Yesterday evening, I used the Skyfire service to help gauge what the sunset would be like. Skyfire proclaims, “Now you can map out exactly when and where the epic light will occur so you don’t have to worry about missing out on that award winning shot ever again.” Skyfire predicted a moderate chance of good light during sunset yesterday. I decided to take out my camera, having resolved to capture more beauty where I live.
The sunset indeed turned out to be gorgeous, but shortly after I shot this photo, I tripped and fell onto a concrete sidewalk, my camera and tripod tumbling with me. Sony’s full-frame mirrorless equipment is tougher than DSLR holdouts seem willing to credit; my A7R II and 24-70 f.28 GM lens emerged from the fall completely operational, with just a couple small dents on the body of the camera, and some minor scuffing on the lens hood.
The story was different for the battery grip attached to the camera, though; its door was ripped off, and the tray of batteries hurtled out onto the concrete. I determined that it still works, but the clasp holding in the battery tray when the door is open was broken. Now I have to force the door shut onto the battery tray. I looked into having the battery grip repaired, but that would cost $130, so I’ve decided to make do. The grip still works, after all! By the time I gathered my wits after the fall — which also scraped bloody the palm of one of my hands, both my knees, and somehow the skin under my right thumb, in addition to tearing small holes into the knees of my jeans — and figured out my camera still worked fine, the sun was slipping under the horizon. And I just wanted to get home at that point anyway and clean myself up.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the beautiful sky, and I look forward to putting Skyfire to more use.
