Photo Jottings!

Sony no longer photographing products?

Posted by Kurt on September 21, 2012 in Jottings

If you click on the beautiful Sony supplied RX1 product shot, you may come to the conclusion that it’s not the actual product, but in reality a computer generated image; it sure looks like it.  The foreshortened mode dial icons don’t look right to me, and some of the shadows and reflections seem too contrived.  I know product shots are sometimes pieced together, I do it all the time for interior shots, but I still think Sony has gone CGI.   This article points to a photography free world in a few short years; at least for products.  I guess in the near future, you can forget about megapixels and ISOs, just take a quick snap with your crappy camera phone and later build the perfect image on your computer.  The only limitations would be your computer and graphics processing I suppose.

Anyways, I like it, and don’t blame the companies for doing it.  Heck, it might even make a good career for people that like to sit at their computer all day.  Instead of spending hours in Photoshop trying to build a great image from a bunch of other images (like I often do), you could build a fake perfect image that would easily meet the demands of the pickiest photo editors!

Sony cameras and lenses for review.

Posted by Kurt on September 17, 2012 in Jottings

So I was super busy last week, and wasn’t able to chime in Wednesday about the new Sony cameras and lenses being released soon.  I’m rolling around some plans in my head, but I’m not sure if all will come to fruition.

First off, all the Sony lenses that were announced I’m definitely going to review as soon as I can get them in my hands.  I really hope the $850 NEX 10-18mm F/4 OSS is going to be a good performer, that would fill a big void in the line-up right now.  According to the specs, it’s small and light, about the same size and weight as the Sony 18-55mm kit lens!

The new Sony NEX 35/1.8 OSS ought to be a winner based on the alpha edition, we’ll see!

The little 16-50mm retractable power zoom lens might be an cool feature for buyers with small pockets or purses, but the cheap selling price ($350) is telling me it might not be good for people that inspect their images at 100%.

Do I want to re-review the new 300mm F/2.8 SSM G II lens?  Not sure, I think it’s had a minor focusing upgrade, along with some fancy marketing terms like ‘nano’ AR coating.  All the new features listed by Sony were on the old lens as well.

How about the Sony RX1!  Should I review this baby, or treat it like I did the RX100!  Actually, I think the RX1 is going to be superb.  It has the perfect focal length if you only have one camera, at least in my opinion.  Unfortunately, most people can afford two cameras or more, so living at 35mm is going to be tough.  If it had a 24/2 or 50/1.4 lens it would more useful to me.  Expected availability is at the end of December; so much for the X-mas present.

The A99 is finally here, should I review it?  I’d compare it directly to the A900 so people can decide if it’s worth upgrading, or jumping to full frame.  Should I do something dumb like compare the image quality to the Canon 5D III?  Or something even dumber like comparing it to the A77?  Somebody has probably already done it.

Random news.

Posted by Kurt on September 5, 2012 in Jottings

How about a Canon G12 with pro 9000 MKII 13×19″ printer for $298 with free shipping?  Or the wildly popular Canon G1X with same printer for $599?  Go here for the details, or call B&H for more info.  It looks basically like you get a $400 rebate card for select Canon DSLRs and Powershot cameras when purchased with the printer from B&H photo only.  If you don’t really want the printer, ebay or craigs list it and it becomes an even better deal.

Anyone know what’s up with Fstoppers?  Don’t go there right now, it seems they might have been hit with malware again.  I’m not the only one getting warning signs when I click on the site, their FB page is full of warnings from readers.

The Rokinon fisheye for NEX  is selling briskly, so if you bought one, do you know how to get it to work on your camera?  Recent mail suggests people need help!  Go here for easy instructions.

People wanting to get the super deal on the NEX-5N might want to hold off and get the new NEX-5R instead, it has a ‘hybrid’ focusing system that’s supposed to be much better than Sony’s current contrast detect method.  My big complaint for the current NEX cameras is the slow focusing on telephoto lenses like the 55-210mm with moving subjects, it causes too many missed shots.  Hopefully the new ‘hybrid’ system is much faster.  Some folks may not be aware of the limited number of lenses that are covered initially.  The hybrid focusing will only work on the kit 18-55mm, CZ 24/1.8, 18-200mm OSS and the 55-210mm.  It’s a firmware update, so all NEX  and possibly Sigma e-mount lenses will be covered at some future point; at least let’s hope so.

Check out this article from the lensrentals.com dude.  Read carefully about his predictions concerning the future of mirrorless cameras.  Read both parts.

Nikon D800 with 28-300mm?

