Photography gear

Zoom, zoom zoom (zoom)…. That’s 14mm-500mm in 4 lenses.. covers a few bases

Why don't I like zooms?

June 10, 2019 in gear

I don’t like zooms. There. I said it. But I don’t hate them either.

I am much more of a prime lens shooter. Its just the way I am wired.

Yes. I use zooms. In fact, when I swapped across from Fuji to Nikon, the first thing I did was to buy the Holy Trinity/ Three Amigos of 2.8 zooms. 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200. Why buy zooms when I don’t like them? Because it was a logical financial decision. I am a working wedding and portrait photographer, who also does a certain amount of commercial work. To satisfy all my clients needs, and have greatest flexibility, I needed to make sure I had the full range of focal lengths covered. So, before I started buying primes, I bought the zooms I would need to cover everything I might need to shoot. But it was a compromise. In an ideal world, I would probably just have bought a 35, 50 and 85/105 or 135 fast prime. That would suit my own tastes and preferences much more than 2.8 zooms. But I really needed to cover all my bases first. The maths is simple. The 3 zooms come in at just under $9k, vs the full range in primes… 14, 24, 50, 85, 105 &200 are around $20k… So hence, I bought the zooms. Then once my zoom bases were covered, I started to flesh out my prime selection, starting with my 2 favourite Nikon primes, the 58 and 105. My intention is to slowly add a 35, 50, then a 24 and maybe a 200 to my kit, and relegate my zooms to roles as backups, and for those “Run & Gun” days that I just need to have 2 lenses mounted at all times.

So what is my issue with zooms?

The first reason is this. Laziness. I find that when I enter a situation with a zoom, I tend to put myself in a spot, sit/stand there, and just use the zoom to change my composition. When I am using primes, I usually will choose one length for use, and then I have to “work the scene”, physically moving to change my composition. I have to “zoom with my feet”, which forces me to look at the scene from different angles as I move round the room. There is also a very different sense of connection/immediacy when you are physically close with a standard lens like a 35 or 50, vs being across the room zooming to 100+mm… Robert Capa famously said “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you aren’t close enough”. You could get close with a zoom, but a prime forces you to get closer.

So primes make me work harder, and think more carefully about things like composition, layering, frame edges etc, and my work is better for it.

The obvious thing is the aperture. The three amigos are all constant aperture 2.8 lens, meaning that unlike lower spec lenses, the maximum aperture of 2.8 is available across their entire focal range, and doesn’t change as you zoom. This is great, but I really am not a fan of 2.8 at anything other than 200mm. Its kind of a “meh” aperture as far as effect is concerned. Yes, its pretty good in low light, especially compared to an F4, or a f3.5-5.6 zoom, but if you are wide open for effect rather than light gathering, its just not quite shallow enough… I either shoot at 5.6+ for increased DoF, or want wide open for that focus fall off and smooshy backgrounds. 24mm at f2.8 is not something that I really like. I’m either wanting wide open f1.4, or stopped down f5.6+. Now I said that apart from at 200mm… I will confess, I love the 70-200 at 200mm wide open. Its beautiful. Its shallow enough for effect, and the background rendering and compression is stunning. Well, until you try a 200 f2.0… then that beast just ruins you for life.

Size is (generally) another factor. If I know that I am only going to be shooting 50 or 35mm focal length, the prime wins hands down when it comes to compactness. This doesn’t hold true however when you sit a 70-200 2.8 next to a 200 2.0.. or try hand holding them both for any period of time.. that’s the one situation that the zoom wins.

So, what do I like about zooms?

Simple. Versatility. They are the “jack-of-all-trades” of the lens world. You can do almost any job with the standard trio of zooms. Add to that a 200-500 and you are pretty well covered for any situation. But there is the compromise. Size, weight, and the fast aperture combo of light gathering, shallow DoF and out of focus rendering (bokeh). If you have specific job that requires that extra precision, or need compactness, the prime is the winner, and for me, I would prefer to shoot primes almost any day of the week if the situation allows, but it doesn’t always.

