Lens: Sony e-mount 16mm f2.8 with fisheye adapter
Camera: NEX-7, ISO800, f3.2, 1/60, vivid
First things first: thanks so much to Valeria and Daniele for choosing us to shoot their wedding and for being such sweet people. Big hugs and best of luck to you, guys!
The NEX-7 found its way to be used at weddings as a small, lightweight, fisheye camera. You never know when a “fisheye moment” could happen, and having such a camera at hand is very convenient. Considering that a in a weeding day I usually spend 10 hours weight-lifting at least 3kg of fullframe dslr with 24-70 f2.8 and a battery-pack, the extra load of carrying around the fisheye-NEX-7 is almost non-existent. And its being so small and inconspicuous makes it possible to shoot at very short distance from the subjects without having them freeze in front of the camera. Like in this shot: I heard the sound of tipsy guests singing old songs along with uncertain piano lines while I was out shooting the last portraits and details (with the bulky dslr). When I reached the “crime scene” I knew I couldn’t point the big camera at those people without ruining the mood. So I walked behind the piano, kind of hiding my self back there, and I put the fisheye-camera above my head, peeking at the swivel screen to compose the scene. I wanted to get everything in the scene, from the hands of the player(s) over the keyboard to the tipsy crowd dancing, singing, and drinking all around. And here it is.
Really fantastic shot. I'm still waiting on my NEX-7 but I'm enjoying your shots. You do very nice work. What do you use for post-processing primarily?
Hey Jeff, thank a lot for posting such a kind comment on this blog.
I use Apple Aperture for storing, organizing, post-processing, and publishing all of my shots.
I am sure you'll love your NEX-7, just be sure to use nice lenses on it 🙂
Thanks. I like a lot of the shots you've taken with that Voigtlander color-skopar 35mm f2.5. Might consider selling off the kit lens to get that instead. I also have a number of Nikon lenses I will be trying out with it as well as possibly getting the 16mm and fisheye adapter.
Keep up the good work!
the color-skopar 35mm is an amazing little lens and it fits perfectly the NEX-7. The 16mm is not such a good lens, I own it from my NEX-3 kit and I recently equipped it with the fisheye adapter because it is cheap. However, if you are strictly interested in the fisheye, I would look to other options too, such as the rokinon 8mm or other third party lenses. I am sure you'll have fun with the Nikon lenses too, I have it with my minolta ones 🙂
Yes, I've heard a lot of complaints about the 16mm, but still seen some pretty good results. The thing is, I'd still like to get something that keeps the camera as small as possible for when I just want to have it with me in a jacket pocket. And while I'm eager to check out how the manual assist works, I think it would be nice to have that small lens be capable of autofocus. Do you use or have the 18-55 e mount at all? I hear mixed things on that alao. I ordered the kit mostly to check it out and because I figured I'd still come out ahead if I decide to resell it.
The 16mm is a crappy lens with some personality. At least on the NEX-3. You can see all the shots I've taken with that lens here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7metersundersea/tags/16mm/
It currently is the most compact AF lens available for the NEX system and I've got it in kit with the NEX-3. If you stop it down to f11 it starts being OK, but wider than that corners are going to be messed up. But, as I said, with personality, kind of a lomo-lens.
I don't have the 18-55, and I never did, so I can't give you any advice about it. But as far as I read it is not at the level of the NEX-7 at all, so you wouldn't get the quality that the camera can provide by using it. Surely you can resell it if you don't like it, especially if you are getting the black version which come solely with the NEX-7.