Sony a77ii quick shoot

Since receiving my Sony a77ii last week (while I was isolating at home with my second bout of Covid), I've been itching to get out and shoot with it. If only to set me mind at ease, due to my experience with the a57 (see here).

Given that I'm still in the Covid recovery phase, all I really want to do in the evenings is rest after a day at work. But I was determined to take some photos with the a77ii. And with bad weather forecast for the next week, I decided to go out last night (as I write this) and make the most of the good weather.

We've been having some stunning sunsets here on the West Coast recently, and I was hoping that this evening would be no exception. The conditions looked promising - but alas, it was not to be.

Cobden Beach. Sony a77ii with Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 ZA DT (SAL-1680Z)

The above image is pretty standard stuff - nothing to get too excited about. But it's the first photo taken on my 'new' Sony a77ii, with my 'new' Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T* 16-80mm ZA DT lens (wow, that's a mouthful)!

Again, nothing special - the spectacular lighting never eventuated. But it is sharp (shot at f11), has good detail, and the colours look natural. So I'm happy.

Rusty wheel. Sony a77ii with SAL-1680Z. f/5.6 @ 1/30th, ISO 100

Taking landscape shots with the camera focused to infinity is all well and good. Even the a57 could do that. It was with subjects at closer focusing distances where the sensor alignment issues on my previous a57 showed up. So I found a subject to focus on, set the a77ii up on a tripod, and used the central spot focus area to lock on to the rusted wheel.

Result - pin sharp focus exactly where I wanted it. Whew! I can breath a sigh of relief. My Sony a77ii has no sensor alignment issues and is focusing perfectly on where I'm aiming. Great news 😀

In fact, I'm very pleased with the sharpness, although I guess I shouldn't be surprised - given that I was using the 16-80mm Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T* lens. You should expect nothing but stellar results from a Carl Zeiss designed lens, and I'm happy to report that that appears to be the case. I'm pretty sure this lens will remain practically glued on to the front of this camera, given its fantastic 24-120mm focal range and fairly good f/3.5-4.5 aperture. I will write a more in-depth review of the lens in due course...

Cobden Tiphead Sunset. Sony a77ii with SAL-1680Z. HDR blend in Photoshop

As previously mentioned, the brilliant sunset colours never eventuated. Which is a shame, since the clouds were looking very dramatic. The image above is really as good as it got, and even this had to be created from a two-shot blend - one for the highlights and one for the shadows. 

Soon after taking this image, and having only been out for about 20 minutes, it actually started to rain. The a77ii is weather-sealed, but I wasn't that keen to test that out just yet (and also, the lens is not). So my first landscape outing with the new gear was unfortunately cut short. It was long enough to show that everything seems to be working ok though. So I'd say despite the weather, lack of light, and average images, I'd call the first outing a resounding success! Onwards and upwards...

First landscapes with the Sony a57

Having gone out the previous night with my 'new' (new for me, but second-hand) Sony a57 to photograph some birds (see last post), I thought it only fair that I go out again the next night, to put it through its landscape paces. It is, after all, mainly what I use my camera gear for.

I thought I would go back to Rapahoe Beach, to the spot where I had last tested out the a99 (see the images here). I love the images I get out of the Sony a99 - just gorgeous. So I thought "what the heck", why not put the a57 up against some serious competition and see how it fares!?

Rapahoe Pier structure. Sony a57 with SAL18250. f/11 @ 1/3 sec, ISO 100

What do you reckon? Didn't do too badly now, did it? In fact, lets get right down to it - it did fantastically! 

Now I'm not going to lie to you (honest). Obviously the images from the full-frame 24MP a99, shot at ISO 50 with the Minolta 17-35mm G lens are cleaner, clearer and sharper. They just are. In fact they are some of the most impressive files out of a camera that I think I've ever seen.

But honestly, who wouldn't be happy with the above image, taken with a 16MP APS-C camera and lens combination that all-up cost me $395.00 NZ! These are great results at ISO 100. The camera can achieve an 11-stop dynamic range (the a99 has almost 13 stops - 12.8 to be exact), which is plenty to be able to retain detail in both the shadows and the highlights of a well-exposed image - even in tricky landscape lighting scenarios.

Beachwood, Rapahoe. Sony a57 with SAL18250. f/11 @ 1/13th, ISO 100

Case-in-point is the image above. There is obviously very strong side lighting on the right from the setting sun, but I wanted to retain detail in the highlights, so I exposed for the sky and let the shadows darken. As you can see, they were recoverable in post, and the camera sensor has handled the extreme dynamic range in the scene very well. Again, perhaps it's not as 'clean' as a file from the a99 might have been - but 'again', it's a fifth of the price of the a99 (and that's not counting the Minolta lens).

Meandering. Sony a57 with SAL18250. f/11 @ 1 sec, ISO 100 

I'm doing something with the a57 that I've never really done with any other camera before. Shooting in full manual. Perhaps that's a shocking thing for someone who has been a photographer for over 35 years to say, but it's also true. For practically all of my photography career, since owning my very first film camera (the Canon T70), I've shot - whenever possible - in Aperture priority mode. It's ingrained in me. It's just the way I think photographically. I've trained myself to think in apertures, and that's how I approach every scene. My first consideration - what aperture do I want. Dial that in, and let the camera do the rest.

I've tried to adapt to full manual a few times - when I used digital cameras with optical viewfinders. But I always found it a complete faff, and eventually ended up where I wanted to be if I had been shooting in aperture priority anyway (for the most part).

But with mirrorless, and an evf (electronic viewfinder), I've found that shooting manual is actually now a fast and viable option. Shooting in full manual on the a57 is a breeze. And still centers around dialing in the aperture first.

