The Terra Galleria Blog – QT Luong

DAY 10: Before breakfast, a few early rising photographers took a walk around Hoang Kiem Lake, the heart of Hanoi, just five minutes from our hotel, to see early rising residents exercising on the shores of peaceful lake in front of Turtle Tower.

Our highway stop on the way to Halong Bay included a embroidery and stone carving workshop.

Upon arrival at Bai Chay, we boarded our own Indochina Sails boat (identical to the one below). I was surprised to see it didn’t have a natural wood color.

New regulations had just been passed six months ago, compelling all tour boats to be painted white in order to give Halong Bay a distinctive look.

After lunch, our first stop was at Luon Cave tunnel that we could explore either on a sea kayak, or on a row boat, which turned out to be the choice of most participants.

We then climbed steep stairs on Titov Island to reach a high vantage point with great views.

From there, we saw some of the more than 3000 limestone islets rising from emerald waters which make Halong Bay the best known natural wonder of Vietnam.

The evening was rainy so unfortunately there was no color at sunset, but the lights of the boats began to shine at dusk, making our overnight stay worthwhile.

DAY 11: We started with an early morning Tai Chi session on the deck.

We checked out the Vung Vieng fishing village comprised of floating homes where some residents used their feet for paddling.

The islands feature endless numbers of beaches, grottoes, and caves. For our last stop, we walked through the huge chambers of Sung Sot Cave.

On our way back to Hanoi, we made the same highway stop, which was excellent for souvenir shopping with good choices at reasonable prices.

We visited the village of Bat Trang, which is well known throughout Vietnam for beautiful ceramics which have been made there for seven centuries.

DAY 12: On the final day of the tour, we were scheduled to have another walk in Hanoi, but since the participants who didn’t leave in the morning had an evening flight, and therefore a full day, we decided to visit Ninh Binh instead.

Ninh Binh is often referred to as the “Inland Halong Bay”. We took a beautiful trip on the Sao Khe River in Trang An amidst karstic mountains, gliding into a number of caves, some so narrow that we had to crouch into the rowboat in order not to bump our heads with stalactites.

After lunch, we visited Hoa Lu, the first capital of independent Vietnam (968-1009).

We celebrated the end of a great photo tour with a drink on the rooftop Summit Lounge Bar at the Sofitel Plaza while enjoying panoramic views of West Lake and the Hanoi skyline.

Part 5 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

DAY 8: Since we skipped visits last afternoon, this morning we were heading to the Hue Citadel, rain or shine, to start a busy day. As it rained, our first stop was under the Ngo Mon Gate – looking respectively at the Flag Pole (Vietnam’s tallest) and the Palace of Supreme Harmony.

The soft light helped reveal textures and colors which would have been hidden in a sunny day as we visited the Forbidden City, the former home of the Royal family before 1945.

Our next stop was at the Thien Mu Pagoda, Hue’s oldest. Its landmark pagoda tower didn’t look great against a grey sky, but our guide Cong talked a few monks into staying into position for us.

From the pagoda, we embarked on a Dragon Boat for a brief cruise down the Perfume River, at the end of which our bus picked us up.

Our first afternoon destination was the mausoleum of Emperor Tu Duc. We photographed around the peaceful Luu Khiem Lake, where the Emperor spent his time.

We then proceeded to the shrine itself, consisting of the steele pavilion and the tomb.

On the way to the next destination, we stopped at a roadside workshop where they make incense sticks and conical hats.

Shortly before arriving in Thanh Toan village, we spotted this duck herder in the distance, amongst authentic countryside of flooded rice fields.

The Thanh Toan village is known for its covered bridge, only one of three such bridges in Vietnam.

The highlight, however, was simply strolling along the canal in the village, and observing the daily life of its friendly inhabitants.

DAY 9: This morning, we flew to Hanoi. Our first stop in the capital was the Temple of Literature, a famous millenium-old temple of Confucius which hosts Vietnam’s first university.

As the place is very popular with the Vietnamese, the grounds are enlivened by visitors (who were happy to pose for our photos) and musicians.

In the afternoon, I led a photo walk in the Old Quarter, where each street is specialized in a particular trade. Despite the bustling activity, I did not lose anyone – unlike our local guide who took out the non-photographers participants.

In the evening, we attended the Water Puppet Show at the Thang Long Theater.

By special arrangement, before and after the performance, we were able to visit the backstage to take a close look at the interesting apparatus and greet the artists.

