Welcome back guardians of the Sony Alpha thread!

And yes, ianho's A200 was the inspiration for my formerly stealth A900.

This has something to do with dynamic range also. Yes, the A900 has an amazing amount of latitude to pull shadows and highlights with.

Interesting thing about skintones and greens, is the CFA (Color Filtration Array) used;



Taken from here.

teikwing, you could get:

1) second-hand Minolta 50mm F1.7 - focuses to 45cm close
2) brand new Sony 50mm F1.8 DT SAM - focuses to 34cm close

I prefer the images out of 2); they're more contrasty at F1.8.

porkchop: The A230/330/380 accepts wireless remote control.

SpOOkY: Looks like some JPEG artifact - was Highlight Tone Priority on your 40D turned on? Try to get the same effect, then turn HTP off and see if it still appears.

alpha_company: The A900 has a top LCD screen while all other Alphas do not. However I don't use the top screen at all since it is of no use in portrait mode or in the dark (I'd rather look at the settings in the viewfinder, and the screen is still visible in strong sunlight.)

I think you should know whether a top screen is necessary coming from your D60 with the eye-sensor and auto reorient LCD in portrait mode. (Which was copied from Sony, and this feature first appeared in Minolta film SLRs.)

This post has been edited by albnok: Jun 29 2009, 01:08 PM

Vivitar 24mm F2.0 tilt-shift on the A700

One girl from one of the previous TTs said to me in a private message that she preferred the grip of the A330. To each his or her own, I guess.

But yes, 5 shots after a 10 second timer is an amazing feature for the camwhore in you (or them).

noprob: Love the colors! Cropping off a bit off the right might help.

alpha_company: I just press DISP to disable the rear LCD if I need to shoot without emitting any light. Can still see the settings in the viewfinder - every external button you press on the A700 (WB/DRIVE/ISO/EV/AEL), will show in the viewfinder so you can change settings inside without looking at the rear LCD.

For example, DRIVE mode 5 FPS is indicated by "oooH" while DRIVE mode Remote shows "rmt" in the viewfinder. Bracketing modes, Kelvin WB settings, are all shown inside.

The A200/A300/A350 also shows ISO and DRIVE as they are external buttons. For the A330 when you change FLASH mode it also shows in the viewfinder (a new addition.)

dingenius3, SAM and SSM are not the same. SAM isn't totally silent and while you can overrride focus, the ring is a lot stiffer.

I would prefer they differentiate SAM and SSM - Canon doesn't differentiate between their cheap USM and the good ring USM (same class as SSM, HSM and SWM).

And yes, in-lens motors are not necessarily faster (even the SSM/USM/HSM/SWM ones), there are so many other factors.

achew: There are many FF ultra-wide angle lenses that exist in A-mount:

Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG
Sigma/Tamron 14mm F2.8
Sigma 15-30mm F3.5-4.5
Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM
Tamron/Minolta 17-35mm F2.8-4
Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4
Minolta 17-35mm F3.5G
Tokina/Cosina 18-35mm F3.5-4.5
Tokina/Tamron/Cosina 19-35mm F3.5-4.5
Tokina 20-35mm F2.8
Tokina 20-40mm F2.8-3.5

achew, love Alone In The Dark! Did you break a filter for this?

Welcome Hawarizmi!

dingenius3: Some lenses change angle of view when focusing (the effect is particularly noticeable on internal focusing lenses.)

Therefore, you only get the "true focal length" of a lens when it is focused at infinity... it will widen as you focus closer.

Sony 135mm F2.8/T4.5 Smooth Transition Focus when focused to 87cm MFD, gives 1:4 maximum magnification
Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA when focused to 72cm MFD, also gives 1:4 maximum magnification even though the focal length is the same!

The reason being that the STF is external focus, while the CZ is internal focus.

Therefore, an internal focusing macro lens will need you to get closer to the subject.

SpOOkY: Er, why do you need HSM for ultra-wide-angle?

Also, for the shot of the village... what would a Magnum photographer do?

A) change to an ultra-wide angle lens
B) walk near the house and talk to the inhabitants, and take award-winning shots of them

This post has been edited by albnok: Jul 1 2009, 12:52 PM

SpOOkY: Looking at the picture again, I think you got the wrong idea where to take the picture. I would go tele from then on. Notice the kids on the darker house? You can make it a documentary-style thing. And yes, give them some loose change!

Kids are usually camera-shy so you should consider yourself lucky that they swam over to pose!

In your second picture of the village, the clouds are over-dominating. Also I'd rather zoom in on the boat.

An ultra-wide would work if you were looking at a scene that was far more plain than this one, e.g. plain green grass field and blue sky. Here, I just see a load of detail crammed down there. Get in on it!

Also, was it cloudy? The color processing seems to suggest so. So work with the mood of the clouds. Look for the villager who looks up, thinking "it's going to rain." Get a close shot of his/her face looking up. Or find someone bringing in clothes (also signalling rain coming.)

