Hey Everyone! Hope you're having a great week! Me? Not too bad. This week I want to talk about the most familiar focal length that you're not shooting. Now we've always been told that the 50mm focal length is the closest to the human eye can see. I would even broaden that out a bit to 40-60mm somewhere in there is the sweet spot of the human eye. I think that back in the film days that 50 mm was the most familiar focal length and that was the lens that you always got with your new camera was the nifty fifty. But I think that in modern times that the familiar focal length has changed. In this modern age of photography everyone has a camera on them (Smart Phone)  and most of the normal lenses are set to 28mm range give or take a few millimeters. Everyone has a camera and they are used to seeing the world through that 28mm focal range. We take selfies, photo's of family and friends, events, landscapes almost everything is taken with our phones and we've got used to the focal length. The look of it. How it frames a scene. It's fairly wide compared to the 50mm and distorts the face of someone a little but we've got used to it. We like the look. Why don't you have a 28mm lens for your camera then? Well to tell you the truth there aren't that many to choose from. 

Now I really didn't notice the 28mm range until I started shooting film again. My film cameras I either had a fixed 40 or 45mm lens or had on interchangeable lens camera's had a 50 on them. But when I started shooting them they seemed tight. Too close and I was always backing up. Back in the film days I din't do that, the nifty fifty was just right. The reason is the smart phone camera that I have with me all the time taking shots of all kinds of stuff my eye had readjusted from the 50 to the 28mm of the phone. I had a 28mm for my Pentax but didn't use it too much I decided one day just to shoot the 28mm and I loved it!. It stayed on my camera almost all of the time. I would only pull the 50 out to shoot something across the street long distance for my street and travel stuff. Otherwise the 28mm was just right to my eye.  I loved this combination so much (28 and 50) I even got a 28 for my digital cameras and have a 28 and a 50 that I take with me when I'm shooting digital street to emulate the film set up that I have with the same focal lengths. I just love the combination of the 28mm (the new familiar) with the 50mm (my old familiar) when I'm shooting street or travel type photowalks. I just got a "new to me"  film camera system and the first thing I did was order a 28mm for my new system. Even in my medium format system set up I have a 30mm equivalent and a 50 equivalent focal length which matches my 35mm film and full frame digital cameras set up closely.

The new familiar ,28mm, has that look and is very versatile. It's great when shooting environmental portraits. It's wide enough without distorting the scene. It's great for landscapes rural or urban wide enough to get all of the scene in. Its great for taking a photo of someone your having lunch with or something close up like in street photography. This is a great lens for family photos during holidays. There are lots of advantages of the new familiar 28mm.  The 28mm is small and lightweight and great for carrying with you when you're on the go. The prices aren't much different than the nifty fifty maybe a little more but well worth it. I bought one used for a couple of hundred for my digital and even less than a hundred for my film cameras. There is not much bad to say about this little lens. For me it has become one of my favorite lenses and focal lengths. If you haven't shot with one I highly recommend getting one and trying it out. Until next week get out and shoot! Maybe the new Familiar.

Hey Everyone! Hope you're having a great week. This week I want to talk about the final adjustment of me going back full frame. My long Telephoto solution.  As you can see from the title of this blog I have Chosen the Sony 100-400mm lens for this section of my photography kit. But I wanted to give you a review of the lens and why I chose it instead of other lenses in this range. When I was shooting crop sensor I had an effective full frame equivalent of 15-525mm focal length. But since I've gone back to full frame I could only go to 105mm. So I needed a long telephoto. Previously when I was shooting full frame Nikon my longest lens was a 70-200 mm that I used for portraits and landscape. It was a fantastic lens . But I rarely shoot portraits anymore. The 70-200 is a great lens but I wanted something a little more. I mainly shoot travel landscape Cockspur Lighthouse and occasionally wildlife. The 70-200 would be great for landscapes but for travel a little big and for wildlife too short.  When I was shooting crop sensor I liked that I had the option to shoot up to 525mm.  But I rarely shot at the very long end of that focal length.  I could get a third party lens from Tamron or Sigma that would fit this focal length and work great but I wanted to stay with Sony lenses. I also wanted to buy used to keep the cost down. I could have gone 200-600mm but I thought that was just too much especially on how I would use it.  So the Sony 100-400 seemed the right lens for me but there are two versions. The original came out in 2017 and the newer one  in 2022. I decided to go with the older one after watching many reviews and articles on both of them. So the lens I got was the Sony 100-400mm F4.5-5.6 G-Master OSS. What does all that mean? It's a 100-400mm focal length. Maximum aperture is F4.5 at 100mm and 5.6 at 400mm. It's a G- Green Heron Master lens which means it's the top of the line , one of the premium lenses the only one in my kit. And The OSS means that it's optically stabilized . 

