iJourneys

John Gough Photography

Wex Walkabout in London’s East End

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On High / John Gough / Sony a6300

Wex Walkabout

I went on a Wex Walkabout yesterday with Matt Hart the street photographer’s, street photographer. He led us around the City and London’s East End for a very hot, but enjoyable couple of hours of street photography, finishing up in Brick Lane. The area is so vibrant that there are photographic opportunities everywhere. However, I noticed that Matt was very much more discerning than the twelve of us, who were in more point and shoot mode. He had succeeded in his mission to take away the fear of pointing a camera at people we do not know, which is what street photography is all about.  Matt said before the shoot that a good picture requires light, composition, interesting subject and emotion, and a great picture will have all those elements.

The image above was taken in the City which was also included on the walk.

Wex Walkabouts are amazing value considering Light and Land charge hundreds of pounds for similar workshops. I encourage you to have a go.

Where I Buy

I buy my equipment from Wex because I have genuinely found that they offer great advice and customer service.

This Image was Taken on a Sony

 

Whitby Photography Locations

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Whitby

Reflecting On Whitby / John Gough / Sony a6300

Whitby in North Yorkshire is a cracking location for photography. It is set in the North Yorkshire Moors National Park, ideal for dramatic landscapes. It is on the coast with a harbour with two lighthouses. The estuary to the River Esk is a colourful mixture of fishing boats and pleasure craft. The town is overlooked by the famous gothic ruin of Whitby Abbey. There are also the over photographed one hundred and ninety nine steps down from the abbey into the town. 

 

If you are into street photography then the visitors to the town are an exuberant cross section of mostly northern folk who are out to enjoy themselves. You could immerse yourself in street photography here for days.

My photograph does not capture the landscape, abbey or harbour, sometimes you have to find a different moment.

This Image was Taken on a Sony

 

 

Leica M10 vs Sony a6300

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Leica M10

 

The Leica M10 is a serious camera. It comes from a pedigree that stretches back decades and has a name that is synonymous with quality and heritage. The Sony a6300 is, by comparison, the grubby kid from the other side of the tracks, working hard and pulling itself up by its bootstraps.  Photographers are prepared to spend thousands on that little Leica red spot. Which is as well because the Leica M10 costs around £6000. The Sony a6300, on the other hand, costs less than £1000. So is it a fair to try and compare both cameras. Afterall the Leica at six times the cost of the Sony, so it should just blow it out of the water.

Leica M10 vs Sony a6300: Features.

Both are mirrorless cameras, the Leica has a 24-million-pixel full-frame CMOS sensor, vs a cropped APS-C sensor in the a6300. However, both offer a different ethos, optical viewfinder and screen on the Leica vs an EVF and tilting screen on the Sony. No video capability vs 4K etc. The Leica is a thing of beauty with a heavy magnesium chassis and top and bottom plates that are milled from solid brass blocks. The Leica is made to be handed down through the generations. Whereas the a6300 is more transient. It has already been supplanted by the  a6500, and the a6700 is on the horizon.

On the surface, this makes the Leica sound more like a fashion statement than an enthusiasts camera. Furthermore, its lack of features makes it seem like a Betamax in a streaming world. However, the Leica does quality like no other camera. So is the lack of technology, and hefty price tag made up for with stunning images?

Leica M10 vs Sony a6300: Image Quality.

So how do they compare regarding image quality? The Leica used to be the street photographer’s camera of choice, and was/is used by many professional photographers today.

DXOMark has just completed their analysis.

Leica M10: A classic reinvented

DxOMark tested the Leica M10 sensor, the key to image quality. It shows that the Leica M10 full frame sensor falls considerably behind the latest and best full frame sensors launched this year, by Sony and Nikon. The Leica scored 86 compared to the Sony A7RIII and Nikon 850 which both scored 100. The M10 was found to be at least a 1 stop worse in both colour depth and dynamic range. Both these full frame cameras cost half the price of the Leica.

