Sony A7x lounge

mystik610 wrote in post #18369045
So you're really making the move? Yes SATX is a very cool city when it comes to the architecture. No lie I'd put it up there with Chicago.

Carlo, it's not final yet. I am awaiting final approval from my management team to telework. I will know by end of June. If I do move, I will still visit once or twice a year since my family lives around here.

I need to visit Chicago one of these days. Amazing architecture from what I've seen. Same with London and Dubai.

navydoc wrote in post #18369075
It's a shame you're moving from SATX before finding that $3000 in silver coins from my 3rd great grandfather that Jose Salinas hid in the walls of the San Jose Mission.

For those who don't know, here's the story:

Gene, I still have some time to search for it.

idsurfer wrote in post #18369027
Hey folks....My sensor is filthy! This seems to have happened much faster with the mirrorless camera than any previous DSLR. In fact, I've never had to clean any of my canon sensors. I did a quick internet search on how to clean it and was a bit overwhelmed with the results. So I'm asking you people.....Do you clean you sensors and if so, what's your preferred method? Thanks!

idsurfer wrote in post #18369062
Thanks Charlie for taking the time to write up that post! I didn't even think to search this thread for discussion. I just didn't want to buy a bunch of Random gadgets and go to town cleaning without asking me advice of the users here on this forum.
Thanks again!

On Charlie's previous advice I bought all these items and use it on my a7rii. Pretty straight forward. The loupe is great

Charlie wrote in post #18369036
you can probably find in a search in this thread, but I'll go ahead and repost my cleaning method. First supplies based on my purchase history:

loupe with light: https://www.amazon.com​/gp/product/B0091SS310 you need to see what's dirty and this is a fast way
blower, just a rocket blower, sorry no link
sensor brush : https://www.amazon.com​/gp/product/B001B9RI5O linked the full frame version, so find your correct size
wet cleaning: https://www.amazon.com​/gp/product/B00K8MTQGY linked the full frame version, so find your correct size

cleaning order
1. Blow every time you change lenses at home, keep your sensor clean so you dont need to go further methods
2. Sensor brush if object not removed, set camera to cleaning mode before doing this
3. Wet clean if object not removed, set camera to cleaning mode before doing this

I generally try to avoid 2, and 3 but wont hesitate to do them.

Thanks Charlie for taking the time to write up that post! I didn't even think to search this thread for discussion. I just didn't want to buy a bunch of Random gadgets and go to town cleaning without asking me advice of the users here on this forum.
Thanks again!

As Charlie says "...set camera to cleaning mode before doing this". This is especially true if the camera has in-body image stabilization. By turning on the cleaning mode in the camera menu, you're locking the floating sensor so it won't move while you're trying to clean it.

I mean they aren't horrible.. but

lack of detail mostly ..


well first i'll say a lot if not all of this is probably user error ,, i'm sure a lot of you more experienced knowledgable guys could of pulled this off very nicely with the same exact equipment..even considering the short notice..
studio was rented from 6-8pm .. because of short notice , I didn't get there till almost 630,, and then it was "thank you , thank you" .. but "please weve only got an hour and a half left this costing me a lot , we need to get this going ASAP"
and so I didn't have much time to get ready,, in hindsight , I probably would have been happier using 20 mintues to dial things in and be happier with 400 shots rather than feeling "meh" about 620 shots using ettl and auto iso .. I did fiddle with it here and there .. but then I just got under exposed shots
seems like iso was jumping too high..
seems like lights weren't lighting well
seems like lights weren't freezing motion as they normally would so my shutter speeds were set to low

again , I'm positive a lot of this is user error ,but this being said ... seems I'm constantly being disappointed in these types of situations...last 2 events I did for my brother baptism and reception also
in the Video and Cityscape type photos that I like doing , I couldn't be happier with anything else at the moment


Below are some of the better ones ..straight out of camera, no adjustments at all.. into LR just to convert to jpeg(at what ever is default in LR)

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/UP93​sm

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQH​vh

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQG​FS

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQG​FG

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/UP8Y​XL

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQG​1y

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/UP8Z​9Y

DaviSto wrote in post #18368994
Those Gary Fong thingamajigs ... just useless ... no good for anything except extracting cash from your wallet ... ... ...

