Want to learn more about my story, my vision and how I work in the field?
Curious to learn how much work I put in one single image before, during and after I shot it? (and realize how insane I am about it?)
Check out the interview I did with the great people from the Sony Global Imaging Ambassadors.
A little while ago, I received a box from the good people at Carl Zeiss Lenses (thank you!!).
I opened it, my heart skipped a beat π
I will have about one month to play with the yet UNRELEASED 28mm f/1.4, and the 55mm f/1.4. My goal is to test them in the field for tilt/shift and long exposure π
Here is a first peak at the UNRELEASED 28mm f/1.4 Zeiss Otus (Nikon mount).
This bad boy is larger than the Otus 85mm f/1.4!! (see the quarter coin to give a reference) Of course, the tripod foot will be necessary to mount on the tripod for landscape photography π
Let me know if you have questions regarding either the 28 or 55mm! I will do the regular field tests (although nothing with charts and such), and focus on Tilt/Shift and long exposure.
Come join us next week for my next solo show at the New England School of Photography!
11 big prints of my most recent and best seascapes work.
I hope to see you there!!
Text of the original announcement:
NEXT at the The Garner Center for Photographic Exhibitions: Aquae: Photographs by Thibault Roland Fine Art Photography. Aquae is a series of landscape images that explores the serene and formal nature of water in a most alluring and minimal fashion.
Opening Reception: Thursday, Nov. 19, 5:30pm – 7pm
Show Runs: Nov. 16 – Dec. 18, 2015
I’m stocked to announce that some of my work has been selected to be part of the Bert And NΕne Gallery.
It is curated by Ron Cowie and offers only the best of fine art photography.
Check it out! You’ll find amazing art by Cranson Weber Shelley, Lisa Garner, and Ron Cowie.
The best part? Ron is looking for more talents to add to the site. So if you think your work fits, get in touch with him!!
Now, who’s in for acquiring some amazing art and/or contributing??
Prototype Genus electronic ND fader system
Placing filters at the back of a lens is a technique that was used “back in the day” of film photography (although it is still done nowadays).
It has drawbacks and advantages, one of the latter being there is almost zero risk of vignetting.
As far as I know, OWL is the only system that lets you do just that for modern photography on mirrorless systems. It sure is convenient, but not ideal because it does not have electronic control of the aperture nor AF.
I came across this article and video demonstrating a similar line of thoughts. The companyΒ GenustechΒ is developing a new ND filter system that is placed inside the lens adapter, and electronically controlled.
It seems like a good idea on the paper, because it will be much more convenient than having to transport and put on / take off delicate filters. (trust me, it can be a real pain in the… neck). Also, they claim it will be possible to remotely control it, which is really cool.
A few questions arise from this tech though (I will skip everything that has to do with aperture and AF control here and focus on the new feature):
1/ It currently does not have aperture nor EF control, with may or may not be a problem depending on the lens or subject you shoot. But they mention in the interview electronic control will be available in the final product, so check.
2/ what will be the maximum density the filter reaches? For 3-5 minutes long exposure in day time, you need about 16 stops. They mention in the interview it will go up to 12 stops, which is a bit on the low side… But let’s see if they can push it darker.
3/ what about optical quality? and especially chromatic aberrations, color cast/shift?
4/ what about light leaks? Pretty obvious point, but when you have a 16 (or even 12) stops filter, you want your adapter to be really light tight. I guess it’s the case, but who knows?
Bottom line, I think it’s a cool product and every long exposure photographer out there should keep an eye out for it.
Lots of potential, some real questions and technical challenges.
Let’s hope we get to see a finalized product that will be high quality and we’ll all die to use.
Being a fine art photographer (and a scientist) means that you have a high attention to details. Sometimes it’s a gift, sometimes it’s a curse. But it’s mostly a gift π
It’s almost like having OCD for me at times, and it sure does feel like it when I process my images to allow extremely large printing.
This is what makes the difference between an average photograph and a hit! Here you see the image before and after removing fringes (respectively), zoomed in at 500% :
If you want to learn how to process images that will WOW people, send me a message and we’ll organize private mentoring sessions.
Being part of the Sony Artisans of Imagery Program, I was lucky to have tonight a phone meeting with some of the top Sony engineers who helped develop the very sought after Sony a7R II.
And as promised, I asked questions, and they answered. Some of these questions were asked by YOU!! So thanks a lot, and let’s get to the point!
SENSOR:
β‘ Yes! No formal test was done (it’s coming), but they confirmed that they were very impressed by the quality of the system
β‘ No! 1/ In the new design, the photodiodes are closer to the surface of the sensor, and that allows them to detect more light, hence a higher sensitivity. This sensor has a better detection rate in low light conditions than a “regular” sensor. 2/ The change of materials to connect the diodes to the rest of the electronics ensures a lower noise level as well. They did not go into specifics but these seem to be a two key points.
