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In defense of mirrorless

When mirrorless first emerged on the market back in 2008 with the Panasonic DMC-G1 – not counting the earlier and more esoteric rangefinders from Epson and Leica – the concept of a smaller camera performing at the level of a dSLR was quite foreign to photographers and if we are fair, still a few years off. As Olympus, Fuji, Leica, Ricoh, Pentax, Sony and eventually even Canon and Nikon jumped into the nascent format, all the early systems were small, with lenses that matched the diminutive bodies. Those early systems like the Olympus Pen, the Sony NEX and the Ricoh GXR were a revelation to photographers sick of the ever expanding waistline of their dSLR kits.

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Austin’s Bright Light, Gary Clark Jr. ACL Television Show Taping

Last night, Austin’s own Gary Clark Jr. took the stage for his second stint headlining the legendary Austin City Limits television show. With an expanded band that included backup singers Stevvi Alexander and Sophia Stephens and members of the Austin Afrobeat act Hard Proof on horns, Clark set things off with a smoking rendition of ‘Bright Lights”. Longtime bandmates, guitarist King Zapata, drummer Johnny Radelat and bassist Johnny Bradley anchored down the sound for the rest of the set that included tunes from his LP Blak and Blue and Clark’s upcoming release The Story of Sonny Boy Slim. The set will air later this fall on your local PBS station.

Click below for photos from the show.

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Sony a7R II and Zeiss Batis lenses – Initial thoughts and shots from the coast of Maine

Blasphemy be damned, I’m going to admit that I wasn’t all that excited about the a7R II prior to its release.

I’m a simple stills guy so the 4k video is wasted on me; I also like my fat pixel 12mp a7S files just fine, thank you and I dreaded having to deal with both the processing and storage requirements of a 42mp image. Furthermore, I already enjoy the refreshed body style and IBIS on the a7 II and I’m not a switcher – been shooting Sony for a few years now and sold all my Canon L lenses long ago.

My prior detachment aside, the release of this camera is a watershed moment in the mirrorless epoch. The a7R II spec sheet reads like something out of the future, a no compromise piece of kit that is both evolutionary and revolutionary at the same time. Who wouldn’t be interested in this camera? As professionals or even enthusiasts, we desire the best and this camera promises to be that at a great many things. Even if it falls short in a single category like low light (little brother a7S still reigns supreme), its second best still trumps most everything else on the market.

So yeah, I want the best and I want it compact and rugged and efficient and with a great compliment of lenses. I know it will eventually be eclipsed by something newer and greater but at this point in time, I can with a good conscience state that it is the best digital camera I have ever owned.

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Zeiss Batis 25mm and 85mm hands-on, plus FE 28mm f/2 comparison

Don’t expect this to be a well controlled, thoroughly tested discourse on the new Batis lenses. I literally had each lens for about five minutes at Precision Camera here in Austin, TX where the store was hosting a dealer day. Lucky me when I strolled up to the Sony display and there they were, the new Batis lenses – apparently the only copies in N. America.

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