Jiri Urban
Portrait | Last Updated: November 9, 2021
My name’s Jirka. I’m a photographer and video creator from the Czech Republic’s second-largest city, Brno. My main areas are weddings, reportage, portraits, fashion and lifestyle.
I’ve been taking pictures and shooting videos since about 2014 when I bought a Canon DSLR. I later went through quite a few Canons before I ended up using a Sony.
Bodies
Sony A7II and Sony A6000 – I mainly switched from Canon to Sony for reasons of size and weight, yet in the end, these benefits weren’t as important to me as I’d expected. Considering how much I use manual lenses, with some of them being quite old, one thing I do really like about Sony is focus peeking which I have turned on almost nonstop and use for every photo.
The electronic viewfinder also really suits me, I’d dismissed this for a long time and yet now I can’t imagine taking pictures without it.
During my switchover from Canon, I was seeking an affordable Sony full-frame mirrorless and I ultimately chose the Sony A7II for its superb price/performance ratio. Naturally, with an unlimited budget, I’d probably choose something else, but for the price, it was an easy pick.
I picked up the Sony A6000 as a lightweight camera for trips and as a secondary body and video camera for use in my business. Paradoxically, I often have more fun using my Sony A6000 with an old manual lens than the Sony A7II with a Sigma.
Lenses
Sigma ART 35mm f/1.4 – My #1 choice for weddings above all. It’s super-sharp, swift and 35mm is, in my opinion, the best length for reportage and portraits. It’s wide enough to show the surroundings and yet it also doesn’t deform faces. You can use it both for some nice headshots and for group photos and reportage.
Samyang 85mm f/1.4 – A great lens with gorgeous detail for its price. This is my second most used lens and in combination with the Sony A6000, I’m often pleasantly surprised by the lovely portraits I get out of it (great sharpness where it’s needed and at the same time a nicely blurred background).
Auto Revuenon 55mm f/1.4 and a Soligor 28mm f/2.5 – I love old manual lenses overall and after trying out a Helios, a Pentacon and more, I finally settled on these two because I like their detail and contrast.
Lights
I shy away from lights and flashes in general as I prefer to work with natural, incidental light.
Sunwayfoto FL-70RGB – This is a small RGB light. This has sufficient performance and endurance for me – great for filling out backgrounds or for nighttime portraits.
Backpack
I struggle a lot with the question of backpacks in general. I’d like to have something big where I can fit not just my camera but ideally also my clothing and food for the weekend. I’m currently using a Vanguard VEO GO 37M, which is an ideal backpack for the city or weddings, where I have all my currently needed gear at hand.
Tripods
I usually don’t use a tripod for my shoots, so I only have a basic Velbon M47 and a Velbon CX 560. Stabilization is more attractive for video, and what I use the most there is a Manfrotto MVMXPRO500 Tripod with a fluid video head for smoother shooting and a Zhiyun WeeBill LAB as a stabilizer.
Hardware & Software
I use Zoner Photo Studio X for my photo editing and DaVinci Resolve for my video editing (guide).
ZPSX – What I like here is the overall workflow and how it has actually managed to replace multiple programs I was using before (Lightroom & Photoshop), how intuitive it is and how I can do a whole editing job in it from the basic shifting of lights and shadows to adjusting colors, calibrating the camera, and retouching.
DaVinci Resolve – A start-to-finish video editor. It has two giant advantages of being free and doing the things I need.
I don’t use any special hardware or keyboards for my photo or video editing but I do make heavy use of shortcut keys.
Meanwhile, I’ve got an ergonomic mouse that, for me, is fundamental for any kind of work on a computer.
www.jiriurban.eu | @jiriurban.eu
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