Picture spam time

Just came back from my reunion dinner

Here are the dishes

Shot with a350 + kitlens + f42am with capalang stofen bounce to ceiling (WB 5300)


#1 - Sliced Abalone Yee Sang



#2 - Braised Shark Fin's With Crab Meat & Dried Scallop



#3 - Suckling Pig (Whole)



#4 - Steamed Pomfret With Soya Sauce



#5 - Fried Crystal Prawn Soyasauce



#6 - Mushroom & Fish Maw With Skylight Abalone



#7 - Special Fried Misua



#8 - Japanese Mochi (Dessert)



Wishing you a prosperous year of the ox filled with good forture, luck and excellent health to you and your family.
Gong Xi Fai Cai

This post has been edited by chiggy: Jan 25 2009, 11:59 PM

Tonight's Dinner at home

#1 - Kailan with prawn



#2 - Bayam with prawn



#3 - Roasted Duck bought from Magic Wok Damansara Jaya for RM42


Kits lens with F42AM

This post has been edited by chiggy: Jan 28 2009, 08:22 PM

anyone use focusing screen on their alpha?
i just want to ask, at what aperture will the focusing screen be unusable because I read around that as the aperture become smaller (high f stop), it will be hard to look at the focusing screen

I am sad... so sad...
I just discovered my m42 mount CZ 135mm has a problem... the aperture is stuck. I still can turn the aperture ring manually, but the aperture just don't move. From the looks of it, it is stuck at wide open F3.5. Of course it still can be used since it is wide open.

Anyone has any idea what is the cause of it or maybe some hints on how to self repair?

Thanks

umm... how to know whether it is oily blades?

would be it pricey at Cheah Camera?
if it goes beyond RM100.. I might as well get a new "old" lens

ok... read a abit about self cleaning.... now stopped as got spooked to take out the "infinity adjustment screw"

ok, after opening the lens up to the rear element (got stuck there), I notice that the handle that moves the aperture blade is loose. It is supposed to be light that.


the handle I mean is the handle on the left side just after the spring. It is directly across the red arrow.
How loose? Well, if move the lens, the handle will move on its own

Anyway, here is the story
Yesterday when focusing, it was a bit quite tight at one area (aperture ring/blade still works). So I move it back a little, then at the tight area, I use some strength and it budges. Then it is smooth focusing again. Then today, I notice that the aperture blades no longer moves. Could this still be oily blades? From the looks of it, I don't think that the aperture blades is at wide open after all. At least F4 to F5.6

Picture Spam from amateur model shooting today

No PP, just resize

The following photos uses Sony Alpha 350 + Kitlens + HVLF42AM
#1



The following photos uses Sony Alpha 350 + CZ 135mm F3.5 m42 lens + HVL-F42AM
#2



#3



#4



#5




Note: the m42 lens still cannot change aperture, so I'm just stuck with 1 aperture settings only

This post has been edited by chiggy: Feb 7 2009, 11:38 PM

Next model


The following photos uses Sony Aplha 350 + Kitlens + HVL-F42AM
#6



#7



The following photos uses Sony Aplha 350 + CZ 135mm F3.5 m42 lens + HVL-F42AM
#8



#9



#10


This post has been edited by chiggy: Feb 7 2009, 11:46 PM

And another Model

The following photos uses Sony Alpha 350 + kitlens + CPL + HVL-F42AM
The usage of CPL was at the beginning of the shoot. Just want to try out
#11



#12



#13



Err... next....
The following photos uses Sony Alpha 350 + CZ 135mm F3.5 m42 lens + HVL-F42AM
#14



#15

---

Added on February 7, 2009, 11:47 pmpic 6 changed
thanks

This post has been edited by chiggy: Feb 7 2009, 11:47 PM

Flash using no-brand stofen bounce
Flash point up.... at Auto power and '105' settings
WB set at 5300

F42am has 2 settings, one is the power 1/1, 1/2, 1/4 etc and the other is the range. The power I set at auto while the range I max it at 105
as for WB 5300, that is the WB for flash

Yes, she is my favourite model on that day
All the pictures are shot with flash. Nowadays for portraits, I like to use flash especially when the sun is up to eliminate shadows on their face

try not to get 1 hr fast charger because the batteries will not be fully charged at such short time. All my AA battery chargers are normal 6-8 hour chargers - and I've 3 different battery charges, each charger for its own brand battery

those people that get 1 hr fast charger are those that need to re-charge batteries while on the job, such as wedding photographers

the shape of the bokeh will depend on the aperture shape
on manual lens it is easier to see the shape because you can change the aperture using the aperture ring

When albert said "Turn off DRO in the dark; it would kill the contrast and increase noise", it means that "Turn off DRO in the dark because DRO will kill the contrast and increase noise"

Of course, this is through my understanding of the sentence

I think by now you know that DRO will slightly increase the brightness of the object. By means of brightness in camera software, you also by now know that higher ISO, the picture brighter... so noise increase. Higher brightness will also make the photo less contrast

turning off DRO will not kill anything, just that without DRO, means without camera software to increase the brightness of the object... means there is no contrast to kill, and no noise to kill

hold on ar... i try to shoot with and without DRO, but I doubt my alpha 350 would be the best DRO because it is not like the big ones that goes to level 5

Sony Alpha 350
Exif available - manual settings

My shoe shot under the table

NON crop, just resize
#1 - DRO Off



#2 - DRO +



Notice that the contrast is slightly off because the brightness increase. As said earlier, best if use those alpha with DRO level 5

100% crop
#3 - DRO off



#4 - DRO +



This really have to use a good monitor to see the noise. My notebook can't really see... but my office LCD monitor can slightly see. My Samsung monitor should be able to see better

yes but more noise compared without DRO.... "more noise" the phrase by itself makes it look bad.... "more noise compared without DRO" sounds better

and yes, only if you want to see at 100% view
after resize, won't see much difference