Milky Way Hunting!

This is my first time trying to capture the milky way.... i've done stars photography before but i never capture the milky way...somehow it slips off my mind...

So last Sunday i went with a friend who's also a photographer so lucky me he wont be bored to death! Our mission is to capture Milky Way or at least locate it. The night skies were quite clear when we grabbed our coffee but it was kinda cloudy when we reached our location. Patches of clouds which kinda ruined some photos....but oh well.... this is my first time at capturing Milky Way, but it was fun, in the dark, trying to find the darkest place away from the light pollution... i think we found a place but there are still light pollutions from the oil rigs and ports. We are at a beach. Kinda.

I've downloaded an app called Sky Guide for IOS, it $2.99 i think its worth the price, just face your iphone into the sky and it will show you where the milky way is..... technology nowadays....fascinating!!! i dont have to put a stick into the ground and look at the stars anymore...but i think thats for direction kinda compass thing?? oh well whatevs....

I also wanted to test the capabilities of my Sony A7S, and i started to appreciate its size...i think i sunk in to the thought that its not any bigger than a Fujifilm i might say.... but the 24-70 f4 is still kinda huge....it got front heavy as i fitted it to the camera body, the camera moves from its locked position on the tripod.... but i needed the wide angle FOV and that lens covers.... slight heavy vignetting though surprisingly...

The live view of the SOny A7S also went bonkers...i dunno why, maybe its a bug or maybe i mess up with some settings it just didnt work that night.....dang!! i had to guess the focus old skool style and bunch of trial and errors.... my friend with an olympus em10 can easily auto focus with a touch of the LCD. AUTO FOCUS!! yes...damn!! AUTO FOCUS the frikking night sky!! WTF!

So anyway my Live View didnt work when i wanted to but when i showed off the other night it works impeccably! Maybe next time no showing off....

Anyway, we're off at about 11pm,  grabbed our lattes and mochas at Coffee Bean and reached our first destination at almost midnight. the skies were clear but some patch of clouds visible. Its not the darkest of places as well as the restaurant opposite road has blaring spotlight least to say.... So we went to the second destination wher emost of my photos are taken....its quite dark and scary if alone... but thats what you do for photography right???

I set my IQ to RAW+JPEGS....face my iphone to the skies, fitted the 24mm and shoot away.... my shutter, ISO varies...aperture at its widest in this case at f4.... and thank god for RAW....i was able to process and slightly able to see the milkyway despite covered in patches of clouds.....

Would be great to have more of the tree as the foreground...

 One of those moments when i misfocus...too bad!! Grrrr!!

Light pollution can be seen on the clouds

During shooting i also have a problem with condensation on the lens... its from the airconditioning of my car....so it took a while for it to normalize? with room temperature.....

Battery wise for a shoot that took about an hour plus is quite ok....i think i still have about 40% juice...but i have spares! So make sure to have spare batteries....

Its been fun! 

Cant wait for the next milky way hunt!

My Sony Cameras Gear Porn

My Sony A7S and my A6000 with a bunch of lenses. To be honest i dont need to have any other camera brands, my Sony is almost complete, i would like to add a 28mm f2 and maybe the 85mm 1.8. My Sony line is almost complete...why do i still GASing for Fuji??!!

RIP Chris Cornell

RIP Chris Cornell... Died too soon....

Sony A7S Quick First Impressions Review in 2017!

Sony A7S, what can i say??

I have not put it through it paces yet though, i only had it for almost 2 weeks.
All i can say is this is not what I would bring for my travels/street photography, that award goes to Fuji X100 series. But thats for another story. I dont want to praise X100 in a Sony A7S review.

 What can i say about the Sony A7S??

Low light is indeed impressive. This is what the camera is built for. It can see night. I only done indoor lighting, i have yet test it to do astrophotography or night long exposure photos. but in a dim room...damn! This camera can see!

Handling wise i gotta say, the A7Sii is better with the beefier grip, i've handled both, the mark II definitely better but it also add weight and a bit bigger size. Check comparisons on internet. Gaahh nvm lemme find for you.

For a full frame camera, the Sony A7S is small! I handled a Canon 1d Mark II or III, that thing is huge!! but back in the day, huge is the shit!! Small cameras are toys! Nowadays its the other way round now.... people prefer the smaller size.... and hell why didnt we think of that back then??

