popped a short time later, I hear it as I was trying to shovel the sidewalk and driveway. Flames started shooting up, and a couple more pops. We ended up loosing all power a little while later, but ConEd was able to get it restored around 3am. 

Smoking!
Canon 5D Mark III, EF40mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/100sec, 2000ISO, 40mm

Fisheye Friday

The Revolution will not be televised!
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/25sec, 6400ISO, 8mm

Oh hello there blog. I seem to have forgotten about you. What has it been, three or four months? I'm sorry I have neglected you. You see, life got busy, then it was the holiday season, and next thing I know, it is almost March, and I haven't posted since October!

East River from Williamsburg Waterfront
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 15sec, 400ISO, 8mm

In my absence, I obtained a cheap, manual 8mm fisheye lens. It doesn't fill the frame on my full frame Canon 5DmkIII, and not quite an entire circle, but I am really enjoying using it and discovering how to shoot with a fisheye. I have found it pretty hard to nail the framing with such a wide lens, any slight movement of axis is apparent in the final image, and I love for things to be lined up just right. I also had to learn that the exposures seemed a little darker than original thought when shooting, so having to compensate for that. 

Grand Central Terminal Ramp
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/40sec, 3200ISO, 8mm

Without further ado, here are some of the fisheye shots! EXIF data is incomplete, as the lens is manual and doesn't communicate the aperture to the body. 

Grand Central Ramp Below
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/25sec, 6400ISO, 8mm

I used Lightroom's lens correction tool and cropping to fill the frame of the above shot. 

Empire Views
Canon 5D Mark III, Rokinon HD8M-C 8mm f/3.5 HD, f/, 1/60sec, 800ISO, 8mm

The Seagram Building WAW

Before moving to New York City, my experience with most architecture was limited to what I saw in books. Arizona has some lovely architecture, and some high rises, but a majority of the buildings that have historical significance happen to be in other cities, especially New York City. One of these buildings in the Seagram Building, located at 375 Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan.

Seagram Building
Canon 60D, EF20-35mm f/3.5-4.5, f/4, 1/50s, 3200ISO, 21mm

My experience with this building is with one of the original tenants, the Four Seasons Restaurant. I have worked on many social events there over the last (almost) decade of working in the special events industries, from weddings, to bar/bat mitzvahs, movie premier parties, and corporate holiday parties.  I just worked an extremely long day there this past Sunday, but this photograph comes from November 9th of 2013. A little sad news as well: The Four Seasons will be closing in July, being forced out by the new landlords of the Seagram Building.

Seagram Building
Canon 60D, EF20-35mm f/3.5-4.5, f/4, 1/50s, 3200ISO, 21mm

The lens that took this photo was an old Canon EF 20-35mm f/3.5-4.5 USM. I inherited the lens from my uncle, who was a photographer before the digital revolution. Lots of post processing was used to correct the lines of the building, as the wide angle lens had some distortion, as well as the distortion from the lens looking up, causing everything to start to look like it was heading to the same single point way up past the frame.

Seagram Building
Canon 60D, EF20-35mm f/3.5-4.5, f/4, 1/50s, 3200ISO, 21mm

Wide Angle One World Observatory

My job has its perks as I've said in the past. We recently were approved to work in the One World Observatory private event space, which is located on the 102nd floor of the Freedom Tower. So of course I was excited to take any chance to go up there. My first visit was for a site survey, and it was an overcast day. The second time I went up in December, it was also an overcast day. But finally, last week, I was able to go up on a clear day. And when you are that high up, you can see for miles. 

Uptown
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 320ISO, 15mm

The above photo is looking uptown from the north side of the building. The Hudson River is on the left, the East River on the right. The two tall buildings are the Empire State Building in the center, and to the right of it 432 Park Avenue, which will only be slightly shorter than 1WTC.  

Southward Gaze
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/40sec, 400ISO, 11mm

Looking south, you can see Brooklyn, from the Heights to Red Hook, and Coney Island. The large island is Governor's Island. The Verrazano–Narrows Bridge is barely visible, and if the lens was a little wider, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty would be just a bit to the right. 

Looking down at the World Trade Center Site
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/5, 1/50sec, 640ISO, 11mm

It is hard to capture the detail you can see up there. The reflections on the glass also present a challenge.  You can see some of the reflections in the third photo, but I was trying to capture the openness and crammed in feeling of the buildings below. I tried using my black coat to block reflections with limited success. 

Going up?
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/40sec, 16000ISO, 11mm

 There are a couple of things that fascinate me about the building. The first is the first 187', the area you see lit in green above, is the concrete base. No offices are located in that area, and no windows except at the four entrances, one of which you see above. The second is how much of the building's core is consumed with the support facilities, lots of elevators.

