Lonely in a Crowd? 85mm Travel Photography | Sony 85mm f1.8 

The camera is just the start of the conversation, and most street photographers I know like to shoot alone. Online communities can fill this void, hence the reason for this channel. Thanks so much for engaging, means a lot to me.

Yoki thank you for your thoughtful and reflective comment. I am figuring this channel out in real time, really glad to hear you’re resonating with the content! Like all creative pursuits I am just trying to make content I would be happy watching. More to come!

Thank you so much for watching and commenting. Photography has never meant less to the broader public, but it’s more important now to be a photographer than ever before. Hope you are out there shooting and creating!

You should go out and shoot again! Which bodies do you have? Thanks for watching, more content to come

Great to hear from you as always! It is cathartic for me to make these videos so glad they are finding an audience.

Thanks Vladimir! A great community of photographers is all over RU-vid!

Thanks so much for watching and commenting - photography doesn’t have to be lonely. Happy shooting!

Everyone keeps telling me to try the 135mm GM! It sounds like an amazing lens, will try to add that to the (growing) shopping list. Your feedback means a lot, RU-vid is a hard game to play so every bit helps for new channels.

It changes over time for me - think 50mm is still my default “memory FOV”. 85mm is not a bad way to see the world though, everything looks beautiful

Same here! For a while I thought I can train myself to the “correct” focal lengths (i.e. 35mm or 50mm), but I’m starting to accept that this is just how I see the world.

Thank you so much - lots of this space is filled with pros, but we the enthusiasts are keeping the whole industry afloat! More content to come

Thank you - still a very new channel so every sub and comment matters so much! My photos are a work in progress but most importantly they can help me tell the stories I want on the channel.

Thanks so much for watching!

Great to connect and thank you for taking the time to comment. More content coming this week from Japan

Thank you so much! Channel is just getting started more to come

Very kind of you to say, thank you for watching. Where are you based? Lots of photographers all over the world have reached out since starting RU-vid, it has been a surreal experience. More content to come!

Thank you so much. More to come!

Thanks for watching - photography is a beautiful medium!

Thanks so much! Great to meet so many photographers via RU-vid, an unexpected surprise for me to start the new year

Thank you so much Daniel - RU-vid is not an easy medium to cut through the noise, glad you found the channel

Welcome! The algorithm remains a complete mystery to me, glad you found the channel

Thank you for sharing - cameras are amazing tools not just for commercial reasons, but personal ones too. More content to come

Thanks so much Bjorn - wonderful to connect here on RU-vid. Happy shooting!

Wow thank you so much! Very new channel, so any comment + feedback helps more than you know. More to come!

Great to connect with German photographers! What do you normally shoot on?

​@@BokehTherapy In my free time, I mostly travel with friends, where we try to take some unique photos, but recently I've developed a love for lost places and drone photography. On the work side, I do product photography in my studio or with models.

Drone photography sounds amazing. Still don’t own one, will need to add it to the list. Thanks for watching!

Thank you Gareth - trying to say the quiet part out loud for photographers on this channel. A small niche that hopefully resonates with more people

Great to hear, happy shooting!

Thank you - means a lot that you took the time to comment

Thank you so much - still a very new channel so glad it’s finding an audience

Thank you so much for sharing. Photographers have been left behind by most of the online platforms so we need to find new connections. Do you print your photos? More content to come!

@@BokehTherapy I actually don’t print but found your channel while flirting with the idea, I felt as though before printing I should get a feedback and missed a platform where I can get it.

I think the first form of feedback could be from yourself, seeing how the photo looks and feels in print? Keep shooting!

Thanks so much - working on this week’s video now!

Thank you for taking the time to comment! More to come

Thank you - I am still on instagram too, just not sure what to do with it! Glad you found the content, more to come

Thanks Taylor! 85mm is quite hard to use if you’re travelling with friends and family, but great for solo shooting. Hope you find the right kit for your next trip!

Thank you!

85mm looks amazing for landscape work - thanks for watching!

We’ve all had to adapt to become hybrid right? Looking forward to seeing your work!

There’s something about that 7L size - just does everything I need it to. Even all the snacks my 5 year old daughter wants!

Thanks for watching!

Thank you Lee - half the comments are telling me to shoot 135mm and the other half 28mm! No rules in street, just shooting for fun anyway. More content to come.

A former student! Amazing to hear from you. Street photography in Brisbane sounds great

Thanks so much! Hope you got something out of it, more to come.

Hey thank you so much! Will do my best to consistently put out good useful content.

It’s frustrating to not be able to showcase your best work. I thought my photos were getting better but none of the “metrics” showed any growth. Stopped caring about it and made it about family, and now other photographers through this channel. Thank you for watching and engaging, means a lot to me that this is resonating.

I mostly try to come home with just 1 good photo, takes the pressure off and that way I can enjoy being in the present moment more. Question: I am wanting to upgrade my camera coming from a DLSR. Hesitating between the A7C or A7CII, any thoughts?

