Visiting Door County Wisconsin in the winter

The Reindeer poop raffle

We were once again at beautiful Door County Wisconsin last November. We were curious to what was going on there during winter and we went after thanksgiving.

The signs at Egg Harbor marina

Thanksgiving I guess was one of the last holidays that you'll be able to see a lot of shops open there. After that, a lot of them close for the season. That didn't discourage us from going around to see what was going on.

Pink Bakery. One of Egg harbors famous stores.

One fun event we saw was a game where you'd place a bet on a numbered square and they'd walk a reindeer around. It wasn't really a real reindeer but rather a baby cow. Wherever the baby cow poops, that corresponding square where the poop lands wins a price. Unfortunately the reindeer didn't so the people just did a raffle instead.

The Egg harbor marina in winter.

Then we wandered around Egg Harbor and it looked like it snowed there the past couple of days and the Egg Harbor Marina was white with snow. I took that opportunity to take some winter shots of the marina which came out pretty nice.

The Alexander Noble house.

Fish Creek shops were open when we were there and it was nice just to walk around there at night. The town was decorated with lights for the holidays and it was a joy to walk around and take shots. I had brought my Canon 17-40mm f/4 and my Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye together with my 6D and 5D MK2 bodies. It's always a joy to take landscape photos with that equipment around.

Another view of the Alexander Noble house.

The holiday decors around fish creek was a joy to photograph. We found a couple of trees that were decorated around town. It was nice to photograph the Noble house during winter. It looked very peaceful with snow around it.

The Confectionery in Fish Creek.

One of the displays in Fish Creek.

A dock in Ephraim.

The frozen docks in Sister Bay.

There was really nothing going on in Sister bay that week. there was a craft show that we missed that weekend and that was it. Although Going around their marina is pretty awesome during winter. You can photograph the water covered in ice. Pretty neat with my fisheye lens on.

Sister Bay shoreline.

Sister Bay shoreline.

The shoreline in Ephraim.

Then we went to one of our favorite places in Door county, Ephraim Village. It was a joy to walk around the shoreline and take photos of the docks and the empty establishments. It was really kinda odd to see Ephraim Village empty during the winter as it was one of the most busy towns during summer.

Benches in Ephraim.

Naperville Illinois lights tour

The trolley that we were in.

Christmas eve of 2013, we decided to go on a trolley tour in Naperville Illinois. Naperville is a suburban city of Chicago. Voted as one of the best places to retire in the United States, it is a really neat place full of restaurants, shops and a lot of places to go.

Very nice light display with a very nice message.

My wife saw an online ad for trolley tours and decided that we should do it with her family.  It was a very smart idea to do a tour a couple of hours before Christmas day. It was cold, but it was pretty worth it.

The brightest part was the deer.

For this tour I decided to bring 2 bodies and 2 lenses. I brought my Canon 5D MK2 and my 6D, together with my trusty Canon 24-105 f/4 and my 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens. I was going to use the fisheye lens to take a photo inside the trolley with the family but I ended up using the lens in the entire tour. I let my wife use the 5D with the 24-105 installed.

Very nice display in this neighborhood.

The 15mm f/2.8 was excellent for the tour. Being very dark, the lens allowed me to shoot in low light without setting my ISO too high. The best thing about it is that it gave me a weird point of view in all of my shots.

Looked like the owner spent a lot of time decorating this house.

Christmas lights are always mesmerizing. A lot of houses in Naperville were decorated nicely for the holidays. It was indeed a very nice place to go during the holiday season.

One of the more colorful light displays on the tour.

Nice capture on the side of the house.

Being inside the trolley was kind of a challenge for me because the widows were fogging up and I had to wipe my window clean each and every time I took a shot. I also had to watch out for the glare coming from the window. Other than that, the tour was fun, and I was able to get a lot of interesting shots.

My best shot of the night.

The trolley tour was great. The tour ended up giving all of us smiles in our faces. I was just glad to experience the nice lights in Naperville this holiday season.

Door County Maritime Museum in Sturgeon bay WI.

Ship models everywhere

As we were going around Sturgeon bay in Door County Wisconsin, we saw the maritime museum near downtown Sturgeon bay and decided to check it out. This is one pretty neat museum. A lot of interesting things to see and watch.

The museum is big. 

The museum has 2 floors. The bottom floor houses a lot of naval history, models, and much more. The second floor has a pirate exhibit as well as a pirate painting gallery. A lot of stuff to see.

The dioramas are very fun to look at.

The bottom floor has never ending displays of model boats. From tugboats to warships...this museum has everything. The dioramas as so entertaining to look at. I was so glued looking at a diorama of an old building with excellent detail on it. Even the water was detailed.  I probably spent around 30 minutes just looking at it.

Those are tools that are attached to the wall.

