Sony obsession - Sony RX100 MK3 & Sony A6000

For the past few years I've owned a Fuji mirrorless system of some sorts. I began with X-E1, moved onto X-M1, then to X-T1 and funnily enough, I went back to X-M1 as I wasn't selling for the price I wanted...

In practical use it offered no real benefit to me over X-T1... and let's be clear, that's not me saying there are no differences... However I didn't feel the extra cost was a benefit to me for the added features...

My biggest gripe with the Fuji system has always been it's AF system. Image quality is amazing and I love it for that... AF on the other hand, it is the most frustrating system I have worked with. It doesn't feel responsive at all...

Before Fuji I have always shot Nikon... I still do shoot Nikon for all my professional real-estate and wedding work. However, personal day to day shoots, I have always wanted something more compact, and the Fuji has been my go-to system...

Although I prefer my Nikon full frame images over my Fuji, I found myself shooting less because the Nikon's are so big...

Then I found myself not shooting much at all after my Fuji missed a few shots due to its lack of speed...

I decided to go the size smaller than the Fuji and picked up a RX100 MK3...

Out of the box the camera felt extremely fast from AF to shutter... The wide aperture of f/1.8 allows you to get a little shallow DOF even at the wide end... and even a little at the telephoto end when shooting at f/2.8.

It's no DSLR quality by no means... but this is me comparing to a DSLR shooting at f/1.8 or f/2.8...

When you factor in the lens equivalent, the lens on the RX100 is equivalent focal length and aperture to a entry level kit lens...

Comparing to that, the Sony comes out on top.

I found myself leaving the Nikon and Fuji at home after purchasing the RX100, and although now I shoot more because it's compact ability and responsiveness... I miss the larger sensor!

The Sony as a 1" sensor which is a 2.7x crop, and I am so used to a full frame sensor... or at least an APS-C with the option of a very fast prime...

So with all that taken into consideration and the reviews of the Sony mirror less system, I can't help but want the Sony A6000...

I have never personally used one, so it's hard for me to determine if it will suit my needs well. But going on paper specs and reviews, the camera seems like a potential replacement for both my RX100 and Fuji.
I still have my reservations due to sensor size and lens selection...

So there is even a part of me which is considering the A7R or A7S...

But again, those also have their slight niggles...

The reason I'm writing this blog is to vent some thoughts... I have been checking out reviews and prices for all the Sony cameras for a while now but am trying my best to resist the purchases...

I basically have everything I need, but I just need to work with what I have a bit more...

But maybe when the A7R II or A7000 get released I may do an impulse buy...

We'll see...

My initial thoughts on the Nikon D810...

With the recent announcement of the new Nikon D810, I thought it's best to blog once again.

Given the fact that I'm also on a 3hrs train ride with not much else to do :S

So forgive any typo/grammatical errors as this is being written on the fly...

First of, let me say that I have owned 2x D800's, 2 D7000's, D90, D600, V1, Fuji X-E1 and a Fuji X-M1. So I am probably the biggest gear head of all time and usually get really excited over new releases for camera equipment...

The exception to this is I have never really been too excited over Nikon D4s level cameras as it just feels too far beyond my reach at the moment...

So for the moment, let's just discuss the announced features of the Nikon D810 that have excited me and that have disappointed me...

36.3mp sensor
The 36mp sensor in the D800 was a game changer. It beat all other DSLR'S in terms of resolution and dynamic range. So its good to see the same sensor back, but with improvements...

The ISO range has been extended 1 stop on both sides and nikon have removed the OLPF (optical Low pass filter) just like they did on the D800E.

Auto Focus
New AF system to match the D4S and with area focus tracking. I have not heard any news on how much better this is, not have I used it... so on paper, this is a good thing...

Video
Full HD at 60fps is now available. But still no 4k. people have complained that there is no 4k,  but the fact of the matter is, no-one really is aware that we're not benefiting much from full hd as it is... and 4k displays are very expensive at the moment. So with new generations of cameras coming out every 3yrs-ish, I don't expect 4k to be standard just yet...

