Hey Everyone! Hope you had a great week. This week I want to talk about Mirrorless Crop Sensor Cameras and the advantages they hold. First of all what is a crop sensor camera? A crop sensor camera has a sensor smaller than a Full frame sensor camera which is the size of old 35mm film. There are Micro 4/3rds camera's and APSC cameras. These are the ones I'll be mainly talking about but there are all types and sizes of camera sensors.  Crop sensors get a bad rap from a lot of the Full Frame and Medium format shooters.  But they are great cameras and can take great photographs. I use crop sensor camera's and full frame camera's.  But I wanted to give you some reasons to use crop sensor cameras. 

- They are smaller. The bodies tend to be smaller and more lightweight than their full frame counterpart. AMT2016-sony-a6300-review-0423-2Photographer: Anthony Thurston Especially if you are comparing them to their Full Frame DSLR counterpart. This makes them great for travel , landscape, street .  Anywhere you have to carry your gear. One of the first reasons I went to mirrorless crop sensor camera was because of size. I did a lot of hiking at the time and my full frame DSLR was just too big and heavy.

- The lenses are smaller. This is a big advantage from the full frame counterpart. Much more than the bodies the lenses are much smaller and lighter but still give you great quality. This with the smaller bodies make them great for travel photography.  You can get very good lenses in the crop sensor size.  And sometimes they can fit in your pocket! Street photographers like the smaller lenses because it makes them more inconspicuous when in a crowd.

- Less expensive.  The crop sensor and bodies and lenses are cheaper than full frame cameras.  Almost by half!  A 24-70mm 2.8 full frame lens can cost up to and beyond 2000 dollars but a crop sensor lens with the same specs only 1/2 the price.  The money you save on equipment is more money that you can spend on travel and experiences.  

- Smaller File Size.  The files that these camera's produce are much smaller than the larger sensor camera's. This creates two advantages for you.

    - This makes the camera quicker!  More frame rates! Crop sensor camera's are used for sports photography quite often because they are quicker when a photographer has continuous shutter on the cameras can be very fast and buffering is not as much as a problem as with full frame cameras. So great for Sport and Wildlife photography.

   - The smaller files are great on your computer also!  The smaller files take up less room and are easier for your computer to process! What does this mean? It means you don't have to update your computer as much and you can use that money for more experiences.  The smaller files make them easier to process and to store! 

Price Landing -Larger Depth of Field- The depth of field in these cameras are generally larger than their full frame counterparts.  The depth of field is the amount of the photo that is in focus. Say if you took a photo with a 50mm lens equivalent on a full frame camera and a crop sensor camera and they both were set to F4 the crop sensor would have more of the frame in focus than the full frame camera.  This is an advantage when shooting landscapes or anything you want more depth of field.  I use my crop sensor camera for Landscapes for that reason. Dasiy Field

To sum up there are many advantages to using a crop sensor camera. They are lightweight, smaller, cheaper, smaller file size and larger depth of field. When I was first considering a crop sensor camera I only shot full frame. I was worried about quality. I got an inexpensive crop sensor camera and used the kit lens that it came with and started comparing similar shots used with each and I couldn't tell the difference. I liked the crop sensor so much I sold all of my full frame stuff and shot only crop sensor for many years .  I've just recently got another full frame camera to play with. The quality is great in these little camera's and are a great investment for anyone wanting to get into photography.  Next week we'll talk on the advantages to Full sensor sized camera's. So until next week get outside and keep shooting.

Hey Everyone! Hope you're great this week.  I just got back from a hike with my hiking buddy "Forrest the Wonder Dog" and while I was hiking I was thinking about this subject. Timing is Everything!  When Traveling to National and State Parks. I just got back a month ago from a week long photo trip to Utah.  We were very careful on the Timing of our trips to the parks and tried to time them perfectly.  That doesn't always go as you think it should because some of these parks were on the way to somewhere. But over all we planned well. Here are some tips on timing your photography or any other type of trip to National or State Parks.

1. Time of year. Planning the time of Double ArchArches National Park Utah year can greatly effect the enjoyment factor you will have on your trip. Take into consideration the climate of the region that you are going to. Is it going to be covered in snow? Many parks when in the dead of winter have many trails and roads closed due to weather. Or is it going to be scorching hot? Visiting a place in the dead of summer might not be so good if you're going to Florida or Texas. Try to go when schools are in session. I know this is not as a big factor now because of Covid and many kids are home schooled. But this can be a big factor. Families take their kids on vacation during summer break making the parks more crowded. When we planned our trip to Utah the weather was a big consideration and spring wild flowers. The temps were cool in the morning and in the 70's during the day. Perfect for hiking.

