Some Things You Might Not Know ...

My favourite camera. And why.

As a photographer, I've gone through a myriad of camera bodies and lenses.  Point and shoot cameras, cropped sensor cameras and full frame cameras.  Then there are the lenses.  Zoom and fixed focal lengths,  I can't count the number of bodies I've gone through in the past 15 years or so.  But the Sony a7R II body with its 42.4 megapixel full frame sensor has to be the best camera I've ever used.  The Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM lens is the most versatile lens I've ever owned.  It's no f2.8 70-200MM lens but I don't need the 16-35 or the 70-200 and another body to carry around.  

As I get progressively older, I do not want to carry around multiple bodies and lenses.  Like I've stated in the past, when I was in the Rockies, I carried around 3 lens, 3 bodies and a camcorder.  That was a pain the butt I can tell you.   I also switched to the Sony RX100 Mark VII which was an amazingly fantastic little pocket camera.  But I needed something a bit more versatile.  The Sony a7R II combined with the Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM is just the right combination for a one man run and gun setup.

I was hoping I'd be moving out west to Calgary in the next couple of weeks but it looks like that is going to be put on hold.  With the corona virus, SSC is not bringing us on past March 31st of this year which sucks.  Photo sales are not picking up and I think things will get only worse before they get any better.

I am hoping at some point this year, we will make out west.  I want to do a lot more landscape photography with the Sony a7R II and the Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM lens.  On a side note, iPad OS 13.4 came out today and it has made the iPad a little worse for wear.  The Files app is a huge disappointment   It now crashes whenever I try to copy over the 85 megabyte files from the Sony a7R II.  I am stuck using my Windows 10 laptop.  I'm thinking that I will try the 2018 Apple iPad Pro tomorrow again after the system settles down a bit.  In the meantime, I'll be using the Windows 10 laptop and Affinity Photo 1.8.2 to edit the photos.

My photography setup

During this self isolation period, I managed to clean up my desk and clean up my photography setup.  My setup includes the 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 12.9” screen and the 512GB hard drive.  I have an external 2TB hard drive attached via USB hub and the Yeti Blue Mic.  I also have the Apple Keyboard Folio and the Bluetooth Apple mouse which will be connected via Bluetooth tomorrow whenever iPadOS 13.4 comes out.  The camera is the Sony a7R II which has the 42.4 megapixel sensor.  I am using the Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM lens which is a great all in one lens.  Yes, it’s a little slower compared to the f2.8 lenses but it’s also a lot cheaper in price.  

The 2018 Apple iPad Pro is great for editing photos coming from the Sony a7R II camera.  It has more then enough power to edit the 85 megabyte files coming out of the Sony a7R II.  There are minuscule problems with the operating system of the iPad Pro which I hope will be fixed in iPadOS 13.4.  I am hoping iPadOS 14 brings in more features like a better and more stable File system.  The File App has crashed my iPad Pro twice so far when transferring files from the 128GB SD card onto the external hard drive.  Also missing for me is the copy status when transferring files between the SD Card and the external hard drive.  Once those two features are baked into iPadOS, I’d be really happy with the 2018 iPad Pro.  With the 2020 Apple iPad Pro, the GPU is only about 10% faster which is not a reason for me to upgrade.  I also don’t use the 2018 Apple iPad Pro as my primary camera so the new camera system on the 2020 Apple iPad Pro is totally meaningless.  Although the new keyboard folio looks interesting with the track pad, I was never a huge fan of the track pads on any device.  As long as the iPad Pro gets the Bluetooth mouse support tomorrow, I’ll be really happy.

I have noticed an uptick on visits to the site.  With everyone staying home and self isolating, if you are reading this and you see the ads running on this blog, I would appreciate if you would peruse the ads by placing your mouse over them and hitting the left mouse button or using your finger on your iPhone or iPad.  It would be greatly appreciated.  Thanks very much and be safe out there.

More photography with the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max

I was still going into work last week when I got this photo of an ambulance picking up a patient in downtown Ottawa.  How things have changed in a week.  I’m off of work indefinitely.  Thankfully I have my Sony a7R II and my Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM lens.  I also have my Apple iPhone Pro Max.  My two favourite cameras to date.  I’m doing conference calls at certain points of the week and doing photography after.  One of my accounts at SSC is not set up properly so I cannot login via VPN.  Hopefully tomorrow it’ll be fixed.  I may actually go into work a few times next week just to check on emails and such.  I went today and there was actually one person working.

