I took a trip down to Hampshire last week to go along to one of the Sony experience days. These days are being offered by Sony to let us photography types get our hands on their alpha range of cameras, lenses and accessories. I’ve just switched one of my Nikon cameras to a Sony A7iii so it was perfect timing for me to go along and learn more about how the new camera works and try out some of the different lenses that are available too.
It was held at a hotel called the Elvetham not far from Reading… I think I actually said “wow” as I drove into the grounds and the castle like hotel was revealed to me. It is a popular wedding venue which isn’t surprising as you are spoiled for choice with great locations for photographs over the 35 acres of grounds.
Kate and Brent from Training byLumiere led the sessions – I’ve trained with them before and they are both warm, friendly and super energetic and enthusiastic about all aspects of photography so I knew the standard of the training would be very high. They spent the morning telling us how they use the cameras to photograph weddings and how they have theirs set up. There is so much customisation on these cameras you can really make it your own so it was great to get some ideas about what works well for them. They described the Sony A7iii as the perfect wedding camera which made me very happy about my recent investment. There were lots of nuggets of useful information to take away but just to pick up on one of the magical functions that I hadn’t discovered: face registration. I had already discovered how much I love the eye auto focus but using the face registration function during a wedding means priority is given to ensuring the face you have registered (so the bride and groom for instance) are in focus over anyone else in the scene. Wowsers.
In the afternoon we set out around the grounds of the hotel with Sam and Oliver, our Bride and Groom. The Sony team very kindly wheeled around a case full of lens so we could try them out as the afternoon progressed. I tried out the 24-70mm F2.8, 85mm F1.4, 16-35mm F2.8, 70-200mm F2.8 and 55mm F1.8. They are all amazingly sharp and proficient but I was most surprised and impressed by the 55mm F1.8 – I loved the size and weight of it and you can’t really go wrong with that focal length either. Profoto was also there for a flash demonstration which was really useful at showcasing their power.
It was great to learn so much about my new camera and to try out lots of different lenses. The power of the Profoto lights was also impressive. Kate and Brent basically bared all for us – telling us everything they possibly could in the time we had. A very big thank-you to them as well as the other suppliers who were part of the day:
Bride @samanthatrup
Groom @oliverfernandez1
Hair & Makeup @carolinepowderandglow
Flowers @rebeccamarsalaflowers
and finally here are some of my favourite shots from the day.
As a result of going along, the switch over to Sony is now being fast-tracked…!
That’s a great experience to try out all the lenses and cameras. Your photos are so interesting to see always different. Great work . 💜😊
Thanks Jennifer – it really was a great experience!