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All posts tagged Ramblings

Site Update: March/April 2018!

Posted by Matthew Durr on April 30, 2018
Posted in: Ramblings. Tagged: , , , , . 2 Comments

For almost five years, I have restrained from hopping onto the full-frame bandwagon. Longtime readers of my site may remember my excitement with the launch of the original Sony A7, but also recall how I didn’t want to transfer my kit from an arguably more-capable NEX-7 to a full-frame camera that shot slower and had more issues with manual-focus. Camera revisions came and went, feature sets improved, ergonomics became more natural, and the years went on.

So, time and time again I had my reasons for staying patient. A7R? Didn’t need the high megapixels and worse shooting performance. A7S? Not a bad camera, but I wasn’t focused on video at the time. A7II? Hmm…getting better, but it still wasn’t performing like my NEX-7 in practice. A7RII? Now that’s a fine camera, but again, file sizes were too large and it shot at only 5fps like other A7 cameras. A7SII? Dang Sony, you’re really killing it, but I don’t need a dedicated video rig with only 12 megapixels. Alrighty then, A7RIII? Oh…okay this one is starting to look really, really nice. Ergonomics are getting better, the frame rate is increased, and even battery performance is improved. All good things aside, though, the high price ($3200!), unnecessarily-high resolution, and center viewfinder hump were still enough of a turn-off to have me stick with my a6500.

But then, February 26 happened. The days prior to me packing all of my things to move back to the States, Sony officially dropped the A7III. With the exception of the (incredibly stupid) center viewfinder hump, so many boxes were checked off for the full-frame camera of my dreams:

-Standard 24MP resolution (a.k.a. great high-ISO performance!)

-More on-sensor phase-detect and contrast-detect autofocus points than I can shake a stick at

-10 fps shooting (throw some sports at me!)

-In-body image stabilization for any lens put on the camera

-Much larger NP-FZ100 battery cannibalized from the A9, doubling my battery life

–13 customizable buttons/dials, letting me recreate Tri-Navi!

I could go on and on about the feature set, but unless you’ve been under a rock the past couple months, you have likely been inundated with news on this camera. Where Sony really hit it out of the park is in the aggressive $2000 price. To put this number into perspective, consider the NEX-7. Seven years ago that camera was arguably the most advanced and compact APS-c camera on the market. I and many others paid a premium to get the best of the best, and at its selling price of $1350 I still to this day think it was a good buy that gave me years of reliable shooting. Fast-forward to today, and for only $650 more, you get almost all the things that made the NEX-7 great, but also a full-frame sensor and the feature set listed above.

It is very easy to draw a comparison to Nikon’s D750 when considering Sony’s strategy here. Back in 2014 Nikon wanted to open up the gates to the world of full-frame shooting by introducing a high-performing camera at an attainable price point. They cannibalized features from their upper-end DSLRs like the D4S and D810 and threw together a very capable camera for $2300. Three and a half years later, and for $300 less, Sony has released a camera that far surpasses almost every feature the D750 brought to the table. What this means is that more and more people are likely to buy into Sony’s ecosystem, and other third-party manufactures are going to get in on the same gravy train. If one can figure any conclusion from Tamron’s new 28-75mm f/2.8 for E-mount, it is that we’re likely to see some nice compact optics to shoot with than the usual Sony GM and Zeiss Batis/Loxia lineup in the near future.

Getting back to my usual site jargon, and to continue my point earlier, the past two months saw me move from one side of the planet to another and start a very different life. While transitioning from Yokosuka, Japan to the relatively small town of Great Lakes, Illinois, I have had a good amount of time to relax and take stock of where I want to go with photography. I no longer live in barracks, I have much more freedom to go about my business, and I’ll soon be working on downsizing a lot of my camera kit (as always, readers will get the first heads-up of eBay listings!). With a solid full-frame A7III and backup a6500 by my side, I really look forward to not only exploring the midwest for personal photography, but also to get back into freelance work in the area. With wedding season coming up soon, I definitely need to get out there and throw some business cards around!

