My Rebound Camera.... The Canon G7X Mark eye eye (II)

Rebound camera?

YES!
After losing out on a great offer on a Sony RX1, I was dumbfounded. Frustrated to say the least.
A few days later, after reading numerous rave and positive reviews on the net, i took the plunge and bought myself a Canon G7X Mark ii, also on a great deal. Bought it on a whim!

Rebound Camera.... This is not gonna end well!

This camera is pre-owned but almost practically new, there's almost no sign of use on the body, of course there are smudges on the LCD screen but it was in good clean condition, it was at a great price too! Its about USD$365.

To be honest, i dont need a Sony RX1, but i wanted it due to my nature of GASing every camera in the world. I'm looking for a pocketable camera, ones that can fit in my back pocket jeans. So, the 1inch series cameras fit the profile. The RX100 series are too damn pricey and the Canon was at half price, so i bought the Canon.

After the emergence of Fujifilm, Sony and Olympus in the mirrorless market, i never liked the Canons and the Nikons, to be honest i'm quite despised with them failing to compete the Sonys, the Fujis..... like Nikon for example, they announced the DL series, a 1inch sensor camera to compete with Sony, after few months of no news, they scraped the whole project, wat dafuq are you on about Nikon??

Years after years, Sony and Fuji coming out with brave new technology and the Canons just keep on updating their enthusiast n mid range DSLR...yawn.... After using Fujis, Olympus and Sonys, i never liked Canons JPEG rendering, its worst at best., best at its worst, i dunno if thats the right phrase but yeah...i mean BAD.

But like i said, after reading great reviews, getting a great deal, and also being a rebound, i made the leap!

Most bloggers reviewed it on a positive note, raving to be exact, saw Chris Nichols from The Camera Store youtube video and he gave it a positive experience as well. So must be good right?

After looking at the files in my Lightroom, i'm disappointed. It wasn't what my eyes are expecting, its not sharp, it smearing much, the JPEG rendering is mush. Colors a little on the red side. Just way too mushy, smeared, aggresive noise reduction. But this is JPEGs, RAW could be better. But if i want RAW i might just shoot with my Full Frame Sony A7S which is awesome but could not fit my back pocket, unless im a Giant wearing a loose jeans.

Its funny how people rave so much about it, the lens is crazy soft on the wide edges, almost toy like quality, but somehow it looks like part of the bokeh?? If there is a bokeh.
Sure this camera can do bokeh, but that JPEG rendering is killing me. Its just my eyes is not used to seeing this inferiority.

But Maybe i'm expecting too much out of a 1inch sensor.

Or my eyes are too fixed on Sony's Full Frame Image Quality or what my Olympus Micro Four Thirds can output.

I'm sure my Sony RX100 Mark III took better pictures.

So i took out my hard drive and looked for my RX100 images and blew it up in Lightroom.... To my surprised they were similar!! The Sony JPEG rendering is much better though or maybe i liked the Sony colors better but the JPEG rendering and the smearing and the Noise reduction, the softness are similar... Just a note, with these type of cameras i'd prefer to shoot just JPGs,

Well i guess my eyes are expecting a full frame quality or at least a Micro Four Thirds IQ.

Guess my acceptable smallest sensor shud be a Micro Four Third then. I just cant look into the 1 inch sensor IQ no more!

Right now i'm looking at the Lumix GM1. 😅😂😁

As always, another day another camera...... (to lust for)

But i'm gonna give my Canon another chance to shine...

GAS-ing for a new camera!

Wow, its almost one year after my last post.
As usual i get GAS every now and then, lusting for a new camera.... ive never GAS for a new lens...its always a new camera, doesnt matter if its a 10 year old camera as long as i have never owned it.... problem with my country we dont have camera rentals....if we do, it will save me a lot of money....

