Disqus - Latest Comments for marald

Re: Unity Sprites: SpriteRenderer vs. CanvasRenderer (UI Image)

marald — Wed, 23 May 2018 16:05:59 -0000

Thanks for this blog! Finally a good explanation on when to use which sprite renderer.
It took me a while to find it :) And even created a game completely with the UI, but it is clear that for this project sprites would have been the better choice.

Re: NL hostnet

marald — Thu, 29 Mar 2018 08:36:04 -0000

Super trage access nu op websites. Meestal time out. Is er een server storing? Gaat om 2 websites op verschillende hosting paketten.

Re: Logitech Using Vive Tracker to Bring Your Keyboard and Hands Into VR for Efficient Typing

marald — Fri, 03 Nov 2017 18:38:01 -0000

great idea! This could open up a world of accessories to be used in virtual reality. (midi controllers, custom control boards, wacoms etc.

Re: Sony Tidbits…

marald — Mon, 10 Jul 2017 16:46:40 -0000

Great work Mathieu!
I like the vintage look of the image. Should try my old minolta's (21,28,50) more often.

Re: This week SAR readers photos selection

marald — Sun, 28 May 2017 17:44:37 -0000

nice series! In my opinion 1st photo and Sergei Gavrilov‎ are the best.

Re: Sony’s new A9 announced!

marald — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 17:38:33 -0000

touchscreen action on a9 in youtube video around 36 s and not reacting at 40 :) : https://youtu.be/dSd8M0_mQD...
ow and in the end you see the screen flip out, I saw someone mention it wouldn't have this.
So hopefully slog will be there as well.

Re: The new Sony Digital Filter App tested by Brendan van Son and Photogearnews

marald — Tue, 11 Apr 2017 17:52:15 -0000

Great pictures Edward! Where abouts in Tenerife is this? I've been to the island 5 times already, and everytime I discover a stunning new location, love the place.

Re: Rumor recap and small new info: Is the soon to be announced new FF “High Speed” E-mount camera a Sony A7sIII?

marald — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 17:51:32 -0000

I think it was even longer ago. just when the A7ii was released. Although I liked the A99 and the stills quality, I hated the video quality. Shitty codec, low bit rates. Although advertised as such, it wasn't a great video dslt at all. Sony could have fixed so much with a simple firmware update, but they never did. I specially bought the XLR input as well, and grip and 5 batteries. Everything but the XLR adapter was sold, including a minolta 135 2.8, 50 1.7 & 70-200G all in a pro backpack. But the main sony dealers in the Netherlands wouldn't give me over 2000 euro as a discount, so I sold it all together second hand for around 3500. I think it would have brought at least around 5k now, but nobody trusted A mount then. I loved the Zeiss 24-70 on the A99 and the 24-70 f4 on the a7ii is quite a let down after having used that excellent lens, but the weight savings alone, the video quality, the more spread out autofocus and glass like the 55mm Zeiss lured me to the a7 side, as Amount looked quite dead to me.

And although it cost me a lot, I stand by my choice of the A7 (possibly A9) series. My A7ii still works, does the job well and injured a lot more without quitting than the A99 did. The XLR adapter sucks when used on the A7ii, but the video codec and SLog 2 makes up for it.

Re: Rumor recap and small new info: Is the soon to be announced new FF “High Speed” E-mount camera a Sony A7sIII?

marald — Mon, 27 Mar 2017 16:31:19 -0000

I was actually hoping for a successor to the A7ii. I would like to have at least 4K and 120 fps 1080p would be very welcome. For the rest, up the fps to 6 - 8 and make the AF similar to the A7rii and keep the mp at 24 or maybe 32 and it's a winner for me.

Sony should also have a look at their shutter button, I like the Nikon and Canon hair triggers better than the Sony. Dual SD cards are welcome, but I haven't had one fail me yet. A lot better than the CF cards I used to have, they would have errors quite frequently.

If it's something way above the A7ii, which rumours suggest, I will probably go for a second hand A7rii. I already lost a lot of money ( > 6000 euro) on selling the A99 and most of my A-Mount lenses 1.5 years ago, so I will not buy the top of the line without waiting to see where it goes.

Re: Developers Showcase Incredible Full Body Tracking With Vive

marald — Mon, 06 Feb 2017 17:31:07 -0000

The motion capture looks amazing.. and real time & no calibration... vicon should be worried ;)

Full body awareness is very welcome in VR.