But the lenses size of the Sony's are quite awful, it just didnt complement the body... especially the zoom lenses... i have the 24-70 f4 fitted on the A7S and its just frikkin heavy....front heavy....i didn't like it but i probably need it for wide angle photography...i like the 24mm FOV. but for travels that thing is gonna stay at the shelf.

Or just maybe i got spoilt by X100. Again mentioning the X100. Stick with Sony please!!

Anyway yes, size wise i would prefer the X100, the A7S is for a specific job/photography. Studio work, portraits, astrophotography this thing is great. But for some lazy shithole that is me, every other camera is large...my iphone is the best camera.... but thats not the point... the point is if i need to bring a real camera for travels i would bring the Fuji or the A6000 for that matter but not the A7S... it just kinda heft for me.

I have a trip coming in a month, lets see if i can stand bringing the A7S everywhere. If i am a solo traveller then i would not mind. But with a baby stroller to drag around, the baby himself clinging on my shoulder, lets see if i ever get the Sony A7S out of the bag!! and i am also the only guy in this trip , all the luggages will be mine to carry!! 😓 😭

So far i've used it a lot with the 55mm 1.8 lens. I love that lens. i just love bokeh! Might as well glued it to the body... i find them to be heavy but not so heavy like the zoom lens...if you work in a studio i think its fine....or doing wedding, but for travels....maybe im just too nitpicky... slash lazy..... too much complains..... its just that i didnt like how the lens protrude, i find it not stealthy for me....people would know i am pointing that lens to their faces..... but with X100 i can get away with it.... or maybe i just didnt have enough balls.... i think its the latter not the camera....

I think that lens is a good size with the body, this is a killer combo if u like bokeh! Now i cant wait to get the 28mm f2 because that is my kinda go to FOV.

But the best lens body combo size is the 35mm f2.8. it is also the smallest compact Sony prime lens.

Cant wait to get my hands on a square hood for this lens! its a killer look! if you've been following me, you know i love aesthetic first than functions!

I have no problem with the shutter location on the original A7S but i do think it is better on the A7Sii

If you operate a Sony camera before then you are familiar with its menu. Most of the time i just googled what i cant find.

But there is no shortcut for silent mode!!!! you have to delve inside the menus....

Face detection works best with Wide Focus Area.... which i just discovered last night...i always use the Center Focus Area because i like to do focus and recompose technique.... Face detection only works if you frame the face at the center, but now with Wide Area Focus, i just need to frame and wait for the face detection to detects the face.

To be honest, now that i am using a Full Frame camera, i didnt really noticed about its looks, all these talks of Full Frame look and the likes..... to me i just realised that i look for sharpness in my picture.... i would take a portrait then i would zoom to see the sharpness.... so i guess i dont care Full Frame or APSC, i've used micro 4 third before, and Olympus was crazy sharp....more like oversharpen! but im not going back to micro four thirds anytime soon....maybe...because GAS is crazy...

Some photos...

Check out that 55mm 1.8 sharpness....!!!

When i edit my photos with the 55mm 1.8 i dont do any sharpening anymore...i dont like to oversharpen my photos, i think the lens sharpness OOC is enough!

The auto white balance can be inconsistent indoors.... when taking photos in quick successive, as i have amber lighting most of the photos are warm but one of the photo would turn out cold... 

i dont have plenty of photos to share just yet.... but here are some...

I think i have more to say about this camera, maybe i might take back what i said but lets wait for part 2 of this review.....

To be continued......

A Picture A Day: Mountain

I wasn't really sure to upload this pic on 500px but this is the picture that get the most likes...about 30 likes...sad i know but there are actually people who likes it so thats not a bad thing either..... i think for me personally this is a shit picture but people do like it....that means i shit gold!! hahah but no.....that just shows we are different in everything we are, we have different taste, we lived different lives, different perspective.... we are just humans.... subject to our own opinions...

This was shot with my Sony A6000. Such a little gem. When i have my A6000 i really didn't blog that much... so i'm gonna change that....maybe.... and the one i uploaded on 500px is a little bit underexposed....just a noob editing pictures skills with laptop monitor full maximise brightness....wtf!

And i also start using Google's free Nik collection specifically the dfine noise reduction... i noticed even with the lowest ISO theres an amount of noise in the blue skies, which is kind of annoying...lowest ISO = noise?? maybe its the digital sensor characteristic but yeah...its annoying...

