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!