chiggy: I do hope somebody gets it and we can have a comprehensive comparison. kysham ran in puddles of rain with me from Pudu LRT yesterday so I'm not sure if he's well; tried calling he didn't pick up.

Usually you can only use Manual Power with camera in M mode but you can change it to allow Manual Power in PASM modes. I'm not sure how to enable this on the F42 as I never had the manual (on the F58, hold down the Fn button for 3 seconds and cycle through the custom functions.)

SpOOkY: The F42 guide number is 42 meters at F1.0 ISO100 105mm zoom.

So, at F2.8, the range is 42 meters / 2.8 = 15 meters.

Supposing you shot at ISO400, you double the range to 30 meters, and at ISO1600, you quadruple the range to 60 meters. This is of course at full 1/1 power lah... at 1/32 power it will only reach 60 meters * 1/32 = 1.875 meters.

ryzan76, shoot from a lower angle so it looks like a real car.



This is from my old point-and-shoot. Photoshopped background in.

How to get to Pudu Plaza from Pudu STAR LRT (not to be confused with Bandaraya STAR LRT, near Pudu Bus Station):


See that road on the left? Just cross the main road and follow it down.


The entrance to Pudu Plaza is circled in red.

DigitalsMania is near the escalator you see on your right going down, after you have walked a while, on the lower ground floor.

Studio Zaloon is on the exact diagonal opposite end of this entrance, on the ground floor.

YL Camera is on the first floor nearer to Studio Zaloon.

This post has been edited by albnok: Apr 1 2009, 09:48 AM

Zeegon, yes Studio Zaloon is on the taxi stand side. There is another entrance which has E-Six, the only place in Malaysia that you can develop positive slide film via the E6 process at.

jarri, take the KL Monorail to Titiwangsa, or Titiwangsa STAR LRT, or any bus that goes to Titiwangsa. Then ask the buses parked on the main road if they go to Mutiara Complex (quite a few do, but I never remembered their numbers.)

Shit man Kul | Mo0, very sorry to hear about that.

Well I was thinking that too, THANK GOD! But I didn't want to call your bluff. CHOI after it happen to me then how.

This picture was just to test a theory of mine over at that other forum.

Upon zooming the lens to fit the screen, I got this at 60mm on full-frame (40mm on APS-C). The WB of my office LCD unfortunately didn't match, so ARGH! Also the angle wrong a bit. Best if I actually removed the monitor. Did that before in my old office.

SpOOkY, yes there is a stretching in aspect ratio.

MechaHerc: I was trying to match subject size with the size of the picture here.

SpOOkY: I actually got used to the hiss from the F36/F42/F56 - you know you've fired a full-power blast when you hear that happen.

The F58 is silent even at full power by the way.

tanjq87, wow! That is hard to do, opening the beercan; easier with a 50mm and a folded piece of paper.

signither: I use Adobe Photoshop 7 which comes with ImageReady. Click the ImageReady button (bottom-most button on the toolbox.) Then File -> Import -> Folder As Frames.

tanjq87: Because the 50mm is smaller and has the right size to reduce vignetting. The 28mm would have higher magnification but the rear element is a bit small.

Magnification = focal length of lens on body : focal length of reversed lens

Thus, 70mm with 50mm reversed = 1.4:1x magnification

However, 70mm with 28mm reversed: 2.5:1x magnification

Or 200mm with 50mm reversed = 4:1x magnification

Or 300mm with 50mm reversed = 6:1x magnification (more than the Canon MP-E 65 which only does 5:1x, but optically not as power la)

kopitiam, the A900's retail price is RM9999 with free VG-C90AM grip and 4GB CF card, so no way the street price can be higher. That said its street price is about RM8500.

achew I am not sure if you want a full-frame for macro. On the plus side, you love making bokeh-ful shots...

tanjq87, you can try, but the rear element of the kit lens is so tiny you'll only see a tiny circle!

Kul|mo0, honestly, the difference between F1.4 and F1.7 is not so much in the depth of field, but the shutter speed. When you shoot in low light without flash, every bit of F1.4 counts. It's either you get something at 1/15s at F1.4... or something at 1/10s at F1.7.

A F1.4 lens lets in more light than a F3.5 lens. So the shutter speed can be faster.

P.S. I prefer to use the term "brighter aperture" because technically, F/22 is a smaller F number.

1/1.4 > 1/22

But 1.4 < 22 (which is not correct, but I prefer to type F numbers without the dash myself.)

millenia3000, I feel it all the time at gigs where I bring the Minolta AF 50mm F1.4 and Zeiss 135mm F1.8.

The Zeiss is optically far superior; sharp wide open, good flare control, but at times even F1.8 is limiting. So I switch to the 50mm F1.4 (and it's easier to track jumpy, dancing vocalists with a wider lens!)

Guys, there is also a Minolta AF 50mm F1.4.

I know, I have one.

I got mine for RM800, pretty standard price second-hand.

The Sony version is better though, it doesn't get internal reflection flare (shows in black objects when there is a bright background around it.)

fansoption, I called a few people with F1.4 lenses and they say the Alpha body goes F1.4, F1.6, F1.7 on:
Sigma 30mm F1.4 DC
Minolta 35mm F1.4
Minolta 50mm F1.4
Minolta 85mm F1.4G
Sony Carl Zeiss 85mm F1.4

Those are pretty much all the F1.4 lenses we got. Except the Sigma 50mm F1.4 - I don't know anybody with this lens.

So for the moment, the only way to ever get F1.8 on an Alpha is to get the Sony Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8.

selvenz, yes the Sigma 50mm F1.4 with HSM exists in A-mount.

Kul | Mo0, since December 2006. Google, Wikipedia and Dyxum will educate!

Kul | Mo0, head to a Sony Style and try out the Sony 35mm F1.4G. I think you'll know there and then what's the big deal about them Gs!

SHOfrE3zE: Congratulations dude! Your shots can only get better! I think you will like DRO Level 5 for the sunny days you shoot.

0168257061: The 28-75mm F2.8 is intended to be a budget standard zoom for full-frame Alphas. So it won't be the price of a CZ 24-70mm F2.8 SSM (which is about the same price as the Canon and Nikon variants.)

achew, great shots! I can smell the greens! (Though you really should be stopping down your F1.4 a bit...)

akay877, Minolta also rebadged the Tamron 28-75mm F2.8. Sony didn't but I think they're doing it again. The Minolta was always sharper than the Tamron which was soft at F2.8.

noprob, there's also a TT on Thursday for ieR!

noprob, aiyah, the point of the TT is for ieR who is only arriving on Thursday! LOL.

Waiting to see if I can get the other organizer's number and see if can combine the TT or not.

noprob, the Tamron is full-frame compatible as is all 70-200mm and 80-200mm lenses. Somewhere earlier in this thread I posted a comparison on the A900 at 70mm!

achew, no not that it's too shallow... but the bokeh is very harsh and distracting at F1.4. You certainly don't see the brightlined bokeh on your Zeiss!

For example, in the top-right corner and top-left corner, the bokeh is very distracting:


If you stop down to F2.0-4.0 it will look much cleaner and it will look more like she is 3D and the background is 2D.

Sigma has a 24-70mm EX DG Macro and a 24-70mm EX DG HSM which are meant to be budget versions of the Zeiss. Performance good enough but compared to the Zeiss the difference is immediately obvious. Tamron has a 28-75mm F2.8 but no zoom that starts at 24mm F2.8 - instead they have a 24-135mm F3.5-5.6.