Photo sharing: Sony Alpha

[vandort]

Kathy,
Thank you for your nice comments and very helpful advice! I haven't bought a wide lens yet, but I definitely appreciate your perspective. I did buy an digiscope adaptor for my Swarovski spotting scope for my DH for Christmas and a 400mm Sigma lens. So hopefully, I will be able to get some good close up photos of nature soon.

Kathy, I do love your fisheye pictures of the WL lobby and the carousel. I hope that you post more pictures from your trip. I also enjoy your photos.

I'm enclosing a photo that I took at the Dow Garden walk last weekend. The garden path is illuminated with luminaries and there are sculptures and lights along the walk. I didn't use a tripod, but I did use my 50mm, f1.7 lens.

I hope that each and every one of you have a very peaceful, happy and safe holiday.

 

[vandort]

This time of year, I am always very busy creating digital scrapbooks and cards. I really enjoyed using my 100-300mm Minolta lens for T-ball this year. I appreciated being able to capture great moments from so far away. Here a few of my shots:

This one would have been much better without the pole!

 

[foolishmortal]

sony a330 here, will be posting alot more now!

 

[foolishmortal]

 

[vandort]

Welcome and thank you for sharing your pictures, foolishmortal!

 

[vandort]

I'm still processing pictures from my trip in August. Here is another picture from the tree of life:

It's very far from being a great shot, but I find the turtle eyeing the snake to be interesting.

 

[DznyFan]

 

[polkadotminnie]

I have had my A300 for a little over a year and have enjoyed it. I am mostly shooting in manual but there is still a lot of things of I am learning. My question is this. I am still trying to get good inside cheer competition photos. I shot my last set with 50mm 1.7 and increased ISO and shutter speeds. My white balance was off but that was my fault. DD10 tumbles really fast so with the low light I am still not really happy with the shots.
My question is this: would I be better to buy an Alpha 550 to help with the noise and get more FPS or invest in another lens? Note: I have the Sigma 70-200 2.8 but the 50 1.7 seems to do better with the light since the light stinks! Can anyone tell me how much better the A550 handles the noise? Can you shoot inside at 3200 handheld? A tripod is really hard to set up since you go up in front of the stage only when your team is up then you have to move. (I have an external flash but I do not use it for fear of blinding a tumbler.) DH will not be thrilled either way since he says I collect camera stuff like other women collect shoes.

 

[zackiedawg]

My question is this: would I be better to buy an Alpha 550 to help with the noise and get more FPS or invest in another lens? Note: I have the Sigma 70-200 2.8 but the 50 1.7 seems to do better with the light since the light stinks! Can anyone tell me how much better the A550 handles the noise? Can you shoot inside at 3200 handheld

I loved my A300, and have nothing bad to say about it. However, I can also say that there is quite a significant difference in the high ISO performance of the A550 - I would say on a measure of at least 3 stops better, plus better color fidelity and detail retention.

I don't have too many samples of identical scenes from both cameras at the same settings, but I have some similar shots of the same subject that might help show the differences. Check out this F1.4 ISO3200 shot from the A300 in Pirates - this is after noise reduction in post and some processing:

Here's the same scene with the A550 at ISO6400 with the same Sigma 30mm F1.7 lens but at F1.6, and no processing:

The biggest differences for me were the color, which did not fade as much as with the A300, the noise control, which required no post processing removal as it did with the A300, and the detail retention, which is better with the A550, despite being ISO6400 instead of ISO3200. At one stop more ISO, I'm still getting several stops better results than the A300.

 

[DznyFan]

Justin - just when i'm pushing the 10K frame mark and getting to where my A200 has become an extension of me... along comes the 550. Hello, A550! I'll be ordering mine in March, I think. Guess I'll pass on the 200 to my DD, since it's just now getting broke in.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

It's nice to see the comparison shots Justin. I had the opportunity to try the A550 last week. I actually was looking at a lens but they didn't have an A700 so they put it on the A550. Scared myself when I pressed the shutter and learned it was on continuous high drive mode. I thought the A700 was fast but the a550 is like a machine gun! The more I looked at the camera the more I liked and was trying very hard to somehow justify getting it to upgrade DH from his A100.

 

[polkadotminnie]

Justin, Thanks for showing me the difference in the shots. Would you think I would be better off upgrading the camera or is there a lens which would be better for inside cheer competitions (civic center lighting)? I am currently using the 50mm 1.7 but it is still not light enough for the high shutter speed needed to catch the back handsprings, tucks...Every time I bump up the ISO, I am getting a lot of noise and then slightly blurry pictures due to not being able to take a tripod.

 

[zackiedawg]

Thanks all...those two sample shots really aren't showing the very best from either camera, but they were the only two I could find that were with the same lens and basically the same shot for a more direct comparison. It does still give the general idea of the better color, lower noise, and better detail even at a higher ISO.

Justin, Thanks for showing me the difference in the shots. Would you think I would be better off upgrading the camera or is there a lens which would be better for inside cheer competitions (civic center lighting)? I am currently using the 50mm 1.7 but it is still not light enough for the high shutter speed needed to catch the back handsprings, tucks...Every time I bump up the ISO, I am getting a lot of noise and then slightly blurry pictures due to not being able to take a tripod.

