Photographing Deer With The Sony RX10 IV

Wow the Sony RX10 IV is an absolute beast!

It's amazing to carry around on a walk for photographing wildlife.

I've only had it 1 day and used it once for a photowalk along the river and it performs as well as you'd expect the worlds best Bridge camera to. It goes from wide angle to super telephoto; 24mm to 600mm. 

As long as it's bright daylight the camera & images are fantastic. IS0 100 is clean and sharp. As the light levels begin to decrease and the ISO has to be increased to match, then the camera & image quality begins to degrade. It does alright for a 1" sensor but it will never match a full frame sensor 'in the dark'.

On board Steady Shot image stabilisation; I really can't decide if it works or doesn't on my camera? Sometimes at 600mm I feel like the image in the view finder is a bit shaky but then what can you expect? I'd imagine that the steady shot could be working and is probably doing a good job and maybe I'm not holding the camera still enough whilst I expect some kind of image stabilised magic?!

I do alright on my day job though!

I'll keep debating this one.

Is the Sony RX10 IV good for photographing wildlife? I'd say 100% yes!

I'm no wildlife photography expert; maybe I've photographed a few wild dance floors but photographing any animal apart from a dog is totally new to me. But I enjoyed this so much!

Trying to stalk and get as close to these Deer was a great experience. Nat and I kept saying "this is amazing".

Is focusing on the RX10 IV good? Apparently it's the same autofocus system as the Sony A9, which I own and so I'd say the autofocus system is superb!

Now it's time to see some images;

The next 2 images show just how much the RX10 IV can zoom in; it's incredible!

It was around 5.30pm and the sun was starting to go down and the storm clouds were coming in overhead, this was a test for RX10 IV in low light. IS0 2000 and above the images were much more noisy but with a little noise reduction in Lightroom they're still very usable.

We just beat the rain back to the car. The colour in the sky was epic!

Despite being a little bulky and a weight in my bag, I'm really looking forward to taking the RX10 IV out with me again and carrying on documenting what I see each time I go out for a walk.

I wonder what I'll see next time?

A grey day with the Ensinor 28mm and the dogs

Another walk with the dogs.

Another camera & lens combo to try out.

I'd used the Ensinor 28mm with the Pentax Q10 for the HDR images of the lighthouse and I didn't have high hopes about using it again but it was there on my desk and the dogs needed walking.

Winter dog walks in the mud, yuck!

Dodging the you know what that other people leave behind too. Well other peoples dogs! 

I think any lens can be sharp enough if you get the focus right.

28mm makes it easier too as you're never going to get wildly out of focus backgrounds.

The wider the lens the deeper the depth of field.

The longer the lens the shallower the depth of field; all that lovely creamy out of focus stuff!

Focus peaking and magnification on my Sony A9 makes it easy to focus too.

So what did I photograph? Not a lot!

A month with the Pentax Q10. The smallest interchangeable lens camera ever made.

Now I'm a self confessed camera geek!

I see a camera and I think "I want that!"

And more often not it's not even a good camera, I've got good cameras I don't need anymore (as of yet), so it usually ends up being some quirky thing that just looks like fun.

I'd seen the Pentax Q range before and thought it looked cool.

Early March, I was watching a Youtube video and see a Pentax Q on the shelf and that was it, the eBay search begun.

These cameras and lenses are not cheap!

Yeah they're not extortionate but after all they are over 10 years old and they're not great either.

So let's just say they hold their money well.

I didn't know what to expect when mine arrived in the post.

This little bad boy is tiny! I haven't got massive hands at all but the camera and  lens fits easily in the palm of my hand.

So what can you expect from such a small camera?

Autofocus; Yeah it's got autofocus but it's not going to set any records. In fact make sure you've got plenty of time.

Battery; the battery is tiny so therefore the battery life is awful!

Image quality; nothing special. I think I'm right in saying that a modern mobile like an iPhone has a similar sized or  even a larger sensor. So you could be better off just getting your phone out to take a photo.

The rear screen; oh god it's bad, good luck with seeing anything in the daylight. I did try turning the brightness up which did work a bit but that drains the battery even quicker.

But!

Did I mention that this camera is cool already?

It's a challenge. 

It's tiny!

With the Pentax Q10 body I purchased 2 lenses; SMC Pentax-Q 02 Standard Zoom 5-15mm F2.8-4.5 & Pentax Q 15-45mm f/2.8 06 Telephoto Zoom.

The 02 standard lens combined with the small sensor; image quality is terrible, I've only used it twice starting with a photo walk in the park.

Shooting the flowers; pointing the camera towards the sun with a crap autofocus and a rubbish rear screen was a little trial & error. And because these were some of the 1st photos taken with the camera I didn't know how the images were going to stand up with regards to highlight and shadow detail. So I erred on the side of caution and went for a darker look.

