Belgium 🇧🇪 - Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8
I’ve just got home from two weeks travelling around Belgium with the family and a quick excursion into the Netherlands to visit Efteling theme park. It was the perfect time to get to grips with the Sigma 17-40mm f/1.8 to see whether it could really become my go-to travel lens.
All of these pictures were taken whilst exploring with two little ones (4 and 1) so don’t expect photography that will blow you away. However, in terms of the lens, I was extremely happy with it and if you know my work you’ll know how much I love the 35mm 1.4 and how I can never travel without it - well, with the exception of an hour in the theme park, I did not use that lens at all. From me, there’s probably no better praise I can give.
Yes the zoom lens is big, but it fit inside my Bellroy 6l sling alongside my Osmo Pocket 3, wallet and phone. It wasn’t overbearing, I would be out all day either with it around my neck or on a wrist strap.
The Sigma lens is astonishing really. Probably cliche but it is basically an (almost) 16mm, 18mm, 23mm, 27mm, 35mm and 40mm prime all in one relatively convenient package. I did miss a bit of reach, I found myself going for the 56mm 1.2 for ‘mop up’ photo walks whilst the wife finished packing up on the days we moved on. I could however manage a trip with just the 17-40mm and I’ve never once thought I could do that even after trying out the Fuji 16-55 2.8 II!
Locations:
Brussels
Bruges
Ghent
Antwerp
If you have any questions at all just let me know and I’ll try my best to answer them.
If you want to follow my work, I’m trying to build up my Instagram as opposed to my blog at the moment so feel free to check out my page and drop me a follow - @jamiechancetravels
All the photos are actually straight out of camera, transferred to my phone so this is what my Summer Negative recipe looks like before I add some finishing touches, adjust exposure and level things off.
Film Simulation – Classic Neg
Grain – Off
Colour Chrome Effect – Off
Colour Chrome FX Blue – Off
White Balance – Auto +2 Red -4 Blue
Dynamic Range – DR200
Highlight – -1.5
Shadow – 0
Colour – +3
Sharpness – +2
Noise Reduction- -2
Clarity – Off
ISO – Auto, Minimum Shutter Speed 1/200, up to 12,800
