Hey Everyone! Hope you have had a great week. Me it's been a crazy one so far. I can't believe what I have just done. I'll get to that in a minute. This week I've upgraded my main computer with a Mac Mini. I have been using the same main computer since 2015 so this was a big change for me. I'll get to all of the how the computer change and the migration of my computer in other blogs. But its been a big change. Life is nothing but change after change but when you quit changing its the beginning of the end. You know "Adapt and Overcome". Last year I retired so that was a big change and I'm still adjusting. But today I did something that I thought I would never do. I have packed up all my crop sensor camera's and lenses and shipped them off to MPB. Yep I have got rid of all my crop sensor stuff. If you have followed me you know I am a big advocate of the crop sensor and have been using it exclusively for many years after changing from my Full Frame DSLR Nikon. Well I'm going back. Not to Nikon but to Full Frame. Here is my reasoning. 

For the last couple of years I have been sporting two camera kits. One Crop sensor and one Full Frame. What this means is I have two sets of lenses , Bodies and all of the accessories. If I was using one or the other for a backup on a trip I would have to have two sets of lenses . Although I could have used full frame lenses on my crop sensor camera it makes it kind of out of balance. Full frame lenses being larger making the camera out of balance and front or lens heavy. So in my opinion if you're going to shoot crop sensor camera you should shoot crop sensor lenses also. So I have recently changed to using my Full Frame camera as my main camera and my crop would be my backup. Two kits. The full frame has sparked my photography Mojo again and I'm really starting to shoot more and have more fun with photography again. I have been watching YouTube videos (of course LOL) of this small full frame camera that Sony had put out years ago that has a cult following much like the Fujifilm 100V cameras have now. It's the Sony RX1 R.  It was released in 2013 and has a fixed 35mm lens. So I was thinking I should get one of these camera's but they are so popular they are going for almost 3000 dollars! For a 10 year old camera. And it's only a one fixed lens. Thats more than my Full Frame Sony I have now times 2. Then I started thinking about the Sony's A7C that came out a couple of years ago. It's a full frame camera in a crop sensor body it's virtually the same camera and sensor that I have now but in a crop sensor body. I like that. And it's a couple of years old which means I can get it used which makes it cheaper than the new A7CII that just came out. It's a full frame camera that is in the form of the crop sensor camera that I've been shooting for years with some upgrades. Not to mention that it's Full Frame.

So I have packaged up all of my crop sensor lenses and body and have shipped them off to MPB and trading for a A7C and a 50mm 2.5 compact lens. This "new to me" camera will be a backup camera and a street photography camera .  I can use all of my Full frame lenses and it will be a good backup for my Full frame I have now. It has the larger battery like my Full frame uses so I don't need to buy extra's. It has a full articulating screen which will be nice. The one I'm getting has the silver top to give it a retro look which I like also. Why not? The sensor is the same as my Sony A7III with an upgraded processor. This camera will be great for street and casual photography. So I am very pleased with my decision but it does leave a gap in lenses. I now don't have a long lens in my lineup. The longest I have is a 100mm. I don't use the long end much but will probably get a 70-200 with a 2X converter in the future to plug that gap. Or just rent one when I need it . So lots of changes for 2024. New Computer and New Camera Systems. Once I have the new camera in hand I'll write a review of it with all of the specs. 

So until next week get out and shoot! 

Hey Y'all! How are you doing this week? Me? I'm doing great! I have been shooting quite regularly after returning from my Fall Colors workshop. After returning I decided to make my Full frame camera my main camera instead of my crop sensor camera. The main reason was financial not really having the funds available right now to upgrade my crop sensor body. I traded some prime lenses that I wasn't using too much to purchase a mid-range zoom for my Full frame camera body making it more versatile instead of using primes all of the time. Now I love my crop sensor camera and will still be using it for longer focal length stuff and maybe street photography for the size and portability. But my full frame will be the main camera for now. Now I really haven't shot a full frame camera for a long time .  The Nikon D800 was really the last time I shot a lot with a full frame and I thought this week would be a good time to tell you my thoughts on using my Full Frame Sony A7III.

