Month: October 2018

Culling posts

I’m gradually trying to make my site look neater, and I’ve been going through a lot of posts and deleting them. So far I’ve deleted 100+, it’ll take a while but hopefully in the next few months it will look better.

I’ve ordered some perspex/acrylic/plexiglass (it goes by many names) and as I plan to take photographs of the products I review, it will help give the reviews a better look I think. Writing reviews is not my favourite pass time, but I also think I am pretty critical and honest when it comes to camera equipment, and I like to help people so I think I should try to share that knowledge better :).

Although I’ve thought about editing the website theme for a while now, I don’t think there’s much point until I’ve edited the content–that is more important :).

Sony 12-24mm f/4.0 e-mount lens review incoming

I think I have decided to keep the Sony 12-24mm f/4.0 ultra wide angle lens. I’d like to write the review properly, unlike my other reviews, so it might take a while haha.

It’s a lens that doesn’t really get much hype, and perhaps people are a bit put off by spending that much on something which isn’t a GM lens. My initial impressions are that it’s incredibly lightweight but it doesn’t feel as plasticy as I was expecting. Think more along the lines of any typical poly-carbonate (Canon “L”) lens. I’ve never had a problem with plastic being used for lenses, providing it feel somewhat rugged, in fact, in some cases it’s nicer (your fingers won’t freeze to it like metal, haha).

I would say the biggest problem I have with it is that 12mm is very hard to frame with, even indoors. For example, it can make a living room look too big and the furniture too stretched out in the corners. For bathroom shots though, there’s a significant improvement over the 16mm focal length.

When I got the 24-70 gm lens, I was a bit doubtful of it because it seemed a bit big and whatnot. After a few weeks, I grew to really love it and it’s perhaps my favourite lens right now :). So although I’m not 100% in love with the Sony 12-24mm f/4.0 e-mount lens, I think it’s one I could grow to love. I will be using it every day, all day, for a while, for interior photography.

Author Philip

Writing about Canada & Sony lens repair

Hey everyone :). I haven’t really written about Canada much on my website, I mean, I wrote about it lots prior to going but not actually about my travels. I have started writing a bit about it.

Customer service fail

Excuse the title, the two are unrelated. On the gear front… I sent my Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 gm lens to be repaired because the zoom ring initially felt and continues to sound gritty. I suspect dust got into it when it was manufactured, I’m not sure. Anyway it arrived, after 3 weeks, seemingly the same as before it left i.e. the fault hasn’t been fixed. In my opinion, it needs one of the gears to be cleaned with alcohol and re-greased. This kind of thing was common with radio controlled helicopter servos and that kind of thing, back in the day. I could do it myself if I wanted to break warranty and if I lived in a dust free environment (I don’t).

The customer service with Canon repair was terrible too (actually it was even worse) and I had to threaten to sue them before they fixed a huge fault (the viewfinder was out of alignment with the sensor). It’s possible the shop I bought from didn’t send the Sony repair team the notes I requested. Judging from the form I received back, this was the case. I can’t entirely blame Sony for this but they should have noticed it sounds weird…

I don’t have a high opinion of big companies when it comes to customer service, and I don’t see Canon as superior to Sony. I can’t write much about this just yet because I don’t have the full story to tell.

My advice for things like this is to know the law in your area, know your rights, and don’t put up with rubbish if you don’t have to. I waited three weeks to receive the lens and they now want to send it away again. I consider that unreasonable and I have questioned them as to what they’re going to do now.

I’m very unbiased and I don’t hate on companies, but this is something I feel large companies should sort out in general. One way this could be done is for them to request information about the fault and actually READ that information.

Sony 12-24 FE lens

I ordered a Sony 12-24 FE lens for interior photography. It arrives tomorrow, I hope! I am looking forward to it. I will be using it a lot, so I’ll have a lot to say about it and if you have any questions, let me know.

Author Philip

Godox round head speedlight flash Profoto A1

Godox have announced news they will be releasing a flash similar to the Profoto A1. I think given the advancements they’ve made recently, at the pricing point, it is hard to justify buying into Profoto so I have decided to buy more Godox flashes when they’re released. I don’t know what the Godox Profoto A1 lookalike will be called or what it will cost, but I don’t expect it to be too expensive.

I’ve cropped this photo because it has personal stuff in the room, but this was taken with Godox speedlights. In my opinion, considering this is without any lighting modifiers, it looks pretty natural. The flash near the door is too powerful but that’s just user error.