Stuff I Like: Sony UHS-II Card Reader and Seksonic L358

Couple simple things and they make all the difference! First, a Sony USB 3.0 card reader.



 Yes, it’s expensive. Yes, it’s just a card reader. But it’s well built, and maxes out current UHS-ii class cards, including Sony’s 300MB/s monsters. I have paltry Lexar 1000x UHS-ii cards with a max read of about 150MB/s, but even then, offloading images to Lightroom is considerably quicker than connecting directly to camera. It’s well worth the few dollars spent for a good reader!


 Secondly, the Seksonic L358 light meter.



This is amazing for nailing your flash exposure without messing around with settings. Set your flash output, put your ISO and shutter speed into the reader, and pop a test flash with it under your subject’s chin, or close to the main focal point on whatever static object you’re shooting. Instant aperture reading, instant perfect exposure. It does a whole host of other things too like ambient exposure reading in both aperture and shutter priority and integration with pocket wizard wireless to wirelessly trigger flashes to test. I grabbed mine from a friend at a pretty steep discount, and it’s been immediately useful in these blog photos. Check out that exposure, perfect, and that was first shot! I’m excited to try to get the averaging function to work – The meter will store up to 9 exposures in memory, and can average them to give you a good exposure when working with multiple flashes!

Lens Game Strong - Full Frame Edition


Of course, with a full frame camera comes full frame lenses... I chose the above three based on my usage on my A6500.

Sony SEL28F20

One of my favorite lenses on the A6500 was the SEL20F28 - The 20mm pancake. Although this isn't a pancake lense by any means, it's the smallest and lightest of the 3 full frame lenses I've chosen, and with crop factor closely matches the pancake with a 1 stop faster advantage. I loved the pancake for it's minuscule size and it's perfect seat between 24mm and 35mm. The 28mm seems to fill those shoes great, while offering even better low light performance. Initial tests seem promising, but time will tell.

Sony SEL55F18Z

The spiritual replacement to my Sigma 30mm. This lens manufactured in partnership with Zeiss is one of the best options for the Sony family, and isn't too much longer than my 45mm equivalent Sigma. Despite being 10mm longer than my previously most used lens, I've instantly gravitated to this as my default choice. It focuses fast and accurately, and in combination with the A7iii, it's perfectly balanced. I've been very impressed with both the sharpness it's produced and the auto focus performance, and will no doubt continue to enjoy this lens.

Sony SEL85F18

The portrait option. This was my first full frame lens and I owned it before moving to the A7iii. I was very impressed with it on the A6500 (the 127.5mm equivalent gave it a bit more reach) even though it was a bit limiting. I shot soccer with it on the A6500 which went great, offering fantastic auto-focus performance and killer sharpness. Not exactly it's intended use, but it did a killer job over 1100 frames on a single battery. Don't be fooled by the lack of G or G Master designation - This thing is a heavyweight and easily throws punches with the best of the Sony 85s for a bargain price. 

The future likely holds G Master lenses (24-70GM and 70-200GM I'm looking at you!), but as of right now I'm pretty happy with my prime lineup. The 28 should make for a great landscape and street lens (I was shooting most of my landscapes on my pancake anyway), the 55 will make for a killer daily shooter, and the 85 should blow away any portrait needs for the time being. 

My next travel destination is likely Iceland, which will probably necessitate lens rentals. I'm thinking of packing the 16-35 G Master along with my current kit, and my friend I'll be travelling with will be packing some full frame goodies as well. I'm fairly confident between us we'll be packing enough gear to cover everything!

More to come!

A7iii

A7iii. 1/160, F16, 100ISO


And my second camera purchase of 2018 is an A7iii... I won't go into a lot of detail, but this bad boy was spotted open box at Best Buy with about 3000 clicks on it at a pretty steep discount. Considering these things are looking like a scarce commodity, I took the opportunity to snatch it up. Above was taken with my A6500 with the SEL50F18 (Oh yeah that was the first camera purchase of 2018... We sure do move along at quite the clip) and an off camera speedlight equipped with Rogue Photographic Design large Flashbender soft box kit.