If you have the budget the A7CII is a worthy upgrade I think. Brighter more responsive viewfinder and ergonomics are better. The IBIS actually works well (easily 1/10 second hand held?) unlike the older Sony bodies

@@BokehTherapy got budget for 1 prime in that case, the 40mm f2.5 or so. Will be sufficient for a while. Thanks for your input!

The 40mm f2.5 is an amazing lens, very sharp. I do too much shooting at night to justify it in the collection for the moment, but it might be all you need.

Thank you so much - it is great to connect with other photographers, street shooting can get lonely! Which country are you based in?

@@BokehTherapy French living in the US… been doing photography as my mental health pressure valve for 38 years, mostly wildlife photography but getting more and more into street photography.

Wildlife photography is amazing! Hard to do everyday though? Street is doable everyday and keeps the process going

I still have a soft spot for M43. Loved my Olympus and Panasonic setups back in the day, it’s how I learnt photography. Thanks for watching, happy shooting!

Thanks for watching! I didn’t feel like I was missing the extra reach, but everyone tells me I should try the 135mm GM. Depends on where you shoot the most? For street and urban I think 85 is plenty, but if you do landscapes then the 70-200 is more versatile. The 85mm f1.8 isn’t too expensive so you can experiment with it to see how you like the results

I never got along with the 28, but will need to give it another try. Thanks for watching, always interesting to hear other people’s shooting experiences

​@@BokehTherapy It took me a while to get back into it. What finally clicked for me was visiting a small town that was super dirty with lots of litter, and flytipping. I wanted to capture the sheer scale of the carnage, but I was always ending up with a portrait of a lone trash bag on a hill, and missing the rest of the clutter. The penny kind of dropped there: clutter could be context. I usually recommend starting out the journey into wide angle by sticking some gaffer tape on the LCD to get a 2:1 crop and pretend you're shooting an X-pan. It gives you more width to work with, but saves you from the additional floor and sky, until you're ready to think about layering again. ✌

The A7Cii and A7CR can display the 2:1 aspect ratio in the viewfinder - I’ll have to give it a try. Thanks for the tips, now to find a good 28mm for Sony E mount lol

Yes lightweight too. Thanks for watching!

The algo is working in my favour for once! Great to have you visit the channel, more content to come. What kind of photography do you mainly shoot?

@@BokehTherapy not even sure myself. just starting out and falling in love with 40mm, while also trying to figure how to find more time for photo therapy

Amazing to hear that you are getting into shooting, street is a quick way to get reps in and find your style. 40mm is my second favourite (after 50mm) - will cover this in next week’s video.

That's great! No pressure on getting videos out, but for sure I will be looking forward when it releases:)

Great tip - I haven’t tried the Samyang! A little trickier to go third party for hybrid shooters due to Sony’s spotty focus breathing compensation support, but worth a look for sure. Thanks for watching!

Yes I started on APS-C as well - really fond of the smaller weight and size. Thanks for watching - more content to come.

Yes! That’ll be closer to a 135mm FOV on the A6700 right? Even more dramatic compositions. Have a great trip, look forward to seeing your photos.

@@BokehTherapy Actually, I'll take my Sigma 56mm that gets me close to your 85mm. I do have the same 85mm you have too. Hmmm

The Sigma 56mm! Great lens, amazing how long sigma has been making sharp optics for.

I tried the 24-70 GMii - great lens like all of Sony’s newer offerings. Glad it worked for you, I’m sadly not a zoom shooter. Hopefully the newer 85mm will have 0.5m MFD and make it more versatile

Yes me too - I wasn’t going to get the 85mm f1.8 but needed a longer prime for travel. It surprised me how much I liked it! Let’s see how light Sony can make their new 85

Thanks for watching! The camera bag I use is the Wotancraft Pilot in 7L but they come in different sizes: www.wotancraft.tw/en/creations/camera-bags?rfsn=7872078.ab04e93

Thanks. Its nice pack.

I wish I liked using zooms more - tried the 24-70 GMii but just couldn’t get along with it. Unfortunately I just need to lug around 2-3 primes

@@BokehTherapy I don't have a ton of experience with zooms, but that 24-70 range is super useful. 2.8 gives you enough light for most situations and at the more tele end gives you decent bokeh. I'd just treat it like 3 primes in one. I know that Steve McCurry used the 24-70 a lot (I think I even saw a documentary in which he was carry a 24-105, which surprised me). There's the temptation to just stand there and zoom in and out, but I think I can safely avoid that as a crutch. Part of the reason, I'd want a zoom for travel is because I'm a bit OCD about getting dust or dirt on my sensor. Especially, now with the sensors having IBIS, you have to be very careful not to damage the mechanism when cleaning the sensor. I used to use something call a Sensor Gel stick, which did a really good job cleaning the sensor (the few times that I did), but I'd never use that on a moving sensor like the one of most mirrorless cameras.

