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Posts Tagged ‘Richard’s’

Gear of the Year: Richard’s choice – Canon RF 800mm F11 IS STM

27 Nov
Dan Bracaglia

I wouldn’t usually consider myself a fan of long lenses, perhaps as the result of my early digital experiences coming on disappointing superzooms. Once I’d got over the novelty of being able to take pictures of something a long way away, I usually found I could take a better photo by simply getting closer. I’ve used long telephotos for sports shooting, of course, but in recent years my lenses of choice have been 35 and 85mm equivalents.

The Canon 800mm F11 seemed too interesting to not try, though. And that meant adapting my photography to suit the equipment. This may sound back-to-front: I spend much of my working life looking for cameras that require the least adaptation on the part of the photographer, the ones that just work.

But, restricting yourself to single focal lengths or shooting a mono-only camera can help provide inspiration, so you can push yourself to try something new. And I needed to find something that I could shoot with it.

My first thought was to play around with the compression effects you get from the greater shooting distances encouraged by long lenses. Shooting through the open patio doors, with me at the back of the common room and my subject on the far end of the roof deck, I was able to exaggerate the size of the Space Needle in my photo. Unfortunately, with a fixed F11 aperture, I didn’t have the option to stop down further to make it less diffuse.

What’s the big deal?

We’ve seen impressive things done with diffractive/fresnel optics before: Nikon’s 300mm F4 PF is an excellent lens, that I’m hoping will be re-created in the Z mount, but the Canon F11 pair is something a little different.

Think of it more like a modern alternative to the mirror lens: restrictive, in that it has a fixed aperture as well as a fixed focal length, but freeing in the sense that you can lift it and, to a much greater extent, afford it. And, unlike mirror lenses, the resultant images aren’t marred by strange doughnut-hole bokeh, which I personally find distracting (/revolting).

Add in the retractable design and light weight and the convenience of the package becomes clear. It’s not the most solid-feeling lens, by any means, but those weight savings are appreciated if you’re carrying it for more than a few hours. Ultimately, though, it’s the price of the 800mm that stands out most, to me. At F11 it lets in 1/4 as much light as the EF 800mm F5.6 IS L can, but its list price of $ 899 is less than 1/14th of the cost.

A (socially distanced) hike around the city suggested a better option. Our walk took us through the Union Bay Natural Area. At first it looked like a piece of low-lying scrubland overshadowed by a college football stadium: a messy adjunct to its gameday parking. But the more I stopped and looked around, the more interesting fauna I saw, and the more photographic opportunities.

So I went back, armed with the Canon 800mm F11, an EOS R5, took my time, wandered around, looking for things to shoot. I make no claims to being a nature photographer, and my first efforts were patchy, at best. But like all the best photography experiences, every half-decent shot I took convinced me that my next one could be better.

I tried to take photos of variety of subjects, but there were some kingfishers who would return to a number of vantage points, before diving for prey. Their speed made them a challenging subject, but one that would give me multiple opportunities, if I watched closely and waited long enough.

The need to get a diverse gallery of images in a short space of time is somewhat at odds with the patience required for good nature photos. Similarly, the diktat that we should keep ISO as low as possible for lens galleries probably left me skirting the line of motion blur, but even with imperfect results, I found myself wanting to go back and have another go. Which is the thing that I enjoyed most about the 800mm: finding myself able to try something new.

I’m not going to claim any of my shots were great, partly as a result of inexperience, partly due to basic moral failure. But I enjoyed myself and the 800mm had helped encourage me to do something I might not otherwise think to try.

You might well argue that the thing I enjoyed was being pushed to try something new, and I’d completely agree. But I think the Canon RF 800mm F11 puts that opportunity to try something new into more people’s hands. Hence it’s my pick for this year.

Yes, I should have got up earlier in the day, used faster shutter speeds, but it was an enjoyable experience. Thank you, Mr. Predictable Kingfisher.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Gear of the Year 2019 – Richard’s choice: Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN

11 Dec
Photo: Dan Bracaglia

I originally wanted to choose The High Line in New York as my Gear of the Year, but apparently a one-and-a-half mile elevated stretch of re-purposed freight railway doesn’t count as photographic gear. It’s also somewhat exclusionary, in geographical and logistical terms.

