The Odd one Out

In my twenty five plus years (yes, I really am that old), of being involved in this passion/hobby/profession of photography, I've used too many cameras to mention.

As a reviewer I was sent most of the newest gear available from the likes of Canon, Nikon and Sony - and I've owned a plethora of cameras throughout the years.

With film, I was a Canon shooter. Starting with the T70 and then on to the T90, EOS10, EOS50 and eventually EOS1. During the end of my run with Canon film cameras I had a brief 'fling' with Minolta - with a 600si (and a friends old X700). When digital starting hitting the scene, I decided to start 'fresh' and not be swayed by Canon simply because that was what I had always (mostly) used.

I tried a Canon 300D, and a Nikon D70 - both on the same day - and, not surprisingly, bought the D70. It was a great camera, full stop - in film or digital. Fortunately, my wife still uses one, so I do get to 'play' with it every now and again.

But since using digital, I've jumped around all over the place. I've used a D70, a Canon 10D, 20D, 30D, 40D, 50D, & 5D: a Nikon D200, D90 & D300: a Minolta 7D, and Sony A100 (which I have on 'loan' from a friend at the moment).

And then there's the smaller, compact cameras and micro-four thirds that I've 'briefly' owned - including an Olympus Pen E3, Fuji X10, Panasonic compacts and Canon G3's and G5's!

That's quite an extensive list - even if I do say so myself! But there is one glaringly obvious omission to all these brands of cameras that I have simply never tried. That's right - Pentax.

To be fair, and for full disclosure, I did own and use a Pentax 645 medium format film camera for a while (great camera) - but if we concentrate on digital (and we are), then I've never owned, used, or even touched, a Pentax digital SLR.

Pentax K100D. My first Pentax DSLR!

All that is about to change, because three days ago I won a Pentax K100D on Trademe.

Since I am 'between' cameras at the moment, I had been saving my pennies, selling a few film cameras from my collection, and looking to see what I could get for not much money. This was spurred on by the fact that I've actually been booked to shoot a wedding again - for a family we know, in early 2015.

So I wanted to start putting a system together again, maybe even with a view to shooting a few more weddings, and I wasn't comfortable putting myself out there with 'loaner' gear.

Initially I started looking for Sony cameras second-hand, since I actually own a couple of lenses for them already, and can tap into a pretty impressive arsenal of lenses through a very good friend of mine. But I soon found that the prices for the cameras I wanted were too high, and the one's I could afford I didn't really like.

The same was really true of both Canon and Nikon - although I missed out on getting a Canon 30D really cheap because I forgot the auction closing time! Doh!

So anyway, I kept looking, and eventually came across a couple of auctions for Pentax cameras that were in my price range. I certainly knew of Pentax as a brand name - and the classic K1000 as a film camera, but how good could their DLR's be - right? I mean, you simply don't hear about them. When was the last time you walked into a camera store and saw a Pentax on the shelf next to the Canon's and the Nikon's? it just doesn't happen. At least not to me.

But ever curious (about photography at least), I decided to do a bit of research on Pentax's digital SLR's - and I'm very glad that I did.

In many respects, the K100D is a 'basic' camera - the replacement for Pentax's oddly named *ist line of cameras.

It is, for example 'only' a 6MP camera, that can 'only' shoot at 2.8 frames per second, and then 'only' for five (jpeg) images before the buffer is full, and it has no live view, no articulated rear lcd screen, no video shooting capabilities, no vertical grip option and 'only' a 2.5" lcd screen with 210,000 pixels. That's a lot of 'only's'.

But I guess it all really boils down to what you actually want in a camera - and also what you might really 'need' as well.

Denise and Ashley taken on a Canon 10D

I'll give you an example...

6MP in today's medium-format-like environment of cameras with 36MP sensors may not sound like much, but how many do you really need?

