All posts by BastianK

My name is Bastian and for many years I have been mostly shooting Nikon DSLRs. As of today I have made my transition from Nikon to Sony and I am mainly using small but capable manual lenses. My passion is landscape photography but I also like to delve into other subjects from time to time.
Accesories, Review

Review: PocketPano Vario XL panorama adapter

20 Comments

Introduction

Sony A7s | Sony FE 55mm 1.8 ZA | f/1.8 | ISO6400 | 13s | panorama from 14 shots

A panorama adapter can be a great addition to your kit, as it allows you to create shots with a wider field of view (up to 360° panoramas) and also vastly improves the image quality in any of your shots (e.g. in astrophotography). Unfortunately most pano adapters are either bulky and heavy, very expensive or cheaply made junk. A compact yet affordable and at the same time sturdy pano adapter was missing so far and pocketPANO tries to fill this gap. Let us find out if they managed to succeed!

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lenses, Sony E-mount

Review: Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM

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Introduction

Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM gmaster portrait bokeh sharpness a7rII a7rm3 a7riii 42mp review
Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM on Sony A7rII

Jannik already performed a thorough comparison between this lens and Sony’s cheaper FE 85mm 1.8, but a single review was somewhat missing so far. Here it finally is!

Sample Images

Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM gmaster portrait bokeh sharpness a7rII a7rm3 a7riii 42mp review
Sony A7rII | Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM | f/5.6
Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM gmaster portrait bokeh sharpness a7rII a7rm3 a7riii 42mp review flare gegenlicht contralight backlit backlight
Sony A7rII | Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM | f/1.4
Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM gmaster portrait bokeh sharpness a7rII a7rm3 a7riii 42mp review
Sony A7rII | Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM | f/1.4
Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM gmaster portrait bokeh sharpness a7rII a7rm3 a7riii 42mp review flare gegenlicht contralight backlit backlight uv light ultraviolet
Sony A7rII | Sony FE 85mm 1.4 GM | f/1.4

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photography, The creative process, Uncategorized

The best lenses for Brenizer / Bokehpanoramas

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Introduction

bokeh panorama bokehpanorama brenizer bokehrama mechanical vignetting guide review
Sony A7s | Canon EF 135mm 2.0L | 55m f/0.81 equivalent

Brenizer or Bokehpanorama is a panorama technique to get a wide angle shot with the much better bokeh of a longer tele lens. In this article I will show you what it is all about and which lenses work best.

What is a Brenizer/Bokehpanorama?

bokeh panorama bokehpanorama brenizer bokehrama mechanical vignetting guide review
4×9 single shots before stitching in Microsoft Image Composite Editor

By using longer lenses and taking a panorama you can simulate the look of fictional, wider, very fast lenses that are not even technically possible to build.

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Uncategorized

Best Astro-Photography Lenses for the Sony a7 series

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Introduction

Sony A7s | Batis 18mm 2.8 | f/2.8 | ISO6400 | 20s

Landscape astrophotography is something I have been doing for several years with my Sony a7S and a7rII (and D800 before). Luckily over the past few years many lenses have been released that make this task easier than ever. So today we are going to have a look at all the available lenses for your Sony so you can choose the one that works best for your needs.

What is landscape astrophotography?

Sony A7s | Nikon AF-S 20mm 1.8G | f/1.8 | 3 shot panorama |

In landscape astrophotography you will usually try to have a combination of the starry sky (with Milky Way or Northern Lights) as well as some foreground (e.g. landscape) in your frame so we are mostly looking at ultra wide to normal lenses (for stitching) here.

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lenses, Uncategorized

Review: Carl Zeiss Jena 109mm 1.6 Visionar

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Introduction

projection lens projector cinema carl zeiss jena czj row rathenower optische werke kino 109mm 1.6
Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm 1.6 modified to Canon EF on Sony A7rII

The Visionar 109mm 1.6 is a cinema projector lens from Carl Zeiss Jena which was made in the GDR. These projector lenses are often very fast and cheap, but they also come with a few downsides. This is the first projector lens we will review at this blog, so find out if there is still a place for these today.

Sample Images

projection lens projector cinema carl zeiss jena czj row rathenower optische werke kino 109mm 1.6
Sony A7rII | Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm 1.6 | f/1.6
projection lens projector cinema carl zeiss jena czj row rathenower optische werke kino 109mm 1.6
Sony A7rII | Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm 1.6 | f/1.6
projection lens projector cinema carl zeiss jena czj row rathenower optische werke kino 109mm 1.6
Sony A7rII | Carl Zeiss Jena Visionar 109mm 1.6 | f/1.6

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