So Bank holiday, April the 5th saw me a Donington Park in Leicestershire, with my new freelance role as series photographer for the CALM All Porsche Trophy

Its been a little while since I’ve been able to take any pictures at a race circuit, Covid and all that, and I really have missed it all

The Calm All Porsche Trophy is new to me, although I was aware of it via my friend Chris Valentine at Britcar

And it turns out to be a lot of fun

I stayed overnight at a Travel Lodge, just next door at East Midlands Airport, only to awake to surprisingly heavy snow at breakfast, luckily it had stopped by the time I arrived on the circuit.

However, being the UK, by 2pm I was sunburnt, I never learn!

Also sharing the grid was Bernie’s V8s, which made for a very mixed grid indeed

This round took place under the current Goverment Covid guidelines, so a lot of the areas I would normally use where out of bounds, and sadly the public were not allowed to be admitted

The next round is at Brands Hatch on the GP circuit on May the 9th, and hopefully spectators will be alowed to return by then

For a full race report, follow the links below

Sunshine and Snow Open Our 2021 Season

And here

https://www.pitlane-news.com/sunshine-and-snow-open-our-2021-season/

And a review of Chris Valentine’s race here:

Donington Hopes Exhausted

And my Flickr gallery of the race can be found here:

For more info about the CALM All Porsche Trophy, click here https://allporschetrophy.co.uk/

Bring on brands!!!!

I thought I would take the time to review a recent new purchase of a Canon 17-40mm f4L ultra-wide lens zoom lens

Canon’s own description is here:

https://www.canon.co.uk/lenses/ef-17-40mm-f-4l-usm-lens/

I didn’t acquire this new, it is a second hand purchase via eBay for £285

And I’m pleased to say, the previous owner had really looked after this, everything is unmarked and unworn, and all works exactly as it should

The Canon 17-40mm F4 ultra-wide lens zoom, its fairly light, quick to focus.

There is no Image Stabilisation with the model, but it’s probably not an issue, certainly at 17mm

This is a nice lens to handle, it’s not to heavy, and once you are in to the F8-11 region, nice sharp and sharp at all focal lengths

The Lens was tested on my Canon EOS 5Ds

These views at shot at 17 to 40mm at f11

The 50mm view is about the same angle as a human eye, and is shown for comparison

If you chose to use a Circular Polariser you will run in the problem of all wide angle lenses, in that a sky will appear banded because of the angle of the polarised light entering the lens at angles of more then 90 degrees, once you get to 24 or 28 mm, the effect isn’t as pronounced

Chromatic Aberration is apparent at the wide end of the zoom, so users of Photoshop or similar software should always makes sure to tick the “Remove Chromatic Aberration” option when processing out your RAW files, which of course you always shot in!

Slide across to see the before and after of the affects of the Chromatic Aberration

The lens hood supplied is the EW-83E, whether is does much, I’m totally not sure, but of course, I’ll use it

At 17mm using a filter holder such as the Cokin P series is a problem, as its very visible

Interestingly, there is a facility to take rear mounted gel CC filters

The front of the lens is extremely shallow, so a UV filter to protect the front element is an absolute must!

I would normally have gone with a Hoya Pro1, my default choice, but while searching, I came across a brand called Urth x Gobe

I liked the reviews, so I chose the Urth x Gobe 77mm UV Filter

Its really well made and solid, and is very shallow, and does not cause any vignetting, even at F22 on 17mm

Currently £34 incl shipping from Amazon, which really is a bargain

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B088C2Z3L2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

So to sum up, overall, I’d say this is a good, useful, affordable lens, and a valuable addition to anyone’s camera bag

For a very detailed review, have a look here at the always excellent Ken Rockwell

https://www.kenrockwell.com/canon/lenses/17-40mm.htm

I should add, all the above views are my own, I am not paid by, or have any connection to any  of the companies mentioned here in this review