The final question is tied into my earlier comments about price. Couldn’t I have saved money by buying non-Nikon lenses and picked up both zooms and primes? Well yes. I could. But, I have tested countless alternatives and I just keep coming back to using Nikons own lenses. I’m not going to name names here, but with the third party lenses I’ve tested, I’ve regularly had issues. With one brand, I had to retune the focus every few weeks or so to keep it accurate, and with one lens from that brand, it just kept back-focussing. With another brand in zooms I tested, I found an inconsistency in sharpness. It meant sending the lens back for a replacement, until I got a sharp copy, so I gave up and went to Nikon. I have always found Nikon lenses to be consistent. Never bought a bad copy. Buy right, buy once. Lenses should last a lifetime. Going cheap is false economy for a working photographer.

And finally, I am in Nikon Professional Services, so that means if anything happens to one of my lenses and I need it fixed fast, I am covered by NPS, and will be able to get a loan unit while I am without mine. When you are relying on gear for your work, that is a big deal.

So, I might not like zooms much, but I don’t hate them either. They are tools and as always, its about having the right tool for the job.

Olympus Pen F- Deeper dive and thoughts 2 months in.

June 08, 2019 in gear

As I always preface these posts, this is not a review, this is just my experience of the Olympus Pen-F, how I came to own one and my general thoughts about it.

So why did I buy myself an Olympus Pen-F… well thats a long and convoluted story, but I will try and keep it simple 9some of this is a repeat of thoughts posted in my “whats in my bag- personal/street" post… but I will dive deeper.

Back in 2013 I had an X-Pro1. I bought it as a personal camera/ backup to my wedding kit, that was made up of Canon equipment (5d2 etc). I had found myself in a place where I wasn’t doing much day to day personal shooting, because the 5d2 etc was just too bulky and not really very subtle to pull out for candid family shots. I got my hands on the Fujifilm X-Pro1 and loved it. It took me back to the days of my Canon AE1 with and aperture dial and tactile controls. It was simple and even a bit slow, which I kind of liked. I had to be more deliberate… that took me down the rabbit hole and journey of replacing my canon kit with Fuji’s, ultimately running with the XT-2’s, X100T and the old X-Pro1. I actually gave that camera away to another photographer who was going through a bit of personal crisis, as a way for them to experience a different way of shooting, and as they were heading overseas on an NGO trip, and I knew it would be a good carry around camera for them. Anyway, after some headaches with my Fujis ( some failures, turning into bricks and not writing images to the cards) I went back to DSLR’s, ditching my Fuji kit completely. It was at the time that the D850 was being released, so this was the direction I went. I don’t regret that decision for a moment. I cannot fault them aside from one factor.. size.

With some family stuff going on, I wanted to start shooting more day to day stuff. I tried taking my D750 and a prime lens with me, but it was still just that little bit too chunky. I briefly entertained the idea of one of the new Nikon Z series, but when I got my hands on one at a workshop last year, despite being an awesome camera, it didn’t offer any serious size/weight saving over the D750. I realised I kinda missed my X-Pro1 and X100S/T’s… I jumped online and started looking at used X-Pro1, 2 and X100S/T/F’s. There were so many things I loved about them, especially in the X-Pro2 and X100T/F with their acros and classic chrome picture styles. I did have a loan of an X-Pro2 a couple of years ago, and it was a fantastic camera, but in a lot of ways I felt it had lost some of the soul of the X-Pro1, and started to feel more technology than machine. I leaned towards the X100 series, but the lack of true lens interchangeability held me back.

I thought about what it was that I wanted. Something X100 size, rangefinder/retro styling (more because DSLR styling tends to impact the subjects reaction more than something that “looks like an old camera”). I wanted something that put out really nice JPGs so that I could not have to worry about post, that would give me what I wanted SOOC. so we had a list. Small, interchangeable lens, rangefinder style, and lastly, under $2000 with a lens (there goes any Leica). Fellow wedding photographer Bradley Hanson had recommended I check out the Pen-F some time ago, and so I found myself looking at reviews online. As I said in my street photography gear post, I was worried about the small sensor, but another chat with Bradley, a chat with another Olympus shooting photographer and I was pretty well decided, I would grab one and give it a go. It ticked all the boxes on paper, but would it fall short on results?

