iPhone photography. Just iPhone photography

 

I am thinking of selling off all my photography gear like my Sony a7R Mark II, my Sony FDR AX-53B, Canon Vixia G50 and my Canon Powershot G7X Mark III.  I haven't touched any of them in weeks since I don't like to carry so much equipment with me.

When Apple release iOS 14.3, all Apple iPhone 12 Pro and Pro Max shooters will be able to shoot in Raw mode.  That is a huge improvement for iPhone photography.  I do mainly landscape photography right now along with cityscapes.  I hardly do any night time photography or early morning photography.  The iPhone 12 Pro Max has excellent lenses on the phone and they're only to get better.  I have enough storage on the phone and the iPad Pro that it won't be a hinderance at all.  I have the phone with me all the time.  I don't carry around the big cameras.  

I don't do photography people or animals.  I don't do any studio work.  Mostly I am outside in nature.  It will also help with the minimalism type of life style I'm developing.  By spring of next year I want to be out in western Canada and away from the miserable and bleak landscape of Ottawa and eastern Ontario and western Quebec.

I've noticed with the iPhone 12 Pro Max I hardly use the battery.   I use maybe 30% of the battery with all day use listening to music, checking emails and watching YouTube videos.  I am so engrained in the Apple eco-system, it's hard for me to leave.  My current 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 512GH internal hard drive and the 12.9" screen is a fantastic complement to the iPhone 12 Pro Max.

I want to start creating more and more YouTube videos to sell my existing photography on the various micro stock sites and my own site.  The iPhone 12 Pro Max will definitely be useful for that.

What’s the point of having a Point and shoot or a DSLR camera?

I’ve been thinking about the state of photography over the past decade. How things have changed in the last 10 years.  I’ve been shooting for stock photography for the past 5 years.  That’s how I make a part of my yearly income.  I’ve noticed over the past three years, while my portfolio on Shutterstock has gone up five fold, income has gone done by at least thirty to forty percent.  I’m still shooting with a Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I shot with a Sony a7II and Canon EOS 6D camera bodies with various professional f2.8 lenses costing thousands of dollars.  The return on investment has not materialized over the past several years.  I don’t shoot weddings, portraits, school kids.  I do mainly landscape and wild life stock photography.  I haven’t printed my photos in about 4 years or so as ink costs about $240.  That’s $240 for 8 cartridges to fit into my printer which lasts maybe 15-20 prints.  I don’t shoot do art shows.  Just shoot for stock.  

I’ve been thinking of getting rid of the Sony RX100 Mark VII and just shooting with the Apple iPhone 8 Plus for now.  I’m probably going to upgrade my phone to the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max in early 2020 when my contract with Freedom Mobile is up.  From what I see, the Apple iPhone 11 Pro Max is an excellent phone with a fantastic camera setup.  I hardly go to Parc Omega to do wildlife photography as the park no longer offers viable spots to photograph the animals without getting some fencing or glass in the shot.  Particularly,  it’s difficult, if not impossible to photograph the Arctic or Timber wolves as there is either high fencing or glass in between my camera and the animal. 

I’d be crazy to get rid of the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  It’s a very convenient, portable Point and Shoot camera.  I can fit it into the same case as my iPad Pro and not have to worry about braking it or losing it somewhere.  I find the iPhone to be more convenient but the Sony RX100 Mark VII a far more professional camera especially for travel.

I think my next photographic purchase will be a better drone.  I don’t typically fly a drone in the winter since, by the time I get home, it’s pitch black outside.  I’m saving up my photography money for a better drone than the DJI Spark.  I don’t know what kind of drone I’ll get since I have a huge hate on for DJI and the way they treat customers.  Plus, DJI being a Chinese company does not help.  I’d rather support a Canadian or American drone company.

