Latest / The Photography & Video Show Podcast / 3: Hybrid shooting with Alice Greenfield, Global Birdfair, Stable Diffusion XL, Sony A6700 deep dive

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3: Hybrid shooting with Alice Greenfield, Global Birdfair, Stable Diffusion XL, Sony A6700 deep dive · The Photography & Video Show Podcast

• 0:10
  David McClelland: Hello and welcome to the Photography and Video Show Podcast episode number three for August 2023.
• 0:20
  David McClelland: My name's David McClelland, and once again I'm joined by guests from all around the imaging world to chat about what's new, what's interesting, what's intriguing in photo and video.
• 0:32
  David McClelland: Now in our last show, we went pretty deep into AI imaging, including a chat with Boris Elderston about the controversy around his image, the electrician.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And immediately just was pulled in.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: When you start, for many people, it becomes a kind of addiction.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's a new way of producing images.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's fascinating.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you are in this kind of like God mode where you can use words to create things.
• 1:04
  David McClelland: Hannah Rook from Digital Camera World also joined us to talk about AI photography workflows.
• 1:09
  David McClelland: If you missed it, then well quite frankly, you missed out.
• 1:12
  David McClelland: So find it wherever you found this.
• 1:17
  David McClelland: But in this episode, we're going a bit hybrid, speaking with filmmaker and photographer Alice Greenfield about what it's like to balance shooting both still and moving pictures.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_01: Well I would define what a hybrid shooter is, it's someone that can use both mediums as storytelling devices to really create a more meaningful message.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I would say.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_01: Like realistically, what it is is someone that can operate a photography camera that can do video and vice versa.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people now are hybrid shooters in response to the way the industry's going, but I feel like I've always been one.
• 1:55
  David McClelland: But first to chat through this month's news, I'm joined by photography and filmmaking know it all.
• 2:01
  David McClelland: I don't think that's his official title from Sony, Mark Baber.
• 2:04
  David McClelland: Welcome to the show, Mark.
• 2:05
  David McClelland: Hi David, thanks very much.
• 2:07
  David McClelland: Great to be here.
• 2:08
  David McClelland: What is your official title at Sony?
• 2:10
  David McClelland: Just to get the lawyers out of the way.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's event and content marketing manager.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_03: So I manage and look after the ambassador program in the UK and Ireland for Sony in what we call the photo channel.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_03: And that's everything to do with cameras and lenses and everything to do with photography and filmmaking, content creation.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_03: And I also manage, create, and deliver all the consumer events for Sony in the UK and Ireland.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_03: And one of the biggest events we obviously work with in the industry is the photography show.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_03: And we're already well ahead of planning with that at the moment.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_03: So we're very busy at the moment.
• 2:44
  David McClelland: And the photography show is, I'm sure, where I've seen you more than anywhere else over the years.
• 2:50
  David McClelland: And before that, you were photographing, doing the creative thing, as I'm sure you still do.
• 2:55
  David McClelland: But speaking of events, Mark, something happened last month that I'd I'm not gonna lie, I'd never heard of before, yet all of a sudden it seemed that everybody I knew, either in the nature and conservation world or in the photography and video world, were there.
• 3:11
  David McClelland: This is Global Bird Fair, and I know you were there as well.
• 3:15
  David McClelland: Tell me what is Global Bird Fair?
• 3:17
  David McClelland: I guess the title is fairly self-explanatory, but but why is it such a big event for the creative industry?
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, it's a big event.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_03: Previously it was the Bird Fair held in Oakham, Rutland Water, on a massive scale.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_03: And when COVID hit, as we know, everything changed.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_03: And the organizers of the Bird Fair, Tim Appleton, came back with the Global Bird Fair on a smaller scale.
• 3:40
  SPEAKER_03: And as soon as we knew that was happening, it was one of those events in the calendar that we had a, you know, as well as the photography show, had a great opportunity to meet and talk to like-minded photographers, filmmakers on a on a big scale, but really dedicated towards wildlife.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_03: You see a lot of companies coming over from all different parts of the world to talk about what they're doing from a conservation perspective and guides and holidays and all those different things.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_03: So you then have retailers there and sponsors, and then brands, manufacturers, camera brands.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_03: So there's a huge amount of camera manufacturers and optic manufacturers there to show their products and uh showcase all their technology.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_03: So something actually Sony never really engaged in the past.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_03: And when I joined Sony from Panasonic many, many years ago, I felt it was an opportunity for Sony to attend.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_03: And we'd grown with the show and the organizers, and we are now one of the sponsors where we have a platform to talk to customers about our new cameras and lenses and so on, but also to test all the technology.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a key event in the calendar for us, and likewise with other other manufacturers.
• 4:40
  David McClelland: And I guess just the nature of taking photographs of wild birds, this is the kind of use cases that really put camera equipment, whether it's the camera bodies or the lenses, autofocus systems, and indeed the skills of the photographers, it's one of the ultimate tests for them, isn't it?
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_03: In terms of what the common things that people talk to us about when they're there, autofocus speed, ISO performance, low light, and and as we're seeing with a lot of consumer events, and the way our product category has changed actually over the last few years, more people moving to video.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_03: They're not afraid of the red button.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_03: And this is a very traditional uh and the rest that goes with that, obviously, but there are more and more people creating content in all different genres of photography, and and this dedicated to wildlife is one of them.
• 5:27
  David McClelland: And Brutland Water is but a hop, skip, and a jump from where I am in the East Method House.
• 5:31
  David McClelland: It's a beautiful, beautiful place.
• 5:33
  David McClelland: Used to go there on school trips as well as a child.
• 5:35
  David McClelland: So yeah, hopefully I'll I'll make it uh over there next year.
• 5:40
  David McClelland: Um but for now, how about what we dive into some of this month's news?
• 5:44
  David McClelland: It's the summer, although I don't think it was particularly summery at Global Bird Fair.
• 5:49
  David McClelland: Some call it the city season, some call it the news desert, but there have been plenty of interesting news nuggets dropping this month.
• 5:56
  David McClelland: Let's sift through some of them right now.
• 5:59
  David McClelland: Something we can't ignore, of course, is major new camera and lens launches from you guys at Sony, the A6700 and the 70 to 200mm F4G2.
• 6:09
  David McClelland: If it's okay with you though, Mark, we'll save that for part three of the show.
• 6:13
  David McClelland: Instead, let's follow up on an item that we covered fairly extensively last month, which is all around AI imaging.
• 6:20
  David McClelland: Now, uh I teased a little bit about what we spoke about with Boris L.
• 6:24
  David McClelland: Dagson earlier, but even in the last few weeks, this whole thing's moving so quickly at the moment.
• 6:30
  David McClelland: Some of the best known tools that anyone who's curious, as well as those who are beginning to use this stuff professionally, uh, these tools for AI imaging are being given some pretty major spec bumps.
