VeRoN_7, I like the second picture, how you found a lamp that matches!

The first picture seems to be cut off suddenly on the right side.

vandechrome: The second shot (the jump) is so well-coordinated!


#1 - What went down in Uptown?


#2 - I am just missing some red. (I don't know who shot this.)


#3 - Contemplation.


#4 - The Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro on the A900 is such a refreshing change of pace - 90mm is close to the classic 85mm focal length for portraits. Feels right, they say.


#5 - So what do you do when you're too close? Pick a different way to crop it. Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8.


#6 - Abandon the typical adornings of the head and get in on the face.


#7 - Beware flourescent lights, they cause gradients at high shutter speeds (1/500s, this one.)


#8 - Portrait or landscape orientation often determines the context of the picture, so use orientations wisely.

Guess which were from the Tamron, and which were from the Zeiss!

This post has been edited by albnok: Jul 3 2009, 02:59 AM

Take note of the EXIF in tanjq87's #6. What lens did you think that was?

bennazis: Up to you. Try both and see which color you prefer. For me, Nikon gives a reddish tint on faces. I don't like that reddish tone though some people LOVE it. Too much of a color cast, means you cover up skintones (pink, orange, yellow, if you set your WB correctly, you can see all those colors in skintones when you shoot a face.) This is not something you can easily restore in Photoshop, if you get it wrong.

With the exception of the A230, A330 and A380, you can set your WB and color exactly and precisely in Kelvin temperature from 2500K to 9900K with a color filter of magenta in 9 steps or green in 9 steps.

I have a friend who has a Fujifilm S5 Pro (the undoubted king of accurate color with almost-perfect WB out of JPG). He has a love/hate relationship with his Nikon D700; he loves it because it is full-frame; he hates its WB though.

achew: Warmer is okay; don't overdo it though. Warm is like orangey - Nikon is reddish.

Shoot a shot of your hand using the CZ 16-80mm. Process the RAW, one at the 'neutral' WB, one warmer, and one extremely warm. Now try pixel-peeping on the different regions of your hand - you'll see more distinct, different color tones in the neutral version.

Ask your girlfriend what she thinks, if she wears colored mascara - a warmish WB will lower the effect.

hanafinoor: My beercan is still with KJ argh. I miss it, it makes a great travel beach buddy! 70mm at 1.1 meters, and it feels like the 50mm doing portraits on APS-C again!

porkchop: The Sony 55-200mm F4-5.6 DT is a rebadge of the Tamron, but with a 55mm filter thread (the Tamron has a 52mm filter thread.)

A kit lens is a lens that is supplied in the box with a body - a lot of cameras come with more premium lenses that have internal focus. Of course Malaysia has gotten different sets - the A700 kit lens was supposed to be the 16-105mm but it never sold here. Instead we get the 18-250mm or 18-70mm combo.

Nikon D50/D40/D40x - Nikkor 18-55mm F3.5-5.6, external focus
Nikon D60 - Nikkor 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 VR, external focus
Nikon D70/D70s - Nikkor 18-70mm F3.5-4.5, internal focus
Nikon D80 - Nikkor 18-135mm F3.5-5.6, internal focus
Nikon D90 - Nikkor 18-105mm F3.5-5.6 VR, internal focus
Nikon D200 - Nikkor 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 VR, internal focus
Canon 300D/350D/400D - Canon 18-55mm F3.5-5.6, external focus
Canon 450D/1000D/500D/40D/50D - Canon 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 IS, external focus
Canon 5D/5DMkII - Canon 24-105mm F4L IS, internal focus
Canon 40D/50D - Canon 17-85mm F4-5.6 IS, internal focus
Canon 50D - Canon 18-200mm F3.5-5.6 IS, internal focus
Minolta Dynax 7 - Minolta 24-105mm F3.5-4.5(D), internal focus
Sony A100/A200/A300/A350/A700 - Sony 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 DT, external focus
Sony A230/A330/A380 - Sony 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 DT SAM, external focus
Sony A700 - Sony 16-105mm F3.5-5.6 DT (originally), internal focus
Sony A700 - Sony 18-250mm F3.5-6.3 DT, internal focus
Sony A900 - Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM, internal focus

This post has been edited by albnok: Jul 4 2009, 03:51 AM

SpOOkY: Oh yeah! Forgot that. Different combos for different countries.

lj0000: I can assure you that it is hard to create a picture that shows the unevenness of the aperture blades.

HiroBoroi: Nope, the gear stripping happens on the lens. It happens to plasticky lenses which have plastic geartrains - the Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO and Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG non-HSM are particularly prone to gear stripping.

According to International Camera, it also happens on Nikons (not sure if they meant Sigma on F mount, or Nikkors...)

LeoDaVinci: That's exactly it, the picture! That is a stripped gear.

This is a 100% crop from a Sony A330 RAW file, processed using RawTherapee v2.4 RC2.