Become a Shutterstock contributor

Want to earn a passive income with your photography, sign up to be a Shutterstock photographer.  I signed up to Shutterstock back in May 2014.  I started off with 7 out of 10 photos being accepted.  Trying to get accepted was a lot harder back then, than it is now.  Currently you have have to have 1 out of 10 photos accepted.  I had to get 7 out of 10.  It took me a while to get accepted.  Back then I thought my photography was great.  In focus with no noise at all.  It took me a while to figure out what Shutterstock wanted.  Almost six years later, I have over 15,500 photos accepted and over 1,500 footage clips accepted.  I regularly make payout which is not hard to do.  Just sell $35 worth of photography or footage.  If you sell one clip a month, you'll make payout easily.  I think I haven't make payout once in the last 4 years or so.  You can sign up by clicking on this link https://submit.shutterstock.com/?ref=1070795.  It will take you to the Shutterstock website and all you have to do is create an account, upload some ID and then start uploading.  I've submitted photos from various cameras including my old Samsung Galaxy s7 Edge, my current Apple iPhone 8 Plus.  I also have pictures taken with a Canon EOS 350D which is an old camera by todays standards.  Equipment does not matter anymore it seems.  Just start.

I made a mistake

When I got the Sony RX100 Mark VII a few weeks back, I ordered the mic which I thought was correct.  It was not.  Found the correct one, purchased it yesterday and it arrived  today.  Thank you Amazon Prime.  Will be sending the incorrect one back on Monday.  The new Mic works wonders.  :)

For Sale!!!!!!

Just got back from shooting another night of fireworks at the Casino Sound of Light, the Italy edition.  This time I only took my Sony RX100 Mark VI, Sony Remote and a little Joby tripod.  I didn’t want to carry around a big DSLR camera, lens and tripod.  I was a bit hesitant shooting fireworks with the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I’ve not shot fireworks with this camera before.  To say the least, I am not disappointed whatsoever.  Focus was spot on in manual mode.  Colours look just awesome.  No noise whatsoever.  I shot at 2.5 seconds, f9 and ISO 100.  I am truly happy with this little camera that fits right into your jean pocket.  I have no need for a DSLR whatsoever.  I will be selling the Sony a7ii body with the lens and battery grip and I’ll be getting rid of the Canon Vixia HF G40 as well I think.  I just have to wait for the Sony RX100 Mark VII to come out at some point this month.  I’ll only be shooting with the Sony RX100 Mark VI and the VII and editing all my photos on the 2018 Apple iPad Pro 12.9” with the 512GB hard drive.  Once iPadOS comes out next month, I will no long need a desktop or laptop computer.  I’ll be able to do everything on the Apple iPad Pro.  I can’t wait.  I am so excited.  Photography makes feel happy to be alive.

An update on the Sony RX100 Mark VII

I honestly don’t use my Canon Vixia HF G40 camcorder anymore.  I think I’ve used it twice this year.  I hardly use my Sony a7ii with the battery grip and the Sony f3.5-6.4 24-240MM lens.  Whenever I go out shooting, I use the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I don’t do any astrophotography anymore.  I hardly go to Parc Omega anymore because I think the park has been pretty much ruined for photographers.  It’s also pricey at $35CAD per person, per visit.  I still go once in a blue moon.  I’ve gone I think twice or three times these past few months.  The weather has been horrible this spring and summer.  We went directly from a cold winter to the warmest summer on record.  All the animals would hide in the forest.  I honestly like going in the fall and winter anyways because the animals are more active.

The Sony RX100 Mark VI and the Sony RX100 VII have the same f2.8-4.5 24-200MM lens which is actually fantastic for a point and shoot pocket camera.  I can use it for wildlife and landscape photography.  They both have pretty much the same 20.1 megapixel sensor.  Depending on edits, I can get 18-33 megabytes files out of each RAW file.  They both shoot fantastic 4K videos and the Sony RX100 Mark VII can shoot up to an hour of 4K footage before the battery dies on it.  That’s according to reviewers on YouTube.  The Sony RX100 Mark VII finally comes with a mic jack so that you can attach a microphone to it.  I don’t use the camera for vlogging because I don’t do vlogs at all.  I just shoot 5 second to 60 seconds video clips and publish them to my portfolios on Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks which are all available on the home page of this blog.

