Hello and welcome to another fall edition of Tech Tails!
Temperatures are starting to drop around here and the crazy October weather continues! On Sunday night, we had an epic wind storm here in Vermont and ended up with dozens of customers seeking backup battery packs for their Apple devices. I’m sure a lot of you have considered what to do in a power outage, but for some younger homeowners, forming a backup plan is a great idea. We lost power about ten times in the night, only in short bursts. Nevertheless, I was thankful for the APC battery backup unit that my iMac is connected to. Without it, I’m not sure how the surges may have affected my computer, scanner, and audio interface. At Small Dog, we carry portable battery chargers by Outdoor Tech, which have a little flashlight attached. I usually recommend these for your toolbox, as they serve two purposes and you’ll never know when you’ll need reserve power.
Moving on to what has been on my mind this week: Sony dropped the new A7RIII and the DSLR community is going crazy. As a Canon shooter, I have to say, Sony is like the Sirens calling from the rocky coast. I have always looked at the A7 line with envy, but fear that switching will result in a few lost features I’m not sure I could part with. On one hand, Sony has more autofocus points, megapixels, and frames per second than the latest 5D by Canon. But numbers like this can be a false flag, depending on your actual needs. I would encourage anyone in the market for a DSLR to speak to a photographer and figure out what they use their system for. As far as I can tell, Canon still has Sony beat for battery life, and weather resistance. If you’re photographing icebergs, those things might come in handy! Especially since cold climates deplete lithium batteries much faster! Sony does have some alluring video features that should not be overlooked. At this point, I would say independent filmmakers should be legitimately considering a Sony rig, but leave extra budget for spare batteries. They’ve introduced image stabilization into their sensors, whereas Canon makes you buy that in every lens. Things like that, or adding higher frame rates to their video format options are what make Canon look a bit old school. That said, Canon is known for reliability, and I’ll take that over flashy new features any day.
Despite my allegiance to Canon, I am in fact in the market for a new DSLR. As I primarily shoot film, I find the digital market overwhelming, but there are lots of in-depth reviews out there to help navigate the options. For now, I am reading deeply into the 5D Mark IV, A7SII, and A7RIII. All fantastic cameras and I hope if any Small Dog customers out there are looking for DSLR support, we have a couple folks at the store that can help. Just about everything I know about digital camera operation, I learned from our consultant, Nate Poirier. Make sure to stop in some time and talk cameras with us!
That is all for now, we’ve got computers to diagnose and Apple Watches to sell, so I’ll get back to work, please enjoy this edition of Tech Tails!
Patrick McCormack
patrickm@smalldog.com