Hi All! Many of you are familiar with the Garda wrist straps, which I’ve been selling for well over a year now. For the last few months, I’ve been working on some new straps, using a completely different, high end nautical line. A different finish, a different look, and a completely new design.
Still entirely hand built and guaranteed to last. C’mon in to see more about the Cascade and to see how to order one.
I’ve been shooting with the Sony a7II full frame, 24 megapixel mirrorless camera for almost a month now, which has given me a bit of time to really get a feel for it. I don’t like to review cameras that I’ve not had the ability to fire off a few thousand shots with, so I’ve been using this camera almost exclusively since I got it, and now feel a bit better about praising and lambasting Sony on a few points. C’mon in for my initial thoughts, and a few performance based tests…
Who doesn’t fantasy shop? I certainly do, and while I have done a really good job over the years of tempering my cravings to buy a newer full frame camera, I’d be lying if I said I haven’t been interested in the Sony Alpha 7 series. Much like the NEX series (or “Axxxx”, or whatever it’s called now) I’ve always felt that Sony has spent their time and effort on camera bodies and sensor development, while largely ignoring the need to round out their optical offerings for either the APS-C or Full Frame mirrorless systems. To be fair, and as a seeming act of nose thumbing in my direction, Sony released 4 brand new FE mount lenses a couple weeks ago. This new set of lenses is certainly a step in the right direction as they’ve finally released more lenses than cameras for the FE mount.
Sony seems to be focused on leading the charge in sensor tech while slowly bringing new lenses to market, and other companies and systems have benefited from this sensor based model, namely Nikon and Olympus. While researching my options in the world of Canon full frame land (I also shoot a Canon 5D2), I kept tabs on the A7 series, and when the A7II was announced with IBIS, and all the other bells and whistles for the same price as the aging 6D, I decided to dig deeper.
I’ve been looking to update my 5D2 for a little while. It still does most of what I need it to, but I’ve been walking on thin ice after having sold and traded off my other Canon DSLR bodies leaving me with no backup.
Most of the work I do with the Canon is in interior work, so I never saw it as a huge liability seeing that I could, in a pinch, shoot with my micro 4/3 setup to cover me.
Now, the Metabones adapters are well documented, and with the new mark 4, has seemingly remedied most of the gripes I’ve read about, namely the internal surface reflections by way of a series of matte bezels inside the adapter. One problem I’d come across is that it was hard to find good info with use on this new A7II. Well, here are my initial thoughts…
Choice is good, and unless it is an important, multiple choice test, the more choices, the better I feel. In this constantly growing camera system, we are continuing to get quality choices in the lens game. From semi-wide through standard focal lengths, the micro 4/3 system boasts quite a few options and those options are increasing.
So, with the recent addition of the new Panasonic Leica Summilux 15mm f/1.7 lens, it begs the question, why? With quite a few other comparable focal lengths in the lineup, why this lens? Panasonic has already provided two, pretty comparable, adequately performing focal lengths in this space. Come on in for a comparison between these three lenses to see which might be most deserving of your adoration and hard earned money.
Well, I’ve pulled the trigger. This is the first Sony camera that I have personally owned, although I’ve tested others, and shot with cameras that also use a Sony sensor, so it is a bit of a thing for me. In the coming weeks I’ll be posting on my thoughts, findings, results and comparisons with this new intriguing mirrorless full frame camera. For now, come on in to see the unboxing and read a few of my initial thoughts on the camera…
Olympus continues to add to its Pro lens quiver with the M.Zuiko Digital 1.4x Teleconverter MC-14, available as a useful accessory to the 40-150mm f/2.8 Pro Zoom lens. Currently, the Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens is the only lens that this teleconverter works with, but I’d assume that once we see the soon to be M.Zuiko 300mm f/4 PRO prime lens show up, that number will climb to two.
