Hey, Don't Shoot: zeiss

Showing posts with label zeiss. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Chevy Camaro RS - Sony A6300

Chevy Camaro RS shot with Sony A6300, Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8

I recently rented a Chevy Camaro RS for an evening out on the town and figured I might as well take advantage of the opportunity to shoot some photos of this beautiful car design, especially in that head-turning cherry red color.

My good shooting buddy, Austin Armendariz @createyourvizion had been wanting to get together to shoot some photos, this car presented the perfect opportunity. I picked up the car from Enterprise at 4pm and didn't have to pick up my date until 9pm, this 5 hour window gave us the perfect amount of time to meet up in downtown El Paso, shoot the Camaro at a few locations, and still leave us time to enjoy a beer together and time for me to get home to shower and change.

We were both shooting primarily with our Sony A6300's but I also brought along my A7RII with a fantastic Zeiss FE 35mm f/4 lens. Both set-ups performed well.

The first set of images were shot by me, scroll further down the page to see Austin's images and a couple of instagram screen grabs that show our rigs.

By chance, we ran into another local photographer https://www.facebook.com/jarosfotografia/

who was shooting a "Quince" photo shoot.

I offered him the use of my rented Camaro RS, he would have been silly not to accept, so he did.

Austin Armendariz, in action! https://www.instagram.com/createyourvizion/

The below images were shot by my good friend and shooting buddy Austin Armendariz @createyourvizion

And here you can see the gear we shot with 2X Sony A6300, Sony A7RII, Zeiss FE 16-35mm f/4, Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 with Sony LA-EA4 adapter and Sigma 30mm.

Check out more of our gear on our instagram page @heydontshoot

Sunday, April 2, 2017

Sony RX1RII Hands-On Review with Sample Photos and Video in 4K

Video review on YouTube - https://youtu.be/PeTRYQNohXQ

The question I get asked most about the RX1RII goes something like this

“Who, exactly is this camera for?”

There are three specific types of photographers that this camera is meant for:

1. The first answer can be found right there in the Description on the Official Sony.com web page RX1RII Professional Compact Camera with 35mm Sensor. The operative word being PROFESSIONAL. Yes, this camera is totally geared towards the subculture that is, professional photographers. Why? because it’s packed with the same back-illuminated 42 megapixel CMOS sensor that you’ll find in the Sony A7RII, which is also an amazing camera and is, today, being widely used by professionals all over the world. AND this insane Zeiss 35mm F2 lens, which I’ll talk about a little more a little bit later. Not only is this camera capable of producing professional images that even the highest earning commercial photographers should consider it, in the right production, for their biggest clients.

2. And secondly, it’s for the jet setters who spend lavishly on high priced items, electronics, clothes, gadgets, cars, you know, the luxury crowd. Someone to whom the $3,899 suggested retail price is just a drop in the bucket. They’re wearing the latest designer fashions that would have had the legendary Bill Cunningham snapping their photo. May he RIP. On a quick side note; I first became aware of Bill Cunningham from watching the documentary about him that was released in 2010 called, Bill Cunningham, New York. And was a big inspiration to me. Extremely interesting and well-done, if you want to see an old school professional at work, look it up.

3. Lastly, it’s for the semi-professional, hobbyist, photography enthusiast and gear heads, just like me, who can afford it, even if only marginally. You’re exactly like me, some gear, especially if it’s from your favorite manufacturer, is going to be too tempting and too good to resist.

Let’s talk about some of the features of the RX1RII:

The Build

When you’re spending, relatively speaking, substantial sums of money for a piece of gear, you’re going to want to concern yourself with the quality of the build. And this camera is build solid. It’s got a reassuring weight (480 grams) and heftiness to it that will put your mind at ease. The body is compact but big enough that it will still feel secure in your hands. And with the edition of a nice aftermarket grip like this excellent example from Lim’s leather for a fair price of $104. It looks great and absolutely improves your grip on the camera 100%. The leather is of a good quality, the stitching is well done, I’ve had this grip for close to a year and it still looks pretty new with no real signs of wear. With that being said, I highly recommend it. The even included an opening so that you can change the battery and remove the memory card without having to remove the grip from the body.

Speaking of the Battery

It does not last long. So you will absolutely want to purchase extra batteries. Changing batteries is not that big of a deal for me. The official specs say that you can capture 220 images before the battery gets low. But I am certain I’ve been able to capture more than that. You can find batteries cheap enough, again, for me, a non-issue.

