joelypolly's reviews

  • Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM

    9 out of 10 points and recommended
    Fast 1.4 aperture which means excellent low light performance, Excellent DoF effect,Excellent bokeh when focusing on close objects, Light and inexpensive, Metal Mount
    50mm on a cropped body is... well weird, Shallow DoF means hard to focus at times, Plastic body

    This is probably one of the most popular primes ever sold. It is inexpensive, light and quite a sharp when stepped down a little. This lens is also about a quarter the price of the f/1.2.
    I have owned a copy of this lens since May of last year and it has opened up a whole new dimension of photography that just wouldn't not have been possible on a standard zoom.

    The DoF effect is very very shallow, in fact so shallow that I had trouble at the beginning locking focus on what I wanted. You will be using this lens in Manual focus mode much of the time simply because the AF won't always pick the correct thing to be in focus.

    Check out sample photos from the lens at http://joelypolly.blogspot.com/search/label/50mm

    reviewed April 19th, 2009

  • Canon EF 28-300mm f/3.5-5.6L IS USM

    10 out of 10 points and recommended
    Sharp, nice range, build quality, excellent IS and very versatile
    Bit heavy to hand hold at 300mm and does suck in dust on non sealed bodies

    Definitely a good lens for the price. Sharp and the zoom range makes it the perfect lens to use for travel.... not so good if you can't carry a heavy lens.

    To all those that are complaining about it being a dust pump check to see where the air is being sucked in from your camera. On my 30D it sucks air through the battery compartment so you might want to try and keep that area clean or try and seal it against dust. Those that have a sealed camera shouldn't have any issues.

    The pull/push design is much easier to use than two ring style on the normal zooms.

    Images and a more detailed review can be found at http://joelypolly.blogspot.com/search/label/28-300mm

    reviewed April 19th, 2009