A new digital camera

by Posted in Sony A7IV Leave a comment
sonyA7IV-1

Actually it’s the first brand new camera that I’ve bought in over 10 years. I recently sold some property and I promised myself that after the sale was complete I would treat myself to a new (rather than the used cameras I’ve been buying of late) camera. After my usual tortured selection process I ended up with a Sony A7IV (seen above with a Samyang 45mm f1.8 lens). I bought it soon after it came out in December, 2021.

Camera type: Full-frame mirrorless
Announced: 21st October 2021
Sensor: 33Mp full frame (35.9 x 24.0mm) BSI Exmor R CMOS sensor
Lens mount: FE
Sensitivity range: Stills: ISO 100-51,200 (expandable to ISO 50 to ISO 204,800), Video: ISO ISO 100-51,200 (expandable to ISO 100-102,400)
Still Image format: Jpeg, HEIF, raw (Sony ARW 4.0)
Video format & compression: XAVC S: MPEG-4 AVC/H.264, XAVC HS: MPEG-H HEVC/H.265
4K Video (XAVC HS): 3840 x 2160 (4:2:0, 10bit, NTSC): 60p (150 Mbps / 75 Mbps / 45 Mbps), 24p (100 Mbps / 50 Mbps / 30 Mbps), 3840 x 2160 (4:2:0, 10bit, PAL): 50p (150 Mbps / 75 Mbps / 45 Mbps), 3840 x 2160 (4:2:2, 10bit, NTSC): 60p (200 Mbps / 100 Mbps), 24p (100 Mbps / 50 Mbps), 3840 x 2160 (4:2:2, 10bit, PAL): 50p (200 Mbps / 100 Mbps)
4K Video (XAVC S): 3840 x 2160 (4:2:0, 8bit, NTSC): 60p (150 Mbps), 30p (100 Mbps / 60 Mbps), 24p (100 Mbps / 60 Mbps), 3840 x 2160 (4:2:0, 8bit, PAL): 50p (150 Mbps)5, 25p (100 Mbps / 60 Mbps), 3840 x 2160 (4:2:2, 10bit, NTSC): 60p (200 Mbps)56, 30p (140 Mbps), 24p (100 Mbps), 3840 x 2160 (4:2:2, 10bit, PAL): 50p (200 Mbps)5, 25p (140 Mbps)
4K Video (XAVC S-I): 3840 x 2160 (4:2:2, 10bit, NTSC): 60p (600 Mbps)56, 30p (300 Mbps)6, 24p (240 Mbps), 3840 x 2160 (4:2:2, 10bit, PAL): 50p (500 Mbps)5, 25p (250 Mbps)
Movie functions: Audio Level Display, Audio Rec Level, PAL/NTSC Selector, Proxy Recording (1280 x 720 (Approx. 6 Mbps), 1920 x 1080 (Approx. 9 Mbps), 1920 x 1080 (Approx. 16 Mbps)), TC/UB, Auto Slow Shutter, Gamma Disp. Assist
Autofocus system: Hybrid AF with 759 phase detection points and 425 contrast detection points, Still images: Human (Right/Left Eye Select) / Animal (Right/Left Eye Select) / Bird, Movie: Human (Right/Left Eye Select), sensitive down to -4EV
Maximum continuous shooting rate: 10fps
Viewfinder: 0.5-inch 3,686,400-dot EVF with 100% coverage and up to 0.78x magnification
Screen: 3-inch 1,036,800-dot vari-angletouchscreen
Image stabilisation: 5-axis giving up to 5.5EV compensation
Storage: Dual: 1: SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I/II) & CFexpress Type A slot, 2: SD/SDHC/SDXC (UHS-I/II)
Battery: NP-FZ100 rechargeable Li-ion battery giving 610 images with the screen
Dimensions (WxHxD): 131.3 x 96.4 x 79.8mm / 5 1/4 x 3 7/8 x 3 1/4 inches
Weight (including battery & memory card): 658g / 1 lb 7.3 oz

There’s a good review of it here.

I’m very pleased with my purchase. For some pictures taken with this camera and a variety of lenses see here.

Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 50mm f2.8 Macro lens

Another Spider

by Posted in Wildlife & Animals Leave a comment
anothspider-1

I came across this little beast last weekend. At first I was a little concerned. I thought it was a brown recluse, which would have been a concern because along with the black widows it’s the only seriously venomous spider in the US. I was once bitten by a spider, which produced a painful, necrotic sore that took some time to heal. At the time my wife had been visiting South Africa quite a bit, and I thought that she had perhaps brought back a poisonous spider in her luggage (I found a picture of a South African spider that looked very much like the one that had bitten me). I have since begun to wonder if it might not have a been a brown recluse.

However, on further consideration I no longer think the spider above is a brown recluse. It doesn’t seem to have the typical brown recluse markings on the dorsal side of its cephalothorax: a black line coming from it that looks like a violin with the neck of the violin pointing to the rear of the spider, resulting in the nicknames fiddleback spider, brown fiddler, or violin spider. And the eyes don’t look right for a brown recluse. Also the abdomen of a brown recluse looks longer, almost tubular where this one has a more globe like abdomen.

I don’t really know what it is. Maybe a common house spider? Or some kind of orb weaver?

Taken with a Sony A77II and Minolta 50mm f2.8 Macro lens