green

1510 - shadow play



setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f2.8 | ISO1600 | 1/15 | lightroom 4.2

till today i extremely rarely came home very late in the evening and work wasn't over yet. from now on this case will arise more often.


nevertheless now, that i'm writing the daily post, i'm completely satisfied and relaxed although i've organised and worked up to now. i don't think that this is down to the picture above that i've captured on my way home after work today: the interesting monochromatic shadow-light-structure of the green illuminated entrance of a office building in markdorf in connection with the equally coloured tree pleases me although there is no message within this pic. sometimes simplicity counts.

i think my today's positivity is still down to the fact that i'm home again. i'm very happy about that.

cu, trshptr

1210 - a la turca



setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO1000 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.2

a few days ago i've told you a restaurant that you should avoid please. today i'd like to recommend you one.


the restaurant a la turca in billstedt is the best turkish restaurant i know. you can get wonderful turkish food of all kinds there. the service is attentive and the prices are moderate. obligatory visit!

cu, trshptr

1110 - dancing towers

1110 - dancing towers

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/60 | lightroom 4.2

during my visit in hamburg this week i absolutely wanted to take a look at the new highrises that were built at the eastern end of the reeperbahn since i left hamburg in 2009. in 2012 the workings are finally ended now and the buildings are already used by the economy.

the tower project was designed by the architect hadi teherani and includes two buildings that are 75 and 85 meters high and host 24 floors each. the strange naming arises from the supposed similarities between the two different high towers and a couple that is dancing the tango. the reeperbahn is considered as the most sinful mile all over the world and has a long tradition as a party quarter with a certain mess - for that reason its inhabitants slash the clean, sterile and straight towers since the project was initially introduced years ago. now it's over and how shall i put it?

they please me.

cu, trshptr

1010 - italian war cemetery

1110 - italian war cemetery

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f2.8 | ISO200 | 1/25 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

so i've used the walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye lens for more than a week and almost every day now. it's time to summarise my thoughts about this lens, its technical capabilities, the peculiarities using a fisheye and how it matches the nex 7. please don't expect a standardised review or test scheme, it's more a personal opinion.

before i start the technical part of today's posting i want to venerate the subject of my daily image - the wonderful, great, sad, honourable, ... and moody cemetery of hamburg oejendorf that alone would be worth a whole project or at least a dozens of postings. it is almost as big as a quarter of the town meersburg. in the pic above you can see a part of it, the italian war cemetery. more than 5800 victims of the nazi regime were interred here. it's simply indescribable what you feel there if you get yourself into the scene.

how shall i lead over to such an unimportant topic like technical issues now? well, i've really no idea. let's hope all together that such a terror regime will never come to power again.

what is in the parcel? besides some instructions a leather pouch for the lens is included and of course the two necessary caps that are unfortunately only of medium quality are also inside the package. but let's come to the central matter - the lens itself. considering the price of round about 300 euro it feels simply wonderfully. it's far and away the best built lens i own. the comparison to my former leader, the sony sel 50 f1.8, ends up with a clear win for the walimex: it is heavy to the touch, completely built of metal and stocked with a nice grip. it's designed as a manual lens so that the quality of the dials is very important. and the koreans haven't disappointed us - both the aperture ring as well as the focus ring operate smooth and backlash-free. the aperture ring engages in half stops from f2.8 to f22 and the focus ring can be adjusted from a focal distance of round about 0.3m to 2m to infinity. i don't want to go into more detail regarding the specs, the main key features are named.

the results are pleasing: practically you can adjust the aperture to anything between f2.8 and f4.0 and the focus to infinity and shoot. the lens is mainly sharp at f2.8 and really sharp from f4.0 on. above f5.6 it's razor sharp and the images are suitable for big prints. if required you can view a full resolution example of the architecture of the arena of hanover at f8.0 here. samples with different other apertures are investigatable here in the blog and on flickr. a few other peculiarities are noticeable: because of the very short focal length of only 8mm you should be able to work with shutter speeds up to 1/6 with acceptable failures if your objects aren't moving. if you shoot directly into lights (or the sun what i haven't tested) big flares become visible. anyhow with fluorescent tubes this phenomena wasn't detectable. colour rendering, chromatic aberrations, contrasts - everything fine and in my opinion nothing special to report. from the technical view this lens is an absolute performer. keeping it is a no-brainer.

but there is also an other important aspect besides the technical issues and that is the very special style of composition. forget everything you have learnt about image structuring, composition and the basic rules about photography: almost everything isn't valid anymore with this little fisheye. i want to try to give you a few advices how you can compose an interesting image with a fisheye lens.

outdoors: at first i want to set photographs with a foreground apart from the ones without an interesting main object in the foreground. if you have no interesting main object in the foreground you definitely need to have an interesting area between the fore- and the background. the fisheye characteristic accentuates everything in this part of the image, if there isn't anything to accentuate please don't use a fisheye. according to the angle of view the background on the complete horizon in front of you will be visible in your capture. basically you can say that far areas aren't good objects for fisheye photography. of course exceptions prove the role.

