Tag: mirrorless

Photography Gear For Your First Event/Wedding Shoot – Part I

Are you curious about what photography gear to bring for your first paid event or wedding shoot? And the worst, you are the sole photographer for the whole photoshoot. You might hear that the essence of shooting solely is backup. You must ensure you can carry out the photoshoot even if any part of your equipment breaks.

Yea, they rarely break, but the accident does happen in the least expected way. Is it necessary to bring your entire collection of photography gear along? In short, no. I compile the following list to show you what gear I use and why I use them during an event/wedding shoot.

I am a Sony shooter; hence I will always refer to the gear available to Sony cameras. However, the rationale behind this also applies to other brands (I also indicate a general spec/model for other brands). I split this topic into 3 posts to avoid a “mega post”, and I will talk about camera-related items in this post.

1. Cameras

What do I use?

Sony A7 III and A7 IV.

Tips #1
Use the same brand’s cameras in order to share the batteries, lenses, and similar control interface.

Why?

There are a few important factors to consider when choosing a camera for an event and wedding shoot.

A responsive and reliable continuous Auto-Focus system is the highest priority
Dual memory card slots (always have the photo written into two memory cards simultaneously)
Good battery life that can sustain 600 – 700 shots per charge
Good high ISO performance (usable at least ISO 3200. Indoor event/wedding shoots can quickly go up to ISO 12800 or higher to maintain a minimum required shutter speed)
Good range of lens selection from OEM and third-parties.

I believe most modern full-frame mirrorless cameras from any brand can easily fulfill the criteria above. However, it was not the case before the Sony A7 III was introduced in 2018. The earlier generation full-frame mirrorless cameras undoubtedly failed all the above requirements (with a day and night difference).

Tips #2
The same brand’s cameras in the same-generation/one-generation-different usually offer similar image quality and control interface. Therefore, the primary and backup camera is not necessary to be the same model.

Sony A7 III and A7 IV offer indistinguishable image quality despite having 24MP and 33 MP sensors, respectively. I bought the A7 IV for its improved AF performance and upgraded video functions for other projects.

Full-Frame Or APS-C?

In short, full-frame. Full-frame cameras still have an edge over APS-C cameras in the high ISO performance. In order to prevent motion blur, you have to set the shutter speed to at least 1/160s. You will be surprised that many indoor shots will easily hit the ISO 10000 mark with that shutter speed at the F2.8 aperture.

Tips #3
Full-frame Sensor ISO = Crop Sensor ISO * Crop Factor * Crop Factor

Generally, APS-C cameras produce comfortable/acceptable noise at ISO 3200/6400. In contrast, full-frame cameras can comfortably handle noise at ISO 6400/12800. Still, please don’t forget to factor in the crop factor. ISO 3200 on an APS-C camera with a 1.5x crop factor will produce noise level equivalent to ISO 7200 on a full-frame camera (things get more complicated when factoring in the sensor resolution difference, but let’s keep it simple here).

Are Super High Megapixel Cameras Suitable For Event And Wedding Shoots?

I will say no. There are some considerations if you intend to use high-megapixel cameras (e.g., 61MP Sony A7R IV/V) for event and wedding shoots:

The high ISO performance is not as good as the lower megapixel cameras.
It is easier to get blurry photos as higher megapixel sensors amplify everything, like handshakes, movement, and shutter vibrations.
When shooting uncompressed RAW, A 61MP RAW is double the size of a 33MP RAW (135MB vs 70MB) or nearly triple the size of a 24MP RAW (135MB vs 50MB). You need a more powerful workstation for culling, editing, and exporting. A less-than-ideal workstation could significantly prolong the post-processing when handling a few thousand shots for a single session.
If you shoot in burst mode, you need an SD card with a faster write speed (e.g., UHS-II 312 MB/s vs UHS-I 104 MB/s) to prevent the camera from filling up its buffer (the camera will lock you from taking new photos when the buffer is full). Such high-speed UHS-II SD cards cost 4 – 5 times more than the fastest-speed USH-I SD card.
You need more SD cards for shooting and storage space for archival.
The super high megapixel camera is more demanding in lens resolving power. Otherwise, the photo could be soft.

2. Memory Cards

What Do I Use?

Sandisk Extreme Pro and Sony UHS-I SD cards with 64GB or 128GB storage space.

Why?

I use a 128 GB SD card in the camera’s slot 1 as the master memory card for the entire event. I put a 64GB SD card in the camera’s slot 2 as the backup and changed it at each logical event break, e.g., bride’s house, solemnization, banquets, etc.

