Photo sharing: Sony Alpha

[henryk67]

Lake Louise

Fort Steele

 

[Amy]

Nice photos Henry! Thanks for sharing!

I gotta say, you can't beat the NEX for night-time photos! Well, as long as the subject isn't moving and you don't need a fast shutter. Which begs the question: will I be ok using the "Night View" setting to take photos of the Main Street Electrical Parade? I'm kind of worried about the movement of the floats blurring the lights.

This is from Kennywood Park here in Pittsburgh:

I'm amazed at how crisp and clear this photo came out! It was taken using the Night View setting, no other adjustments at all. I didn't have to run it thru Noiseware or anything. The Electrical Parade has similar lighting, but with the floats moving, I'm worried. I know not to use one of the night settings that uses a flash, since a flash would be worthless.

 

[zackiedawg]

For the moving floats at night, the night view setting might not be the best choice. I'd recommend using one of two settings: First, try the HHT (Hand Held Twilight) mode - the 6-image stack at high ISO can actually compensate for some slower movement and will do an excellent job of handling the noise and night settings. But if for any reason HHT mode still shows a little ghosting or blur from the moving subjects, quickly switch to Anti Motion Blur mode. This will also use the highest ISO settings and shoot 6 frames and stack them together - but it will avoid stacking any area of the frame where a subject moved, so it can handle even faster movement.

If you decide to get more brave, you can simply set the camera up in P mode, or Aperture Priority mode, by manually setting the ISO to 3200, and the aperture to its widest setting (lowest F number)...this will give you the best chance of having a fast enough shutter speed to freeze the floats. The floats themselves are pretty bright - so if you have a faster lens you can even shoot them at ISO1600...but if you're using the kit lens, you'll probably need to bump up to ISO3200.

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

Hi,
I have a question for someone with some knowledge of the Sony A230 DSLR camera. My dh got me one back in February for my birthday, but I due to being really busy with a new baby and nursing school I have had very little time to "play" with it and figure out how to properly take pictures. My question is can someone recommend a good "fairly inexpensive" all around lens (other than the one that came with it) for a beginner who would like to take pictures of her children and or landscape pictures?
TIA!
By the way the pictures posted in this thread are beautiful! I can only hope I can get my photos to look half that nice!

 

[DisDan09]

Hi,
I have a question for someone with some knowledge of the Sony A230 DSLR camera. My dh got me one back in February for my birthday, but I due to being really busy with a new baby and nursing school I have had very little time to "play" with it and figure out how to properly take pictures. My question is can someone recommend a good "fairly inexpensive" all around lens (other than the one that came with it) for a beginner who would like to take pictures of her children and or landscape pictures?
TIA!
By the way the pictures posted in this thread are beautiful! I can only hope I can get my photos to look half that nice!

I have the same camera and use my older minota lenses on it along with the kit lens. For portraits (and dark ride shots) I tend to use a 50mm f1.4. One of my fav walk around lenses is my Minolta 28-85. Prob is it is a bit on the heavy side but I find its worth it. Both can be found on ebay for around $70-$100 (at a quick glance) As for an all around lens I really do tend to stick with the Kit lens for most of my general shooting especially in Dis and carry along the 50mm for dark shooting.

If you are really looking into doing some landscape photography run down to the book store and grab one of the latest magazines dealing with landscape photography to get an idea of what they are shooting with and how they made the shot. (In think the latest has a cover with a wildflower field at sunset) Look for magazines that are more technique than ads The same with Portraits.

Dont be afraid to reach out to the great photographers on here to ask what the used on certain pics that appeal to you. Lots of great experience.

Also, look at going to a local photography club in your area. They tend to have learing seminars an all type of shooting and how to really get the most out of your camera.
Speaking of that... Read the manual with your camera in your hand and really learn what everything does!
Before you know it you will be taking great shots

I also highly suggest getting Petersons book on Exposure. Barns and Noble, Amazon about $15-20. It will be a great reference and study guide for you

Best of Luck!

 

[Amy]

A new lens for the NEX cameras will be coming soon! Here's a link to amazon.com: 55-210 lens. I checked the Sony website, and it says it'll be available "on or around" Oct. 19. $349 - sure beats the $700 for the only other zoom lens available for the NEX!

 

[Crazy4Disney06]

I have the same camera and use my older minota lenses on it along with the kit lens. For portraits (and dark ride shots) I tend to use a 50mm f1.4. One of my fav walk around lenses is my Minolta 28-85. Prob is it is a bit on the heavy side but I find its worth it. Both can be found on ebay for around $70-$100 (at a quick glance) As for an all around lens I really do tend to stick with the Kit lens for most of my general shooting especially in Dis and carry along the 50mm for dark shooting.

If you are really looking into doing some landscape photography run down to the book store and grab one of the latest magazines dealing with landscape photography to get an idea of what they are shooting with and how they made the shot. (In think the latest has a cover with a wildflower field at sunset) Look for magazines that are more technique than ads The same with Portraits.

Dont be afraid to reach out to the great photographers on here to ask what the used on certain pics that appeal to you. Lots of great experience.

Also, look at going to a local photography club in your area. They tend to have learing seminars an all type of shooting and how to really get the most out of your camera.
Speaking of that... Read the manual with your camera in your hand and really learn what everything does!
Before you know it you will be taking great shots

I also highly suggest getting Petersons book on Exposure. Barns and Noble, Amazon about $15-20. It will be a great reference and study guide for you

Best of Luck!

Thank you so much for your suggestions! I am going to check out the lens as well as books you've suggested!

 

[zackiedawg]

The only bad thing about that NEX lens, Amy, is the release date. I'm on a two week trip out of country starting Oct 8, and that lens isn't coming out until the 19th...I WANT that 55-210mm BEFORE I go! I've been waiting on that lens since I first heard about it 2 months ago. I'll have to get by with my 200mm F3.5 manual lens until then.

