Size does matter...

[schmik]

Added some white space. Woo hooo the 70mm ltd should be here tomorrow

[Eaglerapids]

Beautiful series of photos:-).

[Mike Cash]

Originally Posted by Parallax

You're right about the flash. There is a lot of work, science, and psychology that goes into lighting museum exhibits. A flash is an excellent way to screw it all up in a.....................(sorry for this)....................screw it up in a flash.

Actually, depending on the type of museum (and what they have on display) there are two much more important and pragmatic reasons behind prohibitions on flash usage:

1. Repeated exposure to flash is said to be damaging to some paint/pigments/dyes/fabrics/etc.

2. Facilitating visitors' ability to take outstanding photos themselves eats into sales of photo collections in the museum gift shop.

[farfisa]

Originally Posted by schmik

I took the kiddies to the museum the other day. I thought it would be a great opportunity to use the da 40mm. So i threw the lens on the k100d and flung it over my shoulder. When not using the camera i barely knew it was there.

I observed another parent there with an SLR, it was a canon (literally). The lens stuck out about 6inches (without hood) and the flash protruded a good 6 inches off the top of the camera. It looked like a pain in the a55. The thing was huge. The flash lit up the entire zoom (and the rooms are big in a museum). This attracted lots of dirty looks.

I liked my shots from the day, even though a little faulty. The 40mm is a little slow for such a dark environment, well it was for me on the day because i used ISO800 not ISO1600.

I like the 40mm indoors but in a museum i could have gone longer, like a 50 or even 70. ... anyway, i have the A 50 1:1.7 and just dropped the coins on a 70mm LTD. Hopefully the half stop extra will serve me well. Unfortunately I can't use the 50 in those situations because kids don't know what 'stay still' means. AF is a must. Tough! because the exhibits would have been excellent with the 50.

Having said all that. I small(ish) dslr with a tiny lense was a joy to sling over my shoulder and take with me.

cheers
mike

Actually, the 40 looks like it was a good bet--sometimes bringing fast lenses encourages you to open them up a little too often and you end up with less detail. f/2.8 is a great aperture for indoor stuff.

The 70 is supposedly a little sharper at 2.8 too (though you have to peep to notice), so they'd be a great team next time. Luckily, because of its size, there's never a reason you need to leave the 40 at home, and the 70 is almost as light!

Great shots!