0501 - open-air hockey

January 06, 2013 in 8, arena, blue, colour, del winter game 2013, fisheye, germany, ice hockey, light, light beam, nex 7, night, nuremberg, open-air, people, red, sony, sport, stadium, walimex samyang rokinon

open-air hockey - sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8mm f2.8 | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/25

the del winter game 2013 in nuremberg made history - it was the biggest league match ever in european ice hockey. at the bottom line almost everything was pretty fine in nuremberg today. besides misty weather and far too little beer stalls there was nothing to worry about, except the tight 4 to 3 loss of the ice bears from berlin against the local ice tigers. but considering the quality of the whole event today this could once be ignored as irrelevant.

50.000 spectators, nevertheless i wondered about the great atmosphere in the stadium: despite the fact that probably a lot of them hadn't been at a hockey game before in their lives and also despite the peculiarity that the distance between the playing surface and the ranks was estimated ten times bigger than in an usual hockey arena, almost all the people were clapping, singing and crying and made for a nice atmosphere.

0401 - light cage

January 04, 2013 in 8, architecture, colour, contrast, deeper meaning, fisheye, germany, indoor, light, light beam, meersburg, nex 7, night, pattern, red, shadow, sony, symmetry, walimex samyang rokinon

light cage - sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8mm f2.8 | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/25

the interior decorator of my fitness studio should be definitely dismissed. he designed a conversion pit that is enclosed by three walls. and above the table there hangs a lamp that conveys the sense of being in a prison or a bird cage. cosy, isn't it?

0301 - ll

January 03, 2013 in 35, architecture, brown, building, colour, facility, germany, home, house, light, nex 7, pattern, sel, shadow, sony, sun, texture, timber-frame, wall, wood

ll - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/125

the beams in our more than 300 years old house are raddled. the variations of humidity and temperature, the permanent incidence of light and all the other parameters and boundary conditions have left their marks in the walls. at least a few signs are man-made: the former craftsmen branded the beams according to the construction plan by cutting numbers into the wood. by doing this they could ensure to avoid mistakes, although only in the scope of planning and assignment.

more or less every wall in our home is crooked. who cares? this is just what makes our place so special.

0201 - pantheress vs. lion

January 02, 2013 in 35, action, animal, b+w, cat, colour, eyes, fun, germany, home, movement, nex 7, nose, pink, portrait, red, sel, sony, whiskers

rednose bite - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f2.0 | ISO400 | 1/320

stacation has at least one big advantage - finally i find the time again to take pictures of our pets here in the yard. paulinchen, the white pantheress of our neighbours, is nicknamed burglar cat by us, because she is so interested in every corner of the yard that no opened door or window is secure from her invasion.

well roar'd lion - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f2.0 | ISO160 | 1/60

our lion like cat nila is actually fond of paulinchen although i make her look like roaring at anybody in the image above. just for the brief moment while she was yawning i had the possibility to portray her lion like. basically time is definitely one of the most important points if you want to shoot animals of any kind (pets are by far the easiest subjects for an animal photographer, of course) - at the best your time is unlimited.

0101 - too much

January 02, 2013 in 35, architecture, art, b+w, contrast, dinner, eating, germany, indoor, nex 7, pattern, people, restaurant, sel, shadow, sony, symmetry, texture, ueberlingen, vietnamese

too much (for an european) - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/60

although the vietnamese don't celebrate on our new year's day, having a dinner at a great foreign restaurant seems the thing to do. it's not just that you still receive little christmas presents by the vietnamese on the 1st of january: besides the wonderful asian food also the interior and especially the decoration is worth the visit.

i wonder how they may have furnished their living rooms? even if it seems to be a bit too much, at least for a central european: enjoying a delicious dinner in an authentic surrounding - therefore i love the cultural diversity in our new world.

3112 - the big burning

January 01, 2013 in 35, alps, colour, fireworks, fog, germany, lake, lake constance, light, light track, long-time exposure, markdorf, mist, moon, nex 7, night, pattern, sel, sky, sony

ladder to the moon - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f5.6 | ISO200 | 6s

usually i don't work according to the principle of trial and error. however if you want to take a photograph of fireworks, your preparation time is zero and your equipment isn't appropriate, you have to trust your luck and coincidence.

a toast to 2013 - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f5.6 | ISO200 | 6s

actually i did not have a good basis to shoot a successful image of any of this wonderful money destruction rockets today. besides my nex7 with the sel 35 i had nothing with me to work with, no tripod, no remote release and so on. never mind, let's have a try. steady shot off, search for any bolster, manual settings. go!

the lake is burning - sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f5.6 | ISO200 | 30s

the location couldn't have been better. the view from the local "summit" gehrenberg over the lake is tremendous. and despite the fog and the incineration gases the shapes of the lake itself and the alps were vaguely perceptible.

