Best Lens for Sushi

2008-09-16
My fridge from KitchenAid was broken after 6 years of service. Defrossing water gushed out every day needing a bucket and a mop for the daily cleanup and the hourly monitor. And the regular compartment of a side by side stainless steel KitchenAid forced us to dine out since last weekend. My buddies craved for the food pictures that I used to like shooting for indoor. I always go to my Pentax FA 50 f/1.4 for the fast lens in my gear that can take food photos up a level of performance when compared to others. And in getting back to my root with dSLR, I brought my Pentax K100D instead of my K10D for the sushi restaurant named Nijo Castle in Fremont of California,

Sushi restaurant shot with K100D and Pentax FA 50 f/1.4a place that has become my boys' favorite after the first visit. We have dragon sushi in the first visit along with Udon in a nice broth. The special comes with the appetizer in a Spinach Beef wrap.

Sushi restaurant shot with K100D and Pentax FA 50 f/1.4Highly Decorated Entrance


Sushi restaurant shot with K100D and Pentax FA 50 f/1.4Dragon Sushi


Sushi restaurant shot with K100D and Pentax FA 50 f/1.4Nice looking soy sauce

Sushi restaurant shot with K100D and Pentax FA 50 f/1.4Vegetable Udon

Sushi restaurant shot with K100D and Pentax FA 50 f/1.4Orange Cast from AWB in K100D

Notes & Impressions:
  • I defaulted to ISO 400 and use mostly f/2.0 and some in f/2.8 as I go for the bokeh while maintaining sharpness and avoid narrow DOF errors from myself
  • Quick snapshot in jpg is alright in K100D and I don't worry about post processing in raw files
  • I asked for fully cooked sushi and hence no raw stuff from the nicely dressed Kimonos waitress Waitdress in Kimonos with Pentax FA 50 f/1.4
  • Automatic White Balanace in K100D suffer from orange and yellow cast and hence the warm touch in the pictures. Sometime good and sometime totally not the color of the scene. The preset Tungsten helps a bit but it has its own problem with a cold blue tone. Best solution is to use custom white balance but I fall short in time to save my boys from finishing all sushi
  • 50mm may be a bit long in restaurant with tight space. I see the DA 35 f/2.8 limited or FA 35 f/2.0 would do just as well
  • Sharpness in FA 50 f/1.4 in f/2.0 get the job done for me. That does not mean that I won't use f/1.4 to f/1.8. It is just that I use them not as often and I reserve it for the darker scenes making the fast lens working extremely well in all cases.
  • A worthy lens to consider if you are into food shots for indoor. And I see no reason to shoot BBQ for the outdoor, the bokeh and color from the 50mm is outstanding. The minimal focusing distance is great with the FA 50, making it an ideal candidate for close up with a close up filter or a 2x macro converter
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Welcome to Hin's Photo Corner, this is my learning blog on photography, blogging and advertising. And I hope you enjoy your visit. For contact, please comment in blog post or email me directly hintheman at gmail.com.

 

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