It would seem then that the Leica full frame sensor, is more on par with the smaller APS-C sensors, in cameras that cost far less. In fact, as DxOMark points out, the Leica sensor image quality is virtually the same as the APS-C sensors, seen in the Sony a6300 and the Samsung NX500.

The Leica has a full frame sensor, which is no better in image quality terms than the APS-C sensor in the Sony a6300.

Leica M10 vs Sony a6300: Conclusion.

So we return to the original question: Leica vs the a6300. The Sony is technically more advanced and feature rich, with comparable IQ.  It is also a fraction of the price of the Leica. Whereas the Leica is a stills camera, in the tradition of Cartier-Bresson. It has breeding and legacy and is built to be cherished and shown off.   So why spend so much more on a Leica when let’s face it, it is no longer the best camera money can buy.

I guess it just comes down to that little red dot and the joy of owning a piece of history.

 

Where I Buy

I buy my equipment from Wex because I have genuinely found that they offer great advice and customer service.

Sony A7III Five Things You Did Not Know

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Sony a7 III

The Sony A7III is hot at the moment. It has been reviewed by everyone lucky enough to get their hands on one. All the reviews will tell you about the incredible AF, the low light performance and the eye tracking brilliance. However, what don’t you know? Here are five things you may not know about the Sony A7III.

1 The Sony a7III can Zoom with a Prime Lens

The Sony a7III has a crop mode which ensures that  APS-C lenses can be used. This means that if you are trading up from the a6500 or a6300 then the lenses you use on those cameras will work using the crop mode on the A7III. The crop mode just uses the centre of the sensor, in effect turning the full frame sensor on the A7III  into an APS-C sensor. This makes this camera so versatile. However, because there is a 1.5 crop factor between full frame and APS-C it means that if for example an 85mm prime lens is used. The crop factor can be turned on and it will convert the lens to 128mm. How do we know this? Well, check this video out 2.38 minutes in.

2 Sony A7III has 2x Clear Image Zoom

Incidentally, if you are not a Sony alpha camera user, then clear zoom may not be familiar. It is a function designed for stills but now extended to video which provides a 2x zoom. Using an optical zoom and Sony sensor technology. This is what Sony says:
Clear Image Zoom is a function that uses the Sony® exclusive By Pixel Super Resolution Technology. It allows you to enlarge the image with close to the original image quality when shooting still images. The camera first zooms optically to the maximum optical magnification, then uses Clear Image Zoom technology to enlarge the image an additional 2x, producing sharp, clear images despite the increased zoom ratio.
N.B. It cannot be used in RAW. There are restrictions on focusing. How do we know this? It is available on all Sony alpha cameras.

3 The Sony A7III Screen is Difficult to Read with Polarised Sunglasses.

A specific problem for polarised sunglass wearers. The solution is to get different sunglasses or turn the camera around until the screen comes into view. How do we know this? Well, check out this video about 1.24 minutes in.

4 Use Your Canon Lenses

Tthe Sony lens collection is getting better but their new lenses are expensive. It is almost as if they are following the printer model, sell the printer cheap and make money on the cartridges. However, if you are migrating from Canon, you do not have to change your Canon glass. Instead buy a converter and  use your old lenses. How do we know this? This article tells you all you need to know.

5 Best Low Light Performance Ever Tested

DXOMark is literally the go to benchmark for measuring camera sensor performance. The Sony A7III sensor scores an overall 96, which is remarkable considering the camera costs £2000 and in the DXOMark tests is compared to the £6000 Leica M10 which scored 86, the £5000 Nikon D5 which scored 88, and the £3000 Canon EOS 5D MkIV which scored 91. However, it was low light performance that blew them away
highlight is the low-light score, which at 3730 ISO is the highest of any full-frame 35mm sensor we’ve tested. 
How do we know this?
Sony A7 III Sensor review: Low-light performer

Conclusion

The Sony A7III is a remarkable camera, but as we write this in June ’18 there are only a few available worldwide, despite the launch in March. If you want to buy, I hope you manage to grab one anytime soon. Check out Amazon for availability:

Where I Buy

I buy my equipment from Wex because I have genuinely found that they offer great advice and customer service.

