The long-anticipated Sony a7 and a7R have been called the cameras of the year by some. I was an early fanboy, but does the a7 live up to the hype and my expectations?
The a7 and a7R are the first full-frame, mirrorless, autofocusing interchangeable-lens cameras. Together, they’re strong competitors for the Leica 240 and the Nikon D800E. But the native lens selection is meager. The sweet spot may be to combine the new Sonys with third-party lenses.
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Frederick Van Johnson and I explore the Sony QX10 and QX100 “lens cameras” in this episode of All About the Gear.
Once again, Sony is showing that it’s not afraid to innovate and put out breakthrough products that might be a bit ahead of their time. The QX cameras are definitely in that category. Not yet ready for prime time, they may be more an indication of what’s to come than the end of a line.
In this episode of All About the Gear, Frederick Van Johnson and I discuss the Panasonic Lumix GX7.
The GX7 is competing for top honors in the world of micro four-thirds (MFT) cameras, particularly against the Olympus OM-D E-M5 and the new E-M1. Continue reading
The Sony RX100 II has been called by many the best pocket camera. In this episode of All About the Gear, Frederick Van Johnson and I explore why.
I love this camera. As with their X100S (read my review), the X-E1 is another example of how Fujifilm can make a camera with almost everything just right. Frederick Van Johnson and I discussed the X-E1 on episode #8 of All About the Gear.
Although much of the buzz this year has been about small, mirrorless cameras, the big-boy DSLR makers (Nikon and Canon) haven’t been entirely asleep at the switch. The new Canon 70D is most notable for it’s groundbreaking Dual Pixel CMOS autofocus sensor, which is used in video and Live View modes. The Canon 70D and an explanation of autofocus technologies are the topics of this episode of All About the Gear.
I don’t shoot a lot of panoramas, but I’ve always been curious about the GigaPan robotic camera mounts that automate capturing complex panoramas that include hundreds or even thousands of individual images. Thanks to BorrowLenses.com, I was able to get hold of one to test for episode #6 of All About the Gear.
This afternoon I started work on a future episode of All About the Gear on which I’ll review the Gigapan EPIC Pro. Here’s my second attempt at a Gigapan image of the Golden Gate Bridge. Expand to full screen, zoom into it and pan. Check it out. (Sorry it’s Flash, but that’s how the Gigapan viewer works.)
32 images in a 4×8 grid. Shot with a Nikon D800E at ISO 100. 70-200mm f/2.8. 1/400 second, f/8, 200mm. Stitched in the Gigapan Stitch app. The limitation to the resolution here isn’t the 36MP camera, the lens or the application. It’s due to atmospheric aberration. A problem with long-distance shots at 6pm on a warm September day.
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