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?

Walking in Sutton Bridge with the Canon SD30 Digital IXUS i Digicam

I'm really loving walking at the moment; It's a bit of peace & quiet and time to clear my head. It's good for the soul, body & mind.

I said peace & quiet but to be fair I've always got my headphones on!

Let's just call it meditative (is that a word?)

Post surgery, I've got a lot on my mid and also a reason to enjoy the little and simple things in life.

Simple things just like being able to go out for a walk!

I've bought a few cameras recently; expensive ones and cheap charity shops one's too. And guess what, I've actually been using the cheap ones more than the expensive one. 

The subject of today's blog is the Canon Digital IXUS i, also known as as the Canon SD30. It's a (something like) 2005 5 Mega Pixel point & shoot digicam. Wow things were simple 20 years ago! But hey the digital revolution had to start somewhere and from there; improve with every generation. And just look at where camera technology is at now! 

These days cameras are like little boxes of magic in your hand. This little bad boy is still pretty magic to me though; it's so much fun seeing what I can do with it and its limitations.

The focus isn't too bad though and I'm a stickler for focus!

The 5 mega pixel photos are absolutely tiny! When I upload them to Lightroom on my 27" iMac (let's call it the Big Mac) the images cover the smallest part of the center of the screen; a bit like a 6x4 photo in the middle of my 27" screen. It's kinda funny!

I'm trying to get used to not being able to shoot in RAW and only relying on JPEG's. For a start I thought they were a little lacklustre, so I switched to the VIVID picture style to give the images a little punch.

Out on a wet & grey Saturday afternoon through Sutton Bridge it felt so good to get out of my sick bed and get some fresh air whilst seeing what the Canon SD30 could do.

I'd previously spotted a lone flower over the King's Lynn side of the bridge whilst driving passed; so that was the day's mission to photograph.

Not bad ay!

Along the way I recorded what caught my eye such as the "Relentless" rubbish and the reflections in the rain soaked road.

And then I gave myself the little project of documenting different angles of the bridge.

Whilst using minus exposure compensation in order to try a keep little detail in sky and to show off the grey & moody weather in each image.

And then I carried on walking down the old A17; I'm always drawn to the old Pill boxes along there. It's a shame about the rubbish that other people leave; they're full of beer cans and so too are the areas surrounding.

So for an old timer like the Canon Digital IXUS i SD30. It's an absolute pleasure to use. 

The screen isn't the best; you have to be at the right angle to see it and the battery life isn't great; 

I'm sure mine has a battery error because out of nowhere it shuts off but then turns back on again!? 

To be fair it's an old box of tricks, so a little glitch can be kind of expected.

But for £2 (what I paid) would I recommend it?

YES!

Oh and here's a little photo with the other camera I was playing with that day; the Olympus IS-500; more on that one in the future when I get the film developed.

Thanks for reading

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!

February's Roll of Agfa Vista

Month two.

February 2020.

Agfa Vista 200 aka Pountdland film.

It's May, we're well into lockdown, my house is full of screaming kids, barking dogs and a wife intent  on decorating every room in the house all in.......NOW!

When I used to develop my own film, it always took me a while to get round to doing it, now I get it shop developed but it still takes me ages to scan and digitise the negatives.
Month's after shooting February's roll I'm trying to find time to share the images with the world.

Armed with a roll of Agfa Vista, the trusty Poundland film, of which I've still got a few rolls left in the freezer and my £10 Canon EOS 600 SLR let February begin.

One Sunday afternoon we decided to all jump in the car and take the dogs for a walk around The Walks in Kings Lynn. A perfect way to tire out a toddler and a perfect excuse to record some memories on film for me.

The day was a golden and warm one for winter; great weather for a 2 year old to explore his surroundings.

Using my trusty 24-105L zoom lens made following Charlie around on his travels a breeze.

It's not a lens I use much, typically only for newspaper work but when it does good it does really good.

You can't take a child to a park without going to the park.

And sometimes I get things wrong.
Faced with this backlight, with the sun behind Laura I dialled in some over exposure to combat it but it seems it wasn't enough.

With either a light leak or seriously blown out highlights right at the top of the frame.

My next trip out was meeting up with Jasmine & Lee in Shouldham Warren.

When I'd got the 'proper' shot's of them celebrating valentines together I pulled out my film camera attached to my 24-70L lens and shot a few frames.

Shot wide open I missed focus on the last frame but the film aesthetics are still lovely!

Another month, more growing up, Florence tried food for the 1st time.
Why not document the moment.

And Charlie wanted to steal the limelight as always.

One miserable day outside, Charlie & I were stuck in doors watching Bing, probably, when I looked outside and it was snowing.

Quick!

Charlie grab your wellies.

We only went as far as the driveway but Charlie had a great time experiencing snow for the 1st time.

Whereas, I've never liked the cold white stuff, I was happy to go back in the warm.

So that was February's roll and February's fun.

A few mishaps but that's what it's all about. When you can't check a shot on the back of a camera you have to wait and see what you've got and it's sometimes it's what you've missed.

I've still got a handful of Agfa Vista left in the freezer and I'm looking forward to shooting it again.

I've now got to get my arse in gear and scan March.

See you next month.