Ripples in motion. Sony a57 with SAL 18250. f/11 @ 1/6th sec, ISO 100

Setting the aperture manually on the a57 is a two-step process unfortunately, since it has no rear control dial. So you press the AEL button and spin the front control wheel to choose your aperture. Once set, you then also use the front control wheel to choose your shutter speed, and next to that is the ISO button. So the exposure triangle is 'somewhat' at your fingertips.

So why does this make it any better for full manual control? Actually it doesn't. What makes it 'better' is seeing the exposure changes in the evf! With the aperture locked in, and the ISO chosen, all that remains is to toggle the front wheel that controls the shutter speed, and the scene lightens or darkens accordingly! When it was a purely optical viewfinder, you would have to change your exposure value a bit, take another shot, and 'chimp' to see how close you got. If not, then rinse and repeat until you did. By then, the light had probably changed, and you would have to repeat the process all over again! Aarrgghhh.

But with the evf, all of that 'guess' work goes away. You actually get to see what's happening. And for me, this has been somewhat revelational! Yeah, I know, I'm a bit slow on the uptake...

Rapahoe Beach at Sunset. Sony a57 with SAL18250. f/11 @ 5 secs, ISO 100

Long story short, I actually enjoyed shooting in full manual. For the first time ever! Probably helped by the fact that I was working on a tripod (as I am mostly with landscapes) and the apeture never left f/11 nor did the ISO leave 100. So all I had to worry about was the shutter speeds. Which also wasn't a concern, since I was on a tripod. So yeah, we'll see how long full manual control lasts....

Were there things I didn't like with the a57? Of course...

For a start, I find the focus area to be too small. I want more focus points further out towards the edges. But to be fair, this is also a complaint I have with the Sony a99 too - so it's not just an issue with the a57.

Also, the flip down screen is just plain annoying. I'd much prefer if it just slid down like the one on my Olympus OM-D E-M1 did. Or better still, give me the full articulation of the Sony a99. That thing is the bomb! The screen on the a57, hinged as it is at the bottom, gets stopped by my tripod mount, so doesn't really flip out on an angle to aid when viewing on the tripod. I've figured a work-around, where I now mount the camera on the tripod 'back to front' so the locking mechanism is now operated from the front of the camera. But I'm not crazy about this.

Another rear control wheel would be great, so changing the aperture wasn't a two-step process. Not a deal-breaker, but a nice-to-have.

And lastly... yeah, ok - I wish it had the 24MP sensor of the a99 and went down to ISO 50 (or even 64), for a cleaner image. That would be nice. But not, like, essential...

So really, what I'm saying, is that I wish it was an a99?! Maybe, I guess. I've been a bit spoiled by having one at the same time as I got the a57. And let's face it, any APS-C camera would pale in comparison to the full-frame, full-metal, full-control awesomeness that is the a99.

And yet it can still take some fantastic images. As seen above. I did have a fantastic time out with my new a57. And I thoroughly expect to have many more.

More Landscapes with the Sony a99

I'm really starting to enjoy using the Sony SLT cameras - in particular the a99 (my a57 is on its way). So when my wife said she had an appointment on Wednesday night and I needed to be out of the house, I didn't need telling twice!

The day was gloriously fine and hot, the clouds were puffy and white, and the chances of a colourful sunset looked very promising. In the weekend I had gone to Motukiekie Beach along the coast road (see post here) but the sunset never eventuated. Still got some great shots though. On the way to Motukiekie, I almost stopped at the beach before there, at Rapahoe. At low tide you can get some fantastic reflections in the wet sand and some great views of the coast. So that was my destination this time around..

Rapahoe Beach jetty posts. Sony a99 with Minolta 17-35mm f/3.5 G. f/11 @ 1/13th, ISO 50

I got to the beach fairly early - at 7.30pm. Sunset was another hour away, and the setting sun was very bright. It also seemed to always be pointed directly into the lens from where I wanted to shoot from!

Recently (within the last year or so), some old jetty posts have become uncovered on the beach, and I had been meaning to photograph them for a while. I've been going to Rapahoe beach for about twenty years to take photos, so these recently(ish) uncovered old jetty posts are a very exciting and welcome addition. On my previous visits, I seem to have timed it all wrong - with the posts either completely submerged in the high tide, or left high and dry during low tide. This time, however, I was in luck. I arrived on the out-going tide, with two hours to go before low tide. Perfect timing. Now I just had to wait for the perfect light 😊

Rapahoe Bridge. Sony a99 with Minolta 17-35mm f/3.5 G. f/8 @ 1/20th, ISO 100 + polariser

Since I had some time to kill before the main attraction, I decided to head away from the sun, down the beach, towards a bridge I have photographed before. The light was racking down the beach and through the bridge beautifully and the polariser on the lens really made the white clouds 'pop'. The colours coming out of the Sony a99 24mp full-frame sensor are just gorgeous, and the files are incredibly robust. Both shadow and highlight detail recovery is amazing as long as you have a well-exposed image.

Old jetty posts, Rapahoe Beach. Sony a99 with 17-35mm f/3.5 G. f/11 @ 1/6th sec, ISO 50

I've said it before, and I'll say it again - the a99 is a joy to shoot landscape images with. The articulating LCD screen is clear, bright, and can be placed in the perfect position no matter your shooting scenario. For most of my landscape images - shot in 'landscape' orientation on a tripod, I lift the LCD screen up, out, and over - angled towards me on the top of the camera's viewfinder - for almost a top-down medium-format hasselblady type of shooting experience. Just wonderful. The articulation of the a99 screen has defined for me what a rear screen is capable of, and it will be very difficult to go back to one that is less flexible. Might just have to save my pennies for an a99 on my own! Yes, it really is that good.