So this photo was taken late last year when i was in Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, famous for its mountain. I love spending the night here at the chalets, no aircondition, just natural breeze, peaceful, quiet, just insects noise, away from the city, and frikking one minute hot water shower n the rest is ice cold water....nasty. Nature at its best. 

This is how you clean iPhone7plus

Okay, as the title above suggests, i accidentally put my iPhone7plus inside my washing machine...Yes..accidentally... this comes with age...im not a teenager nor yet a senior, i what you would say the mid-life crisis age and my age has not yet reach that certain age when your life began..... but memory loss is getting frequent nowadays

Anyway, i thought i had a broken washing machine when a rattling sound coming out of it, so the usual me i just let it be and see what happens after, i have no clue that my phone was inside not until i the machine stops washing and me taking out the clothes out of it....and there voila...at the bottom of the washing machine, my iphone!! Gasp!... at that moment i was quite amaze how forgetful i was.... but somehow i have a feeling that it would still be working and to my not-so-surprised, it still works!! Fingerprint scanner works! Its like nothing happen....except a few scratches on the screen and a lil bent iphone....

Thats how you test iPhone's waterproofing

and

Thats how you clean an iPhone...

Anyway, water did enter the iPhone as i saw some dark marks/spots (caused by water) on the screen. My iPhone camera was foggy as well. It was on silent mode all the time, and when i pressed the phone to take out the case, water droplets coming out of the ear speaker...Ouch! Stereo speaker did not work well, the left side was a bit quiet... no ringtones due to it being keep on silent mode. but what impresses me is it is still ON. I didnt bother to switch it off, i was afraid that it wont come back on, touch screen still works, no glass breaks, like i said it just bent a bit...because when i put it flat on the table, the phone would not lie flat...

They say to dry off phone is to soak it in raw rice... the rice would absorb the moisture out of the phone...its kinda supernatural (Rice and technology doesnt seem to walk hand in hand) but in theory it seems to make sense. . Anyway, i did soak it in, not sure its the rice or some voodoo, the dark spots on the screen does fade away little by little.

I did some drying with a hairdryer as well but im worried that i might overheat the components inside..bahaha i guess i just wait it to dry out by itself...

they say time heals all wounds.....

in this case, time would probably make it rusty inside....

iPhone8, come soon!

My Camera Porn: Sony A6000

I love camera porn. Thats one of the reason i would buy a camera. Aesthetic first function second, call me nuts but thats just how i roll...... lol. Thats why i'm so drawn to Fuji....i love retro cameras, retro looks, i would buy a Zenith just for its looks, but shooting film?? Just too much work for me, hassle, i did shoot with an Olympus OM10 a couple years back and i have yet to develop the rolls, i think i lost the rolls too!! FUdge me!

Even though i love Fuji looks, Sony does have an appealing look too! Except after i owned it hahaha... GAS syndrome! Especially when fitted with vintage lens/Leica lens... oh baby *drools* but the only vintage lens i can afford is voigtlander, maybe not anymore hahah after spending 1.5k on Sony A7S....no more "investment" for now...

Anyway lets see some porn shall we, here is my Sony A6000, shot with Sony A7S. Natural light from window on my left. I love what one can achieve with one light. Boy, sure is dusty the A6000.

 This is my favourite shot of them all... it looked like it came straight from the brochure! haha...  its a little underexpose but i liked it....

Here's another shot with another light coming from the heavens up above aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh

Sony A7S vs A6000 Indoor low light test UPDATED!

So i screwed up my previous comparison where i compare A7S HIGH ISO NR set to LOW and A6000 HIGH ISO NR set to OFF. Thats just plain stupid. bwahahaha. thats what happen when you do a rush job. By you i meant me!  😂

Anyway, i did another quick test aka rush job, the same settings like previous, A7S fitted with 55mm f1.8, A6000 fitted with 35mm f2.8 aka FF equivalent 52mm. I set the shutter speed to 1/60, aperture at 2.8, ISO varies depends on comparison. Now for both cameras i set the HIGH ISO NR to LOW. And these are JPEGS OOC except for ISO6400 i brighten in post at 2 stops and ISO128000 brighten in post at 1 stop.

 A6000 ISO6400, brighten in post 2 stops.