Wide Angle Wednesday, Downtown Phoenix

My family and I spent two weeks in sunny Phoenix, Arizona over the holidays. The ironic thing was the weather was colder in Phoenix than it was in New York City over the course of my vacation. 

My father-in-law came out to spend the holidays with my family, so one day we went to downtown Phoenix so I could show him my hometown city. These are just a few of the photos I took that day. It was interesting to see how much has changed there.

Hotel San Carlos
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 200ISO, 11mm

The Hotel San Carlos open in 1928, which is ancient in Phoenician terms. I believe it was the first in Phoenix to feature air conditioning. I've always loved the fact that there was a pool on the rooftop.

Chase Tower
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 200ISO, 11mm

Chase Tower is Phoenix's tallest building, it also happens to be Arizona's tallest building. Formally known as Valley Center (Valley National Bank), then Bank One Center, it was built in 1972 to a height of 40 stories, though the top occupied floor is 38. Having lived in NYC, 40 stories just seems so low, but these buildings still make one feel small.

Phoenix City Hall
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/500sec, 200ISO, 11mm

Phoenix City Hall was completed in 1994. It tops out at 20 stories tall.

Looking Up Wide Angle Wednesday

Usually, in New York City, you can spot the tourist pretty easily as they are the ones always looking up while clogging the sidewalks. I do enjoy looking up, even after living here for 14 years. It amazes me that some of these buildings, which don't seem that tall in their place in the Manhattan skyline, but would be towering over other cities.

World Financial Center
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/40sec, 1600ISO, 11mm

I found myself attending a meeting at the World Financial Center, across the West Side Highway from the World Trade Center. Inside the World Financial Center (now called Brookfield Place), there is the Winter Garden Atrium, a place where palm trees grow year round. I made my way to the meeting, the sun was setting, but I didn't have the luxury of time to stop and take some photos. I had people to meet after all.

Winter Garden Atrium
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/40sec, 1600ISO, 11mm

When I left my meeting, I remembered I had my dSLR with the wide angle lens in my bag. I decided to take a couple of photos inside the World Financial Center, and one of the new One World Trade Center building. Since all the streets right next to the Freedom Tower are closed to through traffic, I was able to stand in the middle of the road to get the photo of 1WTC and 7WTC looking up. 1WTC is so tall, you cannot even see the top of the building from the base. 

Looking Up!
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/3.2, 1/30sec, 3200ISO, 11mm

Wichita Falls Wide Angle Continued

Gibson's
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/400sec, 160ISO, 16mm

As stated in the last post, I had some grand ideas when packing for our holiday trip to Wichita Falls. Reality kept me from those plans, as sickness fell upon my wife and daughter, so the time I spent shooting in Wichita Falls turned out to be brief. However brief it may have been, I was able to capture many of the buildings in the depressed downtown area. 

Warehouse Row
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 320ISO, 16mm

Parking was not an issue in Downtown Wichita Falls, as it was a Saturday morning after Christmas. Though I have a feeling parking is never the issue it is in Queens. I was able to let me wife and daughter sleep in the car and drive a couple blocks, hop out to walk and shoot, then return to a warm car.

Diagonal Boards
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/80sec, 160ISO, 16mm

It technically was one of the worst times of day to shoot. It was a little after 10a, the sky was covered with the winter grey cloud from the snowfall early morning. The light was harsh, but it was the only time I had available to shoot.

 

Producers Creamery Co
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/160sec, 160ISO, 16mm

The buildings closer to the railroad tracks are mostly large warehouses, which would make sense. A few of them are still occupied today, but there is a large majority of brick warehouses that sit empty. Most of them have sat vacant since I started visiting the town in 2000.

American Glass
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 160ISO, 11mm

There are some businesses scattered throughout downtown that are still open.

Cars?
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/320sec, 160ISO, 11mm

A few former car dealerships in the downtown area as well...

 

Four Story
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/160sec, 160ISO, 16mm

Plenty of office space available in Downtown Wichita Falls!

The old Sears
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/125sec, 160ISO, 11mm

I have always liked the old Sears building. It was designed so that you parked your car on top, and then went down to the ground level for the store. There were signs of some renovations happening inside the store, though I could not tell what the project was for or what store was moving into the space.

Diner
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/320sec, 160ISO, 13mm

Last time I was in town, December of 2012, this diner was still open. I believe it closed in January of 2013. Anyone interested in starting a diner, it is available still!

Diner
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/160sec, 160ISO, 16mm

As soon as I saw the diner was deserted, I pulled over to park and grabbed my camera. Diners such as this are disappearing in New York City, so I assume that they will start disappearing from all over America.

