Sony Alpha-that is

I've mainly kept blog entries thus far about what I'm up to and where I've been so I thought I'd deviate from that a bit here to talk a little about tech/gear. If you're at all serious or interested in photography it's very likely that you'll get involved in a conversation at some point about what you shoot and why. Maybe your old camera just isn't cutting it any more or perhaps you want better results than your cellphone can provide (especially in low light).

My background is in tech, I love tinkering with techy/nerdy stuff (computers, audio, etc.), and any hobby I become involved with I quickly dive in with both feet in an effort to best understand it- photography was really no different. I became involved in late 2015 because Tracy and I kept going to these really amazing places and while my cellphone was able to capture images I wasn't really happy with what I was seeing. I decided to purchase a "real" camera- a refurbished Canon T5 and the 50mm F1.8ii lens. That was my gateway drug to a bigger world. I had more flexibility in how I wanted to shoot, the way I could get things to look, and the images just looked sooooooo much better.

Around that time I began volunteering more seriously with a few organizations here in Portland and they'd asked if I'd snap some photos for an upcoming event. I agreed and had a lot of fun doing so. Over the next few months I continued to do that and learned a lot and even developed a "style". Later that spring we took a trip to California and that blew the doors wide open- I saw so many great things, captured images I LOVED, and generally changed my perspective. I dug in and started reading/watching anything I could to learn more. I learned about RAW files, post processing, aperture, shutter speeds, focal lengths, rule of thirds, exposure, ISO, and so many things I'm probably forgetting.

The more I shot images the more I discovered there were things I really liked about certain lenses and things I wish my T5 did. I discovered I liked shooting at wider apertures (especially indoors for events) and that I also really liked image stabilization because it allowed me to use a slower shutter speed which let in more light and made the images less noisy. Around this time I decided it was time to upgrade to a "better" camera and left my T5 for the Canon 70d. I loved the weather sealing, tilty/flippy screen, and wi-fi functionality. That romance was short lived and I dumped it in under two months. Here's why.

Canon sells a ton of what are referred to as APS-C or crop sized sensor cameras (as does Nikon). They're called that because the "standard" is 35mm (24x36mm generally in digital) from the old film days and Canons sensors are cropped down from that by 1.6x which is to say that if you put a 50mm lens on a Canon APS-C body it's got an "effective" focal length of 80mm. That make sense? That's not necessarily bad but what it means is it can be tough to get wider lenses and that for any given image having a smaller sensor lets in less light-basically why any decent camera can take a much better image than your smart phone in lower light. I decided that since I did a lot of work indoors in lower light I wanted (needed?!!!) a full-frame camera.

Around this time I discovered that Sony (who coincidentally made my first ever digital camera way back in 2005-still have it BTW) had released a line of full-frame cameras called the "Alpha" series one of which called the A7ii had built in image stabilization and could use an adapter to shoot with the Canon lenses I already had. The more I looked the more I loved how much I could customize things. It's probably pretty clear it appealed to my tinkering nature- yup, I was getting one of those. Immediately I noticed I could shoot at a lower ISO value which resulted in cleaner/less noisy images and when I was willing to crank up the ISO values I got some really cool images I wouldn't have otherwise gotten. A few of the very first images I shot with that camera are below this text

Days went by, I shot more images, learned new things about the camera, and eventually decided to see if the grass was greener in other pastures. From the spring of 2017 until now I have owned and shot with the following cameras:

  • Canon 6D (great low light and affordable entry in to full frame photography with a VERY limited focusing system)
  • Nikon D750 (excellent all around camera that is capable of great images...using old school DSLR technology)
  • Canon 6D Mkii (nice form factor handicapped by a lousy sensor)
  • Sony A7 (Sony's first full-frame mirrorless camera which makes beautiful images as long as you don't need to focus quickly in challenging light-tons of fun with vintage, manual focus lenses)
  • Sony A6000 (arguably the best value going today in digital photography as you can get a nice used copy for around $300 and will produce some INCREDIBLE images since you can largely put it in your pockets)

Below are a few photos from each of those cameras

Holy Filesizes, Batman!

In the fall of 2017 I decided to go big or go home and picked up a used Sony A7rii for what I felt was a fair price (as I'm writing this you can now find a nice used copy for around $1,100 USD or less) since it was, at the time, Sony's best camera and had the best focusing system. What can I say about it? WOW!!!! I was absolutely floored with the images and detail that thing was capable of. The lenses I had focused faster and looked sharper and I really liked how comfortable it was to hold. That camera has stayed pretty consistent in my bag for nearly two years-which isn't to say that I haven't bought or sold my copy along the way it's just that I keep coming back to it because it's that good.

In December of 2018 I added another camera body to my bag a Sony A7iii and OMIGOSH is that camera a monster. It focuses lighting fast, practically sees in the dark, produces beautiful images, and is a pleasure to use in event photography (many of the galleries on this site were captured using it). I loaned it to Tracy to take to Europe with her this past spring for her girls' trip and she LOVED the images she got with it-so much so that she's largely commandeered it as her own (which makes me so proud).

So in summation, it's been a long road to get where I am-I'm sure I'll make more stops and deviations along the way but save for INCREDIBLE releases from the likes of Canon, Nikon, or Panasonic I'm team Sony for now. If you're looking in to photography more seriously I'd strongly suggest the Sony Alpha system and if you've got questions about it hit me up.