sony a7rii
More megapixels doesn't mean better photographs... but in many ways, high resolution sensors can make our lives as photographers much easier, and enable us to do things we couldn't do with fewer pixels.
For the past five years, I’ve been using high-resolution full-frame cameras for my photography -- starting with the A7Rii, and now the A7Riv. This choice might seem surprising, especially given the type of images I create.
The reason is very simple: cropping.
I crop every single photograph I take, even when I get the perfect framing in-camera. Creating square images means I “discard” a third of the pixels, every single time.
A7Riv’s 61MP let me crop even further, and I often do. Switching to APS-C mode gives that extra reach I sometimes need, effectively turning my 28-200mm superzoom into a 28-300mm, while still producing large, detailed files.
In fact, in APS-C mode, the A7Riv matches the 26MP of a dedicated crop-sensor camera like the a6700. This means I can mount a lens like the 70-350mm and get an equivalent 525mm focal length in a compact setup -- much smaller than the full-frame counterparts. Or mount a prime like the 35mm 1.4 and "switch" to 50mm with the press of a button.
So, it’s not about having 61MP images; I couldn’t care less about that. It's about the flexibility those megapixels give me: I don't have to carry as much gear; or I can shoot in bad weather and not have to worry about switching lenses to get the focal length I need. I like camera gear that gets out of the way, because I can focus on what really matters: subject and composition.
I love walking, and I love photography. So, of course, a big part of my photography is done during my daily walks.
The camera gear I carry with me has changed quite a bit over the years, as I try to find the balance between flexibility, versatility, convenience, image quality, and low light performance. In this video, I talk about my current gear.
You can find a more exhaustive list of the camera gear I use for photography and video here: my camera gear.
I use ND filters almost on a daily basis, both for my photo and video work. My collection has grown over the years, so in this video I show you which ND filters I have, why and how I use them.
The ND filters shown in this video are:
A month ago or so, I dropped my camera while taking some test shots. I had to send it to be fixed, and it's finally back! In this video, I also talk about a new lens I bought, and answer some of questions I was asked on Instagram.
Still catching up after my road trip. I never shared the video I made in Northern Washington here, and that’d be a mistake. Washington is probably my favorite state (sorry, Oregon), and the coast and mountains north of Seattle are my favorite part of it. Beauty everywhere.
But there are some other recent videos I never got to share here:
Full Moon over Crater Lake, I couldn’t miss it. I drove over 7 hours to be at Crater Lake in time to witness a breath-taking moonrise.
She left me! No more excuses… My apologies for the clickbait-y title. But it’s true, Rachel had to go home for work, so I’m alone on the road. This just became a 100% photography trip.
A landscape is never done. I revisit some of my favorite spots in the Oregon Coast and I try to convince you why you should revisit landscapes. They are never “done”, and there’s always something new to find and capture.
Where’s the Bronica? I get asked about the Bronica very often.
How to do photography in bad weather (and why you should). Don’t let rain and snow stop you from getting out there, they are the very things that can make your next great image happen. A few tips about how I shoot in bad weather.
Some street photography in Portland. Rachel and I go on a walk on the streets of beautiful Portland with our cameras (Fuji X100T and Sony A7Rii) and try to make the best of a lovely fall evening.
Best thing you can do for your photography right now. It’s very simple, and yet very easy to forget. So easy that I have to keep reminding myself of the key to photography: just get out.
Intentional Camera Movement (ICM) in the woods of Portland. A very useful technique to make minimal and simple images in busy places. Useful even if we don’t like the results, as it will get us started and might be the spark we need to get inspired.
That’s quite a few videos, I guess I’ve been busy lately. And there are many more coming soon. I’ll be sharing them here, but don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel. It really does help.
In this video, I'll try to show you why using APS-C lenses on a Full Frame body not only might make sense, but it can also be a great way to achieve performance that'd be very hard to get otherwise.
I used a Sony a7rii and the following APS-C lenses: Rokinon 12mm f/2, Sigma 16mm f/1.4, Sigma 30mm f/1.4, Sigma 56mm f/1.4, Sony Zeiss 16-70mm f/4, Sony 70-350mm f/4.5-6.3. Check out some of the examples in this gallery:
I bought a new camera.
Actually, I bought it 3 months ago. I didn't mention it here or anywhere because the last thing I want is anyone thinking they need a new camera -or even worse, the camera I bought- to create good images.
But a few people have spotted it in my videos and asked about it. I also want to be as transparent as possible when it comes to what I use to make my images, so here we go.
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