I do like to shop local as much as I can, but when I looked into it, none of my local suppliers that carried them could/would match the deal I could get at Digidirect, so I jumped on and ordered a Pen-F street kit. Body plus 17mm f1.8 lens.

One week later my camera arrived. I popped the battery on to charge, grabbed an SD card and looked it over as I waited.

The first thing that struck me was that it was tiny. Maybe even slightly smaller than an X100… and I have big hands. I could wrap my hand around it and touch my fingers to my thumb. Seriously small. but it had heft. The body just feels solid, you get the impression that there is not a cubic millimetre of wasted space inside. Immediately the things I liked about it (before turning it on) were:

Physical size/weight. Small but solid.
Tiny lenses
Physical knurled metal dials for On/Off, Mode, Shutter Speed, Aperture, Exposure Compensation.
the thoughtful placement of the little thumb grip, than somehow made the camera feel perfectly balanced in my large hands.
The design of the tilty/flippy/spinny LCD. when reversed and stowed, a nice leather look grip finish to hide it.
The clutch on the lens focus ring.
surprisingly, even without turning it on, just the feel and placement of the picture style dial seemed right… but I was reserving full judgement until I turned it on.

Gimmicky? That was my first thought, but I actually love this little dial!

Ok, who stole my LCD?? Jokes aside, Leica charge a lot for a camera with no LCD…

Now I know this camera was built as an homage to the original Pen-F film camera, and so the front dial was there to honour the shutter speed dial on the front, and there are definitely design features that echo the original, but my first thought was that it reminded me of a Leica IIIf.

Anyway, the battery was soon charged, and I fired it up. Now I am a RTFM kinda guy… a habit ingrained from my former career as a commercial pilot and flight instructor. You were expected to know every system and button before you sat yourself in the front seat, and so I am no different with cameras. I switched it on, and with the manual in hand, started exploring the menus systematically, until I was familiar with all the menus and functions enough to start shooting in my usual way. This included a couple of tweaks, such as mapping the rec button to ISO, and setting the EVF to display the way I wanted it to.

So, with it now powered up and ready to go I started shooting stuff.

I’m not going to bore you with those first images, they were of stuff like my keyboard, coffee cup, my other cameras. the view from my window etc. but after a bit of a play I was happy, I could start using this how I wanted.

I’m going to cut straight to the chase here. I have had zero bad experiences with this camera. The files are beautiful, even at less MP and from a smaller sensor, for my personal work, and even for a bit of my wedding work, they are more than adequate. I know that Olympus has its haters, as does any brand… I am brand agnostic. The best tool for the job. When I put a picture up on Facebook of my new toy, I even got comments such as “yuck” from a brand fanatic. I really don’t think thats a fair comment.. I even used to shoot their brand, and this camera is every bit as capable, for what I am using it for, as any other camera… In the profession of photography, we should be over that stuff. Is it the perfect camera? No. That doesn’t exist. Is it a sports camera? No. Is it a camera for creating huge landscape prints from? Maybe? What sort of camera is it? it is the sort of camera I need for the personal photography I am doing, and is capable enough that it goes in my bag with me everywhere, including weddings… just in case. Could I shoot a whole wedding with it? Yes… but I’d be working right on the edge at times.

So, to continue my list from above, once it was turned on, what did I like:

The level of customisation.
The picture styles (particularly the Mono2 style)
The SOOC jpegs.
The IBIS- that 5 axis system is crazy good, I’ve handheld shots at 2 seconds with no shake.
That front dial- while appearing gimmicky at first, it is awesome, with the ability to jump to and from my favourite styles at a click, or back into neutral.
Live Composite & Live Time. These are awesome for in-camera creativity. Something to talk more about later.
In Camera Multi Exposure. This is a rarely used feature in any of my cameras, and each does it differently. I just like the way Olympus does it more that the others I have used. I’ll talk about tis later as well.
Hi Res mode… crazy in camera stacking of multiple images using the sensor shift to create large mp RAWs… this is one of Olympus dark magic spells… it works though!
The LCD with tap to focus and tap to shoot.
WYSIWYG. I missed this feature of mirrorless. Its nice to see the result before you press the button.
AF- accurate and fast.
Lenses- I have grabbed the 17, 25 and 45 1.8 M.Zuikos as my carry around kit. I can actually hold all three lenses and the camera in one hand. They are small but they punch way above their weight.
WiFi- Yeah, not uncommon these days, BUT, I will say the Olympus system is hands down better than the Nikon, with the app and camera connecting solidly and flawlessly every time.