I shoot weddings and landscapes (and family stuff), and have never printed anything bigger than A3. My shots are detailed, crisp, clear and can stand a little cropping - which I seldom ever do because I come from the 'old school' where it was engrained into me to 'crop inside the camera'. To be honest, I really don't understand the 'shoot and crop later' mentality that drives these 36MP arguments of 'pulling' out different details from a scene later. Sounds a bit too much like the old shoot and spray (or should that be pray) technique where quantity somehow equates to quality? Shoot a gazillion shots of a wedding and you're bound to get a few good ones - right? It's the law of averages.

When I first started shooting weddings, I used a Canon 10D (together with a 5D) - and I'm pretty sure the first wedding I shot was with my Nikon D70. Both these cameras are 'only' 6MP, but I have never had a client tell me they didn't like my photos because I hadn't used enough mega pixels. I even recently listened to a podcast with a big event and wedding photographer who said he could probably shoot with a 3MP camera and be fine printing up to A3 for wedding albums. So going to a 6MP camera might sound like a step backwards, but I don't see it as such. Especially when the K100D is what dpreview described as being "as good as six megapixel resolution gets, crisp and detailed".

And as for all that other stuff - I've said before that I don't want (or need) live view, video modes or articulated lcd screens with finger touch technology. And no, I don't want my camera to run the latest google jellybean apps either, thank you very much!

What I want is a well built, well engineered, well thought-out camera to help me create some beautiful images. And from reading the reviews, the Pentax K100D should deliver this in spades!

What it does have that excites me (I'm easily excited), is the ability to shoot in Adobe DNG RAW, SD card storage, 11 focus points (9 of which are cross-type), decent low light performance (for its age), the ability to use every Pentax lens ever made, and an anti-shake system built into the body itself (much like the Sony system). It also has a small lcd on the top for information as well - something sadly lacking on most of the 'budget' digitals on offer nowadays. These are the features I'm after.

So I'm building a Pentax system now. And yes, that means that I will add to it down the track - before I shoot the wedding in 2015. And when I look at adding another body, I will look to pay a little more, and get a 'higher' spec'd body - something like the K10 or K200, with 10MP (which I tend to see as my 'happy' medium for sensor sizes).

I've already added to it, in fact, with an electronic shutter release and a Yongnuo 560EX flashgun - both of which I will write about once I've actually got the K100D and started shooting with it. Can't wait!

Okarito Weekend Part 4 - Landscapes

In this last part of my Okarito weekend postings I want to look at landscapes and discuss using the Sony A100 in a bit more detail.

The A100 was Sony's first DSLR after acquiring Konica/Minolta in 2005, and was released one year later in 2006. That makes it a pretty old camera by today's super-techno standards, so it's got to be a pretty horrible image-maker, right?

Well, no, as it turns out. It's a 10MP, anti-shake, anti-dust, 2.5" lcd, 40 segment metering, 3fps, solid performer - albeit with a few design quirks.

Okarito Lagoon Sunrise. Sony A100 with Zeiss 24-70mm on f5.6 @ 500th

The body itself is rather plasticky - but it's a solid and durable plastic, so that's really not a complaint. The lens mount is metal, and the buttons and dials have a very positive and secure feel to them still - even though this is now an 8 year old camera. The camera has good heft when in the hand, although it does feel a little on the light side when paired with the Zeiss 24-70mm f2.8 lens. The camera weighs 638 g with battery, while the Zeiss is a whopping 955 g, so the combination is a little front-heavy. But you forget all that when you look at the images taken with this combination on the computer. The files from the A100 are rich, smooth (at the low ISO's) and plenty detailed enough.

3 Mile Lagoon, Okarito. Sony A100 with Minolta 100-200 on f5.6 @ 800th

On Saturday evening Stewart and I decided to head off to the Okarito Trig Station Lookout to catch sunset. It had been a beautiful day, but with no guarantees of a decent sunset as we made our way up the hill with tripods and camera gear in hand. We were told that it was an easy 30 minute walk up to the top, but I found the climb fairly hard-going and had to stop several times before reaching the lookout. I can remember thinking at about the half-way stage of the climb that 'this better be worth it'... but I needn't have worried. It was definitely worth it! We were treated to some magic evening light and almost couldn't believe our luck.

