Camera Info When Posting Your Own Photos

[Sally]

I’m a Micro Four Thirds person. I turn up to press calls with lightweight gear and pity the others burdened by heavy cameras and lenses. No doubt there is a macho thing involved, but since some news agencies insist on maximum 1500 kB image sizes, I just wonder why they bother.

[MizBrown]

My photos here were taken by everything from a Minolta Autocord and maybe a Leica that was almost as old I was with a lens that was older, to a D50 (my favorite camera in terms of ergonomics and the Sony a7 cameras remind me of that), a D300, an F3 and possibly and F100, to a brace of Hasselblads to Micro Four Thirds to Sonys a3000 (quality of this one caused me to switch from M43rds to Sony a6000 and a7).  I've gone out with a Zeiss Batis 18 mm and had someone tell me how much better his Canon with a zoom was, so find that primes are less conspicuous than zooms, and Sony is less well-known world wide than Canon or Nikon.  When I feel the situation might be dodgy (photographing the kids occupying certain parts of Jinotega for the FSLN), I use one of the manual lenses on the a6000. 

 

For me, at this point, 24 MP is the right size.  The a6000 mostly wears one of two lenses: a Sony/Zeiss 24mm or a Sony Macro 30mm.  The a7 cameras wear mostly a 35mm f/2.8 and a 55mm f/1.8, both Sony/Zeiss.  The Batis 18mm works well in cramped workshops but I end up needing software to straighten up distortion.   I have two manual focus lenses: the classic Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 Gaussian design and a Yashinon 50mm f/1.7.  The Yashinon is very sharp.  The Nikkor is also.   I also have a Sony 35mm f/1.8 apsc lens that I wouldn't have ordered if I'd realized I would succumb to the lure of the 24mm for sale in Managua (bought it on the third time fondling it) and a 55-210mm Sony zoom that's serviceable but not much more than that except at its closest focusing distances (the lens designers' objective for this, I dunno). 

 

I like the geekery of camera gear and enjoyed having the Hasselblads when the prices dropped on the used ones to something I could afford.   I've been tempted to get another medium format film camera, but getting film and chemistry here in Nicaragua is difficult.

 

When I was following photography groups on Usenet, I noticed that medium format and large format groups had less arguing over gear than the 35mm groups.  Nikon vs. Canon could get very heated at times.  The larger formats seemed to be more likely to be professionals or serious amateurs and nobody had the big arguments about gear that the groups for smaller formats had. 

 

If I'm shooting casually for Facebook, I use my phone or iPad Mini, and sync with my desktop Lightroom to export to my posting files. 

 

My next Sony APSC camera would be the a6400.  Next full frame would be the a7 III.   But I'll use what I have until they break. 

 

The limitations of a camera can also be useful.   Sometimes, finding the shots that the camera can do well makes for better photographs.

[MariaJ]

On 01/07/2019 at 18:36, Michael Ventura said:

I guess, from the lack of response, adding your camera info to your posted photos was a bad idea.  Not sure why, we talk about cameras all the time, it seems.  I’ll put the info with mine, which be easily ignored....but may be helpful for some.

 

I always find it interesting to see what equipment and lenses people use to create a photo so I like the idea.

 

Maria