It’s time to do a retrospective – a good 6 months later! Istanbul was new as a photography experience, because
- I took a full frame camera for the first time, the mighty Canon 5D
- I had a standard zoom as my default lens, the Tamron SP 28-75mm f/2.8 – I normally use something goes beyond on the long end
- I had more control over depth-of-field
Normally, when we’re on a “high-pressure vacation” with my wife – with overloaded days and no time for anything but snapshots – I normally take the Nikon D7500, which has an autofocus system and even low-light performance that eats the 5D for breakfast, despite the sensor size disadvantage. So how was the 5D? Quite predictable actually.
- Heavy! This makes no sense, as the 5D + Tamron 28-75 combo weighs in at 1419gr, whereas the D7500 + Tamron 18-400 – which is usually on the camera is 1425gr combined, so pretty much the exact same figure. Also, the 5D has better weight distribution with the Tamron 28-75, yet this felt heavier. Might have been false perception, knowing that I carry a FF camera…
- Absolutely amazing colors. The old-school Canon color science is really up to its reputation. It’s far from neutral, yet incredibly pleasant. A whole different world from a late-generation CMOS sensor’s output.
- Depth of field control is nice, but it’s no replacement for composition. I do have some great pictures, which wouldn’t have been possible with a smaller sensor, but I don’t think I’d feel “missing out” the next time I don’t have the same shallow DOF option. Shallow DoF is all the craze as of 2024, but I’m not sure images without a story and context will hold up very well in our family album.
- Having a better lens makes a huge difference. The Tamron SP 28-75mm is far from being the best standard lens, yet it’s leaps and bounds better than any superzoom I’ve ever used (except the Leica 14-150mm maybe). The level of detail is astonishing compared to my usual gear.
- I really missed stabilization. Except for the 70-300 USD which I also had with me, no other lens in my bag had optical stabilization. This was okay in bright daylight, but I really missed VC quite a few times and have blurry shots which would have been great otherwise.
- Changing lenses is not about time, it’s about telling a different story. Given that I had a 17-35mm and a 70-300mm lens, I was extremely well covered when it comes to focal range. But I had to switch the lens between wide / normal / tele. The duration of the exercise did not bother me – bothered my wife though -, but not having a broad focal range at your disposal does mean you’ll miss shots you want to take. Yes, you can get creative even with a fisheye lens, but you will tell a very different story of a boat trip on a telephoto vs. wide-angle lens. And if you don’t have the right lens on, the story might not be what you wanted it to be, but what your lens allows you to tell. This does take away from the creative freedom, and I still consider the IQ issues of travelzooms a reasonable compromise for compositional freedom.
Overall, although I’m not fully sold on full frame for a travel camera, it was tremendous fun, and there’s some added magic in using a landmark piece of photography history.