• 6:42
  David McClelland: So, Stability AI, the makers of Stable Diffusion, released Stable Diffusion XL or SDXL 1.0.
• 6:52
  David McClelland: It's next generation AI image synthesis model.
• 6:57
  David McClelland: Stable Diffusion, it's open source, and this is all uh a bit confusing cut coming into it fairly cold.
• 7:03
  David McClelland: Um, but stable diffusion XL, open source, and those who know what they're doing can download it from GitHub and train it on their own data sets to create specific flavors of imagery imagery if they want.
• 7:17
  David McClelland: But it's also available, and this is how I and I think most people have used it so far, uh, you can also use it through consumer-facing apps like Dream Studio.
• 7:26
  David McClelland: As before, it takes in text prompts, turns them into images, but now with even greater detail, higher resolution, fewer words required in your prompts than in previous versions.
• 7:39
  David McClelland: And and this bit's really interesting, I think, the ability to render hands better, and it also has advanced text generation and legibility too.
• 7:49
  David McClelland: Also, images have been leaked online of what we think is DALI 3.
• 7:54
  David McClelland: Now, DALI 2, that's been around for about a year or so, I guess, alongside stable diffusion and also Mid Journey.
• 8:02
  David McClelland: And it was these that really kick-started this generative AI momentum, this uh groundswell bubble, you might call it, but well, I I think it's a bit more than just a bubble.
• 8:13
  David McClelland: Um, so DALI 3, from the images that have been leaked online so far, it seems, uh, it too is also focusing on text generation as one of its big next level ups there.
• 8:25
  David McClelland: Now, I don't know if you've seen this, Mark, but but one of the tells for me, whenever you're looking uh to see whether an image is um well, well, whether it's AI generated in parts or or not, uh it it can't get hands right, can it?
• 8:39
  David McClelland: Fingers, uh, and also any writing, any text, uh you kind of gloss over it when you're looking at an image, but when you go to read it, you realize that it's just an AI garbled mess rather than any actual words.
• 8:53
  David McClelland: And it it's these areas now that tools are really starting to uh refine their output.
• 9:00
  David McClelland: On the one hand, from a creativity point of view, I think that's great.
• 9:03
  David McClelland: On the other hand, for those of us uh, well, like many people are, of course, have concerns about the the lack of control, the ethical issues around this, around not being able to tell whether an image is AI generated or not.
• 9:16
  David McClelland: Maybe this was that these innovations, these latest versions, are where it starts to become even more of a concern.
• 9:24
  David McClelland: Where are you at on this, Mark?
• 9:26
  David McClelland: I mean, clearly it's one of the big topics in the industry at the moment, and it's very exciting from a creativity point of view, but from an ethical, a moral um point of view, the practical concerns around authenticity and so on.
• 9:40
  David McClelland: What what's your take?
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_03: I've got a few views of this.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_03: My personal view, actually, I've dabbled in you know things like Mid Journey, yeah, to to mainly to discover what it's all about.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_03: And I do see a lot of repetitive pictures of people in a futuristic world, you know, of these images.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_03: And and I wonder where what what are people doing with that?
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_03: Is it is it just people experimenting?
• 10:03
  SPEAKER_03: And it probably is.
• 10:04
  SPEAKER_03: Believe me, I haven't tried that.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_03: But having a very basic knowledge of it, what then has come along like a Adobe Photoshop beta with generative feel.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_03: And again, in my very limited knowledge, using that technology to help me, because I've got very limited editing skills, I don't spend a night, I try and get as much as I can writing cameras I can.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_03: But then when I've got something in the background of say recently my son's rugby tournaments had finished, and of course I get asked, Hey Mark, can you bring your cameras and can you help out?
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_03: And I do the team photos and things like that, and give it to the club, and you know, more than happy to do that.
• 10:41
  David McClelland: Get Mark in, he knows about cameras.
• 10:43
  David McClelland: Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_03: The guy that works for that kind of camera company, you know.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_03: Oh, here we go.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_03: I'm here to see my son.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_03: But you you know, you then take it back to editing because it was a dark day, and and and and all lo and behold, in the background is this you know person walking by, and I can spend hours actually, you know, highlighting it and masking it, and eventually, oh, you know, it'll do.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_03: Well, actually not anymore.
• 11:06
  SPEAKER_03: And this is how I've discovered, you know, things like AI in editing software, and it really has helped me.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, I'm influenced by others like we all are, and one person in particular, Glenn Dewis, who's done a huge amount actually of little snippets, so I don't have to sit through 45 minutes, I don't have that time.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_03: So in those little snippets, I can pick up the basics, and it's actually helping me, and I'm only just scratching the surface.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_03: From uh like if I put my event manager hat on, we are asked again asked a lot by customers in terms of you know, well, what's the new camera gonna look like?
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_03: Is it gonna guess what this is?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_03: And you know, I have no idea what the future brings with camera technology, but from a Sony technology perspective, we now have AI processes chips in our cameras.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_03: So the A7R Mark V and the recently A6700 now has all the focus in it called deep learning.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_03: And again, I'm not sure how to explain about that, but effectively, you know, the technology now uses uh AI to identify and analyse, say, a subject like a human, a human body.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_03: It can take in the neck, the arm, the joints now instead of just a head.
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_03: It'll see a subject, and then it'll once it's identified all that, it will then know that it has to improve the consistency and the accuracy of the autofocus.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_03: You know, whether you're a landscape photographer or a wildlife photography, having an AI chip in a you know camera where it's full-frame APSC is there to help you improve something like autofocus.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_03: And yeah, for me, it's not a buzzword, it's definitely something that can enhance photography, but not replace it.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I think that's the worry.
• 12:43
  David McClelland: I I think you're right.
• 12:44
  David McClelland: I think there is a lot of buzzwordery.
• 12:46
  David McClelland: I may have just invented that word.
• 12:47
  David McClelland: Buzzwordery around uh about AI and things that we weren't previously celebrating as AI all of a sudden because the marketing team thinks there's an AI angle on it, then yay, we can call it AI.
• 12:59
  David McClelland: And uh it's interesting you spoke about experimenting with with mid-journey and and the like, and all of the different images that we see, particularly on on Twitter or X or whatever we're supposed to call it these days.
• 13:11
  David McClelland: Lots of really interesting uh streams of people who've created these future kind of scapes with with cats being chased by geese on a Martian surface or whatever.
• 13:22
  David McClelland: For me, they're very much like party tricks at the moment.
• 13:25
  David McClelland: Hey, look what I can create.
• 13:26
  David McClelland: Here's 128 different prompt words that I can create it, you can create it too.
• 13:30
  David McClelland: And that's all great as a means of expression, a means of creativity.
• 13:34
  David McClelland: But really, for for professionals, it comes down to okay, how am I going to use this to do my job?
• 13:41
  David McClelland: You mention Adobe though, of course, uh Adobe Photoshop.
