Newton’s Third Law of Motion

I believe Newton’s third law of motion is phrased thus:

Whenever a particle A exerts a force on another particle B, B simultaneously exerts a force on A with the same magnitude in the opposite direction.

Alternatively, and perhaps more commonly:

To every force there is an equal but opposite force.

This was certainly the case between Parcel Force (force A) and myself (force B), yesterday. After agonizing for days over precisely which super-wide-angle lens to purchase for my camera ready for our upcoming trip to Devon and Cornwall, on Wednesday I finally opted for the expensive Canon EF-S 10-22mm f3.5-4.5 USM option. [Don’t take any notice of the price on that link!] According to its many reviews, it is simply head and shoulders above the opposition but, of course, you have to pay for its superiority. My supplier of choice for such things is Warehouse Express who took my order for lens plus lens hood saying they would be delivered tomorrow (Thursday) by Parcel Force (force A).

Tomorrow (Thursday) duly came and all but went with somebody waiting at home in vain for the promised delivery by force A. At 5:00 PM force B phoned Warehouse Express expressing concern at the non-appearance of the eagerly awaited new toy. A helpful Warehouse Express customer support operative consulted his system and said that force A had somehow managed to send force B’s new toy to the wrong depot – Leicester, to be precise. It was apparently now on its way to the correct depot (Milton Keynes?) and would be with force B on Friday.

“I certainly hope so”, said force B, “’cos that’s the last chance before I go away.”

“I much preferred it when you delivered using City Link; they seemed to know what they were doing”, continued force B.

It’s Friday and, at about 10:45, force A finally arrived bearing force B’s gifts, both the delayed and now well-travelled lens plus hood and the necessary UV filter which silly old force B had originally forgotten but had ordered 24 hours later. Force B breathed a very large sigh of relief.

The lens appears to live up to its considerable reputation. With the UV filter mounted, even at 10mm focal length, there is absolutely no sign of vignetting and things look pin sharp right up to the edge. That is excellent performance. There’s a couple of test shots inside Billy Bailey, our home for the next three weeks, one at 22mm and one at 10mm. Incidentally, I’m sure the slight darkening in the lower foreground of the wider angle shot is caused by the shadow cast by the lens body as a result of the built-in flash – and, yes, I’m afraid that is a microwave oven top left. 😳

This lens is not one of Canon’s L-series (professional) lenses but some think it should be. I’m initially very pleased with it though it may make me a little conscious that my other lenses are not quite of this calibre. 😉