Looks pretty similar to other cameras. Offhand I do not see any usability issues here.
Select / (Drive Mode) on the control wheel → [Focus Bracket].
You can also set the focus bracket by selecting MENU → (Shooting) → [Drive Mode] → [Drive Mode].
Press the right side of the control wheel and set [Step Width] and [Number of Shots].
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Step Width: Selects the degree to which the focus is shifted within the range of 1 to 10. The higher the number, the more the focus will shift.
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Number of Shots: Sets the number of shots taken with one release within the range of 2 to 299 for each position.
Point the cursor at the ones place of the number of shots and press the right side of the control wheel to open [Focus Bracket Settings]. Then select [Focus Bracket Order].
[0→+]: Shifts the focus from the current focus position toward infinity. When the focus reaches infinity, shooting ends even if the set number of shots has not been reached.
[0→-→+]: Takes three images in the order of the current focus position, front focus, and rear focus. At this time, the number of shots set in Step 2 becomes invalid.
You can also set [Focus Bracket Order] from [Drive Mode] → [Bracket Settings] → [Focus Bracket Settings] → [Focus Bracket Order].
Press down the shutter button to shoot.
Disappointing that...
Cannot set a near point and a far point in some straightforward way.
How does it know when INF is reached? In my experience, this is fraught with issues that lead to taking too few or too many images. A far point would solve that.
Cannot choose N images (not just 3). I would want a very fine focus tweak, say 3 images in front of, 1 at focus, 3 behind, so I could pick the one that is the very best for the scene. This is often a challenge given focus shift, field curvature, etc in combination with the actual 3D scenery.
Thank you for for ordering your Sony A7R V and all gear all the time these links or any link on this site. It helps fund my work, and it also means that B&H Photo can make loaner gear available for review.
B&H Photo and it’s Payboo card can pay the sales tax for you, which in California is up to 9.375%—I use it for everything I buy at B&H. On top of that through Dec 7, there is an additional 5% back when Payboo is used:
Amazing — Sony still won’t shoot lossless compressed raw for pixel shift mode, wasting huge amount of storage space on card and computer and backups for no reason at all.
In [Pixel Shift Multi Shoot.], some settings are locked as follows: [ [RAW File Type] under [Image Quality Settings]: [Uncompressed]
For those unfamiliar with lossless compression, there is *no difference* in raw data vs uncompressed. Not one digital bit. It makes no sense to foist huge files on users for no benefit whatsoever.
OMG
Thank you for for ordering your Sony A7R V and all gear all the time these links or any link on this site. It helps fund my work, and it also means that B&H Photo can make loaner gear available for review.
The Sony A7R V arrives tomorrow. I wasn’t expecting that; I thought I had two more weeks to work on the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4. Looks like some interleaving of effort needed.
Many thanks to B&H Photo for getting me a loaner camera so soon.
vs Sony
Key differentiators vs the Sony A1 and/or Sony A7R IVa are the new AI-based autofocus, and at long last, the support for focus stacking via what Sony calls “focus bracketing”, and improvements in IBIS. Not to mention a vastly improved EVF and all sorts of other goodies.
Will there be stupid stuff retained, like pixel shift failing to use lossless compressed raw? For that matter, will pixel shift possibly be made a hassle, and not made better? I will find out tomorrow.
Thank you for for ordering your Sony A7R V and all gear all the time these links or any link on this site. It helps fund my work, and it also means that B&H Photo can make loaner gear available for review.
This series from f/4 to f/11 looks at total imaging performance of the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR at the 26mm zoom setting, including a 6-frame focus stack at f/9 that shows of the full potential of the lens.
Aperture series are very good at showing lens performance across the aperture range, but depth of field is typically limited even at f/11, so that often peak potential in some parts of the frame cannot be understood in that series.
Here on this page, focus stacking examples are shown. These are practical and actionable demonstrations of what the lens can deliver across the frame when depth of field is full-range. And practical in terms of real-world photography: what the lens can actually deliver on that demanding 100-megapixel sensor using appropriate technique.
Click through for current pricing; some items may be lower than shown.
Camera cards
I love that I can go on a long trip and never have to worry about deleting a shoot, thus giving myself an inherent backup (camera card + computer + backup too). OWC camera cards are the best I’ve ever used (SD and CFExpress Type B)—with nary a glitch in any camera.