I think you're just about at the limit for low light lenses - you can get some F1.4 lenses, which will give you just a bit more low light, but the slight softness and super-shallow depth of field probably won't do you any favors and I don't think will really help you. You're probably at the limit where higher ISO is your only reasonable option. Mainly, you need to be getting shutter speeds probably a minimum of 1/125, and 1/250 even better, so if that means ISO3200 or ISO6400 with slight noise or noise reduction, you'll get much better results from the newer cameras that have changed their high ISO behavior significantly (Nikon D90, Canon 7D, Sony A550, Pentax KX all are significantly better than the cameras that came before them in high ISO). Even in RAW, with noise reduction turned off, you can clearly see that the sensor itself is producing less noise, and with a more uniform grain and less chroma, than the A300 sensor.

I'd recommend checking the camera out in person, handling it, and seeing what you think. I find the handling very similar to the A300, with some improvements in control layout, but at the same time, the body is slightly thicker which might affect those with smaller hands, and there are some features changed or removed as well as some added that might make it better or worse depending on needs. It worked out beautifully for me as an upgrade, but I did check it out in person before deciding.

 

[polkadotminnie]

Thanks so much for the information. I have a birthday coming up and I am going to see if there is an A550 for me to look at around here. I don't really want to change brands since I am happy with my Sony and have quite a few lenses that would work. Thanks for all your help.

 

[Khokhonutt]

Justin, Thanks for showing me the difference in the shots. Would you think I would be better off upgrading the camera or is there a lens which would be better for inside cheer competitions (civic center lighting)? I am currently using the 50mm 1.7 but it is still not light enough for the high shutter speed needed to catch the back handsprings, tucks...Every time I bump up the ISO, I am getting a lot of noise and then slightly blurry pictures due to not being able to take a tripod.

Have you considered a monopod? I agree with what is posted regarding your lenses. I'm in a similar boat with my kids in marching band and marching at night on a poorly lit field. High ISO is your friend for sure, but I've been playing with a monopod for situations where a tripod does not make sense. The steady shot is nice, but that additional stability on a monopod seems to help as well.

 

[vandort]

Congratulations, Kathy and Justin! Nice pictures!

second: [post=34704014]KAT4DISNEY[/post]

Exif information:
make: SONY
model: DSLR-A700
shutter_speed: 1/250sec
aperture_stop: F2.8
focal_length: 135mm
iso:
flash: did not fire

third: [post=34662301]zackiedawg[/post]

Exif information:
make: SONY
model: DSLR-A300
shutter_speed: 1/1sec
aperture_stop: F1.7
focal_length: 50mm
iso:
flash: did not fire[/QUOTE]

 

[polkadotminnie]

Have you considered a monopod? I agree with what is posted regarding your lenses. I'm in a similar boat with my kids in marching band and marching at night on a poorly lit field. High ISO is your friend for sure, but I've been playing with a monopod for situations where a tripod does not make sense. The steady shot is nice, but that additional stability on a monopod seems to help as well.

I have thought of that but they usher us in and out so quick that I am not sure I could get set up.

 

[polkadotminnie]

Congratulations, Kathy and Justin!

 

[zackiedawg]

This past few weekends had Florida snapping their cold records - both the lowest lows and the lowest highs. This past Sunday we never got warmer than 48 degrees...for the HIGH. Folks up north sitting in freezing ice and snow won't understand...but trust me, this is unusual for South Florida! Being the oddball that I am, I actually like this weather, so I went out shooting Sunday in my favorite wetlands. Another photographer from up north who I had conversed with on a message board wanted to meet at my wetlands so I could show her around; I was a bit worried that in the cold, there wouldn't be any birds to see.

Boy, was I wrong! Not only were the usuals there, but I had several first-time spottings of some birds I've never seen before. It was packed full of life - I guess if it was this cold here, it was so much worse elsewhere that more birds might have decided to head a few hundred miles farther south than normal. I had also been there the weekend before, which was also quite chilly - so some of these shots stretch across two weekends.

It was a great, COLD shoot, with my A550 and Tamron 200-500mm lens. Here's some of the abundant life I saw and shot:

A tricolor heron patiently waiting for a fish to come into range:

Some mighty unhappy alligators, out of the cold water and sunning themselves to get warm:

A green heron:

A palm warbler sitting among the weeping branches:

A beautiful glossy ibis, showing off his irridescence:

Nobody wanted to be in the water - these turtles were playing musical log, seeing just how many of them they could squeeze onto it:

The gorgeous roseated spoonbill - very distant, but still cool to see in the wild:

One of the prettiest birds in the swamp...the purple gallinule:

This was a first for me...never seen one before. It's an American widgeon:

My favorite duck, the black-bellied whistling duck:

Great blue heron sitting on her nest:

Another first...this is an Egyptian Goose...I've never seen one before, and after looking them up found out it is one of the latest of the many invasive species starting to get a foothold in Florida. Very pretty goose though!

These guys too were a first-time sighting for me...they're called hooded mergansers:

A very pretty snowy egret, on the hunt:

Still shooting after sunset, I had the opportunity to see many of the birds from all over South Florida coming back to the wetlands to roost for the night. It was getting brutally cold by then, light was fading, and ISO800 was needed to have a chance at these shots...but it was something beautiful to witness. Here's a great egret coming in:

A roseated spoonbill heading home:

Of course, if interested in all the varieties of birds at the wetlands down here that I've captured with the new cam since November, glance through the gallery here:

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/a550greencay&page=all

Comments and questions always welcome!

 

[DznyFan]

Fabulous shots, Justin!