So which camera u asked?
I dunno the list goes on but i have so little money....but huge LUST...not need Just WANT..... sigh....its a problem i have, if only im Effing richhh 

Im looking for a small compact camera suitable for travel, in the lines of Ricoh GR, Fujifilm X70 or the newer XF10 but also got a great offer on a USED SONY RX1 which i have been lusting all these years but havent pulled the trigger.... but the RX1 is not pocketable like the Ricoh or Fuji, but they're are not quite pocketable (GR and X70) at least they're slimmer. But what about my Sony A7S plus 35mm 2.8 combo?? its similar in size to the RX1.... its good enough but like i said, i WANT something new!!
If i wanted to save money, i'll just stick with my A7S + 35mm, i brought that combo to New York and no complaints! Of course trying to take a picture of the Liberty from the pier is SAD AS FUCK. Need ZOOM. but for what it is, street photography and travel, the 35mm is great!
I'm also looking at the Sony 28mm f2, because i love bokeh so much...albeit the size will become bigger....

Why do i want a small camera you say? is because i want it for my Travels...i have Japan trip coming up so i need a camera i can bring everywhere...i want it compact as  fuck because im sure i'll be the one handling all the luggages and the baby stroller, i only have two hands, so bringing a bigger camera usually ends up in the bag, too hassle to take it out....i also need to be aware of my kid who likes to run once his feet hits the ground!

So yeah, problem im having,
Ricoh isnt easily available
Fujifilm X70 is probably still available but with its price i can buy the Sony RX1
Sony Rx1 is waiting for me
Sony 28mm f2 is also waiting for me...

So which one should i spent my money on???

I want to love the Ricoh but the dust problems ive been hearing and reading is putting me off.
I would want the Fuji X70 but since i can buy the RX1 for the price, its giving me headache.
The RX1 can produce great IQ but im hearing AF issues and low light performance not quite great.
If i want to invest i should get the 28mm lens because i know my A7S has great IQ and i can shoot wide open for bokeh which i really fond of....

But .... i want a brand new camera!

ciao

So i stop whining and brought my Sony A7S to the States!

So in my previous post i was GASing for the Fuji X70 because of its small compact kinda size compare to my Sony A7S for this trip to Washington DC.... in the end i did not buy it because i'm being wise and saved me $700USD at the same time. haha..Although i keep checking B&H photo and lensrental websites for great deals. There was a used X70 for $500 but in the end since i already brought my Sony, why would i buy the X70.... So i just stop whining and brought my A7S. My argument was hand carrying my Sony A7S for these 2+8+14 hours of flying not including layover. My lowepro fastpack seems to be a great travelling backpack although i hate using backpacks since it would sweat my back more.  Overview of the trip was i didnt get to shoot the milkyway (the original plan) because of lack of tripod and the distance of my hotel from the Washington DC Mall is quite far.

P/S Shopping and taking photographs for me cannot coexist lol. So in the end i think the best camera is still my iphone because its either you got your picture or you dont.

But here are some shots from my A7S....

reminds me of the Shining....pity who stayed at the end....long walk to the elevator 

Although its a bitch to carry this Sony A7S but i love the output id get out of it...

Photography tips 101: Exposure (Basics of Photography)

Hello welcome to my tips 101, today i'm gonna talk about exposure, the basic of photography, when you take a photograph basically the old skool way says you are taking an exposure.... (bahaha i read that somewhere or i just created it).....
Anyway, this is more of a guide to newbies than photography tips actually, but tips and guides are similar i guess....

So the basics of photography is exposure. What is exposure? in photography terms exposure is the combination of 3 things.

a) Shutter
b) Aperture
c) ISO

With these 3 you basically create an exposure,which means you are taking a photo. Whether you use your iphones to take a picture, a compact point and shoot or a frikkin DSLR or even a film camera, these 3 things are always in play.

Exposure is also the gathering of light. These 3 things are used to how much light is gathered...How much light reach the sensor of your camera or film back in the day. These light gathering will affect the brightness and quality of your photos. Do i make it sound complicated? Well just get this:-

Exposure = Shutter, Aperture and ISO.

