A snapshot of my photographic duties many moons ago - backstage at a fashion show.

Disclaimer

Once a regular vanilla cookie cutter gear review site, this dog and pony show has evolved into a blog about my pontification regarding the discourse of contemporary photography.

Spoiler alert - it’s lost its way.

So as a warning, not much gear will be reviewed anymore. And there will be much opinion.

Anyway, the hope of this site is to provide me with a creative outlet. If on the odd chance it provides you with some insight, then all the better! 

Canon 5D Mark IV - Sample Images at High ISO + Pushed

Canon 5D Mark IV - Sample Images at High ISO + Pushed

I love the touchscreen LCD of the Canon 5D Mark IV. I remembered hearing about it, but to actually experience it was life altering. I don't think I can ever look at another camera LCD the same way again. And I've only scratched the surface with it. To be honest, I haven't had much of a chance to really put the Mark IV through it's paces. I was busier than normal yesterday, and only had a chance to get some sample images out. Needless to say, they were all taken at night - after work - which was conveniently appropriate, given that the interesting part of the Mark IV for most to see is how the new image sensor renders images at low light, and whether dynamic range has improved. 

Canon 50mm f/1.0, ISO 800, 1/40s. The light in this restaurant is truly appalling from a photographer's perspective, but very cozy from a social point of view.

Canon 50mm f/1.0, ISO 200, 1/40s

Canon 50mm f/1.0, ISO 2000, 1/40s

Canon 50mm f/1.0, ISO 640, 1/40s

It was really upsetting that Lightroom couldn't import the new 30 megapixel Canon CR2 files. It meant that I had to use the Canon Imaging software, which wasn't ideal for me, given that I didn't have it on my Mac, and given that I didn't have a CD Rom to install the accompanying CD of the imaging software. But if you've been following my Facebook, you would know that I resolved the problem - pretty much with blunt force - by finding an older Mac in storage, updating the OS on it, in order to accommodate the application. For this awful turn of event, I didn't get much sleep last night. 

Canon 50mm f/1.0, ISO 800, 1/40s - pushed 1 stop. Tweaked white balance with the Canon Imaging software... Nightmare doesn't begin to describe it for me. #LightroomFanBoy

Canon 50mm f/1.0, ISO 2000, 1/100s - pushed 1 stop. Love the lens flare.

Canon 50mm f/1.0, ISO 2000, 1/100s - pushed 1 stop + sharpened in Photoshop, because I couldn't use Lightroom to optimize the image without artificial sharpening - like contrast and clarity... #Don'tKnowHowToOptimizeOnPhotoshop #OMGLoveLensFlareOnThisLens

Admittedly, with the sample images above, I haven't really begun to push the limits of high ISO and dynamic range. With the 50mm f/1.0, you can get quite a bit of light where light isn't available. Plus you are right to say that the 50 f/1.0 isn't exactly the best lens to use for testing the new Mark IV body. But this is my first Canon review - of hopefully many - and I figure that it would be nice to pair the Mark IV with this lens, just for the sake of making this writeup a little different from all the other unboxing that you will invariably see throughout the week. 

But in the interest of being more informative, here's a bunch of sample images from the Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 USM II - better known as the latest version.

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, ISO 12,500, 1/100s - pushed 1 stop.

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 30mm, ISO 12,500, 1/100s - pushed 1 stop.

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, ISO 25,600, 1/100s - pushed 1 stop.

Other than that, the Mark IV feels like a old friend, which is great, except when it's not. Much of it's functions and feel is carried over from the Mark III, including the center oriented auto focusing points. It just makes focusing more difficult if you happen to have the subject's lead eye outside that cluster of focusing points. But looking at the Mark IV body, I can already see some new switches, so I know that there is much more for me to discover (assuming that I actually take the time to go through the instruction manual, which I won't).

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 28mm, ISO 2500, I/100s. Anna on her way home. Notice how the lead eye is in the region of an autofocus point. I was much too out of it to reframe after focusing. 

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, ISO 8000, 1/100s - no edit in white balance!

Canon 24-70mm f/2.8 at 70mm, ISO 3200, 1/100s 

None of the images in this writeup have been optimize in Lightroom, because Adobe hasn't updated Lightroom yet with the newer CR2 file format. In fact, there has been very little tweaking at all - which means I might tweak it at a later date... assuming that I'm actually going to remember. Definitely not a happy camper with this writeup!

Thank you Anna for being there.

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The Leica SL - Zone Focusing + Street Photography - Part 2

The Leica SL - Zone Focusing + Street Photography - Part 2

The Leica SL - Low Light Dynamic Range - Part 1 Supplement

The Leica SL - Low Light Dynamic Range - Part 1 Supplement