(When I say no-one is really benefiting from full hd, not many people are aware that they own a full hd tv, but their hd signal from Freeview, Sky or Virginia Media is actually only 720p, and not every channel is available as a HD broadcast... so 4k to me is just a paper spec)

personally... the above features are the only ones which stood out to me when I read some initial thought reviews.. There may be more features that have slipped my mind at this point, but on the basis they are the only ones which stick out, I would assume they are the only significant ones to me...

So... will I be buying one?

Probably not right away...

The price of the Nikon D800 upon release was £2700, dropped to £2300 3 months later and down to £2000 8 months after release.

I found them as low as £1500 for grey import models and £1300 used. This is roughly 2yrs later.

So the cameras have dropped quite drastically in price.

I don't think the Nikon D810 will drop as quick as it'll have a crutch with the D800 and D800E still being readily available, and in reality, the specs are still pretty similar.

No don't get me wrong, there are changes of course, and to some, these changes are significant..

But to me? Not really...

Through depreciation, I have lost £800ish in 2.5yrs per D800 that I own... that's £1600. which is a significant amount of money...

My camera has hit a point where it won't depreciate much more from now... so for me to sell now, and add more money to buy a D810, is not practical, as I would have lost on depreciation, lost on reinvestment, and will lose on depreciation again in a few years...

There is an argument about 'working professionals need to reinvest for the best equipment'. Now, I do agree with this to an extent, but will the reinvestment of £1000ish to upgrade one D800, plus the part-ex or sale value of the D800... is it worth it? Not really...

I try to keep my ISO low at all times, and when I push beyond ISO6400 I would most likely tend to need to add flash if the scene is that dark...

I have never felt ISO100 wasn't low enough and in fact, I never knew anything below ISO100 existed lol...

So the ISO is no major benefit to me...

Auto focus is always something that could be improved, and I have never had any major complaints with my D800. It's never been a situation where I felt it was rubbish or kept missing. It has missed of course, but that could be user error also with where I set my points... so yes, I would like better AF,  but without ever knowing first hand if the newer AF is a lot better, I will never know what I am missing if I have never experienced in the first place... so its only a paper spec to me...

Likewise with movie features... I don't do much video anyway and 4k isn't a big deal in general I don't think...

So in short, no I will not be buying one yet...

I may not ever buy one...

If one of my cameras die, I may replace it with a D810, or I might save money and get a used D800E instead. Or the prices might come down in a few years and then the price to me will make more sense... but for the moment... It has no real benefit to me at that cost.

I am writing this more for a reminder to myself not to use the money I have on this camera! (No matter how much I want one lol)

What is 'color correcting'?

I always get asked this question…

“What do you mean by ‘colour correct’?”

With my photography, I shoot in RAW, which is in essence, a Digital Negative. So just like the film days where you shot film negatives and processed from there, today we shoot in RAW. RAW is as the name suggests, RAW. Everything is unprocessed and has all the colour data there ready to tweak to your needs!

In-camera JPG’s do a fine job, but when you’re working professionally, you need to have control over every image and every scene has its subtle differences.

As an example, I thought I would briefly walk you through a photo I took of my cousin, his wife and his new born son.

I used in camera metering to meter this photo at ISO400, f/3.2, 1/250 shot at 165mm. It’s an ‘ok’ photo as it is, the histogram is showing I have managed to retain more or less all of the tonal detail, and it is ready for processing.

First thing is first!

White Balance… When I shot it, it was set to AutoWB, which chose a WB setting of 4650k. This is fine as it was actually a pretty cloudy day and the looked a bit grey in the scene. However for this photo, the intent was to create a warm autumn feel, hence why I chose the green/brown leaves as a backdrop.

So if I crank up the WB to say 6000k, it adds in more of a yellow tone which pumps up the image a bit more and gives it a very warm feel as opposed to the gloomy grey.

Although the image has all the tonal range, it looks a bit dark, so I would increase my exposure to +0.83 on the exposure slider.



