Anniversary Excursion

This weekend was supposed to be a special anniversary excursion – but, due to things outside of our control (Coronavirus), that was all cancelled. We were supposed to travel to Santa Fe, New Mexico for a long weekend, and visit some of the places we haven’t been to for many years.

Well, instead of that, we spent one day at a special local wedding venue, and resort, just to get away from home for a short time, and feel like we were doing something special – since it is our anniversary.

My wife and I have been married 28 years today. It’s hard to believe, and it hasn’t always been easy to work through, sometimes very unexpected, things. Looking back, we’ve been very blessed – first of all, having been introduced to each other by my wife’s sister – whom I was working with in Cincinnati, Ohio at the time. Then, to be blessed so much over the years. We finally ended up in Texas, which itself has been a tremendous blessing. God is good!

So, enough about my wife and me. Here’s some photos of the very nice place we stayed. It’s called Camp Lucy. It’s very popular for weddings and other events.

I’ve been trying out Canon’s RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM lens for the EOS R camera, so these shots are all taken with that lens. For travel, walking and hiking, this lens on the EOS R is very nice. Light and easy to carry. For both landscapes, or for walking around the city, it would do very well.

There are a couple things about this lens you should know. First, it’s a very good quality lens. The images it produces are sharp, with good contrast, and good color. It’s not an “L” lens, so maybe not the best Canon has, but it is very good. Second, there is no focusing scale – so it’s really made for ease, light weight and not much manual intervention. That’s fine for most things I’d want it for. Also, focusing is all by wire – I mean, there’s no physical linkage between the focusing dial and the internal workings of the lens – it’s all electronic. If you don’t have the camera power on, you can spin the focusing dial as much as you like, and nothing happens. This is the same as my old 300mm f/2.8 lens – all electronic. I actually think this is not as big a deal on a mirrorless body – since nothing works without power anyway…

So, would I recommend this lens. Sure, for the right uses. What I wanted was an inexpensive, light weight, prime lens, that would be easy to carry around with my EOS R. I do a lot of walking with my camera – and I guess I was looking for something I could take with me that’s not too big and heavy. This fits the bill. If you’re looking for more than this, it’s probably not the best option for you.

I heard that Sigma is going to start making RF mount lenses. It will be interesting to see what they come out with – maybe I’ll be able to take one of those for a test drive soon!

I hope you all are staying safe, and figuring out how to do what you do in our new normal.