Camera Wrist Strap

I have avoided dropping my camera so many times using a simple inexpensive wrist strap like this one. Cameras and expensive lenses do not bounce! UK USA

Northumberland Photo Locations

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Northumberland

Tynemouth Outdoor Swimming Pool / John Gough / Sony a6500

I went to the Northumberland coast a couple of weeks ago. I was looking forward to taking dramatic images of troublesome seas, clouds skating across weary skies, and seahorses breaking across windswept beaches. Instead what I got was an insidious sea mist, and continuous low cloud for as far as the eye could see. Don’t, however, let that put you off. There are beautiful locations for photography in Northumberland.

I just had to make do, which meant looking in different directions, which leads me on to the Tynemouth outdoor swimming pool above. I used to swim there as a boy, we thought it was warm when the temperature of the seawater that used to fill it reached, 47 Fahrenheit. The structure has obviously deteriorated since then. However, the seawater is not any warmer.

Research on the Northumberland Coast

To research the Northumberland coast I used this Photographers Guide, Northumberland. The places I visited and would go back to again were:

Not in the book but probably not an omission is Tynemouth Outdoor Swimming Pool opened in 1925 and highlighted above. There are some evocative images to be had as the concrete discolours and degrades.

Northumberland

Time Was / John Gough / Sony a6300

My favourite location, however, was the Rendezvous Cafe on the Promenade at Whitley Bay. No change since the 1950’s?

Northumberland

Ices / John Gough / Sony a6300

The Traditional Northumberland Landscape

For a view of traditional Northumberland landscape, try the locations in this book by veteran landscape photographer  Joe Cornish.

 

The Lake District

See my Lake District locations using this book:

 

Where I Buy

I buy my equipment from Wex because I have found they offer great advice and customer service.

This Image was Taken on a Sony

 
 

Sony a6700 Rumours

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Sony a6300 with Sony Vario-Tessar T E 16-70mm F4 ZA OSS

Sony a6300

 

As a big fan of the Sony a6300, and I am looking forward to the rumoured Sony a6700. Rumoured specs are littering the internet, and the release date could be as early as this month. June. I am hoping that like the Sony A7III the spec on this camera will blow the opposition out of the water.

Prior to the launch of the Sony A7III, Fujifilm launched the Fujifilm X-H1, but it was totally eclipsed by the spec of the Sony A7III when it launched at around the same price. Sony is launching cameras with amazing specs because it is aiming to jump from the third biggest camera maker behind Canon and Nikon to be the top camera brand by 2021. They dominate the mirrorless  full frame arena, and they might just try to do the same with the Sony a6700 in the APS-C world.

So what could the changes on the a6700 look like:

Sony a6700 Auto Focus

Vastly improved AF with eye tracking. There is eye tracking on the a6500 but it has to be unlocked in the menus. The eye tracking on the Sony a7III is borrowed from the Sony A9 and according to reviewers is amazing.

 

Sony a6700 Low Light Performance

Standard ISO to reach the 51200. This is available on the Sony a7III and shooting at 6400 is ‘insanely clean’ according to PetaPixel

Faster Continuous Shooting

Rumoured increases in continuous shooting may be wide of the mark because the Sony a6500 already has continuous shooting at 11fps and the a7III has 10fps. However, the A9 is at 20fps with no blackout. Could the a6700 be a mini A9? A 1/8000th shutter may also be included.

Better Battery Life

Battery life on the a6xxx cameras has always been modest at around 310 shots. The A7III boasts 710 shots, so Sony has the technology to make a big difference on the Sony a6700.

Sony a6700 Stabilisation

Again Sony has the technology to match the in body stabilisation on the A7III. Sony maintains that the 5 axis stabilisation on the A7III is equivalent to 5 stops. Add that to the higher workable ISO’s and you have a real low light performer.

