Mad T Party Photo Essay with the Sony A7 and the FE 70-200mm f/4 G lens - DAY

I haven't done a photo essay in a long time let alone a photo essay about the Mad T Party. I want to keep the words to a minimum and simply demonstrate how fun it is to shoot here, especially with the Sony FE 70-200mm f/4 G lens. Thanks for stopping by.

The Beautiful Sheena Loza as Alice

Sheena Loza is a personal favorite for her "Rocker" type voice and stage presence

The cast singing Come on Eileen, a Save Ferris cover of Dexys Midnight Runner's 80's classic 

The rock god himself, Dan Franklin with Josh Disan and George from the 80z All Starz

Dani Kerry - one of the original Alices and another favorite of ours

We go out of our way to see Dani Kerry and Josh Disan perform together, even if it means wading through 5pm rush hour on a Friday Night

And when the day turns into night, spooky things happen. Stay tuned next week for my next photo essay on the Mad T Party.

Halloween Mad T Party photos to come next week

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A weekend with the Sony A7 and the Olympus OM 50mm f1/.4 - Breathing new life to an old lens

Features

• All metal construction weighing in at 230g (per my research)
• 49mm filter thread
• Close focuses down to 0.45m or 1.47 feet. 
• 180 degree focus ring throw
• Manual aperture adjustments in full stop increments from f/1.4 to f/16
• Optical construction of 7 elements in 6 groups
• Cat eye bokeh wide open with hexagonal shapes closed down

Pros

• Sharp at the center even wide open
• Inexpensive to adapt to most mirrorless cameras
• Light weight, all metal construction that maintains heft and appearance of quality
• Covers a full frame sensor
• Focus ring has just the right amount of throw from near focus to infinity
• You can get fairly up close and personal with your subjects

Cons

• Noticeable vignetting at f/1.4
• Soft along the edges. Improves at around f/2.8
• Manual focus only (I don't know if I can qualify that as a con, but I understand it may be to some)
• Back lighting or direct sunlight into lens occasionally yield soft, washed out images. 

A very quick snap of the Olympus 50mm  f/1.4 on a battle tested Olympus OM 40 film camera. For a fast 50, it is quite a small lens. 

Which is which? Full Frame versus Micro Four Thirds

I've been spending quite a bit of time doing more studio style photography and have been learning different techniques from amazing photographers. Just recently, I met up with a buddy who also loves the Cheetah/Godox line of barebulb flashes to do an impromptu portrait session. Like him, I have become a huge fan of the Phottix line of light modifiers and accessories, another China-based company hitting a homerun in the strobist department.  In the image below, you will see the 43 inch Phottix Luna Octobank. What I love about this modifier is that it is a fold-able, light weight, highly portable octobox that produces pleasing light and is a perfect fit with my Cheetah Speed Pro Bracket MarkII. I haven't spent enough time with the Luna to make a definitive claim about it's quality, durability and utility, but you can bet I will be posting a review in the near future.   

Photo Cred to Efong Chiu

During my time working in the studio, I noticed one thing - Good lighting will always beat gear. The following two shots were taken with different cameras one being the famous Canon 5D MarkII and the other with an Olympus E-P5.  After reviewing both files, I honestly couldn't tell the difference as far as image quality goes. Can you?

A great professor in light - Efong Chiu of EmaginePixel

I understand outside of the studio the differences between depth of field and low-light performance is more noticeable, but for these applications I would argue they are neck and neck.   Feel free to leave your comments and thoughts below. Thanks for stopping by.

So say we all,

Dino

For more information about the lighting equipment used, check out my blog posts HERE.  This links to both my initial impressions and subsequent uses.  

My Initial Thoughts on the Sony A7/A7r

Excitement and fear...are exactly how I feel about Sony's new full frame cameras, the A7 and A7r.  There's a buzz in the air and you can "feel" it in every photography forum, blog and rumor site out there.  Finally a small mirrorless, full frame, interchangeable lens camera with automatic features and an electronic view finder that's fairly affordable.  I will not go into detail about the specs as others sites have done an extensive job already (I am a huge fan of Steve Huff's work and you should definitely check out his blog regarding his initial impressions), but it will be a game changer.