Engagement Shoot

Every so often I get asked to do a photo shoot for friends, whether it be engagement, wedding or baby photos.  A few weeks ago I did an engagement shoot.  I didn't put really prepare much, and took the D600 and 3 lenses, all of which were Sigma, the 20mm f1.8, the 85mm f1.4, and the 35mm f1.4; the latter of which I took around 70% of the photos.  I also took my SB-800 flash, and two vintage cameras, a Leica IIIf and a Yashica TLR as working props.

It was a fun shoot, shot mostly in Yorkville and in the Brickworks (until we got kicked out) and I used a lot of their ideas and props.  Here's some of the better shots from the day.

The Fuji kit - a price comparison

If ever there was a camera system I could get into beyond what I have now (Nikon, Sony NEX and Leica) its the Fuji X series.  I really love my X100, and applying these features and image quality to an interchangable lens system is highly appealing for me.  There is one big problem: cost.

Lets do a comparison to a full frame Nikon DSLR system, with lenses that have a similar adjusted focal length and aperture, in this case assuming that the aperture relates to a depth of field.  ie a 35mm f1.4 on an APS-C body should shoot very similarly to a 50mm f2 on a full frame body.  I'm a prime lens kinda guy, so I'm going to focus on these for both systems, with Canadian MSRP quoted for both in Canadian dollars.

As you can see, to purchase a full Fuji kit is actually more expensive than the equivalent Nikon full frame kit.  Each kit does have advantages - the Fuji body is smaller, the Nikon has far more lens options (both new and used, more megapixels and better high ISO capability as it is full frame.  Lens size wise the Fuji has only a small advantage as we're comparing similar effective apertures, however the body allows the use of tons of different lenses via an adapter that the Nikon cannot do.

Given this, it would be tough for me to make a call to go out and buy a Fuji kit.

Sony NEX 5n vs Sony NEX 3n

A few months back I advised my father in law to buy a Sony NEX 3n, which we found for, at the time, an amazing deal of $299 with the 16-50mm power zoom lens.  He loved it, but it unfortunately was dropped lens first onto something hard, and the lens wasn't fixable.  It turned out that it was cheaper to buy a whole new kit than buy the lens, which is what he did, so I ended up with the Sony NEX 3n body.

 

It has though given me a chance to try them both out side by side, an interesting comparison given that they have the same sensor.  However, the do differ; the 5n has the 900k dot touchscreen, while the NEX 5n has a 460k dot non touch screen, and it is significantly better. It also has a double hinge, unlike the 3n, which makes overhead shots much easier.  The NEX3n has a built in flash and is over all a bit larger.  Unfortunately the NEX 3n subscribes to the Nikon theory of haphazard fill in flash, rather than the brilliance of the Fujis.

Control wise, the cameras are very similar, both lacking the wheel controls of the NEX 5t and NEX 6, though the touch screen makes it easier to navigate screens.

All in all they are pretty similar, and I think you would be hard pressed to find a better deal than a NEX 3n out there right now.

A few more minutes with a Nikon 35Ti

I had this brilliant idea a couple weeks back to take my Nikon 35Ti to a wedding with a couple rolls of film to accompany its spiritual sucessor, the Nikon Coolpix A.  Except it didn't work out very well.   

The ceremony was to be out doors, followed by a reception inside.  So I put in a 36 shot Fuji B&W 100 ISO film, with the idea to change to a 400 ISO film that I was going to push to 1600 for indoors.  Before the ceremony started, I blew off 10 shots or so, but due to high winds, the ceremony was pulled inside.  Which meant I had 25 shots of film I now couldn't use, so I stuck it in my pocket.

About an hour later, I went to pull out the camera from my pocket and promptly dropped it, and the film door sprung open.  Fortunately it was quite dark, but still several shots would have been destroyed.

When I got home I used the rest of the film up shooting the kids, so there should be some photos in all of that.

Nikon Coolpix A, Queen and Ossington, TO

A few more Minutes with a Nikon F100

After my film foray a few weeks ago with the Leica CL, I decided it was time to clean out the terminals from the F100 where the batteries leaked, and get it going again.  Despite being a lot of battery goop every where, it didn't take much to clean up as the battery holder from the F100's grip is removable, and fortunately it worked as soon as I put a fresh set of batteries in.  

The F100 is very Nikon.  Anyone familiar with a new Nikon medium or high end D-SLR will be instantly at home with the F100.  After not having used it for a while, it was like seeing an old friend.  I used the Sigma 35mm f1.4 and the Sigma 85mm f1.4 and snapped away at our little girls.  I blew through 3 rolls of film pretty quickly, a Fuji ISO 1600 colour negative, a Fuji ISO 800 colour negative (shot at 1600) and some Kodak TMax ISO 3200.  It was quite fun, and I look forward to seeing pictures of the little girls on film.