Apologies….Its Been a Busy Fortnight

Firstly, I have to apologise for the missed post last week. I have had a very busy fortnight which has seen me find very little time for photography and even less for blogging.

However, I do have some news with some further additions to the arsenal with the arrival of the Nikon J1 + 1 Nikkor 10mm f/2.8 into the kit as well as the Tamron SP AF 28-75mm f/2.8 XR Di LD Aspherical [IF]. These two bits of kit will play very different roles within my collection with the baby J1 looking to supplement the Samsung EX1 as my everyday carry and the Tamron SP 28-75mm to become my main film lens.

One thing that both this lens and camera offer is quality for a small size and weight. The J1 has not failed to impress me with its image quality and low light performance, really making up for its lack of control over the EX1 with its exceptional image quality. The Tamron SP 28-75mm is substantially smaller and lighter than my Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8 but still offers very good image quality, but due to the size/weight advantage it will be in the kit bag a lot more, especially mounted on the front of my F80′s where it balances nicely.

I did manage to get some images out over the last fortnight:

From Australia Day – Taken with my D300 and Tamron SP 24mm f/2.5 Adaptall-2 and Micro Nikkor AF-S 105mm f/2.8 VR

Opportunities and Alternatives

It has been a week where I have made the most of the opportunities that presented as well as pressing alternatives into service when I have found myself in a situation without my preferred gear. Thankfully I have not had to resort to using my phone. It has also been another long 7-day working week for me, which will roll well into next week before I see a break, and hopefully an opportunity to head out with the intention of taking photos.

Firstly, I have a roll of Kodak Ektar that I have been attempting to finish off since December finally off getting processed, with a bit of luck I will have that scanned and ready for sharing in the coming weeks. I have also just started a roll of Kodak E100VS that will hopefully be finished off sooner rather than later. The irony is that I have never been a big Kodak fan, but with the scarcity of Fuji products, I have been experimenting with the Kodak celluloid, shame that Kodak is in such financial trouble.

What I do have to share are some images from a long overdue dinner date with my girlfriend, taken with my Samsung EX1, both unobtrusive and handy as well as capable of producing great images. We were at Chinta Ria and the golden hour light was simply too beautiful to miss out on.

The other photos I have to share originate from a combination of a very nice Christmas present I received and one of my desperate attempts to keep my 365 Project on track. Despite the challenges I faced last year, I am keen to continue my project this year. As I had the gear set up, I decided to take a few snaps of my newly rebuilt Tamron SP 90mm f/2.5 Macro 1:2 Adaptall 2…talk about being opportunistic!

Rested and Ready for a BIG year

Firstly, I just wanted to welcome everyone back. I am now officially back from my time off over the silly season and have already started to work my way back into the grind that is my working week. I have had a few good weeks off and managed to rest and recharge. However this does not mean I have not been taking photos. Over the course of the my break I completed my 365 Project for 2011 and started the 365 (366) Project for 2012, as well as gotten out and taken photos a few times.

First up was a couple of trips to Taronga Zoo right at the end of the year. Taronga Zoo has been a favourite destination of mine for a long time, but they welcomed three Tiger cubs recently so I have been spending even more time with the big cats.

I also spent some time watching the light show at St Mary’s Cathederal.

After the New Year I have been busy playing with IR…

another trip into the Blue Mountains…

Revisiting one of my favourite lenses….the Zeiss 135mm f/1.8

as well as spending a great night out at the Sydney Festival First Night….my Samsung EX1 didn’t let me down!

On top of all of this…there was the announcement of the Nikon D4! I am very keen to see this camera in the metal. The spec looks and sounds amazing with small but meaningful improvements.

Happy New Year! Welcome 2012

I am not actually in front of the computer at the moment, I actually am not sure where I will be when this is posted, but I just wanted to wish everyone a big Happy New Year. Hopefully 2011 has been a good year for you all, and even if it hasn’t, then lets look towards 2012 to be a HUGE year full of positives. Hopefully the HUGE 2012 doesn’t start with a big hangover, but even if it does I am sure this is because it was the giant sendoff to 2011.

I’ll be up and posting in the coming days or the following week. Until then have a great new years and stay tuned.

Merry Christmas

I just wanted to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Hope the excess of life are enjoyed over the next few days. Stay safe and enjoy the time off.

Welcome to the crazy festive season

For those who are yet to realise, the great commercial holiday is just around the corner. This is a time where we all trade gifts, spend excessive amounts of money and participate in obligatory family gatherings. This may not be a rosy view on this time of year, but a viewpoint on this time of year in the most basic way. Some of us will relish in the joys and the look forward to this all year, others will dread this time of year. However it is necessary to play our parts in this season, happily or begrudgingly, so what is special, sacred and tedious is easier on everyone.

I have had a quiet week, barely taking enough images to complete my 365 Project. Unfortunately the mounting pressures of work and a few other issues has robbed me of the time to get out there to take photos lately. However there are some rays of hope around the corner. Over the next few weeks I may be taking a break from the weekly schedule of posts, depending on how I weather the season, so please forgive me if I am quiet for the remainder of the year, but I will promise that I will definitely resume posting as per normal in January.

