Children of Light

Every year I shoot Romeo Ciolfi's Christmas plays at the full dress rehearsal.  My photos are published on his Studio Sperenza website and also on Facebook, which is great for the actors to show their friends and family their acting parts.

This year I shot "Children of Light" with the Nikon D600 and used the Nikon 80-200mm f2.8 AF-S and  Nikon 50mm f1.4. I also brought along the Nikon SB-800 flash, however problems with the recent battery leakage meant it decided not to work.

Sony NEX 6 vs Fuji XE-1

I must say that this is one of the most interesting match ups to come out in quite a while.  Both cameras are of a similar size, both have the Sony 16MP sensor (Fuji's has some of their own magic fairy dust added), both use the Sony XLA OLED viewfinder (the NEX-6 having a faster refresh rate), both come with interesting kit lenses (Sony's collapsible and wide 16-50mm f3.5-5.6 vs the fast aperture Fuji 18-55mm f2.8-4) and both are premium priced in the mirrorless market.

However the Fuji is quite a bit more than the Sony.  With the kit lens the Fuji is a full $400 more (MSRP $999 vs $1399).   Is it worth it?  That remains to be seen, but I think for Fuji it will be a stretch to show customers the extra value.

As a side bar, I've seen used X-Pro1 bodies now starting to really drop in price on the used market.  Most are going for $1,100 or less now, a little under a new XE-1 with tax.

Sony NEX 5n with Leica 50mm Summicron M

Voigtlander - The company that can

If there is one thing that impresses me about me about Cosina and it's Voigtlander brand, its being able to design and make lenses that nobody else has dared to design, and all at a reasonable price.

Take the brand new M mount 21mm f1.8.  That's a seriously fast wide angle, and only Sigma has done something similar with the SLR based 20mm f1.8.  Certainly nothing like this has been seen on a rangefinder before.

It's also worth looking at some of their other lenses:

- 12mm f5.6 - world's widest rangefinder lens, and equal widest 35mm lens (together with the Sigma 12-24mm)

- 50mm f1.1 Nokton - a very cheap Leica Noctilux- ie 1/10th the price and similar quality

- 35mm f1.2 - as far as I know, the fastest 35mm lens ever made for full frame.

- 17.5mm f0.95 and 25mm f0.95 for Micro four thirds cameras - incredible speed, and very unusual

None of these are that expensive, the most being about $1,600; and all are built in the old school high quality all metal manual focus lens way.

I have 3 Voigtlander lenses, the 35mm f1.4 Nokton in Single Coating, the 21mm f4 Color Skopar and the 154mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar.  All are excellent lenses, with great build quality and optics, particularly the two ultra wide lenses.

If you think you might want one, you won't be disappointed.

 

Sony NEX5n with Voigtlander 15mm f4.5 Super Wide Heliar

Pet Peeve

One of my really big pet peeves is when AA battery cells leak through your equipment.  Earlier this week I found one had leaked through my Nikon SB-800 flash, which I was very displeased about.  The acidic goop had sealed the battery compartment door shut, and it took quite a bit of cleaning and pushing to get it open.

After ditching the batteries it was quite a tedious cleanup process, and I had to sand paper the contacts down a couple times before it would work again.

Despite generally having a habit of keeping batteries out of equipment, this is probably the third or fourth time this has happened.  It also happened with my SB-28 flash and my Nikon F90X that I had a while back.

It's one good thing about the manufacturer supplied lithium ion batteries, it makes these leakages a thing of the past for cameras.

Outside North 44 restaurant - Sony NEX 5n w/ Sigma 30mm f2.8

Fuji ISO bracketing at Niagara Falls

A couple months ago I went to Niagara Falls for work.  I took the Fuji X100 along, and although I had almost no chance to shoot, I managed to fire these off from my hotel room.  Annoyingly, I somehow managed to get the camera on ISO bracketing, and it would peel off 3 shots at one stop over, one stop under and at the correct exposure.  It took me a while to get it off, but I eventually figured it out.  Interestingly, the shot of the Ferris Wheel is shot one stop under, and the Falls is shot one stop over.

 I also borrowed my friend's bike and a group of us rode from Niagara Falls to Fort Erie and Back - 42km all up!