Taj Mahal Approach
16mm, ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/640
I know, I know…it’s already July! I missed my June update window by a few days. But I promise I have a good reason (see above)!
That’s right! June has been a month full of travel, both for personal vacation time and for work. After I played catch-up with my Kamakura trip, it’s looking like the beginning couple weeks of July are going to be my catch-up time for the bevy of photographs I made!
Although I have not done much sightseeing in my immediate area recently, I traveled to the Kansai region for a full week to explore Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, and Nara. I’ve already got a head-start on those photos, thankfully, and it’s looking like I will have about two more posts from that trip alone! Immediately after returning from Kansai, though, I headed to Singapore and India for two work engagements. These were technically business trips, but in both instances, I had a couple opportunities to make some photographs of the area. I’ll put both of those visits in a single, short post after the Kansai series.
In other news, I broke an almost two-year lens dry spell and purchased a new optic last month too! The Laowa 105mm f/2(T3.2) STF is a well-built and unique lens that is looking to replace my venerable 105mm f/1.8 AI-s. I can’t wait to put it through the paces of a lens review and share my experiences with you all. Though I don’t have any definitive tests yet, I can spoil one thing a bit: the lens is pretty awesome all around, so far. This is definitely one lens that makes me wish I shot full-frame! For my recent hands-on video, check out the link.
In the world of photography, things have been relatively quiet, with a few notable exceptions. Hasselblad decided to shake up the industry by releasing the world’s first medium-format mirrorless camera, the X1D. Using the proven 50MP Sony sensor, it gives a hint at what Sony might do if given the chance to make their own medium-format body. However, cost is definitely a prohibitive factor when going to medium-format, as the body alone will run $9k, with the two-lens kit soaring to $14k. Yikes! On the flip side, Sony also announced publicly that production of cameras has been greatly affected by the Kumamoto earthquake. This can mean camera shortages, for sure, but may also affect roadmaps for new camera releases. A shame, really, because every day that goes by without an a7000/9000/A9 release is another day my NEX-7 grows older! As always, time will tell, and there are still a lot of days left in 2016 for some announcements to come out.
So all that said, this catches up on everything that happened in June! July looks to be a little more “relaxed” time, compared to June, anyway. I am headed to Sendai, Japan tomorrow for a few days to see what northern Japan has to offer, so that will be even more days of backlog from photograph-making without photograph-processing! Anyways, thanks for dropping by, and as always, have a great day!
Matthew Durr Photography 