I'm currently up in the air as to if I want to sell off the A6500 or keep it as a backup body. I've put over 6k shots on it in 4 months or so, and I've been really happy with how it performs compared to my A6000. Features like IBIS, faster/more extensive auto-focus features, larger buffer, improved metering modes, silent shutter, and a slightly improved sensor really helped me out, and in a sense it's like a mini A7iii. I would definitely miss it's size if anything. I'll be selling my APS-C glass for sure, but might hang onto the A6500 a bit longer.

I'm still in the early days of the A7iii, but expect at least some basic insight into the camera in the near future. I'm pretty happy with it so far!

Sony Wireless RAW Transfer



Yes! It actually works! Sort of. This was done on a OnePlus 3T with Android 8.0, PlayMemories version 6.2.2, and an A6500.


  • Ensure your Smart Remote Control app is up to date on the CAMERA. You need to use this instead of the default "send to smartphone" functionality within the camera/PlayMemories app.


  • Start Smart Remote Control (Application tab, Application List, Smart Remote Control) and connect to the camera using NFC or PlayMemories. You should be presented with the remote control view.


  • Tap the menu option, then tap "See In-Camera Images".


  • Tap the menu in the top right corner, and tap "Copy Img Quality". Here you can select JPEG Priority, RAW Priority, or JPEG & RAW Priority. Select RAW priority and tap Close.


  • Copy your images. Look at that, you have RAW transfer via wireless.

This definitely opens up a bit more usability even if it takes a bit longer to move files. I find the RAW files have a lot more latitude for editing and I tend to be able to coax a bit more out of tricky exposures with a RAW file, even on mobile.

A note, I believe this is only available on Sony cameras that have the PlayMemories app functionality. I tested this with a friend's A7Riii and was unable to view the camera images with the smart remote app.

Peak Design: Fueling The Addiction


I've got a heck of a case of GAS - Gear Acquisition Syndrome! Peak Design fuels my needs. I've owned a few of their straps (The leash and the cuff) for a few months now, and can openly say I'm very happy with the anchor link system and the overall fit and finish of the straps themselves. They ooze quality. When I first saw the Everyday Backpack, I knew I'd have one at some point, and well, here we are!

I grabbed the 20L charcoal colored variant, which fits my straps pretty well with the red stitching and black Hypalon accents. It's considerably smaller than my 5.11 Tactical Rush 12 (24L) at 12L, but it has a number of advantages over it. First, it's shell is pretty much weatherproof. I can't tell you the number of times I've been stuck out with the Rush 12 in rain, only to have it get damp inside. I've never lost anything to water, but having some of your backpack goods get damp after a walk to work isn't super fun. The Everyday Backpack on the other hand has stood up to snowstorm walks without breaking a sweat! It's also structured well! The inside has a few modular folding panels that Peak Design called Flex-Fold - These provide some extra structure to the bag, and extra organization for carrying cameras, lenses, external hard drives, shoes, lunch, or whatever else you want to use the bag for.

These Flex-Fold dividers allow for another great feature the Everyday Backpack has over the Rush 12 - Side access. With the Rush 12, everything was basically dumped into the bag, and it would have to be fully unzipped to take stuff out of the bottom, the Everyday Backpack can be unzipped on either side to quickly access things. To assist with that, the straps also have a quick release, allowing you to easily swing the bag around in front of you, open it up, and grab what you desire on the go.

Now, the 12 liter storage capacity isn't a lot, but it's very flexible and expandable up to 20 liters if necessary. The one handed mag latch to open the top facilitates that. I've taken the bag configured for 2 shoots so far, and it held everything I needed plus more. Heck, if I needed more I could just strap it to the outside with the hidden outer straps.

