Photo sharing: Sony Alpha

[DznyFan]

Justin, I'm anxious to really give 6400 a try. I know just pointnclicking around the house at night so far I like what I see. Excited about how I'll like it in the real world.

Code - right at $1500 used. It's in perfect condition, tho.

Kat - You would have been cracking up at me when I very gingerly took it out of all its packing material and box and then out of the lens case to look at it when it arrived. It was like I'd found the Holy Grail... and I quickly put it back in its case. I tried to sleep with it under my pillow last night but it was just too uncomfortable. I'm off this afternoon - so what am I doing at home on my computer??? I need to be out shooting!

Figment97 - good luck with your choice! As pointed out, you can get the 3rd party zooms pretty reasonably - 70-300 for under $200. I bought a cheap 70-300 Sigma not long ago that did a decent job for it's stupidly cheap price.

 

[zackiedawg]

Justin, I'm anxious to really give 6400 a try. I know just pointnclicking around the house at night so far I like what I see. Excited about how I'll like it in the real world.

A great piece of advice I can give you too that's not in the manuals anywhere...if you're shooting ISO6400 or 12800 in low light conditions that don't involve any fast moving subjects, you can get ridiculously good results by using the HDR mode with a minimal setting of 1. This will keep the HDR blending effect from being too strong, and at the same time, the 2-frame stacking will further reduce noise from the shot while also increasing detail. Even though HDR is supposed to be about dynamic range, the fact that it uses two images stacked allows you to reduce noise and increase detail by canceling out the noise and noise reduction blurring when averaging the two frames.

 

[Code]

Code - right at $1500 used. It's in perfect condition, tho.

I know it's worth it, but I still have to say

 

[DznyFan]

I know it's worth it, but I still have to say

Yeah, you and me both. It was a LOT harder than buying any car! Aside from my car, I don't spend a lot of money on myself. I think that comes from having had a child in the house for 20 years. Now that my cash outflow has improved I finally can do something for me. This is the biggest single personal investment I've made in 20 years.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Kat - You would have been cracking up at me when I very gingerly took it out of all its packing material and box and then out of the lens case to look at it when it arrived. It was like I'd found the Holy Grail... and I quickly put it back in its case. I tried to sleep with it under my pillow last night but it was just too uncomfortable. I'm off this afternoon - so what am I doing at home on my computer??? I need to be out shooting!

 

[DznyFan]

 

[vandort]

a quick test shot. Oh, HELLO a550 and 70200G!! f/2.8, 200mm, 1/60 sec, ISO 1600. I am going to LOVE the new gear!

Congratulations, DznyFan! I am very excited for you and I can't wait to see your WDW pictures with the new gear.

 

[vandort]

I have the 16mm fisheye which is great on a full frame but not as quite as good on the crop bodies - it wasn't designed for the crop factor although you do get some "fish bowl" distortion.

I have an older 16mm Sigma fish eye lens and and A300 body (APS-C body). This is an example of a picture I took with that lens:

I agree with what Kathy has said. Pictures with this lens don't really have that distorted effect that Kathy pictures with her new A850 (e.g. boardwalk pictures) or Code's do from his recent trip to WDW.

 

[DznyFan]

Congratulations, DznyFan! I am very excited for you and I can't wait to see your WDW pictures with the new gear.

Thank you! I'm excited - 1 1/2 more days of work, the camera and lenses are all packed away and ready to go on the trip. There will be lots of shots!

I took the new big lens out for a good spin over the weekend and am thrilled with it.

 

[vandort]

Congratulations, Kathy (winner of the resort photo contest)! I love this shot!

first: [post=35332231]KAT4DISNEY[/post]

Exif information:
make: SONY
model: DSLR-A850
shutter_speed: 1/infsec
aperture_stop: F10.9
focal_length: 16mm
iso: 25088

 

[zackiedawg]

Had some fun birding this past Saturday - a lovely day full of lovely light, and a few new bird catches for me and the A550. All with Tamron 200-500mm lens. Birds-in-flight are a cinch with the A550 - it's so darned fast! Both focus and burst. I even decided to try to photograph some of the hardest birds in flight in the world!

I will declare these to be some of the hardest shots to get in the world. These little things dart around at a gazillion miles an hour, and change direction randomly at full speed. And they're only the size of a golf ball. and they absolutely positively never stop moving. I shot on 7fps while panning around with a fast shutter and managed to finally get a couple of identifyable shots of them...tree swallow I believe:

A red-bellied woodpecker:

Wood stork flying over:

Egyptian goose flying by:

Osprey on the hunt:

Tricolor heron:

Great blue heron mom, with two chicks:

Great egret flyby:

Purple gallinule:

Great blue herons:

Low flying double-crested cormorant:

Green heron:

Glossy ibis:

Finally! I got my first shots of an adult black-crowned night heron! They were sitting low in the shadows, after sunset, so the light was not great...I started with low ISO as they were still, then moved up as high as ISO1600 as needed -

ISO400:

ISO800:

ISO1600:

This has been an elusive one for me. I've only spotted these twice before. Once, it was a juvenile (all grey, no colors yet), which was so close that I couldn't even get him all in the frame at 200mm. The second time, it was another juvie, so far that I had to shoot at 500mm and crop 50%, and still no colors. So this time, even though it was getting dark, I was happy to finally get a chance to shoot a regular adult, in regular plumage, at the right distance!

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Congratulations, Kathy (winner of the resort photo contest)! I love this shot!

Thank you Heidi!!! It's all the A850.


Justin - more terrific bird shots!

 

[vandort]

Thank you for sharing your wildlife pictures, Justin. I really enjoy looking at your pictures.

 

[STEAMBOAT209]

Justin, I really enjoyed all your shots, and loved the in flight shots. Thank you for posting them.

 

[polkadotminnie]

I recently purchased the a500. I love it! I have had better luck with my indoor cheer pictures since I upgraded from my a300. I know I still need work but here is a sample:

 

[oogieboogieman]

A couple from today. Sony Alpha 100 & 70-210 Beercan... This is what happens after several warm days, these weren't there last week.

 

[vandort]

Oogieboogieman, you are making me excited for spring. Maybe the snow will melt soon!

Thanks for sharing.

 

[DznyFan]

I LOVE my new camera!
Yes... this is just a shoe.

I'm still working on my culls from the trip - haven't touched a single shot in PP yet. Home at 11P on Sunday, work at 7A on Monday, and working on a Disney trip for a client last night so I haven't had much time. Silly people - don't they realize that I need to edit umpteen hundred shots?

Have i mentioned I love my new camera and lenses??

 

[DznyFan]

Oh, yeah.....

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

oogieboogieman I wish we were seeing some of those around here. It's freezing cold again! Thanks for sharing a bit of spring.

I like that shoe Dznyfan! And the other picture is w/ the 70-200? Nice one! Can't wait to see more when your clients stop bugging you!!!