A7S ISO6400 brighten in post 2 stops

 A6000 ISO128000, brighten in post 1 stop

A7S ISO128000 brighten in post 1 stop

 A6000 ISO256000 OOC Untouched

A7S ISO256000 OOC Untouched

A7S still comes out better as expected. I like the grain structure of the A7S. Both cameras have color noise but its worst on the A6000 and the A6000 is smudgy as well. 

I blog more when i have time now i gotta go. duty calls!

ciao

Sony A7S vs A6000 Indoor low light test

*UPDATE*
"Apparently i had the Sony A6000 High ISO NR to OFF but the A7S is on LOW! Thats not a fair fight!! Instead of editing this post i'll just make a new post"

I am getting way ahead of myself.

Actually i wanted to do a quick first impression of my brand newly own Sony A7S... but to satisfy my pixel peeping OCDness, and to convince myself that the A7S is truly the king of low light as many netizens called it....i did a non scientific comparisons between Sony A7S and the Sony A6000..... fuck science. You wanna shoot charts n bricks go ahead....not gonna find it here.... bahahaha.

Anyway, long story short, after owning the A7S, there's a side of me keep telling me that Fuji can also take great pictures in low light, i mean of course they do duh, then whats the advantage of my Sony? why did i bought the A7S? Should have stayed the idea on buying Fuji. Reading reviews on countless blogs didnt help. Steve Huff compared it with Olympus EM1 mark ii and the results were kinda astounding for a micro four third sensor! Its almost on par. Then why the hell did i go with Sony?? Or is this just GAS talk? just because i already have the A7S, now i want the Fuji....fuck sakes GAS...

Anyway, enough crap talk, lets get to the comparison. Lets compare apples vs apples. No one apple is the same right? 😂 I did this comparison because,

1) i have pixel peeping OCD
2) To convince me that the A7S is truly great in low light
3) and because i happen to have two Sony bodies, namely the A7S and the A6000.

Lens fitted on A7S is 55mm 1.8 (I FRIKKIN LOVE THIS LENS) and on A6000 is 35mm 2.8 (I USED TO LOVE BUT AFTER 55mm NOT SO MUCH) , so FF equivalent is roughly the same focal length about 52mm. I set the aperture of both lens to f2.8 and shutter speed at 1/60. ISO varies depends on comparison. Everything OOC JPEGS. Noise Reduction LOW.

*UPDATE* (A7S HIGH ISO NR LOW vs A6000 OFF) Sorry this is what happen when i do a rush job!!

This is the level of darkness the eyes see. Not pitch black dark but still pretty dark for general photography.

 First the A6000, using ISO 25600 (Max ISO). Color noise is partying!

Here is the Sony A7S, same ISO 25600, Hmmm pretty darn impressive! There's noise of course but looks pretty clean (Useable). I think i satisfied my OCD. Yes A7S has that low light advantage.

But lets get real, normally people would stop at max ISO6400. For nowadays-camera this is the max usable highest ISO for a clean image.

Here's A6000, i brighten it in post by 2 stops to get the optimum exposure. Hmmmmm...

Here's Sony A7S. I brighten it 2 stops just like the A6000. Its definitely better than the A6000.

Here's for fun, Sony A7S ISO51200,

Thats still usable right? Yeah sure there's noise but look at the wordings on the lens, still look kinda sharp.

And a word about AF, i think both camera are pretty much the same speed. I didn't noticed who, what or which is slower or faster. They do hunt initially but once they locked focus, afterwards its just quick AF....(thats As Fuck) bahahahahahahah.... i meant Auto Focus....... or both. 😂

And that concludes my non scientific comparison.....

Ciao...

I caved in........

In the end i caved in. its just an offer i cant refuse. i bought the used Sony A7S facebook deal. At $1500USD thats a great deal. It includes the body and 2 lenses, 55m f1.8 and 24-70 f4. But there is one catch though. But obviously its not a deal breaker. cos i bought it?? 😂

Shots taken with iphone7plus. VSCOed to death!

Here is the catch.......

The rubber near the card slot peeled off. But everything else work perfectly.

In operation wise, the rubber didn't really get in the way, its just annoying looking at it because i like my cameras to be smart/neat, no dangling rubber. but for the price, its a fuckin great deal.

"So far so good" - Joshua Faraday

I am so happy with my purchase.

But honestly afterwards, i was reading the X100F review! bahahaha 😂

Talk about GAS!
GAS wins everytime.