The Controls, Buttons and Knobs

The controls, buttons and knobs are designed into the body pretty well. And they’ll seem really familiar if you’ve shot with Sony before. The main control dial is a good size and it is built with a fabulous, patterned, rough and kind of spikey texture that is easy to grip with your fingertips. The power button is easy to flip on and off, you’ll find the shutter button sitting right on top of that. The exposure compensation dial is about the same size and sits down into a machined out cutout, that leaves you enough access to turn it, but it doesn’t obstruct any of the other dials.

You’ll be controlling shutter speed with this thumb dial on the back. Or you can assign controls to the dial and the secondary dial which is located on the right side of the back of the body.

There’s another controller on the front which is your focus selection mode. Manual, Continuous, Direct Manual Focus and Manual Focus. Direct Manual Focus (DMF) allows you to manually adjust the focus after you've focused using AF by turning the focusing ring. If you know how to use DMF, it can sometimes be a convenient little feature.

The Lens

The f/2 Zeiss Sonnar lens is fixed at 35mm and is absolutely outstanding. It’s capable of capturing images worthy of the Zeiss name and leaves no doubt as to why the brand enjoys its impeccable reputation and status symbol status.

The lens has three control dials, the aperture ring, focus range and focus ring. The aperture range is great going from f/22 to f/2. The ring is clickable with nice firm clicks from stop to stop. The focus range features two distinct modes, Normal Mode which will focus on subjects from 24 cm to infinity and the Macro Mode which will allow you to get your lens as close as 14 cm from your subject and goes out to 29 cm.

And finally the focus ring which moves smoothly, the body of the lens is made of metal and has an excellent finish to it just like the camera body. I have added a circular lens hood from JJC and the’ve done a great job with this one. It integrates well with the lens and camera body style so much so that one might think that it came with the camera. It’s available for around $50 dollars. They also offer a square lens hood as well.

Video

While the RX1RII does shoot video, and features a dedicated video record button, it is not MADE to be a video camera. It’s really only good for short video clips for two reasons. Firstly, the small battery will drain extremely fast while shooting video and secondly, the camera is prone to overheating when recording video clips more than a minute in length. That’s right, one minute! That was my experience at a recent outdoor shoot in 80 degree temperatures.

Conclusion

Plain and simple, the Sony RX1RII is one of the finest digital cameras in the world. Anyone serious about the art of photography should not be put off by the fixed focal length lens, nor by the luxury price tag. This camera makes a fine companion and if you like having two cameras in your bag, like me, then there’s possibly no better choice.

Friday, March 24, 2017

Vintage Lenses and Adapters for Sony E Mount

Leica Summicron 35mm f/2 mounted on a Sony A7II

Watch the video on our YouTube channel - https://youtu.be/n2bY1EkRnB8

I was able to take off from my day job (Staff Sgt. US Army) at lunch time last Monday and was happy to hear the news from my girlfriend, Vanessa, that she took the entire day off work. So that led to the cliche question; "What should we do today?". While I usually pride myself on being an "idea" person, it was Vanessa who suggested we take a drive up old New Mexico Hwy 28 to Mesilla, a small, quaint historic Southwestern town. Mesilla is centered around a town square, complete with a bandstand. I had seen Mesilla advertised in the local "Things to do in El Paso" magazines that you find in hotel lobbies etc., and it looked like a neat place to visit, certainly it would be a great place to snap some photographs. Without hesitation, I replied in the affirmative to Vanessa's terrific suggestion.

It had occurred to me that this fun, half-day trip, would provide an excellent opportunity to shoot a new vlog for "Hey Don't Shoot". The potential problem is that Vanessa has never, ever, shot video before. And believe or not, it's necessarily an easy thing to do. But what better way to teach her than to just put a camera in her hands and do it?

I have been wanting to shoot a little video with my Sony RX1RII and thought this would be an ideal opportunity because it's small enough that Vanessa could put it in her purse when we weren't shooting. Also because I primarily wanted to enjoy a day off with my girlfriend, shooting the photos and vlog would be secondary. So I made an executive decision and gave Vanessa the RX1RII, attached to her body with a shoulder strap, naturally. This decision almost came back to haunt me because we learned, the hard way, that while the RX1RII is one of the finest still photograph cameras in the world, and it is capable of shooting high definition video in XAVCS, it wasn't made for that. As a result, it has a few shortcomings in the video department, the most noticeable was that it overheated after about 1 minute of shooting video! The day was warm, but not overwhelmingly so. I think it was somewhere between 80-84 degrees. As you may or may not notice in the video, when I talking on camera, I'm talking with a fast pace, because I have to hurry and record my monologue before the camera over heats! You might also notice a lot of "cuts" in the editing of my monologue because we would have to wait for a few minutes, every time the RX1RII would over heat, before we could shoot again. So that's why my monologue is a bit chopped up and also why the opening is shot in the sunlight, but then we moved to shade. Lesson learned: always shoot video with the VIDEO CAMERA (Sony AX33) that's what it's made for!