Have a great Christmas, and if I dont post again, have an awesome New Year. I leave you now with a few from this week’s project.

Swiss Gold, 30mm Macro, off camera flash with the Alpha

Despite the hectic schedule that I am keeping at the moment I took to this week with the desire to put the Sony A65 through it’s paces and to experiment to see how far I could take this system. At the same time I took delivery of a Swiss Gold filter to help me keep access to good coffee with the impending shut down of one of my favourite cafe’s, Vella Nero, over the Christmas period.

It had been awhile since I had played with product, and the combination of the new A65 and the arrival of the Swiss Gold filter meant its seemed fitting to pull out the speedlights, softbox and triggers to have some fun. I have had Phottix Stratos for awhile, but in order to get them to work on the Sony A65 I had to enlist the help of the Phottix Hot Shoe Adaptor for Sony.  Whilst I was at it I decided to give the Samsung EX1 a crack with the triggers as well.

How did I all go? Well the Phottix Hot Shoe Adapter had a bit of trouble locking on the A65, so I took the adapter and tested it on every Alpha I could find, sure enough it locked and worked fine on any other model Alpha, so it appears that there is a slight difference in the A65′s hot shoe. However, when I did jam on the adapter it worked flawlessly, triggering my Nikon SB600/SB800 which in turn triggered my SB900 in SU-4 mode. The Samsung EX1 had a similar issue with the Stratos, you really have to make sure the trigger is right in the hot shoe, but more amazingly, this little camera did not mind syncing at 1/1500 sec, the Sony managed 1/250 sec which is no slouch either.

This result is simply amazing, if I ever need to use flash in bright sunlight, then I know I can turn to my Samsung EX1. The Sony, even with it’s non-standard hot shoe proves to be able to overcome its handicap to expand it’s usefulness in a multi platform environment that my kit is quickly becoming.

Another peice of new kit also arrived this week. A Sony AF DT 30mm f/2.8 Macro SAM. This lens will hopefully provide me with a higher quality, all-in-one solution for the A65 which has been soldiering on with a DT 18-55mm kit lens.

I apologise for the dodgy edits on these images, I am still coming to grasps with the finer points of file handling/workflow for the Sony A65 and Samsung EX1.

Lots of Play but not many Pictures

It has been a long week for me, I have been worked all seven days and this hectic schedule will continue until at least Christmas arrives. I cannot complain, but it means that although I have been carrying around the Sony A65 I have not been able to take many photos worth posting other than those in my 365 Project.

With little to talk about, I guess I should probably share my initial thoughts about the A65 before I leave you with a few images from last weeks 365 Project.

Now that I have had a better play with the A65 I can safely say that there are both positives and negatives to this camera. On paper it has it all, speed, resolution and video; surely this camera can not be that bad right? Kai of DRTV fame seems to think it is not that bad. Well having forced myself to use this camera, and dipping into some of the nicer Carl Zeiss lenses I have to admit that my initial reactions to the thought of a 24MP APS-C sensor  were correct. Lenses simply cannot cope, even the much vaunted CZ 85mm f/1.4 does not seem to take full advantage to the resolving capabilities of this camera. It is also noisy, even down low at 100 ISO if you underexpose slightly it will punish you, this does throttle creative lighting in some ways.

Handling is not as intuitive as it could be. For all of Sony’s attempts to make this camera user friendly, I find that the “quick” menu is frustrating to navigate, it is not as intuitive as the system it replaces, and if can lag a fair bit, as can the light meter and the EVF. I am not comparing this to my Nikon’s but to previous Sony Alpha DSLR’s, I actually find the old quick menu to be much more practical.

The positive? The EVF is beautiful, I love the electronic spirit level as well. Like the EVF, the LCD screen is also very nice, I have been taking advantage of its flexibility and the snappy AF, unlike LiveView AF in other brands. Video is superb, the AF is very measured and does not stutter often whilst shooting footage and the audio is very reasonable as well.

I will continue to play with this camera and may add to these comments in the future.

Samsung EX1 Infra Red and Wacom

l am finally managing to post on time for the first time in many weeks. Sadly this is due to me feeling under the weather. With Christmas coming up, and me working two jobs if looks like I will be rather busy in the coming few weeks and l don’t see too many opportunities to photograph. However, I have managed to spend a bit of time today taking photos, the first chance I have had to properly explore the infra red abilities of my Samsung EX1.

I have had the necessary filter adaptor and 720nm cut off filter for a number of weeks, but due to time and poor weather I have not been able to go out and take images seriously. For those of you who have been following this site or my 365 Project I have already posted a lot of IR images from my converted D80. However, my largest problem with this camera is that it displaces my visible spectrum camera so I have had to carry my Samsung EX1 in conjunction to the D80IR. I stumbled across reports on dpreview and flickr that the EX1 had a reasonable sensitivity to IR light so I had to try.

Here are the results from today’s experiments. I did learn that Adobe (both Photoshop and Lightroom) is unable to interpret the preset white balance, nor able to correct the WB for any useful false colour work, so it was Nik Software’s Silver Efex Pro that came to the rescue. To make my editing easier I was experimenting with a Wacom Bamboo Pen and Touch, and I have to admit that I like what I was getting…maybe all this extra work will bring with it some presents!