Lenses - Focal Length

What lens(es) should I get?

This is the most common question anyone will ask when they first step into the advanced world. Normally you don't get these questions when there are no promotions around. However, when retailers throw in a sweet deal of bundling a lens at a much lower price, the heart / head starts to be moved.

For hobbyists / enthusiasts / pros, this is a simple question. They know what they want. So, I'll let this post be targeted at the amateurs / beginners / whatever you want to be called.

We'll concentrate on the focal lengths in this post. All lenses come with a certain focal length. 18mm, 24mm, 18-55mm etc etc. These figures mean nothing to a beginner. So, to make it easier to understand, I've taken some pictures. Most websites will display 1 picture, with multiple boxed in pictures within. I'll be different and post all individual focal lengths, so that you can actually see what each length is going to give you. Some things to note:
- Weather was hazy, thus the pictures aren't great.
- Focus is on the tower right at the center of the pictures.
- Pictures have been re-sized to 1280 width, with no other post processing done.
- All pictures are taken with the camera mounted on the tripod, meaning, the camera is fixed in a position.
- I've included all the common focal lengths between 18mm and 200mm, so that you know what you are looking at when you are thinking of a new lens.
- I used the Nikkor 18-55mm and 55-200mm on my D7000 to get these pictures.

18mm wide

24mm

35mm

55mm

70mm

105mm

135mm

200mm telephoto

As you can see, 18mm fills your frame with tons of landscape, thus earning this the "wide angle lens" name. As you increase your 'zoom', you get nearer to your subject (in this case, the tower). This, will be your telephoto end.

A beginner will most likely be tempted to get such a lens, covering from 18mm to 200mm. This is a good choice for a travel lens, as you are less likely to miss shots due to not being able to zoom in or open wide. I use my 18-105mm frequently when I'm out with my family, as the range is good enough for my style. Do note however, that such lenses have their cons - the sharpness of the pictures you can achieve, the low light capability when shooting night scenes etc. I won't be talking about these, as you'll be able to find the information easily when you search for the reviews of the lens(es) you are interested in.

That's it for this post. I'll talk about the aperture of the lenses in a future post.

EN-EL15 Battery recall

Nikon has issued a statement recalling 2 batches of batteries. These batteries are used for D7000, D800/E and Nikon 1 V1 cameras.

Check out the
Nikon Singapore recall here
Nikon USA recall here

I got Lightroom 4 for free!

Ok, the upgrade version actually. How?

I ordered a copy of LR3 when Adorama had it on offer (US$79.95, Valentine's day special, 14th Feb), with free shipping within the US. I shipped it to my comGateway address and had it shipped back to SG for US$12.86. Total cost: ~S$116.

Adorama was oversold on the special price, and by the time they restocked and my LR3 arrived in SG (12th Mar), LR4 was already released. With the new pricing for LR4, I was 'in shock'. At that point, I decided to upgrade to LR4 at a later time.

Mar 26th: I was itching to get LR4, so I went to Adobe SEA website. Once there, I saw that there was a free shipping offer til Apr 1st, so I decided to place my order. Order placed. Confirmation email received.

In the email, it was stated in bold that if you ordered the Creative Suite, you may be eligible for a free upgrade to CS6 in the near future. I thought to myself: How about LR? Does this policy apply as well?

Order Confirmation Email

Curious, I followed the link and read everything. Then, I contact Adobe Live Support. To my surprise, I was eligible for the free upgrade!!! All I had to do was provide him with my serial number and the invoice for my purchase and he will be able to send me the upgrade. As I was not home and do not have my serial with me, he opened a case for me to update (case 1). Then came the next issue: I need to cancel the order I just made. Live Support was not really good with this. He kept saying the order number I provided him was not valid. Adobe orders begin with ADxxxxxx. He simply refused to accept the reference number.

As I wanted to cancel the order quickly, I confirmed with him about the contact number in the email to call. Everything checked, I 'released' him and proceeded to call Adobe Customer Service.

The call was routed to somewhere out there on earth, and I was told the same thing by the lady on the phone: my order reference is invalid, and that I did not order from Adobe's website. I stood my ground and told her to check: "I visited the Adobe SEA website, not the US site. This is the order reference that came in my mail. It can't be any other distributors/resellers, please check." She decided to put me on hold and talk to someone. Good move. Seems like the other guy knows something. When she returned to my call, she had already cancelled my order, and I was able to confirm it by logging into my Adobe account. However, she was not able to confirm whether my credit card has been charged, so it ended up with another open case (case 2). I monitored my bank statements for the next days and the good thing was, the order was cancelled, and I was not being charged.

Case 2 closed, Case 1 was updated as soon as I got back home. It took Adobe support quite a while before someone took up Case 1 again (4th Apr). The update stated that they have verified my serial and approved the free upgrade.

Upgrade approved

 I am, however, to provide them with my serial number (again?!), shipping details and contact number so that they can ship the item to me. I was taken aback by this request as according to my Adobe account, these details are already there. I proceeded to respond and questioning why there was a need to supply these info, since they can already retrieve it, but there was no reply to this question. And for shipping: I actually asked if they are going to ship me the CD or just provide me with the serial. Response I got:

LR4 Upgrade Shipped!

Well, kind of clear cut response eh? The order was shipped from Teckwah Value Chain on the 16th, and reached my place on the same day. It was the boxed upgrade version. That's it, my free LR4!

Kudos to Adobe for having this "Post Announce Upgrade" program. This will keep their sales volume up, even when a new version is about to be released. =)