My Favorite New Travel Camera, Maybe My Favorite Camera of All!

Good Morning Everybody,

As I mentioned yesterday, LaDawn and I just returned from 3+ weeks of travel in South Africa which included 9 days on Safari and a stint in the Cape Town area, as well.  It was a great trip and we captured some amazing images that I plan to share with you over these next several days.

But to get great photos, it helps to have the right camera to do the job for you. For years our favorite travel camera has been Canon's SX60 camera [link] - before that it was the SX50.  I loved the 21-1300mm IS lens which truly made it a camera for all occasions.  The 16 meg RAW file along with decent low light capabilities and reasonable sharpness added to the camera's already nice list of photographic credentials.

One Almost "Dead" SX60 Camera

But during these travels, this camera was not going to Africa with us.  Why? We just wore it out over the last five years and 200,000 miles of travel. My guess is that the camera has over 100,000 exposures on it.  That coupled with dusty environments, humid conditions, and all the rest have definitely taken their toll on the camera. The zoom lens wasn't working smoothly and the camera took about three or more tries just to get it to fire up - not good. Normally we would have just upgraded to the new SX70 version but in my research, it just seemed like a downgrade from the SX60 - hence the search for a new, easy for LaDawn, a replacement was in order.

I Found My Nearly Perfect Replacement Camera!

After a few days searching on the web and reading many reviews and watching lots of YouTube videos, I had made my decision.  I decided on the 3 times more expensive Sony RX10 M4.  This camera is getting fabulous reviews EVERYWHERE!

The images seemed incredible, the focal length was nearly the same as with the SX60, albeit with the lens doubling feature.  The 1" sensor meant less noise, it could focus in only .03/second, it was image-stabilized to 4.5 stops, had a 20 meg sensor, and could shoot at a blazing 24 frames a second - plus tons more.  Read all about it over at Sony right here [link].

I ended up picking up the camera from my local Best Buy who had it priced at $100 less off retail, at $1500 and they were throwing in a free second battery.  I ended up picking up two more batteries and a charger from Amazon for just about $32 [link].

Test Driving the New Sony RX10 M4

We still had a few weeks before we were leaving for Africa so I decided to let the Sony be my "go-to" camera for a few trips leading up to our big Africa trip. In early February I headed out to Austin to visit my daughter, Liz for about a week. I had some time to myself so I threw the Sony around my neck and began shooting away at the city surrounds. Here is a quick photo I did of one of the local pigeons sitting on a fence post.

OK, it's not an over compelling image but I wanted to show the sharpness and clarity of the image produced by this camera.  This image was taken zoomed to 936mm which means the digital doubling was coming into play - but still, notice its sharpness. And folks, this image was taken wide open at F4.0, handheld at 1/250 second - pretty darn impressive!  Feel free to click on the image for an even larger view - pretty cool!

A few weeks later, LaDawn and I were on a cruise ship with friends traveling the Caribbean. We love our cruises and we love the stage shows on the ship.  I always have a camera with me to capture some of the excitement of these shows.  But, check out the image below - it was taken zoomed to 70mm F3.5 @ 1/640 second. But more impressively, at 5000 ISO!

Even at this higher ISO, I think it looks impressive.  I should mention that I am just shooting these images in JPG mode as the camera's internal noise reduction and processing really does an excellent job. Feel free to click on the image for a larger view and notice the minimal grain pattern.

Now finally on to the last image for today. The image below is of Africa's most beautiful bird, the Lilac Breasted Roller.  As we were causing the savannah one day in our safari vehicles we happened upon this beautiful bird.

Once again, check out the sharpness and detail of the image. This image was made with the camera zoomed to 715mm F5.0 @ 1/2500 second at ISO400. It's also cropped just a bit to improve the composition.   Needless to say, the image is crisp and sharp and really showcases the capabilities of this super cool camera.

