ok, just for fun this morning! I wanted to take photos of these beautiful Plumeria rubra ‘Kaneohe Sunburst’, so I decided to try them out with the M5 and two different but similar lenses.

Both sets of images were imported to FastStone picture viewer and exported without ANY edits as jpg to my desktop folder.

Both images were shot with the same settings i.e. for the first two images ; ISO 320, f/8, and 1/60th slightly different focal lengths but that shouldn’t really affect the image output. Let me know what you think?

both are on the same picture style and WB settings also, everything is the same.

Ok this second set of images were taken at ISO 250, f/8, and again 1/60th.

Now bearing a few things I  have read recently, I think that we can with near certainty say that it is the lenses that dictates what strength of color and general rendition comes out in the final image, not the camera.  Along with, as I have read recently, which software you use to manage your raw files, but as I used the same software for both that also has no bearing on the effect of the output of these images.

Granted this is not strictly a scientific experiment, or I would have had my tripod out, and been taking them at exactly the same focal lengths. This was just a casual bit of fun, but still very telling for me, so what are your thoughts? just for fun! which one do you prefer?

So finally I bit the bullet and finally got myself a native lens for my Canon M. After having just got it and realising that I had a viltrox adaptor to use my Ef-s Lenses with(still very good), I wanted something a bit more compact and throw in my bag, after all the whole idea is to have a smaller DSLR quality camera.

A couple of things helped the decision outside of size,  the cost and the opportunity and the practicality.

The Cost; this is driven by the fact that i have little or next to no income, so everything is done on a strict budget. Now although the UK 2nd hand market is still holding it’s own, here in Thailand the 2nd hand market is plummeting. Primarily due to two things. One the Thais love all things brand spanking new! 2nd they don’t like used goods so won’t pay the prices we pay in the UK for them. So for the princely sum of £47 I got this unused kit lens which had never been on a camera , all within budget.

I also wanted a wide angle as I could afford and apart from the Canon 11-22mm stm ef-m this is the only ultra wide lens they do! I know that there is an 18-55mm stm ef-m and this too has good reviews for sharpness, but the 15mm just pipped it for me for the landscape, architecture and street photography i do.

So far and a few months on, I have no regrets, i love it, from it’s super lightweight to its very useful range of 15-45mm. It has produced amazing results and the only draw back….its not wide enough. Thats when i get my Viltrox adaptor out and clamp on my Tamron 10-24mm.

All the images in the gallery below were taken with the Canon Eos M and the 15-45mm EF-M lens.

I am been  re assessing my Lenses of late ; I have decided that I was going to sell three of my lenses, my 50mm 1.8,(sold now) my Tamron 17-50mm 2.8 and my Sigma 70-300 macro.(sold now) I was hoping to get enough money to buy the Canon 55-250mm stm brand new! Lighter and better IQ than the sigma.

Then I will have my Tamron 10-24mm, my Canon 18-135mm, and the Canon 55-250mm, so down to three very useful lenses from five which are getting very heavy and I find that I hardly use two of them now (50mm and 17-50). This will lighten my bag and give the range and quality I am after as I cannot get any newer lenses for some time. Carrying five lenses around is getting a bit much as I am now getting older.

So how have I found the 55-250 IS STM and what prompted me to choose it over longer  (70-300mm) lenses.

As with all these things I researched as much as I could on the Internet. The Sigma (previously review) is and was a lovely lens but with no image stabilisation and a hefty weight this was going to necessitate a tripod everywhere I took it. Not always practical, right? so i was looking for something lighter with image stabilisation built in.

I heard so many not so good things about the Canon 70-300mm (budget lens) that I decided that I did not want to waste my money and time buying and then having it sell it. Alternatively I had read and watched many reviews on the Canon 55-250 IS STM, what caught my eyes and ears was the word “sharpness”. Now as you know this is important for photographers who don’t want blurry images and because of its super inbuilt Image Stabilisation, this not only ensures that whilst I press my camera button it eliminates al camera shake that happens. It also allows me to take images in poor light and allows me to use wider apertures.