Wide Angle Wichita Falls

The holidays were a busy time for us. There was site seeing to do, work was brisk with holiday parties to illuminate, and then there was the holidays themselves. We traveled to Wichita Falls to spend Christmas with my in-laws. I used to joke that there were more people in Williamsburg, Brooklyn than Wichita Falls. There are a little over 100,000 people that live in the Falls, and I've always been drawn by its architecture from the teens through the thirties. 

Wichita Theatre
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/160sec, 160ISO, 11mm

I had grand ideas when I was packing my bags. I packed my camera, a couple of lenses, filters, my remote trigger, the bendable Joby GorillaPod tripod and the MeFoTo Tripod. However, my 3 year old daughter caught something and was sick a couple days, which next hit my wife, and then finally myself on my last day in the Falls. Opening of gifts was captured, but I only had one session that wasn't a family function.

Empty
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/250sec, 160ISO, 11mm

 Friday after Christmas, it was warm and in the mid 60s. Saturday we woke up to falling snow. The original plan was to go to the Wichita Falls Railroad Museum, which is only open briefly on Saturdays. Their phone message says that they close in the case of rain, but nothing about snow. We headed that way, and found out it was closed. 

Times Square
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 160ISO, 11mm

I wanted to photograph some of the unique buildings in the downtown area. My daughter had fallen asleep in her car seat, so we knew we were stuck in the car anyways. I drove around looking for interesting buildings. Downtown was empty and parking was not an issue. I left my car in one location and walked around near the post office, photographing it and several nearby buildings. 

First Bank
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/125sec, 160ISO, 11mm

A police officer had driven past, and circled around. He stopped and pulled over. He was stopping to see if I was lost and needed directions. Explaining that I was in town visiting, I wanted to photograph some of the buildings downtown, and was not lost. We talked briefly about the past of downtown area, numerous attempts to revitalize it, and he told me that I had to go look at the World's Littlest Skyscraper. I informed him I was familiar with it, had been by on previous trips, and was on my agenda for the photo walk I was having. He bid me good day and continued on his way.

Post Office
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 160ISO, 11mm

The Newby-McMahon Building is also known as the World's Littlest Skyscraper. It measures 40' tall. The investors thought they were getting a 480' tall building, but the blueprints that the investors signed off on had inch marks next dimensions.  

480" Tall
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/160sec, 160ISO, 11mm

These are a sampling of the images I captured over the couple of hours in downtown Wichita Falls. My photowalk was brief in the cold. Happy to get a couple of buildings captured, as that was one thing I wanted to do on vacation.

Bar-L
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/125sec, 160ISO, 11mm

Image courtesy of: SnapKnot - Local Wedding Photographers

Wide Angle Wednesday Post on Friday

Once again, life has gotten a little hectic, so I am late posting my Wide Angle Wednesday Post. I have been working since Sunday, and this coming Sunday will be my next day off. I am looking forward to the Thanksgiving break. 

Readers may remember this post of Grand Central Terminal. I had failed to clean the filter protecting my lens. So Sunday, after leaving the Waldorf Astoria, I walked by Grand Central Terminal and attempted a new long exposure of the iconic structure. 

This time, I was using a new tripod, the Joby GorillaPod. This little tripod has bendable legs. From the location I wanted to shoot, there was a police baricade, so I wrapped the legs around it and started framing my shot. I had to time it just right, as a couple of attempts started as the light turned red and the light trails were too short for my liking. 

Unfortunately, it started to rain, and I had no way of keeping the water off of the lens, leading to spots in the image. I packed up and headed to my train. The ideas I had for other locations will have to wait until another late night after work.

Looking Northwest
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 13sec, 100ISO, 13mm

Wide Angle Wednesday

Grace
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/8, 1/200sec, 640ISO, 11mm

A wide angle lens really helps me capture the soaring nature of the buidlings of Manhattan. These photographs were all taken not too far from the base of each of these buildings. The Grace Building looks even more massive when you compare the tiny people to the towering structure it appears to be in the above photograph.

Between A Rock and a Rink
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/4, 1/30sec, 1600ISO, 11mm

30 Rockefeller Center, above, is one of the sites in New York City that attracts visitors. The above photograph was captured one Saturday night in the beginning of August, right after the sunset and the sky was beginning to turn dark blue. The shadow of SplitRocker is visible as it was on display at the time.

Empire Views
Canon 60D, Tokina Pro DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8, f/2.8, 1/30sec, 6400ISO, 11mm

Empire State Building as captured across 34th Street. I had to set my ISO to almost the highest setting, so noise is very present in this image. Aperture was left wide open and I set it on the lowest shutter speed I could hand hold and get a crisp shot. If I had a tripod, I could have captured a lower noise image, but having a noisy image is better than none at all.