Rapahoe Beach Sunset. Sony a99 with Minolta 17-35mm f/3.5 G. f/11 @ 1/8th sec, ISO 50

The above image is very similar in composition to the first image in this post. But what a difference an hour makes in terms of the lighting! There was still quite a lot of strong side-lighting coming from the setting sun to the right, but the sensor has captured plenty of detail. I was able to selectively darken the right side of the image to match the left side, with a gradient adjustment in lightroom. Once again, the richness of colour and detail coming off the 24MP sensor at ISO 50 is astounding. And I'm finding that, very much like the Fuji's X-Trans sensor, the sensor in the Sony a99 gives a very 'filmic' look. It's not overly digital feeling. The images have a subtle softness to them (although they are plenty sharp and crisp enough) that doesn't scream 'digital'. And I like it - a lot.

Rapahoe Jetty Posts, Sunset. Sony a99 with Minolta 17-35mm G. f/11 @ 2 secs, ISO 50.

This final image sums up the night, and the Sony a99, perfectly. It sums up the night because it has a beautiful calm, stillness to the image - which is exactly how I felt while I was there. It was a great night shooting, and has gone a long way to reviving my landscape juices...

It sums up the a99 because it's an image that I wasn't convinced I was going to get away with. And yet the a99's sensor has handled it brilliantly. To get any definition in the sunset area of the sky, I had to under-expose by two stops. As a result, the posts were completely silhouetted in the viewfinder, and in the RAW image as it appeared in Lightroom. I had basically resigned myself to a silhouette image, with the whole left-side of the composition in complete darkness. But I also took the image to see what would happen, and how much latitude I did actually have in post-processing.

I started moving the Shadows slider to the right, to open up the shadow areas, and the colours and detail of the posts magically started to appear. This in itself is fantastic. But at ISO 50, it is also so 'clean' and noise-free.

Yes, if you can't tell, I am thoroughly enjoying using the Sony a99 as a landscape camera. I also think that the amazing glass of the Minolta 17-35mm f/3.5 G is in no small way a contributing factor to the wonderful images it is producing. I am looking forward to getting my a57 as well, but I am also preparing myself for a little bit of a let-down, since it is certainly not in the a99's league. 

But I knew this, and I can't afford an a99 (yet). But I am plotting... and hoping... and dreaming... that an a99ii might be somewhere in my future. We can but dream.

Landscapes with the Sony a99

My Olympus camera gear is off to Photo & Video in Christchurch to be appraised for a trade-in, and I'm now almost 100% sure that my next system will be Sony. Wow!

Spiney rock formation, Motukiekie Beach.
Sony a99 with Minolta 17-35mm. f/16 @ 1/6th, ISO 50. + Polariser

To mentally prepare myself for the transition, I decided to go out this weekend (as I write this) with the Sony a99 full-frame SLT camera and Minolta 17-35mm f/3.5 lens to take some landscape photos. We have had some gorgeous sunsets here on the West Coast recently, and I was hoping the same would be true of this evening. 

Alas, it wasn't to be, with no clouds in the sky and no real colour to speak of. Just flat open skies all along the horizon. Oh well, never mind. At least sunset coincided with low tide (both happened at 8.30pm), so I was able to get right out among the rocks and take some interesting rockscapes.

Motukiekie Rockscape. Sony a99 with Minolta 17-35mm. f/11 @ 1/6th, ISO 50 + Polariser

I've said it before, and I'll say it again... the a99 is a joy to use for landscape photography. Yes, it's bigger and heavier than my Olympus E-M1 was (even with grip attached), and the Minolta 17-35mm lens is no lightweight either. But it's also one of the lighter DSLR-style full-frame cameras you can get, and it really wasn't an issue carrying it - along with a couple other lenses, in my Crumpler messenger-style camera bag. I would, however, like to get a camera backpack to use instead of the Messenger bag, especially if I'm going on a longer walk with my camera gear.

But for this trip, the messenger bag worked fine (Crumpler's 6 Million Dollar Home), and I even took my lighter Manfrotto travel tripod instead of my heavier Slik that I usually take when using the full-frame camera. The Manfrotto actually worked fine, and I always felt the camera had a stable platform. It might have been different on a windy day, but fortunately this evening there wasn't a breath of wind to worry about.

Motukiekie Rockscape 2
Sony a99 with Minolta 17-35mm

Unfortunately this meant that the mosquitos were out in force! Little blood-sucking vermin. They really do ruin a great evening out photographing! For some reason they really love the taste of me, and I always get swarmed whenever they are around (must be my animal magnetism 😂). Very unpleasant. 

I try not to hang-around in the one spot for too long so that they don't all get the chance to converge. This can mean that I don't take my time composing an image as long as I should, because I just want to keep moving and get away from the little buggers! But fortunately the Sony a99 is very quick to set-up, and the vari-angle LCD screen makes it a breeze to see your image no matter how you have the camera positioned. It really is the best rotating  LCD screen I've ever used. Unfortunately I don't think that the a57's back panel LCD screen is as flexible!? Shame.

Because the a99 has most of its important functions mapped to a button or dial on the body of the camera, changing settings is also very quick. The 'Function' button also acts as a 'quick' menu, allowing you to change settings on the fly. I usually shoot most of my images in Apeture priority, so I have the aperture value set to change with the front dial on the camera, while exposure compensation is mapped to the rear dial. I let the camera take care of the shutter speed, and the ISO was set to the smallest native ISO the a99 shoots - an impressive 50 ISO. It's amazing to be able to shoot at these lower ISO's on a digital camera, since I'm used to a native ISO 200 on my Olympus E-M1. ISO 50 on the Sony a99 is very clean, and impressively 'smooth'.

Motukiekie low tide. Sony a99 with 17-35mm. f/11 @ 1/2sec, ISO 50 + Polariser (35mm fov)

The 24MP files that come off of this Sony full-frame sensor are just drop-dead gorgeous! Not to mention the dynamic range that the sensor can capture. DXO puts it on par with the likes of the Nikon D3x and the (much) newer Canon EOS R6. That's pretty impressive for a 10 year old camera! 