The smart move for high capacity and/or fault tolerance or RAID-0 striping is the OWC Thunderbay 4, which takes four hard drives. The Thunderbay 4 is the single greatest value-add peripheral I have ever owned, nothing else comes close.
As shown, you can populate a Thunderbay 4 with a massive 80TB of storage for about $2100. Four single volumes, a single 80TB RAID-0 volume, a RAID-4/RAID-5 fault tolerant 60TB volume, or multiple smaller volumes of any of those. Or you can buy it all pre-configured and pre-tested.
For desktop or travel, it’s hard to be a 2TB or 4TB SSD. The diminutive OWC Envoy Pro Elektron is an all-time favorite of mine, as it hits over 1GB/sec and it’s tiny, perfect for travel.
Have a 2019 iMac 5K or 2020 iMac 5K or a Intel-based Mac mini or iMac 4K? Go to 128GB for iMac 5K and 64GB for the others. No sense letting your work be constrained by too little memory.
This series from f/4 to f/11 looks at performance of the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR on a deep 3D scene. Focus stacked images are included in the series to assess where the performance limitations are to be found, including notes on just how much distortion correction affects the finished focus stack.
This page looks at distortion and distortion correction across the focal length range of the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR, at 8 different focal lengths. It gives outstanding insight into what to expect over the zoom range.
It’s simple: I began to feel unsafe even five years ago. Vehicle break-ins are now guaranteed within an hour or two for a van like mine, let alone the personal danger. A 'street' photographer is taking his/her life into their hands, and ironically, the risks are from the authorities too—legal risks if one dares to defend oneself.
Anon writes (names also changed)
Bridge to San Franshithole, CA
I sent this to my contacts at the Leica SF store 12 days before their armed robbery / break in. I didn’t get a response back from either AAA or BBB, but they only work there, and presumably, they passed it on to the owner(s).
My worry was people walking out of the store would be robbed at gun point. I’ve had a couple of warranty repairs done at this store, and I didn’t fancy stepping out of the store and getting mugged. Clearly, the robbers were more ambitious.
...
It’s getting more and more dangerous for photographers in the Bay Area. This one was in broad daylight outside the palace of fine arts in SF. A wedding photographer taking engagement photos of a couple is pistol-whipped and robbed of his gear:
Elections do have consequences, and this is what Californians have voted for.
I assume you are aware of incidents like this. It could be dangerous to walk out of your store with a bag in hand. You may want to think about putting up some security cameras at the front and back of your store so you can keep an eye on parked cars or any unsavory characters hanging out within a 300 feet radius.
... People need to be aware of the dangers in the SF Bay Area. Not just photographers with cameras, but anyone with any visible, expensive-looking items like jewelry. The California state also just released from jails over 7,000 pedophiles who spent less than a year of their prison terms, some as little as two days. It’s completely insane.
DIGLLOYD: your only safe option is to never go to places like San Francisco, a haven for criminals and drug addicts and the morally depraved politicians and the people who vote them in: your rights mean nothing, and the rights of criminals, now often in organized gangs, take precedence.
While we are extremely grateful that no one was physically injured, all of us feel that some time is needed for the staff to fully process this traumatic event and have an opportunity to decompress.
See discussion below on what a bad idea a gun can be...
“I’ve heard a number of professional photographers say ”we never go on shoots without a gun”...”
Even in the genteel bastion of woke enlightenment of Palo Alto CA (2nd only to Menlo Park on wokeness), armed robberies and shootings and stabbings—once unheard of—are now happening with discomfiting frequency. My wife doesn’t feel fully safe there anymore. Yesterday, the Apple Store on University avenue was robbed. No one tried to stop them, which is the smart move for just about everyone, but a sad commentary on the lawlessness and feeling of helplessness sweeping the nation. My bet is that if someone took down the robbers physically (eg tackling/punching/etc), the feckless powers-that-be in Palo Alto would prosecute the good Samaritan!
The police have become a clean-up crew, affording you no protection. A privileged class who can protect themselves on and off duty and even when retired‚ but not you or I without special dispensation from the State. But I don’t blame the police in these matters—it’s the DA and progressive ideology that keep them from doing their jobs. So we all have to live with the breakdown of civilization... and people keep voting for that.
