my mistake LOL 

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Added on September 9, 2012, 5:30 pm

i will still keep the 50mm no matter how... use it for potrait really nice...
but the new 35mm could be more than double the price of the current sigma 30mm...

anyway, i hv decided to wait for the 35mm to see how... 

i really want to buy when i think of spending on this lens...
i rather get a MBP to replace my olddie laptop that i using to reply you now 

besides, this lens will just wasted if it is on my hand... my skill still not at level yet 

if you are with 50mm, make a few step back lor... maybe can snap gua..
i assumed it will be a similar quality for the coming 35mm with the current 50mm...
wait for the review after release to the market...

you are not considering the Siggy 30mm F2.8? it might suits your need IMO from what i read from you

CZ 24mm is way too expensive... it makes me think of it will cost me a MBP and it stop me... lol

Phase detection AF during video really works well! the mike didn't pick up the noise from motor focusing. thank goodness 

tis girl almost made me blind wit the flash gun 

Hehe lucky i use pop on flash and 70-300G   didnt kena any1 flash

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Added on October 8, 2012, 12:48 am
DSC03505 by Zhao93
this girl keep looking at me 

buy lots and lots of f/0.95 lenses

If you are referring to the shots taken at events like KLPF and PC Fair at the above link then I have some tips to share with you. I am not sure about your shots coz I haven't really seen many of your shots so it will help if you were to show us some of your shots and tell us what kind of difficulties you are facing.

Tips:

1. Buy and external flash unit and learn how to use it. It helps a lot when shooting at events like these.

2. Don't be afraid to use high ISO! Yes, start at ISO 800 at the very least and then if you need higher shutter speed, up it to 1600 or 3200. The newer bodies can easily take this. High ISO will help you to blend in the ambient light and will make your background brighter so you don't suffer the 'bright subject, dark background becoz of flash' syndrome.

3. Use a lens with a bright aperture. If you are using Sony's APS-C bodies, try the 30mm or the 50mm f1.8 lenses. Set to f2.2 to f2.8 coupled with flash and see how that works for you.
I noticed that the person in your link likes to use fisheye lenses. I personally am not really a big fan of fisheyes, especially used in portraits. The distortions disturbs me. One or two pics is ok but if you have a whole series... it gets old pretty quick.

Hope that helps!

i feel like selling my fish eye and wide angle away ad... really underutilized....

anyone interested?

mls_gamer : Mind me asking if you have external flash unit and what camera are you using?

It seems that you have the common problem of when you don't use flash, it's under and if you use flash, it's direct and you get bright subject but flat lighting and dark background.

So I am guessing that you are pretty afraid to go past ISO 400...

That's the problem when you are afraid of high ISO. Difficult to get proper exposure with a decent shutter speed that will not have hand shake or subject movement.

When you flash, the background goes dark because your low ISO very difficult to capture the ambient lights.

So jack up the ISO. The noise only scare you because you are probably the only one to zoom in 100% and see all those dots! If you resized your pics to view on screen, you cannot really see any noise. Even if you print out to 8R size, noise will not be apparent.

Using high ISO coupled with bounced flash you can overcome problem like:

1. Face under exposed due to shadows under eyes or hair or hats or model so happen to stand under a light casting the shadows on her face when you are not using flash.

2. Background becomes dark when using flash.

3. Using flash also helps a little in WB as the flash will kill off some of the yellowish cast by tungsten bulbs.

4. High ISO also helps to stretch your flash batteries as the flash will not have to work so hard blasting a full power all the time.

Try it.

mls_gamer : Were you using M mode? Try A mode. Put your aperture to f2.5 or f2.8. Flash to TTL and try bounce. I know the F20 don't bounce very well for the very fact that it's small. ISO to 1600 and test.

In your above shot, it seems like you got your aperture set to max brightness. It happens to me sometimes.

Actually I don't really like the F20AM flash. In my experience, the F20AM flash tend to overexpose. I had experienced it a couple of times when pairing it with my A850. I prefer the F58AM and I now use the F20 purely to trigger remote flashes on my A850.

If you feel that the F20AM is overexposing, try to set the flash compensation down a little and it may help. I dunno if you can do that on the NEX so you need to check that out.

actually, its still back to SKILL in overall. which includes i) shooting skills, and ii) understanding skill, and iii) learning skill.

shooting skill is not enough, u need to learn the ability to understand, to understand the photo. when u posted your pic and ask how come others pics is so nicer (oor much nicer)... its because your lack of understanding to see the differences of your photo with theirs.

few pro here mentioned, its your flash, use it, or dont. to me, its your understanding with exposure... "how much do u need" where is the "peak" or "best exposure".... flash is easy to learn, but without the most basic understanding of exposure, then its very difficult to teach. unless u have very high level of "learning skills"

next time, set it to A mode, open to widest aperture (allowing most light in), iso auto(incase too much light, it will drop) then set your flash mode to Slow Sync.
slow Sync is a very simple and basic function that can easily surprise you with very nice tone photo... go give it a try.

edit: and if you know how to tweak your camera, set the flasheV (FeV) to -1 stop. that way, u get a very softly lit skintone with ambiences tone

hooo a lot to learn man! i also like, blur what to learn next... my learning already stuck for sometime... need to upgrade myself >.<

mls_gamer, here is some of the shot without the flash (link from fb)