You will see now on her sleeve, we are starting to lose detail as the sun is much harsher on that area than it is anywhere else in the image. Depending on your artistic eye and preference, you could leave it as blown out or recover it with the “Highlight” Slider. As a drastic example, I have reduce Highlights all the way down to -100 to show you can recover most of the detail in the blown out sleeve.



However, doing this flattens out the image a bit, so I will reduce “Highlights”, but not by -100. I have taken it down to -50.



I want to give the image a bit more pump so I will add a bit of contrast to +30, and here is the result of that.

As you can see the image is now looking much more punchy compared to where I first started.

Going back to white balance, as it became more noticeable when I added contrast, their skin tone looked too yellow. So I went back to White Balance to add in a touch of Pink Tint to make the skin look a bit more natural. I have taken it up to +18.

A brought up the Shadows and Blacks a touch and dropped the Whites a little also, added a touch of Clarity for Contrast detail. This is a general practice I do with all my images.

But as you can see from the before/afters, there is a massive change from subtle small tweaks with colour correcting.

This process has to be done with all images that I shoot and this is to ensure consistency throughout.

I hope after reading this it has painted a clearer picture with what is meant by “Colour Correcting” and I hope you feel the extra work involved is worth it for producing better results!

Nokia 1020 (41mp) vs Nikon D800 (36.3mp)

I would first like to start off by saying that this was by no means a scientific test. I just wanted to prove a point that megapixels do not matter.

A friend of mine recently got the new Nokia 1020 phone. This phone is famously sporting a 41mp camera!

If you think about it for second… 41mp! That’s a crazy amount of megapixels, let alone a crazy amount for a mobile phone! The average DSLR nowadays is ranging between 16-24mp on both crop and full frame. The Nikon D800 was making waves when it first came out with its incredible 36.3mp sensor.

I know it’s not a fair comparison and that no-one is really having troubles deciding between the two, but I did want to compare image quality of the Nokia 1020 against the Nikon D800, just for the hell of it!

I have only tested briefly with a random shot in my local town of Wimbledon. I only chose this spot as it was the most well-lit area in my local town.

Because the Nokia does not have any aperture controls and it is a fixed f/2.2, it cannot be a direct comparison once more as my Nikon D800 was fitted with a 24-70mm f/2.8. So I could not close down the Nokia’s aperture, nor open up the Nikon any further. In fact, to match the Nokia’s 1sec exposure as much as possible, I had close down the Nikon to f/3.5, and even at that I found I needed to reduce the exposure in LR a further -0.60 to match.

After white balancing the D800 as close as possible to the Nokia’s files and then matching the 1920x1080 crop, here are the final results.



There is a slight difference in angle as the Nokia was mounted on top of the Nikon D800.

Overall, at a glance, I don’t think many people will notice the difference.

Zoom in 1:1 and you’ll see that the Nikon is much sharper. However when zoomed out to fit the image on screen, I don’t think anyone would be able to separate the two in terms of sharpness.



The key difference between the two images is the Dynamic range. The entrance to the door way to Morrisons on the Nokia is almost completely blown out, whereas the Nikon has still retained some detail.

Likewise for the Christmas lights, as the Nokia has made the lights seem much brighter in comparison.

After pulling all the highlights down, I managed to pull back even more detail from the shop Windows in the D800 file, however the Nokia was just beyond recovery.



That is down to the fact I am working with a D800 Raw file against a Nokia JPG, however as standard, the RAW file is revealing far more detail than the Nokia, and the Nokia is a processed file which naturally should have highlights pulled down and shadows pushed up a bit.

Overall, I am very impressed with the Nokia 1020 and its photography abilities.

Ideally I would like to control its aperture settings so I could do longer exposures, as anything above 1sec was over exposing the image. However if the Nokia 1020 was my mobile phone and I just so happened to be out without my camera, I would be quite happy to whip out this Nokia for some Night Time Cityscapes.

After all, “The best camera is the one you have with you”.

REVIEW! Tony Northrup's - Stunning Digital Photography

Introduction

I stumbled across Tony Northrup’s Channel early last year and immediately subscribed to his channel after watching one of his videos.