In closing, let me say that I am most impressed with the sharpness of the Zeiss lens this camera is equipped with.  It is just stunning sharp! In the coming days, I'll share with you more safari images with discussions about gear, technique, and safari experiences. I hope you will join me.

____________________________________________________________________

Hey Gang,

That's it for me today. Look for more "goodies" coming up in the days to come. Heck, I just may tell you about my newest fun "camera" I'm "playing" with ;~)

Cheers for now everybody,

David

Hands-On With Tamron’s Fabulous 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro - My New Favorite Lens!

Good Morning Everybody,

LaDawn and I begin our travels around the globe in just about a week.  This time we’re heading to South America for about a month hitting Lima, Peru; Machu Picchu, the Sacred Valley; the Amazon River for a Piranha Pedicure – OK, just kidding about the pedicure. 

We return to Sedona, AZ for about a week for a photography conference and then back to South America for another few weeks exploring the Galapagos Islands. These South American visits are both “bucket list”  trips and we are really looking forward to them. And… I will be packing my favorite travel lens for the entire trip.

My Favorite Travel Lens – Tamron 16-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di II VC PZD Macro Lens [link]

I know, I know – that is a mouthful of a name for this lens so how about I just refer to it as my Tamron 16-300mm lens for the rest of the article. Sure, I carry a few other lenses in our travels but this lens is my absolute FAV.

Here’s why I like to travel light. I seldom travel with my Canon 5D Mark 3 (never did upgrade to the Mark 4). I’ve always liked my Canon 7D Mark 2 and have been using it as my primary camera for my weddings and travels. The main reasons – it allows me to travel with lighter optics when considering various international travel/weight restrictions. And, the “frame rate” rate is 9.5 FPS vs. 6 FPS for my 5D Mark 2. When shooting wildlife, this faster FPS is a necessity. There are other reasons too which I can easily cover in a future article or two.

But now let’s get back to my favorite lens – the Tamron 16-300mm – the image stabilized macro lens. As a Canon shooter, my go-to lens has been Canon’s 18-200mm IS lens – it’s a good all around lens and worked fine for most shooting situations.  I just always wished it was a bit wider and just a tab longer.

After doing a little research last year, I saw that Tamron had some interesting zooms in their APS sized lens arsenal, in particular, their 16-300mm lens and their 18-400mm lens, and I decided to explore further. I already was set in the long lens department going all the way out to 600mm so that sort of reduced the need for me to acquire the 18-400mm version even because of it’s long reach. Like I said, I wanted a little more on the short side of the zoom range. 

What I liked about the 16-300mm lens was that it was just a bit wider than my old standard Canon 18-200mm lens.  OK, your saying – “What, just two silly millimeters wider?” Come on DAZ, give me a break….  But wait, a silly 2mm difference translates to an additional 8 degrees of wide-angle wonderfulness – many times just enough to make or break the photo.  Think in terms of a 35mm full frame optic – 18mm on an APS size camera is equivalent to 28mm on a full frame camera.  16mm on an APS size camera is equivalent to just under 25mm on a full frame camera.  To me, that’s a big difference! Add to that the 300mm Tele reach and I’ve got pretty much a universal optic attached to my camera.

So How Universal Is The Lens Really?
Last year we traveled nearly two months around the Mediterranean countries – Spain, France, and Italy; crossed the Atlantic on a cruise ship; and traveled to Mexico for three more weeks.

I gave my friends at Tamron a call and asked if I could test drive their 16-300 lens – they were very gracious to oblige me. Over nearly two months of our travels, I took 8770 photos all of which were shot on the Canon 7D Mk2.  7320 of those images were made with Tamron 16-300mm lens – that’s 83.5% of all the images I made in two months of shooting – sounds kind of universal to me.

When I analyzed it even further I found that out of all my images, I made nearly 25% at the 16-17mm and 201-300mm settings. That percentage represents images I could not have gotten with the reduced zoom range of the Canon 18-200mm lens – like I said, I love this lens!  This lens simply makes travel photography fast, fun, and efficient!