There was a display of old ship building tools and there was a story on the wall telling how those tools aren't used anymore because of the way modern ships are built that those tolls weren't used anymore. It was kinda sad but it is what it is.

A real working periscope.

One of the most awesome display is an actual working periscope. You take a peek at it and you can see around downtown Sturgeon Bay. Being photographer, I was surprised how sharp the periscope was. The range of it was pretty good too. It was awesome to see one in real life.

This room displays engines used in boats.

A captains office.

A real decompression chamber for divers.

One of the most unique displays in the museum was an actual decompression chamber for divers. It was kinda freaky looking inside but it's nice to see a real one in front of you. Inside it was a mannequin of a diver being decompressed.

One of the fancier boats in the museum.

Being in a museum, I know my 15mm/f2.8 fisheye is a good lens choice to use. it is so wide that it gives you a very weird point of view. I love it...especially when I can shoot wide open at f/2.8 when there is very low light.

Another fancier boat.

Gauges in the engine section of the museum.

The pirate section of the museum.

The pirate section of the museum is actually pretty neat too. They have a miniature town with lots to see. There is actually a fake prison where you can go in and have your pictures taken. It also has a pirate dressing room where you can dress up as a pirate and have your picture taken.

Another part of the pirate section of the museum.

The front of a pirate ship.

The pirate ship display has a video game in it where you try to fire canons at a pirate ship to try to sink it. The controls are in the canons itself. I probably had about 6 tries until I destroyed the pirate ship.

The pirate ship equipped with a video game.

More boat models.

When visiting Door County Wisconsin, the maritime museum is one place you shouldn't miss. There is plenty of displays here which makes the museum really interesting.

My 15mm fisheye in downtown Chicago

The train going to Chicago.

Since I got my Canon 15mm fisheye I've been wanting to try it out where I can use its full potential. When I first got it we basically just went around our favorite botanic gardens and I tried the lens in there. Nothing really special about using a fisheye in a garden. Most of the time I ended up using my macro lens when we were there and my photos with the fisheye never really wowed me while I was checking them out on my lcd screen.

Nice reflections on the buildings.

One of my friends showed me some photos he took while he was in Chicago with his fisheye lens. I was pretty impressed. I then had the urge to go there and see for myself how the fisheye works in a scenery like downtown Chicago.

The bean at Millennium Park.

We went out the train station and all I saw was this concrete jungle. Structure after structure, the buildings were over towering everything. I decided to mount my 15mm fisheye to my Canon 6D. I took a peek in the viewfinder and I was wowed with what I saw.

Taken on a bridge.

This is where the 15mm fisheye shines. Pretty much most of the shots taken with it in an ordinary place were kinda ok...in a place like downtown Chicago, the 15mm fisheye is like gods gift to photographers.

The 15mm gives you unbelievable point of views.

Fisheyes are excellent in places where everything is big and sitting close to each other. It gives you a point of view where everything is just overpowering everything. Since it gives you a view 180 degrees from side to side, sometimes less, the glass is formed with a rounded surface which gives it that distorted, ultra wide look. Hence, this lens is for specific use only. Although I see a lot of photographers use it all the time.

At Michigan avenue.

I set my camera to manual mode this time. Since a big area is covered by my frame using a fisheye lens I kinda wanted to figure out the exposure of the image by myself, especially when there are a lot of variances between light and shadow in the frame. Going through tall buildings in the afternoon when the sun is kinda high, the difference between sunlight and the shaded areas can be great.

The Chicago theater.

By going with a manual setting, I closed my lens a bit to get the maximum depth of field. This is important when using a fisheye or an ultra wide angle lens. Since everything is pretty much in focus with a lens like this, you have to make sure that the sides of your frame are sharp. Setting up a narrow aperture is the way to do it. I then adjusted my speed accordingly to the light meter in my camera. Since  it was a pretty sunny day, I was able to get speeds up to 100/sec with no problems.

Rental bikes.

By walking from the train station to the magnificent mile, I was able to get a lot of shots of the magnificent landmarks in Chicago. the Bean at Millennium park, the Art Institute, the Michigan avenue bridge, etc. On our way back we changed our path a little bit and we were able to see the Chicago Theater, and we were able to see ABC station while they were having a news broadcast. It was a pretty neat walk.

On our way back to the train station.

Downtown Chicago is one of the many neat places to go to shoot wide angle or fisheye. We will come back here during the winter and check the place out when there is snow on the ground.

Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens

The Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye.

While I was shooting a wedding last May, there was a time when I was shooting inside the limo with the bride and the groom and all of the bridal party. I was using my Canon 17-40mm F/4L. The lens though being an ultra wide angle for full frame didn't have enough wideness to shoot from side to side. After the wedding I came to a thought that it might be time for a wider lens than my 17-40mm.

A short and stubby lens.