This Coronavirus thing just means I get to do more photography.  I distance myself from people when I see someone walking towards me.  I pretty much do my photography outside of the city.  I’ve over shot stuff in Ottawa so I’m looking to do new things.  If you have any ideas, let me know.

Shot on the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max

So now that the Coronavirus panic has hit Canada at the rate of 100% paranoia, I’m off the job for three weeks and no idea if and when I’ll be back.  The government is shut down except for essential services such as police, ambulance, hospital and such, I thought I’d test out the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max along with the Sony a7R II full frame camera.

The Apple iPhone Pro Max (64GB) model cost me $1549 Canadian.  The Sony a7R II and the Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM cost me a cool $3500 roughly.  Guess which device I used to capture the above photo in the comments section. The iPhone has a 12 megapixel sensor and the Sony has a 42.3 megapixel sensor.  I’d say past 12 megapixels you can not tell the difference in detail or resolution.  Once Apple figures out how to take better photos with the telephoto lens, there will be no need for a DSLR or mirrorless camera.  Rumoured to be in the Apple iPhone 12 is a 64 megapixel sensor.  It’s only rumoured right now though.  The Samsung S20 Ultra has a 108 megapixel sensor.  These sensors are extremely small compared to a full frame camera so the picture quality of these 108 megapixels is going to be crap.  The Samsung outputs the 108 megapixel photo to a 12 megapixel file anyways.  So these numbers are just propaganda to sell the phone to people who have clearly no understanding of the technology and are just using the phone as a status symbol.

If you want a high megapixel camera in your hand, buy a DSLR or a mirrorless camera with a huge physical sensor.  But like I stated before, the eye cannot see the detail past 12 megapixels.  Also, your screen on your phone, iPad or computer cannot display that much information even on a 4K screen if the image is set as the background.  8K televisions are being produced right now but even now, 4K content is just starting to come up.  Content providers like Rogers and Bell here in Canada are still using 1080i signals here.  We may have 2-3 4K channels.  So all the talk of 108 megapixels on a phone camera or 8K displays etc is just hype to get you to buy more stuff.

What’s been going on lately

I was notified March 15th, 2020 not to show up to work until April 6th, 2020.  Three weeks without work.  The agency I work for probably won’t pay me for the three weeks I’ll be off.  I am hoping my photography takes off and I can pay for rent, groceries, bills, etc.  Who am I kidding?  With everyone self quarantining, no one is making any money.

I took the opportunity today to test my setup.  My setup includes the Sony A7R II full frame camera, the 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 512GB hard drive and the 12.9” screen.  I am using 4TB Seagate hard drive attached to my iPad Pro to store all my photos and videos.  The longest part of my editing process is actually importing the 80+ megabyte files onto the external hard drive.  I am hoping that iPad OS 13.4 gets more solid as the File app on the iPad is kinda sketchy.  I am hoping that iPadOS 14 resolves the Files app and makes the whole system easier and more solid to use.

The 2018 Apple iPad Pro edits the Sony A7R II files with a breeze.  Literally it takes a second or two to import into Pixelmator Photo on the iPad Pro.  Less than a second to use the Pixelmator Photo to use the AI to edit the photos.  I am finally happy to report that I no longer need a MacBook Pro or a Windows 10 laptop to edit photos.  I am now 110% reliant on the 2018 Apple iPad Pro.

Since I have a few weeks off, I was going to go to Parc Omega to test out the Sony A7RII but thanks to Coronavirus, the park is closed until whenever this shit show is done.  I will be doing photography around the Ottawa area since travel is very limited right now and the income is limited as well.  Thankfully gas is cheap and getting cheaper by the day.  We’re done to less than 80 cents a litre.  This Coronavirus is an overblown shit show.  Someone is definitely making money off of this panic.  It’s not a pandemic.  It’s a panic.  

Coronavirus

This is not a pandemic.  It's a panic.  It's a bad flue people.  More people die from the regular flu than will die of this corona virus.  The governments and mainstream media of the world are just causing this pandemic.  Go out and live your life.  Wash your hands and sneeze into your arm.  Don't be stupid about this. 

Shooting with the Sony A7R II and the Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM

I picked up the Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM lens today to complete the Sony setup.  I have the Sony a7R II body which has the 42.4 megapixel sensor.  I really didn't get to test it out today as the conditions weren't right.  High winds and hardly any light.

