Shooting with the Canon EOS R6 Mark II

I have been on a video shooting kick in the last few months.  I have been shooting with the Canon EOS R6 Mark II camera and the Canon RF F1.8 35MM lens. I went out yesterday and shot this 
.

Shot at various depths of fields on the R6 Mark II with a 35MM f1.8 Canon RF lens.

Another month. Another year.

December 2018 was my third best month of all time on Shutterstock.  A lot of video sales propelled me to having the best month of the year as well.  Although the end of the month was a real disappointment with no sales for three days, I was happy with the month over all.

I hope 2019 is a lot better for photo and footage sales.  Pond5 and Storyblocks were down in sales.  Especially Storyblocks.  I have not sold anything there in months and I've more than tripled my inventory there in 2018 by adding more footage and adding photos there.  Pond5 was OK.  Sold a few hundred dollars worth of footage.  No photo sales, but that is to be expected.

April 2019 is coming up fast which is kind of scary considering I'll be moving permanently to Calgary.  At least I hope.  I need to find a job there first.  I only have two weeks left on this contract but I'm being told I'll be extended again.  I don't know for how long.  We shall see.  I'm hoping to get a permanent job in Calgary.

I do love drone photography

I only have the DJI Spark.  I'm planning on upgrading my drone to a DJI Mavic Pro 2 in the spring.  The Spark only shoots in JPEG which limits my editing in Serif' Affinity Photo.  The problems with the DJI Spark is the flight time.  I have 3 batteries and I can only get about 12 minutes per battery in flight time.  So I'm limited to about 36 minutes per location.  There is no RAW file format for photography as well.  I like to shoot video at 1080p/60fps.  The DJI Spark is limited to 1080p/30fps.  The distance also sucks.  Since I lost my first DJI Spark due to connection issues, I won't fly it more than 300 meters away from me.  With the above shot I was over the Ottawa River which really isn't a bright idea since I'd lose the drone in water if it were to lose power or if I lost connection.  I've had my second drone for about 6 weeks now and I haven't lost connection to it which is good.  I am still hesitant to fly it great distance or in an obstructed area where I lose sight of it or where I have a chance of losing connection.  I do want a drone with a bigger battery and longer flight time.  Also I want to shoot in RAW mode and I want to have an option of shooting in 4k.  Next year I want to go to Prague with my girlfriend.  I already have good cameras and a good camcorder.  I want to have a better drone for those arial shots.  I am currently saving all my photography money for a Sony RX100 Mark IV.  I am planning on getting the DJI Mavic Pro 2 with my tax return.  We shall see, the shall see.

Review of the Sony RX10 Mark II

This bridge style camera is a really good travel camera that produces excellent pictures and 4k video. It uses the same chip as the RX100 line and the Sony FDR AX100 B 4k camcorder.  Being a bridge style camera the 24mm-200mm f2.8 is non removable.  

Yes there are two new models, the III and IV with longer lenses but they are also slower at the long end capturing less light than the f2.8 Carl Zeiss lens.  You can look at my Shutterstock profile here to see the capability of this fantastic little camera.  It's quite a bit bigger than the RX100 line of cameras but way smaller and lighter than a regular DSLR camera.  It also does not over heat when shooting in 4k mode.  It has the same 1" sensor as the RX100 line of pocket cameras.

It shoots 4k video at only 24fps or 30fps.  But at 1080p you can shoot all the way up to 960fps slow motion.  With the 20 megapixel sensor, this bridge camera takes great photos and videos.  Sony is really known for their sensors supplying other camera manufacturers.

Some pros of the camera are:

1. Great photo quality
2. Great video quality
3. Shoots 4k video
4. Shoots slow motion video
5. Light in weight
6. Very portable
7. Picture profiles for both still and videos

Some cons of the camera

1. No inter changeable lens
2. Battery life
3. Feels small in the hand

In the near future I will be upgrading to the Sony RX10 Mark IV just for the reach of the lens being a 24MM to 600MM.  Really great for those nature shots.