Sony today introduced an exciting new addition to its E-mount mirrorless camera lineup – the α6400.
The α6400 brings many of Sony’s most advanced technologies from their acclaimed full-frame lineup to a compact, lightweight APS-C camera. The speedy new camera boasts the world’s fastest autofocus (AF) acquisition of 0.02 seconds, while also introducing the new advanced “Real-time Eye AF” and ”Real-time Tracking” capabilities. Also included are high-speed shooting at up to 11 fps with AF/AE tracking, a new-generation BIONZ X image processing engine that produces excellent image quality, 4K video recording, a fully 180-degree tiltable LCD touch screen and much more, making it the ultimate tool for all types of creators ranging from professionals to vloggers.
Barkers — the well-known New Zealand men’s clothing label — recently went through a bit of a rebrand, and behind the camera creating imagery for this high-profile assignment was Auckland based commercial photographer Reagen Butler. The latest campaign shoot called for a full spectrum of scenery and activities to be documented. The aim was to illustrate that Barkers’ clothing is “Made For Life” — a declaration of the brand’s intent to create garments that are sustainable, long-lasting, and functional.
Reagen has been working with Barkers for four years, producing both stills and motion. So when this particular opportunity came about he was once again brought to the table. This time around Reagen was asked to shoot the stills, while an agency was brought in to work on the video components. “The shoot was pretty flexible, with some guidance on the stills from the agency that worked on the motion piece. It was all pretty fly on the wall lifestyle stuff as we trekked around Auckland and Queenstown,” Reagen says.
Around 11 years ago, Chris Turner was asked by a friend of a friend to document their wedding for them. For a grand total of $500 and with a bit of reluctance having never shot a wedding before, nor any plan to make a career out of it, Chris photographed the couple’s wedding and had a blast. From that day on he spent his time figuring out what he needed to learn to become a professional wedding photographer.
“It took me a good while to really get into the industry without any kind of help. I’d say I’ve been making a full-time living off photography for the past four years almost, with the last two years being full-time self employed,” Chris says.
This may be before you were born, but I can recall the excitement that greeted the first practical 24mm lens for 35mm SLRs. It was the Nikon Nikkor 24mm of 1967. It used nine elements and had taken the better part of ten years to compute… by hand. It transformed photojournalism as it could be used at full aperture and its close-focusing performance was surprisingly good thanks to the then very snazzy internal moving groups.
Let’s jump to today. I’m as excited now as I was then about Sony’s brand new 24mm E-Mount lens, the ultra-fast f/1.4 GM. It’s the eighth in Sony’s line of premium G Master lenses so it has a high bar to attain. Its stand-out feature is apparent when you unpack the gem: it is surprisingly small. It sits about half-way between the first Nikon 24mm that weighed only 240g (but was f/2.8) and the current f/1.4 competition (from Nikon, Canon, and Sigma) that weigh 650g or more. The Sony weighs 445g – only two-thirds the weight of the competition – and it’s also about two-thirds their bulk.
Now in its 12th year, the Sony World Photography Awards is one of the most celebrated and diverse photography competitions in the world.
The Awards are free to enter and open to all levels of photographer, from emerging 12-19 year-olds, enthusiastic hobbyists and students, to established professionals. There is a competition and a category for everyone, from Architecture, Documentary, Landscape, Portraiture, Sports, Street Photography, Wildlife, Travel, Culture, and more.
All images are judged by leading industry experts, who come together each year in London to decide the best images. A total prize fund of US$30,000 plus the latest Sony digital imaging equipment is shared between winning photographers.
With the power to kick-start and shape careers, photographers are provided with an unprecedented stage to showcase their work, powered by a series of tailored global press and media campaigns. Previous winners and shortlisted photographers have gone on to be represented by renowned galleries and institutions, and their work has been featured in major publications around the world.
Equally, each year we recognise one of the world’s most influential photographers through the Outstanding Contribution to Photography award; previous recipients have included Martin Parr, William Eggleston and Candida Höfer.
Continue Reading
Last week Cosina announced their new Voigtlander Color Skopar 21mm f/3.5 E-mount lens. It’s priced at ¥ 85,000 and will start shipping in October.
As with other Voigtlander E-mount lenses, electronic contact transmit EXIF information of the shooting data. In addition, because it incorporates a distance encoder, it supports 5-axis camera shake correction on the camera body side. It is also possible to enlarge the viewfinder by operating the focus ring.
In addition to securing full-size image circle, it adopts optical design optimized for Sony E mount sensor. High resolution is maintained up to the periphery of the screen, and phenomena such as color hue are suppressed. Its optical design consists of 9 elements in 8 groups (one aspherical surface plus an anomalous partial dispersion element).
By adopting a total metal helicoid unit machined and adjusted with high accuracy and high quality grease producing moderate torque, smooth operation feeling is realized. It enables delicate focus adjustment.
The minimum focus distance is 20 centimetres allowing an unique ultra wide angle perspective and the lens only weighs 230 grams.
