jedi_master, 1 stop difference is 3 clicks.

So when you roll:

1.4 1.6 1.7 2.0 2.2 2.4 2.8 3.2 3.5 4.0

2 stops from 1.4 is 2.8, and 3 stops from 1.4 is 4.0.

Great shot of the peacock!

cjlai, it does not seem to support wireless TTL or wireless manual power. I quote:



Wah, are we all that cheapskate ah? We already have the cheapest flashes of any brand...

peter82, here is approximately what you can get with RM4K:

Sony Alpha 200 + kit lens + UV filter + screen protector + cheap bag + cheap tripod = RM1650
Sony HVL-F58AM flash = RM1100
4 rechargeable AAs + charger = RM150

Total = RM3900

Later on you can get:

Minolta 50mm F1.7 (second-hand) = around RM500
Sony 55-200mm F4-5.6 DT (second-hand) = around RM500

This depends on whether you need a longer zoom (the Sony 55-200mm), or a bright prime for shooting in low light without using flash (the Minolta 50mm F1.7).

dingenius3, the A200 and A300 share the same 10.2 megapixel CCD which is not the same as the A350's 14.2 megapixel CCD.

msiddiq, I like the mood of your self-portrait. The tired artist!

nabelon, Sony Alpha cameras cannot mount MD mount lenses unless you use an adapter but there is really, really no point in mounting an MD mount lens unless you perform mount surgery on it.

Seng_Kiat, of course you can use all A-mount lenses on all A-mount cameras. It's only the DT lenses that are a bit hard to use on the A900 because it's full-frame, and you get a black circle around pictures.

ryzan76, Digicolor has it for under RM20. You'll want to combine a few, though!

weigie, shoot film. You will think before taking a picture of a film canister!

LightEnchanter, you need to use a slower shutter speed to lessen the shadow.

kucau, post some pictures with the EXIF info (shutter speed/aperture/ISO) inside. You might be using the wrong settings or too slow a shutter speed.

kucau, you do not need to kenyit (close one eye) when looking through the viewfinder!

Just because everybody else looks funny looking through the viewfinder doesn't mean you have to.

You need to find out which is your dominant eye - point at a far away subject with your finger, then close your left eye, and then your right eye - which eye has your finger aligned to the subject?

Use that eye and look through the viewfinder. You'll find that you can open both eyes at the same time and not feel dizzy! (If you try the reverse, it will look weiiird.)

I am a left-eyed person so even when I 'kenyit' my right eye is hidden behind the camera. Some of my friends look cute when 'kenyit' but some do not look flattering at all.

I find less people can sense that their picture is being taken when you use your left eye since the 'kenyit' eye is hidden!

SpOOkY: Aiya, everybody is pointing you in the wrong direction with bouncing instead of adjusting shutter speed...

If you're in P or A mode the shutter speed will never be slower than 1/60s unless you're using slow sync flash mode.

About bokeh in daylight with flashes

If you want to shoot with a F1.4 lens while using flash, in bright daylight, the shutter speed will only be as fast as the flash sync speed which is 1/125s* in the case of A100/A200/A300/A350 bodies. So in daylight F1.4 lenses will cause a shutter speed of maybe 1/4000s even at ISO100. The shutter speed will blink then because of extreme overexposure.

So that's where HSS comes in, but only if your flash is pointed straight or used wirelessly. It pulses the flash to overcome the flash sync speed of the camera so you can use flash at 1/8000s. However because it's pulsed the power decreases significantly.

* 1/160s if Super SteadyShot is turned off

** why does HSS need the flash to pulse? Because the shutter is never fully open. There are 2 curtains in a shutter. When you press the shutter, the first curtain goes up, the sensor is fully exposed, then the second curtain goes up to cover the shutter. Then both curtains come back down. However the curtains have a speed limit, and at faster shutter speeds, the first curtain may be going up and then the second curtain has to quickly follow behind it. So the sensor is never fully exposed; instead a moving 'stripe' of exposure happens.

The flash only flashes once when HSS is off but when doing HSS it has to pulse to cover these 'stripes' of exposure.