As for the third picture, the greens are correct, but the sky has a strong tint of green. Mask it off and process it again. You are also trying to cram too much in one picture - an ultra-wide-angle lens is going to make it worse!

I see lotuses, a tiny monument (well in relation to the picture frame) and a reflection. And some rocks. But they're not gelling together, y'know?

Yes most rotating front lenses are external focusers. However the Minolta/Sony 50mm F1.4's front does not rotate but it does have external focus.

wha7ever: Went for RWMF2008, not quite looking forward to spending more there. Probably from a musical sense I felt I could just go to the Sunrise Jazz Fest; I guess percussion-heavy music is not my thing. Also the alcohol was controlled in 2008 so it's not quite as fun as it was acclaimed to be. 2007 was supposedly the best but I've only been for the 2008 one. Regardless, have fun! Kuching is also photogenic, amazing blue skies and clouds everywhere.

This post has been edited by albnok: Jul 1 2009, 01:37 PM

SpOOkY: Ah #1 is much much better! I get the feeling I'm in a village. Yes #2 would be an example of where I'd use an ultra-wide-angle. For #3 however I see a nice field (this is where the Sigma 17-70mm would come in handy, to macro in on a flower while keeping the sky in the picture...)

About the cash thing, well cash makes your photography more serious. As in, you'd be more eager to make the best of your USD1 instead of taking a shot sekadar layan. This applies to clients also - you get paid enough, you'll take your job seriously (instead of "aiya he pay me RM10 to take his pictures I simply take lah!"); they pay enough, they'll want to make sure they get their money's worth (if not, they can go "aiya, even if picture not nice also nevermind, I find another photographer, since I just lose RM10...")

To get the entire temple... take a few steps back? Or try to remember to catch it on your way out. Or just take it at a hard angle (a few steps forward, screw the pond) and shoot it in portrait mode.

I shoot bands performing, regularly. It is rare that the entire band will be in a pose, or they are too far apart. So I end up taking individual pictures, as that works much better. Same goes for travel - if you can't get everything, or getting everything means things become small and unnoticeable, just focus on the details.

So, if the temple wall has interesting engravings, and the minarets are also interesting, shoot both separately!

Finally, don't be afraid to break the 3:2 ratio if you need to.

Check out this dude's shots:

http://wkcheang.blogspot.com/2007/07/in-last-30-days.html

Note that there is a strong presence of geometry in his shots.

SpOOkY: Ah yes, much better. Though I would personally avoid making too many converging lines if I am able to.

A simple picture with not too many elements, will stand out as a good picture, even if it is viewed at smaller sizes.

And yes, it does sound like a UV filter, or internal flare.

ainnymidie: Try with a card reader?

wha7ever: Skipped the first day, fortunately! I wonder how many will remember to put the face masks on after drinking... (supposing the plan to give out face masks to all attendees goes through.)

Braynumb, I like #9, #10 and #11! Great use of cropping.

Kul | Mo0: No car lah LOL. Got some other plans. Though it might be wise to find a carpool buddy from your area, for TTs a bit beyond your place!

SpOOkY: Converging lines are two lines that should be parallel but appear to merge at a point far away. People often think you need to go wide and/or point up from a nearby location. Nah! You walk back to avoid distortion caused by aiming at the building at sharp angles.


Architect-friendly shot.


Try to find symmetry or a pattern or both when shooting at weird angles.


Alternatively, try to align the lines to the corners of the frame. (This one shot with an Olympus OM-2000 and Vivitar 24mm F2.0 before modification.)


Shot from further away (Sony A100 18mm F4 1/8s ISO400) so there is less convergence.


Shot from even further away with Hoya R72 infrared filter.

And some more examples:
http://digital-photography-school.com/converging-lines

irienaoki: When shooting cats, try to set ISO manually to as fast while avoiding being too noisy. This can be ISO400 or ISO800 depending on your preference. Shoot with Aperture Priority, at the brightest aperture (turn to 18mm and roll it up to F3.5). Finally, change the AF mode to AF-C and Drive mode to Continuous.

Tip: Use Continuous drive mode to attract the cat's attention - I find most cats (or at least their ears) turn to face the shutter sound.

alpha_company:

Cosina took the Carl Zeiss 16-80mm F3.5-4.5 DT design and remade it to the 16-105mm F3.5-5.6 DT (while fixing the barrel build issue.) Carl Zeiss rejected the design so they won't let them put the Carl Zeiss T* coating on it.

However when compared side-by-side, the 16-105mm and 16-80mm give the same strong contrast and color. Honestly, the only thing that turned me off from the 16-105mm, was that it became F5.6 at 55mm already.

alpha_company: Cosina still makes film bodies.

The Nikon FM-10 is one such example!

They make all sorts of OEM lenses (Voightlander, for example) and many others you may or may not know about.