The one spot I found it lacking though was organization. Now, the side flaps do have a fair number of pockets which are very stretchy and high quality, however I think the Rush 12 has a much more organized admin pouch on the front. The Everyday Backpack makes up for this with a couple hidden areas and a tablet section in the laptop sleeve, but I've made up for the rest by getting one of the charcoal field pouches for extra organization. I can just throw it in the main compartment which I don't use for a huge amount anyway.

Overall, it feels good, looks good, holds well, and catches eyes. This is a fantastic everyday bag and has performed well beyond my expectations. I wouldn't use it as a main bag for a 2 week trip abroad like with the Rush 12, but it would make a fantastic day/tech bag, and is perfectly capable for overnight trips.


Now, the only thing to catch more eyes and raise more questions than the bag itself would be the Capture Clip v3, oddly enough. This little quick release plate secures easily to a backpack strap and holds my camera very steady. It's made sure it's very easily accessible when needed, and doesn't jostle around a lot when moving. I'm still up in the air on this vs a strap, but I can see this being a lot more useful when travelling/hiking. Another fun note on the plate that secures to the bottom of your camera is fully compatible with Arca Swiss style tripod heads. I have a Zomei Q666, and it fits on the head without issue.

Best. Thrift. Ever.


What a thrift! Nikon FE with a 50mm F1.8 in absolutely gorgeous condition! I've been wanting to rock some film for a while, but I've never had the chance to pick up an affordably priced SLR. Film has picked up a lot again in the past few years, so previously the Pentax K1000s, Canon AE-1s, and Nikon F3s sitting at 20-40 dollars are now well into the 100 plus range. When a co-worker said they noticed a "Nikon FE something or other that reminds me of the 80s" at the thrift shop, I had to make my way down. Low and behold, 20 dollars later, and I'm now the happy owner of a Nikon FE! It also came with the leather 2 part case and a Black's strap, but I'll probably just drop some Peak Design anchors on it.

The only issue with the thing was a stuck film advance lever, but 3 screws removed the bottom panel and a bit of fiddling left me with a fully functional camera. Even the batteries were still good! I've got 4 rolls of Tri-X 400 in the mail, and I can't wait to get out with this thing.

Lens Game Strong! - Part 2

And we're back with round two of my preferred lenses! These two are a bit longer, so without further ado...

Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN


This is hands down my favorite lens to shoot on. I'd say about 80% of my shooting is done with this bad boy strapped to my camera, and I don't know if I could be happier. The Sigma is fast, sharp, well built, and at an equivalent full frame focal length of 45mm, is pretty darn close to the nifty fifty, just a bit wider. It's fast aperture, good auto focus performance, and roughly human eye depth of field make it an excellent jack of all trades. I chose this over the SEL35F18 that it's so commonly compared to for it's slightly faster aperture and better sharpness. OSS isn't a huge issue for me as I don't shoot video, and the slightly wider angle makes it more versatile in my eyes. Only thing you need to watch on it is some severe chromatic aberrations when wide open.

Sigma 30mm f1.4 DC DN, F/1.4, 1/60, 2000ISO
Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN, f/1.4, 1/200, 100ISO - TT685S off camera, gelled orange

Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC DN, f/1.4, 1/1000, 100ISO
Sigma 30mm F1/4 DC DN, f/8, 1/500, 100ISO

Sony SEL50F18



This is my newest lens, as I was missing a medium/short telephoto other than the slow-ish kit lenses which I generally don't use. The 50mm focal length is equal to approximately 75mm on APS-C, so it makes it pretty ideally suited to portraiture - Faces don't have any sort of bubble distortion to them. I take a lot of shots on my Sigma, but I'm slowly transitioning to this for use with people. I can't really say much more than it's pretty darn fast, optically very good in the distortion department, and focuses very quickly. The ability to crank the aperture all the way to f/1.8 really adds a lot of depth, and gives a pretty attractive bokeh to the background.

