Category: Photography

As a new Strava user and returning to mountain biking after a ~15 year hiatus, I was at times disappointed with the Strava segment UI. In order to find trails on Strava a user has to change the zoom level and scroll the map around until they appear. Some do not show zoomed all the way out and others do not show zoomed all the way in. This is primarily for non-road trails.
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To add to this I also ride in an area where there are (or were) no trails listed on Strava or trailforks. This is due to the area having a very small population but it is located in the middle of a large area of Australian bush – so there should be trails. I don’t expect quality single track with such a low population but even the fire trails are not mapped. 

So I went about riding what was available on google maps and added the trails and side trails to trailforks for other holiday makers in the future. None of it is amazing but did lead to finding another “trick”. When creating segments on Strava and making them public, old ride times from other riders were added – some were six years old. This then opened up access to their rides and other trails in the area I had not found that were not on Strava.

So if you are in an area that lacks strava or trailforks data and want to find more local trails I suggest creating strava segments for the sections you ride (not too long otherwise other riders may not have ridden them), waiting a week or so then the leaderboards for these segments will be populated. You can then check out other rides that include this segment and also stalk the other riders profiles if they are locals for more trails that are not listed.
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This is a very good question and I hope to shed some light on which lens to pick when shopping, or help you decide, as I had to, which lens to sell. This is primarily your decision but there are a number of factors that are outside your personal shooting style I think everyone should take into account if making this choice.

This article is intended for users with crop sensor DLSRs. For example Nikons D90, D7000, D5100, D3200, etc. Canons lineup includes the 7D, 50D, EOS 550D and 650D. On these bodies the approimate field of view for a 50mm is 85mm and the 35mm is 50mm (80 and 56mm respectively).

The decision of which lens to keep if you have both is probably easier to answer than picking the lens to buy. Obviously you can easily go back through your photos and count how many are on one lens vs the other and this method is suggested as a way of picking quite often online. This can be done via EXIF info. Picking your most used between the 50mm and 35mm would be an easy way to do this and many sources online suggest doing it this way. The result will be your most used lens, not necessarily your favorite.

In my experience when travelling with both a 35 and 50mm I used whatever was on the camera. It did not matter which lens was mounted and for most things either would suffice. Obviously there are some cases where a 50mm is too long and you cannot get a shot because there is no more room behind you. Likewise needing more reach with a 35mm.

So how do you decide between these two lenses?

I would look at the quality of the two you have on offer – for instance I picked between the 35mm dx 1.8 and 50mm 1.8 “nifty fifty”. I took the 50mm because I did not like the bokeh/out of focus on the 35. I also like the background separation on when using a longer lens.

To top it off my plan was to go full frame in the future, and the 35 DX is not overly great there. Picking a lens that suits what you like to shoot and enjoy taking photographs with is more important than counting photos and comparing specifications.

Birkenhead point is ok for outlets and stuff at certian times of the year. The rest of the time its not overly cheap, much like DFO.

My other half decided she wanted to go shopping so I went for a walk up to the Ironcove Bridge and its new duplication. I should have jumped the fence for the awesome underneath shot of the original Ironcove bridge but I was feeling soft on the day.

D80 + 50mm 1.4G

This lens gets decent reviews around the internet and is usually applauded for its bokeh and being decently sharp. I guess it is, however I am not a huge fan of its out of focus areas. The bokeh can be nice if there is not too much light variation but gets hideous quickly hideous and not smooth at all under some circumstances.

Perhaps the 135mm unit I picked up on ebay for about $30aud is not from a good batch, or the fungus on the front element is affecting it (I doubt it for the bokeh) or my taste is more expensive. For the money it is a good buy, but I would probably advise against using it on a crop, focusing is a little challenging but this could be rectified with a focusing screen.

It is decently sharp when stopped down a bit and is sort of ok wide open, if a little soft. My Vivitar 135mm copy suffers from fairly bad chromatic aberration and ghosting when shooting into the sun. The ghosting may be a result of the fungus on my front element, however due the age and coatings (or lack of) from the time it is possible its just not all that good.

The lens has a dicky little hood that is annoying and cool at the same time and makes me wish there were more lenses with these in production still! Much like the Nikon 135 f2 DC.

Overall I enjoy shooting it but do not think it deserves the praise it receives.