lanusb: Face Detection adjusts WB, exposure and focus. Yes it tracks faces automatically.

SHOfrE3zE: Welcome back! Sometimes I like how nice blind angles turn out to be.

amadeo: Got RM2650 for the A550 body only at one shop. So you can put RM27xx for any shop lah.

SiLVeRClIdGe: No, the A230/A330/A380 cannot use the VG-B30AM.

Uzumaki NaruTo: Nice hairlight!

Kul | Mo0: The Sony Carl Zeiss Planar T* 85mm F1.4 ZA is the rarest of them ZAs. It's also the only Planar (flat focus field) and yet ironically brighter than the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA, Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-80mm F3.5-4.5 DT ZA, Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-35mm F2.8 SSM ZA and Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 SSM ZA (Sonnar means bright).

e-jump: Aiya, forgot to try! Yes, you need to enhance your colors in the RAW processor as it does not understand Sony Creative Style settings.

If you can make 2 exposures, you can pull out extra color tones from her hair and face.

Hair = bluegreen = mostly blue and green channels. So if you make your WB more reddish (nearer to 9900K) it could look more 3D (but may go in the opposite direction of the art.)

Face = orange = mostly red and green channels. So if you make your WB colder (nearer to 2500K) her lips will be tonally 'further' away from her skin and more distinct.

These 2 exposures can then be merged, using either layer as a layer mask, inverted where necessary. That said the current picture already has a very nice color balance, but if you want more tones out of it, I've just told you what you can do!

weixuan: Love #2!

achew: I would crop it tighter; chop off 1/3rd off the left, and 1/3rd off the right.

hkhk: Some filters can reduce contrast. Also show us some pictures! I find the Zeiss lenses to be contrasty no matter where you go, even in soft ambient low light.


Zeiss 135mm F1.8 1/5s ISO6400


Zeiss 135mm F1.8 1/5s ISO6400 (most of the light is candlelight bounced off walls)


Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm F2.4 (M42)


The captions say it all.

mcline_007: Don't bother with the Minolta 28-80mm F3.5-5.6; it is not an upgrade from your Sony 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 DT. It certainly does not do much better at portraits. The light stand/umbrella adapter/flash shoe can be gotten at Digicolor, Mutiara Complex, around Batu 4 of Jalan Ipoh.

tjq: It is rare as in, very few people buy it, compared to the Zeiss 16-80mm F3.5-4.5 DT, 135mm F1.8 and 24-70mm F2.8 SSM. Not many people understand 85mm, but it's a great lens on both APS-C and full-frame.

countdracula: Flat focus field meaning when you face a flat surface, all of the surface is evenly in focus.

A lot of lenses have curved focus fields, meaning the focus to the side is slightly shifted. This might annoy some people.

clivengu: Refer to page 1 on how to reduce the effect of the WL flash signal from appearing in your pictures. The WL flash signal is always the same power no matter what EV/flash EV you have, but your settings can affect how strong it appears.

Example of how it could work:

F8 ISO200 1/40s (darker aperture, slower shutter speed for ambient light.)

Increase your distance from the subject also.

ieR: The F20 is RM499 retail lah it does not reach RM600!

lehtung: Nice catch!

5564321: Unfortunately, in MF Check LV, the mirror does go down and up again when taking a shot.

jimlim007: No such thing as an lens that allows you to shoot infrared. Your sensor has a infrared-blocking filter, so no matter what lens you put, it will not allow any more light.

I have modified a point-and-shoot camera and removed its infrared-blocking filter. It still cannot see through clothes.

There are, however, infrared-pass filters which block normal light. Expect exposures to be 30 seconds or longer on an unmodified camera.

No, the STF has better bokeh than the 70-200mm F2.8G SSM.

Eh why you giving n00b advice to remove battery? It's a LiOn battery.

ieR: I call that supposed A750 screenshot fake. There's no A330 or A380 in that list! The A200/A300/A350/A700 should not even be in that list.

Shoot bulb mode for 5 minutes and stack 4 shots to prevent noise.

How can you bring the wrong set of batteries? Or rather, why are you not bringing more than 1 set? Always be prepared for your batteries to die!

electron: Minolta 3600 HS = F36; Minolta 5600 HS = F56. Some other Minolta flashes do not have wireless support for KM/Sony dSLR bodies or worse, do not have TTL, so don't bother.

clivengu: Nice #1, #12.

The shutter release has a lock switch so you press once and slide the lock; slide the lock back to release the switch.

Poadster: Don't forget that Guide Number for Sony flashes are calculated at their longest zoom setting e.g.

F20 = 20 meters at F1.0 ISO100 and zoom at 50mm
F42 = 42 meters at F1.0 ISO100 and zoom at 105mm
F58 = 58 meters at F1.0 ISO100 and zoom at 105mm

wuszhtag: The AF Confirm chip for the M42 adapter just lights up the focus indicator in the bottom of the viewfinder when you have manually focused correctly. It does not allow AF.

bernama7: No need to remove battery!

In 4 FPS (Live View) and 5 FPS (Optical Viewfinder) the AF and exposure are recalculated in between each frame (unlike the Speed Priority mode.)