SEL50F18, f/1.8, 1/80, 3200ISO
SEL50F18, f/2.8, 1/125, 100ISO - TT685 w/ Rogue Flashbender Large softbox in front, TT685 w/ Follies Pink gel behind
SEL50F18, f/4, 1/80, 1000ISO

There you have it. The lenses I currently own, use, and cherish. I plan on probably adding one or two more lenses, maybe something a bit longer like the SEL85F18, and likely the new Sigma 16mm F1.4 DC DN. Rumor has it we might be seeing a 16-55 F2.8 for APS-C sensors, which would likely be an instant buy due to it's versatility. 

For the time being I'm still stuck on APS-C, but I don't think it's limiting me creatively. If anything, I may end up upgrading to the A6500 if Sony doesn't announce anything newer at CES this year. The larger buffer, better auto focus, IBIS, more buttons, spot metering on focus point, highlight metering, and better EVF are really pulling me that way! 

Lens Game Strong!

I'm on APS-C for a bit. At least until next year. So I may as well have some fun glass to shoot on for the time being. I've taken quite the liking to prime lenses, which tend to offer faster apertures and higher visual quality at the expense of versatility. So, here's two of my favorites with a few sample images from each. Expect another post on my other two primes soon!

Sony SEL20F28


I was very much on the fence about this lens for the few months after buying it, but after visiting Japan, it proved it was absolutely worth it's weight in gold. This is quite possibly the best day to day lens for me. It has an equivalent focal length of about 30mm on the APS-C sensors I shoot on, and a maximum aperture of f/2.8. It's also a pancake lens, which coupled with A5xxx/A6xxx series cameras, makes them practically pocket-able, and very non-threatening compared to a full blown DSLR. I shot 90% of my Japan trip with this lens on my A6000, and it's my go-to to throw on my A5100 for walking around. It's wide but not too wide, pretty sharp when stopped down a bit, and auto-focuses pretty quickly. It's an absolutely perfect lens for capturing street and daily life kind of shots. My only wish is that they made it at least a stop faster! This lens would be an absolute must buy at f/2. 

SEL20F28, f/8, 1/320, 100ISO

SEL20F28, f/2.8, 1/60, 200ISO

SEL20F28, f/8, 1/60, 1250ISO

Samyang 12mm F2


I feel like this is a Sony APS-C must have lens for anyone. This is THE king of budget wide angle. It's well built, very fast at f/2, and optically very clean. Did I mention it's a manual lens? Don't let that scare you, with focus peaking and manual focus assist, it's super easy to hit focus on Sony cameras. Funny with this one, you can actually set focus to infinity (or close to it, the actual infinity marker on the focus ring is off by a hair, so verify!), stop down to f/5.6-f/8, and everything beyond a few feet will be in focus. This makes landscapes, long exposures, and astrophotography very easy. Although this is my least used prime, it's probably the one I value having the most.

Samyang 12mm f2, f/8, 5.0 sec, 100ISO

Samyang 12mm f2, f/8, 3.2 sec, 100ISO

Samyang 12mm f2, f/8, 1/100, 100ISO

Stuff I like - Western Digital My Passport Wireless Pro


What a mouthful of a name! Probably not discussed, as I haven't posted in forever, but in early November I took a month long trip away from my slow little town of Sackville to visit Japan and the greater Toronto area. It was an absolute blast! I met some really cool people, stayed at some awesome places, visited some amazing places, ate some great food, and generally just enjoyed how different things were from my day to day life. It was also a pretty decent experience in packing light.

