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   Canon 24-105mm f4 IS L Zoom Lens!

 

 

                                                                                                                                                           
 

This is my favourite zoom lens for travelling abroad and also for general use when I seek a change from my other gear. If I could only have one lens then it would be the Canon 24-105mm f4 IS L Zoom Lens on my Canon 5D MK1 DSLR camera.

This zoom lens (my copy) is exceptional for image quality throughout the focal range of the zoom and with its f4 'wide open' aperture at all focal ranges, the lens is great to use in all lighting conditions. There are only two obstacles to overcome when using this lens, the vignetting that occurs on the corners of images at f4 especially at the 105mm part of the zoom and distortion at the wide end of the zoom at 24mm. Both these areas are quite easy to 'fix' in software and as I always shoot my images in 'RAW' file format, neither is a problem.

 


The lens is well built as you would expect for a Canon L Lens and it has the distinct red line around the front of the lens barrel to signify the L. The zoom ring is smooth to use and there is NO zoom creep. Coupled with my 5D DSLR, the overall size and weight which includes a fitted filter and hood, does not pose a problem for me at my age as long as I support the combination when it is hanging around my neck by the camera strap. I usually cup the camera and lens in my right hand as I am walking around.

 

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When it comes to using the combination for landscape work, it is superb. This image of the castle at
Sirminone at Lake Garda, Italy is an example of a 'classic' tourist shot and you will often see a similar image of this scene on travel magazines promoting this Italian holiday.

I visited Lake Garda in 2006 with my girlfriend Carol and we travelled mainly by boat around the lake. The towns around the borders of Lake Garda are utterly superb, especially if you are romancing a woman. I still managed to get a few pictures as I had just bought my 5D and 24-105L lens and I was desperate to try it out.

The 'Castle' image was taken 'hand held' at 55mm, ISO:200, aperture f22 and shutter 1/100secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software. I tried out the lens at f22 to get a large 'depth of field' covering the water in front of me all the way back to infinity.

This
next image was taken at Giza in Cairo, Egypt. A difficult shot with the Sphinx in the background and I half expected the guard to warn me off but he just smiled. I had always wanted to travel to Egypt and that trip in 2008 consisted of three days in Cairo and eight days travelling down the Nile by cruiser and visiting the towns and most of the temples. It had taken me six years to persuade Carol that it was safe to travel there and we both enjoyed the holiday. I found Egypt one of the safest countries I have ever visited, it was properly policed as every country should be and armed guards were at all the docks and the temples.

The 'Sphinx' image was taken 'hand held' at 58mm, ISO:100, aperture f11 and shutter 1/160secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software.

There was quite a large distance between the guard and the Sphinx but at an aperture of f11 which is well stopped down, the lens held the 'depth of field' and the image quality remained excellent.

This next image was captured in Venice, Italy and when I saw the brightly coloured umbrella, I could not
resist it! The artist was a 'cool' dude, sitting in the middle of St Mark's Square.

The 'Artist' image was taken 'hand held' at 65mm, ISO:200, aperture f4 and shutter 1/800secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software. I wanted the background slightly blurred out so I shot the image with the lens 'wide open' at f4 and it is not bad.

We travelled in Venice by boat and my stock images on this website all reflect a great number of shots taken from a moving platform. The lens stood up to the movement and the image stabilisation performed very well to steady scenes for capture. I of course steadied Carol with one hand, whilst taking pictures with the other..............ever the true romantic!

Prague is probably one of the most beautiful cities in the world and I would recommend
visiting it, especially in the warm summer days and nights but if you are adventurous it can be very romantic even at Christmas time for a winter week-end, all wrapped up warm and snug and out in the snow amongst the Christmas lights.

One warm summer, Carol and I went there for a weeks holiday and enjoyed the magic of the place. I managed to get a fair number of images, once again see my stock page, and once again we used the boats a lot, travelling up and down the river.

This image of the three musicians standing by a 'Bass Resting' was a nice scene and I snatched the shot whilst walking past. It was taken 'hand held' at 73mm, ISO:200, aperture f9 and shutter 1/100secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software.

The next image was captured at Pafos, Cyprus and is a picture at night time of the 'Fort' in the harbour
area.

This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 24mm, ISO:800, aperture f4.5 and shutter 1/20secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software.

The image quality is not half bad when you consider that it was taken at a fairly high ISO rating and was 'hand held' at 1/20sec shutter speed. The lens image stabilisation seriously delivered for me.

I have taken shots even slower than this at night time and each time the lens has not let me down. Quite remarkable when you consider that the widest aperture I can achieve is f4 when usually I would prefer f1.4, f2, on a 'prime' lens for low light or night shots.

Cyprus is the 'all year' holiday place to visit, the weather is great during all the seasons. I have been there
a few times with Carol and it is usually a holiday for just 'chilling out'. This shot was taken from the back of the 'Alexander the Great' hotel overlooking the sea at sunset. We were relaxing and I was drinking a very large cool 'rum and coke' which was in my left hand and my camera was in my right, sneaking a few shots at the sunset. Carol has this right eye that seems to raise itself up when my camera appears near my face.

This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 58mm, ISO:400, aperture f5.6 and shutter 1/500secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software.

This next image is quite extreme and I never expected it to be reflective of the actual scene. It was taken in Cairo during that 2008 holiday and I was walking back to the hotel with Carol, when I grabbed the shot.

We had a very nice meal in the revolving restaurant up on the top of the Hyatt Tower and
during the walk through the back streets to the bridge where the shot was taken, Carol whispered "there is a man following us'. I laughed and explained that the guy was an armed policeman keeping an eye on tourists and sure enough he gave us a wave as we walked onto the bridge which was part of the main street.

