I also tried the Opteka on the Sony Alpha 550 - this used MF Check Live View. Works great even at 7x zoom (14x zoom is a bit too shaky for a 85mm lens.)


Accuracy even at no zoom using MF Check LV was pretty good!


However, when I tried to use the Quick AF Live View mode, manual-focusing using the LCD, it just seemed to be off all the time. However I could notice a slight sharpening happening in Quick AF Live View mode.


Finally, don't fear the 1 meter minimum focusing distance - you can dismount the lens and turn it the other way around. You can even control the aperture using the aperture ring!


It gives about 70mm for a 36mm-wide sensor, or 1:1.94x maximum magnification.

In other news, there might be a Samyang 35mm F1.4:

http://www.lenstip.com/index.php?art=122

I would buy that no questions asked! Knowing the obscene quality of the Samyang 85mm F1.4 you can bet the 35mm is going to be a winner. Since it is a full-frame wide-angle it should have a better MFD than the Sigma 30mm F1.4's mediocre 40cm. (The Sigma looks nice on FF despite the vignetting!)

cjlai: No, the blackness and crispiness is microcontrast. The Zeiss has a bit of purplish fringing as a downside.

Congratulations on your coming haul!

Kul | Mo0: I hope you got a picture and shook his/her hand! I really have not heard of any KL person with the Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6G SSM!

cjlai: Oh yeah, color fringing in binoculars!

Nashakir: On my Peleng 8mm F3.5 circular fisheye, I only ever, really set 3 different distances:

0.3m - when the lens is pointing at myself at shorter than arm's length and trying to fill up 50% with a face. You can see ieR's earlier shot had his hand extended too far so there's a lot of space - after some practice you know what distance to hold out the camera and lens.

1m - when the lens is pointing at a performer and getting a full body shot.

2m - when the lens is taking architecture.

Everything else is covered by the amazing depth of field.

signither: I quite like that shot! Makes it far more interesting. But I think you knew that LOL.

XOFTXEMIT: Welcome!

ieR: Well you might end up using the fisheye on people who love it. Point it at people, and see if they go "FISHEYE!" If they do, you have permission to distort.

Kul | Mo0: There are old Vivitar lenses that are silver with AF.


Far left is a Cosina 19-35mm F3.5-4.5 in KAF-mount.


Clearer shot next to my Seagull 50mm F1.8 (used on my Fujifilm Digital Q1 IR camera.)

freddy manson: You can't take a picture with such a setup LOL. The light wouldn't focus properly unless the lenses meet at their back flange distances.

neo_lam: The Opteka 85mm F1.4, I got through cjlai.

Kul | Mo0: It's not bad - it's in Pentax KAF which means K mount with AF.

ieR: I never found any real benefit to shooting at infinity - as focusing closer you can do hyperfocal focusing.

Nashakir: Pre-flash does fire, your eyes are just not fast enough. To prove this, put your camera in Shutter Priority, flash to Rear Sync Flash, F58 on TTL, and shutter speed at 5 seconds.

You should be able to clearly see the pre-flash happening.

You can then try covering the flash when you press the shutter, and then uncovering the flash within the 5 seconds - by blocking the pre-flash from hitting the subject, the camera will think "okay not enough power!" and overexpose the actual flash.

Banzai_san: 20 megabytes per second = 133x (20 megabytes per second / 150 kilobytes per second = 133x). So that is nothing new when it comes to CF cards!

bernama7: Use a longer shutter speed. And yes F5.6.

Wonka: I've never been to Bali but the 11-18mm, 50mm and a light tele would do. (Meaning a 55-200mm is good enough.) I've brought a flash before but end up never using it.

porkchop: The A550 has the remote control sensor at the handgrip.

Tele for the beaches! (Penang, but Bali should have more!)

Seng_Kiat: Yes the A700 with F58 can trigger off-camera F58s. I've written about this in great detail before.

Seng_Kiat: Aiyo, don't tell me have to spoonfeed everything; if you have 3 F58s then you have 3 F58 manuals!



