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Welcome to DearSusan.net, the collaborative website where travelers and photographers find location reviews, gear reviews, pro interviews, tutorials, industry news and inspiration for making their photography a more creative, satisfying and rewarding experience.
OUR GOALS
Our main goal is to nurture a community of like-minded, talented and generous photographers. You'll have noticed that many blogs are slowing down or stopping altogether and that the surviving few can sometimes feel like there's a content drought. It's very difficult to keep a small website running, particularly when you have a real job to pay for the bills. But a group can - and does - achieve far more. Put together, the team of contributors to this website has a deep knowledge, a vast experience and a breadth of vision that would have been impossible to achieve alone. And we're always on the lookout for new contributors willing to share their know-how and experience with others.
We also want to promote personal expression and creativity, two natural side-effects of any artistic hobby but often forgotten in ours, due to excessive focus on gear and likes. We try to turn the tide and help community members experience the greatest benefits from their practise.
GET TO KNOW US
Who are we ?
Why creative photography ?
Why travel photography ?
How is DearSusan financed ?
Do we ever meet in person ?
How often do we publish articles ?
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A random gallery of contributor photographs
C’est une très belle initiative les amis. Comment dois-je faire pour accéder au backoffice?
Bises
Allez dans la page d’accueil “HOME”, descendez sous le bandeau jusqu’à la fenêtre où vous lisez “Travel Photography” en blanc sur fond noir, sur la même ligne, un peu plus à droite, cliquer sur “View All”. Voilà…
Very interesting posts here. Have just gone up-stream NEX from the 5 to the 7. I use legacy lenses exclusively, mainly M fit, and put up withthe lens cast issue from wide VM’s. No such problem withthe ZM 50/1.5 which I love on the NEX-7 and am thinking of buying a ZM25/2.8. Your photos using this lens show no sign of lens cast – have you removed it with Cornerfix?
Hi Martin, the upside of the NEX 5’s lower resolution is that the larger pixels have less problems with lenses such as the biogon 25. In thourough testing against a white target, you will see a slight colour variation between f/2.8 and f/8. But in real life, I haven’t had a single picture showing a colour cast with that or with even wider lenses. I originally wanted to get the 7, but since I only use legacy lenses, I decided to go for the more tolerant 5. Still, with Cornerfix, you’ll be fine. Hope you enjoy every minute with your 7.
You’ll find my test of the Biogon here : http://dearsusans.wordpress.com/2011/11/25/70-the-sony-nex-5n-and-exotic-lenses-leica-m-leica-r-zeiss-zm-zeiss-cy-panasonic/
[…] ZM 18mm f/4.0 lens (here on eBay). Our reader Pascal tested the lens and posted his findings at DearSusans (Click here): “Contrary to my (FABULOUS) Zeiss ZM Biogon 25mm/2.8, this is not a symmetrical lens and […]
Hi, I loved your articles regarding the NEX 5/7, was curious if you have had a chance to sample with the NEX6 and if so what you’re overall thoughts are were
Good to see your Hans Strand interview. Best wishes for your site.
Jim
Very kind of you Jim ! Thanks and all the best to you as well. Pascal
The quality of the photos on your site is inspirational. Excellent work, guys. The same is true for the posts.
Thanks Jens, that’s most kind of you. We’re happy to count you one of our readers !
Could You tell us more who is titled Susan? 😉 I like very much Your site name..it sounds warmly and it makes a difference with other sites, which want to provide similar materials to Yours 😉
Thank you 🙂 “Susan”, is Susan Sontag. She wrote essays on photography that everyone should read at least once, for a different perspective. It was reading one of her books, that made me want to start this blog a few years ago. Too much stuff on the Internet is all about rules of thirds, and lab results for lenses. It pushes you into your mold rather than let you think on your own. I wanted to take the opposite direction. Hence the name. Cheers, Pascal
Pascal:
Also have an a7r. Like you: best images ever. But only with two lenses: Zeiss 55 1.8, and Tamron 28-75. And lots of throw aways because of focus issues. But when its good, its stunning.
So, what lenses do you use that you like best on the camera?
Hi Howard, that’s a tough question. Zeiss have recently sent me a lot of gear for review and the ZM 35/1.4 has to be my favourite lens ever at this date. A very close second would be the OTUS 85/1.4. But those are expensive lenses. At more affordable levels, I must say I the Leica-R lenses absolutely fantastic. They are sharp, very cheap in some cases, and have lovely colour and drawing, particularly those designed by Walter Mandler. Cheers.
Pascal;
The personal journey from Dad the documenter, to Photographer. is long and arduous involving learning the camera/photo techniques, post processing, maybe printing and learning about color, “seeing” the potential photograph, critical analysis and taking the shot with a camera of some sort. Part of that journey is learning to recognize the “photographer within” and letting your creative force loose, free of the worry of not doing it right. To me, that has been one of the most difficult in developing my “sight” of the potential shot. Your web site does a nice job of that process. Looking forward to Paris.
Thans David. Our thoughts exactly, and we plan to orient our work more and more in that direction! Also looking forward to meeting you in Paris.
“Dad the Documenter” to “Photographer”! Brilliant. I’ve been on the same route and in the process discovered the insatiable desire to create. After a lifetime of believing I wasn’t “creative”.