3012 - shapes

December 31, 2012 in 35, bermatingen, blue, bokeh, cloud, colour, field, forest, germany, green, landscape, leaf, light, nex 7, red, reflection, sel, sky, sony, sun

sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/800

some kinds of images work especially because of their simplicity. despite the lack of peculiarities geometric shapes, colours and textures make for an interesting, stating photograph.

sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/500

some other kinds of composition base on the opposite concept - many details, differently structured parts of the frame and harsh contrasts. you may decide what your favourite is, but i don't want to commit myself to one line, at least not for the moment.

2912 - focus on top

December 30, 2012 in 35, b+w, bermatingen, blur, bokeh, colour, flower, friedrichshafen, germany, light, mirror, nex 7, night, people, purple, reflection, sel, sony, street, sun

sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/2000

both manual focusing and autofocus work well with the sony sel 35 f1.8. for the picture above i focused on the solitary flower in the upper middle of the frame. due to the focus peaking feature of the nex system and the butter smooth focus ring manual work is rather a pleasure than a step backwards in history. i really like the atmosphere of this (definitely imperfect) photograph, it might have been captured also at the mediterranean seaside.

sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f1.8 | ISO1250 | 1/60

some hours later cold and rough friedrichshafen got us back. for this street shot i used the autofocus system, applied on the four ladies on the left-hand side of the frame. the chief difficulty in this scene was the fact that what you see in the photograph is actually a scattered reflection of the goings-on in the street, quasi an image of the ceiling of this corridor. despite that issue the autofocus didn't pump and did his work satisfactorily.

2812 - headless

December 29, 2012 in 35, alps, bokeh, friedrichshafen, germany, indoor, light, museum, nex 7, night, pattern, people, review, sel, shadow, sony, technics, zeppelin

sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f2.8 | ISO100 | 1/80

although i often rail against the dreariness of friedrichshafen, its museums are not less than first class. both the dornier museum at the airport as well as the zeppelin museum on the waterfront have straight, clear shapes and consequently message. besides huge bodies of knowledge that are presented in different modern and interesting ways - new media included - and are only waiting to be checked out by the visitors, also the photographer doesn't come off badly.

sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/60

today i used the visit to the zeppelin museum of friedrichshafen as a chance to attach the new sony sel 35 f1.8 to my nex7 the first time. how shall i put it? it's gorgeous!

sony nex 7 with sel 35 f1.8 | f4.0 | ISO100 | 1/100

what's the easiest way to shortly describe the capabilities and peculiarities of a new gadget without using technical wording and rattling out specifiations?

in my opinion the sel 35 is rather a shrunken sel 50 than a hybrid of the sigma 30 f2.8 and the sel 50. although i must confess that i haven't stopped down the lens above f4.0 yet, it seems to be obvious that the sigma will remain the sharpness champion in this competition, but the sel 35 is almost on level. however in all the other categories there is a clear decision by me - the sony is the better package. stabilisation (i love it!), much better look and feel and the low light advantages definitely compensate the plus in costs. moreover the 35mm focal length gives a bit of a more interesting angle of view, at least for my photographic eye.

i'm going to use the sel 35 continuously for at least one week now. so stay tuned to my daily updates if you are interested in further details, images and opinions about the sony sel 35 f1.8.

2712 - cross braces

December 27, 2012 in 35, animal, b+w, bird, blur, cloud, fujian, germany, grain, grey, markdorf, minimalistic, nex 7, pattern, sky, sony, symmetry, texture

sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/200

usually i use grey days as an opportunity to do indoor or low lights shoots. pattern and their accentuation by working out the structures with a black and white conversion are an alternative, of course.

sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/500

i observed these two birds a few minutes before they sat together down on the power line. at this very moment i wished to be able to take off like they do and also did a few seconds later.

tomorrow or the day after the new sony sel 35 f1.8 will arrive at my home. i'm looking forward to attaching this new gadget to my nex7.