Hey Everyone! How's your week going? Mine? Fantastic! At the time of writing this blog it is a week before Thanksgiving and I am already in the holiday mood! Too early for my brain but just right for my heart. This week I want to talk about shooting in Super 35mm mode or Crop mode as it may be referred too, I think Nikon calls it DX mode. What is Super 35mm mode? Basically its making your full frame sensor shoot like a crop sensor. Your camera crops the shot only using the middle of the sensor down to the APSC crop sensor size. Now why would you ever want to do this? Well I can think of a couple of reasons why.

If you shoot Sony like I do the crop sensor and the full frame cameras have the same lens mount. Which means you can swap back and forth lenses between each type of camera. Now why would you want to do that? One reason is just for practicality .  Instead of buying two lenses  one for each camera you only buy one that can be used by both. Usually people buy full frame lenses and use on both of their camera body types for the reason that the full frame lens is big enough to cover the crop sensor sensor completely. Full frame lenses are larger and can easily be used on crop sensor camera's but you have to add that 1.5 crop factor. Multiplying by 1.5 will give you the full frame equivalent of the lens on your crop sensor camera. The sensor being smaller its like cropping in on a full frame or zooming in. So a 35mm lens on a crop sensor would be like a 50mm on a full frame.  So now that we have that explanation out of the way back to the why would you need to swap lenses between cameras. I've recently started using a full frame camera again after years of using a crop sensor camera. Now I'm transitioning back over to a full frame camera. I have fantastic lenses for my crop sensor camera especially my long lens. A 70-350mm which is a 105-525mm equivalent lens. Now I don't shoot much past 100mm but if for some reason I need to shoot longer I could use this crop sensor lens on my full frame camera and my camera will know what type of lens is on and automatically switch to Super 35mm or Crop mode giving me that 105-525mm reach. This will save me lots of money on a full frame equivalent to this lens that I won't use too much. So that's a positive of Super 35mm.

Another way to use the Super 35mm or Crop mode is with prime lenses. Let me give you an example. Say I'm out doing street photography and I have a 50mm lens on my full frame camera. I see something a little out of reach that I can't walk to. I can push a button on my camera that I have programed to put my camera in Super 35 mode and it automatically switches into crop mode and my lens is now equivalent to a 75mm without me having to change lenses. When I'm through I can hit the button again and I'm back at 50mm. Very convenient when you're out shooting and not having to change lenses all of the time. Another great advantage of  Super 35mm mode.

So if Super 35mm mode is so great why isn't everyone using it all of the time? Well for one reason most people just don't know about it. Or maybe their camera system doesn't offer it. I'm not sure about other camera systems just Sony but I'm sure they have something similar. The biggest disadvantage to shooting a full frame camera in crop mode or Super 35mm mode is that when you crop into a full frame sensor you lose megapixels. 1.5 times the megapixels to be exact.  That can be a lot. If you have a 24 megapixel camera and you use crop mode its down to 10 megapixel which is small compared to today's standards. But if you have a larger megapixel like say a 60 megapixel camera your still shooting a 37 megapixels. So depending on what kind of camera you have I really don't think that this is such a disadvantage as smaller sensor camera's are.

Knowing what your camera can and can't do can really impact your photography and your wallet .  You may not need to buy that new equipment or gear to do what you need to do or you might just need to read the manual of your camera.  Hopefully I have brought something new into your photography. Until next week get out and shoot! 

Hey Everyone! Hope your week is going great! Mine pretty well. This week I want to talk about yet another change in my camera kit set up. I know it's been nothing but changes so far this year. My current EDC (every day carry) camera is a Canon G7XII which I got a few years ago to take on a trip with my wife to Washington DC instead of my regular camera Kit. It became my EDC camera for when I traveled back and forth to work and to the store and such. So if I needed a camera or a shot that suddenly appeared I would use it. Now it's in my hiking backpack and I only used it when I'm hiking but it does stay  with my backpack and rides in my car everywhere I go. But since I've retired I really don't need something as small and compact as the little camera that the Canon Point and Shoot is. I have a little more room and I'm not in such of a hurry as I have no place I have to get to in a hurry. As I joke with all of my friends " Every Day is Saturday except Sunday" LOL  As you have read in my previous blogs I have gone full time full frame sensor shooting and not crop sensor shooting anymore.  My main camera is a full sized Sony Mirrorless camera and all the full frame large lenses that come with it.  Too big of a kit for everyday and casual shooting that the EDC takes care of. I have always liked range finder cameras for this type of photography especially the Leica's. But buying a Leica is like buying a sports car they are very expensive for what you get. I do like the Fujifilm camera's' for this also the X-Pro Series of camera's . But they are crop sensor camera's and I would have to get different lenses to fit them and they become expensive and I'll have two separate kits one of the things I was trying to avoid. In 2020 Sony came out with a camera that is compact and rangefinder shape and to me was trying to compete with Fujifilm with a retro look that Fuji cameras definitely have. Most Sony camera's are all black and this one had an option for a silver top like the older camera's and Fuji's come with. I chose to use the A7C as my EDC camera for all of those reasons and more. The A7C is a full frame camera and uses the same sensor as my full frame camera. It is basically the same size and shape as my crop sensor Sony's that I have been shooting for years. It can use all of the lenses that I have for my full frame Sony so it works for a great Backup camera.  I also ordered a 50mm 2.5 compact lens that was really designed for the A7C which will pair great with the A7C and my Full sized Sony. I believe that this camera will be great for casual shooting and street photography. It looks good is small and compact and packs just as much as a punch as my Full Sized camera does.  It doesn't have as many custom buttons as my Full sized Sony but I kind of like that it makes it simple to shoot and I won't have to think as much. As you know I'm not a big thinker! LOL!  I am very excited about taking this little camera everywhere I go whether it's the coffee shop or to a Camera Club Meeting. Well that's it for this week . Whats your EDC? Is it just your phone or do you have a specific camera set aside just for a EDC? Until next week Get out and Shoot!

