What is in my bag (my mini setup)

Every photographer wants to be mobile and does not like to carry lots of heavy gear. Sometimes it is mandatory to bring lots of gear to get an assignment done. When you need to take 1500 pictures a day and shoot rapidly I can really recommend a Godox flash like an AD1200 Pro but it’s heavy.

When I shoot TFP on a location outdoors I used to bring an AD600 Pro or an AD1200 Pro with me but in general this is overkill. The reason is you do not need so much power when you are shooting less photos and you have time to give the flash to breathe again.

Here is my goto list (this is not my general more extensive setup):

Think Tank Photocross 13 carbond Grey
This is a very small sling bag but I really love it. It looks small but it can store a lot.

2. Sony A1

This is my main camera. I don’t bring a second body for a TFP shoot. If my camera fails (and it probably will not) it is not a huge deal.

3. Sony G 24-105 F/4

This is in my opinion the best overall lens for the Sony. It is F/4 but in most cases this is fine. It supports 30 fps and is also very sharp even at 50 MP. If I want bokeh I use another lens. I just love the 35 mm extra compared to a 24-70.

4. Sony GM2 70-200 F/2.8

For a F/2.8 it is not a heavy and big lens. This lens delivers. It is absolutely a fantastic and very sharp lens. I do love my 135mm F/1.8 but the 70-200 is just more versatile. I am think of buying the 2.0 extender in case I would need it.

5. Tamron 17-28mm f/2.8 Di III RXD

It is certainly not the best lens out there but I don’t use it very often so at this moment there is no need to upgrade. I take it with me because it is lightweight.

6. Gobe 77mm ND4 & ND8 Filter

These filters are cheap and IMO very good. I use them when using flash so I don’t need to shoot in HSS. The 24-105 and 70-200 both have a 77mm thread.

7. SMALLRIG Folding Tool Set AAK2495

Just a multitool but sometimes it is very handy!

8. Giottos AA1900 airbomb

You should always have this in your bag.

9. Sekonic L-858D with Godox module

In most of my photography I use a light meter. It saves time, measures incident light and the first shot is always spot on.

10. A Godox transmitter

Because I use a lightmeter I can use any Godox transmitter. The X1, X2, Xpro or Xpro II. For the 3 first you need to set in on APP mode and in the latest XPro II it is as L-858 in the menu selectable. I have used the XPro the most (because of the TCM function in case I need it) but the Mark II version now also has this wireless scanning function and tells you exactly what channels are free.

11. A Godox AD200 Pro

I have 1 Godox AD200 Pro and 6 AD200’s (the pro was not availabale at the time I bought them). I love this little flash as it is lightweight, powerful and the battery are small and powerfull. Most of the time I don’t take the standard fresnel head with me.

12. Godox AD-S2 - Mini reflector

You would be amazed what this little thing can do. In the studio I use it as vignet light but outdoors it is also used as my main light. This reflector bundles the light and strangely enough it creates rather soft light.

13. Godox AD-S7 Multifunctional Softbox 480mm

This 48mm softbox is foldable like an umbrella and gives you beautiful light. When used close to the model I put the outer diffuser on it. It also comes with a grid I don’t use outdoors and a metal plate you can fix in the middle. I don’t use this plate at all because I have noticed it creates a shadow in the middle. Godox should have used a white transparant plate. Maybe I will make one myself.

14.Manfrotto MS0490A Nanopole Lightstand

Trust me, these are the best. I also bought similar one from K&F and Fosoto. The K&F was broken after a few times use and to expand the Fostoto it takes more force because it is just not smooth at all. It also is not that high fully expanded.

15. Batteries for the A1 and Godox AD200

16. Microfiber (several)

This is my goto kit. It s very portable and I can carry this all day long. When I want to make a portrait I use the AD-S7 and the minireflector for shots where the flash is a few meters away from the model.

Sometimes I also take the an extension cable and pouch for the AD200 with me.

I rarely take extra SD cards with me because I use 128GB or 256GB cards. This means I can shoot +/- 2500 photos in compressed RAW on a 128Gb card. Cards are always mirrored in the camera. This means photos are written to both the card in slot 1 as slot 2 at the same time.

Sony A1 tethering over LAN

The Sony A1 has a full gigabit network connection that can be used to send photos via ftp. However, it can also be used for tethering. I tried it out with a mini PC and a network cable of 15 meters long.

