This is going to be the longest day ever

Today is going to be a really long day.  It’s Friday before a long weekend here in Ottawa,  The weather is finally nice and really warm.  And the 2021 iPad Pros have been released and are available for sale finally.  I am able to actually pick up a space grey Apple iPad Pro with 12.9” screen, 1TB of storage, 16GB of RAM and the M1 chip.  I have my appointment with Apple at 4:45pm today.  So I am not waiting until June 9th, 2021 for it to ship.  I cancelled my online order once I got notification that my 2021 12.9” screen, M1, 1TB, 16GB Space Grey Apple iPad Pro was reserved and available for pickup.  My credit card was charged and I am a confirmed owner of a brand new 2021 Apple iPad Pro.  I am just so excited to be a proud owner of this iPad Pro.  My 2018 iPad Pro 12.9” screen, 512GB storage still works wonderfully.  There is absolutely nothing wrong with it.  I just wanted a faster hard drive, faster processor and more RAM.  Apparently the screen on the new iPad Pros is supposed to be amazingly fantastic. I just cannot wait to use the new iPad Pro to edit my photography and videography.

I just hope Apple improves the iPad operating system to take advantage of the hardware.  We will find out June 7th, 2021 at Apples WWDC conference.  The apps I use the most include, but are not limited to LumaFusion, Apple Photos, Pixelmator Photos, Netflix, Disney+, Blogger, Pages, Numbers, iTunes, YouTube, YouTube  Studio, Affinity Photos, Affinity Designer, Firefox, Safari and a few astronomy apps for star gazing.

I’ve put my 2018 Apple iPad Pro up for sale on Kijiji.  If I don’t get any bites by 4pm today, I’ll see if I can trade it in when I pick up my new 2021 Apple iPad Pro.  If I don’t get a byte on Kijiji and I do a trade-in with Apple and they either take it off my credit card, I’ll just get an Apple Watch for the girlfriend.

On a side note, I did purchase some new photo and video equipment earlier this week.  I purchased a Sony RX100 Mark VII and a Sony FDR-AX700B camcorder.  I can’t wait to test out the new iPad Pro with these cameras.  I hope the software developers take advantage of the new horsepower that the new iPad Pro offers.  I hope Apple gets iPad OS to be a more pro operating system.  iPad OS is really lacking in some features that it greatly needs.  A progress bar when you’re copying over files is one.  The ability to format external drives is another.  The full use of an external display is another. 

I am so happy with the latest equipment I got

So this week has been a little different.  I traded in my Sony a7R Mark II, Canon Vixia HF G50, Sony FDR AX53 for a Sony RX100 Mark VII and a Sony FDR AX700B.  The Sony RX100 Mark VII I’ve had before.  Purchased it I think a year and a half ago and then traded it in for some other equipment.  Funny how things work out that I end up with the same camera again.  About 4 years ago, when I was in Calgary I traded in some photo equipment for the Sony FDR AX100b.  Awesome camcorder as well.  It came in very useful when I was out there in the mountains doing landscape videography.  Funny now in 2021, I’m still doing photography and videography with this amazing equipment.  I’m just so happy with the photo and video equipment.  

I ordered the 2021 Apple iPad Pro with the 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM and the M1 processor.  I can’t wait to get it in the next two weeks.  My ecosystem will be complete.  I don’t plan on upgrading any equipment in the foreseeable future.  This hardware is very mobile for a single run and gun shooter like myself.  After work today, I’ll go to Mud Lake here in the west of Ottawa.  Apparently there is an Ospray that has been hanging around and is apparently close to shore.  I also want to do another talking head type video as well.  I can’t wait for September this year.  I’m still planning on going out west to pursue my photo/video career.  

On a side note, editing video in LumaFusion is tremendously easy.  Colour grading the Sony FDR AX700B footage is just a joy.  I honestly can’t wait for the new iPad Pro to come and see what Apple does with WWDC this year.  Hopefully we’ll get a Pro type operating system on the iPad Pro.  That would be just an amazing dream.

