Hands On The Helios 44M-7
I've been shooting with and collecting quite a few of these old retro M42Â screw mount lenses and now own four of the Russian made Helios lenses. The addiction is real!
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Los Angeles
31 posts
Fujifilm X-Pro 2 | Beautiful Imperfections
The Fujifilm X-Pro 2 as of late, has been my favorite camera to use for incidental photography. I kind of just leave it around so it's very accessible, near the front door or wherever and grab it whenever I go outside. Aside from my X100F, it's become my grab it and go camera with the advantage of swapping lenses depending on the mood I'm in.
A Wedding At A Museum | X100F
These last few years it seems like it's been one wedding after the next. They're usually pretty fun, but always a challenge with the little one, except maybe this wedding - this one was awesome.
The Sony 50mm f1.8 – Wow!
There has been something I think all Sony shooters have been waiting a long time for and it's not more megapixels.
The Schindler House – X-Pro 2
Pretty much since I got the X-Pro 2 I've either been working or stuck inside with the flue. Finally I'm about 90% healed and was able to go out again. This time to the Schindler House in West Hollywood.
It's a small old house / architectural marvel from 1922, kind of reminds me of old houses in Japan, except it's been somehow converted into an art installation. In other words, there is a teddy bear sitting on the floor that you're suppose to interact with and of course a tennis shoe sitting on a podium.
Using The Sony A7r II – Is It A Great Camera?
As part of my Voigtlander 35mm f1.7 review, I took a stroll down to the Walt Disney Concert Hall to get some test shots.
Actually the truth is, the Japanese Consulate is right there and I had to bring my half Japanese daughter there to get some paper work done. I paid for two hours of parking so took the rest of that time to shoot.
This was my first chance to really use my Sony A7r II for something other than landscape work. Usually, or I should say, always when I go and just shoot for fun, I take a Fujifilm with me. They're just more fun to use and you can actually shoot JPEG with them with great results, so post processing isn't as heavy.
But I do still like my Sony and wanted to share some thoughts.
Los Angeles And The Observatory – Canon 5DSR
This is a quick shot of the Observatory. I wanted to test out the Canon 5DSR so I hiked up the mountain overlooking Los Angeles. This was my first time up and wow, what a view!
If you ever visit Los Angeles this is something you must do. Just bring a long lens. I shot this with the Canon 70-200 but did a pretty mean crop. But hey, that's what having 50 megapixels is for right?
How To Shoot Better Sun Stars
A relatively new trend has emerged in the online photography communities over the last few years that involves shooting into the sun or other bright light sources so that the bright light creates star points around it. Also known as sunstars.
The Method
I run across a lot of tutorials and tips of people explaining how to do it. Typical they all say about the same thing, shoot high apertures, anywhere from f16 to f22.
While this does usually work, it's not always the best practice. I find that shooting at higher apertures on many of our high megapixel cameras has a massive impact on overall image quality due to diffraction.
So what do we do?
Dockweiler Sunset
Last night's sunset near Dockweiler State Beach here in Los Angeles. We've been having some interesting weather lately which means some nice sunsets. But it can be hit and miss. Sometimes I'll drive out to the beach and the clouds can be too thick and grey everything out.
Downtown Los Angeles with the Fuji X-T1
This is a series of photos shot with the Fuji X-T1 and the Voigtlander 15mm Heliar III lens. They were taken all Downtown Los Angeles near the Walt Disney Concert hall. My favorite place to shoot city architecture.