Blast from the past.
My gradually accelerating LBA started snowballing last month. When it goes from, what lenses do I need? to, hey, that looks nice! you know it's LBA. I thought I was being clever by confining myself to K and M series glass, but that's not really much of a limit.
Kind of like picking up shells on the beach. Except more expensive.
Plus, there's the thrill of the chase -- oh look, a K 30/2.8! Didn't help that I've been laid up all week with a bad back (finally getting better). Left me all too much time to obsess over gear, trawl eBay, etc.
Stop.
Instead of checking eBay yet again I decided to look back at shots I've taken with the kit lenses. So here are a few favorites from summer 2007, when I had just bought the K10D with the DA 18-55 and 50-200.
Just after getting the camera we had a trip to the NC mountains, and lots of opportunities for a favorite subject -- wildflowers. Here's a Carolina Lily, showing that even the kit lens is fast enough for good subject isolation in a closeup (31mm @ f/4):
Back home about a week later, on a riverside hike, I got what remains one of my favorite images -- an Elephant's Foot aster (55mm @ f/8):
and on the same hike was lucky to get close to a perching hummingbird, a female Ruby-throated. This is the 50-200, at 200mm of course, wide open (f/5.6), on a tripod. I did as much sharpening as I felt I could get away with on the bird while leaving the rest only mildly sharpened. The 50-200, my copy at least, is just not a sharp lens, especially wide open. This is a crop, of course:
On a trip to the NC coast later that month I spent lots of time with the camera, and while I didn't get many keepers, there are a couple of landscapes I like. Salt marsh (18mm @ f/8, mild crop and not-so-mild PP):
Sunrise (18mm @ f/16, 1.5 seconds, desaturated):
And the following month, a trip to the VA mountains. Maples (18mm @ f/4, PP for fake bokeh):
A month or so later I bought a dedicated macro lens, so this set represents a particular era -- the basic kit. Next time I feel the LBA urge I'll probably post another set. Thanks for stopping by. All comments, C&C, etc., welcome and appreciated.
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