Vanessa did a great job her first time out shooting with me! She's pictured here resting in the hatchback of my Toyota Prius Hybrid (no big deal) with the Sony RX1RII in her hands. Now that's what I call trust. Note the shoulder strap.

Now, about the photography and gear...

If you follow "Hey, Don't Shoot" you might be aware that I, Felix, have been struck with a severe case of G.A.S. (Gear Acquisition Syndrome) and as a result have accumulated a relatively impressive inventory of vintage film cameras and lenses, including few that might be considered iconic. But prior to the E Mount system coming along, your options for shooting these lenses digitally were limited to a few rather expensive solutions. Digital backs are available for a few of the medium format systems like the Hasselblad V and Mamiya 645, and there's the Leica M digital system. The problem is that, even for a hardcore gear head like me, those solutions are far too costly (we're talking close to the tens of thousands of dollars).

But with the introduction of the Sony E Mount system, along came a plethora of E Mount adapters that were available for a wide variety of vintage lens mounts. The result is that you can now mount your vintage lenses onto a Sony E Mount digital camera for less than the cost of dinner at Applebees. I was able to find adapters for the following lens mounts:

Hasselblad (medium format) - Buy yours here

Mamiya 645 (medium format) - Buy yours here

Leica M - Buy yours here

Olympus OM - Buy yours here

Mamiya ZE - Buy yours here

Rolleiflex QBM (not working, more on that later) - Buy yours here

There are adapters available for more than what I listed, those are just the ones that I purchased.

The adapters are all manual focus only, and they don't support exif data, which means your lens settings will not be saved. If this is important to you, I recommend bringing along and notebook to jot down your lens settings, otherwise, you won't have that information available to you as if you were using a lens which would otherwise be compatible with the Sony E Mount.

There are some adapters, new to the marketplace, that can turn your old manual focus only lens, into an auto focus lens on the Sony E Mount. I am aware of one such adapter for Leica M lenses but there might be others. The problem for me, at this point, is the price. For now, i'll just be content with the manual focus adapters. Besides, part of the enjoyment of shooting with vintage lenses, is the entire experience of shooting in manual focus. If I wanted auto focus, I can just slap on one of my many modern lenses.

Let's get back to Mesilla and Las Cruces, New Mexico and have a look at the lenses and adapters that I brought along with me...

Below you will also see all the photos that we shot on Monday, including some behind the scenes and product photos of the adapters and lenses. We had a great time and I hope you enjoy the video and images. Perhaps this vlog and blog might sway you to pick up an adapter for one or some of your vintage lenses?

The bokeh from the Hasselblad 80mm lens is tremendous. This lens is a depth of field monster. This image was shot at f/2.8 in aperture priority mode. I was about 4-5 feet away from the small yellow flowers that I focused on. But just look how the shallow depth of field makes them "pop"! It's a great luxury to be able to capture this lens on my Sony E Mount cameras, thus, eliminating the need for an expensive Hasselblad digital back.

Capturing "Sunset on a Mesilla Farm" with the Leica lens and Sony A7II. We found this spot along scenic Hwy 28. There was just so much to see along this road. I could go back 50 times and never run out of new things to shoot. Farms, wine vineyards, pecan tree orchards, rustic architecture and much more!

Leica M to Sony E Mount adapter, Sony A7RII body, Zeiss Planar ZM 50mm f/2 and Leica Summicron 35mm f/2

Mamiya 645 to Sony E Mount adapter pictured with Mamiya 45mm f/2.8 lens

Mamiya ZE to Sony E Mount adapter with Mamiya ZE 50mm f/1.7 lens

Olympus OM to Sony E Mount adapter with Olympus 50mm f/1.8 lens

Hasselblad adapter with Hasselblad Planar 80mm f/2.8 lens

Here is the Rolleiflex QBM to Sony E Mount adapter that isn't working properly. The 50mm lens will not mount at all and the 28 mm will mount and "snap" onto the adapter, but the aperture ring doesn't turn completely. I have ordered a replacement from a different manufacturer and I'll report back.