Viewing entries tagged
canon 200mm f/2.8

Using the Sigma MC-11 Adapter with Sigma and Canon Lenses

December 19, 2016

I get lots of questions about the adapted lenses that I use. Should I use the Sigma MC-11 Adapter or the Metabones Adapter? Well recently I had the opportunity to shoot with the MC-11 Adapter during my commercial shoot for Mia Bella Couture.

First I used the 20mm f/1.4 Art lens that I was really excited to try. It's the fastest aperture wide angle lens on the market that also does Auto Focus. It's a canon mount lens made by Sigma and I have to say...it is truly a nice lens. Very sharp and when paired with the MC-11 Adapter it behaves as close to a native Sony FE lens that you will find. Below are some of the shots taken with the 20mm Art lens on my Sony A7Rii. All shots were taken at f/1.4:

I then wanted to get some shots a little bit tighter so I put the 85mm Canon L lens on it and shot it wide open at f/1.2. The adapter performed at the same level as the Metabones adapter which was really nice to see. Below are shots taken with the 85mm:

The sun was close to being all the way set so I quickly put on the 200mm Canon L lens which also performed very well. These were all taken at f/2.8:

All in all it was a great shoot and the MC11 performed very well. Please take a moment to check out the video to see how the shoot went. Flash was the Flashpoint Xplor600 with the Westcott Rapid Box XL as the modifier. For links to the gear that was used please see below:

*Sony A7Rii-

*Sigma MC11 Adapter-

*Sigma 20mm f/1.4 lens-

*Canon 85mm f/1.2 lens-

*Canon 200mm f/2.8 lens-

*Flashpoint Xplor600 monolight-

*Westcott Rapid Box XL-

Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. I truly hope the information is useful. Please click on subscribe so you're notified everytime we have a new blog post...:)

Thanks!

Jason

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Wedding Bridals in Balboa Park

December 15, 2016

So in my career I've shot 250+ weddings all over the world. In recent years my wedding workload has diminished quite a bit due to picking up commercial work along with my teaching and speaking schedule. But when I got the opportunity to do a commercial shoot with Mia Bella Couture shooting wedding gowns, it took me right back to my roots as a wedding photographer.

We went down to Balboa Park in San Diego which is an absolutely beautiful location. Using a reflector and the Flashpoint Xplor 600 I started shooting with my Sony A7Rii and the Canon 200mm f/2.8.

My mail goal with this shoot was to create a very light, bright, romantic type of a shoot. The model was Daryl Rene and she did a truly fantastic job in helping me create these shots. The mood of the shoot was created by the combination of using the off camera flash with a beauty dish on it (the Westcott Rapid Box XL) and the reflector on the other side. It should be noted that this shoot took place at around 1pm on a day where the lighting was very harsh, so controlling the light by overpowering the sun was crucial.

Below are some of the shots created by using this lighting set up under a row or lattice work and columns in Balboa Park;

We then tried something new and I fired the Flashpoint through the Scrim Jim just to see what effect it would give. The thought was in essence to create a giant outdoor softbox. I thought the shots came out pretty cool and created some very soft light. You can see these shots below:

It was a really great shoot and I hope you take a moment to watch the video as well so you can see how these were created. A big thanks to Mia Bella Couture for hiring me to do the commercial shoot. If you'd like to get in contact with us for wedding or commercial photography please contact me at jason@jlpros.com.

**Links to Gear:

*Sony A7Rii-

*Metabones Mark 4 Adapter-

*Canon 200mm f/2.8 lens-

*Westcott Scrim Jim-

*Westcott Rapid Box XL-

*Flashpoint Xplor 600-

Thanks!

Jason

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Commercial Photography Photo Shoot and Workshop for Mia Bella Couture by Jason Lanier

November 29, 2016

Recently I had the opportunity to do a commercial photo shoot for a beautiful gown company called Mia Bella Couture. When they first contacted me to do the shoot they knew that I sometimes allowed some of my followers to attend my shoots as part of a workshop and asked if I'd be interested in doing so with them. I thought it would work out well so we booked the shoot.

When we got to the shoot down in San Diego it was truly awesome. This is a shoot that you truly have to watch the video to see how we handled it. We started off the day at 11am and my clients wanted to shoot in a specific location that was beautiful, but given the time of the day it was not ideal for lighting. So we had to bring out a ton of diffusers and reflectors to make the lighting work.

This shoot was done using the Flasphpoint Xplor600 with a bunch of different gear that is showcased in the video. This is just Part 1 of the shoot as we crammed so much into one day that I needed to break up the videos to show it all.

A big thank you to the beautiful models Lauren Lebouef and Tiffany Brock as well as Daryl Rene for the amazing work with Hair and Make Up.

I hope you all enjoy the video and I can't wait to share the other parts of the shoot with you as well. Beautiful gowns, gorgeous models, and my team all came together to make it a tremendous shoot.

**Links to Gear:

*Sony A7Rii-

*Canon 200mm f/2.8-

*Metabones Mark 4 Adapter-

*Flashpoint Xplor600-

*Westcott Rapid Box XL-

*Westcott 8x8 Scrim Jim-

Below are some images from the shoot taken with my Sony A7Rii and the Canon 200mm f/2.8 lens using the Metabones Mark 4 Adapter. Stay tuned for Part 2!!!

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200mm Lens Aperture Challenge- f/1.8 vs. f/2.8 using Canon L glass. Does it make a difference?

November 20, 2016

So I've been lens hunting lately...quite a bit actually. I own a ton of Sony native glass and since I'm a big believer in adapting glass to my Sony mirrorless system, I've been adding Canon L glass to my cupboard so to speak.

I picked up the Canon 200mm f/2.8 about a month ago and really loved it from the start. For a 200mm it's light, easy to use, performs very well, and cranks out some KILLER shots. I was in love.

I then found out about the Holy Grail lens. The big boy. The one we've nicknamed as "Jaws" because it's a great big white shark of a lens. I already had the Canon 200mm f/2.8, so spending the money on "Jaws" was difficult to justify. Do I spend thousands of dollars just to get that tiny difference between f/1.8 and f/2.8?

I searched online and couldn't find any videos that showed the difference between the two lenses. I looked at countless pictures that the two lenses rendered looking for the subtle differences between the two. I still was a little hesitant.

But then I put it out to my followers on my Facebook Group and I asked my Canon shooters what their thoughts were....well, they told me the Holy Grails lens (F/1.8) was indeed a legendary lens.

So I got it. I went up to San Francisco and did a shoot at the ruins of the Sutro Baths. I wanted to put out the information to the photography world that I couldn't find. I wanted to show them what I was searching for...and had to spend a LOT of money to find out. Was the difference in the background rendering between f/1.8 and f/2.8 really that much? Did it really make a difference int the shots?

Hell Yeah it did! If I'd never used the f/1.8 I'd still be madly in love with the performance of the f/2.8. But once you see the comparison between the two, it's pretty obvious that f/1.8 really does make a difference compared to f/2.8. Especially when you combine the compression factor of a 200mm lens.

I've included a video of my experience and images below. I hope it helps you all out there!

--Links to Gear:

*Sony A7Rii-

*Canon 200mm f/2.8-

*Metabones Mark 4 Adapter-

*Canon 200mm f/1.8- sorry this lens is no longer sold. The closest equivalent lens is the Canon 200mm f/2. A link for that lens is shown below:

*Canon 200mm f/2-