Part 4 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

The year did not start too great. I had a flight booked for Hawaii to photograph the new lava ocean entry, but it dried out in the last days of 2011, so I cancelled that trip. I planned some winter photography instead, but I suddenly lost all mobility in one shoulder – making it difficult even to get dressed by myself. However, in the end, it was a good year during which I visited varied National Parks with extremes of weather, and captured a number of fleeting natural moments in the sky, before concluding the year with many locations in Asia.

In March, I traveled to Fairbanks, Alaska to photograph the Aurora. For my first attempt at capturing this magical and elusive phenomenon, I got lucky. We had great weather with several clear nights and great sky activity along the Steese Highway and the South Denali Viewpoint. However, because of the remoteness of the location, I like this image, taken over the Eastern boundary of Gates of the Arctic National Park.

We then drove the Dalton Highway beyond the Polar Circle to the beginning of the North Slope, which was an adventure in itself, amidst temperatures down to -30F during daytime past the notorious Atigun Pass.

At the beginning of May, I returned to Yosemite for a once-in a year opportunity. This time equipped with a rain deflector, I was at least able to photograph the moonbows (rainbows created in the mist of the waterfalls by the light of the moon) at close range. You’d think that Yosemite in May is warm, but standing in the extremely wet spray of the snow-melt water, I barely escaped hypothermia.

A few weeks later, I traveled to much drier West Texas to photograph a much rarer event, the solar eclipse of May 20 which was annular. I chose to travel that far destination because the eclipse would occur there close to sunset, with the landmark El Capitan providing an interesting silhouette.

I then re-visited the nearby desert National Parks. It was already hot in Big Bend – where I spent more time along the Rio Grande than in previous visits. Temperatures rose above 110 F.

Much closer to home, Pinnacles National Monument also gets fairly warm (temperatures above 100F are frequent). I normally prefer to visit in colder seasons, but I did a summer visit to complete my seasonal coverage, in anticipation of the Monument becoming Pinnacles National Park. It almost did not happen, as the bill would have expired at the end of the year, however the US Senate did approve it on a Sunday Dec 31st session !

In September, I embarked on a wide-ranging road trip thought the National Parks of the Colorado Plateau. I revisited many parks with the goal of creating night landscape images which were not possible even half a decade ago, enjoying the challenges raised by changing moon phases from the new moon to almost full moon. The half-night that I spent at the mystical False Kiva, from sunset to moonset was particularly memorable.

On that same trip, I also looked for fall colors in unexpected places, and at least found a way to set up foot into the Maze District of Canyonlands National Park, an area that I had planned to visit for a long time, but where my (relatively) fuel-efficient car was a definitive limitation. This left me wanting to see more of the remote areas of the park, for which a quick fix was to take an overflight near sunset time. I particularly enjoyed seeing from the air places to which I have hiked before, such as Chessler Park.

In late October, I had the pleasure of leading a Vietnam Photo Tour which managed to visit in 11 days an incredible variety of sites in South, Central, and North Vietnam. Thanks to our participants for making this tour a success, and to my co-leader Phuoc Babcock for putting forward first rate logistics, with the very finest hotels, restaurants, and transportation available in Vietnam. A great time was had by all.

After the tour, I explored Taiwan by myself for a week. I returned to Vietnam during the winter break so that my children could discover the country of their ancestors and meet with their extended family.

DAY 6: The day started in Hoi An with a nice sunrise over the river, caught just a few minutes walk from our riverfront hotel.

After breakfast, we boarded a small boat to observe the river life.

After navigating a narrow river channel, we came to the small pier of the Cam Kim Village.

We walked into the village, entering two homes uninvited – no invitation nor previous acquaintance was required ! – after which we enjoyed a conversation using our guide as a translator.

On the way back to Hoi An, we got a second chance to photograph fishermen casting their nets, as after spotting them on the river, our guide asked them to repeat this immemorial gesture for us.

We had a bit of time for a last walk in Hoi An, and for some participants to collect their custom-made garments from the famed Hoi An tailors – assisted by tour director Phuoc who did double-duty as a shopping consultant.

After lunch in Da Nang, we photographed coracle boats on a beach on the Da Nang Bay, as a storm was brewing.

The drive between Da Nang and Hue is known as one of the most beautiful coastal roads in the world, culminating at the Hai Van Pass, however, we stopped only shortly at the summit since it was in the clouds.

