L lenses question and a White balance question

[Trumper]

Are the L series lenses always white in colour?
I ask this because i was lucky enough to be able to borrow a friends 100-400 L IS lens on holiday.Because of this i was very aware of my responsibilities to it's well being.
The problem was that although other photographers were quick to say nice things about the lens even if it was only attached to a D30 [since discovering the sharpening tool i have fallen head over heels in love with this old trouper again] but i was very self concious of anyone else not so amiable getting their grubby little mitts on the lense as well by hook or by crook.
Do they make the L series in black as well so it doesn't stand out in a crowd?


The next question,on my D30 the Auto White balance seems very blue and cool,i have been using the sunny settings on the white balance menu and it seems 100% better,any ideas please.
Thanks for looking.

I have enclosed a sharpened and unsharpened photo of Whitby Church taken on the D30,is it normally this soft?

[nigelch]

Not all L lenses are white, just the long ones. They are a little conspicuous, but the kind of folk who would bang you on the head to steal the lens would still steal it if it were pink!
I would refer you to the other thread about sharpening, but my question is; how the hell did you get a picture of Whitby Abbey with the sun shining? I have been there several times over the years, and it ALWAYS rains!
Nice light,
N

[davepgh1]

The black "L" lenses have a red stripe on them, and are much larger, therefore anyone who knows lenses will spot them.

[Jim_T]

On the lenses... The white ones have a red stripe too.. (It's a universal 'L' trademark).


On white balance.. It's pretty subjective... Basically it's what you like.. If white balance is important, then you should be shooting RAW, or if you prefer JPEG, then you should be setting up a custom white balance for sunlight using a grey card..

Edit.. On the softness.. You should have posted unsized crops of the image rather than shrinking the whole image down.. Shrinking an image tends to mask softness.. Yes.. The early Canon DSLR's didn't use as much internal sharpening as the point and shoot cameras.. As a result they tend to need more sharpening to look the same..

[GyRob]

i think white balance should be what YOU want it to be as long as your happy with it, i often make my pics warmer because i like them like that , and yes it is a little soft well the one i tried was.
Rob.

[Perfect_10]

my 70-200 L has a black lens hood .. is that correct ??

[Incomplete Pete]

Originally Posted by davepgh1

The black "L" lenses have a red stripe on them, and are much larger, therefore anyone who knows lenses will spot them.

Larger?! The black L lenses are the small ones, 200mm or less!

The reason the L lenses are white is, for one thing, down to exposure as they are aimed at pro use so they always stand out on the sidelines. They're also white because white reflects better than black, thus they won't heat up in the sun and distort the lens, somethign which isn't an issue on the smaller lenses, but as they get the bigger they're more prone to distortion.

[RTMiller]

Originally Posted by Perfect_10

my 70-200 L has a black lens hood .. is that correct ??

That's correct.

[Trumper]

Thanks for the replies,regarding the sun at Whitby we were very lucky [hates to rub salt in the wound Gulp] we had sunshine for nearly 10 minutes LOL.
I was'nt sure about the size of pictures we could post on here so kept them small,if i can i' ll crop some details for you.
I could'nt shoot RAW i took 860 photos in 2 weeks up there,i would've needed so many cards or a storage device.

[davepgh1]

Originally Posted by Incomplete Pete

Larger?! The black L lenses are the small ones, 200mm or less!

.

Reading the original post, I think that "Trumper" was suggesting that black "L" glass would not draw as much attention. I was comparing black "L" with "non-L" glass, and the red stripe and size would still make them stand out. I get as many comments on my black 16-35L and 24-70L as i get with the white 70-200L IS

[Trumper]

Yes ,the white stands out to everyone whether they know what they are looking at or not,a black coloured lens to someone not into photography just looks like a black lens.

[ron chappel]

I'm not sure if your particular D30 is overly soft but it is entirely normal for canon DSLR's to give softish images with standard settings.You have to bump up the in-camera sharpness settings (if the D30 has them) and/or sharpen in photoshop.

Are you aware the the D30 suffered from a slight colour cast? There were lots of hints and fixes being bandied about when the D30 was all the rage.Maybe the white ballance issues are related to that?

Here are some links about how to fix the D30 colour cast and manipulating white ballance in general
http://www.lonestardigital.com/D30_Colors.htm


http://www.edigitalphoto.com/tips_te...05edp_playing/