Pulling a "Kirk Tuck"

I spent the weekend rediscovering how it is to have a life and doing the things I love to do. And it helped.

As I sat down on the couch I once again felt the joy and thrill of coming back home to look at the day's catch. It has been a while since I last did that.

Working 60-70 hours a week does take its toll. I know the rewards will be great in the end, but I have to make sure it doesn't take its toll on my mind and body. So today I decided to not go to the office (it's a Sunday after all) and instead take time out to revisit one of my favorite places, Østensjøvannet in the outskirts of Oslo.

And as I feared, even the birds feel autumn's chill and decided to fly away to warmer areas. It's much more quiet there now, with only some ducks and swans left. The cygnets are much bigger now and starting to turn white. And I know that they, too, will be flying away soon.

But it was still a good walk nonetheless. The sun was shining and outside the shade it actually feels quite warm. And it's nice to be once again doing walks with a camera in tow.

I am still suffering a slight lapse in creativity, and having few birds to take pictures of didn't help. But it was a good opportunity to test some camera functions, like panorama, the 12 fps burst mode, and since I have a macro lens now I decided to test that too, although the windy conditions made it rather difficult.

Ok, you are probably wondering. The Canon EOS 1D Mark IV only does 10fps and no panorama mode!

Well you guessed right. I pulled a "Kirk Tuck". To those of you who don't know Kirk, he is a photographer based in Texas and author of the brilliant blog "The Visual Science Lab". Several months ago Kirk posted that he did away with his expensive DSRL equipment in favor of newer technology. He has since been experimenting with Micro Four Thirds cameras and the Single Lens Translucent (SLT) cameras from Sony. He is pushing the envelope further now, and gone mirrorless.

So last week I invested in a second body and (reluctantly at first) bought an Alpha 77, the top of the line SLT manufactured by Sony. And, like Kirk, I fell in love with the camera after using it.

It still feels pretty much like a DSLR, but of course the slapping mirror has been replaced with a fixed semi-transperent one. This makes the camera so much more quiet, and blazingly fast. You will have to go pro in the DSLR world to get a camera this fast (only the Canon EOS 1D-X can shoot as fast and that costs 6 times more).

And since the mirror is fixed the OVF is also replaced with an EVF. I have to admit I was very skeptical at first. But after using it I am hooked! Compared to the minuscule viewfinders found on DSLRs with crop sensors, the viewfinder on the Sony A77 is HUGE, offering 100 % coverage and feels just as spacious as the viewfinders found on full frame DSLRs.  It's a joy to use, works great in most lighting situations, and makes it easier to compose shots.

And did I mention it's very economical? The cost of the Sony A77 kit with the 16-50 F2.8 lens is even less than half of the prosumer models from Canon and Nikon. And because of this I was already able to invest in two other lenses, making my setup almost complete.

I made extensive research to find out the best third-party lenses which give excellent photos without having to break the bank unlike the Carl Zeiss lenses from Sony. I decided on two lenses from Tamron. The first, and the more expensive one, is the tried and tested 90mm macro lens. It's brilliantly sharp but macro photography in itself is quite challenging. But it's been a long time since I had so much fun with a lens. Macro photography really open new opportunities for photographers!

I haven't had so many successful shots with the macro lens yet. It's nearly impossible to get good shots outside when it's windy. But I can already see the promise of this lens. I probably will need to pair this lens with a macro flash so I can keep the DOF and shutter speed high without underexposing the subject.

But sometimes even blurry shots can look good! It gave a rather "artsy" look to this flower (I don't know what it's called). Of course blurry pictures of insects will not work, so in this case I will have to utilize a flash so freeze the subject.

The second lens I bought is the 70-300mm F4.0-5.6 also from Tamron. This lens I was rather reluctant to buy, because of the price (which is dirt cheap!). I was positively surprised when I held it for the first time though. It felt very solid and well-made. It doesn't come close to the build quality of the Canon 70-300mm F4.0-5.6L lens from Canon. But the Tamron is only 1/5th the price of the Canon, loads lighter, and has a much better build quality than the similar, non-L lens from Canon.

And the IQ is also, in my opinion, excellent. Coupled with the whopping 24 megapixel sensor of the Sony A77 the Tamron also gives images with load of detail even with pictures shot at rather high ISOs.

The Tamron is a good lens for birding and I think it will also be good as a walkabout lens provided there is enough light. It's reasonable size, weight and discrete appearance will hopefully make it a good lens for walking around in the city for close-up shots.

And while I still have the Canon EOS 1D Mark IV now I might end up selling it. I prefer the versatility of the Sony A77. It's smaller, lighter, has loads more resolution and the IQ is definitely on par with the Canon. I will have to do more extensive picture taking before I can confirm this. And this is what I was exactly hoping for with my new purchase, to go out there, take lots of pictures, and get creative!