More R7 Thoughts and Damn You Sony

 

Canon R7, EF 75-300 f4-5.6 III USM on EF to EF Adapter

Canon R7, RF-S 18-150mm f3.5-6.3, 3 shot/1 stop bracket to HDR

First off, Sony - Why couldn't you have announced your 2023 f4 zooms in 2022? I likely would have kept the A7RIV if the 20-70/4 and the rumoured new 70-200/4 Macro (to be announced July 12th) had been available. Those two lenses would address most of my lens complaints with FE mount. Compact, good range, excellent glass unlike the mediocre ZA 24-70 and G70-200/4 and better close focus. My only beef is the 16-35/4 being Power Zoom and I'd probably just run a 15/16mm prime instead as a complement to the 20-70/4 if I was still running Sony kit. 

When I saw the rumour for the 70-200/4 Macro I had some regret that I didn't stay Sony, which lasted until I saw the rumours for the A6700, which looks to be based on the A7c body design (which I dislike immensely). It solves none of the ergonomic issues of the A6600, even if the internals will no doubt be excellent. I still say Sony needs an A7000 which is the A6700 internals, possibly with more buffer in an A7IV body. 

Guess I didn't wait long enough before jumping ship to OM System. That said, I'm not unhappy with where I ended up. 

I've had the R7 now for a week and I'm getting used to it. I need to do a manual dive though, there has to be an easier way to engage AE Bracketing than how I'm doing it, I just need to figure that out. I also miss bracketing burst being automatic, but you can get it by setting a continuous advance mode. I'm thinking I need AEB to be setup on a Custom setting, so I can access it quicker. C2 likely makes sense (and C3 can be my wildlife/bugging set)

I'm up over 1300 images so far with the R7 now. Yesterday was an 830km day with many stops for photography. I went up north-east of Barry's Bay towards Algonquin for the first time, and revisited some places I'd seen last year south of Killaloe and north of Highway 7. 

I did some RAW Bursts of Dragonflies and some regular 15fps bursts of Redwing Blackbirds. Two takeaways are that an EF 75-300 II USM is not a viable lens for this due to both IQ and slow focus and my AF settings are not very optimal. I'm not exactly experienced as a bird photographer, but it was fun. 

I also shot a lot of bracketing bursts, 3 shot/1 stop bursts which is my standard for any landscape shooting. That worked very well and having track & recompose back was really nice. The R7 does that on par with the A7RIV, the OM-1's AF didn't do that well at all (AF-C+TR would lose the track point very quickly). This is a method I started using the the A7RIV and have come to love, it's like focus & recompose, but with the subject staying locked. One nice thing with the R7 is it will subject detect automatically while using this so, as long as I get a bird/bug near the point, it will lock on and I can start tracking it. 

Overall I'm getting comfortable quickly with the R7. I've added the 10-18 STM and a TTArtisan 25/2 to the collection (and borrowed my partner's 75-300 yesterday). That gives me 16-240mm-e setup (vs the 24-300mm-e I had with the OM-1), but since the pixel density is similar between the R7 and OM-1, I can crop down to m43 to get 300mm-e. I'm really losing aperture and IQ with the 18-150 vs the 40-150/4 Pro, but gaining better close focus. 

I do like having a proper UWA zoom back, I've been using primes for that role since I sold the m.Zuiko 9-18 a few years back (excepting some brief use of the ZA 16-35/4 in fall 2021), and having a zoom for that is a nice change.  With the OM-1 I did't have any wider than 24mm-e options, but I didn't really miss it either, the subjects I shot with the OM-1 didn't really benefit much from wider, although I would have missed a wider option for sure if I'd been carrying the OM-1 yesterday.

I am planning on adding a telephoto next (likely the RF100-400) and then a higher-end normal zoom to replace the good but not quite excellent 18-150 as my go-to midrange zoom. Good chance that will be a Sigma 17-50/2.8 in EF mount if Canon doesn't bring something to the table soon or allow Sigma/Tamron to make 3rd party RF lenses. After that a native Macro is on the table, but I suspect I'll stick to the cheap manual focus primes for anything else short term. 