Heading to Japan, we decided quickly we were only doing carry on luggage, as checked baggage made us considerably less mobile and was also a lot more expensive to bring with us. With that in mind, a laptop was out of the question, as much as I thought I'd want to bring my Zenbook with me. Considering this was a trip I didn't want to forget, I wanted to ensure I had a good backup solution for my SD cards. After some research, the My Passport Wireless Pro ticked off all the check boxes. A couple of highlights:

  • Built in battery for wireless operation - 6400mAh! Can be used for charging devices too.
  • 2.4Ghz and 5Ghz wireless AC for gigabit transfer speeds.
  • Automated one touch SD card backup at USB3.0 speeds! 
  •  Incremental backups - Can detect duplicate files and will skip copying them.
  • Can connect to a wireless network and be accessed as though it's a network drive.
  • Functions as a wireless hub for up to 10 devices.
  • Easy wireless access to files through the My Cloud app.
Yeah, the thing is nerd levels of awesome, so obviously I had to have it. I went with the 3TB model, as I don't currently have an external anyway, and the price difference between the 1, 2, and 3TB models isn't all that big. I can openly say that this thing was an absolute rockstar the entire trip! I was backing up my SD cards daily, and Victor was backing up his camera/Mavic Pro footage intermittently. Even with daily backups, I only ended up charging the drive once when in Japan.

Overall, from a usability standpoint, and with all the flexibility the drive offers for on the go backups, I can highly recommend it. I was completely comfortable with this drive in place of a laptop in my bag. Any light traveler/photographer that generates a ton of data should consider making space for one of these beauties!

Lightroom Mobile


Lightroom Mobile has been a surprisingly useful app ever since the Android update a few months ago. Not only have they improved the interface, they've also added pretty much all the features of Lightroom for the desktop into it, along with a fully functional RAW shooting camera with full manual control. 

Top all the new functionality off with Creative Cloud sync, and I can pick up any edits I'm doing on my phone directly on my desktop, or vice versa. While I can't pull RAW files directly from my camera with the PlayMemories Mobile app from Sony for editing, I can make tricky shots taken with the OnePlus a bit more flexible. Good job, Adobe.

If you haven't checked it out yet, it's definitely worth looking at now.

Adobe Creative Cloud Photography Plan




I've been using strictly Photoshop CS3 for a very long while, and while functional, I really wanted to start shooting RAW on my A6000. I quickly discovered that I needed a solution that would work with Sony's RAW files (Fun fact: CS3 does not support them.) and also a solution that would let me quickly categorize, cull, and adjust photos. I've used Lightroom before, but mostly just played with it. When I saw that I could get the latest Lightroom and Photoshop for 10 dollars a month (USD), I decided to jump on it and give it a try. I have to say I'm really happy I did! Although I was initially after the new version of Photoshop, Lightroom has really impressed me and has become very essential to my workflow. I can shoot a lot, import to my file server, cull what I don't like, and quickly edit and compare. Anything heavier that needs to be done can be brought into Photoshop (IE: Exposure blending, blemish removal, etc). All the basics like color correction, exposure/sharpness/noise reduction/lens correction/cropping can all be completed in Lightroom, while saving your original image.

I have a lot of learning to do still, but I pick up new things every time I use the software. My only real complaint is that both pieces of software are pretty big resource hogs. I understand working with RAW files is a bit memory intensive, but CS3 was never this heavy, even with large projects. I never thought I'd need more than 16GB of RAM in my desktop at this point in time, but Creative Cloud is proving me wrong. I look forward to seeing how my notebook handles it, considering it's a lightweight compared to my desktop.

I still have some exploring to do - Lightroom Mobile is seemingly powerful, the 20GB of online backup feels like it could disappear quickly with RAW files, and I'm not sure on Behance yet, but even with just Photoshop and Lightroom, I'm happy with the money spent.

Creative Cloud Photography Plan

I'm Weak



I mulled over this decision for a few weeks now, and I have to say the choice has been incredibly satisfying. Topping it off with some additional lenses (Sony SEL55210 and Sony SEL20F28 on the cheap) has set me up pretty well for upping my photography game over the next little while. I've got a lot of playing to do with the A6000, but overall initial impressions are very good. I'll have a more detailed review once I get some more shooting time under my belt, but for the time being there's some samples from the past few days below.