• 13:45
  David McClelland: That has also leveled up in the last few weeks.
• 13:48
  David McClelland: Uh, generative fill, we've all been experimenting with that, but now it's thought outside of the box with generative expand.
• 13:56
  David McClelland: Uh so that lets you to reframe an image, expand an image based upon the original's context.
• 14:03
  David McClelland: Or you can put prompts in there as well.
• 14:05
  David McClelland: So if you just want to uh expand beyond the frame of a thing you took, uh an ice cream van on top of a cliff, and you want it to be on the left third rather than the right third, you can reframe and then say, But I want a flock of seagulls to appear in that right third or something.
• 14:22
  David McClelland: I think that's really, really exciting and comes back to being the practical side of what we can actually do with this AI machine learning, call it what you will stuff to help us really enhance our our creativity, which is what for us this is about.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, and I I I think you you've reminded me actually with it with generative bill.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_03: I went again camping recently with my family and friends, and um there was uh an image on a landscape, and we were stood on a like a big stone slab that fit, I think, nine people.
• 14:57
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, I didn't have a tripod, so I had to take the photograph and I had to think on my feet and think, right, hang on a minute, how am I going to be in this photograph?
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_03: Right, we'll take a f I'll use the corner of that slab to go into the corner of the screen so that it's a marker for I said, when once we took the photograph, I gave the camera to my wife and said, make sure the corner of that slab is in the corner of the screen.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_03: So I then told everybody get off the off the slab, ran onto the slab, positioned myself, it took the photograph, and I thought, right, I'll cut myself out, I'll drop myself in.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_03: I mean it I had some fun with my kids with that, you know, making me look bigger and smaller.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_03: But when I got home and I edited it, I was like, oh, that slab was like had lots of moss on it, and and I thought, well, hang on a minute.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_03: So I did that.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_03: I extended the crop, I then overlapped it with the rectangle, and it re it just added in, and there's no there's no joint.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_03: I mean, even there was a set of keys on the top of the of the slab that it kind of just fitted the rest of it in.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_03: And when I showed the family, they were like, Oh, that's great.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_03: I said, Yeah, but do you recognise the left hand side of the image and also the right-handed?
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_03: What I've done is I've ex then extended it, and they couldn't tell the difference.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_03: They were like, You're kidding me.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_03: So not only did you know I used it deliberately to extend that that slab, but also I now could, you know, just make the composition of the image a bit more pleasing to the eye.
• 16:15
  SPEAKER_03: I don't use it enough.
• 16:17
  SPEAKER_03: Maybe there's people listening say, You shouldn't use it, get it right in camera still, but for me it's it's kind of it will still be an afterthought, but it's there.
• 16:26
  David McClelland: It's funny, I I'm trying to challenge myself because like you, I I do what I do and I've been doing it for a long time, and sometimes there may be other ways of doing things that just haven't occurred to me.
• 16:39
  David McClelland: So I am challenging myself with any process that I do to say, oh, I wonder if there's a way that AI or if there's an AI machine learning tool that could help me to do that.
• 16:50
  David McClelland: And you know, whether it is editing some photos.
• 16:52
  David McClelland: I was editing a video last night for a thing that my daughter's doing around dance, and uh that that there wasn't anything for that that I knew of, but I'm I'm sure there would be.
• 17:03
  David McClelland: But just with this audio for the for the podcast, I'm now using artificial intelligence machine learning tools to help me edit this uh tool like the script, for example.
• 17:13
  David McClelland: I've been using Adobe Audition for for years for all of my audio editing stuff, but actually now that there is an easily accessible tool that does all of the transcription for me, can remove filler words, can remove gaps, can add natural sound all with a click of a button.
• 17:28
  David McClelland: And although I haven't used this, I need to get my own head around this, I can also use it to take a voice print of me, not you, but me as the host and as the subscriber to the service.
• 17:39
  David McClelland: And if I say something wrong, like the number eight instead of the number seven, or I just stick the wrong word in there, it can recreate my correct sentence or my correct words.
• 17:50
  David McClelland: It's it's really impressive stuff.
• 17:52
  David McClelland: So I'm like I say, just challenging myself to find ways to use AI in these processes just so that I can keep on the front foot with this stuff and remain as as competitive, as uh as efficient as I can.
• 18:05
  SPEAKER_03: You know, that's a really good point because I think whilst we were all working from home, COVID, you know, I'm in I'm in my shed now where we will spent most of my time.
• 18:14
  SPEAKER_03: That's all we had was time, obviously working, but time to learn and and continue to learn.
• 18:19
  SPEAKER_03: And I think since then, and we've gone kind of back to normality.
• 18:23
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, if you're not in touch with what's going on, you can be two years behind almost overnight.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_03: And I'm like you, I kind of even though it's there and it may not benefit what I'm doing, actually, there could be something else like you've just mentioned there.
• 18:36
  SPEAKER_03: I wasn't aware of that AI technology, so that's going to make me go off and research a bit more as well for future content creation.
• 18:42
  SPEAKER_03: So yeah, I suppose the message there is keep keep up to date with what's going on.
• 18:46
  David McClelland: And you you have to make a bit of effort to do that, and that just comes through, like I say, for me, challenging myself, this video that I'm editing, this project that I'm embarking on, this green screen thing that I'm doing.
• 18:58
  David McClelland: Is there a tool that's gonna help me do that a little bit better, a little bit more efficiently?
• 19:02
  David McClelland: And of course, it might slow you down the first time you do it because you're learning something new and you know, having to having to work out if it works for you.
• 19:09
  David McClelland: But in the long run, the thinking is that this is gonna speed us all up.
• 19:14
  David McClelland: Time now to hear from today's guest.
• 19:16
  David McClelland: Alice Greenfield works extensively as both a photographer and a filmmaker.
• 19:21
  David McClelland: So I started off by asking her what her definition of a hybrid shooter is.
• 19:29
  SPEAKER_01: Well I would define what a hybrid shooter is, it's someone that can use both mediums as storytelling devices to really create a more meaningful message.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_01: That's what I would say.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_01: Like realistically, what it is is someone that can operate a photography camera that can do video, and vice versa.
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_01: A lot of people now are hybrid shooters in response to the way the industry is going, but I feel like I've always been one.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_01: So my name is Alice, Alice Greenfield, and I'm a filmmaker and photographer from the Isle of Wight, which is a small island in the south of the UK.
• 20:00
  SPEAKER_01: I run my own production company called Adrift Visuals, and I run my own Instagram account as well, shot by Alice, which is where you would see a lot of my work.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: I've been a freelancer and a business owner since just after lockdown.
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_01: I've got a kind of history in the industry working for different media production companies in London and beyond.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_01: I'm what I would call myself as a sort of hybrid filmmaker and photographer.
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I do a little bit of everything.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_01: I love to edit.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm a colour grader, I love sound designing, everything like that.