A teleconverter effectively multiplies the focal length of the lens it is coupled to, while decreasing the lens speed by one whole stop in the case of a 1.4x, or two stops when using a 2x tele converter (Oly, feel free to bust one of these guys out too!). In this case, it converts the 40-150mm f/2.8 lens into a 56-210mm f/4 optic which translates to an effective field of view in full frame terms of 112-420mm. Not a bad range, and one that for system users essentially turns the 40-150 (80-300mm e-fov) into two very useful lenses if we’re to look at it in Full Frame equivalency as a workhorse, studio portrait/event tele zoom akin to the various 70-200mm f/2.8 lenses as well as the more sport and light wildlife tele zooms of the world in the 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 flavor, it begins to make a lot more sense as to why Olympus chose this range, as opposed to what would have been a more traditional 35-100mm (70-200mm) lens in the first place. Hmmmmm… Continue reading
I know, I know. I don’t want to bombard anyone with sales and promo posts, but it has been difficult with just about everything on sale right now. Queue the Adorama sale on most every Panasonic micro 4/3 lens HERE. Up to $200 off of lenses through the 21st, if you’ve been waiting for a sale, here it is. You know I don’t like to promote stuff unless I actually have used it, approve of it and like it, and in this case, I’d say it’s very relevant.
Come on in if you’re interested in seeing what I’ve had to say about the Panasonic lenses I use for the micro 4/3 system…
Well, one mirrorless system has certainly put its big boy pants on. Over the last year, Olympus has joined Panasonic in offering a professionally fast zoom range from wide through tele in a two zoom setup. Traditionally seen as a working photographers “go-to range” the 24-200mm focal length run being offered in a reasonably fast, constant f/2.8 maximum aperture is arguably a necessity, and depending on who you ask, a must have range for many professional applications. Olympus has taken that traditional range, and added to it on both sides with their series of “PRO” zooms, the recently announced and soon to be released 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO (14-28mm e-fov), their 12-40mm f/2.8 PRO (24-80mm e-fov) and this 40-150mm f/2.8 PRO lens (80-300mm e-fov) offer system shooters the ability to shoot from a 14mm ultra wide equivalent through a 300mm long tele equivalent at f/2.8.
Today, I’ll have a look at the tele zoom in this series in the 40-150mm. So, how does this lens stack up? Well, if Canikon have been waiting for a warning shot, this might be seen as a nuke across the bow. C’mon in for my thoughts on this lens.
My friends and hometown optics company, Lensbaby is offering a wide gamut of their unique products at substantial sales for the holidays.
As many of you know, I tend to shy away from using this site to push gear specials or sales constantly because we get them from many other sites, especially this time of year. I will however give a shout out for Lensbaby because they’re a very cool, forward thinking, local company that I have been fortunate enough to become friendly with over the years. I’ve helped create promotional imagery for them, I’ve done quite a bit of beta product testing and feedback, and have been published in a coffee table book focused on Lensbaby imagery. When I was a wee blogger, they didn’t look twice when I asked about reviewing their lenses for the mirrorless systems way back in the day. They even had me do some acting spots for their educational videos for larger retailers like B&H and Adorama which was a lot of fun, so you can say that I’m a bit of a honk.
I make no money from you buying Lensbaby products, so I’m not saying this because there is monetary incentive for me to do so, I just like them as a company, and like their products. If you or someone you know has been interested in one of the many cool Lensbaby optics or creative products for photography or film making, now might be a good time to check on their sale. You can see updates and find links to all of the discounts going on through the 22nd of December on Lensbaby’s website HERE. Have a look, and let me know if you have any questions about the Lensbaby stuff, I’ve used quite a bit of it 🙂
If interested, you can see my various Lensbaby reviews and articles on the Review Page HERE.
Happy holidays to all, and happy shooting.
Tyson
Would it sound ironic if I were to mention the speed, and slowed hinderance of manual focus as the two best qualities that this lens can provide a photographer? Let’s be honest, there are not many lenses in existence that offer this large a maximum aperture for any system, anywhere. Certainly not very many that come in at under a thousand bucks, but this is the case for the micro 4/3 mount, Voigtländer Nokton series. Yes, this 42.5mm (85mm equivalent field of view) lens is joined by a soon to be 10.5mm f/0.95 (21mm e-fov), a killer 17.5mm f/0.95 (35mm e-fov) and a 25mm f/0.95 (50mm e-fov) to create a set of super fast, Nokton wonder lenses.
I have been using the also stellar Olympus 45mm f/1.8 lens of late, and before I took off on a recent trip, knowing I’d be doing a vast majority of my shooting in the darker hours, I felt the one thing I was really lacking, was a really fast lens. A remarkably solid and well built hunk of metal and glass, this 85mm equivalent lens has been calling me ever since it was announced. Well, I decided that I’d benefit more fully from a really fast portrait focal length over the long run, and would gain a good amount of latitude while handholding it combined with the IBIS in the GX7, so I bit.
C’mon in to see a few shots, and read my thoughts on this optical marvel.
Tyson Robichaud Photo-blography 