YueStudio: camera

Showing posts with label camera. Show all posts

Rigging the Sony A7cII

I recently took a big step in my creative journey by purchasing the Sony Alpha 7C II camera. This compact yet powerful full-frame camera is renowned for its impressive image quality, 4K video recording, and advanced autofocus capabilities. Eager to dive into video production, I’m excited to explore how this camera can elevate my work. In the coming weeks, I’ll share my experiences with the Alpha 7C II on the blog, including tips and insights on maximizing its potential.

In this post, I’ll discuss how to rig the A7CII to enhance its performance. Rigging your camera can offer several benefits:

Improved Stability: A well-rigged camera system helps reduce camera shake and vibrations, which is crucial for achieving steady shots, especially in dynamic or handheld filming situations.
Enhanced Ergonomics: Rigs often come with handles, shoulder pads, or grips that make it easier to maneuver and operate the camera for extended periods, reducing fatigue and improving comfort.
Customization and Versatility: Camera rigs can be customized with different accessories like microphones, lights, follow focus systems, and matte boxes. This versatility allows for more creative and technical control over your shots.
Better Control: Rigging allows for better control over the camera's position and movement. This is particularly useful for complex shots or when using large cameras that are hard to handle manually.

I'll be unboxing and reviewing the latest offerings from SmallRig.

Here are what I got:

Here is how the A7cii looks with the cage mounted:

Here is the bottom mounting screw:

To add extra stability and prevent the camera from shifting, tighten the M2.5 screw through the right shoulder strap hook hole of the camera:

To access the battery, you need to flip this latch:

and here is how it looks with the side handle attached:

I ran into problem when I tried to attach the top handle. The cage doesn't support the top handle out-of-the-box. That's stupid, SmallRig! What were you thinking? I will talk about the solution in the next post.

Sony RX100 III Unbox

I am a proud owner of the Sony RX100. It is a great little camera that I carried it every where I went. I didn't upgrade to RX100 II when it came out because I didn't see a huge jump in features there. But I cannot resist the RX100 III and I got myself one. Here are the unbox photos.

The box is smaller than the one for RX100

The manual

Nice packed inside

Hello Sony

The battery. Same as the one for RX100

USB Cable and Charger. The charger looks different than the one for RX100

Everything from the box

Slightly bigger than the original RX100

And the EVF is pretty cool. It turns itself and the LCD on and off automatically.

I will post more information in the upcoming days after I play with it some more. So stay tune.

How to Pick the Best Camera

Do you know how to pick the best camera? What features do you consider? How expensive should it be?

Here's the answer: the best camera out there on the market today is...
...the one you have with you.
...the one you're actually going to use.

For most amateur photographers, any camera is the best camera

Ok, you probably didn't want to hear that. But it's true. No camera will automatically give you great photos if you don't have great composition and exposure. Cameras don't take pictures, photographers do.

Ansel Adams said, "The single most important component of a camera is the twelve inches behind it."

Fine, we hear you. So what camera should I buy??

For people who are starting out with photography as a hobby, get a camera set that you can comfortably afford. Then learn as much as you can about exposure, composition, and other techniques that make great photographs.

Once you decide that you really enjoy photography as a hobby and you want some advanced features, then you can sell your old equipment and upgrade to higher-end models.

If you discover that you have a hidden talent in taking great pictures and you're thinking that you may actually want to make some money from your talent, then you can spend more money on fancy equipment.

But your money will go furthest if you buy quality lenses. This makes a bigger difference than buying an expensive camera body.

What features should I look for?

The biggest myth when choosing a camera is that the megapixels make a big difference in the quality of your pictures.

Says Ken Rockwell,

Even when megapixels mattered, there was little visible difference between cameras with seemingly different ratings. For instance, a 3 MP camera pretty much looks the same as a 6 MP camera, even when blown up to 12 x 18" (30x50cm)!

So unless your picture is going to be on a billboard, every camera currently on the market should be perfectly sufficient to meet your MP needs.

Instead, consider these differences between high-end DSLR vs. low-end DSLR vs. point-and- shoots.

Price (the difference between the top and bottom can be a few thousand dollars)
Response time (the time it takes the camera to take the picture when you press the shutter)
Auto-focus
Performance in low-light situations
Video capabilities
Weather-proof builds

Back to the main point: the best camera is the one you always carry

And what do you never leave home without? That's right: your phone!

