So I bought a second hand Nikon D800 a little while ago. Why you ask? Well I decided to get it converted to infrared. I managed to find a really nice example and sent it off to get converted and get the grip fixed as well. Linked below is a video of me unpacking the camera when I got it. I will update this project soon, including a few example photos. However you could check out my instagram.
Technology
So there is a lot of discussion about the conversion of apertures and depth of field between smaller sensors and full frame sensors. The main thing that I remember is that the depth of field doesn’t change during the conversion. What do I mean by that?
So if you have a 150mm lens on the MFT camera at F/2.8 that is the same as a 300mm at F/5.6 on full frame. For both these lenses, for a given focus distance the depth of field is the same. So if you are interested in trying to get a blurred or sharp background then remember that your aperture has doubled with the focal length.
That does make things difficult to get a really blurred background. With a full frame F/1.8 at say 85mm you can get a nice blurred background. To get the same depth of field (blurring) on MFT you would need a something around 42mm at well F/0.7. That’s not going to happen with most lenses.
There are two options on the market that come pretty close! There is the Panasonic 42.5mm F/1.2 ASPH Lieca DG Nocticron OIS lens, which in the UK is currently about £1150. Or there is the Voigtlander 42.5mm F/0.95 Nokton, which is £850. It should not be a surprise to you that these lenses exist for the exact reasons stated above.
I have been updating the travel camera kit. I started with the Panasonic G80 that I purchase with a 12-32mm (24-64mm equivalent) lens. I then decided that I would add a 25mm (50mm) as I really like the standard lens length. Finally I decided to try out a 20mm (40mm) lens, bit different but I had heard a lot of good things about that lens so I decided that I would give it a try. It is also like the 35mm length on my full frame and film cameras and is close to that.
I have had the camera for a couple of weeks now and I really like it. The quality is really good and it has a lot of great features. Couple of my favourite features are the onscreen levels and I recently managed to get the Android app working. Importantly I think the quality of the images is really good. They are sharp with good dynamic range, I wonder if the lack of low pass filter improves the image quality. I will have to give the camera a good outing soon. I will be taking to Oxford soon, and the also Greece. So that might be the first to real opportunities to give the whole kit a good test.
The G80 travel kit, 20mm on the camera, 12-32mm on the left, and the 25mm on the right. All purchased second had.
In my quest to put together a really nice travel kit that is much lighter than my D750, grip, and a massive lens I have added a 20mm Lumix G f/1.7 II ASPH. This lens is equivalent of a 40mm in 35mm, and goes well with the 25mm and 12-32mm that I already have. 40mm is a slightly odd length really, but I am a fan of 35mm lenses and also this is the natural length for this sensor size. This apparently makes for some nice pictures that some say are little like that from Leica, but I have no idea about that and probably never will :). The lens is however well known for being really sharp, and compact. True to form I got this lens second hand, pretty much never buy camera stuff new, I payed £185 and it looks never used. Only if I really cannot get something after ages of looking.
I thought this would make a nice lens for street photography, sharp, relatively fast, and unobtrusive. Just want you need. I am visiting London tomorrow and I will be taking this setup with me. See if I can’t try it out a bit.
Couple more pictures of the lens itself. I might get a filter for the front element as this camera will be living in bags a fair bit (I have ordered a thin case to go round it). Onc e I have some sample pictures from this kit I will do a bit more of a review of the different bits.
I am a user of the Linux operating systems for my desktop computers, have been for years. I use Mac laptops as they were the closest to having a really good Linux install you could get for a long time, now Linux is fully functional on laptops but I still use Mac Laptops.
This means that I wanted cross platform software for photo editing, something that would work on both Linux (I mostly use Kubuntu and Opensuse, Debian on servers) and Mac OSX. For a long time I used GIMP, well frequently still do. It’s a good piece of software, with a lot of functionality. However I wanted something that was more tailored to photo editing, with clearer menus. Something rather like Lightroom really.
I eventually discovered Aftershot Pro 3 has a Linux version, and I figured it was worth a go. Especially as I saw it fairly heavily discounted in a sale. I will do a more in depth review at some point in the future but the first impressions are good. The import system and file management is what I would call ‘old school’. As in, you have do it yourself really. However it is lightning fast. The RAW file handling and editing is accelerated using OpenCL, with means it can take advantage of modern GPUs (inc Nvidia and AMD). The means that if you don’t mind the odd quirk around menus and file management, and they are easy to get used to, it is a fast and efficient editor. With a lot of features and functionality. So I would recommend you give it a try at least.
I do a lot of travelling about for work and also bits of holiday. Normally I take my Nikon D750 and perhaps a 24-120 F4, but as it now has a battery grip that is a lot of camera to carry about. This is particularly a problem if I am going to a conference as I will then have a laptop etc as well! Makes for a heavy bag and the after long days walking about it can be a bit much. So I bought a new travel camera!
I frequently buy second had cameras as you can get a good deal and often things have been well looked after. So I went for a second had Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80, with a 12-32 Panasonic Lens. So far its looking good!
Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80
Its a nice compact camera that has a touch vari-angle screen, EVF, and can do 4K video with an external mic! Perfect for what I need.
The vari-angle screen is a nice feature if I did want to record myself or do a selfie etc.
The best thing in terms of travel photography is that its small (ish), especially when compared with my D750. It is a lot lighter (585g vs 1991g for the Nikon) and although one would assume that the D750 with the glass I have would beat it for sharpness and probably also in low light, the pictures look very good.
I will of course be keeping the Nikon gear and I would like a Nikon 24-70G F2.8 (not the very new one I can can’t afford that), and perhaps in the future I would get a D850. I don’t think I will be getting a Z series camera for a long time. This second hand combination came in at ~£500, a Z6 would have been £2500+ with a lens. I will be posting some pics up soon.
I have an interest in old video and audio equipment, I just like the technology and the aesthetic of it. I have a couple of pretty interesting bits of kit. The first is a old Sony EV-S9000E video Hi8 VCR. I think these things were briefly developed as a replacement for VHS by Sony, but also they were sold as a way to easily play back your home videos taked with a Hi8 camcorder. I got if of eBay sometime ago. I don’t have a TV that I could connect to it, however I can connect to a BlackMagic Intensity Pro 4K via component connectors. So I can play and also capture the footage off tapes onto my computer.
The VCR has some pretty clever features, including things like frame advance and slow motion play. All of which can be controlled either by the remote or a control panel. Its a fairly retro piece of equipment, I am not sure how old it is but it still works perfectly.
One thing that this technology really drives home for people like me that have just really only used computers, is that editing footage etc back then would have been much more difficult. I suppose it would have required two of these or a camera that allowed for component input to really do some editing.
The other bit of technology I have is for DVCAM and miniDV. It is a Sony DSR-25, which is essentially the same thing for DVCAM and miniDV tapes. This connects to a computer via firewire, so its a little simpler to get the footage off. All that is required is something like dvgrab or Kino on Linux. Some editors can also import the footage directly.
This connects to the same computer, I can to put in a £7 firewire card as it didn’t have one. Firewire isn’t as popular as it once was, and to be honest it really didn’t make it as standard on PCs, although for a while it was on Macs. My 2011 MacBook Pro has a firewire 400 port.
I actually have an old JVC miniDV cam, so I can produce footage for this one. I don’t have a Hi8 cam, but I did get a few tapes with the VCR. I would like something to handle Digital8 tapes. I have looked for VCRs on eBay but they go for crazy amount of money, £500+. Having said that the EV-S9000 is listed at £900 sometimes. I could get a camera with DV out, but that is not as appealing. I did have one once, not sure what I did with to be honest. Probably went back on eBay.