Tag Archive for: doorhof

Mamiya Leaf workshop New York

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During our stay in New York I taught 2 different workshops.
The first one was for our friends from Mamiya/Leaf.
As you all probably know I’m a huge fan of shooting Medium Format, the image quality is “something else”.
I’ve started shooting medium format digital a few years ago and started out with a Mamiya digital back which, to put it mildly, actually didn’t life up to it’s expectations, my second back was much better, a Leaf Aptus 22. A 22MP back which at that time was a bump in resolution from my Canon 5D, but it was not the resolution I fell in love with, it was the dynamic range and most of all the look of the images, now this is very hard to explain but the images just look more 3D.

Leaf Mamiya workshop 3086-Edit

My very first experience with a medium format camera was during a professional imaging tradeshow some years ago when one of the Hasselblad representatives handed me one of their H2D bodies with back, at that point I thought I would never ever shoot medium format because of the price difference between a DSLR and medium format, however… when I retouched the files back home my mind changed and before I knew it I bought my first system.

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Tulips

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Ok, you know I’m not the landscape kind of guy, and especially not really flowers.
But let’s be honest if you life in an area that is known for the beautiful tulips (and no we don’t life near the keukenhof) you really can’t resist to shoot them when they are at their best right?

 

Every year we have the so called “tulips route”, it’s in essence a series of signs leading tourists (and us) through the best places to shoot the tulips, these are no parks or paid entree areas, this is just the area that I call my backyard, actually a lot of this is along my normal biking route, so you can understand why once every time I forget about models and street shooting and dive into the flowers, today some samples of what we see during a trip.

 

Shots were done with the Sony A7r and a Leica 28mm and 135mm manual focus lens.

Tulpen route April 19 2014 (20 of 126)-Edit

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First review FujiFilm XT-1

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I’m not really a brand person, we use a lot of Apple but I’ve always said that if I found something better I would switch, well up until now we never did so I guess Apple still fits my needs. Cameras the same thing, I’ve used Canon many many years (and loved it) but switched to Sony for the sheer dynamic range of the cameras, but let’s be honest sometimes you want something a bit smaller, so the search began for the perfect small camera… and I gave up….. to say they were all junk was well…. actually the truth, of course there were some nice ones but in the end I never used them…… that was until I first got to know FujiFilm, wow amazing cameras with a small form factor and finally the image quality we are used from a DSLR, but the X100 only had one lens so… not my thing.

 

When FujiFilm introduced the X-Pro1 and later the X-E1 I was sold.
FujiFilm not only knows how to build a camera that brings the joy back into photography but they also know how to build lenses, good grieves those babies are sharp and good, the kitlens gives a new meaning to the word kitlens (normally not that good but this one rocks), and FujiFilm knows how to keep us photographers happy, if you want faster AF don’t worry you don’t have to buy a new lens… they just upgrade the lens COOL.

 

When released the A7r I was triggered, a FujiFilm like camera with 36MP, Sony dynamic range AND no AA filter wow.
And Sony delivered, an amazing camera which I actually got for street and travel but at the moment keeps my A99 in the safe, I’m using the A7r almost exclusivly.
So why test the new FujiFilm X-T1 when I’m so happy with my Sony?
Well there are always things to improve of course, for example size. If you use the A7r with A glass (to get the fast AF and use my standard glass) it’s still a big camera (ok big lens small camera), the AF from the A7r is very good but only when coupled with the convertor for the A/Minolta mount on the A7r and not so with the standard lenses, in that case the A7 is the better choice. So you see my dilemma, sometimes I just want a small camera and although the A7r is a huge difference compared to the A99 the FujiFilm X-T1 is…. well even better, or is it?

 

Let’s not make this a Sony vs FujiFilm review, yeah I know you want it but I won’t.
Ok very quickly, but after that it’s all FujiFilm I promise.

April 12 2014 Fuji XT1-43-Edit

Let’s first look at resolution
The FujiFilm uses a 16MP sensor, the A7r an EE less 36MP sensor, wow no competition right?
Well not quite…..
Although the 16MP FujiFilm sensor is “just” 16MP is puts out some amazing detail and I always said if I compare it to a normal DSLR I would rate it to be as detailed as a 22MP DSLR, sounds weird right? Well that’s because most people judge their images by the amount they can zoom in on their screens…. wrong. I always judge from a print and that’s actually how you should judge a camera, zooming in is cool and makes your heart pump but in essence it’s useless, you’re cropping your images and only looking at one part, as soon as you print you see the WHOLE image and you can stand closer to see the detail, and this my friends is where the FujiFilm shines, the detail is stunning.

 

But in all honestly the Sony A7r has no AA filter and 36MP and yeah indeed it gives a LOAD more detail, but…. you have to wonder, do you ever need to print THAT large? I think not.

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A topic on the light meter

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I recently put a topic on social media and got so many good responses that I thought it also needed a place on the blog. Now let me make one thing 100% clear before starting this topic.  The light-meter is a tool, it’s nothing less and nothing more. If you don’t use a light-meter you’re not a bad person, you are without any doubt not a lesser photographer than someone who is using it, I think that from all “photographers” out there now a days less than 1% is using a light meter, from the pros this percentage will be a little bit higher and as you know those people can create stunning images.

I for one however strongly believe that someone that is into photography should at least look at the light meter to see what it does and how it operates, because if you use one, one thing is for sure it WILL speed up your workflow considerably and also helps you to create the same quality of exposure over and over again.

 

Now in the past I’ve written a lot on the subject and I still believe that there are areas that I did not touch (so who knows what you will see more in the future), during my workshops and talks to photographers I find that the group using a meter is very very small, when I talk about the reasons I often get the same responses “You don’t need it with digital right?” and that’s ok, with digital you can indeed judge an image on the “instant polaroid” on the back of your camera or on your screen. However I also get responses like “I use the histogram”, “I always thought meters were only for the landscape guys”, “I was told that the meter was inaccurate and that with digital you could nail the exposure so much better”…..

 

I’m not sponsored by Sekonic (and trust me I tried :D) but somehow the whole light meter thing did got me thinking and I decided a few years ago during PSW to do a class on why I use a meter with stunning results (I believe they sold out the meters in a few hours) ever since it’s been a solid part of what I teach.

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