Is anyone out there?

 I've been away for quite some time!

I have been more into the RC car hobby in recent years, and photography has been neglected. That's the main reason I haven't updated this blog in years. I simply haven't been doing much in terms of photography!

It's not that I lost interest so much. Just that I was so heavily absorbed in the other hobby that it didn't leave much time.

I've been gradually learning to combine the two hobbies, though. Most of the places I go to drive my RC cars are also good places for photography, so it pays to take a camera along. And of course, I can take cool photos of my RC cars, too!

So, anyways! I just wanted to say a thank you to anyone who's still out there.

I won't make any promises, but there is a good chance I will start making the occasional update again as I begin to better integrate the two hobbies.

Still alive

Hi guys, I just wanted to stop by and let you know I'm still breathing. Unfortunately I have neglected this blog terribly for a long time now. It all started when my marriage ended in late 2012, for a long time I just didn't feel like posting at all eventually the dust settled and I've never really managed to kick start things again. It's a shame because there are more followers now than when I stopped updating!

I'm in a better mental place now, I still have periods of feeling down though. I'm at a strange stage in life. Every second I spend with my daughter is fantastic but whenever she isn't there I tend to feel empty and lonely but as a self confessed introvert and someone who tends to suffer from social anxiety I find it difficult to meet people. When I feel down I often suffer from a lack of enthusiasm when it comes to photography.

I'm currently unhappy because my ex is moving to the next city with my daughter and changing her school, I'll still see her as much as possible but this move means I will no longer have her on school nights and no longer be able to take her to school in the morning before work which is one of her favourite things and something I enjoy immensely as a parent, our current routine is going to be changed quite dramatically and it's making me very nervous.

I currently have her 3 nights a week and will now only be able to have her 2 nights. I also tend to see her a lot even when it's not my "turn" to have her because she lives so close, me and her mother would often meet up to do the school run or take the kid to the park etc and this kind of thing will decrease dramatically after the move. I'm trying to stay positive but simply knowing I will never get her ready for school and drop her off and/or collect her from school is heartbreaking, I'm a very sentimental person and this is one of those activities I feel bonds us as parent and child.

I'm very torn by the whole situation because on the one hand me and my ex haven't fallen out, this isn't one of those parents at war things or anything of the sort but that almost makes it more frustrating in a way because I strongly believe the entire move will be in vain, I feel she is allowing her irrational feelings for a bad partner she knows she has no future with to rule her mind. It will inevitably end once a again and it will have all been for nothing. I feel this whole thing is unnecessary and that my continual effort to be a committed and available father is being under-appreciated or at least drowned out by someone's misguided belief that a different postcode will magically solve her life issues. But that's a whole other story in itself!

I just wanted you to all know that I'm still here, I still think about the blog often but I just need to find a way to ignite things again.

A lot has changed since I last updated regularly, since being single things have been tough financially so the only new camera I have bought is a second hand Sony A6000 which I have been enjoying a lot with some reservations.

I still take photos fairly regularly but nowhere near as often as I would like to. It seems to be all to rare that I have free time when the weather is decent and even when that happens I find myself prone to bouts of depression and just an overall lack of enthusiasm.

I still think about things to write all the time and I'm still of the mindset that I will get back into it eventually, for anyone who's still watching this blog I just want to say thanks for your patience. Life is complicated at the moment and I'm a born worrier so while many people might turn to their hobbies as a form of stress relief I tend to find myself too preoccupied to enjoy it!

Sony A7R II: Game changer?

I had to crawl out from under my rock to comment on this! There are reports that the new Sony A7R II will autofocus just as well with Canon EF lenses and a Metabones adapter as it will with native lenses. If this is true it's simply amazing, I know a LOT of people who love Sony bodies but stick with Canon because of the lenses and this could finally change all that. I'm not yet 100% convinced because in the past the Canon lens/Metabones combination hasn't yielded impressive results even with the Sony bodies that have phase detect pixels but there's a lot of talk of thing different this time.

Even if this isn't true the camera looks amazing, easily the best mirrorless camera yet made, at least on paper! If the autofocus situation turns out to be true this could be the turning point, the beginning of the end for DSLRs!

I certainly won't be able to afford one but maybe if I'm lucky and this turns out to be true then the technology that made it possible will trickle down into the APS-C bodies, if not I guess I'll have to pick an A7R II up in about 5 years when it's finally in my price range!


Update:

As Rishi at dpreview just pointed out to me, the A7R II gives phase detect when using the Sony LA-E3 adapter and A mount DSLR lenses. That's the adapter that DOESN'T have a mirror inside and until not hasn't allowed you to use the on sensor phase detect with Sony lenses. Something has been done differently with this new body to allow the LA-E3 to work with the on sensor phase detect.

Because the Metabones adapter basically mimics the protocol the of the LA-E3 it means that Canon lenses will also be able to use the on sensor phase detect pixels! This is MASSIVE news and is likely to shake things up in a serious way! Canon users will now have access to what is undeniably a superior sensor architecture and without a penalty in focus performance!

Fingers crossed that this is as amazing a development as it appears to be!

I'm still alive! Life has just gotten in the way recently. I hope to restore something resembling normal service soon!

Bristol Balloon Fiesta 2013

I never got round to posting photos I took at this years balloon fiesta so here are a few! The weather wasn't kind to me the first day I went so things were a bit dull and overcast and then the second day while the light was beautiful it was too windy for the balloons to launch! Typical!

I'm going to make a few more posts consisting of mainly just photos and then hopefully some more reviews soon. I'm feeling a lot better recently and finding myself able to concentrate on photography related things without negative thoughts creeping into my head as often as they were so with a bit of luck normal service will be restored eventually!

All the fisheye shots were taken with my trusty NEX-5N and Samyang and the others were taken with my 60D and a combination of the Canon 70-300mm L and Sigma 18-50mm EX (the one that front focuses but at least it isn't soft on one side like the countless Canon 17-55s and 15-85s I've tried plus the Sigma 17-50!! STILL haven't found a decent standard zoom!)

a quickr pickr post