β‘ No! We were told that at the same high ISO number, the a7S will outperform the a7R II. The a7R II is “ideal for mostly still photographers who want to shoot videos and 4K from time to time, but videographers will still want to use the a7S in low light conditions”
β‘ They came up with an internal method to make them “not a problem anymore”
β‘ Read out speed is 3.5x faster than for the a7R. This will speed up acquisition time, and allows for a higher frame rate for both photo and video
β‘ “Full pixel readout without pixel binning in the Super 35 format. This crops the sensor to the same size as Arri Alexa, Red Epic, Canon C300 and Sony F55 digital cinema cameras for a clean video image that isn’t down sampled.” (quoted from Michael Britt)
β‘ No low pass filter in order to retain every detail in the image
β‘ “Super slow motion at full 1920x1080HD at 240FPS – even though slow motion footage is the new slider/shallow depth of field cliche.” (quoted from Michael Britt)
SHUTTER:
β‘ Will reduce the amount of vibrations in the system when shooting handheld especially
β‘ I was absolutely amazed to hear them say that the shutter of the a7R II is expected to last more than 500K cycles!!! Yes, you read it right: 500K as in more than HALF A MILLION CLICKS!!
IMAGE STABILIZATION (IBIS):
β‘ Yes! 5 axis stabilization works for native and 3rd party lenses, for both photography and video!
β‘ We were told to expect about 4.5 stops with certain long lenses
β‘ Yes
BODY:
β‘ Yes! Because it is now made entirely of magnesium, the body is stronger and more resistant
β‘ The mount is also stronger
β‘ Its design is slightly different and I’m very excited we were told they fixed the light leakage issue they had with the a7R body!
β‘ Still only one, located at the front of the body.
LCD SCREEN:
β‘ Yes, but they are working on it to eventually turn it off
β‘ No, this is not planned at this time
LENSES:
β‘ Some have raised the question as to if Sony lenses are build to provide a high enough resolution for high density sensors. We had the confirmation that the lenses had been designed with this particular aspect in mind. The engineers are confident that the optical quality of the lenses is more than sufficient for high resolution sensors.
β‘ We were confirmed that AF of Canon lenses was “much faster than before. With adapters (and in particular with a firmware updated Metabones mark IV) Canon lenses are almost as fast as on a Canon body“.
β‘ We were also told that the adapter for Sony A mount lenses made the AF very fast, but slightly slower than on an A mount body. We were told that “A mount lenses will find another life thanks to it”.
β‘ “Native autofocus speeds on Alpha lenses using the smaller and less expensive LAE3 adapter – the one without the translucent mirror.” (quoted from Michael Britt)
β‘ “Autofocus for video is going to be a game changer on the Sony A7RII for hybrid photographers.” (quoted from Michael Britt)
BATTERY:
β‘ It will be “slightly better than that of the a7R
CONCLUSIONS:
Alright, this is all for now!!
I hope this helps you get a better idea than before about the very exciting new tech coming inside the new a7R II !
I am definitely excited about this new power horse, and can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. We were told that shipping should start around late July.
If you have questions, remarks or would like to discuss any particular aspect, please leave a comment below!
Yesterday, Sony announced 3 new cameras: the RX10 II, the RX100 IV, and the rumored a7R II, which we were waiting for and hearing about for a loooooong time.
Every camera is interesting and a huge step forward, but being a landscape photographer (mostly), I will tell you more about what excited me most about the a7RII, and especially in the light of long exposure photography.
1- The 42MP sensor:
Very little info has surface about it, but given the quality of the previous Sony sensors (including those being used by other major camera manufacturers), I expect and HOPE for a high dynamic range, a very low noise level and limited number of hot pixels. Two of the most important aspects for long exposure.
2- No low pass filter:
Back to one of the greatest features of the original a7R in my mind: the absence of a low pass filter. This feature will lead to crispier images, and you’ll see how sharp your lenses actually are…
3- The 5-Axis SteadyShot Stabilization system:
It will give stabilization to EVERY lens available on the market, including 3rd party lenses. That’s right, you read it: EVERY lens available! From zoom lenses to 30+ years old medium format glass. From the latest Zeiss beauties to the highly technical and fully manual Canon tilt/shift lenses. And all of the others as well π
Potentially, it also means that it is possible to move the sensor around in the camera body. What’s the point you’ll ask me, right? Well, if you move the sensor one way, take a shot, move it the other way, take a shot and stitch them together, that’s a pretty good way to increase the resolution of your image… sort of like doing a pano.