I've done some expirements a few years ago using real time markerless motion capture using 24 cams and a dk1 strapped to a backtop. And just walking around and interacting with an entire body in a virtual environment is already so much more immersive compared to current possibilities with the vive so I would like ikima's or cloudgates solution as an Unity asset please :)

Re: (SR3) Sony A7III will be released in Q2 2017

marald — Mon, 31 Oct 2016 17:11:17 -0000

The HTC Vive headset is probably based on HTC phone hardware, but this is the one where you can't take out/ put in a phone. You can call using your computer when inside VR, but not as a regular cell phone. The one that does use phones as the screen are the samsung oculus (gear VR) ones, and the upcoming google daydream compatible phones.

That said, I wouldn't mind having the navigational speed of a premium phone in the a7 series. So put it an extra qualcom / sony chip in there if possible. Because the menu / responsiveness of the A7ii itself, leaves a lot to desire.

Re: Top 20 Features I Want in the Next Sony a7Riii and a7Siii Cameras (by Dave Dugdale)

marald — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 16:19:45 -0000

If they make a fully moveable display like the a99ii, with a mode so it could be used as a selfie screen, an app in playmemories could be written so you can use it as a mini teleprompter (autocue)..

And maybe use the sony app on a phone as a audio recorder which syncs to the internal camera recorder. (could even stream audio over wifi although it would have a serious delay)
This way you can use any headset as an quick and dirty wireless mic.

Re: Top 20 Features I Want in the Next Sony a7Riii and a7Siii Cameras (by Dave Dugdale)

marald — Thu, 20 Oct 2016 16:14:30 -0000

True, but like sibuzaru said, a lot of these video things will improve stills side as well. But besides those mentioned already, what would be your top 20 list for improving the stills side of these camera's? Just curious..

Re: RX100mV tested: It’s really visibly sharper and less noiser than the previous version!

marald — Wed, 12 Oct 2016 16:38:48 -0000

I agree, a few year ago, travelling in Cuba, India and Nepal with a backpack didn't allow me to bring my a99 or a7ii with lenses so I had to settle for rx100mk2 which I just bought a few weeks earlier, but I really love how the pictures developed.

https://uploads.disquscdn.c... https://uploads.disquscdn.c... https://uploads.disquscdn.c...

(see more on 500px or anymotion.nl)

And a small camera does not scare away people, a big one sometimes does. And just as important, they let me take it anywhere I want, inside every temple, holy place etc.
That and the battery life is just great (especially compared to a7 series). Maybe I'll update the rx100 to the 4 or 5 just for the video and better optics.

Re: Hong Kong Strong by Brandon Li

marald — Mon, 30 May 2016 09:25:52 -0000

Great shooting, editing, audio and fx. Great work as always Brandon!!!

Re: Gary Friedman’s hot shoe adapter

marald — Wed, 06 Jan 2016 05:08:58 -0000

Great design Gary!! Maybe if you can't find a manufacturer, you can always kickstart something like this, or sell the design back to sony so they'll make a proper (but costly) adapter. I would like a couple :)

That said, Sony should have opted for the standard ISO hotshoe without the pins. A standard iso hotshoe is less fragile and a better lockdown could be made. Even the minolta hotshoe locked down a lot better. Although I sometimes use the XLR adapter (version 1), I think it would have been better if they made a seperate port for these accessoiries. Because when the XLR is connected to the camera, you don't have a spare hotshoe for the xlr unit itself. And besides flash / xlr adapter, what else is useful in the hotshoe? Nobody uses the optional viewfinder (too expensive or already available on camera) or any other sony hotshoe acc (light and mic could just as well be next to the camera in stead of on top)

Re: Sony Tidbits…

marald — Tue, 05 Jan 2016 05:27:41 -0000

great mini doc from philip. Like his style.. And great capabilities of the FS5 as well. I have recently used the FS7 with canon glass on a job, and it was OK but looking forward to try the FS5 with some proper sony glass one day.

Re: Still running: Super deals on Hasselblad Sony clones (lenses and cameras)

marald — Sat, 12 Dec 2015 07:50:25 -0000

Yes I think it was worth it. Using it for my business, I couldn't sit around on the equipment for too long, because I wanted to move to FE mount quickly for some video jobs. And except for missing the 135 2.8 and the CZ24-70, I'm a lot happier with using the a7ii. The LEA4 was slow when I tried on photokina, so I never thought about keeping A mount lenses around. I think the picture quality of the a7ii is about the same as the a99, the iso performance maybe a bit better, iss a lot better and video is actually useable. (something I thought the a99 lacked with the shitty codec and missing slog2). And now I'm enjoying a lot of old MD mount lenses as well, especially the 50 and 28 mm. So yes, I would make the same descision again.