That’s all for this rambling website catch-up, guys and gals. I wish I had more photos to share, but with the month of shipping my gear here combined with the necessary work of settling into a house, I have only been able to do official work so far with the A7III. Its time will come, I’m sure, as there are many great places to see within a short drive, including the big windy city of Chicago! As always, have a great day!

200th Post, and One MILLION Views!!!

Posted by Matthew Durr on May 26, 2017
Posted in: Ramblings. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

Every website has to hit some milestones eventually, right? In my case, when I started matthewdurrphotography.com just over five years ago, I had no idea it would gain the internet visibility it has now. Back then, I meant for the site to just be a springboard to chronicle my pursuit of learning photography. In fact, during the first year, most posts were split between various attempts at sports photography with my NEX-7 (first website post here!) using manual focus Nikkor lenses as well as a lens review here and there.

Little did I know that it would be lens reviews to put my site on the map for search queries. In fact, my biggest post so far on the site, my Sony 35mm f/1.8 OSS review, has gained almost 200,000 views alone, followed closely by my Zeiss Touit 32mm f/1.8 review, sporting almost 100,000 views including its impression posts. These are some crazy numbers for me! With the help of proper tagging and some nice search-engine-optimization (or SEO) by WordPress, my reviews of most of the lenses I have reviewed on the site show up pretty visibly on Google! Other posts of my less-popular lens reviews still average about 25,000-30,000 views, with the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 E coming in at a notable 50,000. This kind of visibility is a bit unprecedented considering that at the most I have only done photography part-time. For a good three of the five years running the site, photography has been something of an “advanced hobby” due to time constraints in graduate school and current service in the Navy.

Delving a bit deeper into the stats, it’s hard to believe that I have also sported over a half million unique visitors to my site. Using the above data on lens reviews conservatively, a good 250,000 people have benefited from my lens reviews in some way. I’m so glad to have helped out so many in their pursuits of finding either good legacy Nikkor glass or finding the right lens for their E-mount camera! Finally, though many other bloggers have linked to my site in the past for all manner of reasons, I have to send a shout-out to SteveHuffPhoto.com. I have not been in contact with Steve much recently, but he along with Martin Irwin were two driving forces behind me getting into the E-mount craze. Steve’s feature of my essay on sports photography pursuits with manual-focus lenses also helped put me out there on the internet. Finally, a big thanks to Danny (known as nzmacro on DPReview forums) who helped teach me quick-focus techniques on long lenses in my early days.

So, what do all those numbers mean for my website? Well, if I was writing this blog to try to make money, I would say I have my priorities in all the wrong places! A large majority of my posts, particularly in the past couple years where I have not had enough time to write comprehensive lens reviews, are of my personal photographic pursuits. Some professional paid gigs are thrown in as well, but for the most part the page has turned into something of a travel photography site. Most posts nowadays are getting anywhere from 50-500 views, depending on content and visibility via Youtube links or Facebook shares. Some rookie numbers especially compared to the behemoth lens reviews that are always in the thousands!

After sitting down and analyzing the trends the website has shown over the years, I have a rough idea of where I want to take matthewdurrphotography.com. Funny enough, it turns out that I had it right from the beginning. A good mix of lens reviews with some gigs/photo walks thrown in gives the site variety as well as visibility on the internet. Depending on how I perfect my structure of lens reviewing, i.e. focus even more on the photos and not the technical specs, I can pursue a more consistent review schedule. A good way to accomplish this is to pre-order many new lenses that interest me (as well as track down copies of popular current and legacy optics) and turn around reviews about every month. If views for the newer lenses follow the trends my Sony 35mm and Zeiss 32mm show, ad revenue from AdWords should pay for the money lost upon reselling the lens on eBay. Currently, AdWords helps to maintain the site server costs only.

Anyway, that’s all for this little celebratory–and somewhat analytical–post, guys and gals. I want to send one last thanks to all my followers who stuck with me through the years and consistently gave constructive feedback to help shape the content and structure of the site. Because hey, without an audience, I’d just be another crazy guy rambling on the internet! >.> To join the club, click that little orange “Follow” button in the top right box! As always, have a great day guys and gals. Here’s to another 5 years. 🙂

Site Update: October 2016!