So that was my reasoning behind getting the lens that I did let me talk about the lens itself . First of all the build quality is fantastic. Built like a tank! Much like my 70-200 that I had with Nikon. It's a weather sealed lens that means I can get it in a little weather. It has all of the seals to protect it and your camera. It has 4 switches on the side of the lens. It has a AF/MF switch .  It has a range switch Full to Infinity to 3meters, It has a OSS off and on switch. And a mode switch with 2 modes. Mode 1 is for everyday shooting and Mode 2 is for Panning.  It has 3 buttons on it that can be used to control something on your camera like turning Eye Auto Focusing on or off.  It Also has a switch that will tighten or loosen the lens to Zoom more smoothly depending on your taste.  It also has Snowy Egret a removable tripod collar that can be adjusted or removed as needed.  As of this blog I've only used just a couple of times and it is sharp and easy to use.  There is an art to using longer lenses which I am learning but not great at yet. Maybe it's the weight or the size of the lens but it may take me a while to get used to it. It is a great lens that will give me many years of service.

Well that's it for this week and hopefully the end for all of the gear change blogs that I have been writing lately. LOL So until next week make sure you get out and shoot!

Hey Ya'll! Hope you're having a great week. Me? Pretty good. Today is another rainy day so I thought I would spend my time writing yet another blog and yet again about another piece of gear. I know , I know I have GAS (Gear Acquisition Syndrome). As you know I've been really into film this year. From shooting , Developing and Scanning I've really been into the process and the film project I'm doing. Then I got to thinking what kind of project can I do next year that will keep me into film?  I thought how about medium format and try to shoot fine art landscapes and such. The only problem I have with that is I don't have a medium format camera. Well I didn't. I do have one now. And that's what this blog is about the Bronica ETR SI. This is a Japanese camera made from 1989 - 2004 when digital was killing film camera's. The company has been around since the end of WWII and the ZENZA BRONICA first appeared in 1959. So it's a company that has a history in medium format cameras. This isn't a sexy camera like the Hasselblads are. It is known as a workhorse no frills camera. It is also known as a poor mans Hasselblad. Which is funny I also own a poor mans Leica with the Canon Canonet QL17 LOL. This camera was mainly a studio and Landscape camera . Let me go over some of the specs.

It's a SLR type camera. Which means you see through the lens when you focus. Unlike the twin lens and the Rangefinder type of cameras. Which means there is no parallax going on. What you have framed is what you get.

It is a system camera. Which means you can configure the camera many different ways. With different film backs, to viewfinders and lenses.  It also has a speed handle that can be attached that has shutter button and rewind lever attached. It is very versatile and can adapt to many shooting situations.

This is a 645 (6cm X 4.5 cm Negative) medium format camera. It has many different film backs to shoot all sorts of film. It can shoot 135 film (35mm) , 120 film, 220 film and polaroid . Using different film backs for all of them. You can also switch film mid roll. For example If your shooting 120 color and take a couple of shots , You can take the film back off and put one that has 120 black and white film without finishing the color film and go back and forth.  This will keep you from wasting film when changing back and forth between types of film. It can also shoot panorama with a special film back using 35mm film.

Lenses- It uses Zenzanon lenses made by Bronica. In earlier models it used Nikon Nikor lenses until they had their lenses perfected. The lenses also include the leaf shutter along with aperture .  The lenses come in maximum aperture of f2.8 and f4 and are super sharp and are plentiful and can be easily purchased.

Shutter- As mentioned above it has a leaf shutter instead of a focal plane shutter. It has a range from bulb to 1/500 of a second. With a leaf shutter you can sync your flash at any speed it isn't restricted to a certain shutter speed like a focal plane shutter. This camera also has a mirror lock-up feature to keep camera steady when shooting at low shutter speeds. The shutter is controlled from the main body and must have a battery power to operate. If battery dies it shoots at 1/500 as a default.

Other features. It has a multiple exposure lever so you can take more than one shot on the same frame, Battery check button to check the strength of your battery and a cable release socket.

Viewfinders- You can choose between two different viewfinders. One is the waist level finder that you look down and through the lens and the other is a prism view finder that you look through like a normal SLR. The prism view finder has a meter in it and can shoot in Aperture Priority. With the waist level you have to use a hand held meter to get the proper exposure.

I was very lucky to find this particular camera .  What I got with the kit was the body, 2 film backs a 120 and a 220, Prism and a waist level viewfinder, 2 lenses a 50mm and a 75mm both max aperture f 2.8, and Speed handle. All in the original boxes with receipts when they were bought in the early 90's.  Main body , lenses, prism viewfinder and 120 film back had never been used. They were owned by a professional portrait photographer that had purchased as a backup. He died a few years ago and a friend was selling them.  I saw the kit on Facebook marketplace and was surprised when I inspected them how good of shape they were in. I was very lucky. I am now learning all I can about 120 film and have shot one roll through it and developed it . I am pleasantly surprised at my results. I am very excited about using this camera for years to come and projects to come. Well that's enough about gear for today. Until Next week Get out and Shoot!