Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Equipment Post - what would make this better?

Equipment - What Would Make This Better?
I have seen a lot of people drop their jaws over new cameras lately.  It seems that some people are chasing the megapixels of a camera, others just want the latest camera.  And a few, are shrewd enough to realize an improvement can be done, but perhaps not the latest camera, but that you need the right camera.
My test was when posting this photo of a skater at the 2017 National State Games, to ask people what could make this photo better.  This was a group of heavy Sony users and many said the a7Riii or the latest a7iii.  Only one person admitted to getting the camera (that released over a year ago) might be the right path.  That was a suggestion for the a6500 with the Sony 70-200 f2.8 GM.  Sure, this would have been a near $4000 investment, but it didn't take me north of that with suggestions of the other camera's and the same glass. 
But the main thing that would give me the best increase in photo quality would be the lens.  Lens issue would help by this main factor.  The lens I used for this was the Sony 70-200 f4 G.  But the lens I wished I had was the Sony 70-200 f2.8 GM.  And  what that lens does is allow?  More light to hit the sensor.  More light means I can use a smaller ISO value.  Smaller ISO value means smaller grain in the photo.  Smaller grain means that the color and sharpness will be more pronounced. 

One other thing... you get better subject separation between subject and background/foreground.  This is called Bokeh, getting a fuzzy looking out of focus look.  It also makes the subject stand out that much greater from everything else. 

Now, what a better camera body would have given me: other opportunities.  The a6500 still has 11 frames per second, and that is a must.  But something else is that camera has eye auto focus on continuous focus mode.  Additionally, it would give me the option to use 8 fps speed, but give me the slight motion between those shots.  And that would help with tracking the subject.  This photo, while what I wanted, was only in the bottom two thirds of the frame. If I had gotten a much more centered photo, then I would have greater content to work with.

Product Amazon Links
Sony a6500     Sony a6000
Sony 70-200 f4 G     Sony 70-200 f2.8 GM
Sony a7III     Sony a7RIII