Alpine Panorama

Having moved into a Munich 4th story penthouse with a view to the Alps, I tried for months to get a proper pictures of them. On a somewhat cloudy day my compact Sony DSC-HX90 ultrazoom was hopeless, the color and brightness resolution just wasn’t there. I posted some smartphone snapshots on Twitter but those were … Continue reading “Alpine Panorama”

Botanic Garden Butterflies

Munich’s botanic garden at Nymphenburg palace is currently showing off live tropical butterflies in one of its rooms. So naturally I got my macro lens and see what I could shoot, also adding some orchids (and turtles) from another room. I should say that I don’t actually have a clue about any of these subjects, … Continue reading “Botanic Garden Butterflies”

Altmühl Dinosaurs

The picturesque valley of the river Altmühl, crossing Bavaria from west to east where it joins the Danube, features a number of limestone quarries which continue to reveal large amounts of Jurassic fossils. The Dinosaur Park Altmühltal, located halfway between Munich and Nuremberg near the town of Denkendorf, has a number of them on display … Continue reading “Altmühl Dinosaurs”

Tierpark Hellabrunn with SEL-70300 and Minadax

Some years ago I got a Minadax 1.7× teleconverter of the front-mounted persuasion. In my first Hellabrunn zoo gallery you can see it in action on my Sony A7R II with the SEL-70200G f/4 lens, achieving a total effective focal length of nearly 340 mm. That’s good but since then I discovered the SEL-24240 lens … Continue reading “Tierpark Hellabrunn with SEL-70300 and Minadax”

Passau Ilzschleife

The extensive gallery you find at the bottom of this post combines two older expeditions in August and September 2014. The original Google Photos galleries had been linked in my initial review of the Sony Alpha 7R which I first used on these trips. However, that review was already quite long so while moving the … Continue reading “Passau Ilzschleife”

Tierpark Hellabrunn with SEL-24240

Last summer I had posted a bunch of photos from Munich’s Hellabrunn zoo using the Sony SEL-70200G f/4 lens with an additional Minadax 1.7× telephoto converter on my Sony A7R II – see earlier post for gallery and photographic details. As noted there, the long zoom and lack of polarizing filter kept me from taking … Continue reading “Tierpark Hellabrunn with SEL-24240”

Tierpark Hellabrunn with Minadax Telephoto

Munich’s Hellabrunn zoo was founded in 1911 as the first “geo-zoo” in the world. Animals live spacious enclosures, often without any significant barriers at all, that are organized in geographic clusters. Harmless animals that are used to human contact, from goats to peacocks, are free to roam the visitor walkways. Of course there are also … Continue reading “Tierpark Hellabrunn with Minadax Telephoto”

Olympiapark & Sea Life

I uploaded some photos from a visit to the Munich Olympiapark, created to house the 1972 Olympic Games. Six are views from the observation platform of the Olympiaturm, located at a height of 190 m along the 291 m tall tower. Eight are from the Sea Life Center that happens to be located nearby and … Continue reading “Olympiapark & Sea Life”

Sony SEL90M28G Macro Lens

Sony has finally released its new full-frame macro lens, the Sony SEL90M28G (FE 90mm F2.8 Macro G OSS) which fits my Sony Alpha 7R camera. Since I like macro photography but made do with the Marumi Achromat screw-on filters, I got this dedicated macro lens despite its hefty price tag. There’s little difference in the … Continue reading “Sony SEL90M28G Macro Lens”

Aperture & Macro Photography

The constant maximal f/4 aperture of the Sony Alpha 7R’s two standard zoom lenses – SEL-2470Z (24–70 mm) and SEL-70200G (70–200 mm) – allows for a wonderful amount of light and great bokeh. However, one area where it’s not terribly useful is macro photography with screw-on magnification lenses, in my case the Marumi DHG Achromat … Continue reading “Aperture & Macro Photography”