It is de-facto impossible to protect yourself within incurring huge risks: skilled criminals will laugh and take away your pepper spray @AMAZON or stun gun @AMAZON. If you carry a firearm (even legally with CCW permit), the government will spare no expense trying to incarcerate you for life even if you did everything by the rules, after you put a bullet into the piece of shit waving that Glock in your face—such a nice boy, he had only 23 felonies and his family loved him. And good luck with not getting shot even if you have a gun. And if you emerge from the horrifying legal miasma after defending yourself against criminal charges, then if you have any money left you’ll spend it all defending a civil suit from the family of said criminal—instead of a medal for improving the world. Which is why (firearm or not), you should belong to USLawShield.com or similar and be very, very afraid of carrying or using a firearm (because of the legal repercussions). Women are especially screwed by this immoral and broken system, having little to no recourse against larger attackers.
ADA and Use of a Cane
That’s what California has become today. Protect yourself and you become the criminal. The law says one thing (see page 39) and then does another almost without exception (prosecutes a victim daring to defend him/herself). And don’t even think about deadly force (knife, gun, baton) for protecting property of any kind (camera, dog/cat, etc)—legally impermissible. You will be prosecuted almost without exception. In today’s progressive legal climate, all honest people are losers. You are cannon fodder for the ideology that deems you unworthy of meaningful self defense.
Don’t even think of a gun unless you are committed to doing so legally, and at least 2000 rounds of live-fire practice and at least an 8-hour classroom course on the legal aspects plus a legal membership like USLawShield.com, plus a willingness to deal with years of legal headaches as well as the trauma of killing a human being. Anything else is, IMO, irresponsible. The photographers in the news saying they “carry a gun” in San Francisco situation are taking a major legal risk that could land them in jail very easily. The cure can be worse than the disease, given the legal climate.
Want something fully legal even on an airplane? Get a defensive cane and train to use it. Hardened criminals know what they are, and will steer clear.
Below, I will never photograph here again; I’d not only have to park out of sight and sound and come back to a damaged/looted vehicle, but at dusk you’re a sitting duck for thievery or worse.
First, agree with everything you say. Even dangerous where I live. There have been 8 home invasion robberies in my greater upscale neighborhood area in the last 6 months.
One additional problem of the San Francisco robberies is the press it receives gives the criminal element new ideas of what to go for. Yes, now photographers whether pro or amateur are the newer targets. Scenes of people in broad daylight in LA getting robbed of their Rolex watches are becoming commonplace. The criminals won't concern themselves with serial numbers when perpetrating the crimes. That's what they do and it is shameful there isn't a more effective system of apprehension and punishment to deter such activity.
Maybe the future of outside pro photography is a capable mobile phone. Less conspicuous and everyone seems to have one. It hurt to say that.
DIGLLOYD: I’m sure a phone is much less subject to theft than a fancy camera, but phones get taken by force, being quite valuable. Either way, the risk of injury dwarfs the loss of the camera or phone.
Laws are no deterrent. Unless a criminal knows that 1 in 5 victims might yield a Really Bad Day (as in fatal), this sort of thing will only get worse.
One of my friends told me six months ago that a photographer standing on a beach somewhere in the Lands End area in San Francisco was shot dead from the back as he was peering through his camera on a tripod. The poor guy never knew what hit him, and they quickly ran away with his gear and camera bag. The killers were never caught.
In September 2019, there was a sailboat race in the SF Bay, and a group of six photographers had gotten together to photograph the boats. They had made arrangements to meet at a specific time at a parking lot near Fisherman’s Wharf. Shortly after they all arrived and pulled out their gear from their cars and assembled together to plan their day, a parked car pulled out and drove up to the photographers and stopped. A gang of four hooded men jumped out with guns drawn and grabbed all the equipment, then quickly jumped back into the car and drove away. Apparently, the photographers had set up a group on Facebook to plan their meet up, and the exact place and time were precisely described! Somebody else had also noticed that.
So going out on a photo shoot even as a group is not safe. Two punks with guns can overwhelm a half dozen people and steal their gear.
What I don’t understand is, how the thieves dispose of their stolen goods. Eventually they have to sell it for cash, and I don’t know who they sell it to. Most likely, there are other criminals who front all this equipment, but then, even they have to sell it to get paid, and I don’t know where and whom they sell it to.
Maybe they sell them on eBay, Amazon or Craigs List as used equipment at hugely discounted prices. Anyone who buys equipment like this for a bargain price should also realize that the same thieves now know exactly who bought it and the buyer’s home address.