In the image above, I have actually processed it to look more like a silhouette - darkening the highlights and shadows. I wanted a more dramatic look to the image, although in reality, the sensor has captured much more detail in the shadows. And at ISO 50 it's very clean, noise-free detail.

Motukiekie low tide silhouette. Sony a99 with 17-35mm. f/11 @ 5 secs, ISO 50 + polariser

Again , more detail was captured in the shadows than is showing up here. In fact, I can see more detail in the image when it is opened in Photoshop. The internet compression isn't doing this image any favours. It does have the 'mood' I was going for though, and the colours are very faithfully reproduced. This is pretty much exactly what I saw with my own eyes when I was there.

Unfortunately, as mentioned above, the sunset never really kicked-off, and with no clouds to catch the colour that was there, the photo doesn't have the kind of impact I was after. Just imagine the same scene with big orange clouds reflected in that mirror-like reflection of the water. Would have been epic! Oh well, there's always next time I guess.

Motukiekie beach sunset. Sony a99 with 17-35mm. f/11 @ 8 secs, ISO 50 + polariser

This was my last shot of the night, taken quickly as I trudged my way back to the car to head home. I was tired, had the images I thought I was going to get for the evening, and simply looked behind me as I was walking along the beach. I begrudgingly got all my gear back out in the semi-dark because I thought it was 'kinda nice', and took one shot. Turns out it's probably my favourite shot of the night. Lol

I am still struggling with motivation to go out and take landscape photos of my local area, even though I enjoyed myself once I was there (apart from those damn mosquitoes). I am still hoping that an injection of 'new' gear will help in this regard, and I am looking forward to getting the a57 and reviewing the camera and lenses that I have. If nothing else, reviewing gear actually gets me out photographing and making images. And if they turn out anything like the photos I took at Motukiekie Beach with the a99, then that's got to be a good thing...

Photo walk No.3 during Lockdown

Could it happen three times in a row? Could we have a lovely, calm, still evening to go out walking and photographing here on the West Coast during Lockdown? You betcha we could!

Wednesday and Thursday evenings had been beautiful, with wonderful light and not a breath of wind (see my last two posts). When it looked like Friday would be the same, I was delighted. And also a little anxious. I wanted to honour the conditions of the Level 3 Lockdown here in New Zealand at the moment (no travelling outside your local area), which meant sticking to the same locations that I had shot the previous two nights. Would I come up with anything new to photograph? Or would I wander around bored and come away with nothing?

Oh well, at least I would get some exercise I guess? I really wasn't 'feeling' it in terms of photographic inspiration. But, the sky looked like it might cloud-up and get some interesting colour (the last two evenings had been absolutely cloudless), so I grabbed my E-M1, both my lenses this time, and headed out the door. With no great expectations.

Greymouth Wharf. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 12-35mm f/2.8. f/8 @ 1/1600th, ISO 1600 

Perhaps I should go out shooting with no expectations more often? Because the images I came home with from the third night's outing are, in my estimation, the best of the three nights. And, one or two of them may be some of the best photos I've taken this year! And all because I pushed myself to explore an area that I've somehow never been to before.

My normal walk takes me down to the Cobden lagoon and estuary, overlooking the Greymouth wharf across the Grey River. I have captured several images of this area over the last few nights, taken from the roadside that I walk along. The estuary is situated next to the Greenstone Park Speedway - a heavily fenced-off area that, to be honest, I don't ever pay much attention to. But on my third trip out in as many days, I was desperate for a different viewpoint. So I had a closer look at the speedway area.

Estuary looking back towards Cobden. E-M1 with Lumix 12-35mm. f/8 @ 1/800th, ISO 1600

On closer inspection, I noticed a gravel road leading down alongside the speedway and estuary. I'm sure I must have seen it before, but I can't say that I've ever ventured down it? It just seemed like an innocuous dirt road leading off to nowhere much. Why I didn't put two and two together I'll never know. But I'm very glad that I was - a.) desperate enough to look for new locations, and - b.) curious enough to take a chance and walk down a gravel road.

Turns out the gravel road does actually lead to somewhere 😂 Whooda thunk it! It leads, not surprisingly, to around behind the estuary and speedway, to a small beach area. For someone who has lived in this area for over twenty years, but who had never gone down this road, it was like walking through the closet and into Narnia! My excitement at finding somewhere completely new to explore, in an environment that I had assumed I knew intimately, was almost overwhelming. Especially on a night where I thought that I couldn't possibly come up with any new photographs.

Blaketown Tiphead Golden Sunset. E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/250th, ISO 200

Getting around in-behind the estuary not only gave me an unobstructed view of the Greymouth wharf, it also offered a different viewpoint of the Blaketown Tiphead. For the last few nights I had photographed looking across to Blaketown, with the setting sun at a 45 degree angle. But from this vantage, I was able to have the sun setting directly behind the tiphead, allowing the opprtunity for more of a silhouette.

And before you cry 'foul' and tell me to lay off the saturation slider in Lightroom, that's exactly what it looked like! It really was that intense and that spectacular. Honest!

Speedway commentary booth. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/500th, ISO 200

When I first arrived at the beach area behind the speedway, I immediately noticed the commentary booth sitting up above the foliage, with clouds gathering behind it. I knew that if the sky coloured up, and the clouds caught the light, I would get some fantastic images of the booth silhouetted against a wonderful sunset sky. I had to wait for about an hour for it to happen, but when it did, I wasn't disappointed.