This image has 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 60mm, ISO:800, aperture f4 and shutter 1/10secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software. Can you believe that shutter speed and remember I paused, fired the shutter and then kept on walking................fearing the wrath of C.

The Canon 5D DSLR and the 24-105L lens is an amazing combination. I invariably shoot in aperture priority; set the aperture and the camera sets the shutter speed (dependent
on the ISO rating used). With all of these images, I made minor adjustments with the + and - controls for exposure compensation.

This shot of the kids at Lapad beach near Dubrovnik, Croatia was one of several but I liked the silhouette of the figures in this image against the bright contrast of the setting sun.

This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 40mm, ISO:100, aperture f8 and shutter 1/25secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software.

I love the bokeh of the 24-105L lens. It is surprising that even at f4 and at some distance to subject, it still
delivers a very reasonable 'out of focus' background.

This image is of our tourist guide, he loved his red torch, which was often hidden from him, much to his annoyance! Here he is, in one of his typical 'informative' routines, as he swirled around to make sure that all the party was still there and had not wandered of as usual.

Its not the best of 'constructed' images but it catches the moment and delivers the memory of the occasion. As the main subject he stands out fairly well from the background, all be it that it would have been better if he had been more to the right, away from the guy at the back. This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 105mm, ISO:100, aperture f4.5 and shutter 1/800secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software.

As well as nice bokeh, the combination delivers great colours.
This image was taken in a church at Cavtat a town in Croatia. Its a great place to visit and is a few miles out of Dubrovnik. We went by coach which was a little bit hairy on the road that travelled around the cliffs, especially as I was the one looking down from the window of the bus. I suggested that we returned to Dubrovnik by the ferry boat which took 40 minutes. 

This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 67mm, ISO:800, aperture f4 and shutter 1/50secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software.

Rome is a lovely city and there are so many opportunities for 'classic'
tourist shots. I think it is important to get those type of images and many photographers call them 'snapshots' but as I get older and l look back on them, they remind me very much of the moments of my life with Carol. It is very difficult to achieve very much else with photography when you are in a romantic city with a girlfriend but now and again something different can crop up as you are walking about.

This image was taken at the Colosseum and I thought the parasol was a lovely colour and a contrast to the ruined, grey walls of the building. It was deliberately shot at aperture f4 to place the background into a slight 'out of focus' perpective and yet it still manages to capture the atmosphere of the ruins.

This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 73mm, ISO:100, aperture f4 and shutter 1/1600secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software.

Whilst walking about in the Teatro Di Marcello area, I looked up and saw this
figure high up on the building. The lens delivered the goods and the shot places the figure slightly to the left to highlight the frame work of the building around it, I think it adds a bit more atmosphere? There is red paint or chalk on his face and I can only imagine that someone managed to climb down from above to do the dirty deed.

This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 80mm, ISO:100, aperture f4 and shutter 1/800secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software.

The Canon
5D MK1 DSLR and the Canon 24-105L Lens are more than capable of producing monochrome images converted from colour or by setting the camera to black and white in 'RAW' file format. Either way it really does not make a great deal of difference as I use Lightroom to post process my 'RAW' files and at that stage, I can select colour from a black and white shot and vice versa. I usually shoot in 'RAW' standard colour file format.

If you ever visit Lake Garda in Italy, try and travel down the lake by boat to Lazise. It is a beautiful town and you can spend all day there, it has a lovely harbour and waterfront. Mind you all the towns around the lake are fantastic to visit. I loved the lamposts in Lazise, beautifully ornate and great for pictures.

This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 45mm, ISO:200, aperture f11 and shutter 1/100secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software, softened and converted to monochrome.

Further up at the top of the lake is Riva, a town that nestles against the cliff faces
on one side with beautiful mountains as a back drop. It has an 'old world' style harbour which cuts into the centre with cafes, restaurants and hotels overlooking it. One day I am going to go back to Lake Garda and really spend some time on my own to 'do justice' to the diversity of the subjects for my photography. This image of the bicycle against the lampost with the hotel and harbour as a back drop turned out very nice.

It was at Riva that we saw Barry 'Manifold' I call him that, I always have but I don't know why? Mr Manilow was there as a guest along with George Clooney for a lavish wedding that week-end of a local dignitary. Barry was 'off duty' dressed down and blended in very nicely, I don't think anyone 'cottoned on' who he was...............no, I did not take his picture, the man was enjoying his visit and deserved his privacy.

This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 24mm, ISO:200, aperture f22 and shutter 1/60secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software, softened and converted to monochrome. Most photographers might avoid f22 but I often use it for a very large 'depth of field' and especially with an image that I might later soften. In any case the 24-105L lens still provides very good image quality at that aperture.

Edfu
is a little town on the Nile in Egypt. The cruiser docked there and we travelled through it by horse and carriage. This image was shot with me hanging out of the side of the carriage and the lens image stabilisation really 'cut the mustard'.

The 24-105L lens with the 5D DSLR, has never given me a bad image. Sure some pictures might suffer from a poor layout but they are always in focus where they should be.

This image has not had any 'noise reduction' applied and it was taken 'hand held' at 73mm, ISO:200, aperture f6.3 and shutter 1/250secs. It was developed in Adobe Lightroom Software and converted to monochrome.

The is no such thing as a perfect zoom lens, especially one from 24mm through to 105mm. This lens has its weaknesses but once you recognise them and work with them, this lens is simply awesome for travel on a 'full frame' digital sensor DSLR camera.

To visit Canon's website, the link is - Canon UK.

To see more images from these holidays - please visit my Stock page. I am in the process of converting all my 'old' Front Page webs to Adobe Lightroom versions.

 

 

 

If you have enjoyed this article - please donate to my Charity of Choice   -   The Sick Kids

 

Richard Lawrence
Scotland
United Kingdom

 

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