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_01: Most of my work is based in the outdoor industry, so working with adventure brands, sport brands, and pretty much brands that want to connect people with nature and get people outdoors.
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_01: If you look at my Instagram or any of my work with Adrift Visuals, our main aim is to reconnect people with nature, get them outside.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: And through a lot of my landscape photography, my main mission is to allow people to be inspired by the natural world.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: I actually studied cinema and photography as point honours back at university.
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_01: I graduated from Leeds University in 2015.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_01: I took that course because I didn't couldn't decide which one I wanted to do, photography or video.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: And at that time, there really was this idea that you kind of had to specialise in either.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_01: And I knew that photography was a big passion of mine, but it wasn't necessarily a good moneymaker.
• 21:14
  SPEAKER_01: That's what my lecturers told me anyway.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: And then in terms of going down the cinema route, I was given the kind of journey the passage would have been to, you know, go and be a runner in a in a film studio or a production company and work my way up really slowly to be a camera trainee or a focus pillar and then get to the top.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_01: So at the time, social media people had Instagram, but they were taking pictures of their food and putting up, and there wasn't really anything more than that, and there wasn't even a way to put video on Instagram.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: I always thought that if I was gonna show my work, it would be in a gallery or in a photo book.
• 21:46
  SPEAKER_01: So Instagram really, or the or social media, let's be a bit broad more broad, really wasn't a horizon for me because it it wasn't a place to have a career or make money yet.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I did both because I wanted to keep my options open, and since 2015, as we've seen, the industry has changed so much that I can give both these skills, photography and video, to different clients around the world and I guess make money, but also make interesting storytelling where photography and video can be combined to help a brand bring out a message, or even from for my own sake, I want to be able to capture stills and motion at the same time.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: So I can offer that to clients.
• 22:24
  David McClelland: A point that you made that I think is really important.
• 22:26
  David McClelland: Whether you're taking stills, whether you are shooting video, whether you're shooting short formats, you're telling a story.
• 22:34
  David McClelland: You are using whatever tools, whatever medium in which you or your client wants to publish, at the end of the day, you are trying to tell a story, and that is the most important thing.
• 22:44
  David McClelland: Would you go along with that?
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: 100%.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_01: Storytelling is at the heart of what we do.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: And I always say to people that it's it's really not about your equipment, it's about being able to have the knowledge to choose the equipment that's right for the moment.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: And if you if whether that's all you've got is your iPhone in your back pockets and you have an impulse to tell a story, that's the right camera for you because you've got it with you.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: So for me, I really like the challenge of incorporating photography and video into a brand campaign because there's not many people like me, and that does sound odds, but we do have in the industry people who go down the photography route and they're like purest photography or into serious filmmaking, and I know cinematographers that don't even in a way know how to use a mirrorless or DSL for photography purposes.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_01: They keep to their own, they know back to the idea of you know Jack Fortray's master of none.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they know that they are skillful in that area and then they stick to it.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_01: But I've been again greedy in the fact that I really just want to tell stories and I've not really known how to do that.
• 23:52
  SPEAKER_01: So I've just experimented and I've just kept that going, and now there's obviously a need for my skills because of social media, and I guess I've just gone with it.
• 24:01
  David McClelland: This is perhaps an unfair question to ask you, but if I was to ask you if you were film first or photo first, what would you say?
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_01: So hard.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_01: I started shooting as in photography analogue, and that was my first exposure in On actual film.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, yeah.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I had a fantastic teacher at A-level, which is for anyone that doesn't know, is when you're like 16 and 17, you're doing your like just before you go to uni or college, you you do you specialise in a couple of subjects.
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_01: And I did photography, and my teacher at the time wouldn't let us touch a digital camera until she believed that we could master these food films, 35 mils, analog cameras, and then we had to process as well.
• 24:38
  SPEAKER_01: So we post processed everything we took in black and white in the dark room, and that's the only way you could see your picture.
• 24:44
  SPEAKER_01: So if you screwed it up, then you're not gonna see it.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_01: And I loved that introduction to photography because I was really captivated by the chemical reaction and what I would describe as the magic of photography.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_01: Like, I still don't understand how you can see something through a viewfinder, and then suddenly you can go to the dark room and see it come towards you.
• 25:03
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, so my first enlightenment was through photography, so I probably would always choose it because there's a lot of faff that goes into video making, and when I'm with the film camera or just my simple Sony Ace of the Mark IV, which is what I take everywhere with me, I can definitely be a bit more relaxed in my storytelling approach.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: You know, I could just put it around my shoulder and go for a walk in a in a country that I've not explored before, and I'm at peace, more present.
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_01: So probably photography, but filmmaking I love as well.
• 25:32
  David McClelland: So at a practical level, do you get asked to shoot stills and video on the same job as a hybrid shooter, or do you get asked to do a stills job and then a video job?
• 25:44
  David McClelland: How how hybrid is your hybrid shooting role, if you know what I mean?
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: So it really depends on the clients.
• 25:51
  SPEAKER_01: I get a lot of time where someone comes to me wanting both, but not really understanding why, but they just know they need both.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_01: Like we know that we're at the mercy of what social media platforms are doing, and and for eyeballs to see content, you've got to stick to the algorithm and understand what's trending.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_01: So they know that the video at the moment is is the more powerful format, but they know that pictures use for outside of social media is essential too.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_01: So I get clients usually coming asking for both, and that's in a a kind of the start of a journey of like communicating what they mean by both and how they actually want to, you know, make that happen, and trying to just educate the brand or the client, like saying, I can do both, but one will have an impact if I am the only person operating a camera and I'm the only person they're capturing, there will be a juggle, but it is doable to capture both video and photography.
• 26:47
  David McClelland: How how do you try and balance the different needs for stills and video on the same job while remaining efficient and nimble?
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_01: Good, good question.
• 26:57
  SPEAKER_01: But yeah, firstly, I have a much bigger arsenal of equipment than you would imagine because of this.
• 27:04
  SPEAKER_01: So, firstly, I've invested a lot more in having both, just in case, and also different rig systems that I've built that helps me on jobs like this.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_01: But when I've been asked to do a job where it's just gonna be me and I know that I'm gonna be, for instance, capturing enough video for a 30 second, like small video, like a cutdown or a an Instagram reel, and let's say 10 to 15 images.
• 27:32
  SPEAKER_01: Before anything, there is a lot of pre-production that I think is like essential, which is like basically talking to the client and like managing their expectations of what we can capture on the day, and having obviously a deliverables list is essential for that, knowing they know what they're gonna get out of the day.
• 27:47
  SPEAKER_01: And once that's decided, that's when the equipment packing begins.
• 27:51
  SPEAKER_01: The client doesn't necessarily need to know what I bring as long as I bring it.