Battery for scale. its small. very small.

In summary, I chose this over the alternatives just because it ticked all the boxes and had that indefinable something that I was looking for. For personal shooting it is great family doesn’t even flinch when raise the camera to my eye, life just goes on as if there is no camera present. I haven’t hit the street with it yet, but cannot wait, I am itching to go see what I can find. Does the smaller sensor mean any sacrifices? well yes… a little DR, so I tend to expose right a bit to preserve shadow detail, at the expense of a few highlights. DoF is obviously greater, but I really don’t care about that. Even with the f1.8 lenses its shallow enough wide open to be effective, but I am usually shooting this at f4-f8 for personal candid stuff. I do also have to throw in a comment about what I thought was the funniest thing I had seen in ages. The tiny little flash that comes with it. It seriously looks like a speed light for a doll. Its so small. But it throws out plenty of light, and the fully swivelling/tilting head means that you can bounce it. I gave it a go on the dancefloor at a wedding recently and was speechless at how effective it was. Never judge a book buy its cover- or size!

So the final word on this is that I really do love this little camera. It is the right camera for what I want it for, and has caused me to rethink a lot of my perceptions regarding m4/3 and mirrorless cameras. I have used it daily, at every family gathering, at home with my kids and even taken it to a couple of weddings and used it on the job. I love using it, and it has also immediately impacted the way I shoot and think about my images as I create them.

In the words of Rick Blaine “ Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”

Bags of bags!!

May 31, 2019 in gear

You’d think choosing a camera bag would be simple. And when I started it was. My bag fitted everything I used. My equipment was limited and I didn’t need much flexibility. I just loaded it up, and off I went.

Then as I got busier, and encountered more situations my gear increased. I expanded my kit to give me backups and alternatives to handle different scenarios and to enable me to travel light and have to compromise on some flexibility, or carry a wide range to deal with whatever might come my way.

What I discovered was that for every combination of gear, there is an ideal carrying solution. Now I’m not going to go deep into my actual kit in this post, I will cover the individual set ups separately in some (cliché) “Whats in my bag posts”.

For now I just want to talk about the bags I use day to day, and my personal thoughts about that bag.

Think Tank Signature 13

Firstly my day to day, take everywhere bag. My Think Tank Signature 13.

I freaking love this bag. It is small, looks cool, fits a heap of gear, and well… it just rocks.

Think Tank released this bag a couple of years ago and I was lucky enough to score one in an online giveaway. I will show you what I can (and do) carry in it in a later post, but these are the things I love about it.

Think Tank Signature 13. It goes everywhere I do.

The Look. Yep, its stylish and doesn’t look like a camera bag. Classic brass fittings, beautifiul soft but tough fabric, with leather reinforcing on the bottom. It has a cool soft well padded textured lining. And because it doesn’t scream “look, I’m a camera bag” its stealthy and perfect for everyday use.

So, how is it set up? Undo the brass clasps, and you open it up to reveal a zippered main compartment, a button up from t section with another zippered front pocket inside. Undo the main zippered compartment and its stock standard camera bag inside, with removable (extra soft textured) dividers, meaning you can configure it to suit a heap of different set ups. It also has a nice iPad pocket on the inside. Outside it has a zippered back pocket that could also be used for a tablet, but I tend to use this for stuff like notes, my myki pass when I am in Melbourne, basically thin stuff I will want to access regularly without opening the whole bag. It also comes with a rain cover and has a pass through slot on the back for rolling case handles.

The build is solid. After two years of constant use, the leather is getting a bit scuffed up, but the seams, zips, buckles etc are still all perfect. I guess that when you think of Think Tank, you should think “tank” because they are built like them.

