This years Chinese Lantern festival is much bigger than last year with 40 displays versus 27 last year. The displays are still amazing, but the wow factor is not as great as when I saw them last year. I think it's because this years displays have too much sameness to them. A lot of last year's displays were made of cups, saucers, spoons, etc, and they also have different lightings.

In any case, I was excited to see and photograph the displays, but made a stupid and inexcusable error. I brought my tripod (in a carrying bag) thinking everything was there, but when I need to use it, I discovered the quick release plate was not there. Luckily, the fast glass came to the rescue.

Almost all of the lanterns taken at night were done by the EF 24mm f1.4 lens. I found this focal length to be perfect on the 20D; it is equivalent to roughly 38mm. Most of the pictures were taken hand held and exposed between f2 to f5.6 and mostly around f3.2 and f4. The optical quality of the EF 24mm did not disappoint. The pictures could have been much better if I could get smaller aperture and faster shutter speed, but I had to make use of what I had. Over all, it was not a total disaster.