ieR: The lens and its insides are pretty much plastic. Surprisingly though, I tried snapping it back on and it seemed to work. It felt much more solid after that. It's quite an easy lens to disassemble, normally.

Can't say the same for the 580EX though, since the wires could not connect to the inside of the top half!

likito: Cute!

lwliam: Subjective. I like sitting down, and when sitting down and just meeting friends the 85mm is nicer to use on FF. 50mm good for 2-3 people. 100mm or 105mm can be a bit too long for one person (having tried my 50mm with a 2x teleconverter.)

Then again it could be that I was wearing out the appeal of the 135mm on FF for sit-down meets. In the past 2 months I have fallen out of love for the standard 50mm focal length but recently rediscovered it.

Gouki: Yes correct - the F58 can only trigger other Alpha flashes when mounted on an A700/A850/A900. The A700 + F58 cannot trigger an off-camera F36/F56.

You can try all you want, though, if you doubt what I said.

clivengu: No, an A100 with F42 mounted cannot trigger an off-camera F42 in TTL (unless there is an optical slave trigger attached to the bottom of the off-camera F42) but then it would not be working in TTL anymore.

To prove your point, I would suggest having a picture where the A100 + F42 is looking at a mirror. The off-camera F42 then exposes its flash foot to the camera to show no optical slave triggers. The picture would show the A100 + F42 and the off-camera F42, with their wide-angle panels pulled out, to show that it does light up.

Understandably there are times you think it triggered but it actually did not as the flashes can be confusing.

Let me go through this again:

Minolta 7 (film) - can use the F56 to trigger off-camera flashes (this is why there is that option but the protocol was not supported with digital bodies)
KM5D/KM7D/A100-A550 - can only use the pop-up flash to trigger the F36, F56, F42 and F58 off camera
A700 - can use the pop-up flash or F58 on camera, to trigger the F42 and F58 off camera
A850/A900 - can use the F20 or F58 on camera, to trigger the F36, F56, F42 and F58 off camera

This post has been edited by albnok: Jan 28 2010, 02:44 PM

Gouki: You can still have one flash bounce from nearly the camera's position while having one other flash off-camera - you just need a flash bracket.


Note where the F42 is? That's where you can have the F58, beside your A200. The F42 goes off-camera.

This post has been edited by albnok: Jan 28 2010, 03:27 PM

Gouki: Not a big deal if you're using 2 flashes.

Kul | MoO: You can get a step-up or step-down ring but it would be quite pointless. The only A-mount lens I can think of with a 58mm filter thread is the Sigma 70-300mm F4-5.6 APO Macro 1:2x (which is pointless since it gets gear stripping.)

Cokin is branded yo. The Hoya +4 goes for around RM50 or less.

DxO Optics Pro 6.1.2 is out, with support for the A550! Sweet!

http://www.dxo.com/intl/photo/news/New-DxO...nasonic-cameras

Anybody feels their lenses don't focus fast enough? Watch this video.


ONLY the human eye focuses faster!

Seng_Kiat: Congratulations! Good two-body combo this.

MechaHerc: Haha yeah! I'm going to start putting my lenses on that way LOL.

signither: I would prefer the 85mm F1.4 ZA but that is just me and my gig-shooting preference. 70-200mm F2.8G SSM heavy and big and long and too attention-grabbing LOL.

clivengu: First body-driven passive AF camera. Before this there were clunky, slow AF 'experiments' using infrared or ultrasound (active AF) or in-lens-AF-motors with batteries inside (Olympus, Ricoh had these.)


Ricoh Rikenon 50mm F2.0 with AF and a battery compartment! This is a variant of the K-mount which, if mounted on a Pentax K-mount body, may become stuck.

wingster: Minolta/Sony 24-105mm F3.5-4.5 lah. Old lens, discontinued in some countries.