Bear in mind this tutorial is only applicable to the A900/A850 as he is using CTRL/CTRL2 mode. In your case you'll want to use CTRL+/CTRL1 mode as that's what the A700 supports.

finejava: Congratulations on your second Zeiss, I just noticed!

eddybeh: Go take pictures of your colleagues, your family, your housemates, etc. No need to find events just to take pictures!

finejava: While it doesn't have as nice bokeh as some other lenses, it's not a show-stopper. Some other lenses score badly in pixel-peeping tests but have great bokeh (the Minolta/Sony 35mm F1.4G is one such example.) Anyway the Zeiss lenses are more about microcontrast, overall contrast and resolution than anything. However it is widely known that your 85mm ZA has the best bokeh of all the ZA lenses. Some people prefer the Minolta 85mm F1.4G's bokeh due to its more painting-like rendering and less contrasty out-of-focus areas. If you've had the Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan you'd know what I am talking about. However I don't like how the 85mm F1.4G renders out-of-focus highlights, with multiple-colored rings, while the Zeiss is clean, with just one color ring (due to longitudinal chromatic aberration.)

The 24-70mm ZA is of course meant for event coverage for full-frame and is not primarily engineered for portraits. The 85mm and 135mm ZAs are meant to be portrait lenses.

The ultimate bokeh lens of course is the Minolta/Sony 135mm F2.8/T4.5 Smooth Transition Focus. Very very different from any Soft Focus or Defocus Control lenses from any other brand!

noprob: Nice! Been seeing a lot of that since I've been playing NFS: Shift heh.

This post has been edited by albnok: Jan 4 2010, 05:35 PM

finejava: Many of us have the Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG Macro (the older one which is prone to gear stripping.) It looks good on its own but just do not compare it to the Zeiss! Big difference. The newer Sigma 24-70mm F2.8 EX DG HSM non-Macro has HSM and is optically much better - most say it stands tall among the OEM 24-70mm F2.8 lenses. However I don't know anybody with this lens and it does cost a fair bit more than the old version.

cjlai: Lemme know if the chip works; if so I want one installed on mine too!

lildaredevil906: It's not legal. Send The Edge a bill for one time use in print.

Kul | Mo0: Nice shot! This style of composition follows smashpop's (if you realize how he composes.) Eh, you have a 50mm F1.8?

There will be the usual comment that the eyes are not in focus. However, isn't it a nice shot, regardless?

Also, you will regret selling the ultra-wide angle lens eventually. Best you keep it in the meantime.

soket: Go manual focus on this one!

tanjq87: A minor increase in contrast might help, as well as a boost in the green channel (down to the Tint slider in whatever RAW program.) As it is the green channel is usually the cleanest.

Braynumb: I hope the lens inspires you!

lildaredevil906: Send them an email with invoice attached. Something like "I see that you have used my photo without my prior consent." A decent editor would know and respect this. Legal action would be a bit out of budget. I'd say something in a decent 3-digit range would do.

tanjq87: I haven't used DxO much but it would be under the WB slider pair (2000-14000K, Magenta/Green). So drag the Magenta/Green more to Green.

Braynumb: The A700 screen has a different size, but the guy who recorded the video has a split-prism focusing screen on his A100 and A700 as well.

Seng_Kiat: I am liking the vibrance! Skin's a bit greenish though.

achew: I'd disagree - try the 50mm on your A300, then the 90mm Macro on your A850. It's quite a different feeling, given that 90mm is much closer to 85mm.

ieR: I'm not sure I want to ask what that is in your Before picture, to the left of the laptop... I like how your prints hang to the left like a darkroom.

lildaredevil906: Tell your friend that it happened anyway, and that professionally as a magazine that is what they do, they pay for pictures. So how? If your friend crashes into the back of your car, is he/she exempt from paying?

I have a few friends who are broke, and despite them being full-time photographers (by definition of not having any other job) they are still doing favors for friends. I would strongly advise you avoid that path.

If anything, you letting your friend know that it is wrong, will hopefully make them aware of the rights of photographers, and avoid other pictures being taken without consent!

SpOOkY: I have to say I love the AutoHDR function (by another name) and the "is the face in the picture?" function. I don't quite understand the W380 though; it's the WX1 without a backlit sensor.

This post has been edited by albnok: Jan 7 2010, 02:48 PM

Braynumb: The video with the MF screen has a split-prism focusing screen. For the sake of simplicity, it is really something most of us do not need to use.

We all get a lot more from our parents than we think. So while I would not want to put the parents in jail for bankruptcy, if I had a kid I would not get him/her a credit card. Heck I don't even believe in credit cards myself.

With credit cards, you can end up buying something you never knew how to save money up for.

Whereas if you save money up for it, if anything happens, you know how to save up that same money again. You know whether you need to eat bread, or quit smoking, because you've experienced it before.