Through these videos, I discovered that he has also written a book titled, “How to Create: Stunning Digital Photography”.

The book caught my interest as he does offer excellent free tutorials and information on YouTube; I wanted to see what else was on offer within the book.

Basic Information

Website: http://www.northrup.org

eBook:

Paperback: $24.99

Number of Pages:

Puchase from: Amazon.com

Overview When you first get into photography, you set yourself on a long path ahead as there are various types of photography available to you. The beauty of this book is that it gives you an insight of all the popular forms of Photography. Within this one book, Tony Northrup not only helps you through the basics of taking a photo; such as exposure and composition, he also explores the various types of photography out there; such as landscapes, nature and macro.

Those are only a few topics to name that feature within this book.

Table of Contents

(Insert Table of Contents)

Formats

The book comes in an eBook and Paperback format. The eBook is currently priced at (Insert Price), and the Paperback is priced a little more at (Insert Price).

For obvious reasons, the price increase is due to the cost to produce the book; however it’s important to know that you are still entitled to an eBook download with the paperback purchase.

For all the visual and auditory learners, they also include videos to go along with the written information within each chapter. This is true for both paperback and eBook.

With the power of new technology, it is now possible to embed videos into the eBook. I found this a fantastic way of visually reviewing what I had just read, as it is a lot easier to make sense of something once you see what is being described to you.

The videos are also available to you if you have the paperback version with the use of QR codes and URL’s.

Bonuses

• 3hrs of Video - As mentioned before, the eBook and paperback version both include access to 3hrs worth of video footage which compliments the written content to help readers visualize scenarios.

• Support – Purchasing this book also gives you access to Tony Northrups photography groups where he, and his co-author Chelsea, provide further support and advice along with other photographers within the community

• Free eBook Updates – The eBook occasionally updates with new information, and these updates are free. So you won’t be seeing a vol.2 to this book anytime soon, as the information would just be updated via eBook.

Review

I had the opportunity to review both the eBook and paperback versions of the book, and even though I am a man of the digital age, I somewhat preferred the paperback version. The layout was much more intuitive as any images that were being discussed within the paperback book was also laid out in front of you on the same page, whereas the eBook you would have thumbnails to hit on the left which would open up a slideshow to review the images.

However, on the other hand, at times I preferred the eBook as it was easier to reference the videos that were embedded with a simple press of a button, rather than being using a smart phone or laptop to review the videos.

Regardless of the format chosen to read this book, the information inside is great! There is information in here which can help photographers at all levels, as Tony does touch on many different topics.

Nitpicks

As briefly mentioned earlier, the eBook was a little less intuitive to navigate through.

When you’re scrolling through the eBook, you might hit a point where the paragraph asks you to reference a gallery, and then you may have to scroll back up to find the gallery.

As an example, I have taken a screenshot for “Figure 2-3”.

Conclusion

With the vast amounts of information and various types of photography out in this world, it would be impossible to cover all the topics within one book. However, Tony has managed to cover a large number of topics already and the book is still being updated with new information.

Tony also covers topics such as Weddings, HDR, and Macro, and by reading this book; you will not become an expert in these fields. There are workshops and other materials out there dedicated to these topics. However, the information provided definitely gives you a head start as Tony does explain things in an non-intimidating manner which makes the information a lot easier to digest.

At the price this book is being sold for against the amount of knowledge that is shared within it across a large number of topics, you cannot argue this book is beneficial to someone just starting out in photography.

I started my photography life just under 2yrs ago now, and I have picked up new information and new techniques throughout various chapters of this book!

If you choose to purchase this book, and you can’t decide between the paperback and eBook, I unfortunately cannot help you in this decision. All I can say is that I had the opportunity to review both paperback and eBook, and I preferred reading the paperback due to its layout, however I kept picking up my iPad and reading on my iPhone whilst I was on the go.

The book was a great read, with valuable information inside, all nicely organised and presented too you in a very easy to digest way from beginning to end. I would highly recommend this book to anyone starting out in photography.

