Photo sharing: Sony Alpha

[zackiedawg]

Green iguana, who changed his color to glorious orange, in some nice backlight/rim light:

 

[HPS3]

Fractal, that's a great photo. Beautiful view.

Justin, love the creatures you post!

Here's one of Hockeyman and his A99. Shot with my Fuji.


Getting the Shot by Harry Shields, on Flickr

 

[fractal]

Thanks Harry!

Mike, what kind of tripod do you use and do you like it?

 

[HPS3]

Fractal, Mike uses that 20 foot tall Manfrotto tripod! LoL

I love the height but I think it's heavy,correct me if I'm wrong Mike.

 

[Hockeyman]

Fractal, Mike uses that 20 foot tall Manfrotto tripod! LoL

I love the height but I think it's heavy,correct me if I'm wrong Mike.

Fractal, the sand tree is standard issue along with a bottle of sunblock when you renew your drivers license down here

The tripod does have some weight to it but ever since i bought a tripod bag and throw it over my should its not too much of a hassle carrying around. When I used to carry it attached to my big camera bag it was a major pain. One thing I wanted when I was searching for a new one was height and stability and it does the job perfectly.

 

[Hockeyman]

Cityplace Xmas by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

 

[Hockeyman]

Entrance to Rocco's Tacos in Orlando, decent food, pricey, and they use some pretty bold seasoning compared to other Mexican restaurants. Worth a try though


Rocco's Tacos Orlando by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

 

[Hockeyman]

So here is rough game plan as far as my next camera goes and lenses go.

I have
Sony A99
Sigma 50mm F1.4
Rokinon 14mm (love the width but have the left side blur issue)
Sigma 70-300mm (old hand me down lens that does the job for now)

Want
A7II
A mount Adapter (id get the one with out the mirror, lose AF but id be ok without it)
Keep my Sigma 50mm F1.4 (use with adapter in MF, which I use a lot anyways)
Rokinon 14mm (im either going to sell or try to send back to Rokinon for a replacement, not sure yet)


This is the big kicker. The Sony Zeiss 16-35mm FE lens. Going for $1,300 now and saw some so so reviews and that has me skeptic. I like the 16mm and would be my new sort of wide angle lens, would def get rid of the Rokinon at that point. Don't think I will miss the 2mm all that much ( I hope lol)

 

[fractal]

So here is rough game plan as far as my next camera goes and lenses go.

I have
Sony A99
Sigma 50mm F1.4
Rokinon 14mm (love the width but have the left side blur issue)
Sigma 70-300mm (old hand me down lens that does the job for now)

Want
A7II
A mount Adapter (id get the one with out the mirror, lose AF but id be ok without it)
Keep my Sigma 50mm F1.4 (use with adapter in MF, which I use a lot anyways)
Rokinon 14mm (im either going to sell or try to send back to Rokinon for a replacement, not sure yet)


This is the big kicker. The Sony Zeiss 16-35mm FE lens. Going for $1,300 now and saw some so so reviews and that has me skeptic. I like the 16mm and would be my new sort of wide angle lens, would def get rid of the Rokinon at that point. Don't think I will miss the 2mm all that much ( I hope lol)

Mike, these guys love the 16-35mm but I have seen others not as cheery...

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_vario_tessar_t_fe_16_35mm_f4_za_oss_review/conclusion/

I have the mirrorless Amount adapter and have done a decent job of using manual focus with the focus peaking and MF assist; and that's shooting sports.

I'm also considering the A7ii but the 2 kids in college thing is a real drag on my personal wants.

 

[havoc315]

So here is rough game plan as far as my next camera goes and lenses go.

I have
Sony A99
Sigma 50mm F1.4
Rokinon 14mm (love the width but have the left side blur issue)
Sigma 70-300mm (old hand me down lens that does the job for now)

Want
A7II
A mount Adapter (id get the one with out the mirror, lose AF but id be ok without it)
Keep my Sigma 50mm F1.4 (use with adapter in MF, which I use a lot anyways)
Rokinon 14mm (im either going to sell or try to send back to Rokinon for a replacement, not sure yet)


This is the big kicker. The Sony Zeiss 16-35mm FE lens. Going for $1,300 now and saw some so so reviews and that has me skeptic. I like the 16mm and would be my new sort of wide angle lens, would def get rid of the Rokinon at that point. Don't think I will miss the 2mm all that much ( I hope lol)

DXO scored the 16-35 very highly. And I've seen mostly positive reviews, though not that much objective testing yet. Looks to be much better than Zeiss 24-70/4 which is mediocre at best.