It is super comfortable to carry all day, but overload it and after 12 hours you will have had enough. Keep it light and you can go for days. Ive done days carrying a D850+D750+ 105 1.4 and 58 1.4 and that was a bit much. Most off the time it holds my Oly PenF, with 17, 25 and 45 1.8 lenses, drink bottle and snacks and it is super comfortable to carry with that load.

This bag is my all time favourite camera bag… so what isn’t perfect about it? Ok… the buckles will pop open when it is stuffed full (rare), but the zip keeps gear safe. The D loops rotate (insignificant but slightly annoying if you have OCD). biggest dislike? It squeeks. The brass buckles and swivels sound like you are strangling a mouse if you are moving quickly.

Leather with character and stories to tell.

Think Tank Airport Commuter

This is my workhorse bag. I picked this up about 4 years ago before I went on an NGO trip to Northern Thailand. I wanted something that would always fit in carry-on, could take my travel kit (at the time Fuji XT-1’s) plus some basic overnight essentials. It has been to almost every wedding I have shot since. It has been dragged through gravel, covered in mud, sat in puddles, covered in snow, had drunk wedding guests spill their beer all over it, but after a heap of abuse after a wash it is still in tip top shape. It fits my primary kit comfortably. great for carrying a big load for a long day with comfy straps, the extra chest strap and belt, and a security cable to attach it to a table or railing and lock the main compartment shut. This bag will probably outlast me.. Its a sold backpack that holds a tonne. Nuff said.

It ain’t shiny and new, carries some scars and stains, but its hard to beat.

The security cable has probably saved me more than once…

Think Tank Airport Navigator

This has been my primary wedding bag for the last 2 seasons. I decided that whenever possible, with a big DSLR kit I needed to take the load off my back. So this carries my primary kit for weddings these days while the backpack is in the car with my backup gear. Its a simple bag. It rolls, takes a decent load (fractionally less than the Commuter backpack). The opening top and front give you excellent on the go access, so you keep the stuff that you want all the time (bodies with lenses attached) in the top, the rest in the main body that is accessed through the front (lie it down first). There are straps to stop the front fully opening and stuff falling out, but I don’t use these. I treat it like a suitcase style bag and lie it down whenever I open the front. Also, not zipping a bag up as soon as you are done grabbing something is the kind of thing that sees assistants and second shooters cut from my list… so I just make sure its zipped up whenever I’m not actually accessing it.

If you look carefully you will find a kitchen sink in there.

All the things. The passthrough on the signature keeping things together.

Think Tank Retrospective 30

This was actually my first Think Tank. I bought it to carry my full Fuji Mirrorless kit a few years ago. Its still going strong, but since I got my Signature 13 and ditched Fuji, its been put into my second tier. It is still the Best run and gun for a medium load when you need fast access though. It fits a heap of gear when needed, but these days it usually carries all my flashes at weddings, fitting six speed lights plus triggers, mods and barrettes in its big compartment and big pockets. Built tough, solid and durable.

Pelican 1510

This is the oldest of my current bags. I bought this when I stopped using backpacks back in 2013 after my first backpack started to fall apart (that one wasn’t a Think Tank, and I wont dwell on the negatives or name it other that to say the quality was Low, and definitely not Pro). These days it is my portable studio kit for when I am doing location headshots. I can fit cameras, lights, laptop etc. Solid. Good for standing/sitting on. Its also great for travel with the gear you can’t carry on, though I really am tempted to get the new “air” version.

Future Bags?

Next on my shopping list? right now I am trying to decide between a Think Tank Airport Security V3 (I do love my TT bags!) or a Pelican Air 1535 (that solid shell makes a good seat/stool/step)... similar size and price, both would carry my entire DSLR wedding kit including my main speed lights meaning only one bag not two. Just cannot decide at the moment which one would be better for me.

Blog is back... back again. Blog is back... tell a friend

May 31, 2019 in Development

Why haven’t I blogged for a while?

Two reasons. Life. Life got super busy. Too many weddings, selling houses, buying houses, moving houses, moving studios, and just busy spending time with family. Ive been flat out just doing the day to day stuff, and focussing on my family life when I’m not actually on the tools doing paid photography work, this was complicated further with a spate of injuries and illness that have resulted in me spending a lot of time going to and from doctors and specialists. I’m not completely past that yet, but getting there.