You don't have to set anything on the camera. A correct IP address is automatically assigned. Both Imaging Edge and Capture One Pro software recognize the connection and the transmission speed is very good. In a second the RAW file ends up on the SSD of the computer.

I often tether wirelessly. The speed is manageable but not comparable to using a cable.

Most photographers work with a USBC connection as standard. In the future when working with cable I will prefer LAN over USBC.

As a test I connected two network cables with a total length of 25 meters using an adapter. The connection remained stable!

ISO stands for quality.

The ideal ISO value is the native ISO (base) value of your camera. In most cases the base ISO is 100 but some cameras start at ISO200.

Light goes through the lens and reaches your digital image sensor. If there is enough light your camera will always choose the lowest ISO possible. That is when ISO is set on automatic.

But what when we shoot indoors in a badly lid environment? Your camera will automatically raise the ISO value. This is done by amplifying (analog) the captured light. This results in more noise and more noise means less image quality.

By the way, noise is not grain.

In post processing photographers sometimes add grain after sharpening the picture to make the image less “perfect”. When you have a noisy picture your image will be less sharp and when you post process the image like lifting the shadows more color noise will be visible. That is why you always need to photograph at the lowest possible value but this is not always possible.

Sometimes you cannot use a value of ISO 100. For example when I am shooting a concert ISO values can raise up to ISO6400. Most of the time ISO is set to automatic as the amount of light on a concert can be unpredictable.

When you photograph indoors it can happen you need to use a faster shutterspeed to make sure you do not have blurry pictures (motion blur) even when using a fast lens shooting at f/1.4.

In this case you really need to raise the ISO value on your camera.

For this picture I had to raise my ISO to 2500 because their was only one small light source. To make sure I didn’t have motion blur I shot at 1/60 at 24mm. Kedist was not moving so 1/60 is perfectly fine. The lens I was using was a 24-105 f/4 at f/4. The RAW picture was post processed afterwards because even with these settings the photo was still underexposed.

Look at the color noise in the RAW image. Noise canceling software and image sensors have improved a lot over the years. There was a time when the image quality at ISO 800 was much worse compared to the excellent Sony A1 with a whopping 50MP sensor.

DXO optics has excellent denoise software (even at ISO6400 on modern cameras) but the quality will NEVER be as good when shooting at ISO100. Some photographers swear by Topaz Labs Denoise but personally I find the result not as good as the DXO software.

Denoise software and the quality of image sensors have improved a lot over the years and a lot of photographers think using high ISO values are the way to go.

Though ISO is the last parameter in the exposure triangle you should modify.

A few weeks ago I saw a youtube video of a photographer with more than a million followers photographing a model outdoors. She used ISO 800 at 1/1600 of a second!

The reactions on her post were positive and most of her followers now think using ISO 800 outside is perfectly normal. It’s not. These are the kind of videos I really hate. I have nothing against youtubers bringing great content but when you shoot with these values outdoors you don’t even understand the basics of the exposure triangle!

The correct values should have been ISO100 and a shutterspeed of 1/200. The picture would have been also razorsharp and best quality. Just lower both values by 3 stops. 800->400->200->100 and 1/1600->1/800->1/400->1/200

In real life most people do not see the difference between a sharp and a less sharp picture so why bother?

As a photographer you want the best image quality and that was ISO is all about.

There is nothing wrong using higher ISO values but only when necessary.

Model Agency polaroid shoot

Too many times models think you need a lot of pictures in a portfolio to convince model agencies to get a contract.

Let me be clear. The most important photo is called a polaroid photo. Don’t get me wrong. It is not a real Polaroid photo but an unedited picture of a model without any make-up. Shoot in RAW and only adjust color, light and contrast.

Here is an example of such a shoot.

Jeans, a top and normally you should wear sneakers. However a woman looks more elegant when she wears high heels.

In real life starting models send a lot of garbage to an agency. If you send them 20 photos without any good ones you can be sure you will not get any contract. The first pictures should always be your polaroids.

How is your skin, figure, hair,… It’s all in that ONE polaroid photo. You also need close ups, pictures from the side and the back. It’s always a good idea to send them one photo with a collage of different expressions like smiling, laughing, surprised, angry, cute, sensual,…

Everything else is less important BUT if you have PRO photos in your portfolio and if you have a website (not instagram) with great photos you will look far more professional. Use a domain name like I do: “www.joeripeeters.com”. Not some free website where your site name is for example “lauren.weebly.com”….

