Photo sharing: Sony Alpha

I don't really want to bog down this thread with a ton of pictures, and I don't want to start a new thread for it, but does anyone want to critique the pictures I've recently taken so I can know in what ways I can improve my shooting? I just got my a6000 a week ago today (!!) and I'm loving it, but I want to make sure I'm figuring out ways to improve.

Anyway, here is a link to Flikr. I think that is how these things are done, right?

https://www.flickr.com/photos/132227640@N05/

Right now, I think my biggest area for improvement would just be finding good things to take photos of. Any advice on that front?

You've got a good eye. Of course, there are a ton of books you can read (and websites, etc) that can help you learn more about both composition, and the technical side. (Understanding the technical is critical in being able to get the most interesting shots... auto modes tend to all gravitate towards a very basic look).

You should think about what type of shots do you want to take, do you want to specialize. Look up a couple of posts, you will see Zackiedawg does a ton of wildlife and birding. Look at Disney blogger Tom Bricker, who mostly shoots wide landscapes. I'm a bit of a jack of all trades, but some of my best shots are street photography -- just people out and about in the street, doing their normal thing. So finding interesting things to shoot, partially depends on what you want to shoot.

I strongly believe that for good photographs, LIGHT can be even more important than subject. Go to a park, or someplace scenic around where you live, either right around sunrise or sunset. See how the sky changes from about 30 minutes before and 30 minutes after. See how the light affects the landscape. And even if you aren't shooting the landscape, that light makes all the shots more interesting -- so even if you just want to shoot things around the park in that early morning or late evening light.

Interesting light makes every scene better:

Sunset over Chappaqua by Adam Brown, on Flickr

GrandCentral-55.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

fallsunrise-70.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr
 
Hello everyone!

I am in need of some advice. I bought an a200 kit with a 18-70 f3.5-5.6 lens and an extra 75-300 f4.5-5.6 lens back in 2008 and in the last few weeks, it's gotten touchy about wanting to take pics. I am taking it to someone to see if they can find out what the problem is and if it's worth it to fix. But if I get bad news, I have no idea where to start to look for a new camera.

I am not a professional, but am constantly taking pics of my 3 kids. Low light and action capabilities are a must and I'd like to have something that makes fireworks easy for my kids to take (that is their current obsession) since we are going to Disney in September. I don't usually do any post processing except cropping, b&w and red eye, so I'd like something that means I can keep that to a minimum. I'd also like to find out what HDR is. And I'd love to be able to use the lenses I already have with the new camera if possible.

I haven't purchased a camera in forever, so I'm really out of the loop. Thanks for your help!
 
Hello everyone!

I am in need of some advice. I bought an a200 kit with a 18-70 f3.5-5.6 lens and an extra 75-300 f4.5-5.6 lens back in 2008 and in the last few weeks, it's gotten touchy about wanting to take pics. I am taking it to someone to see if they can find out what the problem is and if it's worth it to fix. But if I get bad news, I have no idea where to start to look for a new camera.

I am not a professional, but am constantly taking pics of my 3 kids. Low light and action capabilities are a must and I'd like to have something that makes fireworks easy for my kids to take (that is their current obsession) since we are going to Disney in September. I don't usually do any post processing except cropping, b&w and red eye, so I'd like something that means I can keep that to a minimum. I'd also like to find out what HDR is. And I'd love to be able to use the lenses I already have with the new camera if possible.

I haven't purchased a camera in forever, so I'm really out of the loop. Thanks for your help!

The Sony A58 would be the current Sony camera that will take your lenses. You will find it quite a different change from the A200, but the basics are still the same.
 
The Sony A58 would be the current Sony camera that will take your lenses. You will find it quite a different change from the A200, but the basics are still the same.

To answer your question about hdr... a camera like the A58 can do it "automatically" but the more traditional way to do it is to take 3-5 pictures of the exact same composition, at different exposures, and then merge them with software.
 

Last couple games I've been shooting JPEG to save myself some time. These are OOC with some cropping and I'm happy with the results. The extra "oomph" I can get out of RAW files is not worth the time based on these results. I just have to be careful to make sure the WB is correct.

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Last couple games I've been shooting JPEG to save myself some time. These are OOC with some cropping and I'm happy with the results. The extra "oomph" I can get out of RAW files is not worth the time based on these results. I just have to be careful to make sure the WB is correct.

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Nice shots. I usually shoot sports in jpeg to save time.
 
Fractal, those look great! How do you find the 200 as far as manual focusing?

I find the focusing ring to be smooth, easy to use and precise. My biggest challenge is dealing with the metal "sleeve" that protects the focusing ring when not in use. I have to make sure it is "locked" away or else it will slide back down. I've lately been having trouble with the AF using the LA-EA4 adapter so 2nd half of last game I went back to manual and was getting more keepers.

Having tried different AF modes and points I'm now at somewhat of a loss on what to do next. I may sell the LA-EA4 adapter.

To get back to your question. With a monopod, I can use my left index finger to focus and my right thumb to adjust S,A, and ISO while keeping my eye in the viewfinder. I have enough use with it that I can manual adjust "on the fly" a moving object while shooting. It's really quite nice.
 
