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Show time for California Poppies, once every few years.

a few black & white shots taken in cape town and at cape point last week. couple of them with long exposure and ND filter. All shot on A7R2 and 70-200 GM + converter high res and more ... https://www.flickr.com/photos/145749926@N03/albums/72157677540748803

170 x 30s, captured at Al Qudra Lakes in the UAE with 70-200 F2.8 + 2x tele on A7R2 & Skywatcher StarAdventurer, stacked with Deep Sky Stacker and edited in GIMP from 4 processed images. 4k image on flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/145749926@N03/31778122423/in/album-72157673885069811/

I am not really into macro photography but at some point last year decided to buy the Neewer 10mm & 16mm Extension Tubes as well as a set of Polaroid 67mm Macro Filters (+2/+4/+10) as a cheap alternative to an expensive dedicated macro lens. Finally did some testing with a few watches with the Neewer 10+16mm attached to the Sony 28mm F2, the Zeiss Batis 85mm F1.8 and the Sony GM70-200 F2.8+2xTeleconverter (@400mm). In addition I took a couple of shots with the Zeiss Batis in a combination of the Neewer Tubes + the Polaroid Macro Filters. All pictures are taken with the closest possible distance between lens and subject. Manual focus, aperture and exposure. ISO has been set to Auto. Will post multiple pics (full = crop) in a couple of posts ... lets start with the Sony 28mm below: Picture 1 is taken at F8 with 0.5s exposure and ISO3200 Picture 2 is taken at F8 with 1s exposure and ISO400

Just recently noticed that the WO button on my IV T adapter is no longer providing any tactile feedback. In other words, where it was lifting and depressing before, it is no longer providing any of that resistance/push after you actuate the button. It just kind of flops about with no tension. Anyone have this happen to them? If so, what was the fix? Hoping to be able to fix this ASAP as I only shoot adapted EF mount stuff on my Sony rig. Any help would be super greatly appreciated.

Borrego Springs, California. Large Iron sculptures in the middle of desert.

I want to make the move from my full frame DSLR over to mirrorless. After being a happy owner of a RX100M3 for over a year I am convinced that Sony offers the best options for me over m4/3 and Fuji systems. However, I am stuck as to what to buy. I like my 5D mkii but it has always had focussing issues - the well documented poor system of only 9 points, most of which are single plane, leads to far too many out of focus shots leading me to have to use more depth of field than I liked. The RX100M3 with its incredible eye focus has convinced me I don't need to put up with this and that Sony has a system that works in this regard. Other issues with the DSLR are the usual complaints about the weight of the system. If I use it with the 24-105L I'm carrying around 1.5kg of camera and lens around. Just too much for only 1 lens option. It's not exactly a subtle piece of equipment either. I do like the amount of control buttons though. My preferred subject matter is landscape/travel photography (day or night) and family portraits - fidgety kids essentially. On the alpha system I am looking forward to eye focus, better all round focussing, better DR, lighter kit in general, WYSIWYG feedback from the EVF etc. At first I thought the A7II would do but I've heard it's not always the fastest to focus and its tracking ability isn't great either. It is priced well though and I've seen incredible landscape shots taken with it but not so many kid photos. Other options are then the A7RII and the A6300. A7RII is good but expensive ($4000+ in Australia). I also have little need for 42MP. The shots from it are outstanding though and I'm led to believe its tracking is pretty good although not top DSLR comparable (but then neither is the 5D mkii). I'd also find it easier to get shots with great bokeh. It also has a better albeit physically larger lens selection. The A6300 on the other hand comes in at a more palatable price point, is supposed to have excellent tracking and fast focus (great for kids), is more portable, has more compact although less extensive lens options (I'm ignoring FE lenses as you may as well have a FF body if you're going to use bigger glass anyway). My conundrum is that I like portraits with great bokeh, a more portable system would get used more often rather than sit at home like the 5D, and the RX100 doesn't focus fast enough to be a portable foil to a larger camera and isn't good enough in lower light. Options: A6300 16-50 kit, 55mm Zeiss, 16-70 Zeiss A7II, 16-35 or 24-70, 55mm Zeiss A7RII, 16-35 or 24-70, 55mm Zeiss Not everything in each option would be bought straight up and there is a fair difference in price between option 3 and other options. Has anyone made a similar move and can you recommend what would be the best way to go? There's no availability of any of the above at the moment after the Japan quake so no hurry and, unfortunately, there's nowhere here that will hire any of these models.

