Matthew Stallone

Gear “Review”: Sigma DP2M

Hey all,

I’ve been meaning to write a review for the Sigma DP2M for weeks now but have been too overwhelmed with  school, work, and life to write one up. I have only been able to use the dp2m a couple times, but really think this is one of the best cameras you can get for the price or anywhere near it. I agree with whoever wrote this is not a camera for p***ies, its far from a point and shoot and the battery life is terrible. If you are hoping for a mini dslr you will be disappointed, its not for chasing kids or doing indoor events. Its decent in lowlight but just decent and you will most likely need to know what you are doing in post processing to get these results. Well I’m going to stop right there with my “review” and let the pictures do the talking for me.  I am planning a little  3 week trip soon, I will be traveling to California and then straight to Guatemala. I’m leaving my 5dmk2 home and embarking on this journey with the dp2m and lots of batteries. I’m excited to really bond with this unique camera and I feel like this trip should suffice in doing so.

Comments are greatly appreciated

Gear Review – Sony RX100 Pocket Camera with a Punch

Sony RX100

Baxter

Intro – The Sony RX100 is a revolutionary pocket camera, yes it fits in a pocket and it packs a punch.  It has a

new 1” Exmor R sensor that is roughly 4 times the size of the competition. This larger sensor size equates to better depth of field or “bokeh” which is common ground for dslrs but not something you typically get from smaller cameras. The larger sensor also performs better in lower light situations without all the grainy photos.  The Zeiss lens gets pretty open at f1.8 on the wide end and goes to 4.9 when fully zoomed.

F3.2 and still bokeh

My findings – My past pocket camera was a Canon s90 which I loved and brought with me everywhere my larger dslr was not appropriate. It recently died, and I had to find a replacement asap. Lucky for me the new Sony RX100 was available and I was excited to give it a go.  The camera itself looks like a big brother to the s90, and it still fits in my pocket. It feels solid, but it is a little slippery and awkward to hold. It will definitely benefit from some sort of a grip. Upon opening the box I also noticed that instead of dropping the battery into a charger you have to plug in the camera to the wall. Not a big fan of this, but not a deal breaker at the same time. After charging the camera I was off for the weekend, hoping the battery would last.

Throughout the weekend I put it through the paces. Just messing around the house and back yard, a wedding, and an outing to the Brooklyn flea market. The RX100 performed like a champ in all situations. Good lighting it was great, bad lighting it was great (for a pocket camera). I was comfortable using iso3200 and even 6400 was useable. I took some great photos at the weddings using iso6400 and the flash. The black and white photo from the wedding was taken at iso6400 with flash and 100% crop.

ISO 6400 and fill flash

Some think 20 megapixels is too much for this little guy, but those extra megapixels are great for cropping in closer or down sampling. Even though it has built in image stabilizer I still had a tough time getting sharper images at lower shutter speeds, this is most likely due to the 20 megapixels and can be overcome by using a higher iso setting.

Overall I was pretty happy with the RX100, I feel it’s the next big step for pocket-sized cameras and feel it’s a good upgrade to my Canon s90. I think adding a grip to it may add to the overall experience and I’m sure over time I will be more accustomed to the controls of the Sony. I look forward to using and mastering this camera over the upcoming months.

Auto DR mode – great for getting rid of those harsh shadows!

Below are positives and negatives about the camera.

-Side note- I rarely use video so I am not going to try and review it. It is Full HD 1080/60p so that should suffice for most.

Williamsburg

Brooklyn flea market has some of the best sandwhiches. Eating it without a mess is another story.

NYC

+ Great at high iso’s

+ Pretty snappy autofocus

+ Fast lens at wide end

+ LCD is clear and bright

+ Build quality

+ Large sensor

+ Customizable control ring

-  In camera battery charging

-  Expensive at $649

-  Controls/awkward to hold and use

-  Slow f4.9 at end of zoom

Glen Cove Baptism

First of all I want to apologize, I have been neglecting my poor little website and blog lately.  I have been booked with photo shoots left and right and have had no time to tend to this site. I am going to try and blog more often this fall.  Now on to the good stuff, I have had a lot of baptisms lately and want to share some photos with my viewers. This shoot was a referral from a friend and on top of helping a friend out it was actually close to my home (for once). We started out at the home; I was able to meet the family and little Vincenzo. We got some great shots and then we were off to St. Rocco’s Church in Glen Cove for the baptism.  There were 7 babies being baptized that day which is pretty much the average.  We had conflicting information on whether or not I could move around the church or if I could use flash. As always I was prepared for any situation, but luckily I was able to move about the church to capture some great memories.  After the baptism we got some group shots outside and then we had a quick break before heading to La Parma in Port Washington (one of my favorite Italian Restaurants here in Long Island). The family had a section of the restaurant set up and guest began to arrive. I make sure to not only capture the guests and emotions during the day I also try and capture the details all around like the table setups or Vincenzo’s clothes laid out on the dresser for his big day.  At the end of the day I had about 1200 photos taken, it’s a long day but fun at the same time. I love meeting new people and nothing makes me feel better then giving them memories from these eventful days.

