{"id":50835,"date":"2021-12-31T20:00:02","date_gmt":"2022-01-01T00:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/?p=50835"},"modified":"2022-07-17T03:28:15","modified_gmt":"2022-07-17T07:28:15","slug":"best-photography-purchases-of-2021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neilvn.com\/tangents\/best-photography-purchases-of-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Best photography purchases of 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Best photography purchases of 2021<\/h1>\n

The past year was definitely an improvement on 2020, which was a strange year with businesses shutting down. Things started to turn around when vaccines helped a sense of normalcy to return. For me, like many photographers, 2020 came crushing down, but in comparison 2021 was crazy-busy as all the events postponed from 2020 started to be added to the 2021 calendar. As far as the Tangents blog goes, posts have been relatively scarce — in 2020 I wasn’t busy enough to really have anything new to write about. And in 2021, I was just too busy to have much time to expand on the material here, as much as I wanted to. \u00a0Some weekends I photographed 4 weddings and other events in a row. Just a hectic pace, which I hope will continue into the new year.<\/p>\n

All this is some context to this regular year-end reflection as we discuss what photo gear bought in 2021 to augment our photography hobby or career — \u00a0this year’s edition of best photography purchases<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

We would all love to hear what you have been up to, and what astute and interesting choices you\u2019ve made this year. There is a $50 Amazon gift card for a comment posted here which will be picked via a random number generator, like before. Winner to be announced on Jan 7th.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

My\u00a0best photography purchases for 2021<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Upgrading my infrared camera<\/span><\/h3>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tNow, about the two photos – I love the surreal look of B&W infrared with the right subject. I prefer New York cityscapes as my usual subject.<\/p>\n

Why infrared? It is something very different from my usual work, and allows me to explore New York with a fresh outlook.<\/p>\n

You can see some of my infrared photography here on the Tangents blog: infrared photography<\/a>; as well as a dedicated website just for this topic : infrared NYC<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
<\/div><\/p>\n

I originally started with a modified Canon 5D mk2, but the live-view autofocus was limited with just the single AF point, and no flip-out LCD screen. Then I went with a infra-red modified Fuji XE-2 … but Fuji lenses are plagued by central hotspots when shooting infrared. Then the past year I upgraded my infrared camera to a modified Sony A7ii. It was modified to “deep infrared” by by\u00a0Life Pixel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Why mirrorless? Well, mirrorless cameras<\/a> make most sense with infrared photography compared to DLSRs, because the live-view autofocus of mirrorless allows you to better pick a proper exposure and quickly get sharply focused images.<\/p>\n

The photo at the top was taken at the Edward Tufte landscape sculpture park in Connecticut. A surreal enough place to match up with the surreal rendition of infrared photography.<\/p>\n

The lens used was the superb Sony 20mm f\/1.8 G<\/a> (B&H<\/a><\/em> \/ Amazon<\/em><\/a>) which has just the right field of view for dramatic landscapes.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

Sony A1<\/span><\/h3>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tOne of the craziest things I did this past year :\nI bought a Sony A1 (B&H<\/em><\/a> \/ Amazon<\/em><\/a>). Crazy expensive, but also loaded with features and the very best spec.<\/p>\n

It is one of those cameras that offer everything: high resolution of 50 mpx; 30 fps shooting rate (with specific lenses and image settings); and up to 8K video … and a slew of other features. You might very well not need most of the features, but there are so many improvements over current cameras, that even the sum of the incremental improvements make it a compelling camera. I don’t need 8K video, but 4K60 with eye-focus is very useful.\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>

\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>
<\/div>So far I love the camera, with a few caveats — there is no medium RAW setting. Everything is at full resolution unless you shoot in crop mode which gives you a more reasonable 21 megapixels. But I wish Sony could have added this feature – medium RAW – to its cameras like Nikon and Canon has. Another major disappointment, and I think this is just how mirrorless cameras are at the moment — when I photograph dark reception venues with the DJ’s lights flashing, that combination of low light and low contrast, and crazy changing lighting, makes the Sony A1’s autofocus slow or even has it consistently mis-focus. I still pull out my Nikon D5 to help me out in these tough situations. Disappointing that a $6,500 camera isn’t the final word in low-light \/ low-contrast AF. We’ll have to see what the Nikon Z9 offers us here.<\/p>\n

Oh, another disappointment — the camera overheats in video mode. It happened to me even before the camera was recording. I was still setting up the microphone and lighting in the studio, with the camera on standby (in 4K mode), and then it overheated. That’s just crazy.I did set the heating control to ‘High’ afterwards to help avoid this. But still.<\/p>\n

I finally decided to pull the trigger on the Sony A1 during this photo session shown in the timelapse clip below. I had rented a high-megapixel Sony A7iii to photograph this huge group of realtors … and then at the start of the shoot the camera started to misbehave. The final straw. I sent out my assistant to go buy me a Sony A1. It is embarrassing to struggle with gear in front of a client. My equipment needs to work in a predictable manner.<\/p>\n

The image quality out of the Sony A1 is amazing – the level of detail, and the surprisingly good high-ISO noise at 3200 ISO. The responsiveness of this camera is also a joy to experience. The controls respond with the same speediness as the Nikon D5 that I am used to. Sony has overcome that lag to the controls that the Sony A9 still has. I love the Sony A1, but I am not committed enough that I won’t properly consider the Nikon Z9 once it hits the shelves of the rental houses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n