chiggy, you meant this? How much was it?

http://cgi.ebay.com.my/Ownuser-Battery-Gri...emZ250356921865

Interesting. I never quite liked the Ownuser grip for the A100; the Dicain one was better in the sense that it had the shutter button in the same place as the original vertical grips.

The Travor/Yong Nuo/Octopus grip is a clone of the Sony but doesn't allow automatic switchover:

http://cgi.ebay.com/Battery-Grip-for-SONY-...071910012r10333

Personally, I would want all those other buttons especially the dials. Having the front dial, EV and AEL are great or else you'll have to pull a stunt with your left hand.

MechaHerc, the red part means for example, if the magnification is 1:1.4x, then let's say:

Nikkor 50mm F1.8 * 1.4 = 70mm F2.4

So it's not a F1.8 lens anymore, and its focal length also increased. Image quality decreases a bit also due to the glass in the converter.

neo_lam, I turn it off so I can shoot fireworks continuously. Not too long lah if not you get the white pixels.

MechaHerc, you'll get a black circle around the corners. If it is a Sony DT lens, the A900 automatically activates APS-C mode, so you will never get the black circle.

Of course, best understood with a hands-on.

achew, the exposure is the same for a F1.4 on FF or APS-C. The angle of view will be different.

The depth of field will be different also because of the size of the sensor. On FF it is more shallow.

For example, to frame a head + shoulder shot using a 50mm lens on FF, you might need to stand about 1 meter away. On APS-C though, the angle is narrower, so you need to stand further away to fit the same subject e.g. 1.5 meters away instead. And as you know from your Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro, the closer you focus, the shallower the DOF... that happens in the case of the FF also being nearer to the subject.

Of course, since the distance is different, the perspective is different also! Therefore to keep the same perspective you need to stand 1 meter away on APS-C. But it's not wide enough. So a 35mm lens will give almost the same angle of view as the 50mm on FF, while letting you be the same distance from the subject.

I can't remember if you have the A300/A350 but you can see what crop does if you enable 2x Smart Teleconverter; you can see the DOF become much deeper because you need to stand further away.

Millenia3000, I would rate the F58 higher on priority really.

v1rtual: No issues using DT lenses on the A900. Just the black circle la. And you need to enable it if you're using a Sigma DC lens because the Sigma chip doesn't tell the A900 to automatically use APS-C.

Seng_Kiat - yes the F56 and F58 can flash multiple times on one frame.

Yes use 30 seconds. For Bulb mode you need to hold down the shutter... so it's going to be hard to do anything while one finger is on the shutter unless you get a friend to do it.

cjlai, SWEEEEEET stuff with the 500mm! You know it when you see it.

Don't play play I've seen other shots with the kid having the Nikon D3x + 24-70mm!

noprob: The Tamron 10-24mm F3.5-4.5 isn't so popular - optically it's a bit soft wide open (though you'll mostly shoot stopped down when shooting landscape.) I don't know if it's out in A-mount yet.

SHOfrE3zE, nice clean hood shot! Though the angle still not quite there. And I'd like for more flash towards the windscreen side of the engine.

signither, I just noticed your tripod shadow in the picture! Can see your camera strap 'unlocking' system near the car lamp.

millenia3000, sure got people in Klang/Subang/Shah Alam wan.

Sign me up for the strobe class!

So, what place is there right in between Kepong/Selayang and Klang/Subang area where we can have a TT?

Seng_Kiat, I really like your version of the hood! WELL DONE!

Using a Sony DT lens on the A900, APS-C mode is automatically enabled and cannot be disabled.

Using a Tamron DiII or Sigma EX DC lens on the A900, APS-C mode is not automatic. You have to go to the menu to enable it.

Using a full-frame lens on the A900, you can enable APS-C mode anyway.

The APS-C corner frame markers are faint and pretty hard to see. This is unlike the Nikon D700's APS-C rectangle or the Nikon D3/D3x's grayed-out mask.

