Reacquainting myself with the A6300

​I’ll start with a little bit of a back story in regards to my A6300. I’m almost coming up on a year since purchasing it. The main reason I got it was to use as an introduction to film video. I wanted to start teaching myself video and learning the ins and outs and just overall experimenting and having fun.

After reading tons of reviews on various cameras, the A6300 was the one I went with. From that point I delved into video, making short films around the city. Mostly personal stuff. But after a while I got some paying gigs (small ones), which mainly included B-roll. Which is actually what I had been doing all along.

I never really bought the A6300 for photos as I had and still have my full frame Nikon’s for my pro work. I decided to bring my A6300 to one of my portrait sessions and ended up using it because for the first time ever I forgot to charge my batteries for the Nikon. Duh.

I was amazed at the results and the ease of use. I’m at a point in my career where I can pretty much pick up any camera and create good photos, but the Sony was also a lot of fun to use.

That was last summer. I still continued to use it for my video projects and I also brought it out here and there for some walk around photos. I decided to pick it up a lot more recently for photos and I must say, I am enjoying the photos and more importantly the process of taking them.

The auto focus is wicked fast, just as good as my Nikon D750 and older Nikon DF (my favourite camera that I own). I’m actually contemplating trying it out again for some paid shoots. I currently have the Sigma 16mm and Sony 35mm. I’m very tempted to get the new Sigma 55mm. Seeing as how most of my weddings are shot at 35, 50 and 85mm focal lengths, it works be a good start as a backup camera.

Here are some photos from recent walk I did around my area. It was still pretty cold out but I had no issues. I used the 35mm 1.8 for all these. I love that lens.

Stay tuned for more photos. For anyone interested in seeing my videos I have a bunch posted in YouTube.

https://www.youtube.com/user/chondonphotography

Laundry Night + Nikon DF

Winter is here. Up north in Thunder Bay where I live it gets quite cold which means it’s not always fun going outside to take photos. Instead, I look to challenge myself with the everyday environment I’m surrounded with. What better challenge then documenting my wife do laundry in an 8 x 8 room.

What I find fun about photographing the mundane is looking for angles and compositions that others might not see. To the average person looking in, it’s simply a laundry room. To me, I see the attention in the details. The camera I chose was the Nikon Df. It’s my favourite camera that I own and I’m amazed by the low light abilities.

So for anyone stuck inside, challenge yourself to see things differently and with a fresh perspective, no matter which camera you own.

Victoria Street with the Nikon DF

I have been forcing myself to take the weekends off from the gym. It’s hard for me to not be active so I still try to go for a walk to get some exercise. Yesterday was actually a nice day out and a reprieve from the very cold weather we have been having. I asked my wife Anne if she wanted to join me for a photo walk but she decided to just stay in. 

I almost left the house with my Nikon F4 and my last roll of black and film. I decided to save that for another day and instead grabbed my Nikon DF and the 35mm 1.8. What can I say, it was calling out to me.  

Because it’s winter and I like to shoot wide open, I put an ND filter on the lens as well. All I had to decide on now was the destination. I decided to go walk around Downtown Fort William. It an older part of Thunder Bay, and it’s also where my studio is. It’s one of my favourite places to take photos.  

I didn’t have an a planned route or objective other then to capture whatever I see. I should probably start setting goals or projects for myself in the New Year but for now I just wanted to take photos.  

As you can see from the photos below, I shoot randomly. I look for angles and colours. I’m always framing in my mind. I don’t stay in one place to long, I simply move on to the next location. If I had all day to shoot and there were actually people out, I would probably hang around spots longer.  

Without chalking it up to just being my ‘latest camera’, the Nikon DF is a pleasure to shoot with. The sound and feel of the shutter make me want to press it over and over again. I’ve also mentioned this before, and I’m sure many people will say it’s simply not true, but the image quality and tones and colours have a unique feel. Better then my X100F and D750. It reminds me of when I used to shoot with the D700. But this sensor is much, much better.  

