My Choice for Travel Landscape Photography - Sony A6000 with 10-18mm F4 OSS

It must be really a long time since my last update (actually, more than a year!). i’ve been very busy with work schedule so the site didn’t get very maintained with updates.

I didn’t have much time for photography, neither. So I was pretty much satisfied with Sony RX1’s performance for my daily use despite the temptation of the later generation of A7 series. However, I just got something new last weekend. As you can tell, instead of getting the trendy A7 mark II or A7S. I got myself a Sony A6000 body and an ultra wide angle lens, 10-18mm F4 OSS.

The reason that I need a new camera is simple - I am travelling! The destination this time is Turkey - a fantastic place combining west and east, european and asian. It’s famous for its cultural heritage and one of its most important highlights is the architecture. The churches and mosques are so grand and one of a kind. I certainly want to capture the best of them when I am there. An UWA lens will definitely help serve this purpose.

I am an advocate for travel light. Any extra weight to carry will kill the appetite of shooting pictures. So DSLR for sure, is out of my options. For smaller compact cameras, we’ve got recently launched Panasonic LX100, and Sony’s best-selling RX100 Mark III. They both received many positive responses and do have small bodies. However, both cameras have lens integrated and its widest is at 24mm (35mm equivalent). That is not wide enough for the landscape or buildings in Turkey, as I read through some travel blogs. Sony A7 Mark II and its latest 16-35mm FE mount look like the perfect fit. However, it costs a small fortune and out of my budget range (both camera and lens are SGD 2,000 plus each so it ends up being more than SGD 4,000 in total). That’s why I settled at my final choice - A6000 with lens 10-18mm F4 OSS.

I’ve reviewed the lens 10-18mm before. I was impressed with its performance even back then. And 10mm is probably the widest for APS-C cameras (9mm will be fish eyes) I have seen. A6000 receives quite good reviews from many users. No doubt, it was designed and built based on Sony's abundant experience and knowledge of its predecessors - NEX series. This camera was approaching the end of product cycle so I managed to get some good bargain as well.

Here are some usual unboxing photos..

 

As always, the orange colour for Sony alpha series.

Sony A6000 body, kind of a shame not having the hot shoe cover.. How much does that cost?

The rear side. I like the built-in electronic viewfinder. It’s pretty bright and clear, and doesn’t have any lag issues.

 

The dials are well made, which reminds of previous NEX-7. The second dial is also customisable. 

The screen can be tilted 90 degree upwards. Too bad it can’t flip 180 degrees for selfies. But you probably expected that since there is a viewfinder in the way.

And here is the 10-18mm F4 lens.. Relatively large size compared to its E-mount peers.

It has built-in OSS, somewhat compensating the lack of large aperture. 

The body and lens assembled. It’s not very compact, but likely the smallest I can get for such wide angle.

The top view, indeed the 10-18mm is a bulk head.

 

I haven’t really got much chance of taking pictures with the new gears yet. Below is just a picture to show how wide the lens is at 10mm.. (I took the photo right in front of the table). I shall give more hands-on experience when I’m on the road.

 

 

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Close-Up Pictures Taken by Sony RX1: Flowers at Gardens By the Bay

I took my Sony RX1 out last Saturday on a photography outing with a few friends. The place is Gardens By the Bay, which was just launched last year in Singapore and I have never been there before. So I feel it may be good to pay a visit and also see whether I can grab some good photos using my RX1. To be honest, Sony RX1 isn't the perfect candidate for shooting macro photos. The Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 35mm F2 on RX1 is not a macro lens. Though it indicates as macro if you turn the focus ring to 0.2-0.35m. The magnification factor is only 0.26x (A typical macro lens would have a magnification ratio of 1, or at least 0.5).

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A Few More Photos Taken by Sony SEL1018

After last time I posted some photos taken by this little beauty, Sony SEL1018, I have been asked to upload more photos to see how this lens performs in daily use. I took the lens back when I travelled back home during Chinese new year. But the weather was pretty awful, so that I really don't have many chances to shoot with the lens. I was back in Singapore yesterday morning and today I brought the lens to take a few more photos before I return the lens. 

This is the photo I took back in China. As you can see the smog/haze was pretty bad, it is really not a good time to take any landscape photos. 