As we arrived in Lang Co, the rain stopped, and although the sun did not appear, we enjoyed dramatic clouds as we photographed the activity of fishermen in late afternoon.

DAY 7: From our beachfront cottages in Lang Co, it was just a matter of walking down a few steps to the sandy beach for sunrise.

We then photographed checked out fishermen’s activities.

A drive on a local road on the lagoon side provided with more photography opportunities.

Before leaving Lang Co, we took a short walk into the authentic village which hasn’t been touched by tourism yet.

As we got on the road to Hue, it started to rain heavily.

Instead of visiting the Hue Citadel in the rain, the participants opted for a photo sharing session which we held in the bar of the Saigon Morin Hotel, while enjoying drinks.

Part 3 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

I wish everyone a year 2013 full of happiness, health, and success. My sincere thanks for your continuing readership and interest in my photography.

11PM Dec 31, 2012. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.

DAY 4: The previous evening, we saw some Saigon landmarks. In the early morning, we saw a more authentic Saigon by walking in narrow streets, checking out the so-called old Saigon market (a street market), and then the Ben Thanh market before proceeding to the airport.

After landing in Da Nang, the pace changed. We climbed steep stairs on Thuy Son, the largest of the five “Marble Mountains” which consist of five marble hills, each said to represent one of the five elements of the universe. Many sanctuaries dot the hill. We first paid our respects at the Linh Ung pagoda.

After exploring two smaller grottos, we made our way through lush vegetation towards the main cave.

The highlight of the Marble Mountains is the huge Huyen Khong cave, one of the most beautiful Buddhist caves in all of Asia.

We drove to the ancient town of Hoi An, and had a bit of free time to explore the streets before dinner.

Our stay was timed to coincide with the Lantern Festival, when the Old Quarter turns off its street lamps and fluorescent lights, leaving its streets bathed in the warm glow of paper lanterns. After dinner, we walked towards the landmark Japanese Bridge, which was teaming with activity.

We stayed late for night photography until the streets were almost empty.

DAY 5: The next morning, there was a bit of free time before breakfast for checking out the market, just a few blocks from our hotel.

We then headed to My Son to explore the ruins of the vanished Champa Kingdom that ruled over South and Central Vietnam until the 17th century, arriving before all except one tour bus.

Back to Hoi An, we toured a paper lantern and silk workshop where we saw all the stages of silk production, from raising cocoons to embroidery.

After lunchtime, we spent the hottest hours of the day inside for a session where we reviewed images from last night’s session and shared tips to get ready for the next one. We then followed our outstanding local guide Cong for an old quarter town walking tour. We started with the Quan Cong temple.

After another temple visit, we obtained special access to a high vantage point in a private house from which we got a good view of the town’s tile rooftops.

The walking tour concluded inside the Quan Thang house, one of the finest historic houses in town, which is still inhabited.

We then heading towards the riverfront, where we photographed the moon rising at dusk before heading to dinner when it got dark.

Afterwards, we welcomed a second chance to photograph the Lantern Festival activities.

Part 2 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Since I am currently in Vietnam for the holidays, that’s as good a time as any to start a series of postings about the 2012 Vietnam photo tour. Those postings will illustrate all the sites that we visited during the tour, using images I took during the tour, with the goal of providing past participants precise location information, and prospective participants a good idea of the locations covered.

Let me start that by thanking our photography participants Alan, Barry, Faye, Kendra, Mark, Ron, Vicci, as well as non-photographers Barbara, Deborah, Guity, Fahemeh, Kim-Quyen, and Sally, for making the tour a success. I enjoyed your company. It was a pleasure to work with such fine photographers and people.

DAY 1: we attended the noon ceremony in the Great Cao Dai Temple (also called Cao Dai Holy See) in Tay Ninh to learn about this home-brewed syncretic religion.

Upon return to Ho Chi Minh City, we visited the atmospheric Jade Emperor Pagoda in late afternoon.

DAY 2: In the morning, we visited the Thien Hau Pagoda in Cholon.

We entered the watery world of the Mekong Delta with a ride on the Mekong from Ben Tre and then on a sampan in a narrow canal of Phoenix Island

On the way, we stopped at a family-run facility where coconut candy is made and wrapped by hand.

The day ended with a sunset over flooded rice fields, and then a river on the way to Can Tho.

DAY 3: We were in position on a bridge before sunrise to capture a distant view of the Cai Rang floating market in Can Tho.