The 2021 iPad Pro life

So this week has been very exciting.  I sold my Sony a7R Mark II camera, my Sony FDR AX-53, my Canon Vixia HF G50 and a few of my point and shoot cameras.  I purchased a Sony RX100 Mark VII for a second time in about a year.  I also purchased a Sony FDR AX700B camcorder.  I wanted to really downsize my equipment while keeping up the quality of the equipment in my possession.  Both new cameras are able to shoot HDR stills and video.  So that’s exciting because the weather has gotten much warmer this week and it’s actually sunny so I’m spending more time outside doing photography and shooting videos.  I am also a day closer to getting the new M1 based Apple iPad Pro with the 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM.  I already have the new 2021 magic keyboard in my possession.  The new iPads are supposed to be released this coming Friday, May 21st 2021.  I hope that is true.

I was going to cancel my iPad Pro order today as it’s been processing the past 2 and a half weeks.  Than I was editing some 4K videos today and I was thinking to myself; “Screw it, the Windows 10 Pro based Dell XPS 17 9700 laptop is loud when it’s editing 4K video.  I use LumaFusion on my 2018 iPad Pro and no noise whatsoever.  And it does it faster than the Windows 10 based laptop.  The 2021 iPad Pro is supposed to be 50%+ faster than the 2018/2020 iPad Pro using the M1 based chip with 16GB of RAM.  I honestly cannot wait. I hope to get it soon.  Waiting for new tech sucks.  I have 2 Toshiba T5 external SSD’s that I will be using for external storage.  I cannot wait for the iPad Pro to come out.  Have I said that already?

I hope Apple releases some pro apps like Final Cut Pro.  That is the one piece of software I am looking for.  If Apple charges a yearly subscription for Final Cut Pro, I’d be thoroughly disappointed and I will not purchase a subscription based program.  That is why I quit using Adobe products.  

I have my current 2018 based Apple iPad Pro paired with the magic keyboard, an Apple Magic Mouse and the Apple  iPods Max and they really sound fantastic for the price.  I also have the Apple Pencil for the iPad Pro.  I am a very mobile photographer/videographer.  That is my stated goal with my equipment.  Now I just need to move out west to Calgary and actually start doing my landscape photography.  

I cannot wait for the 2021 Apple iPad Pro (12.9”) with the M1 processor, 1TB of SSD storage and 16GB of RAM to be in my hands.  I think it’s gonna be a huge game changer.  The SSD is apparently twice as fast as the SSD hard drive in the 2020 iPad Pro.  It’s gonna be amazingly awesome to work on the 2021 iPad Pro.  I cannot wait to use it.

Mud Lake in winter

I went for a short walk at Mud Lake today located in the west of Ottawa.  Have not been there in quite a while.  I took my Sony RX100 Mark VII with me.  Spent about 45 minutes just walking the groomed trails there.

Yesterday I bought myself the Sony A7R II camera body with just one battery.  When I get paid next week, I will be buying the Sony f3.5-6.3 24-240MM lens along with the battery grip and two additional batteries.  

I want to enjoy my time with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I'm not going to sell it.   I believe it's a fantastic little camera.  My photography is evolving.  This summer I want to do a lot more camping on the weekends and I want to do a lot more exploring.  I figured a high megapixel, full frame camera is what I need to accomplish my goals.

This summer I will be travelling a lot more on weekends.  I want to discover the areas farther around Ottawa before we move out west.  

The above photos were actually edited on my Windows 10 laptop using Affinity Photo 1.8.  I actually love Affinity Photo.  I cannot stand Photoshop.  Photoshop is bloated software.  I refuse to pay a monthly subscription to Adobe.  Just no Adobe.  Affinity Photo is about $50 and you actually own the software.  And you get the updates too.

