whoah...! orange thread become macro thread oredi.... although too bad i personally am not good at it. never had the patience. but i do love to look at macro photos and birding photos. really marvel at the patience you guys have to do all those shots.

anyway, we conducted a Sony Street Challenge last weekend here in Kota Kinabalu and here are some shots from that challenge I would like to share with everyone.

Double Trapped Little Duckie!

A850 & SAL2470Z. 1/40s, F2.8, ISO200, 70mm.

Burst of Tomato Goodness.

A850 & SAL2470Z. 1/125s, F4.0, ISO200, 70mm.

Pirate Aunty, Pirate Kitty!

A850 & SAL2470Z. 1/160s, F6.3, ISO200, 60mm. Shot was heavily overexposed, but luckily I shot in cRAW and managed to save the shot. I only had 1 shot, before the aunty moved away.

I'm pretty weak when it comes to street photography. So would appreciate if you guys can give me some heads-up / pointers to improve. Share share your views and comments please yeah.

Perfect camera? Don't exist. But you can buy every camera in the market with your 6 digit loan so you will not miss out on all the features.

wait-a-minute.... who said uncle chin gave me cheap prices geh? he gave me is "market price" lah. he always insist he is giving good services and not cheap prices. So yeah, go figure. I can tell you I did not buy anything at a cheaper price than any of you guys got from uncle chin. i just buy from him because he gave me free kopi.

A quick note to all Sony camera users (Alpha / NEX / Cybershot) in Kota Kinabalu. The Sony Alpha Sunset Challenge in Kota Kinabalu is on this Saturday, 08.10.2011! Come join the fun and win some prizes for your effort!

Registration Link: https://mysony.sony.com.my/MyWorkshop/WorkshopListing.aspx



If any of you guys knows anyone in KK using Sony cameras, do encourage them to join!

ok. enough advertisement. Time to go and play with my new toys.

Tested the Sony A77 with the new 16-50mm F2.8 SSM DT lens. I call it the super kitlens because it is really great. And if it is true that the price for this kitlens is between RM2.2k to RM2.9k, then I will say it is the CHEAPEST super kitlens on the market. Search out the equivalent Nikon & Canon lens and you will know what I am talking about.

Photos were shot on location in Sony's office in Midvalley.

#1 Angelica


#2 Angelica


#3 Gary Friedman (yup, that's him on the hot seat! )


The details in the final images are simply amazing! And that new super kitlens is fantastic! The flare & ghosting control is pretty good!

This post has been edited by kysham: Oct 8 2011, 02:24 PM

err.... no. this is a bit difficult to test in a studio environment though.... so never thought about trying it out. in fact there are so many features which i had not explored yet. But there are so many good features, such as the fact that the "Quick-Navi" is not actually lost, but had evolved. You press the Fn key and the Quick-Navi now navigates through the functions lined along both sides of the LCD / Viewfinder! Once you get to the desired function, just turn either the front or the back control dial to change the settings.

albnok: didn't know that, since i don't have an A550. I just read early reports that said the Quick-Navi was no longer available. But was pleasantly surprised it is not no longer available, just that it is not evolved already.

Everyone is busy with KLPF. I share one landscape (more like seascape) photo lah.

[Flowing Over]

Date: 08.10.2011
Location: Sutera Harbor Rd., Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.
Sony A850 & SAL1635Z.
0.8s, F22.0, ISO100, 16mm. ND8 Filter attached.

Shot during the recent Sony Alpha Sunset Challenge in Kota Kinabalu.

zstan: Thanks bro. This is not HDR though. It is from a single cRAW file, which I processed in Capture1. I basically created 2 layers with different exposure to make the clouds pop out a bit more.

zicron: The Zeiss is one of my new toy...

I had (and still do) have the minolta 17-35 f2.8-4. so yes, the trinity is complete now.

My UV filters (77mm) are all more than RM120 each....

the a77's evf is a huge improvement over the a55's unit, but I think it is still behind the OVF of the A900 / A850 which are among the best out there for full frame cameras. it is bright and big, but just not as real as an OVF. and I would be a fool to expect it to be. An EVF is still an EVF, is still an EVF. But for normal shooting, I think it works brilliantly. I had shot for about 1-1/2 hours with the A77 in a studio environment and it worked beautifully. I adapted to it pretty quick. I don't think there should be any issues.

I believe I read somewhere before that the 16-80 will be the last aps-c lens that Zeiss will make for the alpha mount. Of course, now they have the Zeiss for the Nex already, but that lens cannot be used on a DSLR/DSLT. I've also noticed that the 16-50mm F2.8 is the only DT lens with SSM at the moment. Not sure if Sony can persuade Zeiss to change their mind and start designing aps-c lenses for alpha mount again or not. I do hope so. Those Zeiss engineers can really design some extraordinary optics!

The other advantage the 16-80 have over the new 16-50 is obviously the range.

an extra 30mm is still an extra 30mm. some people will appreciate it, while others can't really be bothered with it. what zstan said is likely the case. these two lenses will cater to different users.

Although Zeiss probably does not physically make the lens itself, I am sure Sony must get some form of approval from Zeiss for the lens design, because the lens design and optics must be closely related. And don't forget Sony is putting the Zeiss logo on the lens, so no way Zeiss is going to allow that without any form of quality control from their part. Every Zeiss lens has a signature card from Zeiss, so I don't believe their involvement is strictly "just supply the optics" alone.

I believe the collaboration may work this way:

Sony propose a lens design to Zeiss -> Zeiss agrees to the lens design -> Sony do the engineering work, with input from Zeiss -> Sony manufactures the lenses, with optics supplied by Zeiss

i thought i saw lwliam's A700 already put up for sale in alphanatics forum?

How about this for a TT?


L to R: Nex-5n with SEL24F1.8 Zeiss, A65 with lenscap attached , A850 with SAL1635Z attached & A77 with SAL1650F28 SSM attached.

Happened last night, in Kota Kinabalu.

p/s: Here is another, slightly higher angle, with the A850 & A77 had switched place. Someone go kacau2 when shooting. Hahaha.....



That e-mount 24mm F1.8 Zeiss is so super yummy!

p/s: Photo taken by a friend of mine. I'm the guy in the alpha black t-shirt in this photo.

This post has been edited by kysham: Oct 14 2011, 11:42 AM

hehehe.....

i don't think it is ready stock in Malaysia, yet. awesome lens for Nex users.

bingo.

The e-mount 24mm F1.8 Zeiss is fantastic and works great as a slightly wide angle walkaround lens (although admittedly not as compact as a pancake, but heck, I think pancake lenses is over-hyped!) for the NEX system. I'm dying to see how it performs on the NEX-7. As of now, the NEX-7 is still not available, not even a test unit. The SEL24 is all metal and looks sexy in that slightly matte black sheen. At wide open, it is sharp and bright. That T* coating is really working its magic here, as had always been the case in all CZ lenses with the T* coating.

To be honest, it's size is not any larger than the standard zoom lens (SEL1855) so it sits flush with the lens mount, not bulging out like the SEL18200. So it sorts of blends in well with the NEX. I'm getting really attached to that NEX form nowadays.