I’ll (grudgingly) concede those points. And anyway, it’s not the ex-railway infrastructure itself that’s so good for photography: it’s the fact that it’s full of ambling tourists and relaxing New Yorkers taking a break from the city’s hubbub, such that they’re much more amenable to being photographed by slightly nervous Brits wielding camera gear.

The three lenses I’ve most enjoyed shooting with this year have all been portrait primes

But thinking about photographing strangers along The High Line made me realise that the three lenses I’ve most enjoyed shooting with this year have all been portrait primes. Reviewing the GFX 50R and 100 gave me a chance to use the GF 110mm F2, which might be the best lens I’ve ever used. Covering the launch of the Sony a7R IV gave me my first exposure to Sony’s very impressive 135mm F1.8 GM. But it was a rather more modest lens that I used most often, and can most easily imagine myself buying.

The 85mm equivalent focal length is a classic choice for head-and-shoulders portraits.
Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN | ISO 1250 | 1/100 sec | F1.4
Photo: Richard Butler

The Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN is exactly the kind of lens I wanted when I first started getting into digital photography: it’s small, it’s light, it’s fast (both in F-number and autofocus) and, above all, it’s affordable.

It’s small, it’s light, it’s fast and it’s affordable

Most of the big camera makers have been pushing comparatively inexpensive full-frame bodies, but have saddled them with often bulky and expensive lenses. The Sigma 56mm provides a credible portrait option for owners of smaller-sensor cameras at a size and price that’s hard to match.

It’s available for Micro Four Thirds as well as Sony E and Canon EF-M mounts, but I personally prefer it when mounted on APS-C. 112mm equiv (on Micro Four Thirds) is still a great focal length for portraits, but I find myself using it a bit more freely when it’s acting as an 85.

But 85mm equiv is also wide enough to allow landscape portraits, as well as portrait ones.
Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN | ISO 100 | 1/1600 sec | F3.5
Photo: Richard Butler

For me, having it as an option instantly makes the Sony and Canon APS-C mirrorless systems more interesting: it means I can think about putting together a kit with a 35mm-equiv prime, a standard zoom and a small, effective portrait lens, giving me just about everything I need.

Like many people, the first prime lens I owned was an elderly but inexpensive 50mm F1.8, mounted on an APS-C DSLR. But, while I loved the shallow depth-of-field ability and the option to shoot in much lower light, I never found myself enjoying the 75mm-equiv experience. My colleague Rishi points out that the real-world difference between 75 and 85mm should be negligible, and yet I’m convinced I shoot unflatteringly close with a 50mm, but end up delighted with my 56mm results. It may well be all in my head, then, but that’s where my confidence and creativity come from, too.

In fact the lens can be used for things other than portraits
Sigma 56mm F1.4 DC DN | ISO 100 | 1/200 sec | F3.5
Photo: Richard Butler

Best of all, unlike Carey’s choice of the 45mm F2.8, I don’t feel the need to temper my enthusiasm for the lens with caveats. I’d love it just for being small, light, fast and affordable, since it’s in a focal length I like so much. But it’s also optically very good. It’s sharp where I want it, has pleasant, smooth bokeh and looks good in the transition between the two. F2.1 equivalent is more than sufficient for the shooting I do. What more could I ask for?

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Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Gear of the Year 2018 – Richard’s Choice: Fujifilm’s 4K video cameras

21 Dec

My Gear of the Year pick relates to the photos I’ve most enjoyed taking and the ones I’m most proud of. I’ve chosen the kit I used to shoot my favorite images of the year: all 17,100 of them. Specifically two series of 8MP images. Shot at a rate of 23.97 frames per second.