Let’s Take A Look At a Few Images At 16-17mm

I’ve been making a big “fuss” about the wide angle benefits of this lens.  Let’s take a look at some of the images I would have missed with a slightly longer (less wide) lens (i.e. 18mm lens).

Whether it’s photographing wine cellars in Spain, scenic views for the top of Montserrat, vineyards in France, fresh markets in France, picturesque towns in Cinque Terre, the tight spaces of the Trevi Fountain in Rome, or beautiful sunsets in Cabo, Mexico; this lens captured exactly what I was looking for compositionally and esthetically. And, I loved that no lens changes were involved.

Now Let’s Take A Look At a Few Images At 201-300mm
Within the zoom range of 201-300mm, I was easily able to capture a lot more images without a lens change. I hardly ever carry a lens longer than 200mm because they are so inconvenient for our travels, size, weight… So, the greater than 200mm Tamron range gave me that much more versatility in my shooting easy and simply.

Although I’m a wide-angle fanatic, I still like my macro images, birds in flight, my “reach out and touch somebody” candid's, distant landscapes and seascapes. Check out the images below to see what I mean.

And All the Other Images In-between
Like I said earlier, about 25% of the images I made with this lens were at focal lengths shorter or longer than what I would normally use with the standard Canon 18-200mm optic, so, as it turns out, that’s a very important option for me and why I think this is such a fantastic lens, especially for traveling.

For all the images I made at the other focal lengths, I found the lens fast and easy to work. Build quality is decent, color is great, sharpness is just fine, and focus is reasonably fast. One note here – when shooting birds in flight, I wish it was just a bit faster in acquiring focus.  For just about everything else it was just fine.

So in addition to the images I shared above let me show you a few more images that I think capture the essence of what a travel lens is supposed to do for you, mainly keep lens changes at a minimum, be able to compose and shoot an image quickly, maintain excellent color and focus, and be image stabilized sufficiently to be able to take images in reduced light situations.

Here we go…

This first image illustrates the benefits of the image stabilization with this lens.  This image was made at 1/15 second in a very dark wine cellar in Spain. Everything is plenty darn sharp for my purposes. 

I even found myself able to capture images at even slower shutter speeds if I was especially careful in how I held the camera and lens.

I love these next two images as well.  When traveling on cruise ships, LaDawn and I enjoy the entertainment on board these amazing ships. Last Fall we made the first trans-Atlantic crossing of the Royal Caribbean Symphony of the Seas, the largest cruise ship in the world. These ships are simply spectacular in every respect and, in spite of the 6,000 plus passengers on board, it just does not feel crowded. Nevertheless, the entertainment and shows are “first class”.

The first image above is from the stage show “Hairspray” – a fun theatrical romp if there ever was one. The second from another great show on the ship entitled, “Flight”. This lens lets me capture as little or as much of the shows as I wanted because of it super wide zoom range.

This next shot is from the ship’s ice show, another entertainment experience not to miss when cruising on Royal Caribbean's  “Oasis” class ships.

These next two images below give you a clear understanding of the zoom range and capabilities of this lens.  Both images were made during our travels through Cinque Terre, Italy.

The first images show the scene of the terraced vineyards on the side of the hill at 16mm.  Look for the tiny structure in the distance about half way up the hill – I’ve boxed it in.  Now, look at this second image of that structure itself taken at 300mm.  You can barely find it in the first image but this Tamron lens sure pulls it in for its close-up.

The list goes on and on. Here are a few more photos from our myriad travels from Europe, USA, and Mexico over those two months. 

The Tamron lens was the perfect solution for our adventures capturing sunrises to sunsets and about everything in-between.

Conclusions:

I find the Tamron 16-300mm lens the ideal lens for travel, or really just about any casual photographic need. It is the lens that spends most of its time locked onto my Canon 7D Mark 2 for just about everything we do photographically. The zoom range is just about perfect for  all my photographic needs whether that be travel or a quick assignment for any of the various civic duties I’m involved in.