Forsyth Park FountainForsyth Park Fountain, Savannah Ga a lovely 30 acre park. Great fountain and lots of shade on a hot summers day. #MaxStansellPhotography #funwithphotography #Getoutandshoot #awesomestuffisee #SonyA6300 #alphashooter #NorthCarolinaPhotographer #NorthCarolinaLiving #visitNC #NorthCarolina 2. Time Arriving at the Park. As the old saying goes . "The Early Bird Gets the Worm" This is also good in photography.  Don't sleep in! I know you're on vacation but you can sleep late when you're at home.  Use your time visiting these places smartly. The golden hours in the morning and evening are the best light to shoot in. Getting somewhere early is key. Maybe scout a place to shoot one day and go early the next when the light is best. If your a wildlife photographer wildlife is more active in the morning and the evening.  They usually chill out in the heat of the day. I like to get up early head out and shoot then come back to my camp or restaurant for breakfast. If you need some energy early take a breakfast bar with you to hold you over. Heading out with a full stomach after a big meal could mean disaster.  If your stomach is iffy like mine is you have to be very careful when you eat and hike long miles. Just saying. After your morning shoot and breakfast then is the time to scout more places to shoot. Visit the visitors center ,chill out in the heat of the day.

3. Using your time wisely.  As I said earlier your at a special place one you don't regularly visit.  After your Sunset HerringMax Stansell Photography morning shoot. Visit a nearby town. Most of the towns near National Parks are pretty cool destinations in themselves. Check out a coffee shop or a restaurant.  Visit the visitors center see the movies that they usually have telling about the park.  Scout for evening shots or shots for the next day.  Take a hike or Take a nap! Nothing is better than laying in a hammock swinging in the breeze getting some rest.  So you can go out later or get up early the next day. LOL

As you can tell I love visiting State and National Parks and seeing different things.  So just don't sit in the house on the weekend get out and explore and shoot!

Hey Everyone! Hope you had a great week.  This week I wanted to share my thoughts on how I approach photography. People I meet and I show my photo's to sometimes say "You must have a good Camera" or "What kind of Camera shot this?". And as photographers we know its not the camera. But I do have good camera's . Yes I have more than one camera.  And so do all of my Photography friends. But really any camera made in the last 10 years is a good camera. It's how you use the tools you own.  I shoot on three different formats or sensor size , one inch, APSC(cropped) and Full Frame. Really four if you counting my iPhone. All of them give me great photographs. Yes photographs I shoot Still's mainly.  I dabble in using a GoPro every now and then but that's for more documentary type video. Like where I've been.   My cameras are geared toward and set up for Still Photography. Here are my good camera's and what I use them for.

1. The iPhone. Like most of you I carry a smart phone everywhere I go.  I use this for taking quick snapshots maybe a selfie or two.  I also use it for reference shots. For example my wife sends me to the store to get something she just ran out of. I can take a photo of the item and look for it at the store. Or if I'm at the store I can take a photo of something and send it to her to make sure I'm getting the right thing or not . Usually not! LOL. Smart phones have become a very large part of ours lives in that way.

2. A One Inch Sensor.  I have a point and shoot camera that really goes with me when I'm at work everyday. If I get a chance to take a walk or visit a city park while I'm at lunch that is what I take with me to shoot with Leaf rather than my phone even though a phone would work.  I like using a dedicated camera instead of the phone when I can. I also take this camera with me on hikes when I'm just in it for the exercise instead of photography purposes.  But if I see something I can always take it out. It's an older point and shoot made by Canon. A G7XMII at 20MP.  In its day it was a very popular VLOG'ing camera but it is two or three generations old now. But it still makes good stills and shoots in manual. Thats why I like it.

3. An APSC (Crop Sensor). This camera is my main Landscape and Wildlife camera.  It is a fantastic camera even though it is a couple of generations old. It shoots great stills. It has in body stabilization. I have three great lenses that can go from approx. 15mm to 550mm in full frame terms. It is lightweight and I can hike into places with great ease and I have the camera to get the shot. I take this camera when Landscape or Wildlife is the object of the trip. It is perfect for the purpose of landscapes which is one of my main photography subjects. This camera is a Sony A6500 at 24MP. Christmas Lights

4. Full Frame.  My full frame camera I use for everything else not mentioned here. Street/urban photography. Portraits. Studio work. Right now I only Shoot primes with this camera. I love primes!  They make me think and stir up my artistic juices. I have a 24mm, 35mm, 55mm and a 85mm that I use. I normally have one lens on the camera and carry one more. I never have all of them together. This makes me work harder and think more.  It slows me down and gets my feet moving. I the way this camera feels in my hand more like a traditional camera. My APSC is more of a rangefinder style and this one is more of a DSLR camera feel to it. The camera I am currently using is a Sony Alpha A7II at 24MP . It also has in body image stabilization.  I am currently working on upgrading this camera body to a newer version and will trade to upgrade to a Sony Alpha A7III.  I'll let you know how that goes. I'm sure I'll have a blog on it soon. 

EYES As you can see I use older camera's .  I don't need the latest and greatest camera's which seem all of the upgrades are in the video side of the camera not the Still side. I tend to buy used camera's from places like MPB or KEH where you can get a fair trade in for the camera or equipment you have. Then I can use my money for trips or better lenses. Over the last year or so I have really paired down my camera gear to what I need and getting rid of all of the gear that maybe I really liked at one time but don't use anymore.  So that's enough of that until next week get outside and shoot!