I only bought one thing from him and i think it's worth it. i used it on several events with great results. on that reception area, the ceiling is so high and colored black. I tried almost all the diffuser including the Demb it and flip_it and I settled for the GF.

On any event receptions I don't really care so much about the light and shadow quality. I just wanted to get things done and have everyone in focus on group shots. great for run and gone situations. I do good lighting on their portraits. Only fellow photographers complains about light quality, never the client.

DaviSto wrote in post #18369023
Yep ... that was what I was saying, more-or-less. Just in a round-about sort of a way.

It's argued (vehemently) elsewhere in this forum that the Gary Fong diffuser only works when there are light surfaces to bounce the light off (and that seems to make sense in terms of basic physics). Unless there is a white wall behind the photographer, that's clearly not the case here. But the light is well diffused.

For me in order to make the shot looks natural, you need to bump up the ISO to juice some of the ambient light. The light from the GF are use only to fill so it does not matter if there are ceiling or walls.

Charlie wrote in post #18369036
you can probably find in a search in this thread, but I'll go ahead and repost my cleaning method. First supplies based on my purchase history:

loupe with light: https://www.amazon.com​/gp/product/B0091SS310 you need to see what's dirty and this is a fast way
blower, just a rocket blower, sorry no link
sensor brush : https://www.amazon.com​/gp/product/B001B9RI5O linked the full frame version, so find your correct size
wet cleaning: https://www.amazon.com​/gp/product/B00K8MTQGY linked the full frame version, so find your correct size

cleaning order
1. Blow every time you change lenses at home, keep your sensor clean so you dont need to go further methods
2. Sensor brush if object not removed, set camera to cleaning mode before doing this
3. Wet clean if object not removed, set camera to cleaning mode before doing this

I generally try to avoid 2, and 3 but wont hesitate to do them.

in addition so that the IBIS sensor won't move, run the built-in camera sensor cleaning. when it stops, do not turn off. it should keep the sensor still. then do the wet cleaning if you have to. if 1 and 2 is not working.

rantercsr wrote in post #18369115
I mean they aren't horrible.. but

lack of detail mostly ..


well first i'll say a lot if not all of this is probably user error ,, i'm sure a lot of you more experienced knowledgable guys could of pulled this off very nicely with the same exact equipment..even considering the short notice..
studio was rented from 6-8pm .. because of short notice , I didn't get there till almost 630,, and then it was "thank you , thank you" .. but "please weve only got an hour and a half left this costing me a lot , we need to get this going ASAP"
and so I didn't have much time to get ready,, in hindsight , I probably would have been happier using 20 mintues to dial things in and be happier with 400 shots rather than feeling "meh" about 620 shots using ettl and auto iso .. I did fiddle with it here and there .. but then I just got under exposed shots
seems like iso was jumping too high..
seems like lights weren't lighting well
seems like lights weren't freezing motion as they normally would so my shutter speeds were set to low

again , I'm positive a lot of this is user error ,but this being said ... seems I'm constantly being disappointed in these types of situations...last 2 events I did for my brother baptism and reception also
in the Video and Cityscape type photos that I like doing , I couldn't be happier with anything else at the moment


Below are some of the better ones ..straight out of camera, no adjustments at all.. into LR just to convert to jpeg(at what ever is default in LR)

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/UP93​sm _DSC6807 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQH​vh _DSC6864 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQG​FS DSC05071 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQG​FG DSC04998 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/UP8Y​XLDSC04767 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/VkQG​1yDSC04867 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/UP8Z​9YDSC04937 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr

your iso is WAY too high for strobes.... should have manually set them to 100 and see how the strobes work. Bare flash? not going to work well. I'm assuming your first time working with these lights?