Posted by Matthew Durr on October 31, 2016
Posted in: Ramblings. Tagged: , , . 4 Comments

Well…this is new. A site update without any photos? What in the world is happening here?

There’s no use in hiding it at this point due to my now-extended absence from the photography world. I am dealing with a long-term sleep disorder that basically doesn’t let my body go into a deep sleep. In a sense, no matter how long I sleep—or how early I hit the sack—I go about the next day with extended exhaustion both in mind and body. Up until mid-Summer, I have been able to deal with the issue on my own, but since then, it has quickly compounded into a vicious cycle that I cannot get out of on my own.

Thankfully, I am close to beginning treatment so I can start building up energy again to do more than just go to work…i.e. go have fun in Japan and make some awesome photos! In spite of the exhaustion I have tried these past couple months to go out and enjoy the country when I can, but my trips nowadays are often short and within a local area that I have already well-photographed before. I do hope that November is the month that I get it all sorted out, as the Fall colors are starting to pop up here in Japan…Kamakura must look nice this time of year…

On a lighter note in the wonderful world of photography gear and tech, Sony decided to release a new flagship APS-c NEX-style camera, the a6500. Oddly, this comes within the same year as the a6300, which is itself a very fine camera. What really sets this one apart though are three big features: IBIS, a huge buffer, and a touchscreen. For my style of shooting, these features have the potential to be HUGE game changers in terms of usability.

As a primarily manual focus, AI-s shooter, the ability to stabilize any lens I put in front of the sensor will help me tremendously in achieving lower-ISO handheld shots on the wide end, and easier-focused photos and videos on the telephoto end for sports and events. The UHS-1 high speed buffer can now hold 107 RAW images at 11fps, with the ability to instantly check on the last shot (provided the buffer isn’t completely full). That’s almost 10 seconds of blazing-fast shooting at full-resolution. My workhorse NEX-7’s buffer and processor would be jealous. Finally, for the few autofocus lenses I use, the touchscreen will make focus point setting easier and faster. Plus, even when the camera is up to the eyes, I can drag the focus point around via the touchscreen.

Sony has proven in their a6000 line that some really fancy, high-performing technology can and will work in a small package. There’s a reason the a6000 is still one of the highest-selling mirrorless cameras on Amazon.com. With that in mind, and after a good amount of thought, I pulled the trigger on a pre-order, and am almost positive I will follow through with the camera as my new primary shooter (NEX-7, old buddy old pal, you’ll retire only when you break down, though!). A large part of me still wants to hold out for a full-frame a9000 or maybe an A9, but I’ve shot APS-c for so long, I’ve gotten great at working around the format’s weaknesses and capitalizing on its strengths. If anything, I imagine a dual a6500/a9000 kit working well in tandem in the near future. Full-frame for wide shots and low-light, APS-c for fast action and telephoto work. Dream-team.

Time will tell, of course, in just how this camera compares in real-world use to my trusty NEX-7 that has easily been to hell and back with me. I can only wonder why Sony would not instead name the camera a7000 to better differentiate it from the still-good a6300. Perhaps in their product pipeline is an even better “flagship” APS-c…with Tri-Navi? Time will tell. That brings me to the end of this photograph-less post, guys and gals. I hope I didn’t ramble on too long for you. 🙂 Here’s to hoping that I can start getting more energy soon! As always, thanks for dropping by and have a great day!

Site Update: March 2016!

Posted by Matthew Durr on March 27, 2016
Posted in: Ramblings. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment
Illusion Zeiss Touit 32mm, ISO 100, f/2, 1/400

Illusion
Zeiss Touit 32mm, ISO 100, f/2, 1/400

Site Update posts are a monthly (or best effort!) recap of happenings in the photography world, both from my personal experiences, as well as opinions on big releases or major events.