INSPIRATION! David Hobby – The Strobist with DRTV! ¦ Wednesdays with Leo

The latest video to be released by the DRTV team is their “Pro Photographer, Cheap Camera Challenge” with David Hobby.

David Hobby is the author for his blog, Strobist.com. The blog has an on-line monthly readership of over 300,000 photographers from 175 countries, and was named one of the "25 Best Blogs of 2010" by Time Magazine.

The DRTV team set David off with a Buzz Lightyear Camera and 3 Family Jewels Fuq 690 Flashes and a list of 5 locations with 5 subjects.



The video is an entertaining watch as always! However, what I really wanted to share with you guys today is David Hobby’s blog about his experience with the DRTV team.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this blog as it goes into more detail about the challenges he came up against.

The video is 23min of smiles, laughter and fun, but there is always more to the story, and David Hobby fills in what we didn’t see in his blog.

He describes each obstacle he came across from his own perspective and discusses his actual thought processes throughout.

The video we see David saying “Oh wow” when the snakes are revealed, however his reaction was somewhat toned down for YouTube.

“OhHolySh!tThatOneIsACobra” – David Hobby

Throughout the blog post he is also grading his own work and it’s very humbling to see that he’s being open and honest when critiquing his own performance with these challenges.

So I strongly recommend if you enjoyed the video from DRTV that you take some time to read the Behind the Scenes Blog from the man himself, David Hobby!

Nikon D800 - Ahead of its time

This is not a D800 review, as there are plenty of them floating about. Most reviews will say the same thing; they state the tech specs, complain that the 36.3 megapixel count in the D800 is too high, that it is competing with Medium Format and that the D800 is not a D700 replacement.

My Thoughts

I personally feel the D800 is the D700 replacement and that nothing else is in the pipeline. If something does crop up within the next few months, its due to Nikon listening to their consumer demand for an affordable, semi-pro, full frame DSLR with a manageable megapixel count.

Over the past few years, one of the features most advertised with DSLRs, or any camera in fact, is the megapixel count, this is due to the consumer perception of increased megapixels relates to increased quality.

Following this conventional wisdom, Nikon has bumped up the megapixel count from 12mp in the D700, to 36.3mp for the D800. Most who have used the D700 agree however, that the 12mp has been sufficient.

I believe when Nikon released the D800 with 36.3mp, it had nothing to do with consumers needing more megapixels, it was purely so Nikon could have a ‘one-up’ on Canon in terms of megapixels.

The downside to this frantic quest to be the top of the megapixel game is the increased file size, which results in a higher demand with computing power and storage which few people can easily attain.

Many people say the D800 is a poor choice for wedding photography. However, I personally love using the D800 for Weddings as it has a strong build quality, shares the same AF system as the flagship model D4, compact (for a pro DSLR that is), immense dynamic range, great low-light capability (even better when the file is downsized), and with the 36.3mp, it allows you to either crop for perfect composition or print large for the couple.

Many reviews have complained that the D800 is slow and that 4fps is not cutting it by todays standard and because of this, they regard the D800 more as a studio camera. As far as I’m concerned, the 4fps is sufficient for event purposes as event photography is about capturing the decisive moment. At a wedding, I am never in “Continuous” and have never felt restricted by this 4fps.

So I feel the Nikon D800 is the perfect camera for wedding photography and that it’s my computer that is not ideal for the large D800 files!

Conclusion

History tells us that the time lapse between full frame camera upgrades is roughly 2-3yrs, while computer equipment is upgraded annually. Likewise, the cost of storage decreases each year.

Memory cards over the years have gone down drastically in price. The same 45mb/s 16Gb SanDisk SD Card that cost me £49.99 in 2011 now costs £9.40 from Amazon.co.uk. The only difference is this card is now labelled “Extreme” while the new “Extreme Pro” is now rated at 95mb/s.

I predict that in a few years’ time, we will see more DSLR’s approaching this high megapixel count and that even in a few years’ time the D800 will still be able to hold its own against the competition as a serious shooter! Then again, my opinion may be biased as that’s what I own now :S