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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Canada’s War Memorial

Decided to go for a walk yesterday after work.  The War Memorial is located 2 blocks from the building that I work at.  It was a snowy, grey day yesterday in Ottawa.  Decided to shoot the War Memorial in black and white as I think black and white does the memorial more justice.  I really like doing photography with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  It’s such a compact and powerful little camera.

Another reason I love the Sony RX100 Mark VII

I went to the Calgary Flames and Ottawa Senators hockey game this past weekend and I took the Sony RX100 Mark VII with me.  Everyone thinks just because the Sony RX100 Mark VII is a little compact point and shoot camera that it cannot get up close shots or descent images.  But I think it’s one of the best cameras around.  No one checks you when you go into an event thinking this is not a pro camera.

Snowy Owl

Went out today with the fiancé to go do some photography.  Found this Snowy Owl on a power pole.  It was one of two that we spotted.  We spent about half an hour waiting for it to fly with no luck.  

On a side note, I want to go do some winter camping this year.  I have the equipment to do it.  Good sleeping bag.  Air mattress.  SUV.  Maybe next weekend I’ll go up to the Algonquin Park area and stay for a weekend.  Leave Friday after work and come back on Sunday. We shall see.

Photography, footage, vectors, music

If you need any photography, footage, music or vector art, please use the following link to buy whatever you need.  You can buy anyone’s photography, footage clips, music or vector art.  Not just mine.  Anyone’s.  Just use the following link: https://www.shutterstock.com/g/Josef+Pittner?rid=1070795&utm_medium=email&utm_source=ctrbreferral-link