sorry boss. last minute arrangement.... only decided to do the shoot at 11:00 pm the night before.... how lah....?

zstan, Actually the lowest ISO the A850 can go down to is ISO100..... why I used ISO200 then? Read on.....

lwliam, the reason why I used ISO200 and not ISO100 is because ISO100 is the expanded range (means is it not a native ISO) of the A850. It is essentially a digitally interpolated value. The base ISO for the A850 is ISO200, where it gives the best dynamic range and most natural color. You try to shoot at ISO200 and ISO6400, and you will notice a shift in color tone.

ieR, thanks for your comments. i noticed that problem the first time i opened this photo up for PP work. was cursing myself about it. unfortunately, the pattern on her thigh was just so random and uneven that it looks like as if she was wearing stockings or something like that. so that is the reason why i left it as it is. It would be a nightmare (for me) to PP that out, and her thighs will look unnaturally smooth. It will also be difficult (correction: impossible) to get back that skin tone if I PP her thighs. it was a lighting & posing mistake, honestly.

wei... taikor, last time called you to come out yumchar, you said your wife just gave birth to BB wor.... then I was thinking maybe you are busy being a 24-hour father liao mah.....

p/s: talk about that.... WHERE ARE YOUR BABY PHOTOS?????

You are right, she is NOT wearing any stockings. But the pattern is more caused by lighting rather than unsightly cellulite. If her pose was just slightly different, you won't see that pattern liao.

hahaha.... funny that small kids, no matter how small, will all hate to have their head shaved.

If can afford it, always go original.... safer.

oh.... that one is still very FAR away......

For that price... I will give you the lens hood. Made of metal, with felt inside for reduced flare issues. Very nice item.

Not true. The upcoming 500mm F4 G is a SSM lens. It is known as the Silver Cannon... (The 70-400G SSM is known as the silver bullet). The 300mm F2.8G is also a SSM design.

This post has been edited by kysham: Sep 7 2010, 05:30 PM

Price won't turun because Sony will discontinue the screw driven version and sell onle the SAM / SSM variant. Then the 2nd hand market for screw driven lenses will change (depending on the new version's verdict, of course).

No lah.... it is better in the long run.

It is not uncommon for merchants to "swap" stock. for all we know, your online merchant may not have his own stock or his own brick & mortar shop. he may be taking stock from a normal camera shop, earning a few bucks by passing the stock to you. this is a common practice among merchants (me included). it is also not uncommon to have a broken seal camera box, because he may had to open the box to see if everything is inside or not. Or maybe he had opened the box for another buyer to see, but last minute, the buyer said dun want to buy (hey, not surprising but it happens...).

However, it is unethical not have explained why the seal was broken beforehand (he could had told you he opened it earlier to check), and it is even more unethical to sell you overpriced filters to cover his cost and said "that's the way business goes". to me, that is pure bullsh!t.

So i guess it is a lesson well learnt for you, Eugene. Do your research right. Know what you need to buy and what you don't need to buy. I remember a couple years back, this thread is full of advises on what to do when confronting sales person in a camera shop. One of the most repeated advise is to survey the price for the cheapest camera equipment and buy ONLY the camera equipment you intend to get. do not get the accessories because they are going to jack up the price to cover their reduced margin from selling you the camera equipment cheaper. It is an age-old trick which seems to work, every time. unfortunately, it is you this time......

yeap. of course that is the preferred ideal situation. what i am trying to say is that if the merchant do not have any other stock other than the one in hand (with the broken seal), he should let the buyer know in advance. if the buyer says that is OK, then proceed with the COD.

i have also heard of saleperson who went through everything with the buyer, and in the end, the buyer says "I don't actually have enough money for this. Can't discount ah?". This is AFTER both have agreed on the price! So how? The seal is already broken, and everything had been checked..... Let's hope none of us have to go through this kind of "funny" situation....

should not be a problem. the battery & the charger should be smart enough to stop charging once the battery is full. sony make smart batteries. you will be surprised that even some of the nikon dslr uses batteries manufactured by sony.

Tammy 10-24 + CZ 24-70 of course offers a lot more in terms of IQ, but they will be quite a handful to carry around (especially the CZ). I'm assuming you are still in APS-C world, so the 24-70 may seems a little bit limiting to your camera body. Of course, if you have plans for FF in the future, then buying the CZ2470 now makes good sense.

There is no fault in your lens choice. As long as you can afford it, no one will stop you. Hahaha....

SPAM! Shot during our family trip up to Kundasang. For those in Sabah or had been to Sabah, Kundasang is within the vicinity of Mt. Kinabalu, the highest peak in South East Asia. Weather in Kundasang is refreshingly cool. Very similar in climate to Genting, but not as commercialized.


This was me showing my blackened hands, from preparing the fire pit for the BBQ dinner. Shot was taken by my wife using my camera.
A850 + SAL2470Z. 1/60s, f4.0, ISO200, 45mm, flash fired (bounced using the built-in bounce card of the HVL-F58AM).

Hahaha..... my hands are still raw.... charcoal blackened, but not cooked. You got precisely what I wanted to show.... my hands were really almost popping out in a 3d-ish way in this photo. Fuah....!!!

It looks more wb issue than anything else. Not all sensors are created the same, meaning they don't all pick up the same colors and inteprete them as such. Try adjusting the colors in post processing to give you the output you want.

I had played with the prototype Samsung NX100 before it was launched. I don't think it will be able to beat the NEX in terms of IQ & low light capabilities. Let's see how Samsung Malaysia prices the NX100.

SPAM! I realized I had not done a shot of my view out of my room before. Hahaha.... I thought everyone would had done at least once.... but I didn't, until now. So here goes. Photo was shot yesterday evening in good sunset golden hour time.


Photo extracted off my facebook page though, so kinda poor quality.