Pursuit of imperfection

Perhaps going from a full-frame sensor Sony a7R II camera to an APS-C sensor Fujifilm XT-5 would indeed be a downgrade. You can’t beat laws of physics, right? Given the same situation, the larger sensor Sony will always capture more light, with better resolving power, than the Fuji. I don’t suppose it’s typical that a photographer goes back down a step in terms of sensor size. Once they get to full-frame, they either stay there, or wait enough years to pay up for an ever larger medium-format camera.

I have my reasons for going back to an APS-C sensor, of course. As someone who is wholly satisfied with the pictures my iPhone outputs, I am not concerned about sensor size. A photograph is capable of telling a story no matter the tool that it was taken with. Physical limitations are something work around, rather than lament the lack of. The iPhone can never match the bokeh of a proper DSLR/portrait lens combo, but I can still be creative in how I frame the subject. It’s a sort of creatively that breeds from limitations.

The modern full-frame camera is simply too good. Most units from a major manufacturer can output pin-sharp photos in crazy high resolutions. There’s so much dynamic range, so much leeway to edit a file that the capture process almost seems secondary. Why care about getting the proper exposure or framing something just right when it can all be fixed in post-processing? And because you can get a photo to be even more perfect in post, editing becomes a necessary chore. You have to, because you can.

The reason I bought the Fujifilm XT-5 is because I only want to shoot. To use the JPEG images straight out of the camera (got to love those Fuji film simulations) - because I’ve already put enough thought to exposure and composition at the moment of capture. The point is to shoot more, and not spend hours in front of the computer editing. I am perfectly happy to give up some fidelity in pursuit of this. (Near) perfection is overrated anyways. A picture with blown highlights and or crushed shadows can tell a story just the same as one with the utmost amount of dynamic range.

Limitations breeding creativity.

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Red is where the fun begins.

Just the iPhone

When I travel to places I usually bring along the “big” photo kit. It consists of a Sony A7R2 camera and a few lenses, plus a tripod. The obvious downside is that the kit adds a bit of weight to the whole luggage situation. That’s the price to pay in order to capture the beautiful scenes. You do the best you can to mitigate things, of course: my travel tripod is made of carbon fiber and weights only two pounds.

Thankfully, smartphone photographic technology have improved leaps and bounds in recent years. Pictures from a modern smartphone can look just as good as a big-sensor digital camera. Computational photography is a wonderful thing. In the past two years I’ve use almost exclusively my iPhone for photos. It suffices for simple snapshots and the semi-serious stuff like producing a photo calendar. The A7R2 has sat on the shelf, doing nothing but drain the battery.

No surprise then that during my two week vacation at the end of June, I took just the iPhone with me. It’s incredibly freeing to not have to lug around the big camera kit. And honestly, I didn’t miss it that much. The only time I wish I had the Sony with me was in Seattle. We were hanging out by the waterfront area during golden hour, and Mount Rainier was visible at the distant background. Great as the iPhone is at taking photos, it simply does not have physical resolution to do that scene justice.

Other than that, it’s amazing I can use just the phone as the main camera on my travels. No doubt things will only continue to improve as the years roll on. Might I actually sell the A7R2 and go solely smartphone? Possible!

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The shot.

What I want is already there

Now that I am settled into my new place, I’ve began to sort put together a game plan of things to do. By the virtue of being within walking distance to work, the lack of a long commute have reclaimed a bit of time back into my day. So what do with those precious extra hours?

This year has been a complete wash for my photography hobby for obvious reasons. The early lockdown restrictions have morphed into lethargy and laziness. Ever since returning from Guangzhou in early January, I’ve really not done any shooting at all this year, and that is a shame. Now that I’ve got more time to my day, I’m going to force myself to focus back to taking and editing pictures.

My primary shooting device this year is the iPhone 11 Pro, and it bears repeating just how awesome smartphones cameras have evolved over the years. Computational photography have done absolute magic to overcome the physical limitations of small sensors and lenses. Push comes to shove, I have no problem at all selling my entire photography kit and only relying on the iPhone to take photos.

But a pixel-peeper like me wouldn’t be satisfied with a mere 12-megapixels, no matter how amazing the computers can make those 12 million pixels shine. What I do value and enjoy is how utterly portable a smartphone is relative to a traditional kit of camera and lenses. It’s incredibly painless to just grab the phone and go, rather than having to plan and prepare the kit for whatever eventualities. The cliche goes: the best camera is the one you have with you, and more and more, portability is something I greatly appreciate.

So I started looking through some of the latest premium small cameras that sits just below the full-fat lens-swappable mirrorless types. The Fujifilm X100V caught my eye immediately on how small it is while packing a solid punch with a decently-sized APS-C sensor and a fast prime lens. Like my iPhone, the X100V would be something I can simply grab and take with me without any thought, something that can live in the daypack constantly.

Then I got to the price, and that’s where I paused. Now is definitely not the time to spend so extravagantly, and upon reflection I remembered that the camera that I own - a Sony A7R2 - is rather portable enough already when paired with the compact Zeiss 35MM F/2.8 lens. I already have the thing that I seek and want; now it’s down to actually doing the work: go out and shoot.

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Ready set.

High megapixel cameras are awesome

High-megapixel count cameras are not superfluous, and I’ve come to absolutely adore my Sony A7R2. 

There was a time when megapixels in digital cameras finally got into the 20s, I thought “this is it, we can’t possibly need anymore than that.” Indeed, with the best mobile phone displays barely broaching 10 megapixels and instagram downsampling uploads to 1080x1080, Mid-20s megapixel cameras ought to suffice quite nicely for many years to come. Unless a professional and shoot to print/adverts, the average consumer of content haven’t got the medium to fully appreciate all the million of dots a photograph. 

I’ve held onto the above paradigm for the longest time, even as Nikon released the 36 megapixel D800 and Canon came out with the 50 megapixel 5Ds. Niche machines for a niche consumer; I was fully content with my 24 megapixel Sony A5100. 

Enter the 42 megapixel Sony A7R2. I finally made the jump to a full-frame sensor, and since I’ve moved from Canon to Sony, the logical step-up within the alpha family is the A7R2. It’s been a revelation ever since. 

42 megapixels is simply glorious. it’s so detailed that I can zoom in tightly anywhere on an A7R2 produced photo and it’s like looking at yet another capture. Creative cropping can be freely done; I’m no longer limited by the reach of my modest zoom lens. A photograph taken full-resolution at 70mm can be turned into an equivalent of 200mm at around 16 megapixels. It’s absolutely magic and cheating/cheap at the same time. 

Making the jump to high-megapixel have given me a sense freshness and excitement akin to making the jump to proper lenses with four-figure price tags. Photo optics are a truly wonderful science.