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Sony Alpha 7 III

23rd March 2018

The Newest High Performance Mirrorless

As the cold winter weather wares on me, I look forward to escaping for a few days. My destination is the Wedding & Portrait Professional International Conference and Expo in warm (usually) Las Vegas. There photographers can attend any of several hundred seminars, classes, workshops covering the gamut of the photography world. I especially like the expo where I can seek out the makers of new equipment and accessories. And so for this article, you’ll see that I stopped at Sony to have a look at their upcoming A7 III mirrorless camera.
Sony is the leading maker of mirrorless cameras. Early on I was attracted to Sony’s NEX series owing to their compact size and weight. I now own three of Sony’s mirrorless APS-C sensor models. For the past two years, my walk-around “goto” is the Sony Alpha 6000 with which I’ve taken many tens of thousands of pix. I’ve been holding off upgrading to a full frame, but Sony has been dangling some impressive features in their newer models. The A7 III is Sony’s latest iteration of full-framers and I had some hands-on at the WPPI Expo.

Pick up the camera and it’s lightweight (compared to full-frame DSLR) but solid. The body is made from a magnesium alloy and is sealed to keep out dirt and moisture. The handgrip is comfortable (I’m right handed) as I tested it with the 24-105mm G lens. I cozied up to the bright, crisp viewfinder. Although I was in a lower light indoor setting, the speed of autofocus seemed to be very snappy. I counted four customizable buttons – a plus for fast working in the field. There are also two convenient dials for changing shutter speed or aperture and a welcomed dedicated dial for exposure adjustment.

Among the A7 III’s impressive features are: 24.2 MP full frame sensor with ISO from 100-51200 Bright 2.3MP electronic viewfinder Advanced AF with 693 phase detection and 425 contrast points “Eye AF” detects and focuses on subject’s eye continuous shooting up to 10 frames per second in camera 5-axis image stabilization high capacity battery provides 700 shots per charge dual SD card slots supports high speed UHS-II tilting LCD screen with touch-screen capability high resolution 4K HDR video

At the WPPI Expo, Sony rep David Rhodes demonstrated a new feature for me. Using your finger tip, you can use the touch screen to instantly change the focus point. The LCD screen also tilts up and down for easier viewing from different angles. While I wasn’t able to try it, the A7 III is capable of shooting 10 frames per second while maintaining autofocus.

In the past, some critics pointed to the dearth of lenses for full-frame Sony mirrorless cameras. Sony has been rapidly developing and introducing new lenses and now has a decent stable of prime and zoom lenses – I counted about two dozen lenses. Additionally, Sigma recently announced the support the Sony full-frame mirrorless cameras. While they are not yet available, Sigma will be producing the following prime lenses for Sony E-mount cameras: 14mm F1.8 DG HSM Art 20mm F1.4 DG HSM Art 24mm F1.4 DG HSM Art 35mm F1.4 DG HSM Art 50mm F1.4 DG HSM Art 70mm F2.8 DG MACRO Art 85mm F1.4 DG HSM Art 105mm F1.4 DG HSM Art 135mm F1.8 DG HSM Art

The A7 III is on target for release about mid-April. The suggested price is $2200 with a 28-70mm lens. For more information and detailed specifications, please visit Sony A7 III.

For more information about the upcoming Sigma lenses, please visit Sigma.

After my hands-on test and after talking to the Sony rep David Rhodes, I’ve decided to pre-order the A7 III. The two features that pushed my decision are the speedy and more accurate autofocus, the 10 fps shooting capability and the availability of a larger selection of lenses. I look forward to its arrival – I’m told in a couple of weeks. Hopefully, I’ll have a review of the new equipment in the near future.

Note from April 10, 2018: I just received delivery of the A7 III that I preordered a couple of weeks ago. I hope to have a review shortly.