Afterwards, we got in our own boat to explore the floating market from the water, even boarding one of the merchant boats.

We left the boat and we photographed inside the nearby Cai Rang market.

At the highway lunch stop, we sampled some interesting foods were. Upon returning to the Majestic Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City, there was a choice between a technical photography presentation or free time in the afternoon.

In the evening, we took in a panoramic view of Saigon and its notorious traffic from the terrace of the Rex hotel and from the plaza in front of the People’s committee building (former city hall).

Part 1 of 5: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

During the last two weeks of September, many photographers travel to Colorado to catch the fall foliage the state is deservedly known for. They congregate mostly in places such as the San Juan Mountains or Rocky Mountains National Park. I was in Colorado too, however I was looking in other places, part of my quest to photograph each of the National Parks in different seasons.

Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park

On the canyon rim of Black Canyon of the Gunnison, color is mostly provided by scrub and gambal oak, both low growing shrubs. All the trees visible on the rim are conifers, however looking down the canyon revealed a few deciduous trees on the slopes and along the river which formed dots of color. As it dropped in elevation, there was more dense color along the seldom visited East Portal road than anywhere else in the park, including a few sizeable clusters of aspen.

Great Sand Dunes National Park

The Great Sand Dunes themselves are devoid of trees. One of the factors that make those dunes unique is the presence of a creek at their foot. Medano Creek is dry in the fall, but its flow in the spring and summer is enough to sustain a riparian environment with cottonwoods that turn golden in late September.

Mesa Verde National Park

Mesa Verde wasn’t a place I expected to find fall color. I remembered that due to high elevation, the ruins which form the main attraction of the park are surrounded by conifers. However the mesas and gently slopping canyons at lower elevations, from the park entrance to Far View, are covered with shrubs. They unexpectedly turned the whole landscape crimson towards the end of September, almost like Alaska or New England hillsides.

The third objective of my September trip was to create some seasonal images (first was night photography, second was further explorations of Canyonlands). I found it satisfying to make my own discoveries rather than photographing vast expenses of color in places which are well known for them.

Canyonlands National Park is divided into three districts of distinct character by the Green and Colorado rivers: the Island in the Sky, the Needles, the Maze. Even at the most developed district, Island in the Sky, no water is available outside of the visitor center. The most primitive district is the Maze. Since I had not visited it before, one of the main goals of this trip was to remedy this situation, as I endeavor to visit each distinct area of each National Park.

Driving into the Maze requires a high-clearance, four-wheel drive vehicle. Not any vehicle: most SUVs won’t make it without damage. Local favorites seem to be older Toyota Land Cruisers (with lift and special tires) and Jeep Rubicon/Wranglers. The most remote road-side location in the Maze, the Doll House, requires 9 hours of driving from Moab – only 2 hours less than from Los Angeles to Moab – although it is only 35 miles as the crow flies. There are no roads within the park, nor bridges that directly link the three districts, so you have to go around the park. Once you are inside the park, you have to contend with some extremely difficult four-wheel drive roads, where driving over rocks is barely faster than walking. It’s not a good place for an inexperienced four-wheel drive driver to travel solo. A tow-truck rescue costs thousands of dollars.

Fortunately, there is a shortcut. Instead of riding a bumpy road all day, you can access the Doll House by the river. Floating down the Colorado River down to its confluence with the Green River is fairly popular, however most paddlers prefer to get a ride upstream. Two companies which provide such a service are: Tag (which I used. Cost: $250) and Tex. The boats which pick up padders can also drop off and pick up backpackers.

I did not want to drive to the Canyonlands Visitor visitor center (one hour away) just to get a wilderness permit, but although the rangers at Arches were not aware of that, the owner of Tag told me that I could get one at the headquarters on the outskirts of Moab (2282 Resource Boulevard). After photographing at sunrise in Arches National Park, I got there at opening time (8am), paid the helfty $30 fee, and was on my way. For people with a vehicle, there are only three campsite sites at the Doll House, which are often claimed, but as a backpacker there were little restrictions over where I could sleep.

The ride on the Colorado River from Potash to the Confluence takes only about two hours and half. Besides the interesting river-level views, it is quite a thrill. The specialty boat, propelled by jet, speeds over 30 mph on calm waters. It needs to make sharp turns, not only to follow the meandering river, but also to avoid sand bars, during which it leans dramatically. All the talk on board was about an accident that occurred a week before my trip, when a jet boat struck a sand bar resulting in injuries to eight people, the first accident of that type in Canyonlands.

