2014 - A Year in Review - Part II

Personally, I think the year 2014 marks the beginning of decay for traditional full frame DSLRs, mostly due to Sony's line of mirrorless A series full frame cameras.  I am using the first generation A7 and I think it's one of the best cameras I have used.  Certainly it's not a camera for all situations. If you need to shoot sports, DSLRs still has its place, but it won't be long.  Phase detect autofocus on mirrorless is improving in leaps and bounds in the last two years.  In a few more years, I am sure the speed of tracking focus on mirrorless will be as good, if not better than DSLRs.  The only ingredient that's needed for success, is the lens line up.  This is where the Canon/Nikon systems hold a superior advantage.

Even APS-C sensor DSLR cameras are being corroded by the mirrorless competition.  The likes of Sony A6000, Fuji XT-1, Olympus E-M1/E-M5, Panasonic GH-4, and even the Samsung NX-1 are very capable cameras and some of them even offer 4K video, for those who are video centric. No DSLRs currently shoot 4K (not counting the Canon C-series).  Frankly, I don't miss the optical viewfinder all that much, and the EVF makes a world of difference for manual focus lenses, which I use most of the time.

My wish for the coming years is for Sony to make some nice, fast primes, so that I can sell off the rest of my Canon lenses, and buy the native mount Sony equivalent.

I look forward to 2015, which I believe will be another exciting year for photography!

Sunset - Sony A7 & Leitz Projection 200mm Lens.

2014 - A Year in Review - Part I

2014 has been a year of gear shuffle.  For the last few years, I shot mirrorless cameras alongside the Canon DSLRs. The ratio tipped to the mirrorless as the years went by, and in 2014, I have pretty much stopped using Canon cameras and sold my 5D Mark II, which I thought I would use quite often, but I didn't.  Instead, I bought an Olympus E-M5 to replace my aging Panasonic G1 to cover the M4/3 and the Sony A7 to replace the full frame 5D Mark II.  I still have my Canon 1D III, for now.  My plan was to have a camera to cover a specific sensor size: M4/3, APS-C, and full frame. This plan is working out quite nicely.

Photography -- I am happy to say that I did take a lot of pictures this year; more than I thought I would, and there were few pictures that I quite like too.  The Sony A7 clocked about 18,000 pictures since May of this year; 5D Mark II, less than 700 in 2014 and about 8,000 between 2013 and 2014;
Olympus E-M5, about 6,000 shots in 2014; for NEX-6, it was roughly 3,000 (essentially the first 4 months of 2014); Canon 1D Mark III, about 1,000; Canon 20D IR, 1,500. There were almost 30,000 pictures taken this year with various cameras, averaging 80 pictures a day.  Of course, only a very small percentage of them were usable.  As it has always been, most of these pictures were taken on my way to work, or coming home, and around my workplace or my neighbourhood.

Surprisingly, I find myself stopped lusting over faster lenses. My focus has shifted to more non-standard lenses.  I scouted the camera shows and antique markets for the slower, invariably German made, but much more interesting lenses from folder cameras, non-interchangeable lens cameras, rangefinders, large format lenses, etc.  All these lenses require some work to mount them on some sort of focus helicoid, but the effort is worthwhile.  I really enjoy the rendering from most of these lenses. There are challenges, of course, in mounting and using some of these lenses.
One of the challenges is the use of very long lenses. For example, the Dallmeyer Dallon is 12 inches (around 300mm). Finding tubes that long to fit the lens has been difficult.  I was using lens barrels like that from the Vivitar 200mm 3.5, 135mm f2.8, etc, with glasses removed from the lenses, but the problem is that the openings at the rear is too small and restricts the mount of light going through, therefore the lens would vignette very badly.

I have found a solution by using extension tubes. There are very cheap 3-section extension tubes with NEX-mount for around $8 each.  The length of one set is about 50mm.  I bought 4 sets of these, but unfortunately the mount is of very low quality.  Too much play when mounted.  I converted them to use a much better mount and they are now excellent tools, which can be combined and be long enough for lenses up to around 300mm or even longer, when focus helicoid is added to the length of the tubes. I have already used it on the Schneider-Kreuznach Symmar 210mm f5.6, Carl Zeiss Jena Tessar 210mm f4.5, and even the Dallmeyer Dallon 12 inch (300mm).  All seem to have worked well.  I look forward to using these lenses when the warmer weathers roll around.

To be continued...

Withrow Park - Sony A7 & Kodak Ektagraphic 76mm f3.5 Projection Lens

2011 - A Year in Review -- Part I

2011 has been an interesting and exciting year in terms of photography for me.  I have updated my most used camera bodies: Sony NEX-5N and Canon 1D Mark III and most of what I set out to achieve has been fulfilled, with the exception of the 5D Mark II.  Very little has changed to my lens collection.  A few manual focus lenses have been added, but the quantities is nowhere near where they were during the last few years.  I am happy to say that I managed to take pictures more often this year than any other year, which I am very happy about.

Camera Bodies: 

NEX -- The NEX-5 has been my most used camera this year until late September.  The NEX-5 was replaced by the little brother the NEX-5N.  In terms of image quality, the 5N is the best camera I have used for small cameras.  I am extremely happy with my upgrade to the 5N.  Many worthy upgrades from the original NEX-5: shutter lag, speed, image quality, sensor clean, battery life, etc.  Worth every penny.

Panasonic G1 -- Hardly used it any more.  I am spoiled by the NEX-5N.  I gave it to Dillon for him to use.  Still one of the best camera to use with manual focus lenses, especially c-mount cine lenses.  

Canon 1D Mark III -- This camera replaced my trusty 1D Mark IIn that I have had for a couple of years.  Awesome camera in terms of speed and image quality.  Very happy that I don't have focu issues like my first copy last year.  This is the camera I go to when I need to capture action shots, or when auto focus is required.

Infrared Modified Canon 20D -- I think my love with Infrared Photography has lost its luster.  I don't remember using this camera more a few times this year.  But I am keeping it just in case I am into it again.

Canon XS -- Got this for Dillon a few weeks ago only because I got it very cheap.  But it's a nice little camera that produce amazing results.  Its tiny little view finder and shallow buffer make it very annoying.  But, it's a good camera to learn photography with.  I loaned Dillon my Sigma 50/1.4 as I don't really want him to use my 50mm f1.2L.  Hopefully he will make good use of it.

Canon 5D Mark II -- Well, it hasn't happened as planned.  I haven't got it yet, but hey, there are still three weeks left in December, so who knows?

Tree Trunk -- Panasonic G1 & Kiron 28mm f2. Click for Larger.