Hey Everyone! Hope you're having a great week. The new year is almost here and I wanted to talk about my camera set up for next year. There is quite a change. If you've followed me you know I shoot almost all used equipment. I am mainly a stills photographer so specs on video performance really doesn't matter to me so that's one reason I shoot used. I am retired now so money is also a factor that keeps me in the used market also. I also can trade equipment with the company I use (MPB) which is fun and financially the right thing to do. If you have been following me you know I have been shooting a crop sensor Sony from when I gave up my Nikon D800 for the smaller mirrorless camera's many years ago. I have been a primarily crop sensor shooter although I shoot other camera's also. This year I'm going to switch it up a bit and start shooting a full frame sensor camera for my main camera again. During a recent Fall Colors workshop I noticed that my Sony A6500 was struggling a little in low light conditions. More than my photog friends with newer cameras were. Nothing that can't be fixed in post editing but there was a difference. The Sony A6500 was released in 2016 and was the flagship of the crop sensors for Sony then but a lot has changed in technology since then. I will be updating this camera body to the newer Sony A6700 that just came out this year but lack of funds will delay this purchase until maybe late 2024 or early 2025. This year I need to update my main computer set up that will take up that extra money . It is also old as it is a 2015 iMac that needs to get updated to run the newer AI driven photography programs that are coming out. It's so old that its not supported by Apple anymore and I can't update the operating system in it. So it takes priority over my older crop sensor camera . So what will my set up be for 2024?

I like to shoot lots of stuff but I'm mainly a landscape and travel photographer so I don't need a fast shooting or a quick focusing monster that the newer cameras offer. My main camera for 2024 will be the Sony A7III full frame body. This body came out in 2018 and shared many features as its siblings did the Sony A9 and Sony A7RIII. It quickly became a staple for portrait, wedding and product photographers world wide. It has many features that professionals like. It has a 24mp CMOS full frame sensor, dual card slots , in body stabilization, and has been a workhorse in the photography industry since it was released in 2018 and is still used but maybe more as a backup capacity now a days. For me this is a perfect body for me and it will solve my problems that I was having with the crop sensor. It will be better in lower light it has a better display and is set up more like the camera's I grew up with and feels really good in the hand. It has the newer battery which last a long time compared to the crop sensor I have been shooting. I had to carry 4 batteries with me when I went somewhere with the crop sensor because they wouldn't last but the larger battery last all day and I can leave the camera on with out being aware that I have to cut the camera off to save power. Thats awesome! I have a couple of zooms that I will be using with this camera a 16-35 and a 24-105 lens. These will be my main lenses although I do have 20mm, 50mm and a 85mm prime lenses that I will use when needed with this body. The only draw back that I have with this camera is the weight. Not that it's heavy compared to other full frame cameras just that it's heaver than the crop sensor camera's that I'm used to. I will use this for all of the photography that I will do next year except for wildlife where the crop sensor camera will do better and I have the lenses for and maybe street photography where being small is an advantage and doesn't intimidate people as much as a larger camera does. I do have a 70-350mm crop sensor lens that I could use with the full frame body but my camera will automaicly crop down and make the megapixel count down to 12ish compared to the 24. Not ideal ,but it's an option.The only other reason to use the crop sensor is maybe if I was traveling somewhere where space would be a concern. Like a plane trip somewhere. But that's not likely.

So this will be a big change for me. I have shot full frame before but it has been a while and getting used to the weight will be something to get used to. But I think that it will be a minimal concern. I think the quality that I will get from this set up and the versatility that I will get from the zooms I have chosen to use will be a overwhelming factor when taking this camera out and about to shoot. It's late 2023 and I have started using this combination and am very pleased with it. I have it set up much like my crop sensor camera was using the custom buttons for settings I shoot to quickly go to shooting situations I shoot like street. I do like the front dial that my crop sensor didn't have to adjust my aperture on lenses that don't have the aperture ring built in which I really like. My EDC camera is still the point and shoot Canon G7XMII. This is a cool little camera that I got myself for a trip to Washington DC with my wife and it produced such good photo's it became my EDC. (Every Day Camera) I also use it as my hiking and scouting camera.