Testing the Sony A7R2, 90mm G OSS, Raynox 250 Moth - Esperia sulphurella - 12mm by Akil Rolle-Rowan, on Flickr

A while ago I wrote a guest post about my experience with Adorama's third-party warranty company, New Leaf, and my less-than-stellar experience in dealing with them. I eventually got my replacement camera from Adorama, and since New Leaf is the only game in town with them, I held my nose and re-upped, buying another warranty. Not long after my SAR post, I heard from the New Leaf CEO, who called to apologize for the unfortunate experience, and left his personal cellphone number should I ever have problems in the future. Classy, actually. About a month ago, I was sitting at my desk editing photos, having just removed my lens, and my son brought me a fruit smoothie, which I didn't even realize was on my desk. One brisk turn to the left, and oops. The naked A7R2 was bathed in fruity goodness. Surprisingly, it powered up, but the sensor and innards were totally soaked. Thus began the next saga with New Leaf. Day 1 - Call to initiate claim, was told they don't have a record of my camera, warranty or receipt, even though I was staring right at my online account with them, where all of that was registered and visible. Told to email receipt. Day 4 - Got email response telling me they can't cover me because the warranty receipt is not on the camera receipt. I wrote and called Adorama for help. Day 7 - Called the CEO, left voicemail explaining the situation. Later that morning, called the general line to try again with a different operator, who actually knew what he was doing and started the claim. Received pre-paid shipping label to send the unit to United Camera in Chicago for evaluation. Day 8 - Received a callback from New Leaf head of operations, at request of CEO, following up on my case. He was very courteous and quite detailed in explaining the challenges of running a warranty company that guarantees everything from washing machines to TV's to gardening machines to cameras, including maintaining a well-trained employee base. Not that poor customer service can ever be justified, but he give me a good understanding of what's going on over there. Day 13 - United Camera received my unit. Day 16 - United Camera inspects unit, says beyond repair, will inform New Leaf. Called New Leaf to get the ball rolling on a replacement camera. Was given the runaround on having to wait for the slow turning of their gears. Days 17-28 - Numerous calls to New Leaf, practically daily, each time being told a decision, or a replacement, or a check would be coming within one business day. Day 29 - New Leaf placed an order for a new A7R2 with Abe's of Maine, a shop in NJ I'd never heard of. Price was $2600! Day 30 - Called Abe's of Maine to get shipping info, was told New Leaf's AMEX card wouldn't work because the store was in a dispute with AMEX. Called the CEO of New Leaf, so tantalizingly close to a solution. Heard back from a supervisor who left a voicemail saying to call back to solve this problem. Day 31 - Was offered a check from New Leaf in lieu of the replacement camera, in the amount of the Abe's of Maine selling price. Jumped on it. Ordered the camera with my own card. Day 34 (today) - RECEIVED NEW A7R2!! Ok, it's obviously a non-US version, PAL, but otherwise works just fine. Didn't come with instruction manuals and the box had been opened, but the camera is new, or like-new. Registered with Sony for warranty without problem. Bought another New Leaf ADH warranty. Waiting for check for the replacement (could be a month they say), and hoping I never have to use the warranty again, but glad I have it.

Military helicopter flying over the Jefferson Memorial.

Washington DC Afterglow. Last Thursday.

My first post.