Posted by Kurt on September 4, 2012 in Jottings

As promised in the last post, I thought I’d start sharing some outdoor shots from some recent photo outings.  The picture below is a tight crop from the original as I couldn’t get close enough to fill the frame.  I like the fresh and colorful skin, and the high noon sun angle which makes the Eastern Collared Lizards scales stand out.  This little guy, or gal who knows…was sitting on a rock along a trail when I caught him by surprise!  Thankful I had the big superzoom with me, and managed to whip it out and fire off several hundred shots so I would be sure and get a keeper.

Do you believe that?  It’s actually true for the most part!  The picture was shot with a superzoom, but not with the combination the post title would suggest.  In this example I used an Olympus C-750 ultra zoom 4mp camera from almost 10 years ago!  It was taken at an equivalent of 380mm from a short distance away with one shot.  I doubt anyone would be able to tell whether it came from a 36mp DSLR, or 4mp pocket camera, (and who cares), they probably would just see it for what it is, a nice snap of a local critter.

As I re-examine my images from the last few decades up to now, I seem to have more keepers from my early digital days, when photography was suddenly new and exciting once again, with small cameras you could stick in your pocket, and instant results via the LCD!  During this time period, from about 2003-2009 I always carried a small pocket camera wherever I went outdoors, and every so often I was rewarded with a nice photo opportunity.  Over the last several years, I’m become more deliberate and fussy about quality and photo opportunities in general, and haven’t’ really carried a pocket camera around—big mistake.  More on this subject in coming posts!!  Click pic for larger size.

Back in the saddle………

Posted by Kurt on September 2, 2012 in Jottings

So for the last two weeks I’ve been having computer problems on my main computer I use everyday.  I thought maybe It was the fact that I now quite frequently work on stitched images with files sizes sometimes near 2.6gb, which does take some time to register the changes that are made.  However, I know others that do the same thing on computers with less processing power than mine.  After messing with the problem myself for a few days, I called Dell customer support to see if they could try to solve it.  Well, as it turns out; they caused the problem!  Dell’s vendor, McAfee, issued an update for their security software on August 16th that wasn’t fully tested, and it wasn’t compatible with windows 7 updates on my Dell model.  Guess what, after McAfee security updated on the 16th, it caused terminal operating system problems after windows tried to update on the same day.  Dell acknowledged this after a couple of hours on the phone.  The only way to fix the issue is to re-install the operating system!  So for the last week I’ve been busy re-installing all my programs, (over 40 + updates) and getting everything working again, not to mention all the fingerprints and licensing numbers I had to find!!

Now everything is working well, (although I didn’t really gain anything like extra speed or stability with the redo), and I’m back at it.  I have more lens reviews in the works, (not Sony a or e mount!) and plan on posting some of my early, and more recent free-time photos; I guess I’ll stop posting my interior shots for a while since there isn’t much interest in that.  I love interior shots, but I know it isn’t for everyone.

In other news, if you want to check out full size images from the NEX-7 with Rokinon 8mm fisheye; Darin offers some samples here, (five huge jpeg images).  I do see a little magenta in the corners as some people were complaining about, but it’s not something I would worry about at all.  If you’re looking that hard at a fisheye picture, you probably can’t appreciate a fisheye lens.  Overall the Rokinon is extremely sharp, with good color and contrast, look at that F/8 shot in the corners!!

Random thoughts and etc

Posted by Kurt on August 21, 2012 in Jottings

The Rokinon 8mm fisheye is now in stock.  It’s the best fisheye available for any Sony camera, unfortunately it’s only for the NEX system right now.  Hopefully they’ll offer a model for the ‘DT’ and FF class.

I noticed Sony has cleared the 300/2.8 SSM G from their website.  Rumor has it that it will be replaced by a better version.  I guess I’d like to know how they’re going to improve it?  I used that lens for about a month during my review, and it was basically flawless.  It’s one of the very best Sony lenses period.  Now Sony has no full frame camera, or pro telephoto portrait lens.   Well, I just think it’s a shame to discontinue that lens.  Maybe the sales fell flat over the last couple of years and they want to reintroduce it with a new full frame camera to help generate interest; let’s hope so.

Vivitar is now on my s**t list forever.  I sent one of their crappy flashes in for repair back in April, and they’ve promised me a new one for the past two months but nothing so far.  I bought three of their flashes for back-up accent lights, and all three went bad with little use.  The first one I sent in took two months to fix, the other was sent to the dumpster for processing.  I know Vivitar doesn’t make anything, they just brand stuff, but come on!  I have 8 Sony top line camera flashes that I’ve been using for several years, and only one has gone bad, and that’s from very heavy use!  Only factory flashes and strobes from now on.

