I have previously written about 35mm being a natural focal length on a crop-sensor Canon DSLR body, as it provides a focal length that's quite close to 50mm on a full-frame DSLR body.
Because I don't find the 50mm focal length of the Canon 50mm f/1.8 to be very natural on my 50D body, I bought a Canon EF 35mm f/2 lens, and have been really enjoying it so far.



Here are some photos of the Canon EF 35mm f/2 lens.

side view

front view

I've been going through some photos from last year, and processing some that I hadn't previously found the time to go through. Here's one of my favourite images taken in Sydney last year in October, shot from Bradley's Head, looking towards the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Opera House.

cloud streaks over Sydney

Bradley's Head, Sydney, New South Wales
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @25mm, 25 sec, f/13, ISO100

I've cropped the image above (and other images from the same night) in a 2:1 aspect ratio, as it seems to suit these images, rather than having too much sky and water above and below the main subject.

Here's some more images from the same evening, showing the changing colours in the sky as the sun set below the horizon.

Some more wildflowers, photographed in Kings Park back in September.

unknown

Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @43mm, 1/1600 sec, f/5, ISO100

Tree Smokebush

Conospermum triplinervium

Kings Park, Perth, Western Australia
Canon EOS 50D, 24-70mm f/2.8L @24mm, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, ISO100

In September, I had the pleasure of shooting the wedding of Derek and Kelly-lee. The weather was fantastic, and we had a great day, visiting a number of lovely locations for bridal photos after the church ceremony.
Here's a selection of photos from the day.

I spent several hours on Saturday afternoon, replacing the ribbon cable to the aperture diaphragm assembly in my Canon 17-85mm IS lens.



As mentioned in an earlier post, my Canon EF-S 17-85mm f4-5.6 IS USM lens has been failing with "Err 99", and some testing indicated the aperture diaphragm assembly in the lens was failing under the following conditions:

• zoom was between 17mm and 24mm
• aperture was smaller than f/4

Apparently this is caused by broken connections in the ribbon flex cable to the aperture diaphragm assembly in the lens, and is a relatively common occurence with this lens.

I bought a replacement cable on eBay from these guys for approx AUD$12, with free shipping from Hong Kong, as I had decided to try repairing the lens myself.

new aperture ribbon cable

I'm not going to provide a step-by-step guide to disassembling the 17-85mm lens, as there are already a few such guides that I found useful:

• EFS 17-85mm IS f4-5.6 Err 01 Err 99
• Repair of an Canon EFs 17-85 IS lens

There are also some more photos from someone who completely disassembled their 17-85mm lens available here.

By following the above-mentioned guides, I was able to disassemble the lens, and replace the aperture cable. Here's a few photos showing various stages of disassembly.