The main reason I switched to crop sensor cameras to start with was for the size. As you may know I do a lot of hiking and Backpacking and the size of a Full frame camera was just too much to lug around on a hike.  I started for the size but was surprised by the quality of the photo's I was getting. After deliberating long and hard I decided to switch from Full Frame Nikon DSLR to a Mirrorless Crop Sensor Sony and haven't looked back. I love my Sony camera's and lenses. The first thing that I noticed after I got my mid-range zoom for the full frame was the weight of the new set up. The full frame was considerably heaver . I mean a lot at first. I use a wrist strap with my cameras because the neck strap to me just gets in the way all of the time but the first time I put this combo together I almost changed my thinking. Holding this Full frame was a lot harder to do than the crop sensor. But after a while I got used to it and am still not using the Neck strap. But I may need to do some upper body workouts! LOL

Ergonomics. The other thing that is really different is the ergonomics of the Full frame Sony compared to the Crop sensor Sony. The Full frame Sony is designed much like older DSLR's that I was used in the past. The crop sensor Sony's are more of the Range Finder type camera design. The range finder design has the viewfinder off to one side instead of the middle like DSLRs. Where the buttons and dials are feel better on the Full frame to me than do the Crop sensor cameras. The larger size make it easier to hold to me even though it is much heaver.  The size of the viewfinder is much larger on the Full frame compared to the Crop sensor camera. Making using the viewfinder much easier for older eyes like I have. The resolution of the viewfinder is also better on the Full frame making it easier to see and compose.  I used the display on the Crop Sensor camera maybe 80-90%.  I tend to use it less on the Full Frame maybe 50%. I did change my over the shoulder bag for the Full Frame camera than I was using for my Crop sensor. The older bag which I love wasn't as deep as the bag that I'm using now and with the larger lenses the newer bag works better for the full frame. I say newer I've had this bag for years. One of the ones I bought and didn't use much. I did change the strap to a peak design strap like I did on my other bag that I love so much. But even though its a larger camera the bag seems smaller and hangs and works well. Its a LowePro Event Messenger 150.

Quality. The build of this camera is more robust than the crop sensor camera. It was produced to be an entry level pro camera and it feels like it.  The battery is much larger than the one is in the crop sensor and can last all day if you're just doing photography. Which I love! I don't have to worry about the battery. The sensor size is 24 megapixel just like my crop sensor camera is. Which is great for my computer storage. Also the Full frame sensor is much better in low light. Just physics. The larger sensor just has more surface area to collect light than a crop sensor does. I don't do a lot of low light photography but it will help. Dynamic range is also an area that the crop sensor traditionally looses to the Full frame. In newer camera's I don't think that this is as big a issue as with older camera's like mine. One of the reasons I wan to upgrade my Crop sensor. The full frame has dual card slots which is nice but not a necessity to me. But I can shoot one slot in JPEG and the other slot in RAW which is nice and I always have enough room on my disc's.

Lenses. I actually have a great assortment of lenses to use with the Full frame. I have some primes a 20mm, 50mm and 85mm and have two zooms a 16-35mm and 24-105mm. This is a great assortment of primes that I can use for portraits and wide aperture shooting. The 50mm is a macro lens also. My zooms are high quality zooms that I really love!  The 16-35 is perfect for those wide angel landscapes or for street photography. The 24-105mm is my main lens and the focal lengths that I shoot 95% of the time. I suspect that this lens will be on my lens most of the time. Now I won't have the focal range that I do with my crop sensor camera. The range with it is 15-525mm full frame equivalent with three great lenses. Anything long range I'll be shooting with the crop sensor camera.

I have only been shooting a couple of weeks full time with the Full frame and I really do like the photo's I'm getting out of it. Would I have got the same quality of photo's with the crop sensor? Probably, But I'm enjoying shooting with this new to me Full Frame camera .  I plan on shooting this camera for the next year and then decide if I want to upgrade my crop sensor or my Full frame. LOL What I really know is that I still love shooting and love tinkering with my equipment. Until next week , Get Outside! and Shoot! 
 

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!