Whew! I can definitely call this year’s Sakura coverage a success on my end. After scoping out locales in Yokohama and executing my photography plans at the right time, it was just a matter of a few more days before the area’s cherry blossoms would begin to fall to the ground, almost all at once! In an effort to get more of the “big-city” picture, I managed to catch time for one last trip for hanami-hunting, this time in everyone’s favorite megacity, Tokyo! Continue Reading
Despite a whole year since my last go-around at CP+, it seems that just a short while ago I was ranting and raving about the latest A7rii and GM lens tech at Sony’s crowded booth. This time around, there were not as many bombshell products to shake up the exhibition hall at Yokohama Porta. The general atmosphere was thankfully much less chaotic as a result, and it gave me a chance to move around and get to see a good deal more than last years’ hour-long product lines. Continue Reading
Every now and then, I go on an adventure that pushes me just a bit farther than what I am capable of safely enjoying. That is, of course, just part of the nature of getting out there. Similar to around this time last year, I recently injured my left knee a few weeks ago in almost the same way during a walk around Mount Nokogiri (or Nokogiriyama). The bad news is, just like last year, I was unable to take stairs or even walk correctly for a while. The good news, though, is since I knew exactly what was wrong (compared to a bunch of trouble getting a diagnosis previously…), I could quickly start treatment to recover and move on. With that, and about a month of recovery, I am almost back in business fully! Plus, I managed to get some great photographs and video on my α6500 to boot! Continue Reading
First up, some more thoughts on the Noktor Hyperprime 50mm f/.95 by SLR Magic. So far this lens seems to be a toss-up for me. The build is certainly impeccable, the operation is smooth, and hey! The amazing subject separation possible at f/.95 gives images that “full-frame” look along with supreme low-light capabilities! That comes at a cost, though. Detail is only fair in the center wide-open. As a subject moves away from the center of the frame, the total loss in sharpness is noticeable even at the image level. Throw in what appears to be pronounced field curvature, and the corners almost always look awful with this lens. Icing on the cake, contrast at f/.95 is pretty low (though, this can be helped somewhat in post-processing).
I haven’t really stopped it down that much to see how much the image improves at f/1.4 and f/2 (beyond that, what’s the point?), but if I don’t really see a marked improvement, I won’t see this lens getting a good recommendation from me. That said, I don’t tend to let technical issues get in the way of photography; I have taken it along with me the last couple of days to see how it fares in making images, wide-open for the most part. First up, at an art gallery:
Excited to finally see the U.S. version of the new firmware for the NEX-7 (download it here), I put together a quick video showing three of the five features that were added/improved upon. As Mitch pointed out to me yesterday, the fact that Sony didn’t update the bracketing to allow the use of the remote is rather disconcerting. Hopefully it’ll be fixed soon, but who knows if/when. Regardless, here’s the before/after video:
Only 5 short months ago, I started matthewdurrphotography.com. In that time I have posted 60 entries, focusing on my ever-growing list of lens reviews, photography walks, and multiple sports shootouts with my manual-focus gear. I never could have imagined my site would get 50,000 unique views, 200 likes on my posts, and 50 followers in such a small time-frame. All the support from this online community makes me feel what I have isn’t “just another photography blog”, which is the one label I have been trying to avoid from the get-go. I must definitely give all my readers a big “THANK YOU” for sticking it through with me and keeping up to date on all my happenings with photography. You all are the best. Period.
As of late I’m still working on the 36-72mm Series-E review, so I don’t really have too many pictures to post. What I DO have is a small time-lapse video I made back in March of this year (before I started the website) that I have been waiting to share until a time like this. This video is my first (and so far, only) time-lapse, taken with a Nikon d300 of two converging storm fronts; as such, I made a few rookie mistakes like over-exposing a tad, and allowing my anti-rain device (umbrella) to get into the frame a little bit. I greatly want to do more of these, but due to the size and weight of the camera, I rarely have the drive to just take it out and shoot. I have been what feels like lobbying Sony for a while now to get a simple firmware feature like this added into their NEX cameras, but no luck yet. Oh well. Without further adieu, below is the embedded video. Sit back and relax (preferably with headphones and in Fullscreen 720p HD if your connection allows):
Have a great day guys and gals, and please, stay as awesome as you already are. 😀
Matthew Durr Photography 