Trying out the Cinematic Stills

I was reading someone's blog when he mentioned about doing a cine stills. Basically its a photo that looks like its been taken from a movie. i do dig that kinda look. So here goes some rush shit job color grading in lightroom. Just some random photos i took with my brand new camera. Uh Oh did i tell you that? Yes! I got a new camera!

I need to work more with the color grading or spent more time on it. These pictures are rush jobs, just how i like to be. i hate too much time spending on post processing. i really love using presets! And also i had to do a quick refresher on using photoshop...boy i was rusty! Thanks Gods fors youtubes ands googles!

Or i could tell you that these are stills from a local drama??

Convinced yet?

Proof that i always wanted a Sony A7S all along....

 Hahah

I was googling Sony A7S when i stumbled upon my old blog post.

http://oobist-k-noobist.blogspot.com/2015/09/adidas-all-day-i-dream-about-sony-a7s.html

Its proof that i've been eyeing it!

Proof or poof....

GAS happens!

Well, im definitely on GAS.
One minute i was about to purchase the Sony A7ii, and then the next i was leaning towards Fuji X-T20.... and i forget all about the Sony, its Fuji all over. Sigh.... And then i saw my old Fuji X100T pictures, i really like the X100 series but i think its time to try a different X model but i still want the latest X100F.....and i like the 35mm FOV and they have converters too 28mm n 50mm. Nice. But maybe next time. And then i saw a great deal on Facebook, a used Sony A7S with 55mm 1.8 plus 24-70mm f4 at a jaw dropping price USD$1500!!! Da Fuq! At that price, anywhere in the world it is body only price but this guy, he sells it with 2 $1k lens each.... *gasp emoji here*

Im the type of guy who are unable to resist a good offer like Don Corleone said "Make him an offer he cant refuse" or in my case its "Dont refuse a good offer"... i am terrible with that kind of deals, i just cant control myself.... it messed up my mind... just like that, i forget Fuji, i'm back to Sony. I always wanted to try the Sony A7S, too bad we dont have camera rentals here, it would be a big help to my GAS problems....

Why i like A7S??
- high iso capabilities.
- low light performance.

actually those 2 points are the same. I tend to shoot a lot indoors, so it would be great to not have to worry about high ISOs. ISOLESS they say. Back in the days, but not so long ago, i would worry about blurry pictures when shooting indoors or at night, Ur up on your highest ISO but the shutter is still slow to get the right exposure or at least a decent exposure, most of the times i would just shoot underexpose so i can brighten it in post.....just like how i do it on my Leica M8...sigh...my favourite Leica, sold it though, and also how i did it on Fuji X100 series, shoot underexpose and brighten in post, so far so good, i got keepers........ now that i think about it, actually i dont need this A7S, but but included a $2k worth of lenses? Man, i cant resist.

Here are some pictures that i brighten in post.

Leica M8. One of the tricks is to convert it to black and white, so grains would look good...GAH! The shot is underexpose, i brighten up in post. 

Color works too!

All shots above are Leica M8 shots...it is a bit underexposed, but i liked it, it gave some atmosphere, feel, vibe, i dunno how to explain it....

Shit, now i'm GASing for Leica M8. 

Off now heading to Ebay. Bahahah

Ciao.

I haven't told a story how i get my hands on an A6000

I haven't told a story how i get my hands on an A6000 Sony APSC camera. So i was selling most of my photography gears, my Leicas, and the last was my Sony RX100M3. I was actually planning to invest on Fujifilm interchangeable lens camera, namely at the time the XT10. But i wasnt really into cameras at the time too. So i sold the Sony RX100M3. But only a few days later i got a great deal on a used A6000. i got it for about $300USD. Pretty decent i might say. Its not even a week i was camera-less i already bought an A6000. I was just browsing Facebook when i saw the A6000 sale post. SO thats the story. It was boring. What r u expecting? an epic journey? LOL.

I am going to slip in some photos taken by the A6000 during a recent trip to Sabah and probably some random photos i've taken. I shoot JPGs!

Mount Kinabalu. The first to hit sunrays! 