• 27:54
  SPEAKER_01: There are some shoots where, for instance, if they really want uh a POV shot, maybe I'll bring a GoPro or there's a drone involved or something like that.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_01: So that's another conversation to have the client because these are different levels of equipment come at different prices as well.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_01: So when I'm doing social media stuff, I will also ask this client if they want some things shot vertically, and that's a whole nother topic we could talk about, David, for like another 20 minutes.
• 28:20
  SPEAKER_01: But that's another thing to think about.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I've built rigs that can allow me to shoot hybrid and vertical and horizontal, and I've I've loved building them, and I probably should make more content about how they're done.
• 28:31
  SPEAKER_01: But basically, the Sony A7 Mark IV has custom presets, and that has changed everything for me.
• 28:38
  SPEAKER_01: So I can flip from photography mode to video mode really quickly.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_01: I can tell the camera that I want to flip to 50 frames per second in log, which will be for any like high-speed moments.
• 28:49
  SPEAKER_01: For instance, yesterday I was shooting on a sailing yacht.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_01: They wanted both video and photography done.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_01: It was raining, it was very swelly, there was huge winds, and there was salt water everywhere.
• 29:00
  SPEAKER_01: So I had in my mind the idea that I needed to also keep my equipment safe.
• 29:04
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't want to be switching lenses.
• 29:06
  SPEAKER_01: So, for instance, yesterday I had the 24 to 70 2.8, the Sony one, the the G Master, it kind of gave me everything I needed.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_01: It's a 40-foot yacht that sounds really big, but you're confined to the cockpit, which is the front the back of the boat where most of the action's going.
• 29:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I didn't need anything longer than 24 to 70 mil.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_01: But I was able to basically switch between these custom presets pretty quickly.
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_01: One of them, for instance, if I was doing audio set to 25 frames, 4K, and then all my different microphone like gain and everything that sorted as well.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_01: But in a way, that's the easy part because a lot of the time it's all dependent on the light.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_01: What was really difficult over the last week, which was on this yacht, is that it's been really bad weather in the UK.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_01: It's been really dark and moody.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: We haven't had any nice light.
• 29:52
  SPEAKER_01: My sunrise shoot this morning, just didn't happen because it was like too windy.
• 29:55
  SPEAKER_01: So, like, it's just been a horrible mess of weather.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_01: But on the boat, I use NDs and I've used the Polar Pro Peter McKinnon ND 2 to 5, which has mist and non-mist.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_01: I've got both.
• 30:07
  SPEAKER_01: I use them religiously, they're brilliant.
• 30:09
  SPEAKER_01: And for this one in particular, because it was actually almost a little bit too overcast, but white and and bright, and the boat's white, that it's too much not to use it.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_01: I was taking the ND on and off the whole time.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_01: And like this is where the hybrid shooting is like a problem.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_01: It's difficult, it's annoying, and I don't know the answer because I want to use an ND to have the correct settings for video, but then if you can imagine if I'm shooting 50 frames per second, that needs to be one over 100.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_01: You have to look the 180 rule.
• 30:39
  SPEAKER_01: One over 100 on a moving boat for an image, a photography picture, isn't gonna be sharp because everyone's moving, unless you want that look, a slow-shatter look, but I then have to quickly change the settings, which slows me down.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_01: So there are still things that I need to get right.
• 30:56
  David McClelland: You work outdoors sometimes in in challenging and risky environments.
• 31:01
  David McClelland: Tell us about what it's like to be working in these challenging environments, making sure that not only your equipment stays safe, but making sure that you stay safe as well, yet aren't inhibited in your ability to capture whatever your brief needs.
• 31:17
  SPEAKER_01: I've only been able to take those risks from like years of experience of not just camera operating, but I wouldn't get on a yacht to film if I hadn't been sailing all my life.
• 31:28
  SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't get in the water of underwater housing if I hadn't been paddleboarding or surfing or swimming my whole life.
• 31:34
  SPEAKER_01: So, like a lot of the conditions that I put myself in, I'm I'm there because I'm comfortable.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_01: I didn't do it just because of a job.
• 31:41
  SPEAKER_01: I've I've just naturally am a water baby.
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_01: I love the ocean, I love sailing.
• 31:45
  SPEAKER_01: But you have got to look after yourself.
• 31:48
  SPEAKER_01: I'm completely happy to push myself to the limits, but you can do a lot more than what your cameras can do.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_01: So working with saltwater has been an interesting journey.
• 31:59
  SPEAKER_01: Our cameras are very weathertight.
• 32:00
  SPEAKER_01: The A7 Mark IV I'm gonna be taking to Greenland next week, and they're so hardcore.
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_01: But as soon as saltwater is involved in any bit of technology and batteries, it's kind of game over.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_01: There's no real camera that's completely robust enough to withhandle that.
• 32:18
  SPEAKER_01: Like underwater housing's obviously a must.
• 32:21
  SPEAKER_01: So I just make sure I clean everything thoroughly.
• 32:23
  SPEAKER_01: For instance, when I was on the yacht, I had more stuff to assist me with the conditions than I had equipment.
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_01: So I had basically it's like a glorified plastic bag that can go over the camera.
• 32:35
  SPEAKER_01: I took three with me.
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, a towel, water wipes, cleaning kit, sprays, a whole box pelican case, which is weather type.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_01: I bought things to secure it all down.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_01: I wrapped more tape around the different fans or extra holes.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't using any external monitor because they're really not weatherproof.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_01: So I taped up everything.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_01: On my top handle, I put a load of electric tape around it so it wouldn't slip if any water did get on it.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_01: That's just not even the camera.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_01: On the camera, I had a UV at all times and then the ND, which I'd rather the ND brake than the lens break.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_01: So that's a bit of extra.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_01: I wasn't used, lucky I wasn't using any monitor, any audio.
• 33:15
  SPEAKER_01: So really it was just like the aluminium rig and then the camera.
• 33:18
  SPEAKER_01: So a lot of the time I was using my own body to cover it as well as a shield.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's super fun though.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_01: It's not for everyone.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_04: I don't.
• 33:25
  SPEAKER_01: I love it.
• 33:26
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 33:27
  SPEAKER_01: I like being put on the edge of things.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_01: So I have an under two underwater housings for the A7 Mark III and the A7 Mark IV.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_01: I'm actually looking at getting one for my Red Komodo, which is a different brand.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_01: But the ones I use for the Sony's the Seafrogs, and we all know Aquatec, those are the two like more consumable companies that make the housings.
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_01: And with that, really the only difference is that everything's getting a wet anyway.
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_01: So I wear a wetsuit.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_01: There's a huge amount of the packing list goes on.
• 33:53
  SPEAKER_01: I've made several videos about what is needed, but your housing is there to protect the camera, but you have to look after the housing so well in order to trust it that it's gonna like not leak.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_01: So there's a whole process before and after of making sure that the like silicon O-rings are like lubricated enough that they won't allow water to drip through, but then are still limbal enough to be able to open and close them.
