Milton Keynes
MK3 6EL
0771 0628198
Sales and support
Mon - Fri: 9:00 - 17:30
Closed Bank Holidays
MK3 6EL
Sales and support
Closed Bank Holidays
I started in photography when I was 12. Since then I have enjoyed many years of photography, both theory and practice. I have a database of over 300,000 images. These images are treasured and contain many memories.
My first camera was a Kodak Instamatic film camera. It enabled me to take colour, black and white print and slide photographs. I caught the photography ‘bug’ and quickly moved into developing and printing my images in a small darkroom at home.
My favourite camera at that time was the Minolta SRT 100, a classic then and now. Slide film, coupled with a slide projector provided opportunities to sit down as a family to relive holidays, special events and everyday life.
Assisi, 1975. (Kodak Instamatic).
Salmon Nets, Montrose. 1976. (Minolta 35mm compact).
North Dakota, USA. 1976. (Minolta 35mm compact).
These early experiences led to a life-long passion for photography, especially once I married and had children. My first digital camera was a 2.1 megapixel camera, the Kodak DC290. I quickly migrated my film Canon film cameras to Canon, Nikon and Lumix digital systems over a number of years.
Video featured in this journey with a succession of cameras using different tape recording formats culminating in the coming together of still and video recording in the hybrid Lumix GH1 in 2009.
My current still and video system centres on Lumix cameras and lenses. Lumix makes excellent video and photographs in both Micro Four Thirds and Full Frame formats. I invest in both systems. Much of Lumix technology is incorporated into Leica for their cameras. Leica reciprocate with Lumix to design and certified Lumix lenses. I own several Leica lenses and the image quality they produce is fabulous.
MFT cameras are small, extremely portable and exceptionally feature-rich with hybrid shooting being at the centre of their design philosophy. MFT cameras from Lumix drove innovation in the camera industry, leading to an almost complete adoption of mirrorless cameras with hybrid capabilities.
Lumix continues to innovate and refine exciting features such as in-body stabilisation, RAW ProRes recording, and a bewildering choice of video codecs. Their camera bodies and lenses are durable. Professional models have weather sealing, good ergonomics and excellent build quality. These factors combined with affordability results in their adoption by independent film producers and content creators across the globe.
I use MFT equipment commercially for events, conferences, documentary, portrait and group photography and video. Despite their small size, professional features and outstanding image quality, current MFT cameras are limited at the margin in their low light abilities and are bettered by full-frame cameras.
Because of their larger sensors and adoption of mirrorless features pioneered by MFT, modern full-frame cameras are more sensitive to low light and produce higher quality images relative to MFT. They also provide opportunities for more creative depth of field effects than their MFT stablemates. Given these factors, I have invested into Lumix full-frame cameras and lenses. These include the Lumix S1r and S5. In combination with MFT, I have a balanced system to offer clients multi camera video recording in 4k supported by professional audio and lighting.
Aputure video lights and two GH5’s.
GH5 rigged for filming
Professional lighting is provided by Profoto Studio Flash heads for studio and event photography. These units provide high power, rapid-firing flash and are used in combination with softboxes and light modifiers. This setup is used for portraits, family and wedding photography. I use this equipment in poorly lit churches to photograph large groups of people. My Godox off-camera and on-camera flash systems are portable, powerful and are ideal for run and gun situations such as weddings and events. Video lighting is provided by powerful LED panels.
Sennheiser provides professional audio coupled with in-and-off camera audio recording devices for resilience.
I invest in Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop for editing photographs. Video production is centred on Final Cut Pro X. This is ideal for 4k editing. Video, audio and photography editing each use a range of plugins to achieve desired effects.
In summary, I have professional camera equipment and image editing tools to create outstanding images. I have over 50 years of image-making experience. In view of this, you can be confident that the images I create will be treasured for many years to come.
I am pleased to answer questions about photography and gear.
Copyright 2022 David P. Stewart Photography