And I’m Back, with a switch

Olympus OM-1, m.Zuiko 12-40 Pro f2.8 II

This year has been pretty dead for me in terms of shooting, not because of a lack of desire, but a combo of too busy with work (I was pretty much flat out from May onwards), high gas prices, actively RC flying in my rare free time (the field is close, good landscapes are not) and just a general desire to hole up at home rather than go out. 

That said, I did get out a couple times and got a small selection of good shots. 

I’ve got my brain going off on gear again as well. I do miss a lot from the m43 system, especially the 12-40 Pro, the IBIS and the automation, LiveND especially. I do really like the A7RIV, but the two real gaps in the Sony lens lineup are a compact and close focusing 24-xx zoom and a good 70-200/4 options. There are alternative solutions though, the Tamron 70-180/2.8 can mostly replace a 70-200/4 in terms of size, weight and cost. But there’s only one small 24-xx option and that’s the thoroughly mediocre and ancient ZA 24-70/4.

Sony just launched the A7RV and Oly the OM-5. Both are fairly minor updates on paper, mostly processing and firmware improvements. Both kind of interest me, but one is WAY too expensive and the other really could only be a second body for me. 

The other aspect is something I touched on in my last post some months ago. Most of my best work has been on the Oly kit. The exception really is that one set of shots from Algonquin last February, and I could have done that with an OM-1. I simply don't really take advantage of the A7RIV's true power beyond the Dynamic Range, and I miss the OM systems quality of life features. 

In looking over my work over the last few years, and especially since February, I'm just not taking advantage of the A7RIV's insane megapixels, and while the AF is really nice, otherwise it's merely good.

So it went into the store, along with 3 of my lenses (18/2.8, 28-60 and 70-300) and an OM-1/12.40II kit came home instead. I really regretted selling off the E-M1.2 in March 2021 and this gets me back to where I was then, just with a lot more capable body and a mildly improved lens (the Mk2 12-40 has better sealing, better coatings and 50fps AF support). 

The initial take is the ergonomics are something I missed as well. The A7RIV was the best Sony I've shot with, but the OM-1 is significantly nicer in the hand. The EVF is better as well, somewhat surprising since it's the same basic hardware. AF is something I'll need to get a handle on as it works differently from either the A7RIV or the older Oly's I've used. IQ is very good, not FF good, but the files are way less crunchy than the E-M1.2, let alone the G9 or the 16MP m43 bodies.

Oh, and I have the 12-40 back. That alone is worth it, I've missed this lens a shocking amount over the last 8 months. The combination of compact, well built and crazy good close focus make it the single best normal zoom I've used over the years. 

 

Out for a Hike

 

Sony A7II, ZA 16-35/4

I got out Sunday for some hiking with the new lenses. Didn't really get what I was looking for as the section of the Credit River I was hiking was mostly surrounded by Cedars rather than deciduous trees with fall colour, but the light was interesting and while it held I did get some nice shots of the river.

The shot above demonstrates two things I do like about the Sony A7/A7R MkII's. The dynamic range and the Smooth Reflections App. Yes, this shot was taken in broad daylight at f11 and ISO 100 with only a polarizer. It's an 84-shot in camera stack using the Smooth Reflections app that Sony offered on the first two generations of FE Alpha bodies and sadly discarded on the newer bodies (these apps are also on the A6300 and A6500, I'm not sure about the A6000). With the Oly's I would not have been able to retain as much detail in the clouds while also keeping detail in the water in the foreground, and I would have been stuck using an ND filter where I could get away with just a polarizer on the Sony (that said, on a current Sony body I'd have been stuck with the ND filter as well).

Overall in terms of package size, the A7II/16-35 package is actually pretty reasonable in size. I didn't find it too big or heavy for hiking. It's definitely bigger than the Oly setup, but not too big. Same goes for the A7II/70-300 combo which I found much better to carry than the Z5/70-300E combo, unsurprising since the Tamron 70-300 is 135g lighter than and marginally smaller than the 70-300E alone, and I needed to add an FTZ to the 70-300E to use on the Z5, which made the 70-300E/FTZ package almost 30mm longer and another 135g heavier compared to the Tamron 70-300E. That's worth 1/3 stop penalty at the long end and no lens IS for me, at least on an IBIS-capable body. 

