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This year I was able to photograph the Bristol Renaissance Faire in Wisconsin with my friend's Sony a7R V mirrorless camera. Paired with the Sony 28mm f/2 and 85mm f/1.8 lenses.  Renaissance fairs are a great option for people interested in photography. You can capture performance artists, intricate props, unique architecture, and many other subjects. I mostly go there to enjoy the time and atmosphere with friends, but it's great to get some photography in as well.  First Impressions: Build and Ergonomics The Sony A7R V stands out for its build quality compared to other Sony cameras like the a6000 and a7S that I currently have. It feels impressively solid and has that professional-grade heft without being overly bulky. Even though it's a high technology camera, it doesn't overwhelm you with its size like cameras with a built-in grip can do. One of my friends trying the camera out. The fully articulating back screen is an ideal design. This setup is the best I've se...

In this article I unbox and give first impressions of the Sony 16-70mm F4 OSS Lens from "Used Photo Pro" which is part of Robert's camera based in Indianapolis Indiana.  The lens that I bought from UsedPhotoPro for the video. Unboxing the Lens UsedPhotoPro packed it well with plenty of paper padding, and bubble wrap. The lens itself was wrapped in a plastic bag with a rubber band to hold it flush. No complaints!  The lens and some of the paper packaging below it. First Look at the Lens UPP's "Good" rating details as of the publishing of this article. They had the lens rated as "Good" (75 to 89 percent). The zoom ring feels pretty smooth, but the focus ring is a tiny bit loose. It could be how the lens is normally. Totally fine though I might as well mention it. The lens feels within their rating description.  Worn text "Steady Shot" on the bottom. Non-vital text on the lens is a little worn, which is probably one of the main reasons why t...

Let's take a look at the 7Artisans 85mm f/1.8 for Nikon Z-mount and compare it to the official Nikon 85mm f/1.8s lens. 7Artisans sent me this lens, but had to agree to my collaboration terms . They had no say in any content I produced and were not allowed to preview anything. In terms of sharpness, the 7Artisans delivers a good amount of detail in the center, though, you will notice some lens elements when strong light hits it, but nothing too distracting. Flare and sunstars are present at smaller apertures. (diffraction spikes) Indoor Lens Tests and Comparison I used pin-point autofocus to get the most accurate focus possible. Perfect focus between the two lenses plays a huge role in getting a good test result. I'd say there is enough variance that it's tough to judge exact details. Even simply swapping the lens can make for a difference in the result. My quick release system has some play to it.  Accuracy on the Nikon Z5 in AF-S seems comparative. I'd even consider g...

Viltrox asked me if I wanted to take a look at this unique compact autofocus full-frame prime lens with a focal length of 28mm and a fixed f/4.5 aperture for Sony E-mount cameras. Viltrox agreed to my standard collaboration terms before sending me the lens.    The front of the lens. Check out my newer article where i take the lens on a photowalk with the Sony ZV-E10 camera. Many of the images here have a full view and 100% crop so that details can be seen where I think the focal point was.    A close up crop of the center of the image. You will likely notice vignetting and soft corners as well as lowering of contrast depending on how light hits the lens. Since the aperture is fixed, you can’t improve those properties. Though, a fun experiment in the future might be using something like gaffer tape to create smaller apertures. That might not work considering how the lens focuses, but could be fun to try out.   A photo focused further out where you can see a crop of the left side. Focus...

I've use a Sony Alpha A6000 and the PZ 16–50mm F/3.5–5.6 OSS kit lens with my computer as a webcam for a long time now. It's a lower cost option that has been very consistent outputting 1080p at 30 FPS to a USB based HDMI capture device. The kit lens is generally fine, but it has a few quirks. The biggest issue is that throughout the zoom range the maximum aperture value is not fixed. This introduces technical challenges when I want to show detailed views of product or similar use cases. There are also other considerations I'll talk about later in this article. So I decided to buy the Sigma 18-50mm F2.8 DC DN | C lens in E-mount as a replacement.  Links in this article are a mix of paid and through my affiliates. I earn from each in different ways. One is a flat fee and the others I earn from qualifying purchases. Considering them for your purchasing needs helps make the creation of this information viable!   Unboxing and First Look I purchased this lens used from KEH rate...