Zeiss Lenses and Fall Colors

One of the reasons I decided to go down the path of Sony cameras when I purchased a digital camera (for me that would be the Sony A7c) is the availability of Zeiss lenses. In the case of this particular image we are looking at an example from the Carl Zeiss 55mm f/1.8.

Anyone who is at all familiar with Zeiss lenses knows they are legendary for the way they render color. I think this image is a perfect example. It may be hard to believe, but this is straight from the camera with zero post processing or editing. Just a simple re-size from the full resolution image to something a little more web friendly and that is it. Simple as that! The way the colors just pop in the frame is blowing my mind a little bit. This honestly may be one of the few examples I’ve done with a digital medium where I’m anxious to make physical prints.

I was lucky to be able to get outdoors when all the gorgeous reds and oranges of the Pacific Northwest fall season. Not only is it cold but typically very windy as well - more or less the worst possible weather to be photographing nudes. Thankfully this particular day wasn’t too bad and the woman I was working with was a real trooper. We didn’t stay out for long, but we managed to make some great images in a short period of time.

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Into The Storm with the Sony A7c

It is officially feeling like summer is over. I honestly could not be more grateful.

I went out for a photo session over the weekend and it started to rain more than a little. It feels like it has been months since I felt any sort of significant amount of rain. Highly unusual for the Pacific Northwest and the moment I felt raindrops hit my face I realized how much I missed it. The model I was working with clearly felt the same way too. Typically if it starts raining during a photo session we both go running for the car. On this particular day we both wanted to stay and revel in the wet weather for a little while.

I was thankful I brought my Sony A7c with me. Trying to change out rolls of film when it’s raining pretty hard can be a dangerous proposition. I’m always paranoid about getting water on the glass inside the camera and with the digital I don’t have to open up the camera at all. Just wipe off the front of the lens every few shots and I’m good to go.

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Embracing the Sony A7c (sort of...)

My budget has been stretched a bit thin lately as I’m trying to save money for some big items I’m going to need to buy soon. Combine that with the price increases in film these days and I’ve been trying to embrace my digital camera a bit more than I normally do. I’ve had the Sony A7c for nearly a year now and I’ll say that it is probably the digital camera that I’ve bonded with the most out of all the digital cameras I’ve owned; which isn’t all that many.

I really only have one complaint about the Sony A7c which is the fact that the hand grip is a bit on the small side. I thin as soon as I finish this blog post I’m going to jump on-line and see if there are any aftermarket grips I can buy to improve this little fact.

This image was made with some very harsh sun shinning in the sky, which is difficult in terms of lighting whether one is using a film or digital camera. This time of year I prefer to get out and about as soon as humanly possible, but here, even as early as 8am, the light was already exceptionally bright. So the model and I took some shelter before a row of tall bushes to subdue the light a bit and play with some shadows. I think it turned out pretty well considering I was working outside my element in a lot of ways.

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Nude in Recline

My goodness it is hot!! Yesterday I experienced the hottest temperature I have ever felt in my life at a whopping 116 degrees. I think everyone knows that is simply not normal for the Pacific Northwest and very few people, myself included, are equipped to handle such extremes.

As such, I am keeping my computer mostly shut off in order to keep my home as cool as possible and to keep my equipment from frying. I figured I would login for just a few minutes and catch up on a couple of emails and take a minute to post an image.

It’s fitting that I picked an image from a time when it was far too cold to do any work outside. Right now it is far too hot to do any work outside, or inside, or at all for that matter.

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Sony A7c: A Short Review and a Portrait

So I recently did something a little out of a character for me. I bought myself a new digital camera. In this case a Sony A7c mirrorless camera.

Now, to address the first question that I’m sure I’m going to get asked… No, I am not stopping working with film. Not by a long shot. I’ve always worked with digital on occasion and I was in desperate need of an upgrade in equipment on that front. For the last three years I’ve been using a Canon 6D for my digital needs and I’ve never really connected with it. I’ve just never liked a large SLR type body and the Canon has always felt too bulky for my taste.

Also, as I’ve mentioned on this blog a few times, film is starting to get very expensive. So while I am not going to quit working with film any time soon, I might have to work with digital a little more often. Typing that out on this blog bums me out, but the act of making images is more important than the medium.

So why the Sony A7c? There are a couple reasons…

First, the camera is rather small for a digital body with a full frame sensor. This is important to me as my camera bag is already pretty heavy with medium format film gear taking up space. The Sony A7c fits nice and neat in the top section of my camera bag and doesn’t add too much weight.

Second, quite a number of years ago I owned a Sony A7. I liked that camera a lot actually, mostly because I found that it was easy to adapt vintage lenses to the body. Unfortunately my A7 was stolen out of my car while on a road trip. The Sony A7c seems just as easy to adapt vintage glass, only now the body is more closely aligned to the size and shape of a small 35mm rangefinder. I don’t have any plans or desire to buy a whole bunch of modern lenses and I like that with the Sony A7c I can mount my old Leica lenses, Minolta lenses, and more. The electronic viewfinder is high enough in resolution that manual focusing is a non issue for me.

That’s about it quite honestly! Those two reasons right there. I suppose I could talk about the sensor quality, the processing speed, all the various feature like video capture, face recognition focus, etc. etc. but all of those things take a back seat to my two most important criteria in a digital camera right now. Size and the ability to adapt vintage glass. So far the Sony A7c checks both of those boxes for me so going forward it is going to be a part of my camera kit.

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