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Photography: Playing Around

I’ve borrowed a few cameras that I’m playing with on vacation. I’m experimenting with lenses and systems much different than my own. My biggest take away—I can use any camera. I think that was good for me to learn. While the colors of the Sony Alpha 7 IV where beautiful, I was really blown away by the feel of the Leica Q2. Dude, that camera feels GOOD in your hand.

I’ve mixed up the images in this post, some taken with the two borrowed cameras, and some with my Olympus. Honestly, editing them all, it wasn’t as big a difference as I’d thought. It really seems it’s the lens that matters more than anything. I ordered a new/used one that’s 50mm with a much lower f1.8. I’ll be testing it out next week at the State Fair and report back.

For those not following my slight nerd rant, can I interest you in deer triplets?? (see below) They were seriously so cute!

Let me know if you have a favorite shot and have a fantastic day!

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

#7 (I love this camera)

#8

#9

#10

#11 (testing out focus points)

#12

#13 (as promised)

#14

#15

#16

#17

#18

#19

#20

*There were shot on a variety of cameras and lenses, but all edited on Lightroom Classic.

31 thoughts on “Photography: Playing Around”

    • Yeah, I’ll never afford one, but you’d love it! It feels so nice in your hand, has wonderful speed and just overall is clearly expensive (haha!) I’m going to see if I can borrow it another day and try out some family photography with it.

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      • I see, thanks. I was just looking their website at the models thanks to your post. The one I liked had a fixed 24-70mm lens.

        I need to change lenses but I’m sure their other models have interchangeable lenses.

        I’ve been using a Nikon for so many years that a different brand would not feel right!

        I have four lenses for my Nikon Z series body, buying into a new brand would be suuuuper expensive……

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      • I’ve never tried a Nikon, but I hear there are fantastic, especially at handling low light situations. What I think you might like about the Leica is it’s really compact and feels a bit like a film camera. Not sure it’s worth the hefty price though!

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  6. 1-5, 8. Curious if you got what you wanted on 11. And how the heck did you get so close to the fawns? Personal bias: I wish the photos were more saturated, you know, like real life. 🙄 Says the old man

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    • Thank you! I took about a dozen photos of those apples with all three cameras, seeing how tight of a focus point each had and playing with the bokeh. It wasn’t to get a specific shot, but more to see what the differences are. I’ve been coveting new gear and having those to play with made me realize that my camera is actually pretty decent 🙂 I do love the feel of the Leica, and the Sony is fun, but I think I might be slightly attached to my Olympus now (😳)

      I was journaling on the porch (it’s on the second floor and over looks the ocean) when I heard rustling. I saw one fawn emerge and grabbed my camera. You can imagine how stoked I was to see three!

      I know you like the brighter colors, but I’m drawn to more muted tones. Not sure why. I purposely lowered the saturation on those deer shots and thought I could have gone even further. Might be a vision thing for me as my eyes are really sensitive to light. Maybe…

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    • Thanks. Yeah, it feels amazing in your hand and I like the click (I know, silly). I think it’s because it feels more like an old film camera. But when I downloaded the images and compared them to my Olympus, not the huge leap in quality I thought I’d get. I still have so much to learn. I just ordered a “nifty fifty” for my camera and I honestly think it will be so fun to play with! I’ve seen improvement in my images, a lot of which has to do with editing and framing.

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      • There are many things to love about a 50mm lens. It is usually fast, and its angle of view comes remarkably close to the way we naturally see the world. Better still, you have to work quite hard to take a bad photograph with it.

        That said, the lens I adore is an 85 mm Nikkor.

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      • An 85mm is my next buy, but I want a beautiful art one with a giant glass, and that means big old money. I’ve heard you get the best portraits with the 85mm because of the compression. Is that what you primarily use it for?

        I’m thinking, being a former journalist, I’m drawn to more storytelling type images and the 50mm is going to make that much easier. Some of my favorite images I take are on my phone, because it’s quick and discreet. Hoping to recreate that with the 50mm.

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      • It’s hard to describe the magic of an 85mm lens. (I can vouch only for Nikon’s versions of which I have both the F- and Z-mount editions). More than the flattering perspective, it is the dreamy rendering, beautifully shaped bokeh, gentle tonal transitions and effortless subject isolation that have made the 85mm a legend. Not for nothing is it called the “cream machine.”

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  10. One last word on the Leica.
    I’ve had two friends with different Leica models that had problems with them. Leicas customer service was awful. Both were stunned that with such expensive cameras the service was so crummy.

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