Dear friends, I've had this camera for a few weeks now and one of the "issues" I have found is that I don't know how to delay the sleep more to say 5 minutes or so. Searching the web, there are lots of talks on how this sleep mode helps slow down the battery drainage, since that is one of our biggest concerns, but in my case, mostly shooting garden birds and wild fauna, it makes me lose many shots due to such a short delay till the camera enters the sleep mode and when suddenly the bird shows up, I have to reactivate the camera, losing precious time and most of the times the bird is gone when the camera is ready to fire once more. In my case I use the lower grip with two batteries and a tripod with an 80-400 Sony A-mount lens & adapter @ 400 mm, so focusing is by itself an added task I have to undergo prior to firing, so that sleep mode makes it almost impossible to get a good shot! Now is there any way to avoid the A7R2 entering the sleep mode so soon? (even cancelling it would be acceptable), but after going through all the menus I can't seem to find any options. My A7S does not have any sleep mode, or at least it takes so long, I always switch off the camera before it; that's the way I want the A7R2 to behave.

Huge 40 MB RAW files from A7rII challenge previous storage and backup workflow schemas. Here is what I use currently. Nothing special, but it's simple and works well for me. Background -- I'm a ballet photographer, shooting about 20-30 full length ballets around the world per year. My current run rate is about 2 TB of RAW photos per year. My main camera is Sony A7rII, average file size is abt 41 MB. I've used different scenarios, but currently using following one. 1. I import all photos from SD cards to Lightroom. My PC has super fast M.2 512 GB SSD storage and also 10 TB HDD. I keep my Lightroom catalogue and all previews on M.2 SSD and all RAW photos on 10 TB disk. I've tried also to import last "hot" shoot to SSD, but I did not encounter big performance increase, but added manual routines, moving later files to slower 10 TB drive. 2. All shoots are organised into collection sets and collections in lightroom, all photos are properly tagged during the import and additional specific tags are added later. So its easy to find everything later and track down to specific collection. 3. All photos on 10 TB HDD are backed up to Synology NAS, RAID 5 DiskStation (4 x 4 TB disks) fully automatically by Cloud Station Backup 4 software (Synology). 4. Selected directories from Synology NAS are backed up to Amazon Glacier for added off-site security. I use fully automatic Glacier Backup app for Synology. This setup is fairly easy and automated. I do not have to copy directories from one storage device to another. Lightroom catalogue is also very simple. This method is good for photographers having photo archive less than 10 TB, which is maximum size of single HDD.

We are having a torching heat wave in southern california right now. The sunset, behind a hazy seascape, is fully soaked in bloody mary.

Partial sun eclipse over cloudy sky in southern California

Captured sunrise on Christmas Day, at Point Reyes, California Happy New Year to all.

The smoke from california wild fire softened the edgy rocks in the back ground, with morning sunlight shedding on dry grass

Catch the sunset in the valley before smoke set in from California wild fire

A kitty walking down in late afternoon.

Viktoria Y. at the JAM Hotel in Brussels Portrait in natural light with a silver reflector from below Sony A7R2 | Zeiss Batis 85mm f/2.8 / 1/200s / iso 200 RAW development and post processing in CaptureOne 11

Dear friends, Been rather detached from the forum for many reasons, one being that I had no real problem with my Sony gear... Nevertheless, lately, and "shooting" birds (in the kind way), I have found my A7R2 rather lazy when firing in the high speed mode; it will fire 5 shots at once, but then stop and even with the button pressed I have to wait for what it seems to be ages till it fires once more, and even then it will shoot when it decides, not when I want to. My actual memory card is the Scandisk Extreme Pro 128 gb. So my question is simple; will the newest and fastest Sony SF-G UHS-II solve my problem to an extent? I know that with such a short buffer and 42 + GB files, I can't expect it to improve much, but any improvement might be worthwhile... Since I will be visiting the US by the end of July, it might be the best option to purchasing this new memory, but need to know before I leave Spain. Thank you all and best regards, Spanish Flyer

Spotted this scene last night strolling along southern California shore.