Bronte Pool 6:30am, morning swimmers

the nifty 50

Today’s images are all shot with 1 lens, my 50mm. I love the 50. If my house was burning down I’d probably grab the 50. It was my 1st (and only) lens when I was a teenager. It’s the lens that I have with me all the time. A 50mm has a similar focal length to what my eyes see. It’s awesome for portraits, architecture and landscape images. Not so good for shooting surf, as you can’t get close enough from the beach, but if you’re swimming with your camera it works great (little bit hard to focus in a housing sometimes). It’s also quite small and light, so walking around is a breeze. Sometimes lugging 14 kilos of glass on your shoulder with a big lens drives you mad, especially if you’re climbing wet rocks or hiking a few km’s. That is why I walk funny. Yeah I know I know…the 50mm can cost a fair bit of dough (in the thousands for a fast one)…but you’ll have it for life.

If you’re not a camera buff the above may seem like another language. The swell is tiny and from the SE. Bondi had knee high waves and the sun is baking as we cook to 27 degrees – yes, hit the beach!

Manly Australia Open of Surfing is on today. It’s such a shame it’s so small with all that talent in town. One day we’ll have a big comp in Sydney and actually get waves. Jag it, like NYC did last year at the tour stop.

Later :: uge

Having a rest in between laps

Serena, on the hunt for some waves

Bondi 7:10am, Sarah Grant

Bronte Pool

Bondi 7am, cool off

The girls, catching up

12 thoughts on “the nifty 50

  1. Its a happy coincidence that some days I am listening to Slava Grigoryan’s “Another Night in London” cd at work and then your email comes in – the music works so well with your amazing images. Your photos always cheer up this Canberra “landlocked” girl.

  2. I just bought myself a 50mm (1.8) and it’s a great lense. Prime is interesting, fun and makes you think about composition more than the zoom.

  3. I love the 50mm prime, but I feel it’s far from ideal when you use it with a crop frame sensor which I don’t think is your case here, is it?

    I love the style of photos facing the sun like the last one – it’s really amazing. What is the trick to do it without overexposing?

  4. Nifty 50….

    you’d like a song an irish friend of mine wrote that was a cult hit over there after folk singer Christy Moore played it on TV after hearing it in a petrol station.

    It’s not about his 50mm lens but about his 50cc moto, and how ‘rapid and nifty’ it is. Check it out and with some tweaking of the words you’ll have a song about your favourite lens!

  5. Geez a few days of crap surf and everyone is talking about lenses. We really shouldn’t encourage Uges other passions. It could be dangerous 🙂

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