An iPhone (or any smartphone) is the one camera that people always have with them.

So here's how to tell if you're a true photography buff: if you're constantly snapping pictures with your iPhone, especially of things that most people wouldn't consider photogenic, then you can consider yourself a real enthusiast. In that case, you're probably someone who would take advantage of the extra features of a DSLR. Especially if you find using your iPhone as a camera annoying due to its lack of features (can't adjust ISO, shutter speed, or aperture), slow response time, and inability to change lenses.

So before you spend the extra cash to upgrade your seemingly boring run-of-the-mill camera to a fancy high-end model, figure out honestly how much you intend to use it. If your expensive DSLR sits at home most of the time, then that is probably not the best camera for you.

But if you really have money burning in your pocket, here is your shopping list (I am a Nikon shooter, sorry Canon fans):

Lytro Camera: Why You Should Wait For v2.0

According to the company's website, the Lytro camera has a light field sensor that captures 11 million light rays. This basically means that it captures all light traveling in every direction. Sophisticated software then allows you to do all sorts of things with the photos as a result. You can change the perspective, refocus, and supposedly even switch between 2D to 3D.

Even to a non-scientist like me, this technology is pretty amazing. But advertised as a simple point-and-shoot with additional refocusing capabilities, this camera comes up short.

Minimalistic Design
Depending on your preference, you can either consider the Lytro's design as sleek and stylish or bare-bones and plain.

With the Lytro, it almost looks like you're pointing a flashlight. But hey, maybe that's a good thing if you're trying to take photos incognito. It's definitely small enough to fit in your pocket and even hide in your hand.

Unfortunately, its small size doesn't make the screen easy to see. The screen resolution is only 128x128, not to mention that it washes out if you're not looking at it straight on. Very often you have to guess that you've composed the picture correctly and confirm it later when you download it.

The lens cap also only attaches with only a magnet so it's not very secure. It often falls off in the camera bag (Kelvin's pet peeve). Worse is if the cap falls off outside the bag without your knowledge and it's gone for good.

Functions
The Lytro has an Everyday mode and a Creative mode. With the Everyday mode, you can pretty much point and shoot, and you can zoom up to 3.5x. Creative mode gives you slightly more flexibility. Zoom goes up to 8x. You can also take macro shots with a shallower depth of field.

If you're a professional photographer, you may feel limited in the Lytro's lack of functionality. But that's the point, right? You can concentrate on composing your photos and worry about the correct focus later. Of course, that goes against the grain of many pros who want the perfect shot with the camera, not a perfect shot after a lot of post-processing.

Performance
Of course, the simple design and limited functions means this camera is easy to use. Like I said already, point and shoot. The speed is pretty fast--not like a DSLR, of course--but probably as fast or faster than most point-and-shoots and definitely faster than a smartphone camera.

Image Quality
None of the advantages means beans if the picture quality is poor. The Lytro shoots pictures with 1080x1080 resolution, good enough for 5x7 prints, according to Engadget. Photos look pretty decent if the shots are well-lit and you have layers of focus. But don't try to take landscape shots with this camera; you won't get much detail in them other than noise.

Software
The camera saves pictures in "Light field picture" file, or .lfp. Lytro's accompanying software lets you perform some basic editing, which really only involves clicking on different parts of the picture to change the focus.

The software also has social media sharing capabilities, but the pictures will upload as .lfp if you upload through the software. If you want your regular .jpg file, right click on the photos.

In General
This camera looks cool, so if you want something new and hip to take pictures with, and the $399 price tag is not a budget buster, then have at it. But if you want more functionality with better quality photos, get a DSLR. If you want better quality photos at a cheaper price, get a regular point-and-shoot. It's not hard to vote against the Lytro camera in its current form. The potential of the technology is nothing short of amazing, but until we can get more functionality out of it, then the technology is only going to sound good on paper.

Here are some of the pictures taken by our own Lytro camera. Click on different parts of the picture to change the focus. Interactive and fun!

By: Elaine Yue | elaineyue.com

Leica M9-P Unbox

Here are my pictures of unboxing the Leica M9-P:

Also being unboxed is the Leica Summicron-M Lens - 50 mm - F/2.0. I bought it on eBay, so the box is a little beaten up.

The camera with the lens:

The images of the full unboxing sequence are here.