Each settings will affect the brightness or dim of your photos. I explain more below.

So lets explore each... im not gonna go in depth. just a basic in my own words/understanding.

Lets start with Shutter.

a) Shutter = speed = is how many seconds it takes to create an exposure. You will always encounter the terms faster shutter speed (eg. 1/1000s) and slower shutter speed (eg. 10 seconds or 10").

One of the reasons to use a Faster shutter speed is to freeze motion. You want to take a SHARP photo of a skateboarder jump mid air?? Use faster shutter speed.

This is at 1/640s shutter speed

But using a fast shutter speed also means less light reaching your camera sensor which can results in dim photos. BUT BUT BUT you can play around with aperture and ISO settings to bring back the light which means to brighten back your photo. which i come back to that later.*

One of the reasons to use a Slower shutter speed is to create motion blur. Why motion blur? Sometimes you wanted to show that the subject is moving rather than static. It also look better with motion blur than a static subject but that is based on your subject or preferences . Subject such as water flow, a cyclist.

This is shot at 1/4s. This is not a good photo but its the only one i have in collection. but just an example to create a sense of motion

Using slower shutter speed also lets you gather more light which is the technique to shoot night photography or astrophotography. Slower shutter speed also = long exposure. When you heard the term longer exposure it just meant they use slower shutter speed.

This is a 15 second shutter speed. A tripod is much needed.

So slow shutter speed is better right? More light gathered?? BUT BUT BUT you will encounter camera shake problem. Camera shake means your photos will come out blur, not sharp. Anything slower than 1/60 second can cause camera shake... when i say slower it means eg. 1/40, 1/15, 1/8 and so on.... unless you have sturdy hands and a good technique you can achieve SHARP picture with 1/30 but lets just stick with 1/60 is your limit. So a tripod is needed for sturdy non shake camera. But there is also image stabilization but lets not get ahead of ourselves. lets not get into that.

On most cameras like Sony and Olympus, Shutter mode is represent with the letter S on the camera. On Canon i believe it is Tv. On Fuji, they shown the speed itself to indicate Shutter mode.

Next is Aperture

b) Aperture is how wide or narrow the opening or hole on the camera lens to gather light. The term is usually f-stops. Aperture is a always a lens feature, nothing to do with camera body. So when they say Aperture it means your lens.

So a wide opening/hole means more and better light gathering. Wide Aperture. A lens with the ability to open wide is called a FAST LENS. Wide aperture means wide opening/hole. So aperture such as f1.2, f1.4, f1.8, f2 these are known as fast lens/wide aperture. Aperture such as f3.5, f5.6 these are known as SLOW lens, narrow opening/hole, narrow aperture.

So when to use a wide aperture? When you need bokeh!
Bokeh is defined as “the effect of a soft out-of-focus background that you get when shooting a subject, using a fast lens, at the widest aperture, such as f/2.8 or wider.” - i got this definition from nikonusa.

This is shot with Sony's 55mm at f1.8. Check out the background and foreground bokeh. OOOoooohhh Yummeh!

So the most common fast lens of any camera brand is f1.8. With Fuji it is f2.

Fast lens is also used when you shoot low light such as indoors, or maybe at night. Because fast lens gathers more light. With a fast lens, you can use a faster shutter speed and a lower ISO value. Why fast shutter speed? Because you dont want blurred photos, why lower ISO? Because you want the least noise in your photo which i come back to that later.**

So when to use NARROW aperture? Narrow aperture such as f8, f11, f16 are usually used when shooting landscapes or a group photo where you want the whole picture to be sharp. When i say the whole photo it means the foreground and background is sharp. But distance between subject also takes into consideration but thats for another story.

This is taken at f9.5. basically overall picture is sharp.

So this is good right? BUT BUT BUT with a narrow aperture, less light is gathered which means it can lead to the camera using a slower shutter and a higher ISO!! These are especially true if shooting in low light (eg. indoors and night time). In broad daylight no problems! Plenty of light!