Nikon really does need to round out its telephoto options on Z mount and it's not just the exotics that are missing. Actually, if Nikon could just get Tamron to release their FE lenses in Z it would go a long way to improving things. The telephoto trio in particular would be great in Z (70-300 f4.5-6.3, 70-180/2.8 and 150-500) although the 28-75 and 17-28 would probably interest some for their size/weight advantages while maintaining f2.8.

One thing that did drive me nuts however is classic Sony bad UI design. The Smooth Reflections app locks out BBAF, but if you don't have Shutter AF enabled and you do have the AF mode set to S-AF, you literally cannot focus while using the app. I lost a couple shots (and this one is web-size only) due to AF issues from this. I'll have to use the app in manual focus mode (which is an App setting and cannot be changed from the Fn button). Frankly, this is just one of many cases where it's clear that the firmware developers were not photographers but rather were building menus from a spec sheet. All the bits are there, they just conflict with each other and provide the world's least helpful error messages (aka the 'Invalid Operation' button issue, where one button on my A33 gave that error if pressed while the image quality is set to RAW) 

Presets - The Bane and Saviour of Post-Processing

 

Fuji X-T2, XF 55-200mm f3.5-4.8 R LM OIS

Presets came up recently in a discussion I was having with a couple fellow photographers and I had a quite aggressive reaction to one of my friends comments on them.

I think that reaction bears some explanation.

Presets are the single biggest scam in the photography market today. There are thousands of presets for sale and they all have one thing in common, they suck and will make your post processing results worse. There's a very simple reason for this, those presets are tailored for somebody else's gear, workflow and preferences. They're a nice income stream for some photographers, but that's it.

The flip side is I'm also adamantly against the 'Do it all from scratch' mindset. That's a waste of time and effort. As you develop a style to your photography, you will find yourself making similar edits time after time. Do those edits. Save them as a preset. Apply and tweak to the image at hand. That's simply optimizing your workflow. Presets are a time-saving tool in your post, not a way to get instant awesome post. Use them wisely, but don't skip them, they will save you hours.

I maintain a fairly decent library of presets I've created that I use regularly. I also have a particular style I go for in my post, especially my landscape shots where I push deep blues, punchy greens and lightened shadows. Presets are simply a tool to get me 80% of the way to the final look by repeating the settings that I always start from. 

But my 'look' is something that's always evolving. I know I was overdoing the post somewhat last year, especially on some of the D750 shots. Just because you have ridiculous DR doesn't mean you need to abuse it, and I was for a while.

Film Simulations on Your Nikon

D750, Nikkor 20mm f2.8 AF

Fuji gets a LOT of love, and deservedly so for their Film Simulations, one of the signature features of the X and GFX camera lines.

Nikon on the other hand has delivered a more powerful capability starting with the D3 & D300, and left it largely ignored and poorly documented.

Fuji put a lot of time and effort into developing their Film Simulations, but there remains a lot of customization that Fuji users have done, and have traded recipes online. Sadly you can't simply export a recipe and share it with others, you can only document your settings.

Nikon on the other hand has stuck with a set of generic Picture Controls, their name for the various JPEG settings that you can pick when shooting Nikon. Far more poorly known is the fact that you can load anywhere from 3 to 9 custom Picture Controls onto your compatible Nikon camera, in addition to being able to edit the Picture Controls using the Nikon Picture Control Utility 2 app on your PC or Mac. And the camera can also edit and export Picture Controls.

There is at least one public repository of Picture Controls, along with an online editor at https://nikonpc.com/ and this one included many similar options to the Fuji ones (Kodachrome 2 should match up with Classic Chrome). You can download from there and then import them on your camera directly by putting the files in a folder on the card called NIKON\CUSTOMPC\ or use the PCU2 app to manage them and write the ones selected to the card.