So I searched the Amazon equivalent, here in Thailand (where I currently live) on the online store Lazada. Now here we are offered not just consumer boxed products for high street sale, but what they call “White box” products. I have noticed a very few available on Ebay in the UK. These items are exactly the same as there high street consumer wrapped boxes but at a discount.

So to the lens, I got it just before a ten day trip to Danang in Vietnam  and was very keen to try it out, I was not disappointed, yes its image stabilisation is fantastic, it’s smaller and ohhhh so much lighter than I expected. Yet it delivers beautifully crisp sharp images across the photo.  It snaps quickly and silently into focus once I mounted it on my Canon 70D lens.  It also is as utterly silent as my Canon 18-135mm STM lens, sometimes I had to check that it was moving when focussing on near and far objects. Super STM Stealth lens!

So I don’t think I am going to be parting with this superb lens for APSC cameras anytime soon. It is doing and ticking all my boxes for travel photography, and my project photography.

After my Tamron 70-300mm macro lens broke(probably down to being thrown around in my back pack too much). I had to source another mid range zoom. Now as I commented earlier, I don’t use mid range zoom that much so I have elected to stay in the budget range but didn’t want to risk another rather plastic feeling lens that might fail again under reasonable use.

Enter the SIGMA 70-300 mm F4-5.6 DG APO MACRO lens. Not new, but second hand again.

Whilst I am here mentioning “second hand” for the third time, I would like to say that I have had four “second hand” lenses now and all of them have behaved flawlessly and without fault. So please do not be adverse to “second hand” lenses. Most people do actually look after their glass and usually sell to upgrade.

So this time I was out of Country but knew I was having a visitor from home arriving in 2-3 months. This gave me sometime to peruse the offers on Ebay and find a suitable condition item at a suitable price. Enter my nearly new SIGMA 70-300 mm F4-5.6, for the princely sum of £49. A steal! especially when I didn’t have to pay postage. When it arrived it looked like it had never been used.

I have since used it and I love it even more than the Tamron 70-300mm, it may not be as fast at focussing, but the images are so much crisper and sharper. The colours are spot on and there is little noticeable distortion anywhere along the range.

Not as heavy as I imagined it would be either. the one drawback is the end part does rotate when focussing, so this does make filters a no no, but honestly for the type of photography and the amount I use it I think this was an amazing bargain.

This Lens was the second in the kit lenses that came with my Canon 1100D, i actually think it was a better lens than the 18-55mm short kit lens, but again not practical to have on the camera all the time due to it’s range.

I got some amazing shots out of this lens and it was quick despite what some of the on line reviews will have you believe. Along with the great Macro (which isn’t quite a true 1:1 macro), it was really good enough for a budget option.

Any budget zoom of this range will struggle with very long distance photography but it does give you the distance(say shooting butterflies) or other crawlies and give you a beautiful crisp sharp image. I even managed to get decent bokeh with it too!

Sadly this wonderfully cheap lens broke on me early 2016 and I had to source another budget zoom as they are not my preferred type of lens to shoot with. That’s where the Sigma 70-300 DG APO comes in and is I think next on my review of lenses.

After my trip on the Silk Route in 2012/13 I decided that I did need to upgrade my basic kit lens.

This is where the Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD IF comes in. Another second-hand acquisition from a trusted on-line retailer  opened up a whole new World of sharp, kit lens properties. 2.8!? oh yes and very crispy and sharp it is too. I used this lens continuously before acquiring my Canon 18-135mm STM.

I did a lot of research on reviews on this one against the Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS HSM, at the time I wasn’t so keen on Sigma and felt there was still a little too much distortion at the wide end for me.

It is heavy and I mean HEAVY!at 569.1g thats just over half a Kilo it does sit heavy on the 1100d, but even more so on the 70d, and I don’t know about you but as you do more and more photography reducing weight becomes an ever growing priority.

So i still have it but it’s one of those lenses that I have grown out of if you get my meaning.

Great sharp lens, great IQ very rugged to the touch and solid feel to it. Another great budget lens

This is my favourite lens next to the Canon 18-135mm STM.