SHOfrE3zE: Just saw the Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 for Alpha mount in stock at Leos Trading, Ampang Park!

clivengu: Two branches in Digital Mall PJ. Yeah I visit Leos Trading sporadically.

SHOfrE3zE: It is known as the shop where I first met marushin... and he bought a cheap third-party flash back then. Can you imagine?

achew: Pffft, then your friend is a n00b still, there is no M42 lens that does what the STF does.

I've had some interesting M42 lenses.


Industar 61 L/Z 50mm F2.8 (almost macro)

It's very small and cute!


Circular bokeh at F2.8, to a jagged star, to a star (F5.6-F8) and to a hexagon at F11 and finally a circle.


This is what the star-shaped bokeh looks like. Not easy to compose as you need small subjects. Focuses very near though.


Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 35mm F2.4 (almost macro)

Also small and cute, but heavier. It focuses to an amazing 19cm close!


Makes a great APS-C walkaround with good MFD. The Sony 30mm F2.8 DT Macro SAM however beats it in MFD (13.9cm) and can auto-focus, and is cheaper (because the Flektogon is overrated.)


Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye


On APS-C, a diagonal fisheye with a bit extra (including the black corners.)


On FF, a circular fisheye with a minor trim off the top and bottom, but image quality on the edge isn't fantastic to bother about.


Now this is the Minolta 16mm F2.8 diagonal fisheye on FF. Note that there is no black corner. Diagonal fisheyes are easier to use than circular fisheyes.

So what fisheyes are there?
- Sigma 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye with autofocus and true full frame coverage
- Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye, manual focus, somewhat chopped top and bottom full frame coverage
- Sigma 10mm F2.8 diagonal fisheye for APS-C
- Sigma 4.5mm F2.8 circular fisheye for APS-C
- Sony/Minolta 16mm F2.8 diagonal fisheye for FF
- Vivitar 7mm/8mm F3.5 diagonal fisheye for APS-C

The Sigmas are a definitely better choice compared to the Peleng! They cost a bit more, though.

* diagonal fisheye - 180 degrees from top-left to bottom-right corner
* circular fisheye - 180 degrees from top to bottom

Other interesting M42 lenses
- Takumar 17mm F4.0 diagonal fisheye pancake (small!)
- Jupiter-9 85mm F2.0 (tempting and very cheap)
- Carl Zeiss Jena 135mm F3.5 (popular lens, but well I like my auto-focusing Zeiss 135mm...)

The 28mm F2.8 lenses are generally optically weak so don't bother with those unless you can find the Zeiss Pentacon ones.

Manual focus is a lot easier with a split-prism viewfinder. However the only M42 lens I kept was the Peleng and it does not need precise focusing due to extremely deep DOF.

SHOfrE3zE: Yup it's the shop on the left, just as you enter - it's inside a phone shop. Not sure what the company name is there. They also stock most Tamrons for Sony mount including the Tamron 70-200mm F2.8!

Kul | Mo0: You need to set your WB accordingly if shooting people with DRO Level 5. For landscapes however it is perfect.

weixuan: The Sony 30mm F2.8 DT Macro SAM is already for sale at Sony Style outlets. Dunno if it's at dealers though.

cjlai: The Sony 30mm focuses fast enough.

cheeft: No idea, though Sony suggests that it works fine in snowy temperature. The A700 definitely works in Antartica. You'll want to keep spare batteries in your pocket though.

shootkk: Welcome back! I like the graduation of #5, the spotlitness of #7 and #8.

shukrie: Great timing (though a lower angle would be better.)

gizmo_pony: By default it is in sRGB (Web standard) but you can activate AdobeRGB mode.

Mikeshashimi: Your A100 was out of warranty? As sensor cleaning is usually free at Sony.

gizmo_pony: If you're not going to use AdobeRGB at any point, don't use AdobeRGB, if your final usage is sRGB (online JPGs.)

I'm coming for the TT with my infrared-modified interchangeable-lens-mount manual-focus Live View digital camera!

clivengu: No, it is not a dSLR because it does not have a reflex (mirror). It's similiar to the EP-1 and GF1 in that sense. Nice concept!

Kul | Mo0: You'll see.

Tainted:

Sony 50mm F1.8 DT - APS-C only, focuses to 34cm close, contrasty, cleaner bokeh (RM5xx)
Sony 50mm F1.4 - full-frame, focuses to 45cm close, not too contrasty at F1.4 (RM1050)
Minolta 50mm F1.4 - full-frame, focuses to 45cm close, not too contrasty either (RM800 second-hand)
Minolta 50mm F1.7 - full-frame, focuses to 45cm close, quite like the 50mm F1.4 optically (RM500)

gacktleong: Yes just raise your camera pop-up flash and activate WL mode on camera as well as on flash.

ieR: A F1.4 lens, when not shooting, is opened to F1.4, not F1.2. To prove this I pointed the lens up to the light while shooting in BULB mode and aperture wide open. The aperture blades did not shrink for my 50mm F1.4, 135mm F1.8 or 24-105mm F3.5-4.5(D) (Dynax 7 kit lens.)

The only thing that moves is if it is focusing!