Why Nikon hasn't done anything more with this amazing feature, I don't know. It would be well worth them licensing some classic film names (I'm sure Kodak's remains would happily license their brands to Nikon for a reasonable cost).

The only downside is custom Picture Controls are only respected by Capture NX-D right now, and who wants to actually use that, so unlike Fuji's Film Simulations, they're less useful for the RAW shooter (although there may be some support coming in CaptureOne now that they have an official Nikon variant)

Shooting in the Dark with the D750 and X-T2

D750, Laowa 15mm f4 Macro

I headed up to the Torrance Barrens Dark-Sky Preserve last night to shoot comet NEOWISE with a good friend of mine.

Not having any real experience with astrophotography, I pretty much filled two camera bags and hauled everything (seriously, I carried lenses I never bother with normally, like my 300/4.5 AI'd and my 50-135/3.5 AI-S. 4 lenses stayed home, and entirely because they were duplicated in my kit for each body already). That was too much kit. I used 2 lenses on the X-T2 and 4 on the D750. I swapped more on the D750 largely because the X-T2 was doing all the really long exposures (a few 8 minute ones and one 15 minute)

Some takeways

1. Nikon's long-exposure stupidity is really annoying. Nikon basically breaks all AE modes by disabling the metering readout switch once the EV gets low enough (but the camera will still do AE). Plus your longest timed shutter speed on the D750 is 30 seconds (the D780 and the Z's do fix the last bit) The X-T2 has timed shutter speeds out to 15 minutes accessible via the T setting on the shutter speed dial. This Nikon challenge has been there for years, it annoyed me on the F100 and the D300 and still annoys me on the D750. The latest bodies solve the shutter speed issue, but not the exposure display issue.

2. Direct access to ISO is very nice. The X-T2 is super easy to set from the dial, you press to unlock, then twirl with the setting always showing on the screen. Nikon is by feel, although once you get used to where the button is it's not bad.

3. The D750 and X-T2 both have playback and delete buttons in the same place on the left shoulder. Too bad they're swapped (play on the left on Nikon, delete on the left on Fuji). I'm damned lucky I didn't accidentally delete any shots switching back & forth between the two. Neither is incorrect, but it is a gotcha worth mentioning and one I tripped over regularly when shooting in the dark.

4. This was the first time I got to use the dual-flip screen on the Fuji while on a tripod. It's every bit as good as I expected. Single-axis articulation is an idea whose time is long gone.

5. Despite the relatively hard to find by feel buttons relative to the Nikon, I found the Fuji much easier to control in the dark. The combination of full data on the LCD (vs the D750 where I was switching between the rear LCD and the top LCD constantly to track info I needed), better communication of what the camera was doing (Fuji counts down long-exposure times on the display, and displays processing during long-exposure NR, sadly without a timer, while Nikon only communicates the long-exposure NR on the top LCD) and generally the Fuji is easier to control without actually looking at the camera.

6. I actually gave up on Live View on the D750 once it got dark, relying on test shots and hard infinity stops on my 15/4 and 105/2.5 to get the stars in focus. The Fuji did better in really low light, but eventually I gave up framing there as it got really dark and only used LV to focus when switching lenses. I used the 15/4 and XC35/2 on the Fuji and missed having a hard infinity stop on the 35 (which not only has an uncoupled focus ring, but can focus past infinity). On the Nikon I used the 15/4, the 24-50AF, the 105/2.5 and the 300/4.5 (the last for a couple moon shots early on). Most shots on the Nikon were with the 15 or 105, hard infinity stops are so useful for astro (unless you have a camera with star focusing, which is a gimmick unless your lenses don't have a hard infinity stop. Well played Olympus)

7. I now truly understand why astro shooters make such a big deal about UWA speed. I'd have killed to have f2 or f2.8 instead of f4 to keep the ISO down with exposures short enough to not get star trails. You can always stop down, but you can't always open up. I really did not understand how big the impact of a 1 stop shorter shutter speed can be in astro work. I do now.
 
