Working on my 2017 Calendar. This year will be a bit of a change as I’m going with Iceland images -vs- local images but it should be a nice change of pace. Another twist this year is I can’t print and make them myself as we don’t have a saddle stitcher where I work now. It’s a bit of a bummer as it was a lot of fun to control ALL aspects of the calendars. With the help of a bunch of my photo friends I’ve found PrintingCenterUSA. They specialize in calendars among many other types of commercial printing. Not only have a bunch of friends “vouched” for them but they also happen to be based in Montana!
Here are the 12 images that will be in the calendar this year, because no post is worthwhile without pictures!
Hi Ben,
Gorgeous blog and calendar post here! I found your site by reading about your Fuji experience. I am adding an XE-2 as a second body to my A7R, mainly to test and see if I am happy with the image quality as the lenses for the A7 series are quite expensive (and can get heavy).
For the 2nd to last image in this post (the waterfall), what 35mm equivalent focal length did you use? Also, is mist a problem in this area? Thanks,
Z
Z,
Thanks for the kind words. I hope you’ve also seen my posts on my switch from fuji to sony! I’m now (and have been for over a year now) a sony only user. The thing is as nice as fuji’s lenses are they’re built like tanks which makes them very similar in size and weight to the sony options. Price wise some of sony’s options are quite expensive but the fuji’s aren’t exactly inexpensive. My move was pretty lateral in terms of size and cost.
As for the second to last shot, that’s Seljalandsfoss. That was taken at 16mm with my 16-35mm on my a7rii. And yes it’s VERY wet there. You can shoot up and to the left a bit and stay dry but there’s a lot of downdraft from the falls making the spray an issue once you go under the overhang. It’s well worth the challenge to get a good shot w/o water drops (and this had two cloned out in post). I attempted some other compositions on the right side of this shot on the lush green area but couldn’t keep the lens dry at all over there in terms of water drops. Luckily the sony lenses and bodies are sealed well enough it wasn’t an issue getting them wet.
Thanks!
Ben
Thanks for your reply!
Yes – I did have a look at your Fuji -> Sony switch. You brought up a lot of good points there. I’m still quite new to photography so would like to have a try with the smaller system. I agree about cost/size but looking at the camerasize site, it does seem there’s a cost/size advantage if you’re willing to stick with some of the Fuji zooms (that aren’t the 2.8 zooms) and accept the lower IQ. Also, processing the 36MP files from the A7R is quite a chore for my Macbook Air (should probably invest in a Pro) at some point.
Thanks for the info on the Seljalandsfoss image. There’s a pretty popular Elias Locardi image coming a bit more from the right but you just confirmed that indeed the spray has to be pretty extreme there as you move inward. Good to hear the A7 weather sealing was up to the task – I sometimes worry about my A7R now that it’s winter here in New England.
I especially like your Lighthouse portfolio. I look forward to seeing more updates. Of note, I am also in the area and have a couple lighthouses myself.
Here are the Flickr links if you have time to take a look:
https://www.flickr.com/gp/zbm5/E2DnZa
https://www.flickr.com/gp/zbm5/0wsq63
Cheers,
Z
Another thought on the size differences is remember your a7r is full frame and the fujis are crop. So if you were to use an a6000 it’s smaller than fuji’s bodies with the same size sensor. I’ve got both the a7rii and a6000 (and a6300). I love the small bodies for things. The 10-18mm is tiny, much smaller than fuji’s 10-24mm which is great if you’re worried about the size. The XT1 and XT2 are amazing cameras, don’t get me wrong. Personally I didn’t love their 16mp xtrans sensor. The new XT2 and Xpro2 have a sony 24mp sensor in them (same sensor is in the a6000/a6300/a6500). The XT2 has amazing AF but so do the small sonys. Processing wise LR struggles with the “different” RAW pattern with the older 16mp xtrans sensor so it’s not a lot faster unless you use their newer sensor or a smaller sony sensor.
Nice lighthouse shots! Is your flickr private? I can only see the two you linked.
Thanks!
Ben
Yeah, that’s a good point regarding a6000. I recently took the XE-2 on a small trip with me and am pretty impressed by it. Definitely at 1:1 there’s a noticeable resolution gap between that and the A7R but I think manageable.
Yes, Flickr is private for now – I only have those 2 lighthouses. I want to figure out how to start a photo blog…looking forward to more of your posts! Happy holidays.