Wednesday, July 6, 2016

#20 A7Rii with new Fotodiox Adapter

I did more research and got the Fotodiox DLX Series, Nikon (G) to E-Mount adapter. Right off the bat I tried out my Nikkor 70-200 VR 2.8 G lens.....and no luck. As with the much cheaper Fotasy N/G-A7II adapter...it simply won't click into place. I starts to go on but will not turn to fit in place. So far both of these adapters will work with most all of the other Nikon lenses I have.

I recently got a Manual Focus 85mm F/2 Nikkor for cheap on eBay. I've seen where some sellers will have a ---Make An Offer--- option.....but in the past every time I tried making a lower offer they always declined it. This time it was Adorama company using eBay to sell this lens. I offered them $40 less and they took it! They were asking $160 originally. I'd been watching the 85mm F/2 lens on eBay for a while and they usually go for $200 at least. I did see one sell for $175 but was hoping to get one for less. Patience usually pays off on eBay. The lens is in great shape and works like a charm on the Fotodiox adapter. With the Fotasy adapter the lenses will go on but with some the aperture ring either won't turn or it will with lots of force....so far with the Fotodiox the aperture rings work normally. The Fotasy was $16, the Fotodiox (from their web site) was $80.

Here is a shot I took with the Fotasy adapter and the 85mm Nikkor F/2 (This was a few days before I got the Fotodiox):

(as with all of the shots on this blog click on the image for a larger view.)

This was basically a lucky shot as very minimal Depth-of-Field here and manual focusing!
I think I'm really going to like this 85mm lens! Can't wait to try it out at one of my model shoots. 

I got to use my Sony A7Rii with the Sony 24-240 lens again in action at the San Diego County Fair for the second time this season. It was the last day of the Fair, July 4th. We thought the traffic would be horrible on the nearly 2 hour drive so we left really early and arrived about 30min before the place even opened. Fortunately we had some free vender passes so could go right in. (Pays to know people, such as my pal Dean LeCrone who was entertaining the place every day of the Fair I think...as his steampunk character: Dr. Peepers!




I really can't be happier with the quality of the shots with this camera/lens combo! Sony A7Rii/Sony 24-240. I really do need to get a small flash to put on when needed. I do have lots of flashes I can try out in manual mode but it's always best to have at least one that is TTL for it to sync with the camera and give you the correct exposure with the flash. I only use on camera flash at events like this or weddings where you have times such as the reception where you are moving around a lot and need light. For 95% of the time I don't need the flash at events. At this one the camera was doing a great job. Even when the subject was partially shaded from the harsh sun the shot was great later when I brought it up on my monitor. Amazing. Here is a shot that was like that. Half of his face was shaded and I thought it would never turn out right. But it did. And no, I didn't save it in photoshop.
I keep waiting for all the problems with the A7Rii that I have been reading about but knock on wood I haven't. In fact 2 things they complained about were: No uncompressed RAW ability. And the overheating when shooting video at 4K after more than 10min etc....well.....Sony fixed both of those issues in their firmware update of 3.0. My camera came with 3.0 already on it since I've only had it a few weeks. I've not switched from lossy compressed RAW to uncompress RAW as it will make the already huge files way larger. I'm very happy with the files as they are! I've not texted out the 4K overheating issue as I've only used it for short clips so far. 

Hope you had a great 4th of July!

One last thing....Yesterday was the last day for my Inland Empire Models & Photographers MEETUP group. The Meetup company are closing their model shoot groups. They made up a more strict policy about shooting models that seems to now include every type of model shoot you can think of. So they gave me a week to get my notices out.  And I did message all 1200 members that it was closing. And I messaged them again about how I'm moving the group to www.sideshowphotowerks.com and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/sideshowphotowerks

We already have two shoots lined up! One July 30th and one August 6th! If you are in the SoCal area join up (It's free to join!) The two shoots above are Oceanside Beach and Rialto, CA.  We cover pretty much all areas from Rancho Cucamonga to San Diego! And some of Orange County!