Tips #4
Smaller storage space SD card could have slower read/write speed. Watch out for the specification when getting SD cards of different speeds.

This setup allows me to:

Use a single master SD card to import all photos
Have a few copies of different parts of the event in case the camera is lost

Tips #5
Please do not delete the photos from the SD cards until your clients receive their shots happily.

In case you wonder, a 128GB SD card is sufficient for a 8-hour full-day event/wedding shoot with Sony A7 IV’s 33MP lossless RAW + medium size X.FINE Jpeg (it can hold approximately 2200 shots).

Tips #6
UHS-II SD cards have a few different read/write speeds. Some are even slower than a UHS-I SD card.

UHS-I SD cards have fast enough writing speed for shooting “MID” bursts in uncompressed/lossless compressed RAW. Interestingly, SanDisk dramatically increases their UHS-I SD card read speed from 95 MB/s to 200 MB/s (it means the speed of transferring a photo to a computer is 2 times faster). As a rule of thumb, always purchase the memory card from a reputable retailer/brand.

3. Batteries

How Many Battery Is Required?

It depends on your camera model and your shooting style. For example, the original Sony NP-FZ100 battery lasts approximately 700+ shots on Sony A7 III and 600+ shots on Sony A7 IV. You usually get more shots when taking burst shoots. However, burst shoot intensity does impact the battery life differently. For example, using the “HI” or “HI+” settings in burst shoot will significantly drain more battery life than the “MID” setting.

I made the following table for a clearer view of the battery usage according to my camera setup.

Event Duration/Type	Sony A7 IV (Mounted with telephoto lens)	Sony A7 III (Mounted with wide-angle lens)
1 – 3 Hours Seminar/ Workshop/ Townhall	1 Battery	1 Battery
6 – 10 Hours Wedding Actual Day	2 Batteries	1 – 2 Batteries, depends on the scenes
10 – 14 Hours Wedding Actual Day	3 Batteries	2 Batteries

Battery Usage Reference

I use a dual-camera setup, with the Lossless Compressed RAW + X.Fine medium-size JPEG written into two SD cards simultaneously and “MID” in burst shoot. I usually bring 6 Sony NP-FZ100 batteries for my two-camera setup on a full-day wedding shoot (around 10 – 12 hours). It is always good to carry extra one or two batteries in case any battery gets faulty.

4. Camera Vertical Grip

What Do I Use?

I use a Sony VG-C4EM vertical battery grip on my A7 IV. A few third-party manufacturers make brilliant vertical grips. Unfortunately, only a few reviews were available for Sony A7 IV’s third-party vertical grips when I looked for one in 2022.

Why?

The vertical grip holds two batteries simultaneously to double the battery life. However, I choose it for another reason – the ergonomics.

I tend to shoot vertically more often when using telephoto lenses. I usually pair an 85mm fast prime or the Tamron VXD 70-180mm F2.8 on my Sony A7 IV. The higher megapixels sensor allows me to have more room for cropping to get a closer look. A vertical grip helps a lot to relieve hand fatigue from the over-arching posture. It can reduce the front-heavy issue if you use a heavy lens on a mirrorless camera body.

Closing Thoughts

It doesn’t matter if you choose Sony, Nikon, or Canon. Modern full-frame mirrorless cameras introduced after 2018 are sufficient for most events and wedding photoshoots. When allocating the budget, you must cater for the primary camera, a secondary (or backup) camera, 2 ~ 3 lenses, 3 ~ 6 camera batteries, 1 ~ 2 chargers, 6 ~ 10 memory cards (recommend at least UHS-I 64GB), some accessories, and a PC/laptop that can smoothly process thousands of RAW photos at one go (if you don’t have one currently).

Choose the one you prefer and fits your budget, then familiarize yourself with the camera. The customized shortcut buttons, continuous AF performance (some brands call AI/Servo/AF-C), and ISO limit (modern full-frame cameras are great at ISO6400/12800). It helps ease your tension during the actual photoshoot as you know your camera is “in-controlled”.

This post wraps up the camera-related topics for the event/wedding photoshoot. Below are the links for parts II and III.

Part I – The Cameras (This post)
Part II – The Lenses (Read here)
Part III – The Accessories (Read here)

Is This Post Helpful To You?

I started this site with the intention of sharing my learning and working experience in photography. It takes significant time and cost to pick up and learn a new gear/technique, and then draft a post to share with everyone. The effort is worthwhile if it helps you and others save unnecessary time and money. I would be glad if you benefit from my content, and you may leave a one-off tip to keep this site running.