I find the focusing ring to be smooth, easy to use and precise. My biggest challenge is dealing with the metal "sleeve" that protects the focusing ring when not in use. I have to make sure it is "locked" away or else it will slide back down. I've lately been having trouble with the AF using the LA-EA4 adapter so 2nd half of last game I went back to manual and was getting more keepers.

Having tried different AF modes and points I'm now at somewhat of a loss on what to do next. I may sell the LA-EA4 adapter.

To get back to your question. With a monopod, I can use my left index finger to focus and my right thumb to adjust S,A, and ISO while keeping my eye in the viewfinder. I have enough use with it that I can manual adjust "on the fly" a moving object while shooting. It's really quite nice.

What's been your issue with the laea4 adapter?
 
What's been your issue with the laea4 adapter?

Hard time tracking action coming towards me. I've used different focus points but not much success. The AF on the a6000 is much better than the NEX-7 but that doesn't really matter when using the adapter. At least that's what I assumed. I'm getting the AF performance of an A58, correct?
 
Yep - the LAEA adapter bypasses the a6000's focus system and replaces it with the SLT-based system in the adapter, which is essentially the one from the A58.
 
The lacrosse season came to an end this weekend. A few pics. Up next - summer swim season.

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Just looking for a little input on the Tamron SP 150-600mm? Or the Sigma 150-500mm? I have use for a longer lens and am thinking about consolidating from my Sony 500mm reflex which is restricted to F8 although nice and light and my Sony 70-400mm which is nice but just not quite the reach I'd like to have.
 
Just looking for a little input on the Tamron SP 150-600mm? Or the Sigma 150-500mm? I have use for a longer lens and am thinking about consolidating from my Sony 500mm reflex which is restricted to F8 although nice and light and my Sony 70-400mm which is nice but just not quite the reach I'd like to have.

I find the Tamron 150-600 an excellent lens for the money - it's a great lens even money-independent, but considering getting 600mm of reach in a hand-holdable package for $1000, it's really a steal. It pairs well on my A580, and it's my main long-reach wildlife and birding kit. Focus is fast enough for speedy BIFs, and also quite good even in low light, despite the 'slow' aperture range. I've got quite a full 9-page gallery of shots for the Tamron 150-600, all taken with the A580, here:

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/tamron_150600

Feel free to browse. And in this thread, if you go back a ways, I've posted some birding posts with this combo from that gallery (I also post birds taken with my A6000 kit). I can't personally imagine a better deal for wildlife and birding photographers than the Tamron - great flexibility, awesome reach, reasonably light and small (for a 600mm lens), and all for a very low price (again, compared to mots any 600mm reach lens).
 
I find the Tamron 150-600 an excellent lens for the money - it's a great lens even money-independent, but considering getting 600mm of reach in a hand-holdable package for $1000, it's really a steal. It pairs well on my A580, and it's my main long-reach wildlife and birding kit. Focus is fast enough for speedy BIFs, and also quite good even in low light, despite the 'slow' aperture range. I've got quite a full 9-page gallery of shots for the Tamron 150-600, all taken with the A580, here:

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/tamron_150600

Feel free to browse. And in this thread, if you go back a ways, I've posted some birding posts with this combo from that gallery (I also post birds taken with my A6000 kit). I can't personally imagine a better deal for wildlife and birding photographers than the Tamron - great flexibility, awesome reach, reasonably light and small (for a 600mm lens), and all for a very low price (again, compared to mots any 600mm reach lens).

Thanks Justin! Beautiful pictures as always! I'm still thinking the extra reach of the Tamron would be nice to have but haven't decided yet if I'll make the jump. I used the Sony 70-400 for this the other day but it is cropped and the owl only kept going further away, not closer. :)

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Here's another one from a couple of days earlier - taken with my Minolta 200mm w/ 1.4 teleconverter and then cropped.

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That's pretty nice that you could get that close to the owl! Even considering the crop - that's pretty decent proximity. My horned owls never seem to be any closer than 200 feet away, and always in such a way you can't get closer - ie: a canal blocking your way. The 600mm reach would definitely be nice for such a situation. I compare mine to my very very good 300mm F4 APO lens, with and without 1.4x TC, and the quality is really surprisingly close - considering your comparing at double the reach (600mm vs 300mm), it's really surprising how well the big Tammy zoom holds up. The 300mm has the slight edge wide open given a reasonably close subject, but the optical reach being double really makes those more distant targets fill the screen and still delivers very good detailed results.
 
That's pretty nice that you could get that close to the owl! Even considering the crop - that's pretty decent proximity. My horned owls never seem to be any closer than 200 feet away, and always in such a way you can't get closer - ie: a canal blocking your way. The 600mm reach would definitely be nice for such a situation. I compare mine to my very very good 300mm F4 APO lens, with and without 1.4x TC, and the quality is really surprisingly close - considering your comparing at double the reach (600mm vs 300mm), it's really surprising how well the big Tammy zoom holds up. The 300mm has the slight edge wide open given a reasonably close subject, but the optical reach being double really makes those more distant targets fill the screen and still delivers very good detailed results.

These owls have been rather surprising. There have been owls around the property but this spring there are 2 that are hanging out together and very close around the house - and during the day. One is more shy and will take off sooner but one is not too concerned until you get quite close.
 




















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