The next time I used the 02 standard lens was during some street photography in Wisbech.

I used to shoot a lot of street photography in Wisbech and it was great to be back again documenting local life; the good, the bad & the ugly.

It was like a trail of bread leading me to a photo opportunity.

I love a bit of lens flare and the 02 standard lens flares like mad.

As always it was a difficulty composing using the rear screen and getting the focus right.

The next challenge; the Pentax Q10 is no athlete. When you press the shutter button there's a delay whilst it thinks about it. So I admit that shooting people I'm using the continues shooting mode hoping that one of the images will capture the people before they disappear.

And usually I've pre focused because I haven't got time to wait for the camera to try and do that again!

All of the below images are taken with the 06 telephoto zoom.

The image quality is better than the 02 but don't go zooming in and pixel peeping because it's not that great.

Being more than a little rusty at street photography, I'm not so confident at getting up in peoples faces anymore. So using a zoom lens has been a nice easy way of getting back into it. 

Plus I'm usually pushing Florence in a stroller so I can stand a little further back with her and stay as inconspicuous as possible.

Street photography in Spalding; playing with light and documenting details.

So let's see where my journey with the Pentax Q10 leads.

Until next time.

Thanks for reading and keep shooting.

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On top of my little world in Sutton Bridge

Last week I was offered the chance of going to the top of the church in my village. An offer I couldn't refuse.

It's like urbexing with an invite.

The church itself; St Matthews was consecrated in 1843 and according to the internet it's the only flint stone church in Lincolnshire. Is it a that a wow thing?

I went armed with a couple of lenses; 24-70, 70-200 and a tripod (and obviously a camera). I used both lenses and just had a play.

It was windy at the top (excuse no.1) and I don't do landscapes (excuse no.2) but the shots that I got have come out quite well, in my opinion.

It wouldn't be right to not get shots of Sutton Bridge's namesake and it's other most famous landmark.

So it turns out that behind the cross is a door but what's behind the door? 

Back inside I captured a few more sights that only a few will ever see.

This thing is loud when it goes off!

I do hope that I can persuade the powers that be to get a shot up here of a wedding!!! 

And finally. 

As I said above and I'm sure I've said before in previous blogs; I'm no landscape photographer. 

It's both because I'm not really into landscapes and/or because of this I don't practice and try to get better at shooting them. But when faced with the almost 360 degree view I thought I would create a panorama of what 'makes' Sutton Bridge; One image containing both the bridge and the power station.

It took 9 shots in total. And 2 attempts because of the wind that resulted in a couple of shaky shots.

I used Lightroom 1st to merge the images but I couldn't get the horizon to be straight. The merging process via Lightroom resulted in an un-level horizon; the program created a hill to the left of the power station and there is no such thing as a hill in the fens.

So Photoshop was the answer but this caused a few headaches. 

It wouldn't merge all of the images seamlessly; probably the same problem that caused Lightroom to make a non existent hill. 

Photoshop just didn't understand!!!!

So I merged the 1st 6 images together, merged another 1 to those 6 afterwards and then finally added the final 2 images that resulted in a much better composite. But theres still a slight raised area which IM SURE is not there in reality.

Click on the image to expand.

Thank you Mark for the invite.

Fishers Shop, Sutton Bridge. How time has changed.

Towards the end of the summer of last year, thats right 2017 is now last year, I resisted a location that I 1st explored in 2014, heres the blog post; post;https://benchapmanphotos.blogspot.co.uk/2014/01/exploring-close-to-home-in-sutton-bridge.html

Lloyd fancied a quick explore and I wondered how the place had changed almost 4 years later.

When I 1st visited, i was aware that it was once a shop only by the layout, shelves and price tags still visible. After that 1st visit, i tried to find out more information. Online i found a website about Sutton Bridge;  http://www.bridgewatch.org.uk, i emailed the people behind the site and the reply told me that the shop was Once 'Fishers', a small general store. I was also told that once it was hoped it could be renovated as a 'listed' building but the hopes were dashed by a lack of funding.

So three and a half years later, the site had been slightly improved; a broken fence, waste and overgrown vegetation and trees had somewhat been cleared. Windows had been removed around the building, though i do not know why?
I presumed someone was working on the building but once in side i could see no evidence of this.

Deterioration and dereliction continue to slowly consume the building. Rain continues to soak through the levels, one day to leave only the walls standing. But standing for how long?

Some of the same objects are still left in place, others are now lost.

Look into the darkness and find light.

If the old shop still stands in 4 years time i'll take another look. For now i'll continue to walk the dogs past and monitor what changes other make.

The 'elephant in the room' that is the Bridge Hotel continues to burden the village. I had a quick look in there too but this is the only photo.