Catching the light. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/100th, ISO 400

I love the colour, the drama, and the simplicity of these last images of the commentary booth against the sunset. I was very excited while I was taking them, and I'm still very excited now as I look at them. I pre-visualized the images, waited for the right conditions, and then executed the images in exactly the way I had planned. I spent about 30 minutes, and took around 60 photos of this one subject - observing the light as it changed, the clouds as they moved, and the composition as I refined it. It was a thoroughly enjoyable and totally reinvigorating evenings shooting. And to think, it came from an initial feeling of apathy and disinterest.

Three nights, walking around the same location during Lockdown, produced three very different sets of images (mostly). Now the rain has come for the week (not surprisingly), and I probably won't get out to shoot again for a while. But when I do, I will have a new location to go back to and re-explore - together with familiar locations that never seem to disappoint.

BTW - just a quick update on the E-M1. Now that the rear control dial has been fixed, it functions perfectly. Very responsive, and very accurate. Exactly how I remember it to be. Happy, happy, joy, joy 😁

Photo walk No.2 during Lockdown

Spring has sprung here in New Zealand. Yay!

On the West Coast, that often means wet weather - unfortunately. But, as luck would have it, the first week of Spring has instead brought some wonderful sunny days. And with it, comes a chance to get out and stretch the legs, in my local neigbourhood, during Lockdown.

'Spicy' revisted. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm f/4-5.6. f/5.6 @ 1/640th, ISO 400

We are very fortunate to have some rather picturesque places within walking distance of our home. These include; a beach, farms, an estuary/lagoon area and tiphead. So there is no shortage of interesting subjects to photograph.

Having said that, when you are confined to a reasonably local area - one that you've walked almost daily for several years - familiarity can breed a little contempt. To 'spice' things up (excuse the pun from the image above), I decided on my second night's walk around the same area, to just use my telephoto lens. I kept the Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f/4-5.6 Asph Mega OIS lens when I sold all my others, because although I don't use one all that often, I do find a telephoto handy to have. It's also very small, and very light-weight for a telephoto, so takes up hardly any space in the camera bag.

Going around the same area, in the same evening light, you can't help but sometimes be attracted to the same images. I couldn't help myself as I walked past this public rest area again on the second evening. I just had to stop and take the exact same image as the previous night (see last post), but this time with the telephoto lens. If nothing else, I thought it would make for an interesting comparison between the two lenses.

And interesting it is! For while I gave a glowing review of the Lumix 12-35mm f2.8 and said how super sharp and clear the images were that I got from it - I actually think the image I took with the 45-150mm is actually sharper! 

Waiting for a Wave. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/200th, ISO 1600

My overall impression of this small, light, cheap telephoto zoom lens is that it is, indeed, very sharp - even wide open at f/5.6 and 150mm (300mm equivalent on full-frame). Just like its Olympus sibling (the M.Zuiko 40-150mm f/4-5.6) that I have raved about in the past, the Panasonic Lumix 45-150mm f/4-5.6 punches way above its weight, and has the capability of producing seriously great images.

Of course it doesn't compete with the truly pro glass of the Olympus 40-150mm f2.8 Pro or the Panasonic Lumix 35-100mm f2.8. But at a fraction of the weight, size and cost of these pro lenses, the Lumix 45-150mm f/4-5.6 is a no-brainer if you need a 'good' telephoto lens for the odd occasion when you need one. Pro wildlife or bird photographers look elsewhere. But for the rest of us, the Lumix or Olympus cheap telephotos are well worth owning.

Spring is in the air. OM-D E-M1 with Panasonic 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/320th, ISO 800

Telephotos are great for getting a bit closer to the action if you're a sports and/or wildlife shooter. But they are also a great option for portraiture and landscapes. Their narrow field of view, compression of elements within an image, and their ability to 'isolate' a subject, are all helpful ways of telling a particular story. And they can also be used to zoom in on unsuspecting subjects if you are in 'stealth' mode. 😄

The photo above, of the couple watching the sea crashing against the rocks, was obviously taken from behind, but also from a fairly long distance away. They were completely unaware of my presence, allowing me to wait with my camera poised to capture just the right moment. I probably stayed for about 10 minutes taking a series of images, as the sea crashed around them and they enjoyed the view. The telephoto lens has compressed the elements within the image, to make it look like the sea is crashing around them a lot closer than it actually was. From the photo it looks like they are in serious danger of getting wet! But in reality, the waves were a good 15 to 20 meters away from them and well out of harms way.

Spring sunset silhouette. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/8 @ 1/320th, ISO 800

The photo above was taken at exactly the same time as the photo of the couple watching the sea spray. Three young women turned up to also watch the sunset, and as they were getting ready to walk down along the rocks, I noticed that they made a prefect silhouette against the setting sun. I fired off two shots before they moved further down the rocks and the effect was gone.

Once again, the telephoto lens has allowed me to grab the shot from a good distance away, with my subjects completely unaware they were being photographed. I don't always shoot this way - I guess it feels a little bit 'creepy' or a bit paparazzi? But in both scenarios above, none of the people in the photos can be identified, none were photographed in a 'compromising' situation, and the final result is - I hope - very tastefully done. No one - as they say - was harmed in the making of these photos.

Heading out to fish. Olympus OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 40-150mm. f/8 @ 1/80th, ISO 1600

Many photographers who think of landscape images, think only in terms of wide angle lenses. But a telephoto lens is an invaluable part of every landscape photographers kit. As mentioned above, it can help isolate, compress, and simplify a scene - all exceptionally useful techniques when shooting landscapes. A wide-angle (or ultra-wide angle) that tries to include a massive vista can often lead to unimpressive images. Whereas if you isolate, frame, and capture a smaller portion - maybe just the one area of light as it caresses the peak of an impressive mountain - then you will often come away with a much stronger composition. Indeed there are many mountain landscape photographers who would say that their telephoto lens is their most used optic.

