Big Sur, CA

THE DRIVE TO BIG SUR

It takes roughly 5 hours from Los Angeles to get to Treebones Resort in Big Sur. This trip was planned about a month ago. There was a notification about an opening for a two day stay. It was a very fortunate series of events, because they are booked until next year. With Covid-19, a household with Leukemia & Asthmatics, the last 5 months had us cooped up in the house. This was a welcome break at a fairly secluded resort and in an uncrowded area. Big Sur was a place that was always on the list.

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The drive was great. Not much traffic.

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We left on Monday morning around 9am. We were lucky and didn’t hit any real traffic. We stopped for lunch in Cambria, https://www.digitalninja.us/blog/2020/8/21/robins-restuarant You can read about that if you click on the link.

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Lots of rocks, cliffs, and Ocean.

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It had been a while since we had driven so far. A 5 hour drive isn’t that far, but it can be if you’re not used to it or haven’t done it in a while. Maybe we were just charmed from the outset?

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The California cliffs are rocky but pretty awesome.

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A lot of the coast looks awesome with the cliffs, but after a while one spot looks like the next. It’s a rocky coastline with crashing waves. Plus, we really wanted to get to the resort. Back in the day, we used to drive up and down the East Coast.-10 hour drives from Florida up to Maryland. This 5 hour drive wasn’t all that bad.

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Cliffs, rocks, and crashing waves.

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It’s a single lane sometimes on the way up. You can get caught behind some slow moving vehicles. Hopefully they’re cool enough and pull off on the turn-outs. Then you and the long caravan following behind you can pass.

Canon 24mm 2.8 Lens Hack for Sigma MC-11 Adapter

     I used to be a Canon dude. Way back when DSLR cameras started being used for shooting video, I jumped in with a Canon 7D. I still have that camera. It was/is a robust camera for wildlife and sports photography, but is was an indispensable tool for filmmaking. I really liked the fact that it was virtually indestructible and was weather-sealed. With that investment, I started to get into lenses, Prime lenses specifically. My initial arsenal consisted of the Canon 10-18, the ”Nifty” 50mm 1.8, and later I would purchase two pancake lenses, the 24mm and the 40mm. I loved the pancake lenses, because they allowed me to make the profile of my 7D smaller. They helped m carry around my camera more. On an APS-C camera like the 7D, a 24mm is around a 38mm on a full-frame and the 40mm is roughly a 64mm.  35mm is the closest to the focal composition of the human eye and the 24mm ended up being my favorite lens. When I switched to my Sony Mirrorless, I looked into adapters and found the MC-11 by Sigma. It would allow me to utilize my Sigma glass along with most of my Canon lenses.

The Sony A6500 with MC-11 Adapter & Canon 24mm 2.8 Pancake Lens

      There was a problem. Canon makes two types of EF mounts, the regular EF and then the EF-S mounts. The EF-S mounts have a flange that extends out a bit further, thus preventing them to mount onto the MC-11. I was severely disheartened and had to shelve my EF-S 10-18 and the 24mm lenses, until I found out about the Fotodiox adapters. It had some extra space that allowed for the extra flange, but was expensive and it wouldn’t work all the time. You had to use the lenses in manual mode and it would cause the camera to freeze up from time to time. I don’t mind manual lenses and actually prefer them, as I like to “rack focus” and have a follow focus for my rig. I ended up sending the damn thing back,.the freezing was too much. I shelved the two lenses again.

The Canon 24mm 2.8 Pancake Lens post flange removal

      As I got more familiar with my Sony Mirrorless, the A6500, I purchased the Sony 10-18mm 2.8, the Sony 35mm 1.8, the Sigma 30mm and the Sigma 18-35mm 1.8. These lenses cover most of my needs for filmmaking and in a pinch, I mount the Canon 50mm 1.4 and the 85mm 1.4’s with the MC-11 adapter. Even with all of those focal options and low-light capabilities, I was missing the 24mm. There are other adapters, but that would take me into another space of lenses, outside of Sony, Sigma, or Canon.  I was weary of adding another equipment set to the mix. Something told me to just hang onto the lens. Then I saw a YouTube video about adapting the Canon 10-18 by Technology Mafia. This guy just cut the back off with a hacksaw and mounted to the MC-11. I’m all for DIY hacks, but chopping lenses freaked me out. SO the 24mm sat for another 6 months. In that time I almost sold the Canon 7D and all of the associated gear, including the 24mm pancake.

The Canon 24mm 2.8 Lens mounted on the Sigma MC-11 Adapter

     Earlier this week, during the Thanksgiving Holiday, I stumbled upon a YouTuber, Max Lee. Max Lee is one of these guys who sincerely utilizes cheaper gear to his benefit. On one of his videos I saw him bring out the Canon 24mm and he said you could just pull the flange off. It was 2:30am on Sunday the 25th of November when I saw the video, a good year and a half after having shelved the 24mm (for the 2nd time). To my amazement, the flange just pulled right off! While the back of the lens is kind of ugly, when its mounted to the MC-11, it looks about the same size as any of my primes. I can’t even tell you how happy I was to get this lens working with my set up again. It’s only a 2.8 and suffers in low-light, but it takes a nice picture. If you need a 24mm in your quiver of lenses, get the pancake lens from Canon and adapt it. It only costs $130 new, but you could probably find it for like $70 or less. It pairs with the Sigma MC-11 great.  Auto-focus is pretty snappy and you can use Continuous Focus too. This lens is on my camera right now and in my bag again.  If you see me, ask me to take your picture, or maybe I’l beat you to the punch and ask you.

- Digital Ninja®

 *Here are some pics I took immdiately following the hack!

Self-Portrait