Anyway, first time using the A6000 was a bit weird. I am already used to Fuji style, Shutter, Aperture, EV all with dials. Now the A6000 is more the PSAM style. Maybe DSLR users are used to it. id prefer the manual Fuji style. I had to go a bit of a learning curve to get used to its operation. MOst of the time i just stayed on Green Intelligent Mode. But most of the time u wanna take control of your exposure. So i either set to Aperture mode, Program Mode or Manual Mode. But most of the time manual mode because when in Aperture mode the camera decides which shutter is best for you n i am always indoors so the shutter speed is slow because the camera wants to get the right exposure. SO i just set to manual. I AM IN CONTROL BITCH! Sorry.... i am ranting because thats just how i am. ANyways..... to access EV u need to press down on the wheel control. Right for ISO. I still love FUji's operation with dials for everything exposure wise.

This is an unplanned shot, i knew in my heart somewhere that i need to try and shoot astrophotography, but im too tired to plan! or im just plain lazy.

So i woke up at dawn about 5ish when i decided to peek out my window, GASP! So many stars imaginable, the night was clear, its like someone spill some pixie dust on the sky. I knew i just had to quickly try and take some photos and get back to sleep because i need my beauty sleep baahahah. I dont even remember the Rule of 400/500. 

There is no place to secure the camera, my A6000 life depends on my cheapo china copy gorilla pod wrapped around the veranda steel gate, set focus to manual and set close to infinity, take a few shots and got back to sleep LOL. Thats how undedicated myself is

I have the kit lens and a 35mm 2.8. i got the latter at a great deal too! ABout $200plus Used, the resale value is higher than that! i would prefer a faster lens, but at that price i just buy it. Now i am eyeing at the 50mm 1.8 OSS and Samyang/Rokinon 12mm f2.

For travelling i prefer to use the kit lens as it is a wide angle lens so i can capture more, if only there is a wide angle and fast lens on Sony lists of lens. I am used to the X100 lens where it can capture a decent bokeh and kind of wide angle converter at 28mm full frame equivalent. But that increase bulk of the X100 and you can guess i was GASing the X70 looking for a wide angle pocket camera but then i got an iphone7plus too! There is a Sony wide angle prime and a converter to make it even more wider, the 16mm 2.8, mostly bashed on the internet, so that kinda put me off, but i also have the kit lens at 16mm albeit slower lens at f3.5. I'm tempted on the 20mm but the price is kinda heavy and its not f2.0. but i know in the end i probably used more of my iphone for travelling, especially with kids, you got stroller on one hand and probably a baby on the other, there is just no space for an APSC size camera.

Apparently that is a workshop on fire! GASP!

#updated (5/15/17)

The only thing that i dont like about the A6000 is a lack of silent shutter! Cos i like to be stealthy! and i got no balls. Also i respect strangers who dont want their faces to be captured by a stranger (thats me!). But that is just how i do street photography. i need the silent shutter. So no one will noticed. And i also dont like the lack of lenses, might as well glued the kit lens on the A6000. For general photography i think its enough but i happen to like BOKEH. I mean they do have the lenses its just darn expensive. i like wide angle bokeh. a wide angle fast lens. Say 28mm equivalent f2. the only lens that come close is 24mm 1.8 that equals to 35mm but its kinda long lens, theres the 20mm 2.8, i would like to love that lens since its a pancake lens but too bad f2.8. it would be perfect if it is f2. I think im just spoilt by Fuji X100 series lens. So small/short and fast. I guess theres no perfect camera for me. If only theres an X100 interchangeable lens but the lenses are the same sizes as the X100's ones. Or if only Fuji can come out with a wider angle lens for X100 converter say 24mm, and telephoto that converts to 85mm, that would be perfect. I demand too much. Companies will go bankrupt if they follow my words. Why am i talking about Fuji here?? Move along...

So A6000? I really love it for the compact size, lightweight, cheap. No 4k no problem, cos my TV is not 4k. I am also not a video guy, so Mp4 format works for me. Iphone video is also good enough for me in good light.  that tell you one thing. 

What else is there to say about the A6000? I wrote a bunch of great words here but i lost it because blogger decided to crash which i rant previously. 

I think thats for now. To be honest i might put it up on sale soon. Theres nothing wrong with it, its just that i have GAS too much i need to fund a new body. 

SONY vs FUJI DILEMMA

Hi folks, its been a while since i wrote something here, well here i am now and that means im on GAS!!

So here is my dilemma, i am in the midst of making a choice on which brand to choose, either Sony or Fuji.