Yes the Sony a7ii and theCanon Vixia HF G40 are more professional equipment.  But if they’re sitting here unused, they are costing me money.  I do a lot of travelling and a lot of walking.  Especially downtown or local walking trails where I look for animals to photograph and take videos of.  Carrying around huge camera bodies and lenses.  I’d rather carry around the Sony RX100 VI or the VII in my hand or in my pocket.  I like the anonymity of the Sony RX100 line of cameras.  I’ll probably switch back and forth on this over the coming weeks but in all likelyhood, I will trade in the pro gear for the Sony RX100 VII when it come out in a few weeks.

The Sony RX100 Mark VII

I have not kept up with new camera body or lens releases in a few months.  My last camera purchase back in March was the Sony a7ii body, grip and lens.  Since then though, I have used the Sony RX100 Mark VI for the majority of my photography since I work in the downtown core of Ottawa and bringing the full frame camera was just not an option.

That is why I was extremely excited when I read this week that the Sony RX100 Mark VII was announced.  The camera will be released in mid August of this year or so.  I have used an iteration of the camera since the Sony RX100 Mark II came out several years back.  I’ve always loved the RX100 line of compact cameras.  Currently I use the Sony RX100 VI as my daily driver since it packs several punches in the pocket sized compact camera.  My favourite new feature in the Sony RX100 Mark VI was the 24-200MM lens equivilant.  I can do without the neutral density filter which was dropped in favour of the f2.8-4.5 24-200MM lens.  I would rather have the reach than a filter which you can purchase as an add on for less than $100 from your local camera store.

The new Sony RX100 Mark VII has fixed a lot of what the users of the series of cameras have been asking for.  Especially the addition of the mic jack and upgraded imaging sensor, this camera I think will replace travel, hobbyist, enthusiast, semi pro photographers DSLR cameras.  For an example, last night my girlfriend and I went to the Ottawa Redblacks and Calgary Stampeders CFL football game.  Walking into the stadium, I noticed a sign prohibiting DSLR cameras while accepting point and shoot cameras only.  I was not even searched or asked about the camera as it was in my right short pocket.  I basically was shooting still and footage thru out the football game with no issue on just one battery.  We were in the nose bleeds seats and was able to get close up shots of the players and cheer leaders thru out the night.  

I do all my photography semi professionally.  I make a few hundred dollars worth of shooting still and footage with various equipment and I submit everything to a few micro stock agencies.  The 20 megapixel sensor is more than enough as a 5 megapixel sensor is all that is needed.  The RX100 series of cameras has shot 4K since the Mark IV came out.  They had a 5 minute limitation on shooting 4K videos due to over heating.  The Sony RX100 Mark VII fixes this limitation as you can shoot up to a solid hour of 4K shooting non stop.  Since all my clips are between 5 and 60 seconds this was never an issue for me.  The only problem I still see with the RX100 line of cameras is that it takes up to 30 seconds to clear the buffer if you continuously shoot for 5 seconds.  It is understandable that the buffer would fill since the new Sony RX100 Mark VII shoots 90 frames a second.  Now these 90 short are all RAW 20.1 megapixel images.  That is a whole sack of information being taken and written to you SD card.

I am 99.9999998% sure I am going to trade in my Sony a7ii full frame camera with the lens and battery grip along with the Canon Vixia HF G40 camcorder for the new Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I’ve used the G40 just once or twice this year.  The a7ii has been used maybe a dozen times since I bought it back in March of 2019.  I’ve used the Sony RX100 Mark VI at least 3-4 times a week as I take it everywhere with me.  It’s basically a full on DSLR camera in the palm of your hand.

May 16, 2014

May 16, 2014.  That was the first day I got accepted at Shutterstock to sell my photos.  Today I had my 4800th sale.  I sold my first photo a few hours after my photos were accepted.  It was an exciting time for me.  I had 7 photos that were accepted.  This is my first photo sold.  This is my 4800th download that a buyer bought.

As of 16:36 EST, I have 14,462 photos accepted and 1,527 clips accepted at Shutterstock.  I cant believe it's been five years already.  I only now post to Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.  I really, really enjoy photography and videography.  It's so much fun.  Please support me by buying from either my microstock portfolios or my website.

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.

The best camcorder ever!!!!!