Blaketown Tiphead Shipwreck Monument. E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/60th, ISO 800

Whether you use a telephoto lens a little, or a lot, it's always a good idea to have one in your camera bag. The Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f/4-5.6 Asph Mega OIS (to give it its full name) is an excellent choice for someone on a budget, but who still wants a well made (metal mount), sharp and lightweight lens. When I was selling all my lenses to purchase the Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8, the Lumix 45-150mm was the only lens I decided to keep. And I'm very glad that I did.

As a landscape photographer, who wants to travel light, I don't need the heavier, more expensive 'pro' versions of this lens. I'd mostly shoot them at around f/5.6 to f/8 anyway. And at those apertures, the cheap, light and inexpensive (relatively speaking) Panansonic 40-150mm f/4-5.6 is probably about 95% as sharp as them anyway!

What I do occasionally wish for, however, is a little longer reach. Something like the Olympus 75-300mm f/4.8-6.7 or Panasonic 100-300mm f/4-5.6. At 300mm on the long end, that equates to a whopping 600mm angle-of-view on a full-frame system! If I was a bird or wildlife photographer on a budget, I'd definitely have one of those. But I'm not, so they will have to wait. My use-case for a lens with that sort of reach is even more limited than with the telephoto I already own! 

On the other hand, my sister-in-law actually owns the Olympus 75-300mm, so I may get to 'play' with it one day and do a quick review? Could be fun to take to a wildlife park - once we get out of Lockdown, of course.

Mid-Winter magic light

Winter on the West Coast of the South Island where I live, isn't as cold or extreme as it is in other parts of New Zealand. You have to travel about an hour to the east to see any snow, or about six hours south towards Wanaka, Queenstown and Otago (where it can get very extreme). At home we can get the occasional hoar frost in the coldest months (July/August), but that's about as rough as it gets. And I ain't complaining.

What we do often get on the coast in these winter months, is crisp, clear days and intensely colourful sunsets. There seems to be less cloud around at this time of the year (don't as me why), so the intense colours at sunset are unobstructed - seeming only to add to their intensity.

Rock glow. Olympus OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. f/8 @ 1/400th, ISO 200

I understand that photographing beautiful colours at sunset is not every photographers cup-of-tea. I get that... kind of. And then again, I kinda don't? Maybe it has something to do with not wanting to be too chocolate-boxey or obvious. Maybe they think that pointing your camera at a landscape lit by glorious colours is too easy? Or maybe they believe that if you've seen one sunset, you've seen them all?

I don't agree (obviously). I've never shied away from chocolate-box subject matter - although I'd like to think that I still bring my own unique 'eye' to the resulting photo? But even if I don't, what's wrong with a photographer wanting to capture jaw-droppingly beautiful light? Isn't that why we are encouraged to shoot during 'golden hour'? 

Rapahoe Rock. OM-D E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 3.2secs, ISO 200. ND filter

The mid-winter light doesn't get much more golden than last evening (as I write this), at one of my favourite places to shoot - Rapahoe Beach. I had been to the beach with friends during the day a few weeks ago, testing out my newly acquired E-M10 (see the post here). We went to an area of the beach I hadn't really explored before, and so I made a mental note to come back during the evening, at low tide, with good light. I didn't have to wait long. A few weeks later and the conditions lined-up. I left work about half an hour early, and was out at the beach before sunset to see what I could capture.

Mid-winter sunset, Rapahoe. OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. f/9 @ 1/3rd sec, ISO 200

Sunset coincided almost perfectly with low tide, which was a blessing and a curse. It was a blessing because I wanted low-tide to expose the rocks that would otherwise be submerged, thereby creating some foreground interest to the composition. But it was a curse because at extreme low tide the shoreline recedes a great distance out from the beach, so most of the rocks I wanted to use were meters away from the water.

As you can see from the image above, I did manage to find one lone rock, that I could place in the foreground and play with some movement in the water. But I would have preferred to shoot higher up the beach where there were dozens more rocks. So as it turned out, the extreme low-tide wasn't really when I wanted to be there. I will need to go out again on the turning tide, maybe a couple of hours after high tide as it's moving into low tide? That way I should  be able to reach the rocks to photograph them, but there will still be enough water around to make for interesting compositions. That's the plan anyway...

Let there be light. OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. f/16 @ 1 sec, ISO 200

Having established that the conditions weren't exactly how I wanted them, and having taken a few images that I thought captured the feeling I was going for, my mind once again flipped into ICM (intentional camera movement) mode.

Light levels were dropping rapidly, so I was able to get exposure times upwards of 1 second with apertures of f16. With no clouds in the sky at all, and bands of colour stretching along the horizon, my immediate instinct was to pan quickly across the scene to accentuate them. This worked really well, with the resulting images still having a landscape/seacape feel while capturing that abstract ICM quality.

The Duplicity of Light. OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. f/8 @ 2.5secs, ISO 200

But the mere nature of experimentation with ICM photography is that you can create the unexpected. The above photo - The Duplicity of Light -  is my favourite shot from the evening. It looks almost like a double exposure, but it's not. At least not in the truest sense of the meaning. What do I mean by that?

Well because, by using the ICM technique, it is in some ways a double exposure image, as I intended it to be. It's just a double exposure taken with a single image! Let me explain....

The exposure time was 2.5 seconds, which is quite a long time when you're hand-holding the camera. I knew I wanted a close-up of the rock with the orange glow on the horizon, but I also wanted the waves on the beach to be included. I simply started the exposure on the rock for the first second, then wriggled the camera down so it was pointing more at the beach and waves for the last second. Even though it was taken in one frame, it was really conceived of as a double exposure. And this is the sort of fun imagery you can play around with and achieve through intentional camera movement.