As of yesterday i was leaning towards the Sony A7ii, why sony u might ask? well for one i already have the A6000 which is a nice camera and if i get the A7ii, it can be my backup camera and they both use the same battery, i also have the full frame 35mm 2.8 which i intend to use on the A7ii. I also wanted to try the A7 systems since it offers full frame... but do full frame vs crop still relevant nowadays? 10 - 15 years ago yes but now the APSC technology is so advance that the noise u get from high ISO is not so much difference from what you get out of a full frame sensor, or maybe the A7 is not that good in low light?? All these talks are based on what i read from the internet by the way, but Ken Rockwell shot a dim room with ISO25600 using A7ii and the picture was quite nice, viewing from my iphone that is but thats the thing, i never print large and i always use my pictures for web, social media and this blog. In other words i also dont shoot RAW which is what A7ii excels at, i shoot only JPEGs and thats why Fuji came into the picture because they're pretty frikkin good at it (JPEGs).

There's also the debate of Full Frame look? Do i noticed? Do anybody noticed? To be honest NO, if i give you a picture do you know it is shot from full frame or APSC just by looking at it? i'm sure no unless you have exif reader in your eyes! Maybe from a trained eyes but i doubt anybody would notice.

So again why Sony? let me lay down why i'm GASing for A7ii. So first i'm on GAS, i just want a new camera, second, at the moment i own a Sony A6000, so they are in line. third, its because of the full frame and IBIS, should i jump into the full frame mirrorless bandwagon???

And why should i talk myself out of it? First, its bigger than the Fuji n heavier, Second, the lenses are also gigantic, third, which is kinda of a deal breaker to me, no silent shutter!! Cos i got no balls, the only way i get to be stealthy is to have silent shutter. But when on GAS, this wont matter though! bahaha.

So i almost bid on a low shutter count Sony A7ii until i noticed the seller's feedback is 92%, so i decided not to as i dont want to risk it. That was this morning! haha

As of today i am leaning towards the Fuji X-T20! Well that is GAS for you. So easily switch brands, in the end i just wanted a new camera! and it wont be a surprise that i still want to buy the A7ii. Too bad there is no camera/lenses rentals here! to let off some steam.

So why i wanted the Fuji? Because i've used the system and love them! I've used X100S and X100T and there is nothing wrong with the pictures i took, FULL Frame or NOT. Love the gorgeous JPEGs, The Fuji XT20 is small too! And Fuji also comes out with the trio lens of my favourite focal length in small sizes too! the 23mm f2, 35mm f2 and the 50mm f2! I think thats more than enough focal length for me unless i wanted super wide! The problem with Sony is they lack the lenses i want. And the size is bigger too. I want a camera for my travels, so the smaller the better but i knew in the end i would just use an iphone instead! I used to have Sony RX100iii and it stays in the bag all the time. Iphone gets out everytime. Im just lazy and im not a dedicated photographer. There are times though when i just want to take photos with a real camera, not smartphones. By right my A6000 serves me well but then they dont have the lenses i want. a 28mm becomes a 42mm on the A6000. The smaller size faster lenses is lacking.

I also love the Fuji for its retro design. Hipster camera. Too bad they dont have IBIS. but IBIS is really advantageous with video which im not really into.

For my travels and street photography i want the camera to be small, lightweight and stealthy which the FUji Xt20 ticks all the right boxes. but i still want a Sony A7ii.... why??? oh why???

I know i should get the X-T20 but still contemplating on the Sony A7ii. but the size of the lenses is turning me off.

Actually way back i plan to upgrade my X100T to X100F, but i think i should go with interchangeable lens this time as i havent really explore Fuji lenses. i used to have X-M1 but i only used it with the kit lens. i love the rangefinder style but i think i want a tilt screen, it is handy... X-T2 is just darn expensive and probably has features that i dont really need, i think all i need are in the X-T20, the sign is strong...i should go Fuji all the way but somehow A7ii temptations, GAS for A7ii is still there....sigh.... its the FULL FRAME mindset which is not relevant nowadays....still bugging me....does it really 3D POP??? i used a Leica M9 before and compare to the M8 i had i actually shot more with the M8.

Well i also read the if you shoot a lot of portraits then u will want a full frame because the bokeh is so much nicer than the APSC ones....hmmmm......

Actually i have more to talk about but i am kinda lost for words so here goes...

Sony or Fuji????

Ciao