But most importantly, it is now going to be one of my go-to lenses for wedding photography.  That’s right, I can think of no other lens that will give me the versatility in shooting that this lens will give me on the job. Reducing the need to change lenses will definitely give me the opportunity to capture more of those special moments that unfold over the course of the wedding day. I can’t wait to give it a try at my next wedding!

_____________________________________________________

Hey Gang,

That’s it for me today. I hope you enjoy the post today.  I’m thinking I’ll  do an update after I photograph my upcoming wedding.  We’ll see you then.

Cheers, David

Happy Days Are Here Again!!! Sigma’s 150-600mm Contemporary Lens; Safari Update; and Eclipse Photography

 

Good Afternoon Everybody,

Actually the Happy Days have never really left – Life is good! I sure hope you are having a great summer.  I have a great post for you today featuring some lens testing I’m excited to share with you, my 2018 African Safari Update,  and some recent wedding work. On a personal note, LaDawn and I have been busy as usual with some studio work, travels, cruises, and a seminar now and then.  All in all, life is great! On top of that LaDawn has become a grandmother for the second time and she is over the moon! Here is a quick photo of BIG Malcolm 90 minutes after he was born – yes, 90 minutes – look at those eyes!

Even though we have slowed things down a bit we’re still pretty busy with client work, album designs, family portraits, and extensive travel planning which will result in over 40,000 images later this year. That said, let’s get right into today’s post.

Check Out My New Eclipse/Safari Lens – Sigma 150-600mm, Fantastic!

Earlier this Spring, in preparation for our upcoming 2018 African Photo Safari I contacted my friends up at Sigma and asked if I could test-drive one of their longer telephoto zoom lens. I had been hearing a lot about the lighter weight Sigma 150-600 Contemporary lens – it’s getting some great reviews over at B&H as well as Amazon -  and asked if I could give it a try. A few days later it arrived on my doorstep and I was fired up to run the lens through it’s paces.

Although I packed it along for our travels through Florida in April and even took it with me on a 2 week Caribbean cruise all the way to South America, I never really encountered any “wild” animals to speak of out on the Caribbean Sea or any of the exotic stops along the way. But…

After we arrived home we decided the best place to find wild animals was the world famous Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens so off we went. I wanted to discover three main things about the lens:

1. Was it sharp?

2. How Close could I go?

3. How is the image stabilization? Here we go.

1. Was it sharp?

The quick answer is VERY SHARP! Because I was hand-holding for all of these images most of my images were taken at the higher shutter speeds but mostly wide open at F6.3. Check out these photos below.

This image of the famous Cincinnati Zoo white tiger was shot  maxed out at 600mm F6.3 @ 1/800 sec at 1250 ISO. It sure looked good to me.

This image of this rhino was also shot nearly maxed out at 468mm F6.3 @ 1/640 sec at 800 ISO.  We printed up six of the images to 24x36 prints and they looked fabulous even upon close inspection.

2. How Close Could I Go?

Pretty darn close. I have to tell you, my inclination was to zoom in as much as I could but I found myself racking out slightly because the 600mm range really was too close for many of the animals I was photographing. The main reason -  was the fact that I was shooting with my Canon 7D Mk2 which added the 1.6x magnification factor to the actual zoom length. Hence the 600mm length stated above was really 960mm – that’s a pretty darn good zoom.  Check out the two images below.

This image of the orangutan is one of my favorites. It too was taken with the lens racked out to 600mm or effectively 960mm on my Canon 7D Mk2. Photo specs were 1/640 sec @ F7.1, ISO 4000. This is actually a slightly cropped image but you still see it is really sharp.

The image of the cute little meerkat again verified the sharpness of the lens. It too was taken with a shorter 310mm or effectively 578mm on my Canon 7D Mk2. Photo specs were 1/640 sec @ F6.3, ISO 250.