So I went online to look for a very good fisheye lens for full frame. One of my friends who loves fisheye lenses let me use his 8mm Rokinon lens for his Canon Rebel. It was just amazing how wide the lens was. The lens was around $200-$300, although it was only made for aps-c cameras. I needed one for full frame.

The front element is bulging with well coated glass.

I then went to look for a decently priced fisheye lens and I found the Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye. Along with similarly priced Sigma fisheye lenses, the Canon 15mm fisheye is priced around $500-$699. It depends where you buy it from and whether if you buy it brand new or used.

Just like Canon lenses from the 80's, this fisheye has decent build.

Since this lens is not going to be in my camera all the time, I just went on to look for a used one, and I got one for a really good price. Even though these lenses are pretty old in design, they can still be pretty expensive, which just means that a lot of people still love them and use them a lot. After around 3 days I finally got mine in the mail.

The lens cap is kind of a pain for this lens.

The Canon 15mm has decent build quality. It is really similar to the original ef 50mm lens from the 1980's. It also reminded me of the build quality of the ef 35mm f2 from the early 90's and the ef 24 and 28mm from the 80's. The body is made of plastic but the mount is metal. It has a bit of weight in it maybe because of the huge bulging element in front. It has a little focusing ring the same as the one in the 50mm 1.8 and 35mm f2.

Amazing sharpness even at the edges when stopped down.

The 15mm f/2.8 being an older lens, doesn't have a USM motor. The focus motor is the same as the one from the Canon 50mm f/1.8. It is not quiet but it's not obnoxiously loud either. The ring disengages when you have the focus mode set to auto. The ring does not rotate when the lens autofocuses so there's no danger of stripping the gears accidentally.

Try capturing this with an ordinary ultra wide.

The 15mm f/2.8 lens is a small lens. Mounted on a semi pro body such as the canon xx-d series cameras, the lens is pretty little compared to other lenses. This is an ef lens which means it is compatible with aps-c, aps-h, and full frame cameras. Although being a fisheye lens, I would only use this on a full frame body to get the maximum fisheye effect.

The image quality from this lens is absolutely phenomenal. The lens maximum aperture is f/2.8, although when shooting landscapes, it is always smart to close down the aperture a bit to get maximum depth of field. Although this lens is pretty good in the center at f/2.8, I've always used this lens stopped down at around f/5.6 or more. Around f/4 onward the sides of the frame becomes pretty sharp. This is pretty understandable as ultra wide angle lenses usually aren't really sharp on the sides unless you stop your aperture down. Auto focus works like a charm too...on a good day with good lighting, you can auto focus on a spot in less than half a second without the auto focus hunting back and forth.

Awesome angles like this from the 15mm.

The lens has a built in metal lens hood painted in black to resist reflections. It has a filter mount in the back of the lens just like the Canon 17-40mm f/4L. Reason for this is that you cannot really mount anything in the front element because of the way it is shaped...as is with any other fisheye lenses in the market. The filter mount has a guide for when you cut your own filters. The front element is protruding so you have to be extra careful with it. I accidentally keep on touching the front element when this is mounted to my camera body.

Here are the things I love about the lens:

Decent build quality

Price is reasonable

Pretty sharp at f/2.8, awesome when stopped down

Color saturation is on par with more expensive lenses

Very resistant to flare

Yes, the lens is ultra resistant to flare.  Having an ultra large area of the element exposed to sunlight, the lens has a very good coating that resists flare. You can even shoot with the sun in your frame and still keep the contrast of your image. With some other lenses, the contrast just dies when the sunlight is in your frame. I would say this is probably the best feature of the lens.

Shot with the sun in the frame...do you see flare?

The one gripe I don't like about it it the lens front cap. I understand that this is a special lens but the lens cap just plainly stinks. It barely holds on to the lens and will drop once you put the lens in your camera bag, exposing the front element to scratches. There are a couple of fixes for this, I just plainly put a rubber band to keep it on the lens while in storage.

With the 15mm fisheye, your imagination is the only limit.

One thing to remember when using this lens though...even though it's an Ef mount lens which means it also works on aps-c and aps-h bodies which are the non full frame bodies, you will not get the full effect of the fisheye if you are using a non full frame body. This lens was made during the 1980's which means it was initially designed for 35mm cameras, now that we have the digital bodies, the 35mm equivalents are the only ones who can get the full fisheye effect from this lens. Although it is not really smart to spend around $500 on this lens on an aps-c body, there are cheaper alternatives like the Rokinon fisheyes which are at the $300 price range. The only thing you lose is the auto focus.

The Canon 15mm f/2.8 fisheye lens is one lens you are supposed to have in your arsenal. I have never set myself to spend money on a fisheye lens until I saw what fisheye lenses can do, and this Canon fisheye is THE MOST FUN lens I have. If you have money to spend and you have every focal length covered already in your arsenal, I suggest you get a fisheye.