Andrew Kelly Art & Photography: haddo house

6 Oct 2011

Carl Zeiss Distagon 35mm f2 & 28mm f2 ZE Review (with pro wedding testing)

*UPDATE MARCH 2012* You can now view my video review of these lenses here

Just over a month ago I was looking to purchase some wider lenses for my Canon 5D MK 2, I looked into all the options, Canon, Carl Zeiss, Sigma and Tokina. I previously owned the Canon EF 16-35 f2.8 II lens which although proving very good I never used it wider than 24mm so there was a lot of wasted focal length and I wanted a faster aperture than 2.8 (f2 would be even much better for that extra stop of light), So I decided to sell it and invest in a faster prime wide angle as I knew the prime would give me better overall image quality and a wider aperture.

After doing plenty of research into all the different options I quickly ruled out brands like Tokina who don't have any full frame fast prime lenses in the 24-35mm range. Sigma have a 24mm f1.8 and a 28mm f1.8 which are quite dated now and from what I found weren't all that great when used wide open. I did look into older manual focus lenses being used via an adapter but the stop down metering (darkening of the focus screen when closing down the aperture) was a deal breaker as it made it nearly impossible to focus in lower light. So that left Canon and Carl Zeiss in the running.

Canon have the L primes that everyone rates very highly, the 24mm f1.4 ( a nice fast aperture but at £1429) and the 35mm f1.4 (again very fast aperture at £1220). These lenses would obviously be a great choice, they have really fast apertures which is brilliant in low light and for isolating subjects from backgrounds, they are Canons luxury line so they are very pricey which I would pay if they produce the stunning image quality I was after.

Canon also have a cheaper range of lenses in this focal lengths, the Canon EF 28mm f1.8 (small, lightweight and is fast but not brilliant when used wide open) and the Canon EF 35 f2 (fast but an older design that is very noisy when auto focussing and has a horribly small manual focus ring). To be honest these two were never really an option as I know that they are not built great and I wanted lenses that would withstand a good few years of professional (ab)use.

22 Sept 2011

Kayleigh & Kenny's Wedding

"Me and Kenny were looking for a photographer to capture our special day in August 2011, we didn't have to look very far as Kenny had told me all about Andrew and how brilliant he was.

Needless to say he did not disappoint, such attentions to detail and focus.

We were very lucky to have such a talented photographer.

He caught all the emotions of the day, providing us with ever lasting memories.

The pictures were absolutely fantastic, left me speechless.

Andrew made me feel so comfortable that I forgot he was there half the time.

Thank you for making our day that bit more special"

Kayleigh Samantha Richardson

Kayleigh and Kenny got married on the 26th of August in the beautiful surroundings of Haddo House and whoever picked that date deserves a pat on the back as they couldn't have asked for better weather. The venue was an amazing place, you could have chosen anywhere in or around the venue to photograph and it would have looked great with the huge gardens, surrounding trees and the stone building, it was a perfect setting.

It was a truly great day filled with great moments and great people. Congratulations again to the newly weds. I wish you all the best and I hope you like the photos.

Above is the slideshow that tells the story of the day and turn your speakers on and volume up as there is music. Below are some of my personal favourites from the day.

The gardens at Haddo House were stunning. I could have spent hours photographing Kayleigh and Kenny in all the different locations.

We did some more shots out the front of the building which had a lovely big stone staircase that made for a really nice backdrop. The rough concrete textures of the building contrasted with the beautiful long white dress to make for some great almost fairytale like images.

There were some treats in store as the evening kicked off with Kayleigh and her brother performing one of the coolest and funniest dance routines I have ever witnessed, I could hardly photograph it from laughing. It was a work of genius. I hope someone filmed it?