Because, while I’ve been rather enjoying thinking in 1:1 terms for Instagram this year and have had a chance to engage with and shoot some experienced models in pre-lit setups, the thing I’ve enjoyed most of all this year has been shooting and editing 4K video from the Fujifilm X-H1 and X-T3.

The great outdoors

The first opportunity came in April, when I took some time off work to walk Hadrian’s Wall: the path of a Roman fortification that ran across the North of England. I had to choose a camera that I could carry on my back for five consecutive days, along with a week’s clothes and full wet-weather gear. This ruled out the GFX 50S because, while I thought it would be funny to haul a massive great medium format lump out of my bag every time I wanted to take a picture, it also struck me as the kind of joke that would wear thin pretty quickly.

When planning for my trip, I wasn’t sure what sorts of things I’d be shooting.

My next thought was the Sony a7 III. It’s a terrific camera for both stills and video, but the more I thought about which lenses to take, the more it started to creep towards GFX proportions (the Sony 35mm F1.4 is optically very good but it’s neither small, nor especially light).

The compromise ended up being the Fujifilm X-H1 paired with a 23mm F2 and 18mm F1.8. This little kit, plus a vari-ND filter, filter adapter so it would fit both lenses and a USB battery pack to keep both the camera and my phone alive during the trip, ended up being pretty convenient. Two card slots meant I could have a big, fast card dedicated to video and stills going to the other slot (perhaps the first time I’ve found this feature useful).

The X-H1 and a pair of lenses was light enough that I didn’t mind carrying it for five days.

The video I captured is somewhat shambolic: I’d not really decided whether I was going to shoot video or stick mainly to stills until the second day of the walk, by which stage I was a Transatlantic flight away from any of the audio equipment from the office and a day’s walk from anywhere I could buy some. The result is an audio track that’s primarily WHSSHHHSSSSSWUHWUHWUHHHHHHHHHind noise.

There were certainly times I wished for something wider than the 34mm equiv of an 18mm lens.

But the footage itself is better than I could have hoped for. Highlight warnings gave me enough information to exposure correctly and the camera’s stabilization meant I could shoot hand-held, so long as I didn’t try to pan (which the IS would try to fight against). But the levels of detail are stunning, even when downscaled for playback on a lower-res device.

It’s hard to argue with this level of detail (shot hand-held into a significant headwind).

The final result is too long, too rough and too personal to be shared here, but it’s ended up being an excellent memento of something I hope to remember for the rest of my life. Which presumably isn’t why the color mode is called Eterna, but still.

Back in Seattle

The video I shot with the X-T3 has things in common with my X-H1 project in that both depict events with an inherent narrative: The X-H1 video follows a path from Carlisle to Wallsend, and the X-T3 follows the creation of a sculpture from a roughly-shaped lump of clay through to being a finished, painted object. But beyond that, they couldn’t be more different. The X-T3 project was much more planned, in the sense that I went into it with a much clearer picture of what I wanted to shoot. I even remembered to think about audio for most of the shoot.

Without any in-body stabilization I had to teach myself how to use a handheld gimbal if I wasn’t going to be limited to tripod shots (itself an enjoyable process). But, unlike the X-H1, I was able to use the full width of the sensor. (I’d ended up using the 18mm lens for almost all of my UK video, since the X-H1’s 4K crop gives it a wide-ish 34mm equivalent field of view, leaving me without the wide and wide-ish combination I thought I’d packed). Moreover I felt much more able to trust the camera’s autofocus than I had with the older camera.

Again, I shot primarily in Eterna, but the T3 also gave me the option to shoot 10-bit Log, for the times I needed to capture more dynamic range, with the knowledge that Fujifilm provides an F-Log to Eterna LUT to make sure it matched the rest of my footage.

The final video is one of the best things I’ve done in any medium for quite some time, in part thanks to the lessons I’d learned on my UK trip.

To end the video I had the idea of a matched transition: lining-up the two shots I wanted to fade between.