Somebody on Youtube did a really good animated example of how HSS works (video always works better!):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUbzXRVZejA

Here he talks about Auto FP which is the same as HSS.

A100/A200/A300/A350 flash sync speed = 1/125s with SSS on, 1/160s with SSS off
A700/A900 flash sync speed = 1/200s with SSS on, 1/250s with SSS off

sidewinderz: Refer to my reply to SpOOkY; when the flash uses HSS it will pulse and decrease power. So the flash doesn't have enough power to bounce which is why it disables HSS when in bounce mode.

You may want to change flash exposure when shooting very close subjects or shiny objects.

Congratulations Seng_Kiat!

SpOOkY, I would usually adjust EV instead of going into manual flash power. Changing EV will change Flash EV also unless you turn off that option in the menu.

The speed of the flash?

To adjust the amount of ambient exposure, think of your flash photography in as TWO pictures combined;

1) the ambient exposure

What affects the ambient exposure? ISO, aperture, and most importantly shutter speed.

2) the flash exposure

What affects the flash exposure? ISO, aperture, and most importantly flash power.

However, shutter speed will affect flash exposure when you're using shutter speeds faster than the flash sync speed.

One more time for those who missed it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUbzXRVZejA

AhMike: Lilkiwiguy87 was exposed as a guy who made a video denouncing the Nikon D700 saying it had lots of bugs (which were fake claims). His video has a mistake regarding pan angle (90 degrees instead of 180 degrees.)

Zeegon: There were:

Minolta AF 50mm F1.4 Original
Minolta AF 50mm F1.7 Original
Minolta AF 50mm F1.4 ReStyled
Minolta AF 50mm F1.7 ReStyled
Sony 50mm F1.4

Kul | Mo0: Don't count on anybody selling their F58, for good reason. You might be able to poison your cousin to buy a F58 and sell you his F42 heh!

dingenius3, WB in tungsten is usually 2500-3200K!

chiggy you need a slower shutter speed/higher ISO/F2.8 to expose more ambient light thus lessening the shadow behind.

This post has been edited by albnok: Mar 30 2009, 09:55 AM

SpOOkY: You don't need to use the wide-angle panel because the flash counts in full-frame terms. That means 24mm on the flash is used for 17mm on APS-C.

You can get the orange flash gel from Digicolor or Eng Tong SS2. I also make a quickly-removable flash gel + holder and include a free lesson with it.

Let's have a TT session today!

What: Compare Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 HSM (and also flash workshop for those who want to learn)
Where: Meet at Pudu STAR LRT at 7pm (Pudu station is not to be confused with the Plaza Rakyat STAR LRT which is near Pudu Bus Station)
When: 7pm Monday 30th March 2009 (today!)

Please contact me at this number if you want to come and cannot find us:


We shall walk from there to Studio Zaloon to find the Tamron.

Who is coming:
1. kysham
2. albnok
3.
4.
5.

Vivato: That is just dealer speculation, the A300 has not been discontinued.

millenia3000, this is what the flash gel holder looks like:

---

Added on March 30, 2009, 1:01 pmSeng_Kiat, we scared Uncle Chin close shop already by then. We should still be around town!

We'll probably head to Sg. Wang after that. So gimme a buzz la when you reach the area. Still can do flash tutorial wherever whenever!

This post has been edited by albnok: Mar 30 2009, 01:01 PM

SpOOkY: I also working what.

Anyway our TT will extend till late so even if you come at 9pm I'll still be around but at a mamak in Bukit Bintang area lah.

Flash sync speed is fixed, based on the shutter mechanism.

No, A200 flash sync speed is 1/125s. With Super SteadyShot turned off, you get 1/160s.

You don't need to set multiple bursts - the flash in HSS mode does this automatically.

Oh you mean how slow it can go? 1/60s is for wide-angle; the camera picks 1/125s at the tele end when using flash with P/A/Auto modes. It's to reduce motion blur.

More to come!

Ranceed, a teleconverter with any lens will exaggerate its features e.g. softness or chromatic aberration.

Rollback? I hadn't posted it... until... now!

Anyway, here is the text taken from my blog!

A quick and dirty F2.8 full-frame telephoto zoom lens comparison for Alpha mount!