4- New silent shutter with no blade motion:
No noise!! How cool is that for genuine street and portrait photography?
Even better in my mind (very biased toward long exposure of course), no blade motion, meaning less vibrations in the system, meaning even crispier images!
5- Internal 4K:
Sure I’m a photographer, sure I normally don’t do video. But hey, 4K!! And no need for an external recorder, it does it all internally. So damn, I think I’ll get into video at one point or another
6- ISO 102,400:
Why ISO 102,400? Hell, why not! π Again, high sensitivity can be a nice addition. Not that I would personally use it too much, but having the option seems like a great way to sweeten the deal: you can use fast or not so fast lenses for street or action photography more easily
7- faster everything:
Sony heard the complains that people had with the a7R: slow-ish auto-focus, especially with 3rd party lenses. Well, to go hand in hand with a higher sensitivity, they were able to speed things along: the camera itself is 3.5x faster than the A7r, and auto focus is almost 40% faster than the one of the A7r. I even heard somewhere that Canon lenses will have next to the same speed as on Canon bodies.
I am very excited about this new release. Sony was able to take the best of every camera in the alpha line and concentrate it in this body: high sensitivity, higher resolution, 4K video recording, image stabilization, to name just a few.
One big question that remains unclear however is how the sensor will behave in terms of noise level, dynamic range and hot pixels.
Working closely with Sony, I hope to have more info soon on these aspects, and I also hope to get my hands on a body ASAP, take it in the field and let you know more about it… So hang tight!
What do you think about this new release? Are you excited? Indifferent? Would you have wanted to see more features and then, which ones? Let me know in the comments below!
I’ve been lately hard at work preparing the two exhibitions that will take place in Paris next week.
I feel very fortunate to have the help and support of many people for these two HUGE events. To name but a few, Sony US and Sony France (in particular, Kayla, Astrid and Romain) have helped a great deal with the marketing materials, press releases and more. Chritophe Marlot and JosΓ© Alcantara were of course instrumental in letting me show my work in their galleries, thnak you both! And Christine and Philippe for their incredible help and support in way too many ways to describe here.
You will find higher two photographs of the flyers and posters that Sony France printed. These will be sent to their partner pro photography stores in Paris. don’t they look great!? π
Please click the following link to access Sony France Press Release (in French): Press Release Sony France.
Details of the show on the flyers and in the text below:
Kusch+CO
25 rue de Verneuil
75007 Paris
France 
BJF
27 rue de Verneuil
75007 Paris
France
Below are some of the photographs I will show next week right after signing and numbering them (they are all of course limited editions):
And these two are the largest prints I have ever had printed to date: ~50×150 cm! (~20×60″!)
For those of you who wonder how my limited editions are, I sign and number them on the front side (see higher) and use a seal on each one of them, and add my signature, number in the series and the title on the back, see below:
Step Four of Building a technical camera: adding left/right shifting to the back element
Last time, I showed you the results of milling out a chunk of the back element of the Fuji camera. Today, I’ll show you why I did it, and how to mount different parts together and insure they are perfectly parallel or perpendicular to each other.
For that particular step, I bought a cheap Chinese precision rail system on eBay. For $8 USD, it’s hard to get a better system that can be modified, drilled, cut or tapped. The following picture shows you exactly what this part looks like before modifying and mounting on the camera.
First step was to take apart the rail itself (with the screw sticking out of the slot), from the support piece that is originally meant to attach on the tripod head. In the final design, the parts will be flipped: the rail will become the support (attached to the camera, see below) and the other part with the precise movement knob and the stopper. The latter part will be modified so I can attach a support plate for the camera.
You will find below a few pictures that I shot while adjusting the rail to the camera so that these two part are perfectly perpendicular to each other. This step is very delicate, because the slightest misalignment between them will lead to the sensor plane not being perpendicular to the lenses, effectively creating unwanted tilt. 
To make sure the parts were perpendicular, I used the precision of the milling machine and an indicator, see below:
Just so you have a better sense of what things will look like eventually, here is a photograph of the back element with the inverted support part that I’ll drill and tap in order to mound the camera standard:
No a few photographs of the camera with the rail system, where you can see how left/right shift will work:
Next step:
Drill the rear standard support (part with the two knobs in the pictures higher).
Conclusions:
1/ this was one of the most delicate but easiest steps so far. Easiest when you have the right tools, but these are hard to come by and even harder to let a machinist let you use his toys π
2/ I found a solution to add rear swing (left/right tilt) by ordering a precise optical rotating stage for about $80 USD from China. I’ll give you the details in a later post if you are interested (please use the comment below if so). I’ll first work on a prototype that won’t have swing, see how it goes and then add the rotating stage.
Thibault ROLAND Fine Art Photography BLOG 