Testing out new lens. Love the size, weight and close focus ability. Very sharp as well. Handles wonderfully on the A7c. Also one with my Samyang 8mm fisheye (APS-C)
Edit. Hmmm, not sure why the exif data isn't showing up, but taken with the Tamron 20-40.
Ahhh. When I updated LR it changed my export settings. EXIF should be there now.
ILCE-7CE 20-40mm F2.8 A062 lens40mmf/2.81/20s160 ISO-0.7 EV
ILCE-7CE 20-40mm F2.8 A062 lens20mmf/4.51/15s1600 ISO-1.3 EV
ILCE-7CE 20-40mm F2.8 A062 lens40mmf/3.51/20s2000 ISO-1.3 EV
ILCE-7CE 20-40mm F2.8 A062 lens39mmf/4.51/20s640 ISO-1.3 EV
ILCE-7CE 20-40mm F2.8 A062 lens40mmf/2.81/20s250 ISO-0.7 EV
Our forume is sort of unique due to wide spectrum of people with variety of backgrounds and their 道 (life pass). To meet the real person who speaks Zhongshan dialect... on this forum only)))
Zeiss 35mm 2.8, SOOC image
One of the best rendering lenses in Sony ecosystem.
The Masonic Lodge (Freemasons) had Open house on Friday. It's me in the last shot. Two male members of the Lodge asked if they could take a photo of me at the stairs. Once that was done they suggested to take one for me too, so I let them borrow my camera.
Thank you very much, Paire, Chez, Jim, Joshua and Helena! It really means a lot.
I don't usually join photography workshops but this time I joined a 4 nights/5 days workshop for Zhangjiajie National Park in Hunan Province. We really just had 3 full days. I got to say while the rock formations are otherworldly, after a while they kind looked the same even though the Chinese give them different poetic names. There were only two other guys in the group besides the guide.
I joined the workshop mainly for the following benefits:
1. The park opens at 7:30 AM and the last shuttle buses leave the bus stops inside the park at 6:30 PM, so there was not golden hours to speak of during the official hours. The guide has connection to the park so he had a private van to drop us off/pick us up at certain locations for sunrise/sunset before or after the the park's official hours. He knows the locations for sunrise/sunset this time of the year and he also took us to some spots that were not typically visited by tourists.
2. The park is divided into several "zones", each zone has different viewing platforms to see the rock formations in the zone. Within the zone you can walk from one viewing platform to another on very well-paved paths/trails, if you don't mind the crowds. But to get to one zone from another you need to take the shuttle buses or even buy extra tickets for certain buses/cable car rides. The bus system is confusing to me even though I speak/read Chinese. Maybe I was just too lazy to explore. having a photography minded guide certainly saved a lot of hassles.
3. Last but not the least, there are quite a few hostels in the village where we stayed near the north entrance, some hostels are allowed to have foreigners (like me), some are not. The guide knows which one would work best for the group. I later learned that the computer systems in lodgings where foreigners are allowed to stay are connected to the police' system, so as soon as I checked in, the police knew an American (or any other foreigners for that matter) was staying there. But politics for another day.
The guide (a photographer himself) told us the beautiful fog/clouds seen flouting below the mountain peaks in many of the publications are usually formed after it rains in the mountains. There was no rain during our stay. Here are a few more shots from Zhngjiajie. I could tell the rice paddies in the first picture were created to be there to "make the view", there is no economic reason to have these rice paddies in those mountains.
ILCE-7RM5FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens49mmf/11.01/15s100 ISO0.0 EV
Sunset
ILCE-7RM5FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens24mmf/13.01/30s100 ISO-1.5 EV
ILCE-7RM5FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens50mmf/10.01/30s100 ISO0.0 EV
Sony 50/2.8 Macro. Many users of the Sony system do not even know about its existence, although it entered the market many years ago. It is small, light and inconspicuous. The built quality is slightly inferior to the G series lenses, but despite this it makes an overall good impression.Sharp on the entire 61 Mpx FF frame at f2.8 and very sharp from f5.6. Both close-up and at infinity. It has good microcontrast, which could have been higher if better anti-reflective coatings were added.Color rendition is typical of Sony - vivid and well saturated. The maximum reproduction ratio is a true 1:1 macro.Slow and noisy autofocus motor is not that much deterring.As well as 7 bladed aperture,giving sometimes heptagonal figures in the bokeh if the lens is not wide open.
For the equivalent of USD 300 new, it was a sin not to take it, so I gave in to the temptation.The lens gave me more joy than some G and GM series lenses that I have.Nice,flexible nifty-fifty.
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/5.61/30s250 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/320s100 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/8.01/30s400 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/60s250 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/50s100 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/500s100 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/640s100 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/250s100 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/400s100 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/60s125 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/60s125 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM4ASony FE 50mm F2.8 Macro (SEL50M28) lens50mmf/2.81/250s100 ISO0.0 EV
mjk115 wrote:
Wow Douglas, that 2nd one in particular is stunning. Are you and FM member Jako on the same tour?
No, unfortunately I wasn't that lucky. I visited Zhangjiajie (mountain, city and caves) within a single day in spring of 2016, and I recall we almost didn't make it to the mountain as it was raining in the morning. Douglas' great work prompted me look at some of the dozens of images I took there and process few.
BTW, the mountain paths and viewpoints were totally packed! Absolutely no chance for tripod shots; lucky if you could stand still for a moment without being bumped or elbowed.
Grenache wrote:
Douglas and Jako, that site is definitely a bucket list item for me. Otherworldly.
Jim
Thank you Jim! I like to visit the park again in winter when it's covered with light snow but it's very difficult to plan a trip like that unless one lives in that region and can go in a last minute notice.
JaKo wrote:
No, unfortunately I wasn't that lucky. I visited Zhangjiajie (mountain, city and caves) within a single day in spring of 2016, and I recall we almost didn't make it to the mountain as it was raining in the morning. Douglas' great work prompted me look at some of the dozens of images I took there and process few.
BTW, the mountain paths and viewpoints were totally packed! Absolutely no chance for tripod shots; lucky if you could stand still for a moment without being bumped or elbowed.
Jako, you were very productive with the short time you had there. For me, I think 2 full days should be enough. Our workshop guide said 90% of the best shots were taken in the northern zone, I think he is right. We were able to set up tripods at sunrise/sunset because there weren't other tourists there at those hours. There were a fair number of Chinese tour groups during the day, but nowhere near the sea of people in summer or holidays that you saw. I handheld my cameras most of the time, except the sunrise/sunset shots.
A few more from Zhangjiajie.
ILCE-7RM5FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens41mmf/13.01/20s100 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-1FE 70-200mm F4 Macro G OSS II lens154mmf/9.01/40s100 ISO0.0 EV
ILCE-7RM5FE 24-70mm F2.8 GM II lens38mmf/13.01/6s100 ISO0.0 EV
This big nasty bear with an attitude gave me my most nervous moment in photography to date.
He walked around looking for trouble. All the other bears in the area would scatter when he would show up. As he appeared I was hoping he would turn a different direction as he started getting closer. Needless to say he tested the nearest focus distance of the 600mm GM. I'd say the last shot was about 15' away.
He gave me that cold stare in the second to last shot as we walked by displaying his new and old battle wounds.
Two male members of the Lodge asked if they could take a photo of me at the stairs. Once that was done they suggested to take one for me too, so I let them borrow my camera.
even though the Chinese give them different poetic names. There were only two other guys in the group besides the guide. 
