My name is Oscar Lindsey, and I am a creator based in the UK, with a love to travel and explore new destinations. I started off my photographic journey navigating the streets of London armed with nothing but my camera, a kit lens and a passion to discover my creative potential. Over the past 6 years I have been fortunate enough to find myself immersed in a community of other like-minded creatives, work with industry leading brands and visit some of the most incredible places in the world. From chasing sunrises, exploring cities into the night and capturing the automotive world, Sony’s selection of world class cameras and lenses have been the perfect tools to document it all.

Join me on this visual journey throughout the beautiful country of Japan – a destination combining tradition, rich cultural heritage, and modernity. From the bustling metropolis of the streets of Tokyo to the rugged peaks of Mt. Fuji, my plan was to document it all with everything I carried with me in my camera bag. For three weeks straight, I travelled with my newly acquired Sony Alpha 7 IV and lenses covering the focal lengths of 14mm all the way to 400mm to truly immerse myself within a country offering it all and I couldn’t have been more excited.

Having used the Sony Alpha 7 III for the majority of my career, I decided it was about time to upgrade to the Alpha 7 IV and it couldn’t have been more well timed for this trip. I like to push the gear that I use for my craft, I think it’s super important to truly see what a piece of equipment is capable of and before I go any further, I can’t tell you what a joy this camera is to use – here are some of my highlights:

Having a fully articulating flip out screen is a feature which I was seriously in need of coming from the Sony Alpha 7 III. Being able to view what you’re shooting from almost any angle has allowed me to capture shots with a level of precision that I was lacking before – whether I’m shooting down low to capture a puddle reflection, or shooting holding my camera high above my head, I can always be sure that my shots are composed properly and exactly how I intend.

Another key feature that impressed me about this setup was the continuous Animal Eye AF. When shooting the deer of Nara Park I could always ensure that my focus was going to be razor sharp even whilst the animals were constantly moving. This was one less thing for me to worry about and meant that I could solely focus on composing my shots exactly as I envisioned.

As a photographer who likes to reframe, adjust and crop my images in editing, the 33MP Full Frame capabilities of this camera are second to none and work perfectly for my workflow. Having access to this level of MP means that you can essentially have multiple images and angles from just one shot in order to show different elements of what is happening in frame.

Finally, I’d like to talk about some tweaks which make shooting with this camera an absolute breeze and speed up my workflow drastically. Typically, menu systems can be a bit overwhelming, and this could be the difference between ensuring you don’t miss that money shot – with the menu system on the Alpha 7 IV, you’re able to add all of your favourite and most used settings to one customised menu to truly get you into that flow-state of shooting and access them immediately.

Throughout my travels in Japan, I chose four of Sony’s G Master lenses to be paired alongside my Alpha 7 IV to prepare me for a wide range of shooting scenarios. For travel content creation the aim of the game is portability, reliability and second to none performance in the field.

FE 14mm f/1.8 GM

I had a lot of fun shooting with this bit of kit around Nara Park, where I really wanted to get up close and personal with the deer. The first thing that stood out to me about this lens was the incredibly compact build paired with the sharpness. Predicting the movements of the deer was a challenge, but I was able to rely on the precise autofocus, hyper-wide perspective, and the ability to shoot at an aperture as low as f/1.8 accentuated my subject with softly melting bokeh.

FE 16-35mm f/2.8 GM II

Having used the predecessor to this lens for the bulk of my career, I felt a noticeable difference from the moment I got my hands on it. The lens is considerably more lightweight, and this creates the ultimate run and gun set-up, especially when shooting fast-paced scenes in the automotive world. Given how unpredictable shooting from a moving car can be, capturing rollers requires a steady hand and super-fast autofocus, so it is essential to have feather-weight gear which ultimately increases your odds of nailing that crispy shot.

Next level resolution, subject defining bokeh and an absolute pocket rocket to say the least – is this the ultimate lens for street photography? More often than not, the 50mm was super glued to my body throughout my travels and it completely blew me away with capturing the true essence of Tokyo’s nightlife and streets.

FE 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 GM OSS

Using this lens was an absolute pleasure and being able to shoot with such a dynamic range of focal lengths opened up endless possibilities for discovering unique perspectives and showcasing some of Japan’s vast landscapes. Despite the lens being substantial in size, especially when punching all the way to 400mm, I was still comfortably shooting handheld which resulted in super detailed images time and time again.

From start to finish, shooting with the Sony Alpha 7 IV paired with these genuine Sony lenses proved to be an absolute dream and were instrumental tools to help me document my travels. Whether you’re just finding your feet within the creative world or are a seasoned pro, the Sony Alpha 7 series line up of cameras will not disappoint you. A piece of advice that I want to leave you with is to always keep your camera at arm’s length so you’re ready to shoot in a moment’s notice – it can become common practice to keep your gear packed away until you reach that shooting location, but the little moments you pass on the journey often go uncaptured and the beauty of travel means that you never know what’s hiding around the corner, so keep that camera ready and shoot everything.