A few years back I had a couple of Sony NEX-7 cameras. They were pretty close to really, really good. The sensor tech was last generation (by today's standards) and got noisy if you went much beyond ISO800 but man, it was sharp and detailed. I loved the twin control wheels on the back except when they modally switched and confused me. I guess I should have always just shot manual where one controlled aperture and one controlled aperture. I flew too close to the sun and tried to use the "A" mode. Could never remember (in a seamless way) which dial controlled the aperture and which one controlled the exposure compensation. But it didn't really matter; I liked the camera anyway.
The two things that bugged me though were the sluggish AF and the lower resolution EVF. Those cameras got ditched for something else but .... I was wading through some folders last night, in preparation for a presentation, when I came across some older images done on one of those Nex-7 cameras and an ancient (really old) Olympus Pen-F (the original series, not the faux dig-copy) 25mm f2.8 manual focus, metal barreled, half frame lens. Damn. It was a good one.
I wish Sony would resurrect that body design. I know why they don't...external controls cost more than putting controls in menus. Still, with a new EVF and a faster AF system that particular body would be fantastic.
Ah well. Water under the bridge at this point.....
On a completely different tangent: People!!! What the f@ck is going on with your cellphone use? We went to the Blanton Museum yesterday to look at the show of art in the 1990's (good show) and there were no fewer than three different people who parked themselves in front of the little information cards next to a piece of art, blocking it from everyone else's view, while they stood there, immobile, texting. Not about the art; just texting. Oblivious to the people who wanted to read the explanation of the art work. To get the useful information. You know, the whole goddamned reason to be in the museum in the first place.
Not just an issue with the young. Several oblivious offenders were middle aged (whatever that means now). Have we gotten to the point where we need to arm the museum guards and get them to take action against the cellphone zombies? Fall of civilization? Or should I just carry a tire iron with me when I go out to public venues? Amazingly stupid people! And you wonder about our politics? If they can't navigate a museum what chance do they have making any sense of the world around them?
This is why we can't show nice things....
One of the original Craftsy Photo Classes and
still one of the best!
I met Lance a couple of weeks ago in Denver
and found him to be really fun and knowledgeable
this class reflects what he teaches in hands-on
workshops in Ireland and Iceland, as well as
cool places around the U.S.
How to make what we shoot into a cohesive
train of visual thought.
Tire irons and elevator passes. Two great ideas from two blog posts.
ReplyDeleteI also have a NEX-7 and I never liked it much. It was capable of some really nice pics, but the 18-55 lens was just OK, and the choice of lenses was abysmal. When I put on that big honking 18-200 silver zoom, the affair was really over. And then I sent the camera off to LifePixel and converted the camera to Super Color IR. Now the affair is hot and heavy again, and I am getting absolutely stunning B&W photos. I would say as sharp as an 8x10 contact print. As the camera is now a single purpose device, I don't even mind the goofy small body, large lens look, and headache inducing controls.
ReplyDeleteBack in the day when I attended driving school, they told us that one should always pay attention to kids. Nowadays, when driving, I'm on the alert when I spot people handling smartphones - they act much more unpredictably and erratically than kids.
ReplyDeleteBest, Thomas
Hah, museum rage. It's on the rise.
ReplyDeleteI get annoyed with young uns at gigs on their phones. I'm not yet forty myself...
Mark
Scratch the tire iron. Go for a powerful electromagnet that you can switch on as you sidle up to them. :-)
ReplyDeleteYou're not along in how you feel about this. It is a sad reflection on our society that so many people need to be on their devices to feel engaged. I'm starting to feel like I'm developing the Robert Frank Syndrome, i.e. moving someplace where there aren't a lot of people.
ReplyDeleteIf only it were limited to museums. Personally, I am tired of all the oblivious idiots who text while driving erratically. And there are so many of them - seems like they're multiplying like rabbits.
ReplyDeleteKen
I didn't know about the Robert Frank Syndrome but I'm afraid now I'm as well developing it!
ReplyDeleterobert
ReplyDeleteHere in Britain I have become invisible aged 86. Go up London expect to be knocked over by people on their phones .While in a supermarket they push their trolleys into one while they discuss their purchases on the phone. Use to be a keen street photographer but not any more. Not safe to carry a camera. Actually Americans seem vey polite one of the few along with Indians who offer one a seat on the subway.( tube) regards Alan Green
Ah, the North American species of Earbudus-Cellphoneus. Good thing they were not present when the Picasso exhibit was in town a few years back. A large diesel pickup-truck will clear them from the streets momentarily too.
ReplyDeleteThe NEX7 was very close to being my entry into the mirrorless world.
ReplyDeleteTried it out and loved the results, although the commands were a bit weird.
Ended up going m4/3 all the way mostly because of the ease of use of the Olympus cameras and the superb video of the Panasonics and how easy it was to get adaptors for just about any lens.
Nowadays there is not much difference between what can be mounted in each of them, but initially it was definitely easier to find stuff for m4/3.
Seriously: at lunch time in Sydney Australia, it's almost impossible to move in a straight line in the main walkways around town without collecting some smartphone zombie!
I've now got to the point of not steering myself around folks who zig-zag and text/look/tap/whatever at the same time.
They collide with me? Ah well, I'm well over the 250 pound mark in weight and most definitely not all flab, so guess who comes out second in almost all cases?
Some folks just do not realize how annoying they are to other walkers until they are clearly shown the silliness of their ways.
If that makes me anti-social, then I'll gladly be so!
We're of similar age and disposition (i.e., annoyed by cellphone zombies). The most annoying to me are the ones who stand in doorways or at the top or bottom of stairs and escalators, blocking the way. If and when this happens I don't mind speaking up, and loudly. It's not that I'm particularly confrontational; I've just noticed that they're so zoned-out the most common response is for them to silently step aside while barely looking up. Avoiding collisions is as much for my safety as theirs, but oh how tempting it is to send them sprawling to the ground.
ReplyDeleteThey say the young 'uns are into texting, but I (nearly) stumbled upon one, in a Barnes & Noble, who was being obnoxious in a different way. Sitting cross-legged on the floor with her phone next to her on speaker, looking at a magazine while ranting about how she used to be, like, you know, racist and stuff and now, like all the people she hangs out with any more are black or Chinese or whatever, like she doesn't even have any white friends any more. (She was obviously a very deep person and wanted everyone to know it). The way I figured it, though, she was anything but oblivious - she seemed more like the type who hopes someone would say something to her, so she could call another friend and complain about how people are trying to suppress her freedom of speech. And stuff.
ReplyDelete