Okarito from Trig Station Lookout. Sony A100 with Minolta 100-200 on f5.6 @ 320th

To our left was a fantastic view of Okarito which framed up nicely with my Minolta 100-200mm lens. This is the view that most people who take the track up to the lookout are expecting to see and while it was certainly worth photographing, the really stunning view this evening came from our right, out towards 3 Mile Lagoon. Again, the 100-200mm gave me a great view of the light as it swept over the landscape and I can't believe the sharp, contrasty, beautiful images I'm capturing with this lens! It's a cracking lens and was unbelievable value (I got it as part of a film camera kit for about $40.00NZ).

3 Mile Lagoon. Sony A100 with Zeiss 24-70mm on f5.6 @ 320th

It was an amazing evening of shooting, and the A100 performed faultlessly.  I make sure to shoot at the lower ISO's with it (from 100 to 400), and I watch my shutter speeds (and the Steady Shot graph in the viewfinder) to make sure my shots will be crisp hand-held. And so far, so good. In fact, I'm rightly impressed.

What don't I like about the A100? The function dial on the top left of the camera is a bit clunky to use. I'd rather these were menu-driven like the A200 that came after it. And I'd prefer two control wheels so that I could assign exposure compensation to a wheel rather than a button. But other than that, I'm very happy with the A100 and how it performs. It's just a great image-making tool.

No, it doesn't have live-view (don't care), an articulated lcd screen (don't care), it doesn't shoot video (definitely don't care), and isn't GPS or touch screen enabled (still don't care). What it does do is take beautiful photos. And it does it well.

I don't care that it's 8 year old technology. And in fact, I'll soon be using a Konica/Minolta 7D -  a 6MP 10 year old camera! And I'm really looking forward to it!

Oh yeah - one final thought on the A100. It goes forever! I had one battery, fully charged, for a whole weekend of shooting and it still had juice in it when I got home on Sunday afternoon. A single charge is good for well over a thousand images during a weekends shooting. Sony is well known for making cameras with exceptional battery life and I'm happy to report that the A100 is no exception.

Okarito Weekend Part 3 - White Heron

Last post I wrote how my main objective of my photography weekend to Okarito was to capture images of the iconic Boat Shed. But there is something else that is also iconic and has become synonymous with the Okarito Lagoon - the Kotuku (White Heron).

The lagoon is a breeding ground for the White Heron, so it has become a very popular tourist attraction. I was hoping that I could take my Sigma 75-500mm lens for a spin and capture some useable images of these magnificent birds, since this is something else that I don't really have in my image library.

Kotuku stretching. Sony A100 with Sigma 75-500

Saturday was a no-go, and I didn't really get to see any Heron up close. Stewart and I kayaked out into the lagoon but the cloud cover came over and made it less that ideal. They also don't really let you get too close when you're on their 'turf', and I came away disappointed.

But on Sunday morning, as we were shooting the Boat Shed, I noticed a Heron fly overhead and settle on the edge of the lagoon to feed. I took my opportunity, put the Sigma 75-500mm lens on a monopod, and went over to see if I could take some half-decent bird photos.

Heron Feeding. Sony A100 with Sigma 75-500mm on f8 @ 2000th

I'm not much of a bird photographer - by my own admission. I don't have the patience, the skill, or the gear to really pull it off. But most of all, I don't really have the passion for it. I enjoy taking a great bird photo if I happen to get 'lucky' and I'm at the right place at the right time, but I don't go looking for it.

Yet having said all that, when I found myself at Okarito with a White Heron in my sights and a 75-500mm attached to the camera, I'd be lying if I said the adrenaline didn't start pumping and the hopes were high for a great shot!