While at Sears a few days ago, I played around with the Sony A37 and Canon T4i.  Man, the Canon was awful, it didn’t want to focus accurately at all in live-view mode, and the build quality seemed cheap, as did the noisy lens.  The Sony A37 locked focus fast in the dark camera room, and just felt and looked better all the way around; I think Canon should stick to full frame.

Wow, it’s been two weeks since I’ve posted to this site, however I have added a new page to the other site in that time.

A new announcement will be coming up in September, I think you’ll like it!!

Rokinon 8mm fisheye (for NEX) posted

Posted by Kurt on August 7, 2012 in Jottings

The full review of the spectacular Rokinon 8mm F/2.8 fisheye was posted a couple of days ago, sorry, I forgot to mention it here, better late than never right!  This fisheye is the best I’ve ever tested, (out of a total of 4 counting the 16mm adapter) and I highly recommend it to NEX owners looking for this type of lens.  It’s too bad Sony didn’t come out with this lens, I guess they don’t mind other people moving in on their territory.  It’s probably going to sell well, even with the all manual operation because it’s very sharp at F/2.8, even along the sides, with low color fringing and light fall-off.  In fact, it would make a good low-light walk around lens, just make sure you try to be creative in your compositions, otherwise you wind up with a boring image that covers a lot of real estate.

In other news, Matt, the prolific reviewer of Nikon for NEX, has an interesting new lens review, the Nikon 300/2.8 using the NEX-7.  Also check out his E series summery here.

I’m working on a ‘Best low light lens page’ to go along with my other recommended pages, that should be ready in a few days.  I’ll include all the lenses here, FF, APS-C and NEX that work well at F/2.8 or faster.  People interested in hand held, low light photography will want to take a good look at this.

My favorite camera, the Canon G1X is now $699 (with free shipping), is now $100 lower than it was at its introduction, most likely a result of Canon’s new mirrorless system and price point.  Hopefully, they won’t pull the plug on fixed lens cameras like the G1X, but then again, who knows, maybe it was just a bridge camera, something for Canon to offer while they finalized their new ‘M’ system.

Sony DT 18-135mm posted

Posted by Kurt on August 1, 2012 in Jottings

Check out the review of the new 18-135mm lens from Sony.  It features a noticeably quicker and quieter ‘SAM’ focusing system; (code name “SAM II”) plus an aluminum or pot metal mount–a first for Sony’s DSLR lenses.  The Sony 18-135mm is a typical travel zoom optically speaking, but worth a look anyways.  I’ve made a comparison with it and the CZ 16-80mm at three different focal lengths; the 18-135mm has surprising results within a narrow range.

Next up for review is the Rokinon 8mm F/2.8 fisheye for NEX!!

New incredible lens for review!

Posted by Kurt on July 26, 2012 in Jottings

It looks like I’ll be the  first person to review the outrageous new Rokinon F/2.8-2.2 variable reverse aperture prime fish-eye lens!  I have the silver variant that is supposed to match the silver NEX cameras.  The Sony DT 18-135mm review is underway, and should be ready next week some time.

People are still griping about me not reviewing the Sony RX100, or that I prefer the larger Canon G1X, (now $709 with free shipping!)  It’s not that I don’t like the Sony, I”m sure it works great for a super small camera.  It’s just that it would’ve been really exciting a year ago, or before the Canon G1X came out; after that review it’s hard for me to get excited about the Sony, and to devote the time for a complete review.  It doesn’t bother me to carry something around that’s a little bigger than a standard pocket camera, especially when it’s as good as the G1X.  The Canon G1X will optically out perform the Sony A580 with CZ 16-80mm lens when saving the images as jpegs; in RAW the differences are very minor; maybe a slight nod to the CZ, it depends on lens variables like focal length and comparison location.  Sony RX100 or Canon G1X; to each his own.

Sony 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 now available

Posted by Kurt on July 17, 2012 in Jottings

I’ll be reviewing the Sony 18-135mm F/3.5-5.6 SAM, and hopefully have it ready before the end of the month.

In other news, I posted a review of the elinchrom D-Lite 4 it kit that I’ve been using since last year, it’s a great outfit and on my recommended accessories page.  If you think you can’t afford strobes like this and need more light than a few camera flashes can provide, it’ll be much cheaper than buying 9, that’s right, 9 top-line camera flashes to match the output of the small elinchrom kit!