Yes.  It's the best prosumer camcorder ever built.  It shoots 1080p/60fps.  No it does not shoot 4k.  I'm glad it doesn't.  Yes 4k televisions are falling in price.  In Canada, the major cable providers only have 1 or 2 4k channels.  With dwindling cable subscribers  I don't see the major providers upgrading their equipment to fully support 4k in the near future.  I have a 4k television at home with an Apple 4k TV set top box which we, being my girlfriend and I don't hardly watch.  We don't watch a whole lot of television rather looking at our phones or iPads or computers which only support 1080p or 1440p.  But on a phone, you cannot differentiate between 1080p and 1440p.  There are a few phones that have 4k displays but again, they're a small screen factor.  That is why I'm still shooting 1080p.

Lets get back to the Canon Vixia HF G40 camcorder available for purchase here.  Like I've written previously it does shoot at 1080p/60fps.  What Canon does right with this camcorder is colour reproduction.  It does come with 20x optical zoom and 300x digital zoom.  Thanks to the sensors enhanced sensitivity, the Vixia HF G40 provides vivid, accurate recording through an improved signal to noise ratio.  The camera shoots in both MP4 and AVCHD with MP4 being web ready.  The camera provides dual SD card slots for never ending storage.  I have 2 64GB cards in the camera and I can shoot the whole weekend and not fill up both cards.  You can record to both cards at the same time just in case one fails.  I did buy an extra battery for longer shooting.  I can shoot about 90 minutes with the battery that comes with the camera and with my larger battery I can shoot over 220 minutes on a single charge.

The OLD screen is big and bright even during sunny days.  The electronic viewfinder shifts to 45 degrees and is easy to use and see thru.  For a guy with glasses, it's a big help.  The optical image stabilization is great when you want to shoot that is far away from you.  The lens is great on this camera being a f1.8 to f2.8 which means it's great in low light and is extremely sharp.  

Here are some of the pros of the camera:

1. Great price
2. Great lens
3. Portable
4. 1080p/60fps
5. Focal lenght
6. Multiple hot shoes to attach accessories
7. OLED screen
8. Viewfinder
9. Comes with remote control and lens cap
10. Weight of 1.7 pounds
11. Reach of 26.7MM to 576MM (35MM equivalent)
12. Wide angle and zoom lenses available
13. Has Wifi and FTP 
14. Superb video
15. Superb colour reproduction

Here are some of the negatives:

1. Does not shoot 4k (is that a negative?)

You can buy two teleconvertors.  One wide and one a telephoto.  I currently have the wide lens and it's amazingly sharp.  The camera does have audio in which unfortunately doesn't provide phantom power.  I currently use the Rode Video Mic Pro+ available here.

When I was in Calgary last year for work I brought this camera with me.  I decided to buy a Sony 4k camcorder thinking 4k is the future.  Let's just say I sold the 4k camcorder and I kept the Canon.  With the Canon I don't need that many hard drives as the files are smaller and I don't need as much processing power.  If I wanted I could use my iPhone 8 Plus running iMovie to edit my Canon clips for my portfolios.  You can check my portfolio links on my blog to see what the camera is capable of.

Best pocket camera in the world

The Sony RX100 Mark V is possibly the best pocket camera in the world.  Currently you can buy the Sony RX100 Mark VI as well but the Mark V is a bit cheaper.  The Mark VI has a 24-200MM lens compared to the 24-70MM on the RX100 Mark V.  The Mark V takes amazing photos and videos and I'm guessing the Mark VI is slightly better.

The Sony RX100 Mark V has a one inch type Exmor RS CMOS sensor with a 21 megapixel sensor (20.1MP effective) which shoots great photos and even better videos up to 4k.  It can shoot up to 4K UHD video and regular video at 1080P.  It can even shoot slow video up to 980fps.  I've had the camera for over a year now and it is very reliable.  I take it everywhere with me since it does fit into my pocket.  You don't feel like a paparazzi with the camera.  You will not get stares as you would with a gigantic DSLR and a 70-200 lens.

The Sony RX100 Mark VI does have a 24-200MM lens which is awesome and is the only reason I would ever upgrade to the Mark VI.  The Mark V is very versatile little camera.  It's pretty much travelled with me every where I go.  From Calgary to Vancouver to Ottawa and down south to Florida.