The boat dropped me off at Spanish Bottom, shortly after the Confluence. The well-established trail to the Doll House is only slightly more than a mile, but it gains a thousand feet of elevation from the river, and I was carrying a fair amount of gear (including two full-size tripods) and a gallon of water. Guides that I met at the Spanish Bottom thought that this not may be enough, and generously left a water jug for me. I eventually didn’t need it, probably because after the breeze from the jetboat speed, the September heat felt so oppressive that instead of hiking the trail to the Doll House in mid-day heat, I took a nap to wait for it to be in the shade.

I arrived at the Doll House in the afternoon. It was beautiful and I appreciated the feeling of isolation, especially at night where no artificial light was visible.

As it reminded me of Chessler Park in the Needles district, with its whimsical brightly colored spires encircling a meadow-like flat, I wished I had more time to explore the area further, in particular the area called the Maze, which gave its name to the whole district. However when I made the booking for my trip with Tag-a-long, there was some miscommunication, as only two people in the company would have been able to arrange my custom itinerary properly. I got to spent only one night there, since there were no pick-ups the next days. Besides wandering the Doll House, I had time only to check out the trail to Behive Arch, the Surprise Valley overlook (first image) and an ancient granary.

I plan to return – maybe even next year – with a proper vehicle.

More images of Canyonlands National Park
More images of Maze District

This is a review of the Nikon 14-24 f/2.8 lens from the point of view of a Canon user. However, Nikon users will find the sections about filters and focus shift of interest as well.

Canon has many great lens offerings, but their area of weakness has long been the wide-angles. Both the two Canon wide angle zooms deliver unimpressive performance unless stopped down at least two stops, and even though the corners are significantly trailing in sharpness compared to central areas.

On the other hand, the Nikkor AF-S 14-24mm f/2.8G ED is considered by many as the best wide-angle zoom ever made. As I was looking for an ultra-wide angle lens that I could use wide open for night photography, I looked at the 14-24. It is an expensive lens (currently $2000 at Amazon), fraught with several drawbacks, but consider that the Canon 14mm/2.8 costs more, and in those comparisons was clearly inferior, and suddenly it becomes a reasonable proposition.

A bulky lens

The 14-24 is quite big and heavy. It weights a bit over two pounds (969g), has a front diameter and length of about 5″. The front element is curved like a fish-eye lens – although this is a rectilinear lens, making it quite exposed, and rendering the use of filters difficult (more on that later). It looks like Nikon set out to design an exceptional wide-angle lens (they succeeded) with a no-compromise design. Canon users will notice that both infinity focus and longest focal length are on the left, whereas on Canon lenses they are on the right. Here a picture of the Canon 16-35 and the Nikon 14-24 side by side. Notice the size difference of the lens caps !

A great optical performer

The good news is that in my own testing, as expected, the 14-24 outperformed the Canon 16-35/f2.8 II. Here is one image example. Canon 16-35 on top, Nikon 14-24 at the bottom, both 16mm, f/2.8. Note better correcting of vignetting with the Nikon.

Here an actual pixels crop from the left end of the skyline. Note how much sharper the Nikon is.

To guard against sample-to-sample variation – always a problem as my previous testing has shown -, I tested two samples of each lens. Needless to say, I kept sample B. Here are the Imatest results (the most reliable way to measure lens performance, see this post for an explanation of numbers and methodology). Note that the results stopped down underestimate the real performance of the 14-24 because I didn’t refocus the lens (more on this later). In each graph, is Canon on top row, Nikon on bottom row (marked as “50mm” by software because no EXIF data is available to the Canon body from the Nikon lens).

Flare resistance of the 14-24 is excellent. Here is an example with the sun in the frame:

Focus shift

Extracting the absolute best performance from the 14-24 is tricky because this lens suffers from “focus shift”, which means that as you stop down the lens, the focus point changes slightly. So if you are going to shoot at f/5.6, you should focus the lens at f/5.6 because if you focus at f/2.8, once you stop down to f/5.6, the lens will be ever slightly out of focus. Focusing at f/5.6 is more difficult than at f/2.8 because the image is dimmer and the DOF is larger (making the in-focus/out-of-focus transition more difficult to see), but at 100% liveview on the 5D mark 3 it is possible – The 5D mark 2 made it even easier. On the other hand, liveview on the D800 leaves much to be desired. From what I’ve seen so far, focus shift is a subtle effect – the shift is even different in the center area and the corners – but one can be readily observed by pixel-peeping or measuring resolution targets. However, I’ve read somewhere the claim that it can cut effective resolution in half in some circumstances. From an optical point of view, it is a quite curious effect, so I may elaborate on it in a future post. Fortunately, I bought the lens primarily for night photography, when I would be using it wide open all the time, so it hasn’t been a real issue for me. I focus the lens at infinity, wide-open, while there is still enough light, and tape the focus ring.

