Blog Posts

Sony 50mm f/1.8 Prime Lens Review

I just received my new 50mm f/1.8 Mid-Range Prime Lens for my Sony NEX-7 and here's my early review. Wow! It is stunning that it's this good for under $300. It's even more impressive because it's just as outstanding as the more expensive 50mm Prime I'd been using before. And I've heard from fellow photographers that even it rivals the $4,000 Leica Summilux 50mm f/1.4.

Sony 50mm f/1.8 Prime Lens

The only reasons I kept my Canon D-Mark II camera for as long as I did was (a) I loved that camera (b) the 50mm Prime lens I had to go with it was just a gorgeous piece of glass. But I've moved onto to different cameras with more advanced lenses. The new Sony lens is a perfect substitute. And there's simply no reason to be using an older 50mm lens other than cost at this point. 

I got this lens to shoot portraits, plain and simple. I wanted a crisp shot with shallow depth of field and this lens gives you that creamy Bokeh that brings out the subject beautifully. The reason for this is because of the large aperture of the lens and what Sony calls its 'circular aperture design'. Who cares what they call it, it takes amazing pictures. 

It's also really light and compact. My older Canon 50mm Prime could be used as a paper weight it was heavy.

I'm going to add more to this post over the next few months as I spend more and more time with it. In the meantime please enjoy a few of these photos that were shot with the new Sony 50mm lens. 

My daughter

My son the photog.

Play time.

Photo of the Day: A Hike Up Mission Peak

I had a rare weekend day off and my wife and I decided to hike up Mission Peak in Fremont California. We got up at 5:30 in the morning to get to the peak by sunrise. It was a 2.5 mile hike straight up.  

There weren't too many great shots because the sunrise happened from behind. But I managed to get pretty low to the ground for this shot. Not bad. It was a series of five exposures on my Sony NEX-7.

Sunrise at Mission Peak, California

Photo of the Day: Red Rock Canyon at Sunset

Red Rock Canyon National Park

During the Consumer Electronics Show this year I decided to take an afternoon away from all the craziness. I rented a car and headed out to the beautiful Red Rock Canyon National Park. 

I only had my Sony NEX-7 because I didn't feel like carrying too many cameras. I got there just before sunset and snagged a series of photos using my new Sony 10-18mm wide-angle lens.

I'll try to post a few of my favorite shots over the next few days. 

Polaroid launches Android based cameras

I'm out here at CES 2013 and anxious to see all the consumer camera announcements. First up: Polaroid with some Android based cameras. I've played with other Android cameras before and I haven't been impressed. I'm not sure I need a browser on my camera. But these new Polaroids are interesting. It's nicely called the iM1836. It just rolls off the tongue doesn't it?

It has an 18.1-megapixel, 1080p video-capable mirrorless body with Android 4.1. One of the nice features lets you share images over WiFi and with other devices through Bluetooth, a nice feature which will let you edit photos on a tablet while on the go. 

The biggest wow for me is the price: $399, with a 10-30mm lens included. Take that Nikon!

 

Photo of the Day: A Lake in Germany

If you ever get a chance to visit Germany you must head to the southern part of the country. The little town of Füssen sits at the base of mountains on the border next to Austria. I ran down the hill to get to this amazing lake just as the sun was setting. 

I took three exposures and I really should have lowered the ISO and kept the shutter open for much longer than I did. This was my first real photo trip and I'm somewhat happy with the photos I took there. For many of my landscape shots I wish that I had set my aperture to a higher f-stop to really bring out the clarity in the distant trees. Live and learn!

 

Sunset at a lake in Füssen, Germany.