Both are really good stills cameras, of course and I’ve had a number of positive experiences of shooting with them both. But it’s been the process of shooting and editing these two videos I’ve really enjoyed. For instance, I knew I wanted to start and finish the X-T3 video in a natural setting. I’d worked out the transition at the beginning, but I couldn’t work out how to get back again at the end. Having the idea of a matched transition (even if I’ve not edited it perfectly) was one of the single most satisfying creative moments I’ve had in a very long time.

I remain primarily a keen stills photographer, and both the X-H1 and X-T3 are superb stills cameras, as well as really capable video tools.

I still think of myself primarily as a keen amateur photographer. But after my experience along Hadrian’s Wall, my favorite cameras are increasingly the ones that make it easy for me to shoot some stills, grab some video, then go back to shooting stills. All the brands are getting better at this, but with the X-H1 and X-T3, Fujifilm got closest, first.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Gear of the Year 2017 – Richard’s choice: Sony NP-FZ100

02 Dec

I wrote, two years ago, that I thought the distinction between DSLRs and mirrorless cameras would disappear. Not that mirrorless would eclipse DSLRs, more that the differences would reduce to the point that the presence or absence of a mirror becomes the least relevant part of a discussion of two cameras.

As I was writing a comparison of the Sony a7R III and Nikon D850 today, I was suddenly struck by the realization that it might have already happened. I think there are a lot of interesting differences between the two cameras but very few of them have anything to do with the way we’d tend to categorize them.

With this in mind, my gear of the year is the Sony NP-FZ100. Or, to those of you not obsessed with product codes, the a9 and a7R III’s battery. The simple reason for this is the role it plays in rendering the difference between mirror-less and mirror-full cameras moot.

Good enough: the threshold beyond which any further excess is superfluous

It all comes down to the idea of ‘good enough.’ And please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not talking about accepting the mediocre or tolerating the barely sufficient. Instead I’m referring to the threshold beyond which any further excess is, if not excessive, then at least superfluous: it offers no practical benefit.

Once I have enough battery life to get me through a demanding day of shooting, then any extra left in the tank is all very nice, but not exactly necessary. I recently spent a morning shooting both stills and video of a cyclocross race with the a7R III. Shooting a mixture of JPEGs, uncompressed Raws and 4K video, I comfortably churned out more than the 64GB capacity of my memory card and had to switch to a second. What I didn’t come close to doing was running the battery out. At the end of the racing, I still had more than 27% charge left, despite the sub-10°C temperatures.

The move to the ‘Z-Type’ battery on the right is the difference between me having to worry about charging and carrying spare batteries and me never having to think about it.

This suddenly eliminates the constant battery anxiety I’ve always felt with previous Sony mirrorless cameras (and that’s without including the RX1R II, an otherwise fabulous camera whose butterfly-like lifespan prompts even its proponents joke “it’s like shooting film: you need to think about what you’re going to do with your 36 exposures”). Because when I’m shooting, I don’t ever want to be worrying about whether I’ve brought enough batteries, and which ones are charged. I don’t even want to have to think about it.

In fairness Panasonic got here first, having put a big battery in its GH models as far back as the GH3, but I didn’t notice it to the same extent because I was primarily shooting video with those models.

This eliminates the constant battery anxiety I’ve previously felt with many mirrorless cameras

More demanding shooters, be they photojournalists or longer-form filmmakers, can always attach a battery grip for longer duration, but for me, the FZ100 means the a7R III is able to surpass my ‘good enough’ threshold. So, while the D850 can boast a very impressive 1840 shots per charge, for me and my photography, that’s well into the territory of overkill.

So, as a technology that allows mirrorless cameras (hopefully of all brands) to offer the same practical benefits as their DSLR rivals, my gear of the year is a battery. Because it makes the a9 and a7R III into significantly better cameras, not just because it pulls another leg out from under all those tired ‘mirrorless vs DSLR’ arguments.

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Gear of the Year: Richard’s choice – Fujifilm X-T2

14 Dec

If 2016 has made one thing very clear it’s that not everyone agrees with one another about what is logically sound. Indeed there’s been a considerable trend towards questioning the very value of expertise and facts. So perhaps it’s fitting that my camera of the year wasn’t chosen with the logical, dispassionate approach that is often necessary for my job.

