jimlim007: Post a blur photo with EXIF. If the shutter speed is too slow it is operator error. Figure out what you are doing wrong before blaming the camera!

How long have you had your camera? How can you not know about the Local Area AF thing? You use the joystick to select AF point.

You need to spend more time with your camera. Bring it out everywhere, friends' birthdays etc. Then you will have experience, and when you need to shoot at a ballroom, you know how.

There is a white book in your A300 box... look for it and read through it.

jimlim007: All three pictures show misfocus.

Figure out if you were using Wide Area AF (big rectangle), Local Area AF (9 points, can select using D-pad) or Spot Area AF (center spot AF only). The second and third picture looks like it was focused on the center spot (the guy in white is off-center and not in focus.)

By the way, it was my colleague's last day at work today - he had an A300 and 18-70mm kit lens. I helped him take pictures with everyone in the office using the Local Area AF mode with the corner AF point aimed at faces. It focused accurately and sharply on the faces. I used Live View for all the shots and made him look rather tall due to the angle (perspective can make the kit lens look like an ultra-wide angle lens.)

This post has been edited by albnok: Nov 27 2009, 02:50 AM

goldfries: Specifically if it is 3-series or higher Canon calls it a professional body.

jimlim007: The camera does not set itself to spot center - you do.

Killabee88: Love #3! Make it big!

ieR: Anyone could get that kind of crispiness out of camera from Killabee88's shot. You just need good light.

Hinika: Looks like you were bouncing off a wall that was not pure white. Set your WB to tungsten, or set it in Kelvins to be exact. #3 would be cooler if she looked at you. But hey, well done on #1!

cjlai: I support you in your quest for the Macro G!

SHOfrE3zE: LOL at Singapore's version of Luge! Strangely it looks very fun. Malaysia's street luge is far more dangerous and Singapore's is too safe!

lehtung: Yummy!

hkhk: All Alphas do the monthly pixel mapping thing.

aureliux: Cute! Now get one with a closeup of the face.

signither: Nice! And it doesn't look underexposed.

hkhk: To be specific, you mean pixel mapping on the sensor? As far as I know every time the month changes, the camera scans the sensor for hot pixels and remaps them. This is different from the Pixel Mapping option in the menu of Live View Alphas, to scan the Live View sensor.

That said I have never encountered a problem with pixel mapping on the A100/A700/A900, and I have not used other Alphas for over a few months to see it. Hot pixels caused by long exposures are perfectly normal. I've posted the links before. There's black frame subtraction there which is meant for long exposures. If you have to make a few long exposures, take one black frame and use that on all the exposures.

jimlim007: How about auto-focus speed in Live View? All other brands fail at that.

hkhk: Hot pixels are a fact of life. Your sensor comes with few to no hot pixels out of the factory. The more you use it, the more hot pixels you get. The pixel mapping just checks for hot pixels and remaps them to adjacent pixels - ultimately, you will never get the same pixel back again. It is gone.

This is the same for all other brands in case anyone else is reading (as some of you tend to panic or jump to ridiculous conclusions!)

It is however odd that you still get white pixels. So I would suggest:

A = 10 second exposure (with darker aperture)
B = 10 second exposure with lens cap on (black frame)
C = 10 second exposure (actual intended exposure)

A - B = long exposure with remaining white pixels. Adjust levels so that there is only black and the white pixels which are obviously not part of the picture.

C - (A-B) = actual exposure, without those white pixels.

Alternatively, you could do A - B where B is a longer exposure than A.

What are you shooting so long that you have a problem with hot pixels? Is your camera hooked up to a telescope permanently?

Wonka: When you shoot a long exposure, the sensor will heat up. This will cause extra noise in your picture.

The camera takes another picture with the shutter closed at the exact same exposure time. This 'picture' is called the black frame, and has only the noise generated from the heat of a long exposure, without the actual picture.

So the camera then takes your original picture with long exposure noise, and subtracts the black frame.

Shot A: Original picture + long exposure-induced noise
Shot B: No picture + long exposure-induced noise
Final Shot = Shot A - Shot B = Picture without long exposure noise!

You can turn off Long Exposure NR but you'll have long exposure noise lah.

ieR: Yes, Nikon and every other brand use the same black frame subtraction method. My Canon Powershot A520 has this also.

Long exposures bring out the hot pixels (which are more consistent in place.)

porkchop: Looks okay.

Braynumb: Nice #3! Have fun with the A700!

hkhk: Glad to hear. You will know pixel mapping is happening when you turn on your camera on the 1st of December and find that it takes longer to start.

hanafinoor: I think you know better than DCM (though the Tamron 90mm is good.)

porkchop: DRO tends to lower overall contrast. So if you want contrast turn off DRO.

millenia3000: Nice one! Eh, I thought you bought a 28-75mm?

hokc77: Real niiice!

Ksano: I have a 30 minute GP charger with 4 2300 mAh AA batteries. It works but I suspect it wears the batteries faster, and it is picky about what batteries it can charge in what slot. They even had a 15 minute version.