For video next year my set up hasn't changed. I'll be using the GoPro 9 and my phone the iPhone 14pro. The GoPro I'll use for hiking and maybe mounting on things and the iPhone is just handy and the quality is really good. I am not much of a videographer and these two camera's will fill all of my needs.

Well that's what I'll be shooting in 2024 . I like shooting older cameras and this set up will work for me well. What are you using? Has your set up changed? Let me know. Until Next week get out and shoot! PS... I have made even more changes in my Kit since I wrote this blog stay tuned to this blog in later issues I will discuss them. Cheers!

Hey Y'all! How's it going this week? Me ? Pretty well! This week I want to talk about my full frame set up. This is something that you haven't heard me talk much about for a while. If you've been following me you know I'm primarily a crop sensor shooter. I use an older Sony A6500 and three great lenses that I use to produce a great kit. I have been shooting this for quite a few years and love the set up. It's powerful and I've got a great set of lenses to go with it. I recently (within the last year or so) got an older full frame Sony A7III. I have a set of primes that I've been using with it and use it for street photography and portraits. But I have recently decided to change things up. Now I shoot just about all used bodies and lenses. I am a stills shooter and updating every year just doesn't make sense. Now I use my crop sensor camera for Landscape, travel and anything needing a long lens. So just about everything I shoot. During my last Fall Colors workshop I was noticing that my old crop sensor body is getting long in the tooth and some of the photos I took then looked at the back of other folks camera's I saw a big difference. Color science and quality and low light performance is where my old camera was struggling just a little. Nothing I can't fix in post but that's a lot of work sometimes. I do plan on updating the body in the near future but I also have a computer I need to upgrade more. Being retired makes it difficult to do them both at the same time. So I got to thinking a full frame sensor would fix most of the challenges that I was having at the workshop. But with my full frame camera I really only have mostly prime lenses that I use with it. ( lenses that are not zooms) I have a good wide angel zoom that I can use with it, a 16-35mm F4 lens that is very sharp and works great. All the other lenses I have are primes except for a Kit lens that isn't a great lens. So what to do?  What I need is a good mid-range Zoom.

Zoom lenses are expensive. Compared to Prime lenses they are expensive even used. I will have to do some wheeling and dealings to get one now that I'm retired and then which one to get? In the Sony line up there are many to choose from. Not to mention 3rd party lenses like Sigma and Tamron Lenses. Just within Sony there is a 20-70mm 2.8 a 24-70mm in both F4 and F2.8 and a 24-105mm F4. So there are a lot of choices. With different prices too. While I was on my Fall Colors Workshop I notice that one of the best photographers in the club was using a 24-105mm F4 lens on his Sony Alpha 1 camera.  I had that lens on my radar and seeing him use it made me want that lens. I did research and I still wanted that lens. For a new lens it was 1200 dollars from any of the camera stores new. But in like new condition from MPB was only 844 dollars. Only! LOL Now there was just the paying for it. I have lots of primes and this lenses focal length would make a few of the primes obsolete. Whats good about MPB is that you can trade in lenses to lower the price of the "new to you" lens you want. But which ones? Well I decided on 3 lenses .  Two Primes and a Kit Zoom lens. The first prime to go is the 35mm F1.8 lens. This is a fantastic lens but I haven't used it much and if your not using it you need to let it go to something you will use. The next prime to get rid of is a 55mm Zeiss F1.8 lens . One of the first lenses that Sony had made for the full frame Sonys and a great lens. I have only used this lens a few times since I got the lens it was in a bad focal length for street or portraits for me. So it's gone. Next is the Kit lens a 28-60mm which is not wide enough or long enough to be very useful. So it's gone. So that the tree lenses that I've traded for the 24-105 zoom. After trading in the lenses I only owed 41 dollars. So in my mind I was trading in lenses that I wasn't using for a lens that will be in my wheelhouse for 41 dollars. So that's what I've done. I have made many purchases with MPB and have been nothing but impressed with the lenses and bodies I've got from them.