I think I ended up walking around for about 90 minutes. The whole time I was in the zone. Everything flowed naturally. I wasn’t really thinking about the photos, I was just taking them. It’s supposed to be warm st lunch today so I’m already looking forward to taking the DF out again.  

Downtown with the Fuji X100F

This afternoon I decided to head downtown for an espresso at my favourite coffee shop in town. For the second week in a row, it was closed early. I even went earlier this time. I wasn’t planning on walking around and taking photos but I did bring my Fuji X100F with me so I decided to spend about an hour walking around.

Luckily I brought my hat and gloves because it was quite chilly. I’ve taken photos downtown many many times so it’s always a challenge looking for different ideas and compositions. In the cold weather I tend to just keep moving and photographing what ever catches my eye.

I did have a bit of a scare halfway through my walk. As I was crossing the overpass I stopped to give a couple people some spare change. Up taking off my gloves I forgot that my hand strap was on top of it. Bam. My camera fell about 3 feet to the ground. Luckily I have a pretty sturdy hand grip which took the brunt of the impact. After I quick inspection everything worked well. Although I did lose my shutter release button. But I learned my lesson this time around and ordered a 3 pack.

I continued on my way to the marina which was very cold. I didn’t stay there too long. Once I got back to my car it took me 5 minutes to open due to a failing battery in my keys, which I have been meaning to fix for quite a while now.

I still wanted a coffee so I stopped at another great coffee shop which is always open. Photographing with the Fuji is just a pleasure. It honestly feels like an extension of myself. All the photos here were shot in the chrome setting and I uploaded them directly to my phone and tweaked them in the VSCO app. I realized after the fact that I had grain set to high so I apologize for the grainy photos. I don’t mind grain though personally.

Long Exposure Street Photography with the Ricoh GR II

As much as I love photographing around town here in Thunder Bay, it’s sometimes hard to find the motivation to do so. I imagine a lot of photographers around the world have creative ruts. It doesn’t help when it’s -25 out and the days are short. So, it’s important to look for different ways to look at things and different ways of shooting. Long exposure photography is a great way to do that. It often takes the usual ordinary scene and transforms it into something completely unique.

With my Ricoh GR II in hand, my wife picked me up from work and we made our way to the mall. I got her to drive so I could take photos on the drive there. Why the Ricoh? Honestly, any camera can accomplish this and I recently did a set with my Fuji X100F. I chose the Ricoh this time around because it’s extremely portable, inconspicuous and just a blast to use. It also has a built in ND filter which really helps with long exposure.

It allows me to get my shutter down to around 1 - 6 seconds depending on the ambient light. Because we were in the mall, it wasn’t really needed all the time though.

With this kind of photography there really is no right or wrong way to do it, and that’s what makes it fun. However I will explain my process and settings.

I was typically at f16, ISO 100 and a shutter speed of 1-4 seconds. I usually adjusted the shutter speed to what I wanted and then set everything else accordingly. I was in full manual, and just focused on the part of the scene I was shooting. You don’t really have to worry about perfect focus or focus at all depending on what you are going for.

Plus when you are at f16, everything is going to be in focus anyways. Regardless, once you start blurring the scene, it’s not imperative. Once I start shooting it’s slot of trail and error. I take photo, see how it exposes and reshoot. As I’m taking the photos I move the camera a bit, either in and out or side to side. 

This type of shooting isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I find it extremely fun. It’s more artistic if anything. When you are able to have people in the frame, it adds a sense of mystery I find. The great thing about photographing in the mall is that there are a ton of colours. When long exposed it creates a nice palette.

If you haven’t tried this yet, I encourage you to do so. Especially if you are tired of photographing the same areas in town day after day. You will start seeing things differently.

Braving the Winter with the Nikon DF

As I mentioned in me previous post, I recently purchased a Nikon DF. It’s been a long time coming and I’m so excite to finally own one. In the past week I have used it extensively, just for personal and fun photography. I am anxious to use it only paid sessions along side my D750 ( which is getting repaired at the moment). Until then, I’m going to continue to shoot as much as I can.