Zooms make so much more sense. I do need to try one again. The tamron 20-40 is a great lens, worth considering too

Flickr (and now IG) are really not fit for purpose anymore when it comes to photographers. I think we just need to build our own websites to showcase portfolios but hard for most hobbyists to take that step. Thanks for watching!

I think a 105mm is most common after 85? Thanks for watching!

I love it too - it may be the best Sigma lens ever made! I think this is why the 85mm GMii from Sony is so slow to come out, they have their work cut out for them to beat the Sigma

@@BokehTherapyI was just thinking that the Sigma 65 might be cool option too

I had it for a while, loved it too! Super sharp

I prefer 85mm I think - easier to make a striking image than 35. Really have to work for the pictures with a 35 or 50, but often the end result is better

Yeaa.. I have owned 20mm for a while because I shoot astrophotography most of the time, but I cant get any pictures lately due to the bad weather. I'm thinking of getting 85mm also. Thanks.

Also greetings from Indonesia.

85mm f1.8 shares the same 67mm filter size as the 20mm f1.8 in Sony - good choice! Not too expensive either. I hear lots of good things about Astrophotography in Indonesia!

@@BokehTherapy yea, there are a lot of places you can shoot astro. Popular places like Mt. Bromo (I wanna go here someday). In my town, Bintan Island, we have sand dunes and a blue lake a hidden gem for photographing. Tbh, shooting astro is difficult. I need to learn a lot of techniques and need some extra tools.

The 85 GM is really due for a mk2 version and the Sigma 1.4 is a better lens while being $700-600 cheaper, it also happens to be smaller and lighter which you can't generally say for Sigma.

@@Roct3874 Yeah, the Sigma is superior but it's a heavier lens. Though, at the same time, it's only 110g heavier than the 50mm gm f/1.4, which Jack uses, too,

Yup I am waiting for the 85GM mark ii! Sony are taking their sweet time. Hope it is smaller and lighter than the Sigma

@@BokehTherapy Professors must make a lot of dough in Australia! Congrats! So far, I only have the 50mm GM F/1.4. I bought it with my a7IV when I traded in my DSLR gear. I love the 85mm focal length, but, for me it's a bit limiting as an everyday street lens. The 50mm is that goldilocks focal length for street. 85mm is my favorite lens for portraits, which I don't get enough opportunities to shoot as I'd like. Even if the new GM comes out within the next year, I'll still probably get the Sigma. I don't consider the 85mm to be an action lens, so I don't mind the slightly less reliable autofocus compared to the native lenses. A lense that I wish would get made is a 28mm G or GM lense at f/1.8. 28mm is a great focal length for indoors stuff and tight spaces. 24mm is just too wide, for my taste, and 35mm is too close to the 50mm.

I buy and sell most of my gear constantly to keep the merry go round of funds going. Professors do OK in Australia, but not enough to fund this expensive hobby!

It is the Wotancraft Pilot 7L, although I have all 3 sizes. Review video coming up

@@BokehTherapy could it fit a7c with 50mm f1.4 gm, 24mm gm and 135mm gm? my local store said it could but i doubt it. 10L is too big for me

Maybe at a push? One body two lenses for sure. Third lens will depend on size, I don’t have the 135mm GM. Will do a few gear loadouts in the review video

@@BokehTherapy have you compared its capacity with peak design 6L, ona bowery or billingham hadley small? I have them and Im looking for camera bag that slightly bigger in term of capacity from those

More space than Hadley small, probably on par with peak design 6L. Avoid the Ona as leather weighs it down and eats into the inner capacity

“Tenuous Connections” should be the alternate title for this channel haha. Thanks for your feedback, still trying to work out the best format going forward. Editing is a real slog!

All I want is the perfect camera 🎶

Thanks for your input - I think everyone shoots differently and there’s not actually a designated “finish line” for creativity. That’s what’s fun about it! Great to hear about your shooting experience, I have just as many people telling me to shoot 135 as I do 28!

@@BokehTherapy I hope I haven't come across as prescriptive - everyone's journey is their own - I was just laying down what is a pretty common road traveled by street shooters - some of us doing it - before the term/meme was even invented. Note I haven't referenced or commented on the 'therapeutic' aspects of some of your commentary - a diversion where one can focus on something different and pleasurable is indeed a welcome and healthy intervention. Everyone ends up being a documentary shooter - by definition because time takes care of that.

Not at all - I love hearing about people’s experiences. In some ways I wish it was a little more prescriptive, more rules to follow that will get a pleasing image (for days when the inspiration isn’t quite there). I will take your advice and spend sometime tracking down a good 28mm lens. Keep shooting Pete, thanks for watching!

The algorithm is working for a change on my end! Photography is only getting more interesting, thanks for watching. More content to come