Sony a6700 Screen

It will be a touch screen as on the a6500.  However it likely to be not just tiltable but fully articulated. This is becoming standard with the launch of the Fujifilm X-T100 which is tilt up, tilt down and forward facing.

Video

Rumoured 4K at 60fps

Sony a6700 Rumours Latest

This camera exists, but Sony are precious about not releasing any information prior to launch. How many of the rumours included here are true, we don’t know. However, if the rumoured features are available on other cameras in the Sony line up, then it is most likely that they will appear on their flagship mirrorless APS-C camera, the Sony a6700.

If that is what they decide to call it!

 

Where I Buy

I buy my equipment from Wex because I have found they offer great advice and customer service.

 

 

Photo London

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Photo London 2018 / John Gough / Sony a6300

I can understand if you are a photographer, you might consider Photo London which is currently at Somerset House in London, as being more for art connoisseurs, and photograph collectors. There are around 100 galleries from smart destinations from around the world, selling photographic artwork that is priced in the ‘I Saw You Coming’ bracket. However, any cynicism is blown away once you get inside, and witness the quality of the photography on show, and realise that photography that commands prices of many tens of thousands of pounds has to be stunning.

The conundrum that the exhibition poses is why when there are tens of millions of photographs taken every day (40 million are uploaded to Instagram each day) how is it that some command such value.

Many of the images are iconic from famous photographers. Who would not want a Terry O’Neill photograph of Jagger, Bowie or Micheal Caine?  Who would not want a Martin Schoeller portrait?

However, there is also work from artists that we don’t all know. I was blown away by the abstract work of German photographer Andreas Gefeller especially his collection The Backside of Light [I don’t know whether something has been lost in translation here!] and if I had £14,500 to spare I could be tempted to buy one. NB limited edition of eight.

There is no denying that photography does not yet command the prices of some traditional art, and probably never will. However, the extent to which Photo London has grown in terms of the number of exhibitors, and standing in the art world, in the four years it has been in existence is amazing. There is now a real buzz around collecting photography which is hard to ignore.

If you want to get into the world of collecting photographs then the British Journal of Photography has put together an e-guide, The Beginners Guide to Collecting Photography which can be obtained here. 

Photo London is on for just one more day.

 

Don McCullin in Syria

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“Now I’m in an old man’s body with a young man’s eyes,” says 82-year-old veteran war photographer Don McCullin as he struggles to the top of a shelled building in the Syrian city of Homs. He and architectural historian Dan Cruickshank take a road trip from government-controlled Damascus to Palmyra. The Unesco-listed ancient Syrian desert city of temples and columns ravaged by IS during the war that preceded the other wars that are desecrating this country.

BBC Documentary: The Road to Palmyra

McCullin and Cruikshank, who we assume are old friends have a close association with the city. In the programme, The Road to Palmyra they travel through this war torn land to return and understand the havoc wreaked there.

The documentary is an opportunity to see McCullin at work, “My mind says, ‘We’re going up there,’ my body says, ‘Hang on, are you sure?’ If my legs shake a bit, it’s not because I’m afraid, it’s my body refusing my youthful mind.” He has lost none of his ability to observe, empathise and document. However, it is the emotional input to his photography that is paramount, as it has been throughout his long career.

 

“Photography for me is not looking its feeling. If you can’t feel what you are looking at. Then you’re not going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures”

Don McCullin

 

The documentary will be available on iPlayer for a few weeks.

 

The Camera Sensor. Does Size Matter?

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Thanks to Photoseek.com for this graphic

 

I have tried to make sense of sensors, and address the question, Is a bigger camera sensor better?

What is a Camera Sensor?

It is the digital equivalent of film. It captures light and converts what you see through a viewfinder, EVF, or LCD screen into an image.

How does a Camera Sensor Work?

A camera sensor uses millions of tiny light cavities or “photosites” to record an image. When the shutter is pressed photosites collect photons and store these as an electrical signal.  (Photons are particles which transmit light i.e. light is carried through space by photons. That is all we need to know!) The more photons that are collected by the photosites the stronger the electrical signal. The different signal strengths across the millions of photosites are then converted into digital values. This is capable of being converted into a greyscale image, however not a colour image because photosites are unable to distinguish how much of each primary colour they have recorded.