I just chose the one I enjoyed the most.

If technical capability alone were my primary consideration, the Nikon D500 makes a strong case. Its autofocus is jaw-dropping, even compared with top-end sports cameras and its ergonomics are amongst the best I’ve encountered. The Sony a6300 is technically impressive, too, and I loved the video footage I got out of it (though it helped that I shot a series of short clips, so never encountered the temperature limitations that have got parts of the Internet so hot and bothered).

But my product of the year is, without question, the Fujifilm X-T2. Not because it’s unquestionably better (it isn’t), but because it’s the camera the most made me want to get out and shoot, this year.

Completing the picture

Maybe it’s a question of delayed gratification. I loved a lot about the X-Pro2 when I reviewed it at the beginning of the year, not least the image quality. I also really enjoyed shooting on a system with a good range of prime lenses for the APS-C format, rather than one that, through omission, tries to push me into buying a different format.

But that experience didn’t prepare me for just how good the X-T2 was going to be. Looking back, the X-Pro2 gave hints at the video and autofocus improvements Fujifilm had made, but the full impact didn’t really hit me until I got to spend some time shooting with the X-T2, which gives a little more control and flexibility to both.

With the X-T2 it feels like all the pieces have come together: a camera that captures beautiful color with ergonomics I enjoy that can shoot pretty much anything I point it at, without me ever feeling I’m working around its shortcomings. And, as a bonus, that will produce excellent footage when I come up with an idea for a short film, rather than a series of stills. Having something like that sitting in your desk is tremendous encouragement to go out and shoot.

Projects like this video, for instance, shot by some friends and I using the X-T2, battery grip and BlackMagic Video Assist:

Parts of the video were shot in F-Log and graded with the help of the color correction profile (LUT) that the company provides, which gives a hint about how much thought has gone into the T2’s video capabilities. The battery grip improves the battery/heat management for video shooting, though in near 0°C (32°F) conditions, overheating was the least of our problems. I’ll admit that I like the camera less if I have to operate it with gloves on.

A question of style

And, before you think I’ve just been bewitched by the X-T2’s retro looks and handling, I should make clear that, while I think it’s an attractive camera, my reason for enjoying the X-T2 isn’t that I believe camera ergonomics reached their zenith in 1987. For instance I don’t, personally, find the dedicated shutter speed dial especially useful: locking it to ‘A’ for most stills shooting and having to set to 1/60th then spin the rear dial one notch to shoot video at 1/50th of a second.

“I find it as quick and easy to use as the most polished contemporary DSLR”

However, between the AF point joystick, large, well-placed exposure comp dial, lenses with aperture rings and enough custom buttons to give me access to the settings I change most often, I find the X-T2 as quick and easy to use as the most polished contemporary DSLR. Not inherently better, but similarly good, for the way I shoot. And yes, this is all about me.

It’s such a truism that I’m sure I’ve said it before: having a camera you know will give you the results you want can be an inspiration. The X-T2 is not cheap, by any means. Even as an occasional video shooter, I’d also need to shell-out for the battery grip, so the costs would add up pretty quickly. But, if I had to put my hand in my pocket and buy one camera tomorrow, this would be it.

And, as we enter the last week of our loan period, the X-T2 is the camera I’m least looking forward to shipping back. I’ll miss it, and I’ll miss the encouragement that it’s given me. Merry bloody Christmas.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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DPReview Gear of the Year Part 6: Richard’s choice – Fujinon 56mm F1.2R APD

23 Dec

My Gear of the Year isn’t a product launched in 2015. Nor is it necessarily the absolute best option available. However, it is the product that I’ve grabbed whenever I wasn’t committed to something else we’ve been testing, and it’s a product I’ve really enjoyed.