I think GP realized that these chargers were spoiling batteries, so I wouldn't mind using the more reliable 1 or 2 hour chargers. 6 hour chargers are the cheaper ones.

ronnie: My Energizer 2500 mAh batteries were good when they were good, but soon one of them was unchargeable so that left me with 3 good ones. Also because they were not Low Self Discharge they looked bad compared to my Eneloops.

I am tempted to get their new 2450 mAh ones which claim to be LSDs.

However nothing can touch Energizer alkalines. Damn reliable.

I have Uniross LSDs which had very little charge the first 3 times I charged them. It is very stable now though.

ieR: I got a "Format card" but that was because I'd bent one of the pins inside the card reader while inserting the CF card. Threw away the cheap card reader already!

Will any of you buy this?

braindead_fr3ak: LOL! The only reason why I posted it, was because it had such bad acting. I wanted to know if people would still buy a product if the woman looked like she was making a parody but couldn't withhold her laughter!

achew: Ahmike has both, you may want to send him a private message to ask him to post the findings.

achew: For the zoo, the Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6G SSM is the one. Or the Sony 500mm F8 Reflex. Or the lighter Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6G SSM.

Dunno if rental is an option there; alternatively, it could be an 'assisted poison' session where you meet a fella with one of these teles, and he meets your A850.

braindead_fr3ak: The F58 bounce card is really all I use!

I think I will have to pop my Kingston 32GB in different Alphas to see which ones can read it.

tanjq87: Maybe look for the Kingston 32GB 133x CF from JL Supercom Enterprise in Digital Mall PJ? That's where I got mine and it has not given me any problems at all. (Am not sure if you've met Jeffrey the owner, he has too many A-mount lenses!)

achew: If the filter is bigger then it's usually called a step-up ring.

lwliam: Cute! Wow I can see the nails!

lwliam: You can get step rings at DigitalsMania or Studio Zaloon in Pudu Plaza, or Digicolor in Mutiara Complex Jalan Ipoh.

I can teach you how to work the wireless ratio TTL thing on your A700 + F58!

Soony: No, step up rings and bigger filters reduce vignetting! Of course, ultra-wide angle lenses are already using 77mm and 82mm filters.

finejava: See which you like:

http://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/dro_vs_acr.php

Both ACR and Sony IDC aren't so recommended among the Dyxum crowd. ACR is noisier. For Macs I hear Raw Photo Processor is pretty good. DxO Optics Pro 6 is awesome but the Mac version is only up to 5 (interface changed). For lower ISOs I prefer the control of RawTherapee but that's Windows/Linux only.

achew: Around RM15-25.

I much prefer DxO 6's interface to DxO 5's.

finejava: Tell us what you think of both of them! If you take the neutral one and increase contrast, is it more or less noisy than the ACR version?

It looks like both IDC and RPP have a different idea of AWB but personally I think both are off; RPP is too cold while IDC is too warm.

Oh no that Putrajaya TT was a long time ago with clivengu; pictures here:

http://www.glaringnotebook.com/default.asp?id=1085
http://www.glaringnotebook.com/Default.asp?id=1054



Soony: No, the hood will not fit.

Do not bother buying a CPL for an ultra-wide angle lens. You will never be able to tune the CPL evenly across the frame.

ieR: I would think otherwise. Film is usually Daylight WB (it is hard to find Tungsten WB film) so it would look like IDC's output.

Streetlights on Fujifilm Superia ASA400:


lwliam: Er... then you'd be left out in an advanced wireless TTL class LOL. Not many people have enough flashes to justify such a class I guess.

cjlai: Love your ring collection! I have a similiar 49mm to 77mm step setting but skipping some sizes (forgot which ones.)

porkchop: Use the Auto HDR mode lah since it is not moving. However if you want your blacks to stay black just turn off DRO and HDR.

clivengu: Stylish! Now go change your avatar.

tanjq87: Challenge yourself; bring only 3 lenses maximum each time. Which lenses you bring is what you feel like lah.

The CPL effect only covers a 90 degree arc. Ultra-wide angle lenses can cover wider angles, so only part of the sky is polarized.



From here:
http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/filters.htm

Look for the heading "Avoid polarizers on wide-angle lenses".

Also here:


MechaHerc: I have personally experienced the CPL and ultra-wide angle lens problem.

If you want you can go ahead and buy one but don't say I didn't tell you so!

Soony: If you are not going to get a lens with a bigger filter diameter than 62mm, stick to it, since you can't use it on ultra-wide angle lenses anyway.

tanjq87: The 50mm can do the 24-70mm. Well I would end up using mostly the 24mm and 70mm ends anyway.

This post has been edited by albnok: Dec 3 2009, 01:17 PM

ND is good, but you may prefer a Graduated ND (though, you will look to the Cokin filter system for that because filter rings do not allow you to adjust the position of the gradient, only rotate it.)

Note that if you are using full-frame ultra-wide angle lenses, the regular P type holder will cause vignetting.

And yes I've done the variable ND thing with 2 polarizers! It gets close to an infrared filter.