PixelNewbie is moving!

Getting hosted by my own domain to be exact... the new URL is:

http://snapshots.rocketpunch.biz

This site will remain active as long as Blogger will have me. :)

Half a day with the Sony NEX-7

My brother bought the Sony NEX-7 and I managed to borrow it for half a day. He also bought the 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 OSS along with the kit lens but it looks ridiculous mounted (just take a look at the link). I then put on the kit 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 lens and went for a short walk around my office to test the camera. Images below were shot Av Mode in RAW and went through my standard processing for exposure, color, saturation, and sharpening.

Sony NEX-7 + 18-55mm F3.5-5.6
| 1/100 sec, f4.5, ISO 100 | 1/640 sec, f/5, ISO 100 | 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 100

Sony NEX-7 + 18-55mm F3.5-5.6
| 1/1600 sec, f4, ISO 100 | 1/640 sec, f/4, ISO 100 | 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 100 | 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 100

Sony NEX-7 + 18-55mm F3.5-5.6
| 1/1600 sec, f4, ISO 100 | 1/640 sec, f/4, ISO 100 | 1/500 sec, f/4, ISO 100 | 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 100

What follows is a very very very short and sweet impression of the camera.

Things I liked:

• It feels light with the kit lens. I could carry it all day. With the kit lens, it generally feels good in the hand.
• APSC sized sensor with a 1.5x crop factor.
• FPS is crazy high at 10fps.
• The LCD is nice and clear and it swivels.
• Images are bright, colorful and have nice contrast and are very easy to post process.
• Bokeh for the kit lens is quite decent.
• Build quality is good.
• Built-in flash is nicely done. The arm can swivel and you can basically make the flash bounce at angles up to 90 degrees up.

Things I'm iffy about:

• It doesn't feel like I'm holding a camera, more like a gadget. I can understand why consumers will think that's cool though.
  
• The AWB renders things on the warmer side, especially indoors on yellow tungsten. But if you shot RAW, this isn't a big issue.
• The EVF resolution has been universally hailed as one of the best in the market. Eh... it's still quite pixelly and slow to me. Perhaps I'm spoiled by the OVF of DSLRs.

Things I didn't like:

• The changing from LCD to EVF takes about 1/2 second after I put my eye to the viewfinder. Oops! Moment gone!
• The top two dials get moved too easily and because they aren't marked, you have to rely on the LCD to tell you you've moved them. Which will be very often.
• With a slow SD card and shooting in RAW, the buffer struggles after a burst.
• Sony seriously needs to fix the options menu.
• No touch screen on the top of the line NEX?
• The NEX line as a whole needs faster lenses.
• The lenses are seriously big for a camera so small. Even the newest prime lenses are big. Kinda defeats the purpose of the body's small form factor IMO.

All in all, a very consumer oriented product (pretty obvious from the layout of the menu) even though the NEX-7 is the so-called 'professional' grade NEX that appeals to the power users. The Achilles heel of the NEX-7? 1) the top 2 dials that are too easily moved and 2) the serious lack of lens choices. And no, lens gotten from the adapters don't count.

I have to say it's a fun camera to shoot and I managed to get some decent pictures from it. Will I get one? Hmmm... good question. Not sure if it's more portable than my DSLR to be honest. It's smaller, but the lenses aren't. I think I can make a better judgement when more lenses are released.

Simple life in Kyoto

In 2009, my extended family and mine went on a family trip to Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan for a week. During that time, I was still using the Sony A550 which didn't record video, so I brought along my Canon Powershot G11, figuring I'd take some videos of my kid (er... and wife :p).

So anyway while waiting for my wife to shop for souvenirs near Kiyomizu-dera, I decided to walk around the area soaking up the atmosphere. I turned my head down an alley and saw this scene. Luckily, I had my G11 in my hand.

Canon PowerShot G11 | 1/100 sec, f/4, ISO 125

Now when I took this picture I just thought it was an interesting scene, a travel candid so to speak. It's only in 2011 that I found out this can be considered street photography :D. Still, that's all semantics: this remains one of my favorite street shots even after 4 years.

My Canon 5DIII impressions Part 3 - Servo

So the Canon 5DIII is rated for 6fps with a very customizable Servo mode. It allows 6 ways of tracking your subjects with each mode customizable in 3 ways. That's a lot of ways. The shots below was done on the standard tracking mode.

Canon EOS 5D Mk. III + Canon EF 50mm F1.2L USM | 1/250 sec, f/1.2, ISO 100

The  camera now has a big depth of field preview button at the bottom right hand side of the lens mount. It's easily reached with my middle and ring finger. It's also customizable so I set it to go to servo mode when it's pressed. And that's how I shot these. It took getting used to and a few times but once nailed I think it works admirably.

I wouldn't try this with the 60D and the 50mm f1.2. The lens is slower to focus with that camera.

> Full set of pictures on Flickr

It's time to get a new bag!

More specifically, a backpack.

I'm usually a shoulder bag guy because I usually walk with the camera in sleep mode in the bag and only bring it out to shoot when I want to. It's much easier to reach for the camera with a shoulder bag. But I'm planning to go on a 2 week family holiday in June and we'll be hitting many cities. With 2 young kids in tow, I decided that I'll get a backpack to help unburden the missus of some of the kids' stuff she usually lugs around.

Awwwww... so nice right? It's for sanity sake to be honest (just kidding, hon!).

So now I'm in the market for a backpack that has a camera compartment. Here's my list of must haves:

1. Room for my full body 5DIII + 24-105mm f4 lens.
2. Room for at least 2-3 more lenses, 1 being the 70-200mm f2.8 (though I'm not planning to bring this one to the trip). Anyway, at least 2 lenses plus a body.
3. External room for my Benro tripod and/or water bottle.
4. A compartment to put the kids' stuff in. This includes: change of clothes, milk bottles, snacks and diapers.
5. Miscellaneous photography stuff like flash, memory cards, lenspen etc. Heck even my wallet probably.
6. A laptop compartment for my 13 inch Macbook Pro.
7. The bag that shouldn't look like a camera bag.
8. It needs to at least have some semblance of security.
9. Preferably not too bulky so I won't look like a Ninja Turtle.
10. Doesn't weigh a ton.
11. Easy access to the camera if possible but this isn't that important.

Yeah... about a dozen requirements. So I spent about 3 days browsing around forums and websites and narrowed down my choices to (L to R): Benro Journo 200, Kata DR-467i and the Tamrac Aero Speed Pack 85.

They all fulfill a majority of my requirements but not all of them. I'll need to take a good look at them in the stores when I get the chance. In the meantime, it's always good to have options so I'm still looking around for other backpacks. :)