iamKiet: Oh man, I hope everything is alright!

lwliam: I wonder if you could cross the two filters so it darkens most in 1 corner. Then you turn the Cokin holder 45 degrees.

iamKiet: Other places got - try Studio Zaloon.

lwliam: One GND has the dark side facing 11 O' clock, the other GND has the dark side facing 2 o' clock. I presume that currently, both GNDs face 12 o' clock.

iamKiet: Yes there is a bit of that effect.

Imagine a clock face. The CPL darkens most at 1:30 and 7:30, and the darkened part is only 90 degrees wide. At 12 o' clock to 3 o' clock, it is dark. At 3 o' clock to 6 o' clock, it is bright. At 6 o' clock to 9 o' clock it is dark. At 9 o' clock to 12 o' clock it is bright.

All polarizers, circular or linear, need to be rotated. You can see, when you turn it, some parts of the sky get darker, but if you turn it 90 degrees, it will become bright.

An ultra-wide angle lens covers more than 90 degrees wide. So you get one part of the sky still bright and the middle part dark and the right side bright. Or left and right dark, but middle part bright, no matter how you turn it!

ieR: Crap, I only have one GND and P-series holder. There are however P-series adapters which can stack and rotate two sets of filters independently.

This post has been edited by albnok: Oct 1 2010, 07:04 PM

lwliam: Ah, time for the Z-Pro Series holders LOL.

wingster: Pudu Plaza, but bear in mind that they have not made an adapter that can control the EOS mount aperture yet (as far as I know.)

Mikeshashimi: Nice, though I'd want to see if you could get it so that it looks like the pixels are attacking the people below.

fansoption: I'd crop #2, #3, and show #9 but not the other pictures.

fansoption: No, I am asking you to crop #2 and #3!

TrutH_SeeKeR: Remove the lens, and turn the A700 on - no non-stop sound right? Then your lens has gear stripping.

cjlai: I love the color tone in the picture of you (and the portrait of your son!) And woohoo lens of 2011!

viruz019: Do not convert from EU price. Convert from USD price. The A580 will be the same price as the A550 initially as it is an A550 replacement.

boyzone: The A550 is not weather sealed.

jerrylyh: Nice #1 (though I wish he'd look more like he was shouting instead of stretching his jaw.)

I also like #4 and #6. Good moment!

This photographer is FULL OF WIN!



TrutH_SeeKeR: What are your lenses?

This is quite unlikely, but I wonder if somehow your secondary mirror is damaged, has dropped off, or some massive object has covered the hole that leads to the AF unit.

When in manual focus, does the green dot (focus confirm) show when you are in focus?

This post has been edited by albnok: Oct 3 2010, 01:29 AM

zstan: +2000!

mastering89: The A560 and A580 should replace the A500 and A550 in price. That is how it has always been, but I would call the product manager on Monday to ask.

gjtan: Tamron cheaper, Sony better, but the Sony 18-250mm is faster in focusing.

Deerc: Middle of October, Sony says.

r.wern: Not true to all. It takes 6 frames.

Mikeshashimi:

A33, A55, A580, Zeiss 24mm F2.0 SSM, 35mm F1.8, 85mm F2.8 - October 2010
A560 - 2011

I meant 6 frames for Handheld Twilight and Anti-Motion Blur.

r.wern: 6 frames to do Handheld Twilight or Anti-Motion Blur. Both the NEX-3 and NEX-5 can shoot at 7 FPS.

ahpingko: #1 could be better (try covering the flash with a card, so it looks like a circular light.)

ahpingko: No I mean put a card in front, but cut a circular hole in front so it doesn't look like a rectangle.

achew: Unfortunately, it appears so.

Also, the Zeiss 24mm F2.0 SSM, 85mm F2.8 SAM, 35mm F1.8 DT SAM will be delayed - more like end of October/beginning November, while the A55 body only will come soon in October. The A55 kit will come later in October.

I forgot to ask about the price for the A580 but I've texted him.

The A580 will be launched this month. The price should be almost the same as the A550 launch price but this is yet to be confirmed.

khaiandrew: On the contrary, the A33/A55/NEX-3/NEX-5 don't have the mirror flapping sound. Instead you just hear the shutter.

Newbieeeee: Same quality. Better in low light than your A380 unfortunately!

Newbieeeeee: Use the center AF point - it is a lot more sensitive.

Doesn't matter as those will not improve AF capability. Are you aiming at a contrasty subject? Blank walls and texture-less surfaces will not let your camera focus at all.

I have been focusing just fine with the A100 in the dark but you must know where and what to aim at in order to get focus. Eye Start AF also helps.

zstan: WRONG!

Where are you getting these ideas from? Don't simply say can or not?

Long exposure noise reduction just takes another shot with the shutter closed so that it can get a black frame.

Every sensor from every camera and every brand, will show hot pixels in long exposures. So the camera takes say a 2 minute exposure, which has hot pixels, then it takes another exposure but with the shutter closed for the same duration (2 minutes), so it gets a black picture with only hot pixels.

The black frame is subtracted from the original picture to get the final picture, clean of hot pixel noise. (The hot pixels appear in the same area.)

So if you turn on Long Exposure Noise Reduction you get a cleaner image without loss in image quality.

If you shoot fireworks though, you may want to turn off Long Exposure NR and make your own black frame shot, and subtract it in Photoshop later to save time while shooting.

ahpingko: Your tripod might not be steady enough, or there is wind, or subject movement (trees for example.)

ahpingko: I tried to imagine the first two beach shots in normal color and they could be quite boring. I like what you've done with the color though!

zstan: During the black frame (2nd exposure) the shake will not appear in the picture.

Ah, I spot the Twitter bird icon!

fansoption: No, no difference in High ISO NR as far as I know. They have always kicked in at ISO1600 and above.

zstan: Could use a better isolated picture.

jim0n: Honestly, no.

mastering89: The Minolta 28-80mm F3.5-5.6 does not have the macro power of the Sigma 28-80mm F3.5-5.6 Macro. (I've dissassembled one before.)

Batmaninkl: You have to try it with a card inside.

johnmeng: Sorry lah not nice. There should be less of that look in the trees!

shootkk: You can also be damn near to the bride and groom wih a wide-angle lens when that happens. Or have a second photographer keep tabs on them.

Batmaninkl: I would prefer the A55 because it can autofocus with video quickly and shoot at 10 FPS. Plus it will take your Minolta lenses... and if you know Minolta lenses, they are good!

Don't forget it also shoots in MTS format for AVCHD videos.

The A55 can only shoot until 9 minutes with SteadyShot ON and 29 minutes with SteadyShot off. The A33 shoots 11 minutes with SteadyShot on.

shootkk: I dare say I'd scold my photographer if he takes my wine-popping shot with a tele instead of running all the way to the stage!

Newbieeeee: It is a Minolta thing. When you turn to portrait mode, your status display turns with you. Hmmm I never got around to seeing if this is the case with the A33/A55 LOL.

Anyway top LCDs are quite pointless for me since you need shift your position from viewfinder to top LCD (as opposed to from viewfinder to rear LCD.)

This post has been edited by albnok: Oct 5 2010, 04:49 PM

Batmaninkl:

You can turn off SteadyShot and get 29 minutes (at 29 minutes, if you're doing some sort of surveillance, you'd put it on a tripod.)

Of course if you want to shoot a continuous 29 minute clip while handheld you can get one of those Sigma OS HSM lenses, or a Steadycam Merlin.