I cannot emphasize it enough. Looking PRO is very important to be taken seriously.

In real life models send average or sometimes even bad pictures to agencies. When they scroll through the ‘bad’ pictures you will not be taken seriously and you only get one chance.

Work with the best photographers. (the best will ask for money as it is their income). Provide a varied portfolio. Polaroids, in swimwear, casual, high fashion, special make-up, editorial.

Lingerie is not needed unless you have a really beautiful body and want to become a “lingerie” model. The pictures need to be stylish! Not some casual pictures taken by an amateur who just wants to shoot women as naked as possible.

I can provide these pictures for you. Just get in touch with me and we will work something out.

Shoot with the 32 Miss Belgium 2023 finalists in Sharm-El-Sheikh Egypt

I just got back from Egypt to Photograph the 32 finalists of the Miss Belgium 2023 contest.

It was again a great experience as both the atmosphere and weather was great. Because of tear muscle I was not able to walk longer distances but the hotel provided me a wheelchair.

80% of the time I keep my camera on a tripod and shoot from a lower angle so I could sit down. For the portraits I was standing up and sometimes my leg did a hurt a lot but finally everything went well. I would not have managed without the wheelchair.

Again I was a little annoyed because the customs always make a fuss about the batteries I carry with me. Arriving in Egypt everything went (smoothly) but when we left for Belgium it became another story. The batteries of the GODOX ad1200 Pro are less than 100 Wh and allowed in the carry in luggage but the customs did not believe me. Batteries were taken back to the check in and the pilot approved. Finally everything turned out well but it is always a moment of stress. Why is it so difficult every time to pass the check points?

For 4 days we started shooting at 07:00 and stopped at around 15:30 and I had to photograph 8 contestants. 32 in total.

In evening dress
In Caroline Biss outfit
Portraits
Portrait with swimming cap (my favorite of the day)

The day before we left I also photographed the current Miss Belgium Chayenne van Aarle very early in the moring at the swiming pool. I woke up at 04:30 and started photographing at 05:15 when the sun was rising. You only get 15 minutes to get the shot but the result is stunning. I am very happy with the result. Sadly I cannot post any photos until the 12th of February until the new Miss Belgium 2023 has been chosen.

As a light setup I only used one flash. The Godox AD1200 Pro with a 60 cm beauty dish diffused inside. For the close ups a manfrotto 2 stop diffuser was used in front of the beautydish.

The Sony G 24—105 f/4 was my main lens used on my Sony A1. Only for Chayenne I also used the Sony GM2 70-200 f/2.8.

Because of the bright light I choose to use a ND4 filter (2 stops). Most of the time I shot at ISO 50, 1/200 between f/4 and f/5.

With this setup I am flexible. Worst case scenario is the photos are max 1 stop over exposed. (at 1/400, ISO 50, f/5) but in darker places I can shoot at 1/100, f/4 and ISO 250. I never removed the 2 stop ND filter.

Light was measured by a Sekonic L-858d with build in Godox wireless module adjusted to the 2 stop filter.

I also connected a Feelworld Lut6 HDMI monitor. The colors are very accurate and it is very bright even with the harshest sun light. It’s 2600 nits!

The president of the Miss Belgium comité was able to check the pictures I was doing.

I could have used a smartphone or tablet too but I also used this setup in February this year and it worked out well. Never change a winning team…

Doing this kind of work is teamwork. I was very happy to work again with emilieguillermin as a MUA and Brian as hairstylist and of course with the president Mrs. Darline De Vos, Anaïs and my lovely wife Nancy who took care of me in every way. (like pushing the wheelchair)

We used the matras on the ground to block the wind.

To cut a long story it was again a wonderful week and can’t wait to show you the results.

This photo was the cover photo for the show magazine of last years Miss 2021, Kedist Deltour.

For this photo I used a Godox AD600 Pro with standard reflector and AD200.

Shoot with Miss Belgium 2022 Chayenne Van Aarle

On October 22, 2023 I did the photoshoot for the official “portrait” photos for Miss Universe. I am writing “I” but it is always teamwork. The guideline by Miss Universe is to shoot on a flat grey or black background.

