Sunday, December 7, 2014

It is your camera, a UV filter and a lens hood offer peace of mind

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Why are some people frowning on using a UV filter on a camera? Because it adds a layer of glass to the lens, the resolution will be lowered and image quality is sure to suffer. And it costs money. In fact, these same people claim camera stores are making more money from selling these "useless" add-ons.

As a heavy user of my favorite camera, I would rather have a layer of protection for the front lens element. sometimes I would touch the lens inadvertently when putting on or off the lens cap. Think of smudges, chemicals doing damage. Having a UV filter is a small price to pay for ensuring no damage for the front lens element.

If you really feel that a UV filter is unnecessary, a lens hood is another safety add-on. It gives a mechanical protection, especially when taking macro photos, as objects will generally bump into the lens hood, but accidents can never be avoided. Sticks or insects, leaves may get squeezed or squished if you focus closely to the subject.

I lost the original Fujifilm lens hood in a bus when it fell off and rolled off to parts unknown. It was a thin piece of plastic and I am happy to find a replacement with a two-piece attachment adapter. It is also thicker than the original one and is reversible collapsing so the camera will be shorter and fit better in the bag. One problem when using lens hood is the posssible vignetting of images. It can be made worse if both UV and hood are attached. It adversely affects the minimum focal length, from 24mm to a value near 50mm in my case. One can quickly remove the hood when shooting. Or one can remove the UV filter and see if the vignetting problem goes away when using a lens hood alone.

Here is a photo of my HS50EXR with UV and lens hood attached.


My 58mm JJC lens hood set me back for P450.00 though you may get a discount when paying cash.


My UV filter is by LVISHI

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Unknown silver streaked leaf plant with tiny flowers.


I first saw this along a Teacher's Village sidewalk while walking to my sister's Special Education school. The residents of this Village have planted flowering and foliage plants. The specimen which was not flowering at the time, more than one year ago, has not been identified even until now. Imagine to my pleasant surprise I found a similar plant at the Quezon Memorial Circle in Quezon City with flowers! I was overjoyed at seeing it but still it has not been identified. I hope someone recognizes it immediately from the current photos.




Monday, December 1, 2014

A ficus?


I do not know if this is the same ficus ampelas which bear red berries. I am amazed it shares some characteristics of a ficus elastica, but the leaves of this specimen are much smaller than those of the rubber fig.




All photographs taken with a FUJIFILM HS50EXR camera at Philcoa,University Avenue, Diliman, Quezon City.