Maternity Photos in New York City

The majority of my photo sessions are on Long Island, but I am always willing to travel for a job. Today I was meeting up with a great young couple who wanted to have engagement style photos instead of just traditional maternity photos emphasizing the belly. It was a typical hot summer day and we decided to do the shoot while casually walking through central park. Central Park has endless photo opportunities from small ponds, statues, to the people just going about their business. You don’t have to have an amazing backdrop like central park or New York City to have memorable photo’s you just need patience and a good eye. My clients give me endless opportunities throughout our sessions to stop time for that brief moment and capture a real moment. I find those magical moments are mostly found between poses, when the people relax and forget that the camera is actually there.

Perfect day for a communion

What a workout, on my feet for over 8 hours running around for shots.  This was the first time I’ve done a communion back to back with a 150 person catered party.  This communion was for twin girls in Suffolk County Long Island, we took some shots back at the house before the actual reception, and then we were off to the church.

Here’s the girls having some fun with photo’s before church.

The church had some rules set out which made it tough for me and anyone else with a camera. No standing in the aisles, and the first 15-20 rows were roped off. I also had to compete against hundreds of family members who would be standing and swaying in my shots nonstop, but all in all I got some great shots of the twins.

Getting ready for her communion

Now back to the party!  First I went to each table to make sure I got a group shot of all of the guests at their tables, then after that I was running around with all the kids trying not to get in the way of their play but still being right there in the action.  What a great day for these kids, magicians all their friends, bubble machines, a dj and even a cotton candy machine.  The adults had a great time too as you can see in my shot of the dance floor.  Even though I was exhausted at the end of this even it was a great time and is always fun to meet and photograph new people.

fun on the playground

Magicians and funny faces

Where’s my cotton candy?

Long Day

Newborn photos from Mothers Day

I can’t think of a better day to give birth than on mothers day. These photos were taken in the hospital only hours after this cute baby was born.  The mother was one of the most prepared I have had the pleasure to work with, she had several outfits and hats ready for the newborn to wear.  Working with babies is always exciting and very unpredictable, I thought for sure with all of the outfit changes the baby would start to fuss.  She turned out to be a great little model. Heres some shots from this photo shoot.

Baby Photography Tips

Capturing newborns is a challenging task. As a photographer, you need patience when taking anyone’s portrait; this especially holds true with babies. Recently, the majority of work I have done in baby photography has been in hospitals here on Long Island.  This environment may be one of the most difficult for taking pictures because of confining spaces, multiple light sources emitting different colors, and less than aesthetically pleasing décor. Yet, somehow I manage to capture family’s precious moments every day. In the beginning, it took some experimenting to understand what works and what doesn’t. Along with all of the technical aspects of my camera and strobes, I needed to find out what makes a happy newborn baby.  I would have to say being warm, comfortable and recently fed are the 3 key elements to having a successful in hospital shoot.

Lenses (Primes vs Zooms)

Different jobs require different tools, and it’s the photographer’s obligation to understand which tools would be the most beneficial to the clients.  When working with newborn babies in the hospital I am forced to work with limited time and space.  Most often it is a shared room with 2 or more families in the room with people coming in and leaving constantly.  For this situation I use a zoom lens.  The zoom allows me to work as efficiently as possible without wasting time to switch from lens to lens.  The downsides to using a zoom lens are it is much heavier and larger then a prime lens, so after a long day of shooting I am certainly feeling some aches.  Since the zoom lens covers several different focal lengths the image quality is usually lacking a little compared to the prime lenses, which are designed to be great at 1 focal length while a zoom can be designed to be fair to good at all lengths.  When I am doing portrait photography or an engagement shoot I will tend to use several prime lenses if the time permits it.  I also feel being forced to work with one or two fixed focal lengths makes you come up with more creative angles and in turn photos, while a zoom may make some photographers lazy in their creative process.  Prime lenses also have the benefit of being able to create more “bokeh” or background blur than the zooms do.  This helps isolate your subject better.  So what type of lens is best to own? In my opinion it really depends on the user, but most photographers leisure or professionals will be perfectly fine with a zoom lens and a large percentage of people will not be able to see the difference between the two.

- Just a side not – Every lens (zoom or prime) has its own strengths and weaknesses as do every camera or any other tool.  Knowing these strengths and weaknesses of your gear is of utmost importance when using them out in the field.

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I will be consistently updating this blog and my website with photography tips, stories from the field, gear reviews, and anything else related to photography. Please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have whether it be booking a job, having a photography question or just want to say hey.