Most of the time I use a flash on the background to create a gradient (vignet) to separate the model from the background but this was not allowed. A way to separate a model from the background is to use back light and that is what I did.

My main light was the Godox Parabolic 128 with a D2 diffuser to soften the light even more powered by a Godox AD1200 pro mainly aimed downwards. By positioning the light this way the light does not reach the background. To brighten the shadows I used a tri reflector by Lasolite. To be honest I use this reflection screen not enough. It creates beautiful light and a nice catch light in the eyes.

As backlight I used 2 small jinbei (they are actually very good) 80cm stripbox double diffused with honeycomb grid to make sure the light does not spil in all directions. Both powered by 2 Godox AD200’s in a dual head.

As back hair light I used another AD200 and a Godox AD-S7 as soft box.

Chayenne was positioned about 2,60 meters from the background. I added a white vinyl marker on the ground to make sure photos were consistent. (check photo)

All lights were measured using a Sekonic L-858D.

Settings used:

Sony A1 with Sony G 90mm macro f/2.8

1/200

ISO 100

f/9

The result with this setup. Post processing was done in Capture One Pro & Photoshop. Mainly just dodging and burning and some color grading.

2022-10-22_Chja01334_HighResolution 1.jpg

When dynamic range comes in handy

In 2021 we went with the lovely and beautiful Miss Belgium 2021, Kedist Deltour to Addis Abeba to look for her biological father.

When Kedist was 10 years old she was adopted with her younger brother and sister by a Belgian Family as they were put in an orphanage a few months before. The father could not take care of them anymore after her mum died of cancer.

The photo below is one of the only moments in my life as an adult I cried. It was taken in the room where she grew up. It was a simplistic basic house (rather a cabin) and made out of mud (probably loam soil) and straw.

You have to imagine a few hours before she was just reunited with her father.

We entered the room and she sat on the bed and we didn’t say anything for a few minutes. I was a bit emotional because of what happend before and you could clearly see Kedist was bringing back memories. She smiled and looked at me and suddenly said: “I was so happy and I have really beautiful memories here“. At that very moment I cried. These words grabbed me by the throat. Growing up in a very minimalistic and basic world and still being happy. The photo was taken just a few seconds before.

I used the Sony A1 at ISO 2500, 1/60 and f/4 (24-105 f/4 lens).

Even in this very dark environment it locked the eye.

Back home I post processed the photos and made the overal image brighter. Personally I would rather choose to keep it that way as it was a correct representation of the moment. For the newspapers I had to brighten the image.

It is impressive the A1 image sensor is really capable of brightening the overal image as it was shot that way.

Thank you Kedist for sharing this moment with me and looking at life differently.

Shooting with off cameraflash

Let us be honest. The easiest way to photograph people is using existing (ambient) light. You place your model in the shadow, put your camera on manual (or aperture), ISO as low as possible and your shutter speed should be at least the focal length of your lens.

In other words you make use of the basics of photography and that is your exposure triangle. Placing your subject directly in the sun will create harsh and unflattering light. However you can use reflection screens and place the model with her back towards the sun to create different lighting but you need someone to hold the reflection screen.

Once you start outdoors flash you have 4 more parameters to take into account.

- The power of the flash

- The distance towards the object (model)

- The angle and direction of the flash

- The light former (softbox) used

Therefore a lot of photographers do not use flash outdoors. It is more complicated and when used wrongly it creates light that is not as beautiful as ambient soft light.

Outdoors I mainly use one flash. When the sun is shining one flash is more than enough. In the studio it gets more complicated when using several strobes. You cut all ambient light by making the studio as dark as possible. We shoot at f/9, ISO100 and 1/200 to make sure very little light reaches our sensor.

Most of the time we use one 'main' (flash)light. Other flashes are mainly fill light, spot light or other forms of light creating atmosphere.

It is necessary or even mandatory to know how light behaves. What is light falling off (inverse square of law) and what is the difference when we place the flash far away or very close. What if we use large softboxes and what happens when you make use of a grid?

For example using a big double diffused softbox it makes no sense to place it far away from the model. The inverse square of law tells us only 2% of the light reaches our model when she is 8 meters away. That is when using omnidirectional light. (diffused softboxes, a bulb, ...)

Once you start using an open parabolic at the focal point or a sport reflector the light will reach further.