Where I live, Thunder Bay, is extremely cold nowadays, so it is hard to get out as much as I would like to, but that hasn’t stopped me. On my lunch breaks, I get out for about 40 minutes in and around the local university. As much as I would love to do some street photography with people, there just isn’t enough opportunity to do so.

So, I settle with my usual still life and landscape photography which I love doing. I shoot primes about 95% of the time. I very much enjoy taking advantage of the large apertures of primes. My 35mm 1.8 has been living on my DF almost the entire time. I love to field of view of the 35 and also the close focusing abilities. I truly believe it’s the most versatile and fun lens I own.

The good thing about winter here is that it’s usually overcast. I’m personally like overcast weather the best. With that being said, here is another set of photos from a recent walk.

First Weekend with the Nikon DF

With camera gear I’m always reading reviews and watching videos, keeping up to date with what’s new. With that being said, I almost always try to purchase used gear, especially camera bodies and lenses. There are exceptions of course, like a recent Fuji XT3 purchase.

For my professional work, my main gear centers around Nikon. Specifically the D750. It’s an absolute workhorse of a camera and has gotten me through lots of weddings, events and everything else. After selling my D810, which I owned for about 6 months, I knew I needed another Nikon. 

I was very tempted to just get another D750, but another camera has always called out to me, but my budget just could never justify it. That camera is the Nikon DF. Since it first came out, I wanted it. Problem was, it was just way to expensive. I decided to look into getting a used one and I was able to land a good deal on eBay. I have had it for about a week now and I absolutely love it.  

I know it recieved a lot of criticism when it was released, and even to this day. I did a lot of research on it and knew all the ‘short comings’, I was fine with them. Once I get out with it more I’ll do a short review, but I did want to share my first thoughts.

This past weekend was my first opportunity to get outside and explore with the DF. I pretty much hijacked my wife all day. The set below were taken during the afternoon on our walk and driving around. From that day alone, I have a couple other photo sets to l post. And ... I’m the last week I think I have taken at least 2000 photos with it. That’s all personal and family stuff too, nothing professional. You can bet my first paid gig of the year will see the DF coming out.

I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I find the tones and colours are even better then tbe D750. I swear they just pop a bit more and have a certain 3D quality. I thoroughly enjoyed shooting with the DF over the weekend. In think at the end of the day, any camera today can take great photos. But it’s important to actually enjoy using the camera you have, otherwise you might not be as motivated to take photos in the first place. The Nikon DF is definitely one of those cameras, at least for me.

Thanks for viewing! 

Thunder Bay Marina in the Evening with the Fuji X100F

I have a few cameras, probably more then I really need but that is normal for a lot of photographers I think. It doesn't help that I constantly look at new cameras online and dream and contemplate. This means that certain cameras might not get used as much as others. Up until a few days ago, this was the case with my Fuji X100F. It kind of got pushed to the side for a while because of my Sony A6300 which I have been doing a lot of video with and also because I have been working full time which has eaten into my personal photography time. 

I had the original X100, then the X100S and now the X100F which is such an amazing little camera. Actually, looking back at some of my favourite photos over the years, and a lot of them have come from one of those cameras. So, over the past week I have been carrying it with me more and I soon remembered why I love this camera so much. It's fun to use. Oh, and it still has the best colours and tones, even on par with my pro Nikons. 

This evening, after I dropped my wife Anne off at her friends house, I decided to burn off those dinner calories with a walk around part of the marina and downtown. The sun was on it's way down so the lighting was perfect. As I do with most of my personal photography, I simply captured anything that caught my eye. There is no real theme to these photos, I save that for my professional work. Instead, these are simply little moments in time that I saw and captured during my random walk. 

They were all taken with the X100F and processed in Lightroom. The black and white images were edited further in Silver Effex Pro 2, which is my favourite program for converting black and white. It's hard not to just do every photo in black and white.... 

If anyone actually reads these posts, thanks for stopping by!