Hay Field, Comfort Texas Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @f5.6It has been my habit to go for an early Sunday morning ride since I was old enough to drive. For most of that time my preferred vehicle was some motorcycle. As a young man I favored speed. The technical challenge of riding the back roads and canyons was my obsession. Much later the idea of enjoying the ride in a more relaxed fashion finally occurred to me and I slowed down. That’s when I bought my first camera.
For some years now a four wheeled vehicle has been my choice for Sunday morning drives. Not as much fun perhaps but infinitely safer while allowing me to carry some lenses and a tripod. I got old or I got practical. Take your pick.Echo Bluff Ranch Gate Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @ f3.5If you live in Central Texas the obvious place to spend Sunday morning is in the Hill Country, The pace of life there matches my weekend ambitions. Getting out before church means you see few people. You can literally stop anywhere to shoot even in the middle of the road.
I carry a camera whenever I’m on the back roads but I tend to look more than shoot. Once in a while something catches my eye but mostly I drive slow and enjoy myself. If I shoot more than two or three photographs then I’m highly motivated. Last weekend I got three.
These photographs were all made within a few miles of Comfort Texas. Just at the Southern edge of what I consider the Hill Country. There are still many active farms and ranches in the area but they are slowly being replaced by recreational properties. Some of which are quite large.Fence Line Super Takumar 35mm 3.5 @f8.0
“I suppose it is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.” – Abraham H. Maslow
An often heard cliché is that the camera is just a tool in the hands of a photographer. That is true as long as the photographer can come to terms with a particular camera to use it as a tool. I may have reached that point with the Sony A7II.
Of course the camera as tool encompasses both body and lenses. That complicates things when using legacy lenses because the two were not designed to work as a system. Finding the right match of body and lens requires some work on the part of the photographer. There is at least a little luck and intuition involved as well. This is particularly true if you have limited experience with legacy glass. I am in that category.
All of this makes me reluctant to say that I’ve found the right tool for my year long photography project. The camera body is indeed excellent but the lenses are a work in progress. With only four lenses, three of which were purchased several years ago, I can’t say that I have the right lenses. How do you know if they are the right lenses?
Being pragmatic at heart and trying not to be a gearhead my approach is to shoot with what I’ve got. Given the results so far this seems to be a reasonable if not optimal approach. As I get deeper into the project a time may come when purchasing additional lenses will make sense. Until then I’ll muddle along using my current glass.
Best to remember that my project is to shoot the A7II for a year using legacy lenses while spending the least amount of money. As long as the images look good I’ll stick with what I have in the bag.Lone Star Superman No2
Kristi Grider Onstage in Luckenbach Zuiko 135mm 3.5 @ f3.5On Independence Day I drove up to Luckenbach with the A7II to shoot some outdoor music performances. To be honest I didn’t have high expectations of being able to use a manual lens to get decent shots. As expected the results were mixed but the manual lens was less of an issue than the camera firmware.
As has been reported numerous times elsewhere the A series cameras insist on using 1/60 second shutter speed when set to aperture priority and auto ISO with manual lenses. That behavior makes shooting any sort of moving subject problematic at best. In most ways the Sony is an outstanding camera but it falls down badly in this situation because you can’t set a minimum shutter speed in aperture mode. It is really too bad and disappointing for such a competent tool to behave this way.
All cameras have quirks and there are ways around the slow shutter speed problem with this one. You just have to change how you work with the camera. There are three variables that can be manipulated on this particular camera to get proper exposure. These are aperture, shutter speed and light sensitivity (ISO). Using some combination of the three variables provides a solution.
Two simple workarounds use either shutter priority or full manual along with auto ISO to achieve a proper result. Both are very similar when using manual lenses. Set the aperture on the lens, select the appropriate shutter speed and allow the camera to work out proper exposure by varying the ISO within a user selected range. As long as the camera can adjust sensitivity to achieve proper exposure you are good to go.
This is not a point and shoot solution. It requires the photographer be able to judge lighting conditions well enough to be able to select a shutter speed that keeps exposure within the ISO range the camera will use. The camera provides all the information you need to get proper exposure right in the viewfinder but the photographer is in control.
The point is that the photographer has to make decisions to ensure that the camera performs correctly to get the desired result. If you are unwilling to control the camera to get proper exposure then don’t shoot with manual lenses.