New Glass




Finally got tired of the kit lens, and after looking into things enough, came across the perfect daily lens for me! Narrowed it down to Sony's SEL35F18, but further research landed me on this Sigma 30mm F1.4 prime. I love shooting at the 30mm focal length (45mm equivalent on APS-C sensors), so something that let in even more light was a no brainer, especially at the same price. This is the first glass I've purchased for my camera since getting it many years ago, and I have to say the Sigma build quality is fantastic. I still have a lot of shooting to do on it, and a soon to be body upgrade to possibly an A6000, but initial impressions are great. Below are shots taken around 11PM on a fairly dark night, all handheld:







Performance is fantastic wide open - I was shooting between 200 and 1200 ISO, with a shutter between 1/60 and 1/250 and receiving the results above. The brick with the plaques is not at all well lit - There are a few lamps surrounding it, but the f/1.4 aperture makes it easy to pull every bit of available light in. I can't wait to get out for some low light and astrophotography. My one real complaint is my lack of EVF on my current NEX-F3, and the auto-focus is abysmal in low light, but this is a problem that can be solved by upgrading to a A6000, eventually. I should have the opportunity to test an A5100 in a little while (Similar auto-focus/speed to the A6000), so we'll see if the auto-focus impresses enough.

For some daylight shooting, I visited an air show in Debert NS today, and was pretty pleased with the shots below. After that I did a quick walk to the grocery store in town and snapped some shots around town:















Most shots taken at F/2.8 to F/5.6. The lens handled it like a boss. Again, only real downfall is my body which would have really benefited from the EVF with the bright sunlight. Auto-focus struggled a bit in the bright light with the lens wide open, but no issues stopping it down to f/2.8.

Overall happy with the purchase so far. The lens is really versatile for a prime, and is perfect for street/portrait photos that I love to do. Can't wait to throw it on a nicer body.

How About Some More Pictures?

Still playing around with the camera a lot, just thought I'd post up some of the images and give a few comments on them. Hoping to have a full review in about a month. Maybe some new lenses by then too! I'm pretty much decided on my two lenses, going to be going with a Sony SEL35f18 prime with optical steady shot, and an SEL55210 telephoto, also with optical steady shot. These should give me the perfect range for shooting lowlight, and longer range!


I find the depth of field effect is really nice. The large sensor really helps in slightly lower light situations. The white balance isn't the auto white balance isn't the greatest, but I think that's more of a limitation of the kit lens. Setting the white balance for incandescent gives a much better effect. I think this image turned out really well though.


This was a nice daylight shot, inside. I think it was just slightly cloudy outdoors. This was shot with auto white balance. The camera performs really well in natural light. The nuts ended up very well detailed.



Again, the camera performs great in natural light. the level of detail is astounding. The cat is normally a tough shot, just because he moves around so much. We can hardly keep him still, but the ISO performance of this camera is great. You can bump up the shutter speed and the ISO a bit, and resizing, you wouldn't even notice it. It's very low noise up to about ISO 3200.



This was shot using the speed priority mode. It was really, really sunny out, so unfortunately most of the detail was lost in the original, however after cropping and some playing with contrast/levels, it turned out to be an alright picture. My mistake was leaving the aperture wide open at f/3.5. I should have stopped down a bit, while keeping the same 1/4000 shutter speed. Overall though, the camera does really well with motion, and even though the original image was completely blown out, it was recoverable.


This is the seat from the girlfriend's bike. It was shot on a nice sunny morning, and unfortunately I forgot to change the white balance back to auto. I think it turned out pretty good though. The composition ended up nice. It also reminds me I need to dust. I played with the exposure compensation on this one too, dropping to to -0.7.





New Camera





That background blur. Expect better photos on the blog starting with whatever comes next for a post! Hope to have a full, non-professional review of this awesome camera up in the near future.