Twinkle twinkle...  f5/6 @ 1/2sec, ISO 200

However it was achieved, I love it. And it's certainly the kind of photography that I'm getting excited about producing going forward. Yes I can, and will, continue to capture the more 'realistic' (call it chocolate box if you like) landscapes of my region, since they too inspire me to get out and take more photos. But it's the abstract ICM images that are really 'floating my boat' creatively at the moment.

Finally, just a word on the intensity of colours that all these images display. They are all true-to-life and exactly what I was seeing with the naked eye on the evening. Of course I've lightened and darkened (dodged and burned) some areas of some of the images for creative effect - but I haven't increased the saturation in any of them. In fact, with my favourite image, The Duplicity of Light, I actually decreased saturation by about 15% because I thought the original was just too much!

Yes, decreasing highlights and adding clarity and dehaze (all of which I have done) will tend to increase the saturation of colours in the image - but that's where I've left it. And it really was as colourful to my eyes as it appears in the photos. Just thought I'd mention it in case anyone was thinking I had cranked the saturation up to 80%! I haven't. Not that I'm not allowed to mind you. They're my images and I can do want I want with them in post-processing. But that's another blog post for another time...

If at first you don't succeed, try again...

I wrote a couple of posts ago about going out with my son to photograph a sunset. Unfortunately the sunset never really eventuated that evening, but I managed to turn lemons into lemonade (metaphorically speaking) and came away with some ICM (intentional camera movement) images that I really liked (see here).

Josh is going back to Uni this week so we decided to give it another try, since the weather has been consistently good while he's been home (clear, crisp winter days). We gave ourselves a little more time for this trip, and headed out to our location a good hour before sunset. Due to the current position of the setting sun, we figured our best bet was to go to the Blaketown Tiphead.

FYI: Tiphead simply means the end of a long and narrow point - in this case the road that leads out to the end of Blaketown and into the Tasman Sea. This area is also sometimes referred to as the Southern Breakwater, with its companion the Northern Breakwater (or Cobden Tiphead) forming the mouth of the Grey River as it enters Greymouth from the Tasman Sea. It can be very rough and treacherous for fishing boats coming into Greymouth when conditions are rough - and can make for some spectacular photos. I've yet to photograph this, since as stated, the conditions are usually less than ideal. Not the kind of weather I think about taking my camera out in. Even though the E-M1 and my 12-50mm EZ lens are weatherproof. Still....! Maybe oneday?

Who you lookin at? Olympus OM-DE-M1 with Lumix 45-150. f/6.3 @ 1/125th, ISO 200

With plenty of time to look for the composition I wanted at sunset, when we arrived at our destination my attention was immediately caught by the seagulls that perch on the rocks surrounding the Tiphead. There was some lovely evening light as the sun was sinking behind a bank of clouds (more on those later). The seagulls, who were extremely chill and very used to having humans around, were posing politely (mostly) for us, as we snapped away from a very close distance. You can often get within a few feet of them, so very close-up and detailed images can be had.

Seagull silhouette. E-M1 with Lumix 45-150mm. f/5.6 @ 1/3200th, ISO 200 

Seagulls are scavengers, and can get quite aggressive with each other if food is around. If you happen to be eating anything near one, you will most likely suddenly find yourself surrounded by dozens and dozens of them. But if you don't have any food, they do tend to leave you alone (thankfully). Because of this scavenger reputation, they aren't one of the most popular birds to photograph. And yet they can be quite beautiful, with their bright white body feathers, grey wings and red beaks. And, of course, if you manage to capture them in silhouette like I have in the above image, then it's hard to tell what kind of bird it is (unless you're an avid bird watcher of course). 

Taking the Shot. OM-D E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. f/6.3 @ 1/160th, ISO 200

As the sun began to set, it became obvious that we were once again going to be thwarted by a large bank of cloud on the horizon. As you can see, there was still a strip of golden light, and this was giving us some colour in the sky, but not really what we had hoped for. Still, undaunted, we began to set up our tripods - me on one side of the road and Josh on the other.

It was at this point that I discovered a problem. I'd left my tripod mounting plate at home on my office desk! I had taken it off the tripod head to attach it to the camera prior to going out - to save time in the field. But I had obviously been distracted at that crucial moment (I'm getting old), and had forgotten to attach it! Doh!

Surprisingly though, shooting into the light and letting the foreground go to a silhouette, I was getting very hand-holdable exposure times. I had switched from my Panasonic 45-150mm telephoto to my Olympus 12-50mm EZ lens, and at the wide end of the range I was easily able to take pin-sharp images hand-held at exposures of around 1/160th to 1/200th of a second. The ibis (in body image stabilisation) on the E-M1 is fantastic, but even so, the shutter speeds I was getting were fast enough for it not to be a concern.

Cobden Tiphead at last light. E-M1 with 12-50mm EZ. f/5.6 @ 1/2sec, ISO 400 

But eventually, the light did drop significantly enough that I had to start relying on image stabilisation to get sharp images. The above image was taken at half a second - obviously with image stabilisation turned on - and is tack sharp! Just amazing.

I know that the very latest ibis in the Olympus E-M1x and E-M1 Mk3 is even better, with people hand-holding for over 2 seconds and still getting sharp results. But for an old fella like me, who comes from the film days when tripods were a necessity if you shot below 1/60th, hand-holding and getting a sharp image at even half a second is mind-blowing.

I don't try to push my luck with image stabilisation - preferring to work from a tripod or follow the focal length rule for hand-holding as much as possible (shutter speed = or greater than the focal length of lens). But in this instance, I had no option, since I had left the tripod mounting plate at home. 

Breakwater blur. E-M1 with Zuiko 12-50mm EZ. f/20 @ 2.5secs, ISO 200 

Although I was successfully getting half-second exposures, I know when I've reached my limit. For the last few images of the evening, I switched back into ICM (intentional camera movement) mode, and captured some abstract photos of the waves coming in.

