Tag: Sony

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From Fujifilm to Sony – How my glass changed

The Overrated Photographer
Glass is glass, or at least that’s what you normally think. To a large degree, you would expect the focal lengths to at least stay static, but that’s not always the case has my recent move from Fujifilm to Sony shows.
There are the obvious items, like the availability of lenses in specific focal lengths, If it’s not available, it’s not available, but that played less of a factor than I expected.

Continue reading “From Fujifilm to Sony – How my glass changed”

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Sony has no intention of notifying you what is in their camera updates

The Overrated Photographer

I followed up with Sony after some question marks on the battery warnings they “hid” in their firmware updates. My issues were simple:

  1. If this was to help users identify fake batteries, why is there no option to turn it off? There are plenty of after market batteries that are affected by this.
  2. If Sony were honest about helping users, why haven’t they notified users of the functionality change in their firmware description? After all, this was an “honest” attempt to help users.

Whilst I  do have an issue with manufacturers limiting third-party batteries as a whole, I have a bigger issue when they add the functionality through updates because what has worked perfectly is essentially handicapped by firmware. I also have an issue when they secretly embed this in an update, which can’t be reversed and don’t include the information in the firmware. That strikes me as pretty underhanded. Continue reading “Sony has no intention of notifying you what is in their camera updates”

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Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens for Sony E mount Review

The Overrated Photographer

When I lived in Fujiland, the Fujifilm 90mm (APS-C) quickly became favourite from a focal length perspective. I didn’t have a particular affiliation with the 135mm focal length, I think I originally picked up the 90mm because the AF speed on the Fujifilm 56mm was terrible for kids, but I fell in love with focal length and the compression after that.

With my move to Sony, I started with the Zeiss Batis 85 which is amazing, but after a while buying a 135mm seemed was a foregone conclusion, it was just a question of which one. The Zeiss Batis 135mm F2.8 would have been the logical choice, small and light, but us humans aren’t known for logical choices. This is how the bigger and heavier Sigma 135mm f1.8 ART found it way into my collection. I had a light portrait lens with my Zeiss 85mm Batis so I thought for this one I was going to purchase the beast, and a beast it is…beauty and a beast all in one. Continue reading “Sigma 135mm f/1.8 DG HSM Art Lens for Sony E mount Review”

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Sony vs Fujifilm – Let’s get real about it

The Overrated Photographer

I’ve had quite a few people email me in response to the article I wrote on the A7iii vs X-T3 because of my recent switch from Fujifilm to Sony. The types of questions coming through were akin to:

  1. Should they switch to Sony if it’s better?
  2. How could I have been happy with Fujifilm and now say Sony is better?
  3. If I knew what I know today would I have gone to Sony earlier?
  4. What would I buy today?

Let’s answer those in simple terms: Continue reading “Sony vs Fujifilm – Let’s get real about it”

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Sony A7iii Review

The Overrated Photographer

In some respects its a little easier reviewing cameras when you are switching systems. You are not as tied to a legacy way of thinking so it’s a little easier to grip on a problem and think of it as a negative or positive. With using a different system, you tend to think: “This is the way I work and I’m not going to change” which creates a problem with a camera. If you are switching you think: “This is the way I am used to working, could I work this way in future?”

My background? Non-commercial photographer. I have long since accepted that I do photography because I enjoy it and doing it commercially wouldn’t work for me because I like doing it the way I want, with the things I want, when I want. I make enough money from my normal career to fund photographic toys. Shot Nikon, switched to Fujifilm for mirrorless years ago, then onto Sony for reasons I won’t go into, except to say I do actually like the Fujifilm gear so it has nothing to do with that. Continue reading “Sony A7iii Review”

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Sony and Fujifilm? What’s your battery story?

The Overrated Photographer

Fujifilm and Sony have both embarked down a path which concerns me. For the first time we are seeing camera manufacturers warning users not to use third-party batteries in their cameras with a nice little warning message popping up on their cameras.

Now I have no issue if there are legitimate concerns, but excuse me if I have a health dose of scepticism when it comes to believing them for a couple of reasons: Continue reading “Sony and Fujifilm? What’s your battery story?”

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The Sony A7iii vs Fujifilm X-T3

The Overrated Photographer

I caught up with a good mate over the weekend. As a Fujifilm user, he had the latest X-T3, so we decided to swap cameras to allow us to play around and get our thoughts. He’s already penned his thoughts here so feel free to have a look at the different perspectives.

It was an excellent opportunity to see where the camera designs were going, and I put together my thoughts on the two. This isn’t a feature comparison, just some ideas comparing where the two cameras are in their life cycle.

Some of these photos are snapshots, the review wasn’t intended to showcase the best of these cameras, it was a casual outing with a friend and our kids in bright midday sunlight, not exactly ideal conditions, but I have thrown in some other samples as well.

My knowledge of shooting video is somewhere between zero and nothing, so please don’t expect any video related comparisons.

Continue reading “The Sony A7iii vs Fujifilm X-T3”

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Is it any surprise female photographers feel uncomfortable?

The Overrated Photographer

I had a mystifying experience on the Sony A7iii group run by SonyAlphaRumors.

Someone posted a photo of some ladies dressed in sailors outfits. The photo and pose weren’t to my taste but it was “safe for work” from a photographic perspective so the photo itself wasn’t the problem. What I found insane was the responses to the photos from the so-called amateur and professional photographers in the group, some of which run photography businesses. Continue reading “Is it any surprise female photographers feel uncomfortable?”

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How to get Fujifilm classic chrome with a Sony A7iii or other Sony Cameras

The Overrated Photographer

When I first made the shift to Sony, one of the concerns I had was about the loss of Fujifilm’s Classic Chrome, one of my favourite film simulations and probably the only one I use on a regular basis. It wasn’t a show stopper, but I really like the subdued colours for days where I am shooting in midday sun and can’t avoid it.

Fortunately, moving to Sony doesn’t mean the end of Classic Chrome, or many of the other simulations, which can be replicated in some form. Obviously it’s not a perfect science, but I thought I would would put out something so other people don’t don’t through the process as well: Continue reading “How to get Fujifilm classic chrome with a Sony A7iii or other Sony Cameras”