Don't mind them. These people who judge based on brand are fanboys cum gearheads most of the time. They know very little about photography. They study photo-gear-phy. Their opinions matter little so pay them no heed!

Sony lenses do not have VR because Sony's stabilization's is on the sensor. This means all lenses that is detectable and recognized (read all Sony and most Minolta lenses plus all third party Alpha mount lenses) by the Alpha body is stabilized at no extra cost.

I do not think the VR on Nikon lenses can work if attached to the NEX via and adapter. I'm not sure on this but I think it will not work as the lens cannot communicate with the camera.

No. You just need to be careful a little and not let the shutter speed drop too low. Having steady hands also helps. Most PnS cameras have no IS/VR/OSS but people can still take great pics.

If you cannot see the buy/sell thread this means you ARE NOT REGISTERED on the alphanatics forum. Please register yourself and login and you will be able to see the buy/sell thread.

You cannot teach the young the lessons of life, ahpingko. Much as you try and have all the best noble intentions, the lesson will just fly over their head. They are just not ready to learn that lesson yet. In time , they may realise the folly of their ways but not now.

As the saying goes : Youth is wasted on the young.

If you understand the above saying, then you have indeed gone through much in life.

So better focus on talking about photography.

gjtan : It does not need servicing. It's working fine! He just need to wipe it clean.

You really have to try it out yourself. Wide angle lenses are not 'wider is better'. It depends a lot on the photographer using it. Some may not like too wide a view while some prefer really, really wide. If you buy a wide angle lens that you do not like to use then it will be a waste.

Hi guys!

I'm back from my trip to Macau. Now I have stacks of pics to edit.

Here's a couple of pics as a sneak preview. Hope you guys like it. C&C please ok?


1. St. Paul Ruins. You guys should know this landmark.


2. Night shot of the Lisboa and Grand Lisboa Hotel Casinos.



Macau is famous for these 2 things - Heritage buildings left by the Portugese and the grand scale casinos.

Both shot done on the 20mm lens on the A850.

Haha! When you're using a UWA, the sides of the frame tends to distort and curve. This means straight lines become curved thus bringing in the buildings on the left will mean cutting off the buildings on the right. It's a trade off when using Ultra wide angle lenses. The taller the building, the more distortion it gets.

You can move the scene a little to the left but wanted the Grand Lisboa in the middle to anchor the frame and to get the least distortion.

Pic spam!

Macau trip pics. Day 1

1. Instituto Cultural - Don't ask me what it is. Didn't go inside. It was near my hotel so take pic lor.


2. Another building near the Instituto Cultural


3. The Barrier Gate - on the Macau / Zhu Hai border.


4.


5. Lin Fung Temple


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C&C please.

Don't just shoot for shooting's sake. Although you need to shoot regularly to practice and improve, you first need to know what you want to shoot.

Do you like shooting macro? If so, you can fine tune your skill in this area. If not, shooting hundreds of frames of macro will do little to help you.

Do you like shooting portraits? Landscapes? Street candids? Fashion? Or do you prefer journalistic type of shots?

Although all the above uses the same basic techniques, they each have their own specific niche in terms of skill set. Determine what you want to shoot and the rest will fall into place. You won't have to ask what lens to buy. You won't have to ask what flash to buy and what lighting equipment you need. Once you know what you want to shoot, you will know what equipment and gears you need.

Newbieeeeee : Won't spoil but will introduce dust into the camera sensor area lor...

With your budget, I'm afraid you're out of luck if you want to fulfill every one of your wish. I would suggest the Tamron 90mm macro lens but that's out of your budget.

A 50mm macro prime would fit your needs but it's also out of your budget.

You best fit : 55-200mm zoom. Very decent IQ. Pseudo macro capability with the zoom function. Suits your budget. Lacking only in the aperture rating.

I don't know if the Sony 50mm f1.8 DT has a low enough MFD to do decent macro.

The 30mm DT macro lens may be able to fit your needs but I do not know what the price is and I do not know if you like the 30mm angle of view.

Agreed. I don't mind cut and paste but cannot wholesale put everything in lar... Also tips like shooting fall pics or winter pics are rarely applicable here in M'sia. I wonder why there are no local contributors with topics that are more related to M'sians.

Stopped buying quite some time ago. Now only pick up and browse through in the bookstore.

The thing that really gets to me is the biasness towards certain brands.

When shooting night portraits this is what you need to keep in mind:

1. Night means low light. That means ISO 200 won't cut it unless your subject can turn into statue and you have a tripod.

Shutter speed of less than 1/15th means your subject breathing can make your pics come out looking soft.

2. Don't be afraid to use up to ISO 800. I can use this on my A100 and still get decent output. All you need to do is over expose the frame a little and the noise will not be so apparent.

3. High ISO means you can blend the background/ambient light better. Your dark background is because your ISO's too low to capture much ambient light. High ISO also means the flash will shoot at a much lower power thus helping to keep your subject from being washed out by a harsh burst.

4. If the flash is too harsh then take it off camera and move the light further away. Or diffuse is with a piece of paper or umbrella.

Ok! More pic spams from my Macau trip.

Day 2.

1.


2.


3.


4. In the shadows of the St. Paul Ruins.


5. This one shot at ISO 1000 accidentally. When you go from indoors to outdoors, do remember to check your ISO settings. PP via IDC 3.2 and tweaked with the DRO settings.


6. Na Tcha Temple


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All shots from Minolta 20mm f2.8

8tvt : Most of my Macau shots are done using f8. Daylight outdoors for sure f8. Indoors maybe I go to f5.6 or f2.8 but I don't use that often.

I sometimes stop down to f11 for daylight outdoors but I seldom use that setting.

If you feel the 50mm is too tight, get the 30mm macro DT lens. It can make a great walkabout lens for street shots.

18-210 f2.8???!!! That lens will be so big and so heavy and so expensive that no one will probably buy it. There is no such lens in existence today.

Why? I seriously believe that f2.8 constant zooms are highly overrated in terms of aperture ratings. At f2.8 it's not really bright enough for indoors without flash most of the time. If I have to use flash then f2.8 is not much different than f4. Plus you cannot use f2.8 most of the time if you're shooting event. The DOF is just not enough for groups. Thus f4 is better.

Thus if you're gonna have to use flash and can't shoot wide open most of the time, I'll pick the extra range that's far more useful.

Also those premium zooms are darn heavy! I'll rather lug 2 camera bodies with fast primes instead of one huge, bulky and just as heavy f2.8 premium constant zoom but that's just me.

This post has been edited by shootkk: Nov 1 2010, 05:58 PM