Heron Feeding 2. Sony A100 with Sigma 75-500mm on f11 @ 2000th

Did I get a great shot? No - I don't think I did. But I did have fun. And I learnt a thing or two about using the 75-500mm Sigma. First, the monopod was a very good idea. I left 'Steady Shot' on the A100 'On', since there was obviously still some movement happening even though it was on a monopod. I bumped the ISO up as much as I dared (ISO800), and also made sure the aperture was enough to give me an overall sharp image. I started at f8, then moved to f11 as the light got even brighter. Checking the final images (I shot about 300), the ones shot at f11 are noticeably sharper than those taken at f8. Guess I know where the lenses 'sweet spot' is now :-)

Heron Feeding 3. Sony A100 with Sigma 75-500mm on f11 @ 2500th

The four shots here are my 'keepers' from over 300 taken on the morning. Probably not a very high 'hit' rate, and I'm not really in love with any of them (except perhaps the first image, although at f8 it's not as tack sharp as I would like). I suppose that means I know what I'll be doing again next year?

Bird photography - or should I say 'great' bird photography, is hard. Really hard. But I knew that. Before going back to okarito next year I think I'll brush up on my bird photography skills down at a local lagoon. We occasionally get Heron there too, so who knows. Perhaps there's hope for me yet?

Okarito Weekend Part 2 - The Boat Shed

One of the main reasons I was desperate to get back down to Okarito was to capture the iconic Boat Shed - perhaps the most photogenic building on the West Coast.

Okarito Boat Shed. Sony A100 with Minolta 16mm on f8 @ 250th

I had tried, and failed, to capture this building only once before (a few years earlier ) but had unfortunately come back with blurred images when I foolishly decided to hand-hold in low light. I was determined not to make the same mistake again, so had bought along my heaviest tripod and a monopod, just in case. Ironically I needed neither, as sunrise at 6.30 in november gave us enough light to hand-hold comfortably (go figure).

Okarito Boat Shed Sunrise. Sony A100 with Minolta 16mm on f8 @ 160th

The Boat Shed (now an information shed) sits on the lagoon and can be shot from various angles depending on the tide and time of year. We were fortunate in that this year there hasn't been a big variance in tidal movement, so the building was approachable at all times of the day. We were also fortunate with some beautiful sunrise/early morning light on both mornings we were there.

Since it is such an iconic building, and has been shot by so many photographers, I wanted to try something 'different' for a few of my images.  I borrowed Stew's 16mm fisheye to shoot with on the first morning and even though the 'crop' factor on the A100 meant that it was really a 24mm lens, shooting straight on to the building also produced a slight 'fisheye' effect.

Boatshed Sunrise, Okarito. Sony A100 with Minolta 24-105mm on f8 @ 160th

Moving around the edge of the lagoon as the sun rose gave a completely different perspective on the boat shed, lit by the sunrise against the dark surroundings. By this time I had switched to the Minolta 24-105mm so I could use the zoom range on the lens, since I was standing on the edge of the lagoon and couldn't 'zoom' with my feet. Same morning, same light, but completely different feel to the image.

Boatshed Sunrise 2. Sony A100 with Zeiss 24-70mm on f8 @ 400th

We came back on the Sunday morning for sunrise again, so this time instead of going to the left of the building, I went to the right. I had also managed to grab Stew's Zeiss 24-70mm f2.8 'monster' lens - and boy is it a beauty! But boy is it heavy! After half an hour of shooting with the Zeiss attached to the A100 I knew I'd taken a few photos. But of course, the image quality speaks for itself and I'd quite happily carry that lens around if it meant coming back with superb images.

Having said that, I did experience a few 'glitches' with the Zeiss where it would 'lock up' on the A100 and not allow me to take any photos until I wiggled the lens mount? But I'm fairly sure this was just a couple of dirty contacts and nothing that wouldn't come right with a good clean.

I obviously took a lot more photos of the Okarito Boat Shed than I've shown here - but these are indicative - and I'm very happy with the images I managed to come away with of this beautiful building. I will be back next year, and can only hope for more of the same beautiful weather next time.

Okarito Weekend

My family belong to the Cobden Anglican Church, and every year some of the men from the church go away to Okarito for a weekend retreat. I haven't been for a few years and don't have many good photos from that part of the coast, so I was very keen to go this year.