What is the Difference between a Photosite and a Pixel?

Pixels and photosites describe the same light cavity on a camera sensor. However, pixels have also come to describe the smallest element of an LED screen. Which is the display side of the sensor rather than the light capture element. So pixels describe both and this can cause confusion.  Camera manufacturers refer to sensor size in terms of megapixels (i.e. one million pixels). For example, a 21.1 megapixel sensor is 5616 photosites wide by 3744 photosites high.

How does a Camera Sensor Capture Colour?

Each photosite is in effect colour blind, only recording the total intensity of the light that strikes its surface. To capture colour images, a beam splitter is placed over each photosite. to filter the light so that only one primary colour is allowed through. The other colours are discarded. This colour filter array was invented by Dr Bryce E. Bayer, a scientist working for Kodak. He invented the particular red, green and blue arrangement of colour filters to capture colour information.

Camera Sensor

Bayer Filter Array

The red filters, for example, will only allow red light photons to pass into the pixel below it. Each line on the array has only two of the primary colours either red/green or blue/green. The camera then uses an algorithm to work out the colour of each pixel. In fact, it combines a 2×2 square of four photosites together to predict the colour and its intensity. 

How Big is the Camera Sensor in Your Smartphone or Camera?

The graphic above is from PhotoSeek.com and compares different sensor sizes.

Smart Phones Sensor Size

Smartphones utilise very small sensors. As an example, the sensor size on an Apple iPhone 7 is 1/3inch, 12megapixels, pixel size 1.22 microns. Diagonal measurement 6.0mm, area 17.3 square mm. A full frame sensor is 55 times bigger.

Compact Cameras Sensor Size

A Canon Powershot has a sensor size 1/1.7inch, 12megapixels, pixel size 1.9 microns. Diagonal measurement 9.3mm, area 41.51 square mm. A full frame sensor is 21 times bigger.

Micro Four Thirds

This is a sensor size widely used on Olympus and Panasonic cameras that was introduced in 2008 to create smaller camera bodies and lenses. For example, the Olympus PEN F has a micro four thirds sensor, 20 megapixels, pixel size 3.3 microns. Diagonal measurement 21.6mm, area 225 square mm. A full frame sensor is 3.8 times bigger.

APS-C

Widely used in SLR cameras. For example, the Fujifilm X-Pro 2 has an APS-C sensor, 24 megapixels, pixel size 3.9 microns.  Diagonal measurement 28.2mm, area 370 square mm. A full frame sensor is 1.54 times bigger.

Full Frame

Used on digital SLRs and mirrorless camera. For example, the Nikon D600 has a full frame sensor, 24 megapixels, pixel size 6.0 microns.  Diagonal measurement 43.2mm, area 860 square mm.

So Does the Camera Sensor Size Matter?

A bigger sensor is better for two reasons. Firstly the bigger sensor can capture more light, which means more detail, better colour rendition a sharper image and more depth of field. Smartphones can take great images, but the sensor on a full frame camera is 55 times bigger, and that is a lot more light. Secondly, the size of the photosites/pixels does matter. On full frame cameras, the increase in pixel size means that manufacturers can offer amazing ISO performance, which means better low light performance and more dynamic range.

It is therefore important to make a decision on which camera to buy, not based just on the sensor size measured by the number of megapixels. It is also the size of those pixels that count. A smartphone may be 12 megapixels, but the pixels are small about 1.55 microns compared with 5.2 microns on a similar size APS-C sensor.

Camera manufacturers are a bit vague on pixel size. This may be because there is a trade off, between the area of the sensor and the size and number of pixels that it can contain. As full frame sensors gradually creep towards 30 megapixels and beyond, this may be close to the maximum based on current technology. For photographers and camera manufacturers, yes, it is all about size!