Photography – Photochirp

Hike in Scotland & photography & portfolio site

Hey,

Last year I went to Canada and it was my first time travelling alone, I loved it! I now have the travel bug, but I can’t really afford to go anywhere expensive. I’m from the UK and I’ve been to all of England but not Scotland.

When I went to Canada, my photographs were compromised because I hiked many, many miles each day. I don’t regret my trip at all and I can’t express how much I enjoyed parts of Canada. However, I’d like to take more professional photographs and I have a different goal in mind for my next adventure. This time I’d actually like to hike a bit one day, camp, take photographs the next, and hike the day after or something like that. Whatever I do, I want to make the trip more about photography and less about the hiking. Taking photographs at 2pm? Yeah, not cool (especially with a bear nearby).

Do you have any experiences hiking in Scotland? Are there any places you recommend where I can float around the area and no one mind if I camp there?

Portfolio site update

I have another update regarding my new site I’m creating. I’ve made a cool menu system I’m pleased with. I should probably get some screen recording software and show it on YouTube, but hopefully it’ll be done soon. It’s kind of a 3D effect :). You can see it if you follow my instagram and view the story (if you follow me, let me know and I’ll follow you back. I don’t pay an awful lot of attention to instagram).

When my new website is done, I can go back to taking photographs. At the moment I’m coding day and night, haha. I feel a bit ashamed with this site, because it’s a bit sloppy. After a while, I would really like to make a new theme for it but obviously income comes first. When I make the new theme, I’ll completely remove the portfolio page from it and use my other site to display my photographs. This has a lot of bugs in general, although it displays okay on a 1920 x 1200px screen.

My absolute dream would be to get good enough at landscape photographs such that I can sell them in an online store, and then travel for half of the year, haha. I think I’ve been watching too much YouTube.

Sony 12-24 f/4 G lens review next steps

The Sony 12-24 f/4 G lens is proving difficult to review at the moment but I haven’t forgotten about it. I have another site I’m working on for work and I need to put my time into that.

I will be photographing some AirBnBs in the near future though and should be able to use those photographs for my review. I think it’s a subject better suited for the review as I believe the Sony 12-24 f/4 G lens is inferior to the Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 G master lens for landscapes, but it’s better for interior photography.

Cheapest lens storage protection against mould

I’ve written a small page about how to protect your Sony a7rIII / Nikon Z6 / Canon EOS R mirrorless or DSLR cameras and lenses from mould.

This is something you should consider even if you think your camera equipment is not in a high risk environment.

Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 g master lens review update

This is just a quick update. I’ve added some photos into my Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 g master lens review page :).

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.

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.