Ivan's 21st

My blog has been dry for a long long long time now because of frigging NS, where I have totally no time to shoot and it sucks hard. I recently acquired some great glass about several weeks back but really had no time to use it at all in a good field test. Ivan's 21st seemed like the perfect opportunity to use the 16-35 and the 80-200 that I bought, but after some deliberation, I decided against bringing the both the lenses and only brought the 16-35 as I felt I would probably get to test it more and a wide would be more useful than a tele for the party. I had some misgivings about the 16-35, since there were a lot of rumours about the quality issues for pre-2005 models, but I must say that the results did not let me down. The lighting was difficult, but the 16-35 still produced pretty good colour, contrast, and sharpness wide open. Could I have gotten it sharper and more contrasty? Yes, stopped down maybe one or two, but I was also testing the lens' capabilities so I kept it wide open all the way. I also tested the famous low noise capability of the new 5d I've acquired, and it's magnificent to say the least. The IQ that comes of the camera is very high, which shows up nicely on the gargantuan 2.5" LCD, a welcome change from the 1.8" one i used to have on my mark II and certainly much better than the 1.5" puny one on my 350d. Could I have made the shots better with a flash? Yes yes, of course! The flash would have been a highly suitable tool for the event that would have dramatically improved several images. Did I have my flash in the bag? Yes, but I was also field testing the 5d, so I pushed it to it's limits by shooting at the expanded ISO 3200. The verdict is it looks great, but I'm still unused to the 5d interface and I often missed quite a number of shots. The AF tracking of the 5d is also nowhere near as fast and accurate as the 1dII I'm used to; the af was unable to get a lock on a number of occasions. However, I constantly reminded myself that I switched in order to do more landscapes and less events, and so yep, I've been spoiled by the MKII's interface, and so now I'm going to learn how to do more with less. I've still made a resolution to get another 1-series when I start working proper jobs again though, I think it seriously makes a difference. Hurhur.

Anyway, enough crap, here are the images! Not that great I know, but hey, it's my first outing with my new buddy, plus I've not been shooting for quite some time so I'm a little out of touch =). The party had fantastic Indian food, please introduce me to the caterer. The prata was to die for, I'm going to look for that "The Prata Place" outlet. Ok everyone got dunked, except me, cos I was really really against going in and fought for my life. Jamie's phone proved itself to be waterproof to some extent. Lol.

One of my favourite images of the party, CBCHO after getting dunked. damn I love the 16mm perspective.


Ivan dunking CBcho.


The guys, JC was there too! Joshua, Ian, JC, Jamie(from left)


Jamie and Deb, where my lens managed to resolve the pores. Hurrah! Jamie ruined this nice photo of course. Don't worry, I'll do another set for the both of you sometime.


Jamie and Ivan, the birthday boy.


Ian and Nicky, both very wet from getting dunked.


A group photo of all of the guys in the pool. I pity the owner


Ian, Slain


Joshua, about to be slain. Panning technique was off, but oh well.


One of Ivan's friends from perth, getting raped.


And the photo I loved most, although it's an abstract of sorts. Reminds me of lomo rubbish I like to take. Hurhur.


Ok am off to church now. Tata.