• 34:19
  SPEAKER_01: There's elements on there that are made of metal, so you've got to be looking after the uh rust, rusting.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_01: There's always rusting potential of anything to do with salt water.
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, I unfortunately have blown out my HTMI cable on one of my cameras at input because there's had saltwater exposure in there.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_01: So insurance, it's fine.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_01: Just insuring it.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_01: The stuff with the underwater housing, again, is really fun, but I hybrid shoot in there as well.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_01: So these presets that Sony can give me on the top of the camera is brilliant.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_01: The Seafrog's housing, the out exterior replicates the exact buttons on the camera, so you have complete manual control.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_01: So I can still flip to my custom presets whilst in the water, which is really great, so I can do photography and stills and video at the same time.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_01: But with that, you're pretty much shooting blind, and I think I'm like really like comfortable with that because when I shoot film and analogue, I'm shooting blind anyway, so you you can't review.
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_01: So when I'm in the water, I never am able to really look at the viewfinder.
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_01: I've just got to like go back to the old school days of realizing that okay, this person's two metres from me.
• 35:25
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not on a rangefinder, but I can hold the camera like I know that where I'm gonna hold it depending on the focal length of the lens, and you're kind of guessing.
• 35:32
  SPEAKER_01: But that's really like fun.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_01: But you can get better housings, you can get housings that have a complete underwater cage for your monitor.
• 35:40
  SPEAKER_01: So when we see, like, you know, the experts doing it, the BBC wildlife filmmakers who are swimming with orcas, they have like, I've got just a housing, and you know, really what I'm doing is is hoping for the best, what we call like spraying, like for the shot, that kind of thing.
• 35:55
  SPEAKER_01: I've been in the water with um friend of mine and his housing side of filling up the water in front of us.
• 36:00
  SPEAKER_01: Inside the housing, there is a little device that basically sets off like what sounds like a fi alarm, which is really great.
• 36:06
  SPEAKER_01: It will tell you if something, if any water has been exposed.
• 36:09
  David McClelland: It certainly sounds as though you were describing how when you are taking images underwater and you don't have a view through the viewfinder, you wouldn't have had that insight had you have just started off with a digital and been able to spray at that point.
• 36:24
  David McClelland: That discipline of working from a film point of view, going all the way back to your teacher at i in A level is certainly serves you well in that environment.
• 36:32
  David McClelland: And I'm sure serves you well in other environments as well, maybe even not underwater, where you're still able not to have just to worry about what's to the viewfinder, but from a storytelling perspective, particularly when you're out on location and the story is emerging in front of you, being able to have your senses tuned into whatever else is happening around you as well.
• 36:50
  SPEAKER_01: And thinking about a lot, there's a lot to think about, but I guess the the years of my like training and and wanting and having this desire and like greediness to want to know everything about photography and everything about cinema and then all the equipment helps bring together this like I'm a I can do hybrid because I've just been able to soak up everything and learn as much as possible.
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm just a tech head, really.
• 37:13
  SPEAKER_01: So if I have a bit of equipment, I'll learn everything about it because I know that in a sick situation when I'm underwater and there are animals around me, or there's someone surfing above me that could hit me in the head, I'm not gonna be thinking about the technology really.
• 37:26
  SPEAKER_01: I've done the thinking, I've done the learning, I'm thinking about what's happening.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_01: I don't even need to look at what I'm doing.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_01: I see the camera as like an extension to my hand.
• 37:34
  SPEAKER_01: It's the muscle memories there.
• 37:36
  SPEAKER_01: I can trust myself to know I can change the settings without even looking, and that allows me to focus on the important part, which is the story and the creativity and safety.
• 37:48
  David McClelland: Some really interesting insights there from Alice on the realities of working as a hybrid shooter and also working in challenging conditions, particularly at sea.
• 37:59
  David McClelland: We'll put some links to Alice and her work in the show notes.
• 38:08
  David McClelland: Mark, how's it going in there?
• 38:10
  SPEAKER_03: My shed is getting hotter and hotter.
• 38:13
  David McClelland: I've just installed a air conditioning unit.
• 38:16
  David McClelland: I say installed, I've bought uh a portable air conditioning unit.
• 38:20
  David McClelland: I'd never, never considered one before, but oh my gosh, I plumbed it in for the first time at the weekend.
• 38:26
  David McClelland: Oh, it is so good.
• 38:28
  David McClelland: I can't have it on.
• 38:28
  David McClelland: It's it's like having a jet engine in here, but I turn it on.
• 38:32
  David McClelland: It takes me about 20 minutes to drive into my studio in the morning.
• 38:36
  David McClelland: I will turn it on, and by the time I get here, it's freezing cold, and that seems to last me for the whole day.
• 38:41
  SPEAKER_03: I should have done that.
• 38:42
  SPEAKER_03: That the thing is my kids are coming back from they're doing a rugby school today.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_03: So my kid my son's coming back with his mate, so I've said do not come out in the garden, so I've got all my windows stuff.
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_03: So uh so if I start to go a little bit red, it's gone up three degrees, it's 26 degrees.
• 38:57
  David McClelland: Oh crikey, I'm 23 and I'm gonna go.
• 39:00
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I was 23 when I started.
• 39:02
  David McClelland: It's all the hot air that that's coming out.
• 39:05
  David McClelland: Speaking of hot air, Mark, earlier in July, Sony held an event to launch some new gear, didn't it?
• 39:12
  David McClelland: And it's certainly been a busy few months for you guys on the on the launching stuff front.
• 39:17
  David McClelland: So, first of all, let's talk about the A6700.
• 39:22
  David McClelland: Tell us tell us what it is and who it's for.
• 39:25
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, the new A6700.
• 39:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's been a while since we brought out a new uh APS C model.
• 39:31
  SPEAKER_03: Those of you who are familiar with the ZVE1, which is the full-frame blogging camera, it is kind of a cross between the two.
• 39:37
  SPEAKER_03: So it's got the traditional side viewfinder shape, and then this newer kind of uh rounder body uh that resembles a ZV E1.
• 39:46
  SPEAKER_03: So in terms of build quality, slightly different.
• 39:49
  SPEAKER_03: I think for me that uh in terms of ergonomics, the the grip and and and the flip-out screen is is a welcome addition as well.
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_03: So it for me the smaller APSC, 6600, 65, 6400s, and so on, that they're ideal if you've got, you know, you're looking for something really, really small.
• 40:06
  SPEAKER_03: But this isn't that much bigger, it's just the grip's being made a little bit more comfortable to use.
• 40:11
  SPEAKER_03: It's not replacing anything, so everything is still part of the range.
• 40:14
  SPEAKER_03: It'll sit now as the the latest model i i in that series.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_03: So it's an alternative to full frame.
• 40:21
  SPEAKER_03: And the one thing the two pieces of technology you've got in common is it's the same mount.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_03: So the lenses that are made for the E mount uh can be used on the full frame mount, the FE mount, and vice versa.