if you have a main object that shall be accentuated place it directly in the middle of the frame. straight horizontal and vertical lines should pass through the centre of the image otherwise they will be distorted. whereas this fact could be wanted, too. next you have to decrease the distance between your main object and you as much as possible. go into the scenery as far as possible, this will definitely improve your results. of course with a fisheye lens sometimes it could be also useful to break all the rules to obtain pleasing results.

indoors: in confined spaced it's much easier to compose interesting images. much easier! the lines aren't running off and walls build and fill the edges of your composition.

as an extra step during the postprocessing you have to use cornerfix to remove the purple corners and the vignette from the to dng-files converted raws. with a proper lens profile this works very well. if there are any unanswered questions left, feel free to comment this posting.

cu, trshptr

0410 - vastness

0410 - vastness

setup: sony nex 7 with walimex pro 8 f2.8 fisheye | 8mm | f11.0 | ISO200 | 1/20 | cornerfix & lightroom 4.2

i still have to become attuned to the vastness of the angle of view of my new fisheye lens. today in the morning on my way to work by bike i spotted a really natural scenery in the fields of markdorf that of course had to be captured. it's no hdr image, only slightly adjustments in lightroom.

at the weekend the fisheye lens will accompany me to berlin and the complete next week i'll be engaged on business in hamburg. at the latest in the middle of next week i'm going to write my detailed thoughts about the walimex pro fisheye lens and how it matches the nex 7. 

cu, trshptr

3009 - green(stuff) swan

3009 - green(stuff) swan

setup: sony nex 7 with fujian 35 f1.7 | 35mm | f1.8 | ISO100 | 1/320 | lightroom 4.1

autumn has definitely arrived. there are a variety of indications that the late summer atmosphere is also gone now. the temperatures fall from day to day and wetness makes the already not very comfortable temperatures feel like a half onset of winter. the people head out to collect mushrooms in the marshy forests and today we were following the current trend, too. our yield was satisfying although we are still checking at the moment if each of them is edible - i really don't want to spend the night in the hospital.

furthermore the season of pumpkins and stews is ongoing. the healthy food points, as a reader of this blog had named the self service food stalls that you can find on the street in the region of lake constance, have adjusted their choice of products to autumnal vegetables - different kind of pumpkins are dominating the display.

anyhow a few of the pumpkins will survive as inviting and observing marginal figures.

cu, trshptr

2309 - zigzag

2309 - zigzag

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO100 | 1/100 | lightroom 4.1

yesterday i told you that we're already feeling at home in the region of liguria and also in our cottage. today in the morning we saw people that have to be at home on the go. stark contraries.

la spezia is supposed to be the ugly duckling of the region of liguria. wrongheaded architecture and dirty suburbs are supposedly defining. despite the fact that la spezia is the second biggest city in liguria with 90k inhabitants, the visitors should steer clear of la spezia. so much for tourist theory. today i've got to know liguria as an interesting and authentic town with a great harbour. because of napoleon who realised la spezia's strategic location, still today the italian military and the local economy use the harbour for their purposes.

one of them are the fishermen who are very special people. in their cases a hard life and working conditions on the sea are paired with being constantly on the go and a minimum of comfort in the duty. although i'm very interested in their work and despite the fact that i'd willingly like to participate in their doings for some days or weeks i wouldn't be prepared for the very challenging peculiarities of the attending circumstances.

in the afternoon we were swimming in the sea at the beach of bonassola, one of the few big wave surf spots in italy. so today was really no up and down like the zigzag of the changing cubicle design but a straight and steady increase.

cu, trshptr

1209 - in the nex jungle

1209 - in the nex jungle

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f8.0 | ISO1600 | 1/15 | tripod | lightroom 4.1

september, the 12th. wednesday. new product announcement day of apple, err sony. how shall one think about the event, the vast number of add-on discussions and the announced products itself?

well, the huge excitement of the masses is no accident and definitely part of a well planned sales strategy. the announcement date shortly before the photokina as well as the associated proceedings form a coherent circle. all the rumors that went public during the last weeks were preplanned leaks and not more than feeding for the (very) interested people. special campaigns like luca rossini's adventure to alaska that was sponsored by sony itself and used for shooting a promotion video about the brandnew sony nex 6 show the enthusiasts that also their works are observed, principally simply everybody is able to reach the masses. such campaigns motivate the enthusiasts to make their works still more public in the future and contribute to sony's great products. additionally all the already prepared reviews, that are mushrooming up at the moment, shall immediately put the new gadgets in place on the market.

but mind, these facts affect an almost negligible number of prospects. i'm referring to a small number of internet affine photographers whose opinions are of course very important for a brand like sony while launching new products: without any further effort by sony they act as remote-controlled multipliers. photographers like steve huff are the best salesmen ever, because they convince - no, they have already convinced - the enthusiast amateurs and they again convince the main part of the prospects, the main target audience, by pushing the products in the charts, by reviewing and by also retelling the shiny image of the new must-haves. i'm spotting a perfect textbook pyramid scheme that is currently brought up by sony. so much for marketing theory, but which information can we derive from these quite ordinary processes?

