Having fun with cameras

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In a previous blogpost called “the story of old” I already talked about the passion I have for vintage and vintage lenses. Today I want to dive a bit more into getting more fun out of photography and in fact boost your confidence and level in your photography.
Now digital cameras are cool, I would not want to live without one, they always work (well as long as the batteries work and as long as they are defective) but in most cases they do what they need to do and perfect…. Well ok they almost always deliver an image. Our autofocus takes the guess work out of “sharp or not sharp”, our AUTOISO makes sure that we never have a blurry image anymore, our metering in the camera makes sure that we will always have an image that’s savable in Photoshop etc. etc. We would almost forget me would need light meter (heck most people do :D) or that images could actually be beyond rescue.

Pentax Superme008

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The story of old/vintage

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It’s not a secret that I love vintage, you can see it in my shots styling wise, you can see it in the tinting I use in Photoshop and if you would ever visit our studio you will find several references to the “old days”. My preference is the 50-60-70’s and the more kitsch the better. Now that we got this out of the way let’s talk photography….

 

 

One of the most asked questions from photographers is “What camera should I buy” followed by “which lens should I buy” often followed (a few weeks later) by “should I start teaching workshops” or “should I go pro”.

 

 

Most of the times I will of course tell them that the best camera is the one that works the fastest, for example for street style shooting I’m in love with the FujiFilm cameras, for studio work I love the Medium format system and my Sony A99, but I know a lot of people that will tell you/me that they hate the EVF and will never get used to that (well good luck in a few years) and that they love Canon or Nikon, meaning who is right??? Well I strongly believe nobody is right, but also nobody is wrong.  If everyone loved the same thing the world would be very boring.

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Take for example the Fujifilm cameras, I’m in love with the X-E1 with a silver top in the very basic vintage looking brown carrying case, I couldn’t be more happy with a camera, in the studio I just love to shoot with the Mamiya RZ-67ProII with my Leaf Credo60 back….. you see a pattern my friends…. 😀 Yep, the cameras I really love are all looking (or are) vintage, now don’t get me wrong I still love my Phase One DF body and Sony A99, but I love this for performance, their appearance doesn’t make my heart beat one beat faster.

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Sony 70-400 G SSM II

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I’m in love with the image quality that the A99 gives me in the studio, on the street and…. well about always.
But how does it perform with sports?
During my first test with sports I was less then impressed with the A99, but found out that this was a know problem and 100% the fault of an error on my side, I left the E-shutter active which results in bad images with high shutter speeds, so when I got the chance to go out this weekend for a little less than an hour to shoot some Motocross I was determined to not make that mistake again. Sony send the their newest 70-400 G SSM II lens to test so I was also curious how this lens would perform.

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Let me start by saying that I don’t really like these kind of lenses, now don’t get me wrong they can be great but I always want something faster, on the Canon I used the Sigma 120-300 f2.8 for which I would kill on the Sony mount (please Sigma), the main disadvantage from the 70-400 (kind of lenses) is the maximum apertures which, also with this lens, is F4 – F5.6 which for sports is not ideal if you want ultimate speed, but hey we have to work with it, so let’s go.

 

The first thing you will notice from the lens is it’s weight, this is a very well build lens, it’s heavy, but not too heavy, it’s white (even the sun hood) and it just feels all very solid and smooth. The lens looks great on the A99 but that’s another story.

 

So how does it perform….

Rutten MotoCross 20130616--520

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BTS during the UK tour Legoland

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The last week you have seen some of the images I shot during the workshops in the UK, today I want to share some of the Behind The Scenes shot I got from one of the attendees Chris Rowe, he posted some on facebook and I immediately asked him to send them to me for my personal use on the blog, luckily he agreed so today I can give you a small behind the scenes peek at the workshop in Legoland.

 

But first of all I would like to thank some people.
First of all the guys from the Flash Centre who made everything possible and were absolutely AWESOME during the workshops (and after/before), over a short period of time they have become almost my “other” family from the UK, they ROCK.

 

But also of course our crazily creative model/stylist/MUA Nadine who travelled with us during this trip.

 

And of course Annewiek for filming the setups and being my assistant/manager/shoulder to cry on etc.

 

But most of ALL…. and I mean most of all the attendees of the workshops, you guys make it 100% enjoyable and create a great mood to work in, you guys are the reason I come over and you ROCK, thank you all so very much.
And now….. the images.
Again with many thanks to Chris Rowe.

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