Leave a tips ☕

Besides, you may support this site by making your purchase through the affiliated links below. The product price is the same when you use the affiliate link, but a qualified purchase earns me a small commission. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Mirrorless Cameras – Amazon Cameras
Mirrorless Lenses – Amazon Lenses
SD Cards – Amazon SD Cards
Coiro Dual-Camera Harness – Coiro Official Site
Imagely WordPress Theme – Protography Theme
NextGen Gallery Pro – WordPress Gallery Plugin

Any Link To The Mentioned Products?

As a regular online buyer of photography equipment, I understand the anxiety about getting a fake or faulty product. However, buying from online stores is more convenient and has a more attractive offer sometimes. Therefore, I only recommend two types of product links I generally use for my online purchase:

Official product page, for you to find out more details about the product, and buy from them directly (if applicable)
Amazon page. I recommend to buy the product with the option “Ship from” and “Sold By” Amazon “xx”, where “xx” is a country code like US, SG, JAPAN, etc.

Some product pages are affiliate links. The product price is the same when you use the affiliate link, but a qualified purchase earns me a small commission to support the cost of running this site so I can provide more photography content for free regularly.

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Mentioned Product Links

Some of the mentioned products in this post are available in the following table (the official site and Amazon page).

Products	Official Site	Amazon
Sony A7 III	Sony A7 III	Amazon – Sony A7 III
Sony A7 IV	Sony A7 IV	Amazon – Sony A7 IV
Sony VG-C4EM vertical battery grip	Sony VG-C4EM	Amazon – VG-C4EM
Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards	Sandisk Extrem Pro	Amazon – Sandisk Extreme Pro