Click here for large version.

The big guns, left to right, arranged in order of MFD:
Minolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO, 1.8m MFD - Asyraf's copy
Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM, 1.2m MFD - Nic's copy
Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG HSM Macro, 1.0m MFD - Sham's copy
Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 Macro, 0.95m MFD - shop copy
Sony Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8, 0.72m MFD - my copy

I didn't bring my lens hood.

* MFD = Minimum Focus Distance

All tests done with a Sony Alpha 900 firmware Version 1.00. The A900 seems to make the Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM focus faster, subjectively, but at the same time it is hampered by the smaller AF sensor layout. Regardless, the AF assist sensors and the F2.8 dual-cross type center sensor should bring out the best in the worst conditions, namely an indoor flourescent-lit shopping mall!

We were time-limited; the shop was closing soon, and unfortunately we'd rarely ever get to see such a full combination of 70-200mm F2.8 lens ranges.

Settings - Standard Small JPG, DRO Off, ISO1600, F2.8 (or F1.8 on the Zeiss), AWB, Multi-segment metering, center spot AF, AF-C.

We did a comparison with a moving target, in this case a friend walking towards us. I attempted to keep the center spot AF point on the eye of the moving subject.


Tamron 70-200mm sample walk.

Lens Name; number of shots; good/bad shot ratio *

Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 Macro; 14 shots; 8:6
Timestamps: 8:54:40 8:54:40 8:54:40 8:54:40 8:54:40 8:54:42 8:54:42 8:54:42 8:54:42 8:54:44 8:54:44 8:54:44 8:54:44 8:54:44 8:54:46 8:54:46 8:54:46 8:54:46

Sigma 70-200mm F2.8 EX DG HSM Macro; 12 shots; 5:7
Timestamps: 8:55:26 8:55:28 8:55:28 8:55:28 8:55:28 8:55:30 8:55:30 8:55:30 8:55:30 8:55:30 8:55:32 8:55:32

Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM; 13 shots; 6:7
Timestamps: 8:56:52 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:54 8:56:56 8:56:56 8:56:56 8:56:56 8:56:58 8:56:58

Minolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO; 17 shots; 8:9
Timestamps: 9:00:14 9:00:14 9:00:14 9:00:14 9:00:16 9:00:16 9:00:16 9:00:16 9:00:16 9:00:18 9:00:18 9:00:18 9:00:18 9:00:18 9:00:20 9:00:20 9:00:20

Sony Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8; 14 shots**; 9:5
Timestamps: 9:00:52 9:00:54 9:00:54 9:00:54 9:00:54 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:56 9:00:58 9:00:58 9:00:58

Number of shots were derived from comparing magnification; magnifications outside the norm were discarded.

Interesting that the timestamp of the file may not be truly representative of the time it was taken; I reckon the A900 writes to the card every 2 seconds, or that it can't count in odd seconds. So there goes my plan to use the timestamps to show how fast it can focus!

* good shots meaning it was obvious that the lens managed to cope up and focus (some shots had motion blur so I accounted for that as you can still see the relative region of focus); bad shots meaning it was obvious that the lens didn't manage to keep focus and you'd want to delete that shot.



** 14 shots on the Zeiss are not comparable because of the different start/stop points; I cannot measure this versus the other lenses because they don't have the same magnification so I can't measure the start/end points easily.


My Subjective Opinion


(Click for larger view.)
Tamron at 200mm F2.8 1/125s ISO400. This is not a picture of me!

I will assure you that the Sigma at 200mm F2.8 and this close range (on the A900) will not give you this amount of sharpness. The Tamron without a doubt is good at 200mm F2.8 in the 1-2 meters range (estimated) where the Sigma falters.

My previous findings on the Sigma here.

The Tamron 70-200mm F2.8 and Minolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO, both being screw-drive lenses, let the A900 fire away more frames at the beginning of the walk. It focused more confidently. There was an obvious audible difference between the 5 FPS of screw-drives and the slower, more hesitant pauses between HSM/SSM lenses. Everybody noticed this.