The advantage of using flash is you can shoot with the sun on the back of your subject (model). This makes a huge difference in your final image. The sky will be blue and your subject will get the necessary light (s)he deserves. When photographers tell me "I can fix this afterwards in Lightroom" I try to convince them it is not the way you should photograph.

The light is not always flattering using off camera flash with small light formers. Sometimes it is the way it is.

When you want to photograph a full body shot using a 85mm lens you are placed at least 4,5 meters away from the subject. This means when you put the flash behind you the distance will be at least 5 meters!

Personally I have no problem when the face is a bit greasy and shiny. I use Photoshop to soften the light on her face (without making it plastic) but if you are not familiar with photoshop (don't use Lightroom for this) the light is not always what the client wants. Your model should look fantastic and not like she has just finished the 10 miles.

In my workshops I show how to create light and combine it with ambient light. Join me if you can in upcoming workshops.

In this example I used a 180cm umbrella to lighten our model while the sun was shining at the back of her. Just check the shadows on the floor.

Sony A1 too good to be true?

(My apologies for any mistakes as I am not a native English.)

This post is about using the Sony A1 after taking +25000 shots and 10 moths of use. It is not a full review but my personal experience.

Is the A1 any good for a professional fashion/beauty photographer like me?

Coming from a Sony A7R2 and A7R3 I expected the camera would be a huge improvement. The A1 is slightly larger and heavier and perfect for the size of my hands (I have a normal size of hands). Overall the body, buttons, knobs and wheels feels more solid. I do sometimes attach the Smallrig L-Bracket LCS2417B as it makes shooting using a tripod a lot more user friendly and it does not make the body much bigger. I do understand photographers with larger hands still might find the A1 to small.

You don’t need to remove the L-Bracket to replace a battery. Thank you.

One of the biggest improvements is the EVF (electronic viewfinder). It is detailed, full of color and shooting with no blackouts is just a fantastic invention. The LCD is not bright enough in harsh sunlight and I wish it could tilt both horizontally as vertically. I don’t need a fully articulating screen in all directions like the Sony A7IV. As a fashion shooter I shoot a lot with a telelens from a very low position in portrait mode. Not being able to tilt the screen in portrait mode is something that is very annoying as I sometimes have to lay down on my back and make use of the EVF.

To make things more comfortable I sometimes use my Oppo X3 find Pro as a second screen. I attach it using a neewer smartphone holder on top of a Godox transmitter and a smallrig 2905 cold shoe adapter. This works just great! Instead of using the Sony Imaging Edge app I stumbled across an app called Monitor+. Both wired connection using a USB-C to USB-C cable or wireless are possible. The Monitor+ app has improved over the years. One disadvantage of the app is you cannot change the folder where the photos are stored (in jpg, heif or arw). It’s a fixed location that is hidden where the app is installed. Is it better as the Imaging app? Not really but it is more stable (at least when I use it) and you can also use it as a videomonitor though there is a slight delay in screen transfer. Using an external HDMI monitor or a recorder like a Ninja V+ is a better choice for professional work.

Monitor + on google play

Update 2022-10-25: The latest version looses connection once in a while.

Here is an example of my setup in Egypt when I was hired to photograph the Miss Belgium finalists. Here I used an external Feelworld Lut 6 HDMI screen instead of a smartphone. The pictures are all done using the Sony A1, Sony G 24-105 f/4 with a ND4 filter, an AD600pro and 2 x an AD200 with a total of 1000 W/s power. From this distance a large softbox would be useless and absorbing to much light.

Left: Setup

Right: Finished photo

The focus speed of the A1 is just incredible. In comparison with the A7R2 the difference is day and night and focus speed and eye detection is also an improvement over the A7R3. Both older cameras remain fantastic cameras and I still use them as a backup or usethem all when I am photographing a concert.

When shooting fashion (and the background is really distracting) I sometimes use the excellent 135mm GM at f/1.8 with a model walking towards me. The A1 never lost focus. All pictures were sharp with very shallow depth of field.

using the latest firmware 1.30 and 1.31 I have a feeling batteries intend to drain faster and using my smartphone wirelessly as a second screen doesn’t make battery life any better. When shooting this way the camera also gets hotter as there is a continuous wireless connection with the smartphone. I never made a point carrying several batteries even the smaller ones used in the A7R2. On the A7R2 I used to select flight mode and managed to get 600 - 700 photos, only using one battery.