8. Despite the small battery and really long exposures, the X-T2 did just fine in battery life. I used half a battery or so on the X-T2 and a quarter charge on the D750, and took about 50% more shots with the X-T2.

9. I do love that little joystick on the X-T2. So much quicker and easier than a D-pad. So Nikon, why does the $1400USD Z5 get a joystick, but the $2300USD D780 doesn't (and the answer most likely is that the D780 has been sitting around for 2 years waiting for release, it's clearly a pre-Z6 design in terms of control layout)

Overall, I'm reminded both that the D750 remains an amazing camera today and that the X-T2 is just a little further up the food chain in some ways, despite the format difference it really is oriented towards the same sort of user who would buy a D8x0 over the D750. This is mostly around things like dedicated physical controls over overloaded buttons that switch context.

Pondering Fuji Colour

Fuji X-T1, Micro-Nikkor 55mm f3.5 AI

In my previous post, I made a comment about being unhappy with Fuji colour for landscape/nature work.

I've been doing a lot of thinking about that.

The reality is I was actually having two issues.

1. Fuji's expose quite differently from most other cameras. That means that relying on the meter gives me overexposed images with limited ability to recover highlights (the flip side is there is FF-level data in the shadows, as all that missing headroom is sitting down there).

2. Fuji's blues are lighter and warmer than Nikon or Olympus blues.

The first is easy to address, underexpose by 0.7 to 1.3 EV and lift the shadows in post. That will darken down the blues in the sky to start.

The second is harder to address. It's linked to how the Fuji's render colour. They simply have less resolution in the blues and reds and Fuji's very distinct colour signature tends to a warm shift and a mild green shift, both of which compromise the blues.

I'm still working on a solution for #2. The reality is these colour rendering items are predictable, so may be solvable with presets (unlike the Sony colour challenges, which I just never liked it in any regard, with Fuji it's just the blue skies that I have some challenges with). 

Note in looking through my Fuji archives here:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/mawz/tags/fujifilm/

I can see some great skies. I don't see that deep indigo I get from some of my Nikon shots, but I do have some lovely blues. I'd love to get that indigo look, but can probably live without it. 

So in summary - I need to work on how I expose with the Fuji's, and need to see if I can come up with a  preset that gets me closer to those Nikon and Olympus blues I love, but I can already get good skies from the Fuji's if I don't accidentally overexpose them.

Some Random Thoughts

D750, Laowa 15mm f4 Macro


So with the lockdown easing up, I've had a chance to get out and do some photography over the last week. Hiking and Landscape Photography is just about the ideal Social Distancing activity, you don't want to be around people in the first place.

As such, I've taken a fair bit of images in the last week. I did one run up to the west end of Algonquin Park (the image above is from the side of Highway 60 in Algonquin Park), then did a loop northwest of Huntsville and down into Rosseaux and south from there. All but a couple images were shot with the D750. Maybe 5km total hiking, and a bunch of from the car shots. Came back with around 350 images, of which 30 or so were worth further looks.

Then I did a Kawartha's run yesterday. Gannon's Narrows Conservation Area, Mississauga River Takeout trail in the Kawartha Highlands PP, Petroglyphs PP (one of the day loops, as the Petroglyphs site is closed), and finally Warsaw Caves (just the lookout hike, as the Caves themselves are closed). 16+km of hiking total and about 700 images split 50/50 between the D750 and the Fuji's.

A couple takeaways:

1. 16km this early in the season is pushing it hard for me. I was in rough shape when I got home. One heck of a workout though. 

2. I need a better pack setup. sling packs are not suitable for more than a short hike and my only camera pack sucks horribly (there's a good reason it's been left in the closet for over a decade). Also I was short on water on the last hike. Going to see if my old Deuter hydration pack can be made workable for photography usage.

3. I'm very glad I finally bought a Platypod. Could have used it many times on both days. Too bad it showed up today (Amazon? Why an 8:22AM delivery on Sunday though?)