Okarito is a very small settlement about 2 hours from Hokitika, heading down the south of the coast towards the glaciers. Not many people live there, but it's a tourist destination for its beautiful surroundings and its fishing, tramping, kayaking and white heron sanctuary (more on the herons in a later post).

I'm not really big on any of the above, but of course the big draw-card for me is a weekend of photography. A whole weekend just devoted to photography! Absolute luxury.

'Coffee anybody'?   Sony A100 with Sigma 17-35mm on f11 @ 1000th

The village itself has a quirky yet timeless feel to it where you could be forgiven for thinking you've stepped back in time 50 or 60 years. I was prepared for a rainy weekend (I took a really good, thick book with me) since we have had a really wet, miserable October - but I was silently hoping for beautiful weather - and lots of photography! I'm very please to report that I wasn't disappointed and the book remained largely untouched.

'500's Showdown'   Sony A100 with Minolta 24-105mm on f5.6 @ 1/5th sec

When the sun went down and we were finished for the day, the cards came out. Game of choice - 500's. I picked it up over the course of the weekend, and even had a game or two myself towards the end, but I'm still not really a 'cards' lover. I don't want to labour the point, but what I really came for was the photography (and fellowship - of course), which meant early rises and late evenings. And since the weather was on our side, the 6.00am starts and 9.00pm finishes were definitely worth it!

'Abandoned Old Bedford'  Sony A100 with Sigma 17-35mm on f8 @ 160th

I took a Sony A100 'loan' camera (thanks Stew), with a Minolta 35-70mm, 100-200mm and Sigma 75-500mm (as well as tripod, monopod, batteries, cards, charger etc). I was out to get some great landscape shots, but I also knew that there might be some White Heron photography in their somewhere as well. I was also traveling up and back with Stewart Nimmo (thanks again Stew), our local pro photographer - who also happens to be a Sony shooter. So I was excited to try out a few of his lenses over the weekend as well.

'Rob'  Sony A100 with Sigma 75-500mm on f11 @ 1000th

I went out in the mornings with a wide-ish angle lens on the camera - either a Sigma 17-35mm or a Minolta 24-105mm, to capture the sunrise and landscape. But on the Sunday morning I also wondered around with the 75-500mm on a monopod and got some great portraits. At f11 sharpness was good, while working at the telephoto end still gave me reasonably shallow depth of field. This photo of Rob was one of my favorite from the morning.

'Okarito Mens Weekend'  Sony A100 with Sigma 17-35mm on f11 @ 125th

We all had a fantastic time over the weekend: fishing, kayaking, whitebaiting, walking, reading, playing cards and, of course, taking photos. Trout was caught, whitebait was eaten for breakfast, lots of chocolate and coffee was consumed - and amazing photos were taken! I will blog in stages about the images I've taken over the course of the weekend, and I will definitely be back again next year for hopefully a lot more of the same...

P.S. - in the above photo from left to right are: Rob, Julian, Ross, Craig, Travis, Tim, Henk, Evan, Stew and Me.

Sigma 50-500mm test shots

It's been typical spring weather here on the coast over the last few weeks - rain, rain and more rain!

But I managed to get one clear (although somewhat windy) day recently so I took the opportunity to go outside and grab a few test shots with the Sigma 50-500mm f4-6.3 EX APO.

I set the lens up on my sturdiest tripod - a Slik Pro700DX with Manfrotto three-way 141RC head, turned 'Steady Shot' off (recommended whenever the camera is tripod mounted), and attached a Sony A100 body to the lens. This set up definitely felt solid enough, even with the bit of wind that was blowing outside at the time.

Sigma 50-500mm at 50mm @ f8, Sony A100

Our back yard overlooks a paddock, and then across a road into another field. Horses are usually roaming around in this second field, so I used them as a 'subject' to test the 50-500mm range on. The first shot above is taken at 50mm (75mm fov on the A100), and as you can see, the horses are pretty small in the centre of the frame. In fact, it's pretty difficult to make them out.

