Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Samplers

Thom Hogan wrote an interesting article on "Samplers".  Samplers are people who buy and try out other cameras while keeping their existing primary camera system.  I was a sampler who became a leaker.  I started with Canon film camera from the 90s and then got into their digital cameras around 2001.  Since that time, Canon had been my primary camera system.  I sampled other cameras, from Olympus (E300, E-M5), Pentax (K10D, and few other *ist models), Sigma (SD10), Kodak (SLR/C), Nikon (D70s), Panasonic (G1) and possibly others, but always stuck to Canon because the competition didn't create anything as good, or better.

But, sampling Sony's NEX-5, NEX-5N, NEX-6 and finally A7, pretty much moved me away from Canon.  I still have all the lenses, which I intend to use on the A7 with full autofocus capabilities, and a 1D Mark III, which Dillon is now using for school's sports events, plus the 20D which was modified for Infrared.  I will not buy any more Canon lenses, or camera bodies, unless they introduces a revolutionary sensor.  Judging from Sony sensor patents, I don't think Canon will be able to touch Sony in the sensor area for a while.

So here I am.  From a sampler to a leaker.  It took a few years, but I am not even looking back.  It was the best move I have made.  No more vintage lenses hitting the mirror box and no more bulky and heavy bodies.  I do, however, miss Canon's colours, especially the skin tones and the very pleasing blue in the blue sky/white clouds.  All the products that Canon and Nikon have introduced in the last few years did not interest me, except the 7D Mark II which I don't mind replacing my 1D III with, for the improved autofocus and lighter weight, but even that is not enough to sway me.

Now that Sony has introduced the A7 Mark II, with the excellent 5-axis in body image stabilization, what a wonderful feature for us manual focus lens users! I highly doubt Canon or Nikon will ever have this feature in their DSLR camera bodies.  They would rather sell you lenses with the stabilization feature instead.

While the trend is smaller, lighter, mirrorless and more capable cameras, Canon and Nikon still have their head stuck in the sand.  Sad, really.  They could have done so much more.

Milkweed Seeds - Sony A7 & Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm f1.6 Projection Lens.

11 comments:

  1. Ooooh, that A7ii sounds really nice. But I doubt that I could convince my CFO to spend $$ on the camera (not to mention a few lenses).

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  2. yu lin, i am still using my nex5n with EVF an considering buying a used Canon 5d mark ii.
    cause of all this nice lenses like the 35mm L 1.4
    but i will not do it since i am not working as a professional photographer.

    i was switching from lightroom to onone perfect foto suite and this gave me the push that allowed me to stick with my "old" nex camera. 150€ and i was in a new photographic universe.
    cause lightroom is not good for sony raw files. perfect photo suite is. in lightroom sony rawfiles always look like junk.

    time is on my side, waiting for a A7R without the shutter problem. meanwhile i am stitching for better resolution and investing the money for a good meal with my girlfriend railway tickets to nice destinations.

    to be happy don`t invest in goods invest in good live time.

    i am no sampler, i am an explorer and sticker ;)

    have a nice time
    michael from vienna

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    1. Michael, you are doing the right thing. Living the life style you want is more important than some gear that gets replaced with better ones all the time, but the moments lost will never come back.

      The shutter on the A7r is one of the major complains by a lot of people and I am sure Sony is trying to address it. If they can do it with the A7, especially A7s with silent shutter, it can be done with all future cameras.

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  3. are you upgrading to A7 II soon?

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    1. Probably not right away, but it's in my radar screen :)

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  4. Yes, I think I'd agree with all that...including my preference for Canon colours.
    For interest, as Michael mentions Lightroom and onone, which do you use Yu-Lin? I'm on Lr5 and undecided.

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    1. I have always used Lightroom. Perhaps I am missing something all this time. Maybe I shall try OnOne and see what differences it makes.

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  5. 謝謝詳細資訊.
    繼續閱讀~~~

    May

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  6. Interesting post by Thom. I consider myself a leaker from Canon to Panasonic. I often find myself agreeing with Thom but disinterested in his non-nikon views (he is rather tarred with the Nikon brush) and dismissing his articles due to what seems editorial bias. He seems mainly to discuss m43rds as an Olympus phenomenon and links the LX100 to the rest of the LX (tiny sensor) lineage, ignoring the rest of Panasonic's m43 lineup. He seems to regularly equate mirrorless with Fijifilm .

    I do agree the menus on Olympus suck however. Always have really

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    1. I don't always agree with Thom's view either, but it's always a good read.

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