And another long weekend with a trip planned

Caught this male deer at Parc Omega.  Available for sale on my Shutterstock portfolio.  It’s Valentines Day today and it’s a long weekend in Ontario.  So I’m taking my fiancé to Niagara Falls, Ontario for the long weekend.  Haven’t been there in a year or so.  I’m taking the Sony RX100 Mark VII with me. I can’t wait to do some long exposure photography of the falls.

Canada’s War Memorial

Decided to go for a walk yesterday after work.  The War Memorial is located 2 blocks from the building that I work at.  It was a snowy, grey day yesterday in Ottawa.  Decided to shoot the War Memorial in black and white as I think black and white does the memorial more justice.  I really like doing photography with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  It’s such a compact and powerful little camera.

Snowy Owl

Went out today with the fiancé to go do some photography.  Found this Snowy Owl on a power pole.  It was one of two that we spotted.  We spent about half an hour waiting for it to fly with no luck.  

On a side note, I want to go do some winter camping this year.  I have the equipment to do it.  Good sleeping bag.  Air mattress.  SUV.  Maybe next weekend I’ll go up to the Algonquin Park area and stay for a weekend.  Leave Friday after work and come back on Sunday. We shall see.

New Year. New Decade. New photography

There is one full day left in 2019.  I haven’t done as much photography as I wanted to this year.  Haven’t done as much photography over the past two years as I wanted.  2020 will be different.  I told my new fiancé that in April I want to move out west to Calgary.  I really miss the mountains and the fresh air.  I hate being here in Ottawa.  I miss Calgary.  I hate the humidity of Ottawa.  I hate the winters.  I hate the summers here.  I would rather sleep in my vehicle or a tent under the stars.  I miss photographing the mountain landscapes.  When I was in Calgary 2 years ago, that’s all I did on my weekends.  Just spend my weekends in the mountains.  Now that I have my 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport, I have room in the back to sleep.  I have pretty much all the necessary equipment except for a cooler for food and drinks.  But I could just spend $60 on a good sized cooler and use that for weekends.  In the next couple of months I will start looking for a job in Calgary.  I wish I could do landscape photography full time but I don’t know if it’s feasible.  I want and need it to be.  I am totally sick of doing the I.T thing.  My Sony RX100 Mark VII is a great camera to do landscape photography.  I don’t need a DSLR.  Actually for the photography I do, all I need is my Sony RX100 Mark VII and my 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  All the software I use is run on the iPad Pro.  I have Affinity Photo.  I have Pixelmator Photo.  Apple Photos is good enough now for doing just the basic edits.  A few months ago, I bought a book for Affinity Photo for the iPad.  I’ve started reading it but never completed it.  That will be my goal for the next 3 months.  Find a job in Calgary to sustain us and finish my Affinity Photo book.

I really don’t want to do any more wildlife photography.  Although it sells a bit on Shutterstock and Adobe Stock, I really enjoy landscape photography.  I like the solitude of being in the mountains.  I gave my fiancé my Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I don’t want to spend any more money on photography equipment.  Not for a while.  The Sony RX100 Mark VII does what I need it to do.  I shot the above photo with the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I shot the below shot with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I’ve sold both images on various micro stock stocks.  A full frame DSLR with an f2.8 16-35MM or an f2.8 24-70MM is not needed.  It’s not the camera, it’s the photographer.

Why the Sony RX100 Mark VII is the best camera (for me)

As a stock photographer, I carry my camera with me everywhere.  It’s either in my coat, jeans or shorts pocket when I’m out and about.  it’s just the perfect camera for me.  Some may say it’s just an overpriced point and shoot that’s a bit better than a phone camera.  I actually beg to differ.  Just because it’s got a one inch sensor with an attached 24-200MM lens, doesn’t mean it’s not a professional camera.  It is a professional camera because it’s with me every minute of the day.  I was going to buy the Sony A7RII with the 24-240MM lens.  But that combination would cost me about $4000.  And that combination would not be with me all the time just because of the size.  I carry the Sony RX100 Mark VII with me everywhere along with my 2018 Apple iPad Pro.