I've also just purchased a new DSLR, as my A550 is over 2 years old with about 80,000 clicks on it - I'm going to hold onto it as a backup body for a while. The new camera will be the A580 - hopefully to be shipped to me this week so I'll have it before my trip. Can't wait for the nice upgrades over the A550, but in the same body and ergonomics. I was briefly tempted by the A77, but I figure I'm better waiting for firmware updates or second generation of that camera to make sure all the bugs are worked out, so I can look at that as a future upgrade. For now, I know the A580 delivers the even-better high ISO I need, and adds some nice controls and features over my A550 in the same body. The NEX3 remains as the 2nd lightweight camera - I was tempted to upgrade that to the NEX-5N as well, but I'll hold off a little longer since I only just got the NEX3 6 months ago!

 

[saintstickets]

Well....I did it. I bit the bullet and bought a Sony A55 along with a SAL DT 55-200/2 f4-5.6 lens, a SAL 18-70 f3.5-5.6 and a SAL 85 f2.8 lens. There are several other lens I will get over the next few months but I got a decent deal on each of these and I think they will do to start with until I can figure out how to use everything. Speaking of that, any suggestions for books, web sites or other info for a novice that is jumping from a P&S to this camera and gear? TIA.

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

Well....I did it. I bit the bullet and bought a Sony A55 along with a SAL DT 55-200/2 f4-5.6 lens, a SAL 18-70 f3.5-5.6 and a SAL 85 f2.8 lens. There are several other lens I will get over the next few months but I got a decent deal on each of these and I think they will do to start with until I can figure out how to use everything. Speaking of that, any suggestions for books, web sites or other info for a novice that is jumping from a P&S to this camera and gear? TIA.

Congrats on your new Camera!! I've had the A55 for almost 10 months now and really enjoy it.

For a specific book on the A55 I'd recommend David Busch's Sony aSLT-A55/A33 Guide to Digital Photography. He covers everything that should be in the owner's manual plus a bit more. For general SLR/DSLR concepts Bryan Peterson's books are often recommended. A good start is Understanding Exposure. He also has several other "Understanding" books and his Learning to See Creatively might provide some insight.

 

[saintstickets]

Thx KAT. I have both of those books on order plus "Magic Lantern Guides: Sony a500/a550" by Peter Burian & "Sony a500 & a550 - The Expanded Guide" by David Taylor. Hope my brain can absorb some of this stuff!

 

[zackiedawg]

Well the new A580 has officially replaced the A550 - I've had my first ewek of test shots, and got the JPGs tuned up, tried out the high ISO...I must admit that the already excellent A550 has indeed been improved upon - the sensor is noticeably better at the higher ISOs, and processing better in the mid-ISOs, the focus speed is up a notch, the body is tighter, the controls are improved, and I'm happy!

ISO12800 (yes, 12800!):

ISO6400 multistack, handheld, 11pm at night in my backyard:

ISO1600 in overcast and shadow light:

ISO400, overcast:

Sunny day, ISO100:

ISO100:

ISO6400 handheld:

ISO1600, super shallow DOF:

These were all shot as JPGs, straight from the camera, no post processing. High ISO NR was set to 'weak', JPGs set to 'vivid', with contrast 0, sharpening +1, and saturation -1. Center-weighted metering, -.3 EV, spot focus. Now, can't wait to get on my 2-week vacation starting this weekend!

 

[HPS3]

Congrats Zackiedawg! Thaw 580 sure looks like a great camera. I have the D5100 with the same sensor and the iso capabilities are great. I do wish I had the stabilization and focus motor though. I should have looked into that camera more.

 

[saintstickets]

Finally got around to using my new Sony A55. This is my 1st step up from a p&s. We visited a farm today and here is a field of sunflowers. I wasn't sure the honey bee to the right of the center daisy would be very visible. All suggestions, tips and critique are welcome...

 

[saintstickets]

A Mickey-wanna-be in the pumpkin patch?

 

[KAT4DISNEY]

A Mickey-wanna-be in the pumpkin patch?

lol - one of my dogs would be barking his head off at that!

Looks like you're enjoying the A55!

 

[Amy]

Hi all! I'm still going thru all of my photos (over 1,000) from our trip, but I wanted to post these first since I was so concerned about getting decent shots during the Main Street Electrical Parade. Overall, I'm very pleased with the NEX-5 for both daytime and night-time photos.

First, some castle photos while waiting for MSEP to begin; all were shot using the hand-held night shot setting.

Main Street Electrical Parade, again using hand-held night shot setting.

 

[Amy]

And some fireworks shots. They aren't very crisp since I was not using a tripod. It was WAY too crowded to even think about using a tripod!! But they turned out fairly well. Since the NEX-5 doesn't have a fireworks setting, I used Manual, ISO200, F7.1, 1/1.7sec.

I know the castle isn't sharp in this one, but it sure looks like the castle is having a frizzy hair day, doesn't it?

I love the colors on the castle in this one:

 

[saintstickets]

Nice pics Amy, especially of the parade. Those pics don't always turn out very good but yours sure did. Post more of your trip when you get the chance.

 

[Amy]

Here are some more from our trip.

First of all, the reason we went to WDW: our DS is a senior at Grove City College, and his marching band and jazz band performed. He's been in band for 9 years, 5 high school and 4 college, and this was the very LAST time I'll see him marching down Main Street USA.

Here they are marching in the Magic Kingdom prior to the afternoon parade:

My DS is closest to the camera:

The jazz band performed at Downtown Disney:

And here's my DS during his solo:

DH took the jazz band photos. I was using my NEX to video-tape the performance. The NEX takes awesome video!