So the Sony FE 24-105mm F4 OSS lens is fantastic! It's an optically stabilized lens so with its stabilization and the Camera in body sensor stabilized sensor this should be able to shoot at low shutter handheld and get sharp photo's. Nothing but good reviews on this lens. But how will this change my photography? Probably 95% of everything I shoot is below 105mm if not more. This will make this camera my main camera used for everything except for travel when I have to take a plane or when space is very important or when I need a long lens (which I don't have or want for the full frame). This will make my upgrading of the Crop Sensor not as important as it was when it was the main camera. I did keep some primes. I kept a 85mm F1.8 for portraits and a 50mm F2.8 macro lens that I can use as a macro for both of my camera bodies. So except for a couple of shooting situations I have become a full frame sensor shooter again. Not since my Nikon days and the D800 have I been a full frame shooter. I have some upcoming projects and I'm excited on how this camera and the two zoom lenses (16-35 and the 24-105) will perform. I'm sure they will do fantastically! The one thing that is sure is that change is always happening and embracing it will make me and you a better photographer. I'll let you know how the transition back to full frame goes.  Until Next week Get out and Shoot!

Hey Everyone! Salutations! Hope you're having a great week. I have and have been busy writing blogs. Its been a rainy week so I've got into the writing groove. This week I want to talk about a cool photography technique, trick, hack whatever you want to call it. And it's showing motion by using shutter drag. You can make very interesting photographs by showing motion in your shots. A silky smooth waterfall looks much better than a frozen in time one that was shot on a high shutter speed. Dragging the shutter is the act of keeping the shutter open while a moving object is moving through it. The object will blur a little showing motion. This technique can be used in street photography or landscape , sport or any style that the subject is moving and it makes a unique shot that gets peoples imagination going .  It can be fairly simple to do and when you get the hang of doing it you can turn it on in just a second and get that unique shot while you're out shooting something else.  Maybe you're shooting a dance class and you get all of the individual shots of the pretty dancers but now you take a few of them spinning or dancing and you drag the shutter you have art!  Here is the technique and some tips. The MetroCommuters waiting for the Metro in Washington DC.

To drag the shutter your camera should be stable relative to your subject. Tripods can come in handy. But when your out on the streets maybe a post or trash can will act as your tripod. Shooting in manual or shutter priority is the best setting for your camera. Then you slow down your shutter until you get the desired blur that you want. You may have to experiment a little to get that blend that you want and it depends on how fast your subject is moving . A car travels much faster than a person walking. So different shutter speeds. A cool way to practice this is to go out at night and set up your camera and tripod near a road and try to capture light trails from the cars. You get cool red ones from the tail lights and white ones from the headlights. Waterfalls of course are my favorite for me especially during the fall when all of the leaves are changing and you get that silky smooth water of the water fall. Be careful not to make it too Spring Fall Falls silky and experiment with the speeds.  But a field of wheat swaying in the breeze or clouds passing by a old building would be good too. How do we get the low shutter speeds in the daylight?

Using Polarizers and ND filters for daylight shutter drag. A polarizer filter is usually 1 1/2 to 2 stops of light that is cut out. If its a very cloudy day this might be all you need. But you may need to add a Natural Density filter to it to get the shutter speed you need. A veritable ND filter could also come in handy. They come in ranges of stops and you can dial in the amount you want to get the speed of shutter and the perfect exposure. I try to under expose 1 to 2 stops and bring it back in post editing to get the look I like. You should experiment to find out what your settings will be to get that look you like. For bright days you might need a 10 stop ND filter which is black and focusing gets troublesome. But you can get some cool shots with this technique.

Panning. Panning is the art of moving your camera at the same speed as the subject so the subject is in focus and the surroundings blur. Remember I said your camera should be stable "relative" to the subject. Panning is a art but looks good for moving things like bicycles, cars , busses and almost anything. But it does take lots of practice to get it right. I'm so so at it . I probably need to practice more. LOL

Adding motion to your portfolio shots really brings your whole collection up a notch! And makes your time out shooting more exciting trying to get that cool blurry shot that shows motion.  So until next week Get out and shoot! Some Motion.