DIGLLOYD: beware of prices too good to be true, sellers who cannot show proof of purchase, etc.
Anon writes:
I am in trigger finger mode, not shutter finger mode. Fine art and pleasures such as photography have taken a back seat to firearms practice. No matter what, if you believe you will suffer death or grave bodily harm, you MUST pull the trigger. Better to be alive and fight them later in the courts. There are go fund me ways to cover the expense, but no expense is worth being too intimidated to shoot if you have to. We live under exponentially increasing tyranny and we must each do our part to either fight it or lose our freedom to it. I choose to fight. Any scum bag trying to kill or maim me or my family will be judged by St Peter within seconds of his attack.
DIGLLOYD: if enough people had this viewpoint, the crime would halt overnight.
Anon writes:
I had a clear cut case of stolen property being sold on eBay. I had 28 pages of police docs from Baton Rouge, I had a dozen or so from San Diego. I had a pawn shop identify the guy who stole the item worth $800 and then sold it to the pawn shop. The pawn shop then sold it on eBay. Proof proof proof!
I bought the unique collectible item back for $800. eBay would not debit the account of the seller of the stolen item, nor would they reimburse me. They said it was my choice to buy it back. And the police did nothing though they had the name and address of the perp!
eBay is as corrupt as can be.
DIGLLOYD: I stopped using ebay years ago except for buying generic things like auto fluids or similar. And I won’t things priced “too good to be true” — stolen property.
Dennis M writes:
A year ago I had my car broken into and 2 lenses stolen from the central console. Just Prior to this, I had been stalked by an individual as I was photographing birds. I went into dense briars and took out a hunting knife just in case. After 15 minutes the predator left but then broke into my car near a refuge Maryland area.
Using the serial numbers of both lenses, I was able to find one listed on eBay by a reseller in Idaho who was not the perpetrator.
With the help of a local detective, my doing all the work supplying him with all copies of box serial number, bill of sale etc, he contacting the reseller, i received the more expensive lens back and in perfect condition. It was sent to the detective, and I gifted a print to him for his efforts. Btw, ebay was unwilling to get involved.
If you take the financial benefit out of these thefts, and with the potential claim against a reseller for sale of stolen goods, perhaps there will be less incentive for thefts as the market for stolen goods is undermined by fastidious victims.
DIGLLOYD: perseverence pays off, but how many of us would be that determined?
EBay.com has become a disreputable place today—lots of stolen goods, and seller-antagonistic policies that let any buyer lie and cheat without any repurcussions. They have no interest in policing their site. Avoid ebay except perhaps for generic goods.
This series from f/4 to f/11 looks at total imaging performance of the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR at the 29mm zoom setting. A similar series at 25mm lends context—it seems that performance is quite consistent over the zoom range.
The optical design of the Hasselblad XCD 38mm f/2.5 V should never have made it into production. It is a fatally flawed optical design with no way to mitigate or compensate for the focus shift on the Hasselblad X2D other than guesstimates (as of late 2022).
Dual Thunderbolt 3 ports USB 3 • USB-C Gigabit Ethernet 5K and 4K display support plus Mini Display Port Analog sound in/out and Optical sound out Works on any Mac with Thunderbolt 3
I am a big fan of 100 megapixels vs 50MP, since I must invest the same effort making an image at 50MP as at 100MP.
But the Fujifilm GFX 50S II at about $3200 is going to deliver 80% of the goodness and 75% of the image detail for a lot less money. It’s a huge value proposition along with the 35-70mm zoom ($3700 total). An for most purposes, the resolution difference is both immaterial, often hard to achieve, and diminished by f/11.
Which Lenses
The smart move is 35-70mm plus the new Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4, which I am now testing with considerable satisfaction; it’s fixed f/4 aperture is a nice plus and its performance particularly at the wide end is beyond reproach even for a prime lens.
While the Fujifilm GF 23mm f/4 has near-zero distortion and is thus best for dedicated purposes (architecture, group shots, anything with straight lines), there is no getting around the awesome utility of a 20-35mm zoom*, which for $100 less gives you far more applicability.
Just arrive is the brand-new Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4, the first of a kind lens on medium format. Kudos to Fujifilm for developing this lens, which radically expands what is possible on medium format. But how good is it?
This series from f/4 to f/11 looks at performance of the Fujifilm GF 20-35mm f/4 R WR on a near-far landscape scene. Sharpness, focus shift, color correction are examined.