I have to say I am impressed with the Sony a7R II body and the 24-240MM lens combination.  The files sizes coming out the camera are spectacularly huge.  I am shooting uncompressed RAW files.  They are coming out at roughly 85.6 megabytes.  Those are huge files.  The dynamic range is just amazing.  I can hand hold the camera at 1/5 of a second and the pictures are tact sharp.  The colour science is just as good as any other camera brand although I find Canon's colour science just a tad ahead of Sony although I think Sony is catching up quickly.

I have to knock the image back a bit in jpeg format to 99% quality to get it just under 25 megabytes.  At 100% resolution, the JPEG file is about 42 megabytes in size.  

Tomorrow (March 14, 2020) is supposed to be nice and sunny with a high of 2 degrees Celsius.  I think a trip to either Algonquin Park or Parc Omega is due.  The only reason I want to go to Parc Omega is to go do some photography and got some fresh maple syrup right out of the trees.

I think I will have to take 2 128GB SD cards with me tomorrow.  I have to learn not to spray and pray  with the photography.  The early 2013 MacBook Pro can edit the photos easily.  I'm going to test editing the photos on my Windows 10 machine as well along with the 2018 Apple iPad Pro.

Mud Lake in winter

I went for a short walk at Mud Lake today located in the west of Ottawa.  Have not been there in quite a while.  I took my Sony RX100 Mark VII with me.  Spent about 45 minutes just walking the groomed trails there.

Yesterday I bought myself the Sony A7R II camera body with just one battery.  When I get paid next week, I will be buying the Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM lens along with the battery grip and two additional batteries.  

I want to enjoy my time with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I'm not going to sell it.   I believe it's a fantastic little camera.  My photography is evolving.  This summer I want to do a lot more camping on the weekends and I want to do a lot more exploring.  I figured a high megapixel, full frame camera is what I need to accomplish my goals.

This summer I will be travelling a lot more on weekends.  I want to discover the areas farther around Ottawa before we move out west.  

The above photos were actually edited on my Windows 10 laptop using Affinity Photo 1.8.  I actually love Affinity Photo.  I cannot stand Photoshop.  Photoshop is bloated software.  I refuse to pay a monthly subscription to Adobe.  Just no Adobe.  Affinity Photo is about $50 and you actually own the software.  And you get the updates too.

Back to just doing phtotography

I think it's time to go back to just doing photography.  Not just your run of the mill wildlife and animal photography but high end landscape photography.

Yesterday I went to my local photography store and I bought a Sony A7R II camera body.  Just  the body.  I have to wait a bit to buy the specific lens I want.  I'll probably get it in the next week or two.  I was thinking yesterday that Parc Omega isn't worth going to anymore as the entrance fee just keeps going up and up and up.  The fencing is higher now that it ever has been so if I want to photograph the Arctic Wolves for example, it's virtually impossible to get them without having the fence in the way.

I want to get the Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM lens for the Sony A7RII body.  I  think it's wide enough and it has enough reach for me to get most things.  The Sony A7RII has 42.4 megapixels so I can crop in to whatever I want.  I think it's going to be the perfect camera/lens combination.

It's early March now and the snow is starting to melt away.  It's supposed to be above zero starting tomorrow during the day at least.  I have pretty much all the camping gear I need.  Sleeping bag, mattress, pillow to sleep in the back of the car.  All I need now is just a cooler to put my food and water into and I can now leave for the weekends to go car camping and do photography on the weekends with the new camera.

I will need to buy an extra set of batteries for this camera as the battery life sucks on this Sony camera.  I'm seeing a picture of the Sony batteries not being so good on most Sony cameras.  But if I'm just doing landscapes, I can just fire off 300-400 shots over the weekend and work with just one battery.  I just want that lens.

I thought I could do it with just the 2018 Apple iPad Pro

So I thought I could just run the photography business with just an iPad Pro and the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  The iPad Pro is a great device as is the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I'm still using the Sony RX100 Mark VII as the main camera for now.  But the iPad Pro, not so much.  The only issue I'm running into is the space on the iPad Pro as I use the Apple Photos app to store all my photography shot with either the Apple iPhone Pro Max and the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I think for now I will be using the early 2013 Apple MacBook Pro as a sort of server to store my RAW photo files so I can edit them on the 2018 Apple iPad Pro.

I'm noticing that a lot of my photography now is getting rejected for noise issues.  I honestly love the Sony RX100 Mark VII but for low light situation, I find the Sony A7 II is really good.  That is why I bought it again.  I will use it for my landscape photography.