The pros of the camera are:

1. Pocket size
2. Shoots awesome video
3. Shoots awesome photos
4. Easy to setup and use
5. Great for vlogging
6. 24 photo burst rate (Raw images)
7. Non-invasive 
8. Descent audio capture for such a small camera

The cons of the camera are:

1. It overheats when shooting 4K video 
2. 5 minutes limitations on 4k video
3. Battery life.  Buy lots and lots of batteries.  At least 2-3
4. Menu system is atrocious.  But once you learn it, it's ok.
5. No input jack for better audio

For me, I shoot mainly stock photos and videos so I don't really need audio recording for my needs.  This little camera does pretty much everything.  I actually sold all my Canon gear and bought the Sony RX100 Mark V and a Sony RX10 Mark II when I was out in Calgary for work.  I took it to the mountains whenever I was out there on weekends.  

If you would like to purchase it, please click here and help me out a little.  I do get a little back from Amazon when you purchase something.  It helps me buy new equipment and software and helps me travel to new places to take better pictures and videos.

FInally, I see ads!!!!

Well it took forever but I got all my Google accounts cleaned up.  Closed a myriad of accounts and services.  Forwarding my domain to the blogger site.  Correctly setup Google Adsense on the blog.  Correctly set up Google Adsense account, Google Analytics etc and for the first time, the website is able to display ads on my own, personal website.

From now on I hope to post daily or every other day and raise traffic to the site and all my various photo and video portfolios so that I can expand my photography business.  I live and breathe photography.  I am constantly thinking of what I want to photograph next.  It's an amazing hobby that gets you out into your city and local nature around the area you live in.  It's a great experience to explore and capture memories.

Finally

Finally got my domain name pointed to Blogger.  Finally got Adsense to work with Blogger and my own domain.  I've had so much trouble with setting this up.  So many errors.  So many issues.  I haven't posted here in over a year because I've been so busy with work.  My girlfriend has had both her knees replaced in the past year so I've been helping her a lot this past year.  Driving her to physiotherapy, doctor's appointment etc.  But I am back and I'm looking to do more blogging and more photography.  I've wanted to have my own domain name pointed to the site for so long and have Adwords run on my site.  I finally had the time to sit down and do this.  

I am finally back.  Now I wish it would stop raining so I can fly my new drone.

It's been a while

Well 2017 is here and what a year.  Got a new girl in my life, work is going well and finally doing more photography.  Finally.  Busy, busy, busy.

Canon Vixia HF G40

So today I finally picked up the Canon Vixia HF G40 camcorder.  I wanted this prosumer camcorder so bad.  I upgraded it from the Canon Vixia HF R62.  The G40 provides a few bit more controls when shooting video like Exposure and ISO settings.  I can actually physically attach an external mike as well to the G40.  It's more of a prosumer camcorder rather than a top of the line consumer camcorder. I will post a better review when I actually start using the camcorder in real life situations.

Holy exhausted Batman!

No new photos or videos today as I was swamped at work.  Plus I didn't get a chance to edit photos that I took yesterday.  I took a lot of panorama photos and some wide field like the one above taken with the Canon EOS 6D and the Canon EF f2.8 16-35MM L series lens.  I think I will do some photography tomorrow.  I haven't been sleeping well in the past week or so.  I'm really exhausted.

Baby woodpeckers!

Just got home from taking some videos and am editing them now.  Got some cute, little Pileated Woodpeckers being fed by both parents.  Videos to follow.

This weekend

Some people are crazy.  It's roughly plus thirty degrees celsius in Ottawa this weekend.  With the humidity, temperatures are nearing plus forty degrees celsius.  The reason I say people are crazy in Ottawa is because it's Race Weekend where people run either 2km, 5km and 10km or in some cases all three.

I was there in downtown Ottawa yesterday photographing the event.  I heard one of the announcements that they had a record number of people needing medical attention due to heat stroke and heat exhaustion.  Most of the people running wither either my age or older.  These people are going to end up with hip replacements or needing work done on their knees if not now, later in life.  But it does offer great photography.  So keep doing it you crazy people.