I can do all sorts of photography with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I can do portraiture, street, landscape and wildlife photography.  I can shoot during the day and at night as seen with the above photograph of the fireworks.  This was a 3.2” photograph at f9 and ISO 100.  No noise.  No shake since I had the camera on a tripod shooting with an intervalometer.  I can attach all the adapters I need to.  It is essentially the perfect camera for me.

I am a stock photographer

No weddings. No portraits.  No family shots.  Only landscapes of nature and wildlife.  With my Sony RX100 Mark VII and my 2018 Apple iPad Pro.  No huge cameras.  No heavy laptops.  If I need to get closer to something, I walk towards it.  If I need to be farther away from subject, I walk away from it.  Easy as that.  I enjoy my independence.  I would rather be in my car with my camera driving to somewhere new.  Photograph something new.  Experience something new.

I honestly don’t need the latest and greatest anymore.  I am truly happy with what I have.  I have the best camera.  I have the best computer.  Why?  They are always with me.  I have decided to just do photography and shoot footage with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  High quality photography and high quality 1080p video.  4K files are way too big and take too much time to process.  The 2018 Apple iPad Pro just flies through 1080p footage.  I keep learning about the iPadOS everyday.  Learn something new with it.

April 2020, I have decided to move to Calgary and be near the mountains.  I want to pay off my debt and just live simply.  That is my goal.

Just an update

I have a huge conundrum right now.  I have the Sony RX100 Mark VI and the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  They are both my primary cameras for my stock photography and landscape photography business.  I want to move away from the I.T business and do the photography business full time.  I started this I.T contract just over a month ago.  I know I’m not getting extended past December 31st of this year.  Our apartment lease is done at the end of March 2020.  At that point I want to move to Calgary to be closer to the mountains, nature and wildlife.  I am currently saving all my money for a Sony A7RII camera body, lens, battery grip.  I figure it’s going to cost me about $4500 for the camera, lens, battery grip combo.  I think the Sony A7RII is more of a professional camera setup.  Since I shoot majority stock which only requires a 5 megapixel resolution sensor.  The Sony A7RII has a 42.4 megapixel full frame sensor.  I think I would only print 13” by 19” if I choose to get back into printing my photography.  The Sony RX100 Mark VI and VII are good enough to print 13” by 19” prints.  I’m currently planning a YouTube channel as well to market my photography.  I don’t do the Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat etc marketing since I can’t stand Facebook and all its scary privacy breaches.

For me, it’s not the equipment that matters.  I’m more worried about the perception. The Sony RX100 line of cameras are awesome cameras for travel photography and videography.  If people see the Sony RX100 Mark VII in the field used for landscape photography versus a Sony A7RII camera with a Sony 24-240MM lens, they’re more likely to perceive better quality coming out of the bigger Sony A7RII camera.  I have until March 31, 2020 to think about my conundrum.  I love the portability of the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  It allows me to take excellent photos and videos as does the Sony A7RII camera.  I just wish my photography would sell better.

As you can probably tell, I have extreme doubt about my abilities to take this on full time.  I just don’t know if I can make it.

Adobe Stock

So after a few years of avoiding the website, I am on the Adobe Stock site.  My portfolio is very small as I just started uploading there this week.  I will be working over the next 2-3 months in adding more photos and videos to the site.  I’ll be going out more on weekends doing more of my photography.  I need to add more photos and videos to my Shutterstock, Pond5, Storyblocks and now Adobe Stock portfolios.  I just want to give people more options to buy my photography and my videos.  You can also go to my own personal website and buy photos there to hang on any wall at home or office.

I wanted to go do some photography after work but it looks like we’re going to get rained on starting today and ending at some point tomorrow.  This weekend, the girlfriend and I are heading down to Lake Placid, New York.  She’s never been and I haven’t been in about 3-4 years.  The fall colours are amazing this year in the north east of Canada and the United States.  Hope you will buy some of my prints.

