The unexpected benefit of using loaned camera gear

I recently had the opportunity to spend three days on a photographic adventure, predominantly to capture the night skies at Lake Tyrrell (Country Victoria, Australia). I also got to borrow and try two new cameras from Sony. The Sony A1 and the new Alpha A7RV, as well as some lenses. While I enjoyed the opportunity, I found some unexpected outcomes.

Exploring new horizons

Double excitement, visiting this fabulous region of my home state, we have been here at least three times before and you never know what conditions you will get. We got the perfect amount of water for reflections, without making it difficult to get around. We also had perfect weather during the day and clear skies at night. I was super excited about trying the two new cameras, as I have been toying with the idea of buying the new SonyA7RV. I wanted to test-drive it.

Sadly, I didn’t have both cameras all weekend, I had to share. Which meant not quite enough time to learn all the menus and features. but I got the gist. I also tried the Sony FE14mm f/1.8 lens and the Sony FE16-35mm f/2.8 lens (I currently own the 16-35mm f/4 lens). I was concerned about how my shoulder would cope with the extra weight and my PC would cope with the extra size. I am happy to say both were handled well. But both did notice the difference in size.

Enhancing abilities

I was keen to explore advanced eye tracking but never got the opportunity. I did love the Brightview Monitoring but discovered it is also available on my Sony A7RIII. The other option I wanted to try, but never got the chance was the wireless tethering. However, chatting to other SonyA7RV users over the weekend ensured me it is actually so slow with Capture One they still use a cable anyway. So scratch that idea too. Although Capture One has just made an update to supposedly make that faster? So I am back to tethering via a cable for now. It works fine, just prefer not to have the cable.

Discovering appreciation

So what did I discover after using this loan gear? Funnily enough, I found a whole new appreciation for my current gear. Although I did like that new wide-angle lens. I just can’t justify replacing my current one. I don’t capture that many landscapes. My favorite images from the weekend were actually taken with my old camera. Apart from a few astro shots with the A1, 14mm lens and Bright Monitoring.

Final thoughts

While new tech is always nice, I think I will stick with my camera for a little while yet. It still does an amazing job, I know it so well and if it ain’t broke, why try to fix (or replace) it? I guess the other acceptable idea would be to borrow the gear for a slightly longer time period and use it to photograph what you normally do.