AlphaBeta, try plugging the Alpha by cable - Sony Alphas are VERY FAST card readers, beating even the proper fast card readers as measured on DPReview.

Just got back from Sunburst 2009, sucks that normal ticket holders and even media cannot bring in zoom lenses. They even stopped my friend with an 18-200mm!

Seng_Kiat, I love the shadow on the bridge although the WB is a bit off.

nabelon, to reset the lens to infinity, press the lens release button but don't remove the lens. Let go of the button and it should reset.

achew, interesting shot! The flash overexposure is due to F1.4 and the distance but if you stop down just a bit it should expose correctly.

Zeegon, activate Cleaning Mode on your Alpha and remove the lens - you should be able to see the size of your sensor!

SHOfrE3zE, nice cat portrait!

hokc77: OMG! minimuffin has an A700? (Grip sensor detected!)

chiggy: For #2 the shadow can be eliminated with a slower shutter speed.

Seng_Kiat: Actually, you do not need a diffuser (the box-like light modifier) when shooting telephoto. In fact it sucks battery power when you need it the most, and makes no difference to the harshness of the light (since the distance is so great, there is no harshness anyway.)

AlphaBeta, I've heard that the shutter unit costs RM300 or so. Sony replacement parts are not as expensive as some expect it to be.

chiggy, wah 10K! And as we all see, you use your camera often. So there is nothing to worry about in terms of shutter count really.

I searched for "DSC0999" in my pictures folder.

I clicked View - Details to sort them by folders. The number of folders that appeared are the number of times I passed 10K.

Sony Alpha 100 - 14 times, or over 140K shots over a period of 10 months
Sony Alpha 700 - 24 times, or over 240K shots over a period of 12 months
Sony Alpha 900 - 1 time, or over 10K shots over a period of 5 months

The A700 and A900 are rated for 100K shots but I never had any problems with the A700 shutter.

As you can see, shutter count is not something to worry about! If you've seen my previous A100 and A700 external body condition, you'll know it can take a fair bit of wear.

* these numbers may not be accurate if I deleted a whole series of pictures in the DSC0999x series, or if I swapped CF cards, which is not often

* cameras automatically create a new folder each time you hit DSC00001.JPG so that it won't be writing to the same folder

Reporting (not so) live from Sunburst 09:



Zeiss 135mm F1.8 at F1.8 on the A900.

neo_lam, turn your CZ 16-80mm to 50mm, to get the same angle of view of a 50mm lens on an APS-C body.

You can do the same thing on a FF camera also but you will see a black circle around the image.

However because the CZ is internal focus, it will look wider than the 50mm when focusing closer - when focused at infinity they will give the same angle of view.

Seng_Kiat, a good way to check WB and exposure in bright daylight is to check the histograms. You can see if the red/green/blue histograms are 'balanced' then the WB is neutral. You can also see blinking highlights/shadows so you know whether you've overexposed or underexposed the picture.

Any Sony flash can be used as a slave to any Alpha pop-up flash (in wireless mode).

Additionally, the F58 can be mounted on the A700 and trigger the F42 and F58.

Also, the F58 can be mounted on the A900 and trigger the F36, F56, F42 and F58.

sidewinderz, congratulations!

tanjq87, my beercan is sharp at 210mm F4. However with a close-up filter it becomes very soft!

tanjq87, sounds like you'll want to send your beercan for cleaning. Try International Camera at Pertama Complex near Sogo or Cheah Repair at Mutiara Complex Jalan Ipoh.

millenia3000, great job on the hotshoe clip bit!

tanjq87, I have no idea but it should be under RM300.

nabelon: A F56/F42/F58 in manual power can trigger an off-camera optical slave. However the F36/F42/F56/F58 do not have traditional optical slaves; instead they only accept the Sony wireless protocol.

tanjq87, that was an error on all the beercan chips.