bysquashy, good stuff! I always get backlit birds!

Congratulations lauyamonk!

vamsufer, easiest way to find out is to mount it.

Honestly though it's not the A-mount; it's missing the focus screw drive. It looks like it could be a Nikon F-mount manual focus teleconverter.

signither: I have Kenko 1.5x and 2x teleconverters. The Tamron Teleplus 1.4x and 2x ones have served me well. Optically you know lah you can't expect too much of them unless you have a really sharp lens to put it on.

The 1.4x and 2x teleconverters are the same price but 1.4x ones are much harder to find. Singapore has both of them by the loads, though - Cathay Photo in Peninsula Plaza has a big stack of them.

vamsufer: The Sony teleconverters are only compatible with the 135mm F2.8/T4.5 STF, 70-200mm F2.8G SSM, 70-400mm F4-5.6G SSM and 300mm F2.8G SSM. For all other lenses you must use third-party ones.

raist86, I'd have gotten the UV filter before, or on the same day. That said it's not that hard to find... in KL. International Camera at Pertama Complex, YL Camera at Pudu Plaza, Leos Trading at Ampang Park would have it.

Or you can look for Photomalaysia seller yannick, he brings in B+W filters in various sizes, with the flexibility to meet you in Subang, I think...

ryzan76:

Teleconverters;
- multiply focal length
- multiply aperture number
- multiply maximum magnification 'faster'
- keep minimum focus distance as well as ability to focus on infinity
- have glass inside
- are more expensive


Extension tubes;
- change the minimum and maximum focus distance
- do not have glass inside
- do not increase magnification greatly

achew, nolah, I saw it last time I was down there. Tell us whether they have stock!

I got my colleague to buy the A900 Type-M focusing screen from them, since they had it in stock before we did.

This post has been edited by albnok: Feb 20 2009, 05:30 PM

raist86: The brass version is undoubtedly the true B+W version. The alloy one may be the Asian version, which may not be the genuine B+W (B+W themselves offer no way of verifying if a filter is genuine or not...)

The reason why I got the brass version for my 135mm was:

- I wanted to be sure I was getting the real thing, scratchproof and all
- the brass ring does not bind, so the filter will not get stuck on the lens
- the brass ring is more solid, and I will be using 135mm lens without a hood or cap (for size) so it must be able to take an accident if it does happen, especially with heavier lenses
- the brass and alloy ones cost nearly the same

Of course, my smaller lenses all have cheaper filters. I have a Zeiss T* filter for my 50mm. That's small and some of the paint has already worn slightly... but then again it's a very oftenly used lens.

jimlim007, the 5400HS cannot be used wirelessly on digital bodies. You'll want at least a 5600HS or F56. And the F42 can swivel better than the F56 can - it turns clockwise to reach back, which is more practical when using portrait orientation.

So I would rate swivel capabilities:

F36 (up/down) < F56 (up/down/left 180/right 90) < F42 (up/down/left 90/right 90) < F58 (up/down/tilt left 90/tilt right 90)

Refer to mhohner.de or dyxum.com - Sony's sites are quite poorly updated.

signither, a TC can be used for macro - downside is that it reduces aperture and image quality (though, if you have a sharp lens the deterioration is less). On the plus side, a 2x teleconverter can get you from 1:1 to 2:1 easily - with extension tubes, you stack a few and you won't get such high magnification.

sidewinderz, have you looked at the other accessories? The F58 is the cheapest BIG flash at RM1100. The Canon 580EX II and Nikon SB-900 are both RM15xx.

The lens prices, other than the 50mm F1.8 which Sony has not released yet, are pretty much on the same price.

And if you think the Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan is expensive at around RM9xx, remember that the Canon 70-200mm F4L non-IS is more than twice that price.

SinnerBuyer: The 18-250mm is a popular lens. Remember that there are a lot more Sony users than there are on the forum, and not everybody documents their purchases online.

Also, there is no 16-105mm equivalent in any other brand. Nothing else starts at 16mm and ends at 105mm.

The Nikkor 18-200mm VR is more expensive than the Sony 18-250mm.

eviz: Yes, the A700 body only does come with hotshoe cover. Mine did! (Er, didn't you get one already?)

That's weird... it would already be ON the camera the moment you take it out of the box.

jimlim007, the F42 is slightly loose but lets you mount it on and off quickly. I've had a broken Canon 580EX flash before, that was plastic...



Bottom half:



Canon originally quoted close to RM1k to fix this.

There was one American fella who managed to break his Sony flash but it broke at the small connector part ONLY. That part is a lot easier and faster to replace, since the repair center has a big box of them (I've heard.)

Also, it was pretty much impossible to reconnect the white wire that snapped off from inside the Canon 580EX body. The screws from the bottom half of the flash ripped out the screw "holes" on the top half. So the plastic of the top shell needed to be replaced.

In the case of the Sony flash, it chipped off a corner from the body's hotshoe mount. The contacts were still in place, so despite the loose mount, it would still work if you held it in place!

If you look at it closely, you'll notice that hotshoe mount is one separate piece by itself, which makes it far easier to replace.

AlphaBeta, I'm not sure if you get what I mean - anything plastic will break if you give it enough force.

It's just that the Sony hotshoe mount is designed to break at the small point instead of ripping off the bottom half, like what happened to the Canon flash.

hkhk, AWB would usually pick a cooler temperature when it sees tungsten light e.g. 3500K.

If a flash is mounted, AWB ALWAYS sets itself to flash WB which is around 5200-5800K. This will obviously make tungsten light extra orangy.