Mentioned Product Links

29 Jun 2023

Review: Sony SEL1670Z APS-C Lens
Introduction
The Sony SEL1670Z has been introduced to the market for some time. It is one of the few Sony native APS-C standard zoom lenses.
The little Zeiss blue badge indicates that this lens is designed to give a high-quality optical performance with the Zeiss T* coating, one Advanced Aspherical element, and one Extra-low Dispersion element.
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20 Apr 2016
Review – Sony A7R II
Introduction
Sony A7 II was hot stuff when it was announced and launched. So how about the new Sony A7R II? Is it a Sony A7 II with more megapixels count or an original Sony A7R with 5-axis in-camera body image stabilizer only? No. Sony A7R II has packed more than enough features to distinguish itself from the Sony A7 II and the original Sony A7R. Let’s have a quick look at what exciting features it has come along with.
The Sony A7R II uses the world’s first 35mm back-illuminated CMOS sensor. The megapixels count is boosted to 42.4 MP from its predecessor 36 MP. Besides, it has better low light performance than the Sony A7R, thanks to the new back-illuminated sensor.
New BSI Sensor Illustration
The new sensor can output the captured data 3.5 times faster than Sony A7R sensor. With the combination of the 399 AF points and Fast Hybrid AF system, Sony A7R II’s AF speed is 40% faster than its predecessor. The new Zeiss T* coating EVF on Sony A7R II features the world’s highest viewfinder magnification at 0.78x.
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9 Dec 2015
Review: Sony SEL18200LE
Introduction
Sony had introduced three full-range zoom lenses into its E-mount camera system. They are the SEL18200, SEL18200LE, and the SELP18200. The SEL18200 is the largest and heaviest among the other two brothers, and it comes with a silver chrome body. The SEL18200LE is the lighter edition of the SEL18200, which is smaller and lighter and comes in a black body. Both of them use a mechanical zoom ring, while the SELP18200 uses the power zoom, which comes in a black body.
SEL18200LE
The lens that we are going to review today is the SEL18200LE. Due to the full focal length coverage by the SEL18200LE, this review is extremely long. Please be patient and ready to go through the rest of this post to see how does this lens perform 😉 I provided a summary at the top of each testing section if you want to get the result at a glance.
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22 Aug 2014
Photography Tips: 5 Reasons to Own a Mirrorless Camera
Mirrorless cameras have become more and more popular in the current market. Many camera manufacturers like Sony, Fuji, Olympus, Leica, and others had put in effort into research and developed some excellent Mirrorless cameras. So let’s see how a Mirrorless camera fits you the best.
1. Large Image Sensor in Smaller Camera Size
In general, a Mirrorless camera is equipped with a Micro 4/3, APS-C, or Full-Frame image sensor. These sensors are much larger than the typical image sensor (1/2.3″) provided in the P&S. You may read my 5 Factors Affected By Image Sensor Size to get more details regarding the image sensor size.
Mirrorless vs DSLR (Image retrieved from Sony Official Website: http://www.sony.com.sg/product/nex-6l)
Although the DSLR camera is also equipped with either APS-C or Full-Frame image sensor, the Mirrorless camera is much smaller in the camera body design. The Mirrorless camera does not have a mirror reflection board that reflects the light to the optical viewfinder. Therefore, the Mirrorless camera body can be much thinner than the DSLR camera body, resulting in a lighter camera.
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7 Jun 2014
Photography Tips: 5 Reasons To Own a P&S
When the smartphone camera becomes more powerful, and the mirrorless and DSLR becomes cheaper, why do you still bother to get a Point-And-Shoot (P&S) camera? Well, let’s go through this post today together.
1. Convenience and Easy to Use
Point and Shoot (P&S) Camera
P&S is lightweight, small, and compact. It is easy to fit into your pocket and carry around. It only provides an auto mode to you, no fine focus-adjustment, no aperture adjustment, what you need to do is really “point” the camera to your subject and “shoot” it, then it will give you the best result as it could.
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7 Jun 2014
Photography Tips: 5 Factors Affected By Image Sensor Size
Do you ever hear about “full-frame”, “APS-C”, “Micro 4/3”, “1-inch”, “1/2.3 inch” when you are choosing the camera? Does the salesperson tell you, “This DSLR provides better image quality than the P&S because it has a larger image sensor”? Or “This camera has a crop factor of 2, so blah blah blah…”? What does the image sensor size mean?
Before we discuss the topic today, let’s have some idea about the different sizes of those image sensors.
Image Sensor Size Comparison
The comparison chart is scaled with the actual size of an image sensor. It shows the name/size of each image sensor followed by the crop factor in the bracket. To give a clearer comparison chart, I omit some “not-so-standard” sensor sizes (e.g., Canon has a slightly different APS-C format with a crop factor of 1.6).
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5 Jun 2014
Photography Tips: 5 Consideration Before Buying a Camera
Photography starts by getting yourself a camera and taking the shots. Regardless you are using a phone camera, point-and-shoot, mirrorless, or DSLR, a camera that is always with you is the best camera. Nowadays, the camera has become more and more common and cheaper in the market. If you are new to the camera market, buying a camera is always a headache problem.
Leica, Canon, Nikon, Sony, Fuji, and many other brands are now in the market. Each of them has its good and bad. That’s the reason that people always confuse – which camera brand is better? Which camera performs better? So, will you get the answer from this post? No, I’m not going to tell you which camera is the best or which brand is the most preferable, but I will give you some guides to assist you in listing out your criteria yourself.
1. Budget
Photography isn’t cheap entertainment. It isn’t something like, oh, it is just buying a camera, and that’s it. No, when you are serious in photography, you may want more than just a camera.
You will think you need an extra battery, a faster memory card, and maybe a tripod? If you bought a point and shoot initially, you may start looking for an APS-C or even a full-frame camera when you become a more advanced photographer. Once you get a better camera, you will look further for a better lens, and it will be the beginning to cost you an arm and a leg (or even more than that).
So never spend your entire budget on a camera. Keeping some spare money is always a wise action. Check the prices of the extra battery, external charger, memory card, tripod, camera bag, and so on, then deduct those costs from your budget. The leftover will be your “actual budget” for your camera.