So how close could I go – I’d say about as close as I wanted to. Consider this, the Sigma 150-600mm Contemporary ships with a 1.4 tele-extender included…. at least mind did. That means that with the lens racked out to 600mm with the 1.4 tele-extender would give me an effective 840mm focal length. Now add that combo to my Canon 7D Mk2 with it’s 1.6x magnification factor and you get a whopping 1344mm effective focal length!

3. How is the image stabilization?

Those of you who have followed my blog over the years know I am very keen on image stabilization for my photography - seldom to never using a tripod. I was really curious about the IS properties of this lone telephoto lens. Check out the following photo.

This image was taken at 1/60 second hand-held @ F5.6 at 8000 ISO with focal length set to 293mm or effectively 469mm on my Canon 7D Mk2.  Folks, that’s nearly a 500mm optic hand-held at a super slow 1/60 second and still coming out pleasantly sharp for this experience!

A Few More Thoughts…

All in all I found this lens to be a fun lens to shoot.  It’s not the lightest optic weighing in at 4.3 pounds but still lighter than other options available. With  the shoulder strap that is included, it would be fine for carrying around a few hours.

One thing I really loved about the lens was it’s very fast auto-focusing.  The lens just snapped into focus easily even at the longer focal lengths.

This is not a lens for wedding photography – it’s just too long a focal length for that kind of shooting but it is a perfect lens for wildlife and bird-watching. Yes, this is the lens I’ll be traveling with on our upcoming 2018 Photo Safari – hope to see you there.

2018 10 Day African Photo Safari Update

Hey gang we still have a number of seats for our February 22 – March 4, 2018 Ten Day African Photo Safari [link].  Our first Safari sold out in 48 hours so we added a second set of dates to accommodate all who want to join us on this once in a lifetime adventure.

This adventure is absolutely First Class all the way and at a cost that will not break the bank - like so many other safaris. The cost for this safari is about 50% less than many safaris you see advertised and is ALL-INCLUSIVE!  That means accommodations, all meals, beverages – wine, beer, soft drinks, and water are all included. Air travel is still on your own but exploring departure cities and booking flights early will definitely save you money.

 A few comments from recent adventurers:

…Your safari was the most amazing trip ever! I have been to a safari lodge in Kenya and one in Uganda and they don’t compare .?

…The best safari and Lodge experience ….(LOVED !) the wonderful staff . And the wildlife was definitely the most prolific I have seen! Ps.. Got amazing shots that are canvases hanging in my home. The food was fabulous the people in our group were wonderful .. Making lifelong friendships.

Please drop me a line to me personally at  David@Ziser.com with your contact info and I’ll fill you in on all the details. I would love to hear from you. Or you can contact Kevin Dooley, whom I’m working with directly on this trip, directly at his cell: 505-401-2988. Kevin is an award wining photographer and certified African guide and has been conducting these Safaris for over 18 years – he can give you the complete details.

So… How About That Famous Eclipse Coming to America on August 21, 2017

What would be the optimum focal length for that once in a life-time event? Funny you should ask. LaDawn and I are heading to Nashville, TN – one of the optimum viewing cities for the eclipse. Weather permitting, I plan to take a few “Eclipse” pics of the event.

I’ve been doing a little research on the event so we can come back with some great images.  Regarding the best focal length lens for this very rare event – B&H Photo and Video has a great article on how to photograph the upcoming eclipse right here [link].

In their very informed discussion the subject of best focal length to use comes up.  In fact they posted a chart showing the varying focal lengths cropping effects on the eclipse.  Here is is below.

You know what that tells me don’t you? My brand new Sigma 150-600mm at 600mm with 1.4x tele-extender on my Canon 7D Mk2 should put me right in the ball park with  my resulting 1344mm optics.  I can’t wait.  I promise I’ll do a posting after so you can check out my results.

______________________________________________________________

Hey gang,

That’s going to be it for me today.  Hope you enjoyed the post today and I hope to see you down the road - hopefully in Africa ;~)

Cheers for now,

David