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Photo by Sparky Stensaas / www.stoneridgepress.com
Wide and wider
My wide-angle lens lay in two pieces in the back of my van. The lens was completely and utterly destroyed. Only minutes ago I had been shooting Duluth’s Amity Creek; a slow shutter speed made the river a flowing ribbon and a small aperture allowed the Juneberry blossoms in the foreground to stay sharp. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Lightning flashed. Then, a sudden downburst caught me a hundred yards from shelter. [Note to self: Always carry extra plastic bags in the camera bag!] I covered my camera with my coat as best I could and ran back to the van. “Torrential” is the only word for rain like that. I opened the side door and hurriedly placed the tripod, with camera still attached, into the back. The legs stuck out so I shoved them in. Big mistake. That is when the lens torqued in two.
I did not mourn much. It WAS a Canon 28-70mm f4-5.6, a lens that came with every Canon Rebel and one that you can pick up used for about $60. And it was only wide-angle on full-frame cameras. On my Canon 10D, at its widest, it was a very “normal” 45mm. Fortunately, I had just ordered a new Sigma 10-20mm lens the day before. It would be the equivalent of a 16-32mm lens on my camera. I couldn’t wait to have a real wide-angle lens. Turns out I had to wait 46 1/2 hours.
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