4. I like carrying the Fuji's better. I like processing the Nikon files better. This kinda makes me want to try a Z50 even if it doesn't have a native small, fast prime. Frankly, I just like the Nikon colours (Oly colours are similar). The Fuji files are good, and hold up better than the Oly files, but lets be honest, I have to do too much work to get them where I want them in terms of colour for landscape/nature work. I'll keep the bodies, but that's for street/city shooting mostly where they work VERY well for me and where primes are a better option anyways. 

5. I need to optimize my kit for hiking. As much as I enjoy primes, I missed shots because I didn't have zooms on the camera. 2 zooms and 2 primes seems likely right. (Laowa 15, a normal, UWA zoom, telezoom).

6. Even though I really could use an 18-35 for the Nikon, the Laowa 15/4 is a delight on both the D750 and the X-T1. Really wide, and that close focus ability is insane. Got some really interesting shots thanks to the combo of really short MFD + UWA (seriously, MFD is basically the surface of the protective filter, and yes I actually have a UV filter on it because of this, WAY too easy to scratch the front element otherwise). 

7. I need to use my tripod more. Especially if I'm giving up lens speed via using zooms.

8. In the meantime, I need to pick a 3-4 prime set from the bag and stick to that for the D750. 15 & 105 are a given, 28 & 55 maybe? or 28 and 50. Makes me wish I had a 135/2.8, as that would give just a touch more flexibility than the 105 does. Alternatively just carrying the 15, 35 and 70-300 is a possibility although the 70-300 is just a mediocre lens, even if it can be acceptable. 

Winter on the Gull

 
Sony A7II, FE 28-70 f3.5-5.6 OSS


This colourful shot was from my first real photo ramble with the A7II, taken in Minden on the Gull River in the Kawarthas.

I only took about 200 shots on this drive, but that was a combination of not passing any good hiking spots and general winter limits, plus a relatively short drive (left in mid-morning rather than well before sunrise). I was shooting from the car mostly, ie stop, get out, grab a few shots, get back in and drive on. That tends to result in less shots compared to my other style of photo ramble, where I'm doing a fair bit of hiking outside the car. I tend to shoot a lot when hiking, but only grab 3-4 shots per stop when doing the drive+shoot style ramble.

What Do I Need To Care About?

 
Spillway at Big Chute

E-M1,  m.Zuiko 12-50 EZ

So if I'm going to take a badly needed break from obsessing about what camera I'm shooting, where and what do I need to spend some time considering?

First up is shooting technique.

There's some areas I really need to work on, starting with the use of filters. If I'm going to continue concentrating on landscape and wilderness work I need to up my filter game. I generally do not shoot with any filtration, aside from the occasional polarizer use. The first step here is to invest in some ND filters, and eventually a set of ND grads.

As I'm also doing a fair bit of detail/macro work while I'm out in the bush, I need to step up my game there. That means mostly improving my lighting work, which I've started on by getting an actual (almost) modern flash, the Olympus FL-36R, allowing me to do off camera flash to light small details. That also means getting (and carrying) a proper macro lens, probably the Sigma 150/2.8 in 4/3rds mount. Focus stacking is something I need to work on here as well, which means getting and learning Helicon Focus.

Third is using the tripod more. I've added a small Sirui Arca-Swiss ballhead to my Manfrotto 290 legs, which are small & light and ideally suited to use with my small Olympus bodies. I need to get L-brackets, a Platypod and heads for the Platypod & my larger Manfrotto 055XProB so I can get more flexibility. The Platypod is key, as I really like low-angle work and that will solve my biggest issues working down low which right now involves putting the camera on the ground or lots of crouching (an issue for a guy who already has bad knees)

Fourth is bags. I need two of them, initially I need a day hiking bag. This needs to have enough space for my basic kit as planned, some food, a camelback water pouch and assorted gear bits. I need this pretty quickly. Longer-term I need a larger pack for overnighting. That will form the basis of a overnight hiking kit so I can get further away from the car. Of course then I'll need a tent, sleeping bag, cooking kit & incidentals. The first bag needs to be photography-centric while I expect the second one will be a hiking pack with a camera insert.

I'm hoping to do more hiking & even some camping next year, so I'll likely steadily invest in the necessary gear for that to be done comfortably.