• All lens and camera - decent bokeh from the 1.8.
  • Candidate for cloning, if I were to process this one!

Sunfall (Backlit Autumn Leaves), Wisley

Barring a little cropping this is straight out the camera. I'll admit to standing that rear LH leaf upright before hitting the shutter button, but the crimson starfish it has turned too is all the sun's work. The only nuisance is I shot the first 15-20 frames in small jpg today (800k files), so this is about as large as you'd want to see it. Looks great on black in lightbox.

It's another shot with my £65 Canon 50mm f1.8. As a lens it has a few flaws; I'm not in love with the AF which is loud and too argumentative for the low light work this lens would otherwise be great for, and others would label the plastic construction and pentagonal SH an issue. However, if you have an EOS DSLR with just the kit zoom, this should be an immediate purchase.

The 50mm length is great on 1.6x bodies as a walkaround lens for picking out detail or more abstract street frames. The wide aperture opens up creative possibilities which kit zooms will hold you back from. It's perfectly sharp and only 100g. Personally I like the pentagonal SH and the plastic construction is fine. In fact the plastic is an advantage; whilst it's professionally made it still looks like a toy. This is my lens for Italian train stations after dark.

This little mini-review isn't a Canon ad or a pretense that the shot above should be held up as exemplar of the lens. Rather, I know I deliberated for ages above what was a tiny investment which has returned its value many times over.

Aperture is pulled back to f2.8 on this one, just to get a little more of the foreground leaves in. Have a great weekend all!

Comments and faves

  1. ★

    Eric 5D Mark III, Levels Nature, Pink Flutterby ƸӜƷ © OFF, einarsoyland, and 74 other people added this photo to their favorites.

  2. WoodWalker#1 (31 months ago | reply)

    Wonderfully delicate image.
    Light is beautiful and the out-of-focus leaf to the left makes for a superb composition.

  3. subhadeep mondal2010 (31 months ago | reply)

    beautiful shot!

  4. Eric 5D Mark III (31 months ago | reply)

    so beautiful so elegant, love the autumn colors and perfect DoF, awesome!!

  5. .:Dark.Live:. (31 months ago | reply)

    Wonderful shot :D

  6. Levels Nature (31 months ago | reply)

    Just beautiful! :-)

  7. Pink Flutterby ƸӜƷ © OFF (31 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful capture! xx

  8. WoodWalker#1 (31 months ago | reply)

    Amazing !!! Seen in:
    Green Mood


    Post 2 Comment 2
    Thanks for Sharing

  9. natural**woman----OFF (31 months ago | reply)

    Fantastic shot....so beautiful light and colors!

  10. AAGG1 (31 months ago | reply)

    O lado belo do Outono.

  11. Dyker_The_Horse (31 months ago | reply)

    A very beautiful shot, with the kind of terrific narrow DoF that you can only get on such lenses as you described. I have the Nikon 50mm f1.8, a wonderfully sharp lens which is terrific for ultra-narrow DoF shots.

  12. SHE*... (31 months ago | reply)

    nice fall colors & dof

  13. Debbie :)) (31 months ago | reply)

    lovely image!

  14. MrWilkens (31 months ago | reply)

    I love the light. It's the sort of thing I search for but rarely find. great job.

  15. SheilaMink (31 months ago | reply)

    Wonderful colors and focus! Verrry pretty!

  16. Liamfm . (31 months ago | reply)

    very nice work

  17. einarsoyland (31 months ago | reply)

    From what I have read, this lens is awesome, considering the price, definitely a best buy !!

    Great autumn shot with some nice backlighting !!

    Have a great Sunday !!

  18. aries1935 (31 months ago | reply)

    Great shot!

  19. mtdvetter (31 months ago | reply)

    Lovely composition, the backlighting works very well.
    Very nice shot!

  20. IceNineJon (31 months ago | reply)

    I like the tone in this.

  21. Christopher.F Photography (31 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful perspective!

  22. JoGo... (31 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful colours and light!

  23. Dietrich Bojko Photographie (31 months ago | reply)

    gorgeosu light!

  24. Warm Soft Light (31 months ago | reply)

    Amazing shot of these brilliant fall colors! And thanks for sharing such great insight about the 50mm.

  25. காவியம் Kaaviyam Photography (31 months ago | reply)

    Wonderful sunlight, star bokehs and excellent fall colors....beautiful composition my friend!! Enjoy your wonderful Sunday!!

  26. Sadloafer (Hans) (31 months ago | reply)

    Love the light on the leafs, nice image. I to have that cheap lens and I keep it bolted to my 400D and take it on shoots where It may get damaged, still works great.

  27. TravellingTheBLU26 (31 months ago | reply)

    Very lovely! The light is fab and you did a wonderful job on this compo! Well done my friend!

  28. Jamie Morrissey (31 months ago | reply)

    I really like the light behind the leaves. Really nice warm shot. nice work

  29. tehbk0 (31 months ago | reply)

    wonderful shot with ur 50mm lens!!

  30. Tipu Kibria~~BUSY~~ (31 months ago | reply)

    Tremendous tone, bokeh and mood !

  31. wesbs (31 months ago | reply)

    Rocking image!!! I agree it looks amazing in the light box!!! Great DoF and bokeh!!!

  32. I'm younger than that now (31 months ago | reply)

    Gorgeous, Matthew. I’d like to see some more saturation, but the pastel is nice, too. What’s SH?

  33. MadonnaJ (31 months ago | reply)

    OMG......this is just perfect photo !!!!

  34. Elena Kovalevich [deleted] (31 months ago | reply)

    Awesome image!

  35. LoubR photography (31 months ago | reply)

    nice shot!

  36. Nikki__ (31 months ago | reply)

    omg i love this colors! all i love all your shots!

  37. RohitRaj.in (31 months ago | reply)

    perfect light!!

  38. Jackson Zanini (31 months ago | reply)

    Muito bom!
    www.flickr.com/photos/jacksonzanini

  39. Aramix (31 months ago | reply)

    Perfect focus - beautiful lights and composition, that's amazing!

  40. Celtics24 (31 months ago | reply)

    sunkissed goodness, nice shot.

  41. janefk - slowly catching up :) (31 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful colours and composition - the lighting is wonderful :)

  42. Steve Rosset (31 months ago | reply)

    Gorgeous lighting here.

  43. ottootto1968 (31 months ago | reply)

    Beautiful colors and wonderful pov.

    Hello and good day my friend
    mario

  44. ramesh.rasaiyan (31 months ago | reply)

    Lovely capture...

  45. BAD DOG DIABOLO (31 months ago | reply)

    beautiful picture, great job!
    greetings

  46. NESIHO (31 months ago | reply)

    beautiful composition and super lights.. loved the color as well as compo.. very well done my friend...

    many thanks for your visits even while I was away.. Regards

  47. dbalyoz (31 months ago | reply)

    the colors are fabulous in this!

  48. Peter Ribbeck (31 months ago | reply)

    Lovely light!!
    Not bad for straight out the camera.

  49. Gochac fotografía (31 months ago | reply)

    Preciosa esta imagen del otoño.

  50. flatworldsedge (31 months ago | reply)

    Thanks! Specular Highlights - the flashes in the bokeh! I think they're generally just called bokeh - but I think pedants woudl distinguish!

    Thanks for everyone's comments - much appreciated!

  51. flatworldsedge (31 months ago | reply)

    Thanks Ozibunanet for featuring on your blog - very much appreciated.

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