A great non image stabilisation lens for all those super wide angles for Architecture and city scape.

on my 1100d and 70d this lens distance actually comes in at an Ultra-wide angle 15-36mm equivalent focal length range. A very useful size and one that I lament not having on the silk route in 2012/13.

I bought this second hand from from Camera World for a shade under £300 in 2014. It still holds it’s price well.

It’s quite a heavy piece of glass for it’s short range and I do/have found as time goes on that the corners suffer from bad distortion at the widest end, but hey! that will teach me to push it to it’s limits on too many images. It does however do what it says on the tin, and remarkably well.

The front of the lens is a 77mm screw fitting, which does make it expensive if you want to buy filters to fit. The bonus of this is that it doesn’t rotate which does make a bit more user friendly.

I know that Canon have brought out a super STM 10-18mm wide angle lens and surely if I ever have the opportunity I will swap this Tamron out for the Canon version which reportedly has some stunning IQ. Food for thought for the future methinks!?

so the Canon EF-S 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM, well what an excellent lens.

I got this one when a small inheritance meant I could upgrade my camera from the Canon 1100D to the 70D. I was able to fit into the budget this beautifully quite and quick focussing lens.

Being the STM designation means that unlike the basic Canon kit lenses this lens will not buzz and whirr like a asthmatic dinosaur!! Well this one doesn’t, in fact it took me a little while to realise that this lens was indeed working as it should. It is so quite you think that it hasn’t moved  at all!

The range is great 18-135  and this makes it a great walkabout lens. It covers most of your travellers needs quite easily and again in hindsight I wish I had had this when I travelled the silk route.

Personally it is my go to lens on my current Canon 70d and would be for any APSC camera I would happen to own. It rarely leaves my camera except when i need to use my Tamron 10-24mm or my Sigm DG APO 70-300mm for longer distance shots It’s a great lens covering a good range and fast enough for most people. Oh and it’s silent!

i would say it’s a must have for most travellers

The Canon 50mm f/1.8 MKii was a later edition, it didn’t actually get to go along the Silk route with me.

I know plenty of people rave about these little lenses and i personally think you either love them or hate them. Yes, it’s small, yes, it’s light, yes it’s a f/1.8, yes, it’s cheap (compared to other lenses), and yes, it is a very decent lens….if you want to stand 2 miles away from something just to get it in the frame!!! OK I exaggerate.

This lens really does lend itself more in my personal experience to either macro or close up work. Or as a lot of people do a Portrait lens. Did I say it also has amazing bokeh?? well yes, it has amazing bokeh!!

When taking people images with the head near filling the frame it gives the most amazing background blur any photographer could wish for! Just not the sort of lens for Architecture.

Interestingly I was given my first one as a gift from my late mother in law, and I sold it because I never actually used it once I had tried it out and seen it’s limitations to my style of photography.

Even more interestingly I then when and bought another one second hand some two years later…what was I thinking? I still haven’t used it as much as I know I could do. It just doesn’t work for me!

Again absolutely nothing wrong with this lens, but for me I would be better investing in the 24mm version for my crop camera.

This was the basic kit lens that came with my Canon 1100D camera. Note it is the image stabilisation version. It was going to have to do as my budget didn’t stretch far enough for any wider or more specialist lenses. It was a Canon so it had to be OK right?

Suffice to say that paired with the 1100D it worked very well. I did feel a bit limited by its 18-55mm zoom range especially at the short end. when trying to fit in all those tall buildings(mosques and temples as well as some very tall spires I kept losing the tops or the corners. I found myself constantly fighting to get the whole thing in without standing forty yards away and losing the details.  Not forgetting of course the Dvarza Craters in Turkmenistan. In hindsight I wish I had gone for a super wide angle lens when I did this trip.

Not just because I was unable to repeat the journey again, but for all the amazing angles of view I now know I would have got. I guess you live and learn.

Don’t get me wrong there is nothing wrong with this lens at all, it’s light weight, smooth and reasonably sharp in the kinds of situations (bright daylight) I was using it. I would have just liked something wider and sharper.