Shots during an electrical storm
I knew the low light wasn't the best on the Sony A6000. It's an old camera now and pushing it above 400 ISO tends to really introduce some noise. For this reason I try to avoid pushing it above, or avoid just shooting in low light entirely. During daylight the camera still performs like a beast, there's nothing wrong with it there. The shots under the right conditions can look just as good as the newer lineups, with more of that quality coming from the lenses themselves more than anything else. Still, with the arrival of a strong storm after weeks of really brutal heat, I wanted to capture some of the atmosphere that was rolling in. The intensity of the low hanging clouds, their strong darkness, and the way it interacted with the space.
I first noticed a strong haze appearing, large amounts of dust from the surrounding environment. This area is like that. It's dry, and not far from the border of Iran. Where the south of Armenia has its own desert landscape. it rolls on in depending where you are, and sometimes strong gusts of wind picks it up and throws it around the old abandoned factory spaces. Up against the taller new builds. No real way to escape that, and it's best to keep the windows closed. Since I wanted to capture some shots, I had them open, and I could feel the dust being thrown into my eyes with each gust, even despite being several floors high in the building.
To try to mix things up and test, I switched between two different lenses for these, with different filters. The first lens being the 35mm, it was alright but still felt a bit tight for some shots, part of why I have been mentioning lately that I am looking at much wider focal lengths to get. I had a black mist filter on it which softens light, and you can really see that in the second picture. It's quite a fun feature of the filter. With the mountains in the distance, the low clouds and some parts of the clear sunset visible. It didn't take long for the rain to begin, to which that pretty much halted the shoot as the strong rain kept coming inside and landing on the front element of the lenses.
For the first image I used my 85mm lens, I liked the composition that showed a construction worker in a shack hiding from the strong rain, the composition was beautiful but the outcome wasn't all that great. It reminded me of a film I loved watching a few years ago, to which I instantly felt like watching it again and will do so after this: The Looming Storm. A film drenched in the damp. Constant rain and industrial zones. All this did was cement that realisation that I need to make a few upgrades. A new camera, and that new wider focal length lens. But which one first? That's the next question!
That first image looks like a still from a John Carpenter film, The Thing.
Yeah it really does! I wish the low light capabilities were a bit better on the A6000, the heavy rain and the warm glowing light of the shack made for such an atmosphere. Figured it was worth it to try anyway
Currently looking into what camera to get next, I have Sony lenses so it's going to end up being a Sony. Just torn between sticking with APS-C or jumping into the full frame models
Sony seems to be fumbling quite hard at the moment though, massively overpriced releases and without significant improvements to the models, I suspect the A7V will still feature a 4k crop
I have been on full frame for some time now. It is more expensive, but you can (at least in my "tribe" of bodies, still shoot APS-C for the extra boost in focal length, albeit at a lower pixel count.
All the camera manufacturers dont really scream "value" at the moment. Sony tend to provide a lot of sensors for the whole market, and their glass is pretty dang good too.
You can always go down the second hand route as people inevitably follow their gear acquisition syndrome as new bodies come out and they look to offload their old ones.
Yeah I've been a bit out of the loop with it all until recently. I think the last thing that seemed decently priced from Sony was the A7 III. But now I'm really noticing how bad it is across the board.
Yeah I've always liked their primes. I absolutely love my 85mm F1.8. And there are a ton of options with the E mount, as well as easy access to mount vintage glass with it.
It's a bit harder now I'm in Armenia. I think my main options buying from a reputable retailer here is the A6700 and the A7S III. Anything else would have to be purchased online abroad from something like eBay with some poor consumer protection options given the delivery/returns. This stuff is an incredibly niche market here!
If I was in your shoes I'd go for the A7S, probably the more versatile buy!
I recently (well, last November) - picked up my dream lens, a 85mm f/1.2 (I'm in the Nikon Z system world) - and because of the STUPID amount of money I spent on that lens, I guess I am stuck there for life now.
85mm is such a nice focal length, both on APS-C and full frame.
If finances permit, a trip abroad and a return with a camera is a good way to get some cheaper gear. I remember... probably 15? years ago, I went on a trip to the US, and one of my stops was B&H in New York, because I could get gear significantly cheaper than in Australia.
Indeed, at that point (the Australian dollar was higher than the US!) it was cheaper to fly to the US to buy software and electronics (and return!) - than it was to buy in the domestic Australian market.