What I love

  • Classic portrait focal length 85mm equivalent field-of-view
  • Bright maximum aperture for shallow depth-of-field or low light work
  • Apodization filter to ensure smoother bokeh
  • Well built solid-feeling without being too heavy

I’ve always liked the idea of classic 85-135mm equivalent portrait lenses but they’ve tended to be somewhat thin on the ground for the APS-C cameras I seem to end up testing. So I’m delighted to see Fujifilm go the extra mile and create a fast 85mm equivalent.

Better still, the APD version of the lens is specifically designed to offer pleasant bokeh. None of this ‘X rounded blades to give pleasing bokeh’ nonsense, the APD version actually has a radial gradient neutral density filter to smooth off the bright edges of the out-of-focus rendering. I’ve taken the availability of this very specialized tool as encouragement to practice and improve my portraiture.

A quick re-process in camera and there’s a JPEG ready to send to my patient volunteer.

Fujinon 56mm F1.2R APD
F1.2, 1/35sec, ISO 800 

The Fujifilm 56 isn’t the only tool I could have used: the Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8 would give very similar depth of field and, mounted on a Sony a7 series camera, would result in a fairly similarly sized package. However, although both have been present in the DPReview offices, it’s been hard to justify taking them out of the hands of the people reviewing and testing them, just to experiment. So it just happens to have ended up that I’ve spent more time enjoying the Fujinon.

Beyond the lens’s inherent properties, there’s another reason I’ve tended to grab the 56 and it relates to winning my subjects over and helping them feel comfortable with being photographed. 

While shooting, I’ve been using Fujifilm’s Wi-Fi system to send my favorite shot along to my subjects’ phones, letting them see the results and ensuring they have an image to walk away with. Lots of modern cameras have Wi-Fi of course, but it’s the combination of in-camera Raw processing and one of my favorite JPEG engines that makes it particularly useful. It’s relatively easy to choose the most appropriate Film Simulation mode, fine-tune the white balance and tone curve and arrive at a file I can comfortably share before I get a home to Lightroom. That ability to put the images quickly into the hands of my subjects has helped maintain their enthusiasm for standing around and being photographed.

The 56mm F1.2 APD is sharp where you want it and pleasantly smooth where you don’t. The X series cameras can place the focus with a good degree of accuracy, too.

Fujinon 56mm F1.2 APD
F1.2, 1/550sec, ISO 400

Furthermore, the relatively small size of an X-T10 with the 56mm mounted to it isn’t quite so intimidating as a full frame DSLR and has the advantage that I can continue to shoot when I’ve taken the camera away from my eye, to talk to my subject.

It’s not all dreamy bokeh and pretending to be David Hemmings*, of course.

The 56mm F1.2 APD is an expensive lens. For a start, it’s a rather specialized lens, meaning fewer buyers to share the development costs across. But equally, it’s likely that Fujifilm understands the mystique conveyed by the idea of a bokeh-smoothing filter and being able to etch the numbers 1:1.2 into the front of the lens, allowing them to charge a substantial premium.

Autofocus is also rather slow. The design appears to have a lot of glass to shift around when focusing, which slows things down, as does the loss of on-sensor phase detection, which would be confused by the lens’s internal filter. However, so long as the subject doesn’t move too fast or unpredictably (which is a reasonable expectation in semi-posed portraits), this isn’t a fatal drawback and is at least partially made up for by the accuracy and consistency of the focus.

It’s not just for close-up head shots, of course.

Fujinon 56mm F1.2 APD
F1.8, 1/1000sec, ISO 200

So why, when I know the 56mm is far from perfect, is it my Gear of the Year? On a technical level, it’s very good: it’s impressively sharp where it’s in focus and pleasantly smooth where it’s not, but the reason it’s my Gear of the Year is because I’ve enjoyed shooting with it and it’s encouraged me to go out and take photos.

I’m certainly not even going to claim the 56mm F1.2 APD has magically made me a great portrait photographer, but it’s certainly increased the number of my friends using my images to represent them on social media. And knowing the lens will take lovely images has left me able to concentrate on developing the soft skills for relaxing and posing the people I’m shooting. Now, where’s my reflector?

*I very seldom pretend to be David Hemmings.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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