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.