So what you need to do is put a daylight-to-tungsten gel on your flash, to make it around 2800K, and you set your camera WB to 2800K as well. Both the background and flash will be matched in color.

sidewinderz: They always give a longer estimate, to be safe. It often gets fixed faster than that.

msiddiq, love the cat portrait. Very... human.

Seng_Kiat, depends on the lens - some lenses like the Sigma 24mm F1.8, 17-70mm F2.8-4.5, 18-50mm F2.8 can all focus to nearly 2cm from the front of the lens to the subject.

ryzan76, I like the lighting; makes it look more intimate and cold.

v1rtual: I think the seller meant that the 16-105mm lens gives slower shutter speeds as its aperture is F3.5-5.6. The 24-105mm has an aperture of F3.5-4.5.

vcvx: Wow, their posters are very well printed!

jimlim007, the chances of a F42 breaking are very little. Same for the 580EX. But my point is, the Sony and Canon flash will break at a different point. With the Sony, it would break at the hotshoe, which is an easily and quickly replaceable part!

ahtsong's hotshoe got repaired in 3 working days. The 580EX is with a friend, who sent it to Canon. He doesn't remember how long, but he thinks it came back in less than a month.

Remember that you can quickly mount and dismount the F42 with the quick release button. The 580EX MkI cannot; you have to turn the screw to lock it in place. The 580EX MkII is a lot better in that respect; it has a quick release knob (like the SB-800/SB-900, finally!) I would say the 580EX MkII has a better build, too, and better swivel (like the F42, 180 degrees right.)

Every other flash BEFORE, you needed to turn the dial to screw it in. Except the Minolta/Sony flashes lah, which have always had the quick-release button. So you can put the flash away if you're walking in crowded areas.

achew, it's a Canon 580EX flash lah. And you have to be violent or clumsy to have this happen!

signither, very few ultra-wide angle lenses cannot use filters:

14mm lenses (all, as far as I know)
Nikkor 14-24mm F2.8
Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG
Tokina 10-17mm F3.5-4.5

signither, a normal UV filter will do.

Also you can't use a polarizer with an ultra-wide or any lens that covers more than 90 degrees due to the limited effect of the polarizer over wide angles. So you'll only need a UV filter, really...

NewCell, no selective coloring is only possible with point-and-shoot cameras.

Alexes: The Sony 135mm F2.8/T4.5 Smooth Transition Focus should go around RM45xx street price.

nles, no need shy shy all. Come!

jimlim007, the broken flash picture that I put up was a Canon 580EX! NOT a F58 laaa aiyo...

Anyway, an update on the TT:

When:
12 noon Saturday 28th February 2009

Where:
Old Town Kopitiam, JayaOne, near UIA Section 17 (can take RapidKL feeder bus from Asia Jaya LRT, ask the bus if it goes there.)

What's going:
Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 Macro
Zeiss 16-80mm, 24-70mm, 85mm, 135mm
Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6G SSM
A100, A200, A700, A900

Who's going:
1. ahmike
2. albnok
3. jl65
4. leenaz
5. xzulx
6. cwlor
7. Eddy Han
8. teh_oo_ice
9. AlphaEin

After that cwlor will bring his poisonous 17-70mm to Daniel K (who's at the Sony flash workshop.) He has been wanting to check it out in the field.

craziqbal don't tell me that cwlor got the last one (other than the one we tried, but you can read about it over there yo.)

neo_lam: TT = Teh Tarik session, or Technology Transfer session. We meet and we geek out and talk about a common hobby.

neo_lam, it's stated in the post you quoted - 12 noon Saturday 28th February 2009.

craziqbal, that's the first place where I tried the lens. I was so enthralled by the macro I forgot to get a aperture reading (at what focal length does the aperture go down, etc.)

Seng_Kiat, the DPI does not matter.

http://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/faq.php#dpi

dinraxxx, beware the lamps, they cause flare.

Also, try to get a more isolated grass shot - I don't know what you're aiming at in those pictures.

jimlim007: I've been busy but you can always head over to my blog for pictures! Somemore Streamyx has been dead each time it rains in my area and stays like that the whole night... damn potong stim lah.

TheWandererX: The icons and all are the same, flash button on the left... just the layout of buttons is different. A Nikon D60 is more 'different' because it doesn't have a specific ISO button so it may be harder to figure out.

AlphaBeta, Konica bought Minolta and then they made the Konica Minolta 7 Digital, the first dSLR that hobbyists could buy (Minolta made a RD-175 dSLR which had a 2x crop factor but that was very expensive.)

You can use the Pentax O-ME53. It fits very well.

cjlai, I had the Industar 61L/Z too! Cute little lens.

kinkikids, if you want a nice balance between building and sky... you have to wait for a nice balance between building and sky. Go there again around 7:15pm.

If you want to shoot a blue sky, you have to look for a blue sky. Y'know what I mean?

AlphaBeta, you need to remove your current eyepiece.

You can find it on http://www.shashinki.com/ or the camera shop called dSLR, in the computer shop area, somewhere behind Kenny Rogers in Subang Parade...

jimlim007, about your landscapes, you could shoot RAW and use (minor) HDR. With RAW, you can use the Shadow Fill tool to brighten the dark hills (it will not brighten the skies.)

Also try turning on DRO+ for landscapes, it helps.

ryzan76, I would prefer the Sony 50mm F1.4. Both are full-frame. The Sony has a better coating for digital SLRs whereas my Minolta can cause internal flare over dark subjects.

AlphaBeta, the Sony 50mm F1.4 goes for RM1050 street price.

Radeon, the Pentax 50mm F1.4 is the cheapest 50mm F1.4 there is - it used to be RM700 street price! The rest are all at least RM1000.

creepydslr, great response on the metering!

craziqbal, congratulations!