When I was in Ethiopia last year to photograph Miss Belgium 2021 being united with her biological father (after 12 years) the A1 suddenly would not focus at all! I switched of the camera and pulled out the battery and switched it back on in a fraction of a second. Luckily I made the shots which were later used as cover photos for newspapers but it was a very frightening moment when the A1 wouldn’t focus at all. To make sure I had “the shot” I selected 30 fps in silent mode and did not disturb the videoman. Because of the huge amount of photos scrolling through the pictures took some time.

The reason for the focus troubles could have been I used the neewer grip (I have very good experience and never ran into problems using the previous models). Some people also experienced this kind of behavior and mentioned this on social media. I did not experience these focus problems anymore after that day. The A1 performs!

When Miss Belgium 2021, Kedist Deltour was reunited with her biological father in Addis Abeba, Ethiopia, after 12 years. When she was young he put her and her little brother and sister in an orphanage because he could not feed them anymore.

I do like the new menu. Is it much better as the previous menu ? Yes, but I also found the previous menu system very usable. I rarely make use of the touch functionality in the menu. I guess it is because the A7R2 and A7R3 do not support this functionality and I got used to using the knobs and buttons. What I do like is to be able to send the config of the menu to my smartphone as a backup. Thank you for that but I wish Sony would also implement this functionality in their previous cameras. Being able to configure your own menu makes ease of use a lot easier.

The position of wheels, buttons, knobs is perfect and it is a pleasure to use. I only do not like the position of the video recording button. I sometimes push the button by accident. Not a big deal. Having the extra wheel on the left top of the camera you choose your focus mode (AF-S, AF-C,…) and shot mode (single shot, burst,…) . It works fine but on the A7R3 I use the C2 button and it works fine too.

I never liked the standard eyecups on Sony Alpha cameras so I replaced mine with a Kiwi KE-EP19L. (I think it is the same as the JJC brand.)

One of the biggest improvements is overall speed. Switch on the camera and you are ready to shoot. Also scrolling through the menus while the camera is emptying the buffer is possible. I do use both the Sony 32GB, 128GB SD Pro Tough UHS-II SD cards and ProGrade Digital SDXC UHS-II V90 in 128GB but also the 256GB versions. The raw files are stored on both cards at the same time as a backup. Writing speed is just superb and I even haven’t used the CF express cards yet. For what I do the speed of V90 cards is sufficient. Even when I shoot a concert using 20 or 30 fps. Buffer is cleared very fast. I switch cameras anyway.

To give you an idea I published a small video on youtube

A few weeks ago I tried a wireless tethered shoot using Capture One Pro. It just worked GREAT and the transfer speed of compressed raw is very doable. It takes a longer time compared using a cable but the freedom to walk freely is huge. Just set the camera in PC remote connect it directly using wifi to the laptop or use a wifi router. Both work fine. I even did not experience any lost in connection. (Though the camera can get hot shooting tethered wireless.)

I always shoot compressed RAW. I have been doing comparisons without any compression selected and I do not notice any visible differences in quality. I have tried the lossless compression too but compressed RAW is fine for me. RAW files are 50MB in size and it makes a difference in storage space on my 30TB Synology NAS.

I never shoot in JPG format or HEIF so I personally don’t know how the jpg’s perform in accuracy of colors (or skin color), sharpness or contrast. I develop my RAW photos in Capture One Pro using the ICC profile Sony A1 ProStandard. The quality I get out of Capture One Pro is very pleasing to the eye. This profile is really good and with minor exposure adjustments the output is already very good. I do export to Photoshop for further editing and the flattened PSD gets a finishing touch in Capture One Pro. Because I keep all my layers and edit in 16bit photos can become a whopping 8GB!

Maybe the best improvement is working with off camera flash! With older models I had to switch off the godox trigger for a correct live view. This problem is now solved in the A1. This is a major improvement!

Being able to use the electronic shutter at 1/200 using flash is not to be underestimated. The mechanical shutter of the A1 has a life spam of 500.000. Theoretically you could always use electronic shutter. With LED lightning I haven’t seen any banding yet using electronic shutter but to be safe I always put it on mechanical shutter when shooting where LED is used.