Slower shutter = camera shake = blur.
High ISO = noise.

On most camera, the Aperture mode is the letter A. on Canon i believe it is Av. On Fuji, they shown the aperture value on the lens itself.

Next is ISO

c) Basically with ISO, this guy will affect how bright or dim your photos. BUT BUT BUT the thing with ISO is, the higher value they are the noisier your photos will be. When i say NOISIER, its the grain in your pictures. With digital cameras the noise/grain is ugly. it also smudges your picture, less details.
So the best image quality is to use lowest ISO value possible. On most camera it is ISO100. on Fuji it is ISO200. With high ISOs such as ISO3200, ISO6400, your picture will definitely show noise/grain and also less details. But with nowadays modern digital cameras, ISO3200 up to ISO6400 is acceptable. The noise is what they say similar to Film grain. So its up to you whether you like the grain or not. but for me, yes, ISO6400 is acceptable. For instagram or web, ISO6400 is more than acceptable.

So low ISO is the best right? Definitely!!! when you have plenty of light, BUT BUT BUT when the light start to goes dim, when you're indoors or nightfalls, your camera will struggle to keep its low ISO value, while it can, it will start to use slower shutter speed and its widest aperture. With slower shutter speed = camera shake = blur. If you happen to have a slow lens which is basically what comes with your camera (kit lens), less light will be gathered, so that means higher ISOs and slower shutter speed to gather more light to get the optimum exposure.

So when to use HIGH ISO? when you're indoors or low light, and you need a fast shutter speed (at least to avoid shake). thats about 1/60s

This is ISO25600. This is extreme high ISO. Your photos will look like shit! noisy/grainy. But i shot this handheld and the milkyway is visible! HANDHELD!!

This is at ISO6400. When light goes dim and you need to shoot handheld. Shutter speed here is 1/30. Aperture wide open at f2. See ISO6400 is acceptable.

On Fuji cameras, ISO is a dial and on most cameras they are in the menu or at one of the camera dials.

i hope i have covered the 3 aspects of exposure wisely. haha

So if you have read all the way up to this, basically EXPOSURE has got to do with the amount of light. if you're shooting in broad daylight with plenty of light, this is the best image quality out of a camera you can get. with lowest ISO, the picture will come out squeaky clean. no noise no grains.

When the light starts to get DIM, this is when your pictures will start to get noisy/more grain.

So lemme conclude the 3 aspects of EXPOSURE which are the SHUTTER, APERTURE and ISO.
So basically these 3 affects each other when taking a photo.

*When you want to use a fast shutter speed and the overall photos are dim, you can adjust your aperture to its widest setting such as f1.8 and use a higher ISOs such a ISO1600 and above to gather more light to bring back the brightness.

** Low ISO = less noise, less grain, more details, no smudging.
     High ISO = more noise, more grain, less details, smudging.

Here's a tip or guide on exposure:-

IN Broad daylight,

when shooting landscapes, travel or street, when you want sharp pictures all over, use a narrow aperture such as f8, a fast shutter speed such as 1/60 onwards eg 1/100, 1/200 to freeze motion and the lowest ISO such as ISO100 to get squeaky clean image.

Note:-
Fast shutter speed = freeze motion = no motion blur = less light
Slow shutter speed = motion blur = camera shake = tripod = night photography = astrophotography = more light
low iso = less noise
high iso = more noise
wide aperture = fast lens = bokeh = more light = can use fast shutter and lower iso
narrow aperture = landscapes = sharper foreground and background = less light


all photos by me. Hope you enjoy this post and learn something from it. If else (fail)

Manual PANO with Sony A7S

Testing out manually panorama stitching with photoshop. not really manual. auto stitch intelligently by photoshop. photoshop is a genius! no banding. this is before i realised that my Sony A7S has a panorama feature built in...duh! *facepalm!*

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??!!

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. 

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.