Sigma 50-500mm at 200mm @ f8

The Sigma has markings for 50, 100, 200, 300, 400 and 500mm - so I shot at all of these settings. The jump from 50 to 100mm isn't all that significant - so lets just go to 200mm as seen above. At 200mm the horses are definitely able to be seen - forming at least part of the overall composition. Contrast is good, and sharpness at f8 is acceptable to good.

Sigma 50-500mm at 300mm @ f8

Zooming in to 300mm places a little more emphasis on the horse as the main subject - while sharpness and contrast remain the same. The tripod was certainly solid enough, although I could see that the more I zoomed out with the lens, the less 'stable' the image appeared in the viewfinder. Above 300mm I'd hate to be hand-holding this lens that's for sure!

It was more of the same at 400mm, so let's just skip to the chase and have a look at the 500mm shot, shall we?

Sigma 50-500mm at 500mm @ f8

At a whopping 500mm (750mm fov on the A100), the horses are now the subject of the photo. And just look at how close we managed to get from where we started at 50mm! It's still 'reasonably' sharp, although I probably wouldn't print larger than 8x10 - and would apply a decent amount of sharpening to the file. I will also say that I noticed a decrease in contrast from 400 to 500mm - but this is easily adjusted in Photoshop to bring it back in line with the other focal lengths.

This was just a very quick focal length test, to get the feeling for the actual 'reach' of this lens. For a more in-the-field test I plan on taking the lens and a monopod down to a local lagoon and chase some birds around. Then I'll really get to see what this lens is capable of in a real-world shooting scenario.

Two quick shots with Minolta lenses

Just a quick post because I haven't really been out shooting yet, but managed a couple of quick shots over the weekend.

Spring has been very wet and wild here on the West Coast, with lots of storms and unpredictable weather. That also means a chance for fantastic sunsets in the evening if the storm clears in time. And fortunately, it has been. Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to get out and capture it.

Spring Sunset. Sony a100 with Minolta 100-200mm f4.5

Best I could do was put the Minolta 100-200mm telephoto on the camera, hold it over the fence in my back yard, and shoot the sunset from there. Yes, this is the view from my back yard. Not bad eh!?

The light was getting quite low, so I bumped the ISO up to 400, set the aperture to f5.6, and concentrated on taking the shot at the optimum 'Steady Shot' setting in the viewfinder. The final result is plenty sharp enough.

On Saturday the weather was better than expected, with lots of sun. Our dog just loves to 'sunbathe' in any patch of warmth, and I couldn't resist snapping her up on our bed.

Sun Dog. Sony a100 with Minolta 35-70mm f4

Jessie is our 'baby', and the whole family adores her. She's been a fairly expensive addition to the family - requiring knee surgery when she was one year old (she turned two this weekend) - but we wouldn't be without her.

To be honest, I don't take many shots of her at all. I suppose I shy away from the 'cuteness' factor with my photos, but I will probably regret that later on? Anyway, I took her photo this weekend because I was keen to try out the Minolta 35-70mm f4 zoom. It's a lens I had with my a200 a couple of years back, and it's such a stellar performer. Maybe the 35-70mm isn't a hugely versatile focal range (about a 50 to 105mm in 35mm terms), but the addition of a fairly handy 'macro' function at the 70mm end, together with great sharpness, makes this lens an absolute keeper as far as I'm concerned. No, it's not f1.8 - but f4 across the whole zoom range is still fairly respectable. And it did this portrait of Jessie justice.

I've gone back to processing my RAW images in Aperture - I just like it more than Lightroom, even if Adobe have the 'better' processing engine (apparently). I also processed the photo of Jessie in DXO's filmpack software straight in Aperture. I chose Fuji Astia 100 and bumped up the film grain ever so slightly.

So just a couple of quick shots, with a couple of quick lenses. Hopefully I'll get out more now that daylight savings is here and the days will get longer and warmer. Bring on a long and productive summer!