Filters

The 14-24 doesn’t come with filter threads, and the huge curved front element makes it more difficult to use them. However, there are a few solutions developed by ingenious small manufacturers. They are all quite expensive and bulky, but they work.

• Lee filters was the first to introduce a custom holder and filters specifically for this lens, the SW150 Filter Holder Kit based on 150mm square filters. It works fine for density filters (including grads), but doesn’t include a polarizing filter. Several photographers use a square polarizing filter from Cavision which needs custom fitting.
• Lucroit, in collaboration with Hi-Tech, the long-standing Lee competitor, has created a 165mm square filter modular system which can be used on almost any lens. Here’s the Lucroit kit for the 14-24.
• If you want to use circular, screw-on filters (including ND and polarizer), the most compact and least expensive solution is the Fotodiox system. The filter diameter is a large 145mm. It still adds considerable bulk: this will not fit in any camera bag ! Being all metal, it also weights almost a pound, making the 14-24 as heavy as a 70-200/2.8, and equally front-heavy. On the upside, this system provides additional protection for the lens and includes a solid metal screw-on cap. The Fotodiox system isn’t designed for a square filter, but you could hand-hold or tape one in front of it (if you tried to do so on the bare lens, this wouldn’t work as some light would get on the filter from behind because of the petal hood).

You can see below how bulky the Fotodiox system is, and how large a 145mm lens cap is compared to a 82mm lens cap: 82mm isn’t small (complaints were heard when Canon increased the 16-35/2.8 filter size from 77mm), yet it looks puny in comparison.

Using a Nikon G lens on Canon

Canon re-designed their lens mount from scratch in 1987 with the EOS system. As a result, it has two favorable characteristics: the shortest flange focal distance (distance between the mounting metal ring and the image plane) as well as the largest diameter of any of the major SLR systems. This makes it possible to use adapters to mount other brand’s lenses on Canon EOS, while the reverse is not possible.

In older Nikon lenses, the aperture is controlled by a mechanical ring. Inexpensive adapters work well for them. The 14-24 is a “G” lens without an aperture ring. The aperture is set by the camera body through the lens mount, so you need an additional lever to control the aperture, otherwise the lens would stay wide-open. Photographer Mark Welsh designed the first such adapter, which after a few iterations, was eventually manufactured by Novoflex. It is expensive, but it is precision-made, and the fit is perfect. The instructions suggest that you remove the lens weatherproofing ring, but this isn’t necessary. It just makes the operation of the aperture lever smoother. With the lens weatherproofing ring in place, fine control of the lever to 1/3 of stop is still possible, but it requires more force. Here’s a picture of the 12-24 with the adapter:

On a Canon body, you loose autofocus, which in itself is no big deal, but you need to remember to focus the lens. Mark Welsh sells on his site a version of the adapter with a chip that enables AF-confirmation. The problem is that the chip is merely glued to the adapter, and mine fell off (you can still see the glue marks in the picture above). Metering works normally in Aperture Priority and Manual modes, except that maybe because evaluative metering lacks information, it tends to be a bit erratic, resulting in frequent overexposure of up to +1 f-stop – easy enough to correct if you can reshoot. The difference in operation is that when you stop down the lens, it is actually stopped down all the time, whereas a normal lens stops down only at the time of exposure. It’s kind of like having the DOF preview button pressed permanently. Older PC and tilt-shift lenses with no aperture coupling (prior to the Canon TSE lenses for EOS) had to be operated this way. You set the aperture wide-open to compose and get initial focus, then stop down and refine focus and aperture with Live View. That workflow is pretty effective on a tripod, although a bit slow, but doesn’t work well for hand-held shooting. In fact, this workflow may be the best way of extracting maximum resolution from the 14-24 even for Nikon users, because of “focus shift” as described above.

To see some images made with the 14-24 mounted on a Canon EOS 5D mark 3, check my previous blog entry Southwest tour under changing moon phases.