in my opinion first and foremost there is the right to exist for every new (nex) camera body. believe me, they all, the f3, 5r, 6, 7 and maybe also a fullframe option will sell like hot cakes. for each of them there is a market that only has to be developed. additionally the development effort for sony to modify an existing model to a new, modest one is manageable and definitely worth the try. all the models use the same software kernel, what simplifies the statement of the problem many times over. and the hardware section is structured modularised for sure. at the moment the market of very capable and small mirrorless cameras is still desaturated and as a company like sony you have to try to reach every corner of it. so in place of sony i also wouldn't be above launching so many bodies like a few clever clogs are.

let's get around to the several announcements:

i'll pass the a99 plus the new a-mount lenses because i'm not up to date in this sector.

like many others have already said the announced rx1 is a first try to make a market for a fullframe compact. like fuji had done with the x100 and the x-pro1 and aps-c sensors sony will (maybe) do with the rx1 and a nex fullframe option: if the fixed-lens camera sells well and the people request for a changeable lens model sony will deliver. at the latest next year.

the nex 6 seems to be the better nex 7 for low light situations. an improved autofocus system, the less mp sensor, app support and the wifi feature form a good and capable package. solely the pasm dial distracts me, it isn't suitable for an enthusiast dslr replacement.

the very compact 16-50 f3.5-5.6, stabilised, retractable powerzoom (kit) lens will be by far the most sold lens in the future. it compensates the biggest contradiction in the whole nex system till now: besides the sel 16 f2.8 there wasn't any really pocketable (sony) lens - nex combination. till today. if the iq of the lens is more than average maybe also some actually fixed focal length lenses using photographers are going to buy this tiny little zoom lens.

the 35 f1.8 is the long-awaited standard lens for the nex system. stabilised, relative compact and lightweight and with a bright maximum aperture of f1.8 it is a must-have lens for everybody who hasn't covered this focal length yet. and if it is only almost as good as the 50 f1.8 it will also sell like hot cakes.

when the 35 f1.8 is the long-awaited standard lens, the 10-18 f4 must be the longest-awaited lens for the entire nex system. the sole wide angle option so far, the sel 16 f2.8, could never satisfy the high standards of the community, especially mounted to the nex 7 and its incredible 24mp sensor. i'm pretty sure that sony has developed a great ultra wide angle zoom with good iq. the killer feature stabilisation is much more than only a compensation for the maximum aperture of "only" f4, it gives you an equivalent of a non stabilised uwa lens with f2. thereby at 10mm shutter speeds of 1/4 or maybe even 1/2 could be possible with a steady hand! i'm beginning to save up money for the 10-18 f4 quite now.

some minor criticism at the sidelines: in my opinion all the nex owners may calculate on firmware updates for one big reason: firstly also sony should have recognised that their update policy is far below the policies of their competitors. although there aren't huge bugs in the firmware of the nex 5 and 7, an update especially regarding the autofocus system, auto bracketing and a few points more would be more than appropriate. again fuji has already shown how to do it. we are waiting! the product lifecycle has not ended with delivering an item!


probably in today's posting there are far too many technical points for the most of my readers and highly probable i'll never write that much text about equipment anymore, but today it was definitely apposite. i for one will keep my beloved nex 7, turn my back on the 35 f1.8 for now (because of the sigma 30 f2.8) and go for the 10-18 f4. and yes, i will be still focused on the images.

please feel free to comment my posting with your thoughts.


so let's finally come up to the daily pic, that i've shot besides the reading of plenty of websites of (useless) technical information today, of course (time that i could have used for shooting and improving my skills...):

unfortunately the poor sideshow bob is trapped in the jungle of nex equipment. nex here, nex there. he's a bit confused. what should he do? should he follow the people who stay on discussions about equipment? i think we have already helped and furnished him a fit occasion.

thx for reading and cu, trshptr

btw: furthermore as you may have recognised, a minor update of the blog layout took place, too. i hope the current rendering pleases.

0409 - leant at dusk

0409 - leant at dusk

setup: sony nex 7 with sigma 30 f2.8 ex dn | 30mm | f2.8 | ISO640 | -0.7ev | 1/60 | lightroom 4.1

german woods are terrific. if you go into them at dusk, the mystic mood is easily sensible. thousands of leafs let incide only a few light beams onto the ground. the soil smells fruity and wet and the trunks appear vivid. small creeks find their ways through the fallen over trees and feed in that way the whole environment.

really a suitable place to spend the dusk.

cu, trshptr

2708 - summery enjoyment

2708 - summery enjoyment

setup: sony nex 7 with sel 50 f1.8 | 50mm | f5.6 | ISO100 | 1/500 | lightroom 4.1

at odd times the actual state of our living conditions passes through tina's and my mind: fortunately we are able to enjoy the four seasons in a region where the most of the germans (and also a lot italians, dutch people, polish and other europeans) want to go for holidays.

the lake, the mountains, all the boats and (sometimes even) the foreign people mix to a great pleasure. being only half an hour on the lake in the evening compensates almost a whole exhausting work day.

today we've played the joker again and faded out the time at work with a relaxing cruise in a pedal boat.

cu, trshptr