Given the low sample rate I have here, I hope somebody out there can take this further especially on the 200mm end - the shop confines didn't allow for 200mm tracking. That said the test was very gruelling on the lenses as it is in poor flourescent lighting so I cannot imagine how it would fare at 200mm. I would imagine that all these lenses would do much better in a daylight drag race at 200mm!

Approaching the minimum focusing distance all lenses struggled mainly because of the A900's small AF sensor layout.

The Minolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO's MFD of 1.8 meters makes itself very apparent in the confines of a shop. Modern lenses do 1.2 meters at least which is great! The Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6G SSM is another excellent example, going 1.2 meters close too, a record for any lens that gets to 300mm! Of course, the Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan has been focusing 1.1 meters close since 1985...

Of course, in the name of science, all tests should be done 3 times. But we didn't want to agitate the very nice shopkeeper who let us test this lens. And this was gonna be quick and dirty, not precision. I think a much more precise method would be with the camera on a tripod trying to track a (weighted) racecar with a bright contrasty plastic cone (for a flag) on a track, heading towards the camera in a straight line before turning off.

70-135-200mm comparison

I focused on the S of the Sony A700. Unfortunately this was not a tripod-mounted test!


(Click for larger view.)
Left to right: 70mm, 135mm, 200mm all at F2.8
Top is Tamron, bottom is Sigma. It seems the Tamron has corrected for lateral chromatic aberration, or color 'bokeh'. It looks odd to me though since I'm so used to LCA and regard it as a natural property of lenses.


(Click for larger view.)
Left to right: 70mm/80mm, 135mm, 200mm all at F2.8
Top is Sony, bottom is Minolta.


(Click for larger view.)
Zeiss at 135mm F1.8.


(Click for larger view.)
Left to right: 70mm, 135mm, 200mm all at F2.8
Top is Tamron, middle is Sigma, bottom is Sony.


(Click for larger view.)
Zeiss at 135mm F1.8.

The Sigma and Tamron have much more obvious spherical aberration. I thought the Tamron was alright at 135mm and a heck lot better than the Sigma at 200mm and close focus (1-2 meters.) The Sigma has very obvious softening!

Stuff I Did Not Compare

Color - I was in flourescent lighting.

Bokeh - the shop people kept moving about so the background changed quite a bit as you can see.

This post has been edited by albnok: Mar 31 2009, 02:28 PM

ryzan76, best for me still the Sony Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8, weighing under 1 KG. All these F2.8 telephoto zoom lenses go in the 1.4-1.5 KG range.

chiggy: The Tamron let more shots through especially at the start of the sequence (I originally counted 18 but discarded the first 4 because I started shooting earlier (based on thisiskj's head magnification in pictures)).

I would say that the Tamron is pretty accurate on the A900, much more than online reports say.

AF noise, not noticeable and not particularly different from any other screw drive lens on the Alpha. In short, it was neither loud nor different enough to note. It did not sound horribly loud or geary like the Cosina 100mm F3.5 Macro "Plastic Fantastic".

Again I must stress that the AF is driven by the body and not by a Transformer-like-sounding Tamron micro-motor/buzzer as it is on Canon/Nikon variants. That's probably why AF sounds alright.

The Sigma may appear to focus faster but this might be an illusion due to its silence. In the end it failed to cope with AF-C tracking, hesitating a lot. In comparison the Tamron was very positive and confident to fire.

The Minolta 80-200mm F2.8G HS APO has physical 'feedback' when you focus - you can feel it shifting the heavy focus elements. This by all means was the loudest lens.

I would also say that lenses with less spherical aberration HELP with getting positive focus confirmation - that might be why the Sigma was not confident to fire even at the start of the sequence. You will discover that your lenses find it hard to focus when you put a +4 closeup filter on - same principle.

Now this would be a different case if the Tamron let in a lot of shots and was highly inaccurate. But here it was a good performer, and pretty sharp at all lengths!

nic_chm himself says that the Sony is no speed demon unless the 3 meter focus limiter is activated. Of course, only the Sony has a 3 meter focus limiter...

All the people who came to Studio Zaloon (eviz, thisiskj, nic_chm, kysham) had A700s and I didn't want to ask even more of a favor to try it on an A350.