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, if you put a full frame lens on a an APSC body, you calculate the crop factor by 1.5 times to give you a full full frame equivalent.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_03: So it's uh really, really good model, 26 million pixels and a good addition to the new Sony family.
• 40:48
  David McClelland: So uh you say it's not replacing anything.
• 40:51
  David McClelland: What differentiates it?
• 40:52
  David McClelland: Why would you go with a 6700 versus an FX30, for example, or versus one of the ZV cameras?
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's a good question.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_03: The the FX series is following the cinema line route.
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_03: So we're talking FX3, FX6, and so on.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_03: That side is more video centric from the moment you switch it on.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_03: And the ZV E1 is the other side of more content creation.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_03: As soon as you switch on, it is uh you know set up for video, but this is more geared towards the form factor, and this one it has certain features the FX30 has, but it's more geared towards the vlogging category we have like the ZV E1, Mark II, and so on, Z V E10.
• 41:34
  SPEAKER_03: The A6700 is a mixture of two, so you spoke about it before in terms of hybrid, both stills and video.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_03: So when you switch it on, it's set up as a stills camera.
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_03: But now it's taken all the best bits from the latest releases.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_03: So it has the new AI chip for autofocus, it has a 26 million pixels, so it can use a processor, so it's eight times faster than its predecessor.
• 41:57
  SPEAKER_03: You've got improved stabilization, you've got the colour science now, matches the cameras we've just spoken to.
• 42:03
  SPEAKER_03: So again, it has elements of the FX series.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_03: So if you're buying this camera and you've already got those cameras, then there should be a easier transition for editing, matching the files together.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_03: It's still got the very fast buffer speed in terms of 11 frames per second.
• 42:17
  SPEAKER_03: So it's a great camera for wildlife.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_03: So if you pair it up with a telephoto zoom lens and it's a full frame lens, you could have had the equivalent of potentially a 600mm lens in the palm of your hand, rather than having to use a tripod, monopod.
• 42:31
  SPEAKER_03: In terms of video, so this is where it links with those other models, you've got 6k oversampling, so really high-end detail, and then when that is output to 4k, you've now then got uh what the other cameras have, which is 4k 60p or 120p.
• 42:46
  SPEAKER_03: There is some slight crop with those modes.
• 42:48
  David McClelland: And in terms of log as well, you you can shoot in.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, you've got logs you can uh install, lookup tables.
• 42:54
  SPEAKER_03: We have a website that's part of our European pro team where you can download ambassador files that you can upload and so on.
• 43:03
  SPEAKER_03: And then you've got another third party out there as well.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_03: 10-bit, 8-bit, 4-2-2 colour sampling as well.
• 43:09
  SPEAKER_03: So you know you've got everything that you would associate now with what's been released, not just by ourselves, but others as well.
• 43:14
  SPEAKER_03: And then we have an element of the new technology, and for me, I just find this technology incredible the auto-framing.
• 43:20
  SPEAKER_03: You know, if you're on your own, you're a solo shooter, this could act like having an assistant.
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_03: So it'll crop automatically and it will follow you around without the camera moving because it's got that extra data to play with.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_03: I think some other brands have got this in different technology as well.
• 43:36
  SPEAKER_03: And then when you play the footage back, it looks like it's tracking you.
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_03: And and and that's you find in the ZVE one.
• 43:44
  SPEAKER_03: So we've got you know little bits of this new technology being taken aw out of maybe higher end models and now put into the APS C range, which you wouldn't have got previously.
• 43:54
  David McClelland: You mention a telephoto lens being a good match for the A sixty seven hundred and That was something else that you announced last month as well.
• 44:02
  David McClelland: The 70 to 200mm F4.
• 44:05
  David McClelland: This is a version two of an existing lens, isn't it?
• 44:09
  David McClelland: Just tell us a bit more about what's what's new with this version.
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_03: Yes, it is.
• 44:13
  SPEAKER_03: Um, for me personally, I think this is a a long way to upgrade.
• 44:16
  SPEAKER_03: So the existing 70 to 200 F4, I think it's been about nine years since we've updated this lens.
• 44:21
  SPEAKER_03: So the lens has been very popular in terms of what we've had in the market.
• 44:25
  SPEAKER_03: That still sits there, but this one now has the newer technology.
• 44:28
  SPEAKER_03: We've introduced linear motors now for a number of years in our technology of lenses, and that gives you fast, precise, quiet autofocus, and everything we've talked about earlier about speed and accuracy and hit rate, the stickiness and so on.
• 44:40
  David McClelland: And we think about how autofocus in in cameras has changed so much, so much in the last four, five, six years or so.
• 44:49
  David McClelland: The the the speed at which it operates and how it tracks having lenses that are able to keep up with the autofocus in the cameras is really important.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_03: Absolutely.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_03: If you've got and this is the importance of having a native lens, is you know, certainly have over 70 native lenses now for the this the two different form factors but the same mount.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_03: So having a fast camera, say let's look at the A1, which sits at the top of our range, it shoots 30 frames per second.
• 45:14
  SPEAKER_03: This lens it performs 30 actuations a second, so it will keep up and match the frame rate of that high-end camera.
• 45:22
  SPEAKER_03: If we then look at uh an A6700 that's 11 frames per second, it'll do the same for that.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_03: If you're using then a you know a fast card, then you're getting the ultimate performance from that camera with a the fastest lens, the fastest card.
• 45:33
  SPEAKER_03: So you you know, if you're using a third-party adapter or a third-party lens, then we can't guarantee that that will be the same performance.
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_03: I've I've saw it at the birth fair.
• 45:43
  SPEAKER_03: It is a lot smaller.
• 45:44
  SPEAKER_03: I think it's something like 15% shorter and about 46 grams lighter.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_03: So, in terms of you know, having that on an APSC or a smaller uh, sorry, uh a full-frame body, it's it it feels good in the hand.
• 45:56
  SPEAKER_03: But you're right, I think that's really important.
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_03: The quality, the speed, the autofocus, the handling.
• 46:00
  SPEAKER_03: But what I tend to make sure the team are doing when they're talking to customers, including myself, is actually show the customer what it's like at a macro, you know, the the close-up end.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_03: Because our technology over the last few years, in terms of lens quality, we were able to get closer.
• 46:12
  SPEAKER_03: The focus breathing, the way it shifts from foreground to background is becoming more and more impressive.
• 46:19
  SPEAKER_03: And this lens now you can get one to one macro, not macro like, but macro images from a 7200mm lens, which means you can get up to I think less than 26 centimetres from the subject.
• 46:32
  SPEAKER_03: So it doubles up here as a great telephoto lens, but also an extremely more than capable macro lens.
• 46:38
  SPEAKER_03: And of course, put on a two times converter.
• 46:40
  SPEAKER_03: You've got a 600mm lens on your hand if you're using it on APSC body.