Written by: Arnie Lee

Post tags: Alpha 7 III, expo, Las Vegas, lenses, LV, LVCC, mirrorless, Sigma, Sony, Wedding and Portrait Professional, WPPI

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Seen at WPPI – Instax instant cameras

07th March 2017

Instant Photography – prints while you shoot


At the Wedding and Portrait Photography International Conference & Expo held earlier in February, I couldn’t help but notice several attractive displays at the huge Fujifilm booth.

Fujifilm has been producing instant photo cameras since before the turn of the century (2000) as a successor to the groundbreaking Polaroid line. Their most popular model is the Instax 70 Mini which comes in six vivid colors – white, yellow, blue, gold, red and black. All of these cameras feature auto focus, auto exposure, self-timer, fill flash and tripod socket. They also have a convenient “selfie” mode. Fujifilm’s line of instant photograph cameras are an attractive addition for enhancing wedding, reunion, or party events. Make the rounds among the guests with one of these cameras and there’s an exciting picture for them to see.

Instax Mini film is packaged in sets to produce 10 – 62mm x 46mm photos – about the size of a credit card. In addition to photographs with white borders, the packages of film can be purchased with these designs and colors: black, sky blue, rainbow, candy pop, stained glass, shiny star, comic, air mail, stripe, and Hello Kitty. There is also a monochrome film package for producing black and white photos.	Here’s a photo of me taken with a colorful border. It takes about 90 seconds from pressing the shutter release until the photograph is fully “developed”.
Here’s a couple of wedding displays that were created from Instax cameras.


The suggested price of Instax 70 Mini is $110. The Instax Mini Film sells for about $15 for 2 x 10-exposure packages. There is also an Instax Wide 300 model camera which can take instant photos that are double wide: 62mm x 92mm. For more information about the Instax line of cameras, please visit Fujifilm.

Written by: Arnie Lee

Post tags: Fuji, Fujifilm, instant, instax, Las Vegas, LV, LVCC, Polaroid, Wedding & Portrait Photographers International, WPPI

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Preliminary Report from WPPI 2017

25th February 2017

Wrapping Up the Event




The cold and snowy winter days in Michigan have me longing for a warmer respite. So the call of the exciting Wedding and Portrait Photography International Conference and Expo is excuse enough for me to hop on a plane to visit the warm climes of Las Vegas.
The goal of the conference portion of WPPI is to hone the skills of professionals who specialize in weddings, portraits, video, school and sporting photography. Classes, seminars and photo walks are led by noted pros and educators who share their techniques with attendees to help grow their business. The expo portion of WPPI takes place in a huge hall where manufacturers of photo equipment, accessories, materials, and services can present their products to attendees. The venue for WPPI was the huge Las Vegas Convention Center. Event organizers told me that the show outgrew the space at MGM Center. The LVCC was easily able to accommodate the 13,000 attendees and 230 exhibitors.

Convention goers are attracted to WPPI by the many well-know photographers and instructors that conduct more than 200 different classes. You may recognize some of their names and work: Joe McNally, Sue Bryce, Joe Switzer, Lindsay Adler, Tamara Lackey, Me Ra Koh, Bambi Cantrell, Katrin Eismann, Bob Davis, Jerry Ghionis, Roberto Valenzuela and Julianne Kost to name a few.

At the expo, I made my way through the exhibit hall and stopped often to listen to many of the seminars and demonstrations sponsored by the major equipment manufacturers. Here’s a quick look at a wide variety of topics presented to attendees.

Lighting Techniques

A Nikon Demo

Self-Portraiture & Posing presented by Brooke Shaden	Posing the Family presented by Michele Celentano

Nikon Ambassador Dixie Dixon	with an attentive audience

Photojournalist Joe Bussink	Talking Mirrorless Cameras at Fuji

My stay in Las Vegas was short but I did talk to dozens of equipment and accessory suppliers during my visit to WPPI. As soon as I get my act together, I’ll review some of items that caught my attention.