While being in Netherlands, I also was in Arnhem again, but just for one evening. And since I got a new Canon 8-15mm f4 fisheye lens recently, I thought I give it a try there. It’s hard to get a full reflection of the John Frost bridge with a normal lens (16mm is not wide enough from this spot), but the fisheye had no problem getting it all in at one time :)

The bridge has all these crazy colors at night. The lights actually change quite often, but the green ones are quite dominant, so they are seen the most in a long exposure. Btw. the strong colors are not due to HDR, but due to the strength of the lights :). I also corrected the distortion only partially here, as I liked the look of it.

Technique: Oloneo Photoengine, Number of exposures: 4, Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D mark II, Lens: Canon 8-45mm F4, Focal length: 13mm, Aperture: 9, Middle exposure time: 25s, ISO: 200, Tripod used: yes, Location: 51.974265,5.911757

So today I did a little shopping, and got myself a new camera. And since it’s better than the Canon 5D mark II I had before, this is now my main camera, the Sony a7R.

You may be curious how I was choosing my new camera, so I will elaborate a little here. There are not many things I need from a camera. Actually it’s only two. Hight megapixel count and high dynamic range. Other than that, I don’t need much. I don’t use autofocus. I don’t use high iso. I usually don’t take videos. So the two are my main points I’m looking at.

Secondly, I needed something where I would still can use the old 5D mark II as a backup camera, so it had to be using Canon lenses. So no chance for a Nikon camera here (even if the Nikon D810 looks very nice :))

So in the end my choices were a Canon 5D mark III, Canon 5Ds r and a Sony a7R. The 5D mark III was removed from the selection immediately, as it gives me almost nothing new compared to the 5D mark II. So I ended with two cameras to choose from. And here is where price came into account. The 5Ds r gives me 14 megapixels more with a worse dynamic range than the a7R for double the price. And for me, that just not enough for so much money. So I ended with the only possible option, the a7R.

You may also ask why I didn’t waited for the a7R II. The reason is that I needed a backup camera. Recently I used a Canon 7D as a backup, but that’s not so great, as all my lenses are for full frame, and if I had to use it, the results would be worse. So now the 5D mark II will stay as a backup, which is a much better situation :) The A7R II may not be that far away, but until its widely available, it still will be months.

I of course also got a lens adaptor for the new camera, the Metabones Canon EF to Sony E ver IV. Will have to do some testing to see how all works together, but I hope all should be fine, and I get some great shots from this camera :)

Btw. doesn’t it look funny with a big lens on it? And this is just the 16-35, which is still a small lens :)

The lack of sleep through the last week has really funny effects on me. Today I’m in a half sleep state the whole day. It even happened to me today, that I walked into a bank, and only after the clerk told me that I don’t have an account there, I realized I’m not in the correct bank. I did feel really stupid :).

But slowly I have to start working on the photos from Amsterdam, so here you have a new one, taken late night the fist day I was there. I really liked the reflection, but it’s hard to get it during the day. There are just too many ships passing through this spot, to get a calm enough water. It’s much better in the morning, or late at night.

This is a HDR from 4 exposures, created in Oloneo Photoengine.

Technique: Oloneo Photoengine, Number of exposures: 4, Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D mark II, Lens: Canon 16-35mm F2.8, Focal length: 16mm, Aperture: 6.3, Middle exposure time: 32s, ISO: 200, Tripod used: yes, Location: 52.375678,4.900168

I just got home around a hour ago, but of course the first thing I did was to copy some of the photos onto my pc, so I could edit one for the blog :) And here it is.

This is an early morning shot of the I Amsterdam sign, as this was the only time one could have it without any people. This is a HDR from 4 exposure, created in Oloneo Photoengine.

Technique: Oloneo Photoengine, Number of exposures: 4, Camera Model: Canon EOS 5D mark II, Lens: Canon 70-200mm F2.8 IS II, Focal length: 130mm, Aperture: 3.5, Middle exposure time: 1.6s, ISO: 200, Tripod used: yes, Location: 52.358406,4.883084

Already returning tomorrow from Amsterdam, and as I know myself, probably the first thing I do will be to copy the photos on my PC and start editing right away :) So if I have enough energy, and some nice stuff to edit, tomorrow you should see a first shot from Amsterdam here :)

But for today, a sunset shot from Prague.