It's been a while since I've taken any night shots. It's not something I do that often, not for any particular reason (other than fear of getting mugged!) Anyway, over the weekend I had the chance to take some pictures of the Grand Canal area of Dublin City after dark. I had my Sony A6000 with me, along with a sigma 30mm and 19mm lens, and my somewhat ancient Manfrotto tripod. 

Welcome to my first street photography diary post of 2016. I've had a relatively productive start to the year, photography wise. I seem to be getting my groove back when it comes to street photography, well a little anyway. There's been some great light here in Dublin in January, and that always helps. The crazy roadworks continue too, but they're making things even more interesting, especially now that they've started laying tracks for the tram system upgrades.

I opened Capture One this morning to find a new update in the update notification panel. If you’re a Capture One Pro 9 user, 9.0.3 is now available.

I haven't really covered Iridient developer much since version 3 was released ( a good while ago now), which I must apologise for, as there's actually some cool features in the updated version. I actually don't use it as much as I used to any more, which is why I  haven't really written much about it, but there is one really good feature that I've been meaning to post about, and so here it goes. If you're using X-Trans files with Iridient Developer 3, there's a special demosaicing mode for black and white images, which maximises the quality of monochrome images from the camera, and it has a really nice look to it.

Last week I released my latest set of Lightroom Presets, “Coffee Tones”. The presets are a set of film like coffee coloured filters for use in Lightroom. I wanted to share some more examples that I’ve used the presets on, including some shots that I took this weekend. I also wanted to thank everyone who sent kind comments on the new set.

After months of rumours and speculation the long awaited X-Pro II from Fujifilm has finally launched, and from the looks of it, it was worth the wait. While the new model looks very similar to the original one, there are lots of changes. 

There will undoubtedly be lots of excitement surrounding the announcement of the new X-Pro 2 if it is announced as rumoured in a few hours time. However, if you're looking to get into the Fuji X system on the cheap, you should look at the second hand market. Certain Fuji cameras are going for very little on the second hand market right now. If you're on a tight budget and you are interested in becoming an X-Shooter it's certainly worth a look.

I’m happy to announce that my first new set of Lightroom Presets for 2016 is now available. Called “Coffee Tones” the set is, as the name suggests, inspired by the look of coffee. It has a number of looks in both colour and black and white. All have some variation of warm earthy coffee coloured tones.

While Nikon may have had the big photographic announcements at CES this year, in my opinion, the more exciting news came from Kodak. Yes, Kodak, remember them? Kodak announced that they’re creating a new super 8 film camera. The new camera and service will blend digital and film technologies, and seeks to capitalise on the analogue resurgence. As someone’s who’s shot Super 8 in the past, I for one am very excited about this.

Continuing on from Parts 1 and 2, This third part completes my review of the Sony A6000. In this part I look at using the camera for Street photography, do come comparisons, and finish off with some conclusions and more sample images.

Continuing on from part one of my Sony A6000 review, in this second part I look at image quality and shooting video on the Sony A6000

Last January, at the beginning of 2015, I decided to add a Sony A6000 to my ever growing camera collection. The reasons for the purchase were twofold. My Sony Nex–7 had died an unceremonious death, and it was going to cost too much to repair. Secondly, I wanted a small camera for video. Since then I’ve used the little Sony more and more and over the past 12 months I’ve really grown to like it.

I knew something wasn't right. My computer, a 2012 Mac Pro, had suddenly decided to go slow. Not just slow, but slow in a very specific way. It was like it was stopping to think every few seconds. It was something that was eerily familiar. I'd seen this before, and I hoped the cause wasn't the same, but I knew in my heart what was happening. My hard drive was failing. Worse, it was my system drive. 

A couple of years ago I wrote a blog post about choosing a raw converter for Fuji X-Trans files. I spoke about which was my favourite piece of software at the time, and I did a pros and cons list for some of the various different converters on the market. Since that was back in 2014, a lot has changed since then. There are major new versions of several of the applications out now, and I’ve changed my mind as to which I prefer personally.

To celebrate the beginning of the new year, I’m having a special one week sale on all my Lightroom presets. For the next week you can get any or all of my Lightroom presets for half price, including the preset bundle. This is normally €65 but for the next week it’s only €32.

You don’t need a code either, All the prices have been cut directly on the store. The sale will end on January 10th.