It’s a bit hard to believe that a month has already gone by since my CP+ post, as all the sights and sounds from the event are still so fresh in my memory. In that time, not too much has occurred in my own photography pursuits sadly, though I have to be glad it is not because of disinterest or an apparent lack of subjects to photograph. No, instead this month I am working toward recovering from a double knee injury brought about by many long-term factors that finally hit home–ironically–the day I went to CP+. Continue Reading

NEX-7 Gets Firmware Update!

Posted by Matthew Durr on October 17, 2012
Posted in: Ramblings. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . 6 Comments

The Sony NEX-7 has been out for almost a year now (though realistically was delayed for a few months due to the Thailand floods), and many customers–including me–were hoping for an early firmware update to improve basic functionality, and give the camera features that should coincide with its “flagship” designation. Well, after such a long wait, the Sony Germany website has just released an update which gives five new features (this is copied from their website, note that unless you are one of my Germany readers, wait until the update becomes available for your country’s Sony website to avoid compatibility issues) to the NEX-7:

  • Addition of capability to enable or disable the MOVIE button
  • Addition of exposure settings of bracket shooting (three frames /1.0EV,2.0EV, 3.0EV)
  • Improvement of response for showing auto review image
  • Improvement of image quality when using a wide angle lens
  • Improvement of indication when setting “Flexible Spot”

So what this means is:

  • No more accidental time-wasting movies due to the awkward placement of the movie button
  • True flexible exposure bracketing is now available for proper HDR photography (more than three frames would have been welcome, though)
  • Responsiveness is improved
  • Lenses such as the upcoming 10-18mm f/4 OSS, 16mm f/2.8, and 24mm f/1.8 should perform better, at least in JPEG

I don’t really know about the last point, but I’m sure it helps out with overall operation. I’m very glad Sony has finally listened to some of the biggest complaints with this otherwise amazing camera (movie button, crippled +/- .07 bracketing). Though there are still features which I feel should be “standard” on a camera of this class, such as the option to set an Auto ISO range, the ability to manually enter EXIF data for non-electronic lenses, or even a basic intervalometer function (the Nikon d300 has all of these, and more), Sony is at the very least headed in the right direction. Until now I had honestly lost all hope for an update. As a result, I was losing hope in Sony as a camera company, because I was feeling they weren’t supporting their high-end products like a good camera company should. Well, the support is finally here (though a little late), and I can’t wait until it becomes available on the Sony US website! Sony has–for now–gotten my loyalty back. 🙂

Manfrotto=No More

Posted by Matthew Durr on September 29, 2012
Posted in: Ramblings. Tagged: , , , , , . 2 Comments

About two months ago to this day, I reported on a couple new tools I had acquired for more stable shooting, a manfrotto tripod and geared head. I was ecstatic with the combination, everything felt generally tight and secure. I believed I had a solid tripod setup, one which would last many, many years. After all, the geared head took the weight of my 300mm f/2.8 like a champ, and the tripod raised up to an extremely tall height even without the center column extending. The multi-degree legs allowed for great macro positioning on subjects literally on the ground, and the aluminum legs locked into place tightly.

But then, the problems started.

Continue Reading

A Case for TMT Lenses

Posted by Matthew Durr on May 12, 2012
Posted in: Ramblings. Tagged: , , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

As much of a joy as it is using manual lenses with my NEX-7, I would love to have the ease of autofocus in my near future. The only problem with getting a current native e-mount autofocus lens is they all employ the lesser Contrast Detect Auto Focus (CDAF, focus is found via contrast) rather than the more efficient and generally faster Phase Detect Auto Focus (PDAF, focus is found via distance tracking), the latter of which I am used to from previous cameras. Though in good light, CDAF is known to be accurate and fast, the scenarios where I would love to use it–focusing in low light and motion tracking–the system as a whole falters. It isn’t designed for focus tracking, and in low-light, there is no contrast to detect! This is put up beside PDAF, which all DSLRs use to some degree, and focusing on subjects in low light and in motion are a cinch.

Continue Reading