Sony 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 DT SAM, 20mm F3.5 1/250s ISO3200, with EV set to +2 in RAW (thus it is actually ISO12800.) Black point increased (a trick I learnt from Nikon to mask shadow noise, hehe.)



lj0000: Er, that might be the cats-eye effect when the OOF highlight is not in the center, like below:



croomaniac: The DRO effect is also more pronounced, like how it used to be on the A100. Then again, I have not compared it to the A100 to see if DRO+ has the same power!

This post has been edited by albnok: Jul 5 2009, 12:53 AM

alpha_company, no, the Sony 16-105mm has a good build. It's only the 18-70mm kit lens that is plasticky la don't worry.

So far of all the Sony and Minolta lenses, only the 18-70mm gets gear stripping.

alpha_company: Huh what is more than twice the price of the 16-105mm?

If you liked the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8, go for it again lah.

alpha_company: Eh you ada minum aaa?

Sony 16-105mm F3.5-5.6 DT - RM1650 street price
Sony 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 DT - RMxxx second-hand price (below RM400 usually)

vandechrome: It's not an upgrade for existing Alpha users, but a good upgrade for point-and-shoot users.

I do think they worked their CCD a fair bit (refer to my 100% crop of the A330 at ISO12800.)

SHOfrE3zE: Wow, the scene in Putrajaya was just wayyy too convenient, the way the clouds planted themselves for you. I wonder if the sun ever sets or rises along that road!

I am liking your very clean grass shot.

chiggy: Wah tough challenge!

I like #2 - Let's Roll Out.

heavenandhell90: Send it for service the moment you can. Head down to Midvalley Northpoint!

Kul | Mo0: Uh, there are kit lenses with constant apertures - they just come with higher end models e.g. the A900's kit lens is the CZ 24-70mm F2.8 SSM.

AlphaBeta: The SB-900 can, of course, point its flash head at the same position.

However, the built-in white card will not face forward when in portrait orientation! That's what the F58 lets you do.

I use only the built-in white card as a diffuser and that is all you need, really.


Top: F58 using only the built-in bounce card in portrait ceiling bounce mode
Bottom: traditional-rotating F42, using a whaletail clone


If you don't use a whaletail/DEMB or its clone you'll end up with something like the picture on the right, in portrait ceiling bounce mode.

alpha_company: If you don't need the range, nothing wrong with the Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 - though I do like the 16-105mm's range.

Also note that the A700 has a F2.8 sensor, for higher accuracy and faster focus detection... so yes, you might prefer to put a F2.8 lens on it.

There isn't a Minolta lens that has a good range for APS-C; Minolta only had the 18-70mm, 11-18mm and 18-200mm (all rebadged into Sony.) Unless you count the Minolta 17-35mm F2.8-4 lah.

TEH_oo_ICE: Wah where you at la?

alpha_company: The idea of the DEMB and whaletail, is:

1) turn head rightwards 90 degrees to point to the right
2) turn head upwards 90 degrees to point to the ceiling
3) install DEMB/whaletail
4) to turn to portrait mode, reverse step 2)

So, you don't need to reorient the DEMB/whaletail. I just find it a big fat and heavy and takes up a load of space when the built-in card (plus slower shutter speed and higher ISO) honestly does the job.

Er, as I said earlier, Cosina redesigned the 16-80mm and came up with the 16-105mm which was less wobbly when zoomed to tele (because it has 2 extension barrels instead of one.)


Left: 16-80mm; right: 16-105mm has 2 tubes.

alpha_company: The 16-80mm and 16-105mm look very identical when not zoomed. I really couldn't tell unless I spot the Zeiss logo on the 16-80mm. In the picture one of them doesn't have a lens cap on hence the difference in height.

craziqbal: I found the redness and vignetting too gimmicky... had I seen the plain unprocessed picture I might have noticed that you have framed the girl right in the middle of 3 on-lookers (which is a very clever composition!) So in this case, your processing turned me off your shot.

cplow1, there's a studio space at Sony Style, The Curve.

We also have flashes so we don't need big studio lights. We can go anywhere and use even the A200/A230 to trigger wireless flash with TTL (D60 owners be jealous!)

bennazis: There are free Sony Alpha workshops. And here, we are your friends and we use Alphas!

Nikon's are only free for beginner level; the rest have to pay.

ryzan76: I like the shoe shot! Though, be careful of the shoestrings nearly melting into the background.

Ahmike, great catch!

jon(",), you should not be using F29. F8 and EV -1 for this should should be sufficient.

Welcome back, V12Kompressor! Do let us know when the HVL-F20AM is in stock. Oh and the very cool LCS-WR1AM wrapping cloth. If you are a one-lens man, you will definitely want one of these!

porkchop, we've never heard of the 55-200mm having gear stripping problems fortunately.