• 46:44
  SPEAKER_03: So there's some key messages there that it isn't just a upgrade replacement.
• 46:48
  SPEAKER_03: Actually, it's adding new technology to be able to you to get more out of what you would do previously.
• 46:53
  David McClelland: So really versatile, and like you say, being a little bit more, a little bit more agile, a little bit lighter as well for those people who are shooting out in the fields, say wildlife photography, particularly at the long end of that, that would be that would be great.
• 47:05
  David McClelland: And just carrying on that versatility theme as well, stills we've spoken about.
• 47:10
  David McClelland: I'm guessing this is also going to be a really useful lens to have for video as well.
• 47:15
  David McClelland: I'm guessing event type videography, this might sit particularly well with those videographers.
• 47:21
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I agree.
• 47:22
  SPEAKER_03: In terms of image quality, the ultimate image quality we have within the range is the G Master lenses and that has center to corner sharpness.
• 47:29
  SPEAKER_03: This this has incredible centre-to-corner sharpness for a non-G Master lens.
• 47:35
  SPEAKER_03: So it's if it was a G Master lens, it'd probably be a lot more expensive.
• 47:37
  SPEAKER_03: But in terms of sharpness and performance, absolutely, you know, right on the money with this one.
• 47:41
  SPEAKER_03: Again, the most important thing about these new lenses is that close focus and breathing in terms of how you can shift the sensitivity of focus from the far end to the knee and mix that up with the focal length, then yeah, this could be perfect for gigs, events.
• 47:55
  SPEAKER_03: If we take it outside the wildlife world, sports, I'm certainly gonna go out and try and practice with that and see how it can perform versus what I would normally take to a sport event, which would be like a you know an A92 or an A1 with a 7200 F2.8 Mark II.
• 48:10
  SPEAKER_03: That's the benchmark for me in in terms of speed and and autofocus and the look that you get, that completely washed out background.
• 48:17
  SPEAKER_03: But again, what you've got there is the less weight and and the more compactness.
• 48:20
  SPEAKER_03: So I think it'll appeal to a lot of people to be honest.
• 48:23
  David McClelland: Good stuff, right?
• 48:24
  David McClelland: And finally, and I I feel bad for saying and finally here audio.
• 48:28
  David McClelland: What why do we always why do I leave audio last when it's so important it's 50% in the picture or 90% online, whoever, whoever you believe there.
• 48:37
  David McClelland: But the another announcement that Sony made is here to help on that audio front, and it is the ECM M1 shotgun microphone.
• 48:45
  David McClelland: And and just to say, the reason I'm keen to have a just a quick chat about this is that it doesn't look anything.
• 48:50
  David McClelland: I own shotgun microphones.
• 48:52
  David McClelland: This doesn't look anything like I expect a shotgun microphone to look like.
• 48:57
  David McClelland: It's a it's a really interesting little bit of kit.
• 48:59
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's we've released quite a few microphones over the last couple of years, actually.
• 49:03
  SPEAKER_03: So there's obviously a key focus on on sound, and you're you're absolutely right.
• 49:07
  SPEAKER_03: Shotgun mics are normally protruding over the end of the lens with a big wind protector on it and so on.
• 49:12
  SPEAKER_03: And this one's very, very small.
• 49:13
  SPEAKER_03: Any of our cameras that have the multi-interface hot shoe, then this microphone just attaches with no cables, and the handshake is made straight away.
• 49:22
  SPEAKER_03: So you've got on this one eight different types of audio recording.
• 49:27
  SPEAKER_03: It's got it all front, rear, right, together, front and rear separately.
• 49:31
  David McClelland: Yeah, and for content creators, having that rear focus as well is going to be beneficial because you can record yourself commenting, c commentating as you're shooting rather than the pickup just being from whatever's in front.
• 49:44
  David McClelland: Or having both of those with one microphone.
• 49:46
  David McClelland: That's great.
• 49:47
  SPEAKER_03: Yeah, place-up interviews, meetings, so you've got wider angle, but you want to capture the environment around you.
• 49:53
  SPEAKER_03: You know, I've got a plug-ing on my on my Mac that reduces background noise.
• 49:58
  SPEAKER_03: And I've had that since COVID, and it it plays a huge part, especially with the noises you can get in the shed and the air conditioning and all that different things.
• 50:05
  SPEAKER_03: So this now has a noise reduction input on it, so you can have an effect on the hardware before you start thinking about the editing.
• 50:13
  SPEAKER_03: And I from what I've heard through the testing, again, controlled testing, you know, it's got good good base, it's it's not not tinny, and I think it can be quite competitive with with the rest of the market.
• 50:24
  David McClelland: Very good.
• 50:25
  David McClelland: Right, that's almost all for today.
• 50:27
  David McClelland: We'll be back on the first Thursday of next month for more of the same.
• 50:31
  David McClelland: Plus, we'll have some big announcements about the in-person photography and video show that takes place at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham, England from the 16th to the 19th of March 2024.
• 50:43
  David McClelland: Big announcements.
• 50:45
  David McClelland: Stay tuned in the September issue.
• 50:46
  David McClelland: Pop on over to photography show.com to find out more about that.
• 50:50
  David McClelland: If you enjoy what we do here, then listen, please do hit subscribe, leave a review, tell your friends, fellow photographer, fellow videographer, friends, we're still a new podcast.
• 51:02
  David McClelland: So every little bit of love really does help.
• 51:03
  David McClelland: And if there's something that you'd like us to talk about, you'd like to hear more about, someone you'd like us to talk to, uh then let us know.
• 51:11
  David McClelland: Drop us an email at thephotography show at future net.com, on Instagram at the Photography Show, on Twitter at UK Photoshow, and we're on threads now because that's a thing now.
• 51:22
  David McClelland: Who knew?
• 51:22
  David McClelland: At the photography show there.
• 51:25
  David McClelland: Get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.
• 51:28
  David McClelland: Mark, super to have you here this month.
• 51:30
  David McClelland: If people want to keep up with what you get up to, where can they find you online?
• 51:35
  SPEAKER_03: Well, main yes, mainly on uh Instagram at Markbaberphoto.
• 51:40
  SPEAKER_03: Just kind of time in terms of uh Twitter.
• 51:43
  SPEAKER_03: I used to post quite a lot there, but I just don't have the time to do it.
• 51:46
  SPEAKER_03: So uh yeah, if if I'm doing anything, then um it's at Markbabor Photo on Instagram.
• 51:51
  David McClelland: I think most people are running out of time or maybe running out of patience with Twitter or X these days.
• 51:57
  David McClelland: Gustav Mark, listen, thank you very much indeed for joining us.
• 52:00
  David McClelland: Alice, thank you for joining us as well, and thank you for listening in.
• 52:03
  David McClelland: We'll see you next time.
• 52:04
  David McClelland: Bye bye.