The first time I used HSS (high speed sync) I was blown away. Being able to use 1/8000 shutter speeds using off camera flash is such a cool thing. However you loose a lot of power so the last few years I started using ND filters again. Using a ND16 filter I can shoot electronic at 1/200 using the 50mm GM f/1.2 (at 1.2), ISO50 and have a lot more power. The battery of my Godox AD1200 Pro’s or AD600 Pro last a lot longer and they intend not to overheat!

You might say an A1 is overkill for a fashion/beauty photographer. Well. It is not! When a model is in a certain pose there is no reason to have a quick focusing camera. When i used the A7R2 as my main camera there were times when photos were out of focus when the model was moving in the studio or outdoors. I sometimes was disappointed when I had a fantastic shot that was not sharp at all and it happend more than once. With the A1 every shot is spot on! You rarely miss a shot because the A1 eye detection works flawless. It just makes you more relaxed as you know you will probably have the shot!

Do I need 30fps for fashion? Generally not because I mostly use flash. However it comes in handy when you have a fast moving model without using flash.

My studio is not 100% light proof. I have a few large windows and cannot block all ambient light. When I shoot at f/9, 1/400, ISO 100 I block light. Because the maximum synchronization speed of 1/400 using the mechanical shutter I don’t need to use HSS with loss of power.

I sometimes record small videos when customers ask me to. I shoot at 4K in best quality and the A1 never overheated. You do have to leave some room between the body and the screen. I tried the 4:2:2 10bit 8K recording and the quality is just impressive. However my 5 year old Dell Alienware R6, Intel i7, with Geforce 1080ti (11GB) and 64 GB RAM struggles playing the video file! I do like the new PP11 (S-cinetone) profile a lot. It is not much work to color grade in Davince Resolve to get good results.

50 Megapixel is in my opinion the perfect resolution for a full frame camera! The noise at higher ISO’s is still very good and very usable. I shot photos at 12800 ISO at a Gary Numan concert and DXO deep prime technology reduces the noise and the photos come out with enough detail. I also tried Topaz Labs but in my opinion DXO has better results. Most of the time I use noise reduction in Capture One Pro and the results are very good.

Here is a picture of Gazelle Twin as a guest appearance during the Gary Numan concert in Wembley, London. It was shot using the Sony GMII 70-200 f/2.8 at 5000 ISO, 1/200, f/2.8 at 121mm. Only noise reduction inside Capture One Pro was used.

Having 50 MP requires good glass! It might sound strange but the Sony G 24-105 f/4 is one of my favorite lenses for the Sony A1. Most of my photos are shot at an aperture of +f/4. Clients want to see the environment where it is shot but the background should have a certain amount of soft bokeh. Recognizable but not distracting. The G 24-105 f/4 is perfect for any location (except indoors with low light). The extra 35mm in comparison with a 24-70mm is was the reason to go for the 24-105. You loose an extra stop of light, but hey, what is the difference in quality between ISO 3200 or 6400? Buying a 24-70 f/2.8 is a also a very good choice but for the work I do I love the results of my 24-105. Below are some examples.

Below are photos shot using the Sony G 24-105mm (both a7r3 and a1)

The choice for a lens is price/quality. If a cheaper lens delivers the quality I don’t see any reason to buy a more expensive alternative. I am very happy with the entry Sony 85 f/1.8. In my opinion this is a no brainer for portrait photographers. The 85mm keeps up with the focus speed of the A1.

Sony 85mm f/1.8 examples (both shot on the A7R3)

In upcoming blogs I will write about my experience with other lenses I am using.

Conclusion: 7200 Euro (VAT incl.) (in Belgium) is a lot of money. Is it worth the price? The camera is nearly perfect in any way. (except for the LCD screen)

You can use this camera for every type of photography: Sports, Wildlife, birds, Fashion, Portraits,… but it is also superb for video. Being able to shoot even 8K is something remarkable. It is like a swiss army knife except this camera is just superb in everything it does. The A7R4 is a 61 Megapixel but the difference in resolution is not that noticeable.

I am happy I switched but if you are an A7R3 user (or even A7R2) and you are happy with it there is no reason to switch. The image sensor of these cameras are still state of the art and you will not see any difference in dynamic range.

The biggest improvements are speed. menu, focus, SD card write speeds, bigger and better body and video quality. Is it too good to be true? I really don’t know. I love using my A1 and there is very little I would like to see improved. The Sony Engineers did an excellent job but made a huge mistake choosing this type of LCD screen.