Once again, these happen to be my favorite images of the evening. They just resonate with me emotionally and creatively. I'm sure there are some who might look at them and think they're just blurry, out of focus photos. While others may even question whether it's a photograph at all?

But I simply adore them. And I think I'm going to be doing a lot more of them in the future. I already have the urge to get a collection of them together and have an exhibition somewhere. It's been a long time since I put together an exhibition of my work, but I've been mulling it over a lot lately. I guess I wasn't really sure what the exhibition might be about - but now I think I do. So yeah - hopefully an exhibition is on the cards. Don't know where, don't know when (apologies to Vera Lynn) - but I will definitely post about it on the blog when I do.

Golden Bay Holiday - Farewell Spit Dunes and Sunset

The Golden Bay Region at the top of New Zealand's South Island is a photographer's paradise! There is so much to see and photograph; from rugged coastline and sandy beaches, to old abandoned buildings and various wildlife. 

On just our second day at Puponga, blessed with beautiful weather (not a breath of wind), we decided to walk along the Spit at low tide, to photograph the sand dunes. We hoped for some nice evening light and some interesting formations to photograph. What we got was out of this world spectacular!

It's about an hours walk to the dunes from the car park. But if you are going to go you need to make sure that the tide is well out. Fortunately for us, we had timed it perfectly and low-tide coincided with sunset. I didn't really know what to expect from the dunes, and after about three quarters of an hour of trudging over broken shells carrying a tripod and camera gear, I was beginning to wonder whether it was all going to be worth it? But boy oh boy, was it worth it!

Farewell Spit Sand Dunes. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f9 @ 1/45th sec, ISO 200

We were greeted with a landscape unlike any other I have ever experienced. I've never been to the desert before, and am possibly never likely to? So for me, this was the next best thing. A sandscape that reminded me of the sand planet Tattoine in the Star Wars movies, bathed in beautiful evening light. My photography brain almost exploded from sensory overload! It was almost too much to take in and process. It was so alien and foreign - I'm used to a lot of lush green on the West Coast - that I almost didn't know how to approach photographing it? And yet, at the same time, incredible images seemed to materialise no matter where I pointed my camera!

Visions of Tattoine. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f9 @ 1/56th sec, ISO 200

Faced with such an overwhelming visual experience, I knew that I ran the risk of just 'spraying and praying'. Taking hundreds of images of stuff that was 'new' without really considering the 'why' of the image. So luckily I decided to slow down and give myself 10 minutes just to soak it all in and not take a single photo. I also decided to switch the camera to black and white in the viewfinder (shooting RAW + Jpeg so I would have the option of both colour and b&w later). These two decisions saved my bacon (so to speak), as they forced me to slow down and actually 'look' at what I was seeing.

What was I drawn to most strongly? What was I responding to most emotionally? When I took the time to ask myself these questions, and when I looked through the viewfinder of the X-E2 at the black and white image, I realised that it was the textures and the forms in the sand that excited me the most. And especially how these textures and forms were responding to the light. So that's what I concentrated on for my images.

Golden light. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f9 @ 1/25th sec, ISO 200

If that had been the photography done and dusted for the evening then I would have gone away very happy and considered it a successful evenings shoot. But mother nature wasn't finished with us yet.

The light was slowly fading as we left the sand dunes to head back to the car park. We had another hours journey ahead of us, and wanted to make it back before dark. But we were also hopeful that the sky might colour up for a decent sunset. We'd had an amazing time with wonderful light at the sand dunes. Did we dare hope for a great sunset as well?

Colouring up. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f11 @ 1/40th, ISO 200.

As we made our way back, we couldn't believe our eyes (and luck)! The light was gorgeous, and just kept getting better and better! At low tide, on such a still and calm evening, the reflections in the remaining water were perfect. Glassy smooth and pristine. Nicki and I were two very happy and excited photographers, with perfect conditions, in what turned out to be one of the best evenings of my life - period!

Very happy Photographers! Photo: Joanna Lorimer

On a more technical note: I continue to be impressed and more than satisfied with the 16MP x-trans sensor in the Fuji X-E2. The x-trans colours are beautiful, the files are clean, and the cameras themselves are a joy to handle and use. I still love the programmable 'film simulations' of the Fuji's, and switching quickly between them is a breeze. Having shot b&w using my 'C2 - Acros' film simulation at the sand dunes, a quick press of the 'Q' button and flick of the control wheel and I switched to my 'C1 - Classic Chrome' film simulation for punchy sunset colours. The jpegs that these film simulations produce are astoundingly good. But so too, surprisingly, are the RAW files from the x-trans sensor. Most manufacturers RAW files are somewhat duller (even lack luster) when compared to the out-of-camera jpegs - but not so with the Fuji RAW's from the X-E2. Even the RAW files are punchy and colourful, with very little needing to be done to them in the way of added contrast or saturation. When I flick between a Nikon jpeg and RAW capture in Lightroom, the difference between the two files is obvious. Not so much with the Fuji's. Which I like.

Sunset over Abel Tasman. Fuji X-E2 with Fujinon 16-50mm XF lens. f16 @ 2 secs. ISO 200

We had gone on holiday to Golden Bay knowing that there would be plenty of photo opportunities. I had prepared my gear as best I could, but you always need the weather to come to the party. So there is always going to be an element of luck involved with any photographic endevour. On only our second night at Golden Bay, we got extremely, extremely 'lucky'. We were in the right place, at the right time, to capture some truly magnificent light on the landscape.

On nights like this, in those moments when everything aligns and comes together (which - lets be honest - are extremely rare), I feel amazingly honoured, and incredibly humbled, to be a photographer. It's a hobby/profession that I've been passionate about for over 30 years of my life.

You may or may not be a person with a religious faith. I happen to be. And on a night like the one we experience that evening, I feel closer to my creator than at any other time. That's the gift that photography gives me.