Fireworks with the Sony RX100 Mark VII

Used some Sony software to edit these shots of the fireworks I took on August 21, 2019 with the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  I've uploaded them to all my portfolios such as Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks.  Hopefully they'll be approved soon and will be available for sale.  It was windy that night so all the fireworks were being blown to our left.  It added to the perspective for sure.

I finally did it

Afte Sony lifted its embargo on the Sony RX100 Mark VII sales in Canada, I was actually the first in Ottawa to get the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  At least at the Henry’s location on Bank Street.  I traded in my Sony a7ii full frame DSLR along with the f3.5-6.3 24-240MM lens, the Sony battery grip and my Canon Vixia HF G40 camcorder.  I bought the necessary Sony grip for it since the Sony RX100 Mark VII is very smooth to hold onto.  The grip is very necessary.  I still want to get the Lensmate filter adapter along with the three filters.  I already bought an external mic for $28 for it.  The external mic is very compact which is very good.  Makes the whole setup compact.  This weekend I have to look for my mic bracket that I bought last year before we moved.  I think it got lost somewhere in the move.  The bracket was about $20.  I found one for $6.95 on Amazon.  I might buy two of those.  One for my Sony RX100 and one for my Canon Vixia HF R800.  I’ll have to find them again on Amazon.

I am so glad I got the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  It’s the perfect camera for me.  Shoots 20.1 megapixel still and also shoots 4K/30fps.  I wish it shot 4K/60fps but 30fps is just fine.  For my wildlife footage, I’ll more than likely be using the Canon Vixia HF R800.  If and when we decide to go on trip to Europe, I’ll just bring my Joby tripod and the Sony RX100 Mark VII.  Shoot 4K footage with that setup.  I already have a good tripod that I’ve have for about a dozen or so years.  It has worked out well for me.  I can’t wait to take the Sony RX100 Mark VII on its first photography run.  I am just so excited to go out with it and test it out.

I haven’t been to Parc Omega in about 2 months or so just because of the oppressive heat that we’ve had.  I’m pretty sure the animals would be hiding in the forest.  I’ll probably start going again in late September or October when the temperature cools down a bit and the leafs start changing colours.  We’ll have to go to Algonquin Park again as well.  Tomorrow night, the Casino Sound of Lights occurs again.   So we’ll be going.  We’ll have to go to the Parliament buildings at night as well to catch the light show which is displayed on Centre Block.  I haven’t seen that in over three years now.

I am definitely getting the Sony RX100 Mark VII

I am definitely purchasing the Sony RX100 Mark VII when it comes out.  I keep using just the Sony RX100 Mark VI for all of photography and footage.  I want the Sony RX100 Mark VII for the audio jack and the better focusing software and hardware.  The only downside of this excellent little camera is the battery life now but I already have multiple batteries for the RX100 series so that should not be any issue.

I want to pair the Sony RX100 Mark VII with my 2018 Apple iPad Pro with the 12.9” screen and 512GB hard drive.  Once Apple iPadOS comes out next month, I will definitely not need a physical computer, either a tower or laptop.  Having USB-C on the iPad Pro, I’ve already purchased a hub with another USB-C port, 2 USB-A ports and this hub can charge the iPad Pro as well.  It’ll be the one dongle life.  I can pack everything into a slim laptop bag I got last year.  I can carry my Sony camera, Apple iPad Pro and the Canon Vixia HF R800 and I won’t have to worry about the weight of all the equipment while travelling.

As for what’s going to be connected to my 2018 Apple iPad Pro will be a 4TB hard drive and my Blue Yeti Mic.  I have the Apple AirPods v2 connected via Bluetooth.  I can connect wired AirPods to the the Blue Yeti Mic to monitor the volume for when I start the podcasts.  I think this will be the best setup a mobile photographer/videographer/podcasted can have.  

I just wish Apple would release Final Cut Pro X for the Apple iPad and Audacity would release their software for recording audio.  That would be an excellent setup.