Mikeshashimi: There is the:

Sony 55-200mm F4-5.6 DT
Sony 55-200mm F4-5.6 DT (2) SAM

The second version has the Smooth Autofocus Motor. SAM is a nuisance to me because you lose DMF and AF/MF control on the body. Your A100 has DMF.

e-jump: Congratulations!

Minimum Focusing Distance is measured from sensor to object.

Working Distance is measured from front of lens to object.

e-jump: Indeed! And you get to make them situational - meaning a figurine and its background. The longer macro lenses tend to force you to fit only one figurine and magnify the background too much.

If I had that lens I would take flower shots with landscapes in the background. Try it!

I don't remember myself but as I remember from Boon3's account it was just under RM200. The A700 screen is under RM300.

Fighteden: The A200 screen is fixed in place and cannot tilt. So much less risk of spoiling.

Fighteden: Of course they will replace it with the correct screen.

kfthoo: Congratulations! Your initial shots have a warm WB. Adjust it using Live View and Custom WB. Also, they are slightly underexposed.

eddybeh: Where'd you hear that? From a shop? They like to say that about other shops, but truthfully it is almost impossible to get a underwater set Sony Alpha product.

SHOfrE3zE: Sad to hear though I picked up the wind from your brother's account. Let us know if you can get the same color from your D300s... because I can't, and it quite puts me off.

clivengu: Congratulations on your F58!

freddy manson: I posted about the 30mm F2.8 Macro here what.

wingster: Could go with tighter crops.

Mikeshashimi: You were probably on spot metering.

Gouki: 2 F58s for RM1499 each but with a free studio kit.

kfthoo, e-jump, we can have a TT with:

Sigma 30mm F1.4 (my friend's one)
Sigma 28mm F1.8 (e-jump)
Sony 30mm F2.8 DT Macro SAM (kfthoo)
Minolta 28mm F2.8 (lwliam)

lwliam: Nice colors! It's obvious though that you went full force with chroma NR while leaving luminance NR untouched. There is a reason Sony JPGs don't go all that way, which is to maintain the vibrance.

Guys there is the Sony World Photography Awards (WPA) in Galeri Petronas.

http://www.petronas.com.my/galeri/gpconten...13?OpenFrameset

What: Sony World Photography Awards (SWPA) (and TT after that)
Where: Galeri Petronas, KLCC
When: Thursday 4th February 2010 (5pm launch, maybe 7pm can TT)
How Much: Free!
Who:

1. albnok
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.

I will be there early because I took leave.

Kul | Mo0: Yes, the 580EX II and F58 head is the same size and takes the same diffusers.

signither: Heh, the point of DMF for me is that you can turn off your teet-teet sound.

neo_lam: Love #1 and #6 (though, should stand further away to minimize perspective distortion.)

lwliam: MFD is the same on APS-C and FF but the surface area covered is less on APS-C.

The Wonder: #8 stands out.

SHOfrE3zE: Ah see. See you then!

Kul | Mo0: I am thinking of going to Steve McCurry's Photography Exhibition at Islamic Arts Museum Malaysia before that, maybe 3pm or so from Kuala Lumpur KTM. It's walking distance from Pasar Seni or Kuala Lumpur KTM station (kinda, but the walk there is very photogenic.)

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=islamic+arts...d=0CCIQpQY&sa=X

lugiamcg: The A450 won't be brought in Malaysia officially. However you can still ask at a Sony Style or a dealer (they can only bring it in, in bulk, like the A380/A500).

weixuan: Sweet! Though, the range is too darn short, ending at 16mm on APS-C. Also, not sure if it supports manual focus override though it has the old clunky AF/MF clutch.

Personally I would rather the 10-17mm F3.5-4.5 fisheye zoom for APS-C; now that's interesting!

Quick and easy Sony Alpha bodies/features comparison:
http://www.dyxum.com/gear/camera/index.asp

This post has been edited by albnok: Feb 1 2010, 11:59 PM