DaviSto wrote in post #18369073
No axe to grind ... the Fong thing seems to be working very well in this shot. I'm just surprised, given the negative commentary that I've read. But there's no denying the image in front of your face.

If it can produce this kind of result, I can easily see its appeal to an events photographer even if the price seems high for the object that it is. Same argument would hold for the Flashbender.

I also own the flash bender pro(the biggest) but I never tried it yet so I can't say anything about it yet, except the GF is much faster to setup.

In a controlled environment with walls, I will simply used a black foamy thingy especially that I love to do short lighting.

I've used them before at one event ..
and at home plenty of times..
I was surprised how high the iso was going ..
I had an umbrella on that light , took it off as it seemed it was defusing too much ..?
other light (camera right ) remained with umbrella

again , I'm sure it was all mostly user error..
it really happened very quickly ..

wish I could get a do over ,lol.. so I could figure out what I did wrong..dont know how much the place cost the guy
I think I big factor may have been distance of light to subject..

my inexperience with this type of last minute , quick decisions , go go go type shoots , really shined last night lol
growing pains I guess

Using Gary Fong Collapsable Lightsphere. This time it was bounced to the right wall.

rantercsr wrote in post #18369115
I mean they aren't horrible.. but

lack of detail mostly ..


well first i'll say a lot if not all of this is probably user error ,, i'm sure a lot of you more experienced knowledgable guys could of pulled this off very nicely with the same exact equipment..even considering the short notice..
studio was rented from 6-8pm .. because of short notice , I didn't get there till almost 630,, and then it was "thank you , thank you" .. but "please weve only got an hour and a half left this costing me a lot , we need to get this going ASAP"
and so I didn't have much time to get ready,, in hindsight , I probably would have been happier using 20 mintues to dial things in and be happier with 400 shots rather than feeling "meh" about 620 shots using ettl and auto iso .. I did fiddle with it here and there .. but then I just got under exposed shots
seems like iso was jumping too high..
seems like lights weren't lighting well
seems like lights weren't freezing motion as they normally would so my shutter speeds were set to low

again , I'm positive a lot of this is user error ,but this being said ... seems I'm constantly being disappointed in these types of situations...last 2 events I did for my brother baptism and reception also
in the Video and Cityscape type photos that I like doing , I couldn't be happier with anything else at the moment


Below are some of the better ones ..straight out of camera, no adjustments at all.. into LR just to convert to jpeg(at what ever is default in LR)

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/UP93​sm _DSC6807 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQH​vh _DSC6864 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQG​FS DSC05071 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/VkQG​FG DSC04998 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/UP8Y​XLDSC04767 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/VkQG​1yDSC04867 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr
https://flic.kr/p/UP8Z​9YDSC04937 by Randall Herrera, on Flickr

Shots look good on my phone. WB and exposure are not consistent but you can fix that easily I in post.

Yes looks like your ISO, and aperture are all over the place....you typically want to lock it in at ISO100 with the shutter speed at the flash sync and let your lights expose everything. Adjust the flash exposure to compensate for changes to your aperture.

I feel your pain though. On location studio shoots are tricky because it's a lot to think about and it can be stressful when you need to jack around with all of the lighting equipment along with just getting the actual shooting done. I need time to mentally set-up for them.

rantercsr wrote in post #18369151
I've used them before at one event ..
and at home plenty of times..
I was surprised how high the iso was going ..
I had an umbrella on that light , took it off as it seemed it was defusing too much ..?
other light (camera right ) remained with umbrella

again , I'm sure it was all mostly user error..
it really happened very quickly ..

wish I could get a do over ,lol.. so I could figure out what I did wrong..dont know how much the place cost the guy
I think I big factor may have been distance of light to subject..

my inexperience with this type of last minute , quick decisions , go go go type shoots , really shined last night lol
growing pains I guess

Hehe it happens. Studio lighting is tough from a technical standpoint....and I get really self conscious about spending too much time fiddling with gear in the field with whoever I'm shooting watching/waiting....I'​d recommend setting your lighting gear up around the house and practice so it's more second nature when you're doing it out in the field.