Secondly, a loss of self belief and a loss of passion. I had become isolated from positive photography influences in my life. Its a small community in my state, and I was struggling with keeping perspective in a small room full of big egos. For the most part, everyone I had around me was cool, but there were influences that would on one hand appear to be supporters, but then on the other, would be pretty quick to assert themselves and their greater knowledge, skill, popularity and ability over me. I stopped putting myself out there because every time I would do something I was proud of, or have something positive happen in my photography life, they would jump in and one up me. So I isolated myself from those influences, focussed on my own mental health until I felt safe to start exploring photography outside of my actual work again. There have been a few key players there that have given me much appreciated support, photographers that I admire and feel lucky to call my friends. More on those positive influences another time.

The result? All work and no play made Ed a dull boy. I didn’t feel like I had anything to say, and I stopped doing personal work. I had a really busy couple of wedding seasons, too busy in fact, I burnt out completely and totally lost my passion for photography. I hated this, and so now I’ve capped wedding bookings so that this doesn’t happen again. I need to enjoy what I do, and when you shoot too many weddings, a couple of things happen. Firstly, 2-3 weddings per week is exhausting… This can mean 3 days on the tools for 12+ hours, and 2-3 days just driving to and from weddings. The killer week for me saw 2 elopements early in the week, a thursday driving to Hobart (5 hr drive), Friday shooting for about 14 hrs, driving half the night to get closer to the next wedding… check into the hotel at 2am, sleep until 7, check out, drive another 1 1/2 hrs to the next wedding and shoot another 12+ hrs. Home just after midnight then Sunday uploading and backing up, getting set for another midweek elopement and wedding again the next weekend as normal… And I had several weeks like this. With editing, client meetings etc, I saw nothing of my family for pretty much the entire summer. This made me resent the work. And then theres the honest and harsh reality… with that many clients, there are always going to be a couple of bridezillas.. I rarely get these, but one difficult client has a huge impact on your confidence. You can have 10 happy clients loving everything you have done, and then there the one that just decides that contacting you on your personal number at 11pm on the Sunday after their wedding asking why the photos aren’t ready yet (even though they know I specify much longer), and every night after until delivery. That one takes it out of you. Negativity is much more powerful than positivity when it comes to an artists confidence.

Anyway, enough whining. What has changed?

Firstly I have been fortunate enough to replace the negative influences on my photographic life with positive ones (post to come about my peers and influences). Then, in turn, these people have inspired me to be creative, both with my wedding work and in general. Secondly, I made the tough decision to limit my bookings. There is a financial impact to this, but thanks to an amazingly supportive wife, we are making this work.

These have combined to give me the time and space to be creative and start shooting for myself again. While I don’t have any actual projects in the works right now, I am again open to one, when the right one comes along. For now, I am just taking a camera with me everywhere, recording our family life. I’m that uncle that has a camera at every family gathering. A big part of being able to do this comfortably was choosing the right tool. Along with the loss of passion and confidence, another thing that got in the way of me doing this was my total switch from Fuji Mirrorless to Nikon DSLR. I went from having an x100s that fit in my pocket and everyone ignored because it didn’t look like a big serious camera, to having to lug a pro size body and lens. Everytime I puled it out, it had an impact on the scene. People just behaved differently. So, I have dipped my toes back into mirrorless waters with an Olympus Pen F… but more on that later.

Where to from here? Well, along with starting teaching and mentoring other photographers again, I will resurrect this blog, and fill it with stuff that may or may not be of interest to other photographers, full time pro’s or weekend hobbyists alike. I will post a bit about gear, not serious reviews, just my thoughts on the stuff I use. I will put in some BTS of my wedding and studio work, a glimpse into what I do and how I do it. There will be some photographic navel gazing, the things that motivate me, the photographers that influence me, the peers that have stood beside me and helped push me further. I will talk about workshops, my own and this that I have attended. I will discuss podcasts I listen to and books I read… Basically its going to be me waffling on about all things photographic and how they fit in my world.

Feel free to tag along, but also, I won’t be offended if you don’t.

Until next time!