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Sony NEX E-Mount SEL1018: Hands-On and Photos

After the first brief review of Sony SEL1018, I took the lens with my NEX 5N for some test shots. Compared to my SEL16F28 with the VCL-ECU1 mounted, the new SEL1018 has a few obvious advantages. 

1. The image quality is much better. For SEL16F28, the picture is soft at all corners, especially if it was shot using aperture F2.8. It may be noticed if you look at the resized photo, but definitely obvious when you take a 100% zoom view. Compared to that, SEL1018 is much better and sharper even wide open at F4. 

2. It is clearly more versatile, as a zoom lens. It helps framing the picture properly without too much hassle in cropping. 10mm is really wide and it's suitable for large landscapes and occasions when the space is constrained and you can't step back further. At 18mm it would be good for normal use as the distortion is not that dramatic. 

3. The OSS is a huge bonus. Some may think it is not so important as a wide angle lens would not have much problem of handshake since the shutter speed can go as slow as 1/15s (the reverse of the 35mm equivalent focal length). However, it could still be challenging if shooting a night scenery or indoor. Therefore, although the widest aperture is only at F4, with OSS built in, the chances of capturing a good clear photo in low light is actually much higher.

Below are some shots taken by SEL1018 with my NEX 5N around Chinatown and City areas. 

 

Crowds and lights in the Chinatown streets and CBD in the distance. Taken handheld.  14mm, F4, ISO2500, 1/60s

The yellow 'snake' lantern goes in front of the Sri Mariamman Temple. Taken handheld. 10mm, F4, ISO1250, 1/60s

The well-known Merlion and skyline behind. Taken on a tripod, using the built in HDR. 10mm, F11, ISO100, 8s

Marina Bay Sands with laser light on. Taken on a tripod, using the built in HDR. 18mm, F11,ISO100, 25s

The light trace and star burst. Taken on a tripod. 10mm, F16, ISO100, 20s

Another light trace with Fullerton Hotel behind. Taken on a tripod. 10mm, F16, ISO100, 6s

Outdoor theatre next to Marina Bay. Taken on a tripod. 11mm, F13, ISO100, 10s

Performance at outdoor theatre. Taken handheld. 12mm, F4, ISO3200, 1/25s

Something I noticed in the photos is that there will be some degree of flare if the lens is facing a strong light source. It could be annoying for some of the photographers. In addition, it is great that the distortion is well controlled even wide at 10mm.

One last thing, the recommended retail price for this lens is 1299 SGD. So..something to reflect on yourselves! If you are serious into landscape/cityscape or architecture photography and whether you often use wide angle lens, or just on demand. If yes, definitely this is the perfect companion for your NEX cameras and it is worth the investment. If you only occasionally use it, or just want to complete your 'focal range', I would still recommend the combination of SEL16F28 and VCL-ECU1. They are only about half of the price of SEL1018.

Hope you have enjoyed the review and photos. Please let me know if you have any question and I'd love to answer them! 

Technorati Tags: Camera, Lens, Photography, Review, Sony

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The Ultimate Ultra-Wide Lens for NEX cameras: Sony SEL1018 - First Impression

A few months ago, I wrote a review on Sony's ultra-wide lens converter, VCL-ECU1. It is specifically designed for the 16mm F2.8 pancake lens (SEL16F28). Having a 0.75x factor, it turns the lens into 12mm F2.8. It is really wide and helped me capture many great landscape photos along my trips. However, it does have its limitations. First the somewhat compromised image quality is still something I would notice. SEL16F28 is not a sharp lens, especially at the corners, which frustrates me a little bit. Second, it doesn't come with OSS (Optical Steady Shot). Though it could be wide open at F2.8, it's not good enough for many night shots which shutter speed can easily go below 1/10. That sometimes caused my photos blurred due to handshake. Lastly, a fixed focal length could be inconvenient at times because the lens is just too wide for some occasions and I have to adjust my position or crop the image to get exactly the view I want. 

Now Sony has a solution for all the problems I have. It's the new E-mount lens, Wide zoom 10-18mm F4.

I was provided with this lens to feature a review. And it is really something I have been looking for! This post will be about the design of this lens and how it feels in hand.

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