This weekend is the August long weekend here in Ontario, so we are heading down to Sandbanks Provincial Park which is located between Kingston and Belleville, Ontario.  I’ll be taking the Sony RX100 Mark VI and my DJI Spark.  I’m not planning to do a whole lot of pro photography but I am planning to do some.  The girlfriend and I decided to sleep in the rear of the vehicle.  I bought an air mattress along with some sleeping bags.  It’ll be the first time we sleep in the 2018 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport AWD.  We’ll be staying at the Flying J truck stop in Napanee, ON.  Access to bathrooms and close to restaurants for that early morning breakfast.  Then off to the beaches of Sandbanks P.P. 

An update on the Sony RX100 Mark VII

I honestly don’t use my Canon Vixia HF G40 camcorder anymore.  I think I’ve used it twice this year.  I hardly use my Sony a7ii with the battery grip and the Sony f3.5-6.4 24-240MM lens.  Whenever I go out shooting, I use the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  I don’t do any astrophotography anymore.  I hardly go to Parc Omega anymore because I think the park has been pretty much ruined for photographers.  It’s also pricey at $35CAD per person, per visit.  I still go once in a blue moon.  I’ve gone I think twice or three times these past few months.  The weather has been horrible this spring and summer.  We went directly from a cold winter to the warmest summer on record.  All the animals would hide in the forest.  I honestly like going in the fall and winter anyways because the animals are more active.

The Sony RX100 Mark VI and the Sony RX100 VII have the same f2.8-4.5 24-200MM lens which is actually fantastic for a point and shoot pocket camera.  I can use it for wildlife and landscape photography.  They both have pretty much the same 20.1 megapixel sensor.  Depending on edits, I can get 18-33 megabytes files out of each RAW file.  They both shoot fantastic 4K videos and the Sony RX100 Mark VII can shoot up to an hour of 4K footage before the battery dies on it.  That’s according to reviewers on YouTube.  The Sony RX100 Mark VII finally comes with a mic jack so that you can attach a microphone to it.  I don’t use the camera for vlogging because I don’t do vlogs at all.  I just shoot 5 second to 60 seconds video clips and publish them to my portfolios on Shutterstock, Pond5 and Storyblocks which are all available on the home page of this blog.

Yes the Sony a7ii and theCanon Vixia HF G40 are more professional equipment.  But if they’re sitting here unused, they are costing me money.  I do a lot of travelling and a lot of walking.  Especially downtown or local walking trails where I look for animals to photograph and take videos of.  Carrying around huge camera bodies and lenses.  I’d rather carry around the Sony RX100 VI or the VII in my hand or in my pocket.  I like the anonymity of the Sony RX100 line of cameras.  I’ll probably switch back and forth on this over the coming weeks but in all likelyhood, I will trade in the pro gear for the Sony RX100 VII when it come out in a few weeks.

Sony RX100 Mark VII

So I have decided to keep pretty much all my equipment except the Sony RX100 Mark VI.  Not that there’s anything wrong with my Sony RX100 Mark VI.  It’s a very capable camera.  Physically there is nothing wrong with the camera at all.  No scratches or dents.  The body is as awesome when I bought it a few months back earlier this year.  I am going to go to the camera shop where I bought it because they have a 50% trade in policy towards a new purchase.  So I’ll get about $800 back and I’ll only have to spend another $800 for the Sony RX100 Mark VII body.  I’ll get the usual accessories like the battery grip and the necessary lens adapters so I can attach the necessary filters to the camera.  

I have made several nice sales on Shutterstock this month including a whopping $1.50US for a video today.  But I sold a few photos for over $20 a piece and a few videos for $25+.  I have a big decision to make by 6am tomorrow.  Do I cash out my photography earnings by tomorrow and put it against the purchase of a new Sony RX100 Mark VII or wait another month before buying the camera?  The camera doesn’t come out for a few more weeks so I have time.  And I still love using the Mark VI.  So you know what I’ll be doing.