New Camera: First Snaps of Cows and the Green East Bay Hills

Sunset over rolling green hills and cattle in the Briones Valley, Briones Regional Park, Contra Costa County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220117ra_BA3-0310h.

I Got a New Camera! Here are some of my First Snaps of Cows and Green East Bay Hills.

There seems to be a popular Social Media tradition that has emerged of late, namely letting people know you got a new camera or lens by posting a picture of the box(es) they came in, ideally stacked neatly on a coffee table in a living room. Well, I recently got a new camera and lens, but unfortunately won’t be sharing any photos of the boxes. To me, that’s like saying you bought a new car and post a photo of the receipt rather than of the car itself. Since cameras are meant for taking pictures, the only meaningful testimony should be the photos themselves.

After more than two decades as a dedicated Nikon shooter, it should come as (a/no) surprise that when it finally came time to retire my trusty Nikon D800 DSLR, I opted to switch to a fully mirrorless system. However, rather than go with Nikon’s new Z-cameras, I opted to upgrade to the 42Mp Sony A7Riii. Granted, this is not a new-new camera, although it’s new to me. Sony has had this gem on the market for a number of years and most recently released the next generation Sony A7Riv.

So why did I opt to get the older A7riii vs. the A7Riv? The simple fact was for all the similar bells and whistles, I just didn’t feel a need for every shot I took to be captured as a 60mp file. The processing, storage, and overall horsepower requirements where more simply didn’t mean better.

So why a Sony Mirrorless system instead of Nikon? First, I’ve been using the smaller 24mp Sony A6300 as a primary hiking and light travel camera for a number of years. That switch came after hauling a 40+ lb. pack of Nikon gear on a 10-mile day hike at altitude in Yosemite. Now, granted, my pack won’t weigh a lot less, especially as I get more new Sony lenses. However, using the A6300 was such a breeze to use and had great image quality to the point where I took that body and two lenses for nearly six weeks in China vs. hauling all of my Nikon gear. In that time, I became (at least) comfortable with Sony’s less-than-stellar menus. Secondly, after waiting for years for Nikon to catch up to Canon in the early days of digital, now Nikon was busy playing catch up to Sony. By the time Nikon released its Z-Camera line, it was just too late in the game to justify staying with Nikon. Furthermore, the fact that Nikon required a nearly $300 adapter just to mount any of my prime Nikon glass to their mirrorless body — not to mention increasing the length of the body/lens combo by several inches — it wasn’t an investment I was willing to make.

To pair with my new A7Riii, I opted to pick up the 24-105 f/4 G OSS lens that has gotten a lot of favorable reviews. I had previously purchased the APS-C 18-105 Sony PZ G OSS for the A6300 and just loved the versatility of the longer focal length. Rather than just tossing $10k in all prime Sony GM lenses, this would at least allow me a little time to play, learn the camera, and then decide which additional lenses to start building up this system. I’m happy to hear any recommendations. (I also own the 70-300 f/4 G OSS that I got for the A6300.)

So, enough about the camera. Please enjoy some of the first photos I’ve taken while out hiking with my new Sony A7Riii.

As always, thank you so much for looking, and I’d love to hear if you have a favorite image or two in the comments below.

Cheers,
~ Gary.

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Picture #02: Green rolling hills at sunset looking toward Mount Tamalpais from the Briones Crest, Briones Regional Park, Contra Costa County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220205rb_BA3-0089.

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Picture #03: Young cow and green hills in spring, Briones Regional Park, Contra Costa County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220313_BA3-0037.

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Picture #04: Green hills, trail, and lagoon along the Briones Crest looking toward Mount Diablo, Briones Regional Park, Contra Costa County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220121ra_BA3-0132.

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Picture #05: Sunset behind a California Poppy bloom in spring, Briones Regional Park, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220313_BA3-0098.

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Picture #06: Portrait of a young Bull calf atop the Briones Crest, Briones Regional Park, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220313_BA3-0048.

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Picture #07: Person meditating outdoors at sunset and enjoying the bliss of the rolling green hills in spring, Briones Regional Park, Contra Costa County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220117ra_BA3-0196.

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Picture #08: Sunset light over the rolling green hills of the East Bay from the Briones Crest, Briones Regional Park, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220313_BA3-0435.

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Picture #09: Female cow greets her young calf, Briones Regional Park, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220313_BA3-0258.

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Picture #10: Sunset light on Mount Diablo seen over a lagoon and the green hills of Briones Crest, Briones Regional Park, Contra Costa County, California
Purchase Prints or License Usage: ID# 220313_BA3-0307.

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Gary Crabbe is an award-winning commercial and editorial outdoor travel photographer and author based out of the San Francisco Bay Area, California. He has seven published books on California to his credit, including “Photographing California; v1-North”, which won the prestigious 2013 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal Award as Best Regional title. His client and publication credits include the National Geographic Society, the New York Times, Forbes Magazine, TIME, The North Face, Subaru, L.L. Bean, Victoria’s Secret, Sunset Magazine, The Nature Conservancy, and many more. In 2018, The USPS selected a nearly-unprecedented seven of Gary’s photographs to become U.S. Postage ‘Forever’ Stamps as part of the O Beautiful collection. Gary is also a photography instructor and consultant, offering both public and private photo workshops, as well as being a professional Photo Editor and Content Creator.

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