Hey Y'all ! Hope you're doing well. I've just started a photography project of visiting small towns in eastern North Carolina and learning about them and photographing them. Today I want to talk about a little charming town located on the Tar River. Tarboro. Like most of the little towns I'm going to explore this one was incorporated before the revolutionary war in 1760. It like many towns in the eastern US boast that George Washington slept here and he did in 1791.   Being in the bible belt there are many beautiful Churches and buildings in Tarboro.  Now I'm no expert on Tarboro and don't claim to be I'm just learning about this little town. With a population around 10,000 this little town is twice the size of the one I grew up in. So I know small town charm and this town has it. It boast to have one of two "original" Town Commons. The other being in Boston. So if that's true I've been to both of them! Pretty cool.  It was considered an inland port up to the Civil War. Farmers would bring their Cotton, Tobacco and other wares to be shipped on steam boats to coastal ports to be shipped around the world. Located in Edgecombe County it is its county seat and has a large and beautiful Courthouse. Now about what I saw on my first trip there.

My wife accompanied me on this trip this first week of January. It was cool and crisp morning with temps around 40 degrees. We started early because I wanted to get good light to shoot in.  It was an hour long drive there and by the time we arrived the sun had come up and the little towns people were just starting to stir. Not knowing the town and doing just a little research we kind of did a drive through the town to see where we would start from. We saw a big mural right beside the visitors center and parked there .  From there we headed toward the Town Commons. I don't know how many acres this is but it's pretty big for a small town. It is speckled with monuments and park benches . Looks like a great place to have a picnic. But not today it was too chilly to stand or sit still long. Along the Town Commons are victorian style houses all kept up well. We walked down the sidewalk enjoying the views. It reminded me much of the town I grew up in. We walked down the side walks toward downtown and the Courthouse stopping along the way to take photo's of interesting buildings and houses. We stopped by a couple of churches that had very unique buildings with large steeples and bell towers. Along main street the concrete sidewalks have been replaced by brick giving it that old time look and feel. Lots of small shops and restaurants line the streets. Looks like the main street businesses in town are still alive and well with very few vacancies of shops or buildings. Many small towns have died with the coming of strip malls and shopping centers but this little town still has charm and vibrance.  We made our way back to our car taking photo's of the Colonial Movie theater and Murals along the way. We parked by what said was the visitor center. We went into what we thought was a manned visitor center but was really just a hall in the public building filled with brochures and pamphlets and maps. It was nice and warm inside so we looked and gathered more materials for research. We got in the car and made a quick trip to a nearby McDonalds for a bathroom and coffee break. Important things for folks our age. There was a Local Coffee shop that we didn't stop by maybe on our next trip when it's warmer. After our break we headed to the Blount-Bridgers House and Arboretum. The house was built in 1808 and kept up pretty well. A retirement home of a Revolutionary war Officer. There are walking trails that take you through the town and you can hear the history of the buildings and history of the town via your smart phone. We were planning on taking one of these walks (2 miles) but when we stepped out of the car the wind was howling and it being 40 degrees we decided to do this walk another day when it warmer. We decided to cut our trip short but I will definitely come back in the spring or summer to this charming town. I am looking forward to returning to Tarboro and exploring the historic district even more. There is an old church and graveyard I want to explore and the riverfront area that we didn't get a chance to see on this trip.  If your out and about and need somewhere to go , checkout this charming little town on the Tar river.

Gear for this project I'm trying to keep very simple I'm using one camera and one lens. My Sony A7III and a 24-105mm lens. This combo should cover all of my needs for checking out these cities. If I decide I need something more I will make a return trip with the gear I need. I'm trying to keep my kit light so I can enjoy my exploring and keeping it to one lens so I don't even have to think about what lens to use because I've only brought one. Just a filter or two and a small Platypod stand that I can use to set my camera on for longer exposures if needed. All of this fits into a sling bag that I can throw across my shoulders and go. I'm trying to keep it simple for this photo project.

Until our next adventure get out and shoot!