Thursday, February 27, 2020

Canada’s Parliament Buildings




I walked up to Canada’s parliament buildings yesterday after work.  The whole place is under construction and will be for next ten years or so at rough cost of $10,000,000,000.  Knowing the Canadian government, it’ll take twenty years and cost double the estimate.  Knowing that the Parliament buildings were under construction and it being Wednesday and the start of an apparent massive snow storm, I knew there would be a limited amount of people and tourists on the Hill.   And I was right.  There were only 2 or 3 protestors on the hill.  Took the shot and got home a few hours later as I was waiting for my fiancé to pick me up.

I edited the photo on my 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 12.9” screen and the 512GB hard drive using the Pixelmator Photo app which is perhaps the best and reasonably priced app on the Apple App Store.  I believe I only paid $5.49 for the app.  I am totally happy with this setup.  I think I’ll be using the Sony RX100 Mark VII for the photography and the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max for my footage.

Wednesday, February 26, 2020

More photography of downtown Ottawa


Finished at work early and waiting for the fiancé to pick me up.  Decided to do some photography while waiting.  I didn’t want to pull out my Sony RX100 Mark VII which was sitting in one of my pockets.  Decided to take this shot with the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max (64 GB) model.  This is using the 0.5x lens which is pretty cool considering I was pretty much standing under the first Canadian flag.  As far as videos go, I haven’t properly setup the iPhone on a tripod yet and shoot proper 4K/60 video.  I did shoot some handheld video when we were at Niagara Falls two weeks ago and even hand holding the iPhone, the footage came out fantastic.

Monday, February 24, 2020

More and more I’m using the iPhone Pro Max for some of my photography


Some time ago.  Maybe a few months back in 2019 I was reading a blog about photography.  The entry was basically about how the equipment we use affects photography as hardly anyone is buying “Pro” gear anymore.  You can check online how the big camera companies are losing market share to the smart phone market and how the computer market is losing sales to either smart phones and devices like the iPad.  I kind of had to laugh as I started out just using a Canon 2MP Point and Shoot camera and using the desktop to edit said photography.  This was maybe 20 years ago.  Since then I’ve went through the point and shoot and upgraded my equipment to DSLR cameras.  First it was a Canon EOS 350D which had an 8MP sensor.  Then I upgraded to the Canon EOS T1i series of cameras.  Then the full frame Canon EOS 6D camera with the Canon EOS 7D cropped sensor lodged in between there.  Then I went to the Sony line of bridge cameras along with Sony RX100 line of cameras.  

In that time I had an assortment of phones as well.  I never really used those phones for photography until my trip to Arizona back in 2016.  I took my Samsung s7 Edge to Arizona with me.  I shot a few photos on that phone and uploaded them to Shutterstock. I haven’t sold one yet selling a few photos and videos shot on my Canon EOS 6D and a few videos shot with my Canon Vixia G40 camcorder.  I later sold all that stuff while in Calgary for a Sony RX100 Mark V and a Sony RX10 Mark II as lugging all that equipment around the Rockies was a little much.  I bought and sold my Sony a7II full frame camera and ended up with a Sony RX100 Mark VII as my primary photo camera.  I’ve sold a few hundred shots with that camera.  I also use a Canon Vixia HF R800 right now as my primary camcorder.  

Recently, and I mean recently, I’ve been using my Sony RX100 Mark VII and my Apple iPhone Max Pro (64GB) as my photo and video devices.  I have sold photos taken with the Samsung s7 Edge phone and my Apple iPhone 8 Plus and the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Plus.  Honestly, if you are reading this blog on an iPad or iPhone type device, you cannot tell what the photos or videos have been shot with.  The equipment is getting much, much better along with the software.  I bet you in 5 years, point and shoots will be all but gone and DSLR cameras are one photo in the grave and going down quick.

The DSLR will always have it’s place with a very niche market.  Most people will just use their phone or iPad type device to stay connected and take their pictures.  Advanced photographers like myself with use various type of equipment.  I shoot mainly for stock agencies.  I can shoot with my iPhone Pro Plus for my photos and footage.  For quick snaps I’ll use the iPhone Pro Plus for quick shots.  I’ll use my Sony RX100 Mark VII for the more advanced photography I upload to the various stock agencies.  I think now the iPhone Pro Plus will be my main go to for footage clips as it shoots in 4K/60.

I will also be using my 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 12.9” screen with the 512GB hard drive.  It’s just so easy to use for photography and footage editing.

Friday, February 14, 2020

And another long weekend with a trip planned



Caught this male deer at Parc Omega.  Available for sale on my Shutterstock portfolio.  It’s Valentines Day today and it’s a long weekend in Ontario.  So I’m taking my fiancé to Niagara Falls, Ontario for the long weekend.  Haven’t been there in a year or so.  I’m taking the Sony RX100 Mark VII with me. I can’t wait to do some long exposure photography of the falls.