Re: Still running: Super deals on Hasselblad Sony clones (lenses and cameras)

marald — Fri, 11 Dec 2015 21:05:32 -0000

It's quite a good deal, and the 24-70 v1 was an excellent lens. But when I sold my a99, 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8, minolta 50 1.7, minolta 135 2.8, including grip, 2 16 gb cards, 4 batteries and a professional camera bag a year ago, I was lucky to get around 3000 euro. A third of what I orignally paid after 1.5 year of use. So I guess the A mount just doesn't keep value.

I saw the hasselblad version of the nex (was it the 7?) yesterday in a shop nearby, next time I come across that shop I'll ask what the going rate is. Maybe it could be a nice backup on my a7ii. It was now neatly displayed next to a leica in the window, and far behind I could make out the a7rii box, but the camera was nowhere to be seen. :)

Re: Sony Europe already released the new A7II firmware update!

marald — Wed, 18 Nov 2015 06:18:03 -0000

True to that!

Although very happy with an update, I expected "zoom to focus point on playback" as well, which saves moving across your image after pressing c3 to check focus on a shot. Especially when using EVF only. This is definately a software only feature so could heve been implemented without any problems. And even panasonic/canon have done it in older camera's.

Also copyright information in meta would have been usefull. As well as being able to put lens information based on steadyshot configuration info in meta. (when using adapted lenses)

Other missed features which may or may not need different hardware would be :
- Eye AF in CAF (maybe processor A7ii is too slow)
- Charging camera on USB while using camera (now disables every function)
- 720p 120 fps video (maybe sensor readout not fast enough)
- custom white balance in video mode without the need to switch to still mode first
- LUT preview when using Slog2 (would be very useful !!!)

Re: Sony will add uncompressed RAW on the A7II via firmware updated coming on November 18!

marald — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 11:10:42 -0000

Could be, but what would the hardware changes required possibly be?
The A7rII has this option and can still charge normally on the USB port as well.
It might be that the camera gets to hot during charging that it is unable to run for a long time, as charging normally causes some heat. But other than that, I can't think of a reason why there is a warning and the camera stops you from continueing. Phones can be used while charging, I don't think they needed special hardware adjustments..

If so, this stopping feature can and should be disabled in firmware. (same with the warning when pressing the shutter button in rec video mode or the jpg message when choosing some jpg only option (ideally it should just automatically change to raw+jpg and only effect the jpg in this case)).

And I forgot that I would like to see the minimum shutter speed as well.

Re: Sony will add uncompressed RAW on the A7II via firmware updated coming on November 18!

marald — Wed, 04 Nov 2015 08:09:39 -0000

I'm hoping they include the option to power over USB while operating the camera and zoom in on focus point in playback. Even bigger news if they would offer 720p 120 fps in the update. the a7s can do it, so the a7ii probably as well.

Re: Kenta Honjo confirms there will be new A-mount cameras!

marald — Tue, 27 Oct 2015 19:25:57 -0000

Great in depth talk. Like the fact that sony is actually reading forums and listening.

At IBC I spoke to a few of the sony technical people from japan, and they we're very interested in opinions on improvement and things that sony from my point of view got really right.

For the a-mount ppl I hope a good body is on it's way. For me it's too late, I sold my a99 and alpha stuff a year ago (sadly with quite a loss) to go the e-mount road. But with the exception of the cz24-70 2.8, I haven't missed it at all.

Wished the interviewer asked for future firmware upgrades for at least current a7 line up. Hopefully it will include uncompressed raw just to stop the fuzz about it, but I wonder updates like AF-C eye af could be added through firmware update on an a7ii, 120 fps @ 720p or even zoom at focus point in playback would be a great new feature. And please sony, if possible enable custom white balance in video mode like a video camera would.

Re: This week SAR readers photos selection.

marald — Sun, 11 Oct 2015 17:16:06 -0000

great series, liked the sam spicer the best as well. I think Igor has better work on his website than what's shown here.

Re: Giant Monster Sony A7rII spotted in Lima! :)

marald — Sat, 22 Aug 2015 20:13:54 -0000

first signal by sony that I actually found very usefull. good technical info why the specs are what they are. I hope they do more of these..