2. Purpose
What is your purpose in buying a new camera? First camera? Replacement? Backup?
Travel Light
If you want a camera to shoot during your traveling or journey, a lightweight camera like point-and-shoot or mirrorless may be your choice. Because you have to enjoy your travel, a light camera allows you to carry a whole day without much effort or tiredness.
Enthusiast
If you are an enthusiast, choose a micro four-third or APS-C camera with interchangeable-lens capability. You have the joy of exploring different lenses, especially the prime lens (you may love it or hate it), and having more user controls in the aperture, shutter speed, exposure, and DOF (Depth of View), etc.
Going for Business
If you run a business, it is recommended to use a full-frame camera, either a mirrorless or DSLR. Let’s imagine, if you go to a photography shop to take a portrait or hire an event photographer (wedding, sport, etc.), then what do you feel when you see the photographer use a point-and-shoot or handphone to do the job? Yea, you got the feel, right? A black square-ish big camera always gives people a “wow”, this photographer is a professional!
Backup
When you are going to buy a backup camera, I guess that you are likely shooting some severe events that you couldn’t afford for any loss of a moment. At this stage, get yourself the same model camera, or at least the same brand camera that utilizes the same lens mount. By then, you will save tons of money by sharing the lenses and boosting your efficiency during the shooting, as both your primary and backup cameras are using identical/similar settings.
So please be clear with yourself otherwise you might regret that why you get something doesn’t fit your purpose.
3. RAW Capable
RAW format is a handy and recommended image format. Almost all the mirrorless and DSLR are RAW-capable. However, if you intend to buy a PAS (point and shoot), it is better to choose the RAW-capable one. You may not understand the advantages of using RAW yet, but a RAW-capable camera is always a good-to-go. You will appreciate that you bought a RAW-capable camera when you need it or just realized how powerful it is.
As compared above, the sky is overexposed. I adjust the highlight and exposure settings in post-processing. The JPEG photo overexposed area is dead-white, while the RAW photo overexposed area still preserves the color and sky details.
4. After-Sale Services
How convenient are you able to reach the service center? How long the service maintenance take? You definitely won’t want to ship your camera/travel for a few hours to send your camera for service and wait for a month or two to get it back (if you purchased from another country). So check with your local retailer about the warranty and service, like how long does the maintenance take or is there any service charge. Knowing more about the after-sale services before buying the camera will keep your money safe in your wallet.
5. User Review
You can get a lot of user reviews from Amazon, BHPhoto, and other websites. These user reviews are very helpful to assist you in understanding more about the camera in a broader manner which you might never know before you own the camera. Besides, reviews from some personal or professional camera sites provide good technical analysis data and more accurate/real-life sample shots or even compare your “wishlist” camera. Read those reviews to narrow down the choices, keep in mind those reviews about your “final choice”, and then try it out at the retail shop.
Bottom Line
Want to know more about which kind of camera suit you the best? A point-and-shoot? a mirrorless? Or a DSLR? Then stay tuned, and you may find it out from my coming posts: 5 Reasons to Own a point-and-shoot, 5 Reasons to Own a Mirrorless, and 5 Reasons to Own a DSLR. Hopefully, the points mentioned above will help you in buying a camera that fits your needs.
Thanks for your reading and I hope you like it =)
29 Mar 2014
Photography Tips: Shooting at the Wedding Banquet
This is my first post for the photography tips series. Although I’m not a professional wedding photographer, the tips below are what I learned and sorted from various online resources and applied during the wedding banquet. In addition, by sharing my experience with all of you here, I hope you will share yours with me to help each other improve.
Tips
1. Be Ready and Well Prepared
Check your camera condition, ensure all the settings like exposure, white balance, ISO, flash mode, or any other settings are set up correctly. Ensure the battery is fully charged and the memory card is formatted.
2. Have Extra Backup Equipment
Having multiple batteries and memory cards is a plus. I highly recommend you to bring an extra camera as backup (yea I know the it costs more $$). Ensure you are familiar with it and the settings are identical/similar to your primary gear. A zoom lens is good enough and convenient. But if you prefer to use a prime lens on your primary camera, attach another lens with different focal lengths on the backup camera as you do not have extra time to change your lens carefully.
3. Shoot in RAW
It is another highly recommended tip. It is critical and easy to overexpose the bride’s white dress or underexpose the groom’s dark suit. You will need the capability of RAW to get them right.
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5 Dec 2013
Review: Sony E-mount Lens SELP1650
Introduction
The Sony SELP1650 is the new kit lens with the new NEX cameras like the NEX-5R, NEX-6, and NEX-3N. It has a filter size of 40.5 mm, and it allows us to us a filter on it easily.
SELP1650 – Attached on Sony Alpha NEX-6
The Sony SELP1650 covers a 24mm – 75mm focal length in 35mm equivalent which is enough for the basic daily shooting. The maximum apertures are F3.5 and F5.6, and the minimum focus distances are at 25 cm and 30 cm on the wide-angle and telephoto side, respectively. It comes with the power zoom feature, which provides highly smooth zooming during the video recording. A focus/zoom ring is found at the front of the lens, it is smooth to turn, and there is no endpoint to stop turning the focus/zoom ring; it also has a built-in OSS, which is great and powerful for low light shooting or video recording.
This lens is retractable like a point-and-shoot camera. When the camera is powered on, this lens will need a few seconds to extend itself before being ready to use. It collapses itself when it is not in use, and the height is only around 3 cm! It’s so compact and looks like a pancake lens. It makes the NEX camera more compact and portable without having a cheap feel. However, the lens is criticized for its fish-eye-effect-like barrel distortion on the wide-angle side before being officially available on the market. So how is its optical performance? Is it worth your money to buy it for the compactness? Let’s look at the following review.
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20 Sep 2013