Yes, the article applies to Sony as well;

Nikon - lots of cross-type sensors, but maximum 2 sensors per location. They don't have F2.8 sensors.
Canon - lots of F2.8 sensors, but maximum 3 sensors (cross-type plus F2.8)
Sony - A700/A850/A900 have the F2.8 sensor in the middle as well as dual cross sensors which means the center AF point is 5 times more powerful than the side line-pair sensors.

All AF SLRs have the main mirror, and a secondary mirror behind it, to direct light downwards. It is not just Sony!

Where are you pulling these numbers from? 2.8 is 30% brighter than F3.5? If you said 70% you'd be nearer.

ieR: F2.8 to F5.6 is TWO stops! That means 4x the light.

Okay let's say in the dark:

50mm F2.8 has a physical aperture of 50mm/2.8 = 17.8571mm. The surface area is (17.8571/2)^2*pi = 79.719mm2*3.14156 = 250.44mm2
50mm F3.5 has a physical aperture of 50mm/3.5 = 14.2857mm. The surface area is (14.2857/2)^2*pi = 51.02mm2*3.14156 = 160.28mm2
50mm F4.0 has a physical aperture of 50mm/4.0 = 12.5000mm. The surface area is (12.5000/2)^2*pi = 39.0625mm2*3.14156 = 122.72mm2

250mm2 / 160mm2 = 1.56

Thus the difference is 56% more between F2.8 and F3.5. The difference is around 104% between F2.8 and F4.0 but this is not precise. Why? F2.8 is not really F2.80000; it is SQRT(8) or F2.8284271.

All full aperture stops are square roots of multiples of 2:

F1.0
F1.4
F2.0
F2.8
F4.0
F5.6
F8.0
F11
F16

squared:
F1.0
F2.0
F4.0
F8.0
F16
F32
F64
F128
F256

Which is also:
2^0
2^1
2^2
2^3
2^4
2^5
2^6
2^7
2^8

How about half stops or one-third stops?
2^0
2^0.3333
2^0.6666
2^1

2^0
2^0.5
2^1
2^1.5
2^2

Alternatively, let's see what true aperture numbers are:
SQRT(1)
SQRT(2)
SQRT(4)
SQRT(8)
SQRT(16)
SQRT(32)

square roots:
F1.0
F1.4142
F2.0
F2.8284
F4.0
F5.6569

Braynumb: Do you want full frame or not? Are you prepared with FF lenses?

This post has been edited by albnok: Nov 4 2009, 11:44 AM

shootkk: There is AF Microadjust on your A850; would have helped greatly with AF!

This post has been edited by albnok: Nov 4 2009, 11:48 AM

2/3rds of a stop does help. It's the difference between 1/20s and 1/13s. One of them might be too slow!

Light is measured in many ways. There is absolute EV (which is what AF sensors are measured by.) An Absolute EV of 0 means F1.0 ISO100 will have a 1 second exposure. (Or F1.4 ISO3200 gives 1/15s.) Absolute EV can go negative as well.

For example, the Sony A380 is rated to focus and meter based on this Absolute EV measurement:

Auto Focus
EV 0 to 18 (ISO 100) detection range

Metering range
EV 2 to 20 (Multi-segment / Center-weighted)
EV 4 to 20 (Spot metering)
(at ISO 100 with F1.4 lens)

Yes, the contrastyness of a lens helps with locking focus. A fungused lens loses contrast and will hunt more.

Shooting RAW and using the RAW editor is already considered Post Processing, just that you're working off a RAW and not a JPG.

Braynumb: Dunno. Have you tried the A550?

ieR: In theory, no.

clivengu: Nice #2 #3 #12!

perfect10: Yes, the A550 is so much of an upgrade over the A350! You try it and you'll know.

Also, high-end medium format digital backs (which can go to 45 megapixels!) are all using CCD, for superior color.

lildaredevil906: EV -2 or -3 I don't remember.



Nice, I am liking how the 17-50mm turned out for bigheadshots!

e-jump: Here's my attempt:



I think I prefer the background to be overexposed anyway to be less distracting.

freddy manson:

Old computer monitors used to be:

CGA - 4 color 320x200
EGA - 16 color 320x350
VGA - 256 color 320x200 or 16 color 640x480
XGA - 16 million color 800x600 or 65,536 color 1024x768
SVGA - 800x600
SXGA - 1280x1024
UXGA - 1600x1200

The naming of VGA for 640x480 still stands till today. The A200-A380 all have 320x240 screens. This is different from CGA in terms of resolution.

Lately, 320x240 have been called qVGA screens (short for quarter VGA).

achew: Nice treatment of bokeh!

Kul | Mo0: Nice kisses bokeh!

cheeft: The A550, A700, A850 and A900 all have the 3" 640x480 screen.

lehtung: Sony Cybershot F828.

clivengu: The bokeh is great on the Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM as well. And yes the beercan is slower but is alright on the A700. The F2.8 focuses to 1.2 meters while the beercan does 1.1 meters. The F2.8 is 1.4 kg while the beercan is <800 grams. The beercan is very invisible with a 55mm filter thread while the F2.8 is obvious.