But... if you're ok with manual focus anyway, and ultra-wide lenses are actually easier to manual focus (you are at infinity most of the time anyway)....
You really have lots of other options. For about the same price, you can get the Nikon 14-24 used... and I think this is generally considered to be the absolute best ultra wide zoom there is.
I've just started shooting with the Nikon 18-35, as my "budget" option... I wouldn't mind a couple more mm on the wide end, but dang, it's sharp.
There is also the Canon 17-40, and Metabones adapters actually allow some autofocus on the Canon lenses.

I'd probably go with the FE16-35 to get full functionality, full AF, full stabilization. But the price tag is awful high for a lens if you're not going to think it's spectacular. (Though that's the price which I spent on the Nikon 70-200/4, which is pretty spectacular).

 

[Hockeyman]

DXO scored the 16-35 very highly. And I've seen mostly positive reviews, though not that much objective testing yet. Looks to be much better than Zeiss 24-70/4 which is mediocre at best.

But... if you're ok with manual focus anyway, and ultra-wide lenses are actually easier to manual focus (you are at infinity most of the time anyway)....
You really have lots of other options. For about the same price, you can get the Nikon 14-24 used... and I think this is generally considered to be the absolute best ultra wide zoom there is.
I've just started shooting with the Nikon 18-35, as my "budget" option... I wouldn't mind a couple more mm on the wide end, but dang, it's sharp.
There is also the Canon 17-40, and Metabones adapters actually allow some autofocus on the Canon lenses.

I'd probably go with the FE16-35 to get full functionality, full AF, full stabilization. But the price tag is awful high for a lens if you're not going to think it's spectacular. (Though that's the price which I spent on the Nikon 70-200/4, which is pretty spectacular).

Having full functionality is one of the main reasons I want to get this lens, well that and the 16mm focal range, and Id like to have at least one lens for now that I don't need an adapter with. What im thinking is if I get it test it out a few days and see how it performs for me and if im not happy return it.

 

[havoc315]

Having full functionality is one of the main reasons I want to get this lens, well that and the 16mm focal range, and Id like to have at least one lens for now that I don't need an adapter with. What im thinking is if I get it test it out a few days and see how it performs for me and if im not happy return it.

Good plan. Going to wait to see what the A9 brings to the table, or set on the A7ii?

My guess is the A9 will have far superior AF, and possibly higher resolution.

 

[Hockeyman]

Mike, these guys love the 16-35mm but I have seen others not as cheery...

http://www.photographyblog.com/reviews/sony_vario_tessar_t_fe_16_35mm_f4_za_oss_review/conclusion/

I have the mirrorless Amount adapter and have done a decent job of using manual focus with the focus peaking and MF assist; and that's shooting sports.

I'm also considering the A7ii but the 2 kids in college thing is a real drag on my personal wants.

You have the cheaper adapter without the mirror correct?

 

[fractal]

You have the cheaper adapter without the mirror correct?

Yes, correct. I have the LAEA1.

 

[Hockeyman]

Good plan. Going to wait to see what the A9 brings to the table, or set on the A7ii?

My guess is the A9 will have far superior AF, and possibly higher resolution.

That's the other monkey wrench in my plan If the camera is within reach and truly spectacular I might just end up with that and skip on the 16-35mm lens for now. Maybe then spend a year with it and adaptive lenses.

 

[1Grumpy9]

I was going through some more pictures from my trip and thought these two were good:

DSC03228 by brynfn95, on Flickr

DSC03240 by brynfn95, on Flickr

 

[fractal]

nice shots Grumpy!

Got some nice catch light in the eyes.

 

[1Grumpy9]

nice shots Grumpy!

Got some nice catch light in the eyes.

Thanks...you would never guess by their expression that they had just had a treat (pumpkins and marshmallow).

 

[Hockeyman]

A Clematis Christmas by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

Dramatic Sandi the Holiday tree by Mike Sperduto, on Flickr

 

[fractal]