Questions for using Sony a6000 and Sony A77 at parks

[hdmichael]

We are going to WDW at the end of May, and this will probably be our last visit for at least a few years. Because of this, I want to capture some really cool images. I have checked out Disney photos on flickr and other websites and made notes on the settings for specific types of photos such as indoor rides, etc. However, several of the photos that I loved had no exposure data listed. I am very rusty at photography as I have basically put everything away for the last 5 or 6 years until this past spring when we got annual passes for WDW.


Therefore, I still have a few questions about which settings will be the best on my two Sony cameras - the a6000 and A77. (I have the A550 as a back-up that I picked up for a little over $120 on ebay.) The a6000 is new, and I have not used it at WDW so I am nervous about using it. I have taken the A77 for the last three trips, but there are very few useful tutorials for it. I have been watching youtube tutorials and reading up on both cameras.

I have the following lens- I have not, and will not before we leave, picked up the adapter ring for the A lenses:

Sony e mount kit lens- 16-50mm
Sony e mount lens- 35mm 1.8

Alpha Lens-
Sony 50mm 1.4
Sigma 30mm 1.4
Sony 28-75mm 2.8
(I dropped a bag with some lens in it, including my Tamron 16-300mm, so I do not have a super zoom for the trip.)

I want to try to use both cameras during the trip, but I am unsure which is better for what.

I also have a Canon 40D with Sigma 85mm 1.4 and Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 lenses, which I don't plan on taking unless I receive advice suggesting I should.

I shoot in both jpeg and RAW.

Here are my questions:
What is the highest ISO you use for one or both of the camera bodies? Do you have any other specific advice about either camera- their quirks, etc.?

What lenses should I use, and where are the best places to use them?

Do you use the back focus button, and does it work better on dark rides?

Since I don't have a superzoom, should I use my 28-75mm lens on the safari? What settings have you found that work best for the safari?

I have read that you should overexpose a bit on dark rides because the shadows can have more noise than expected if you don't. Do you agree with this?

Do you use ISO auto on dark rides, or do you set that yourself? My ISO auto is set to 100-6400 on the a6000 and 100-4000 on the A77.

On POC, I used the Sigma 30mm with a 1/50 shutter and 1.4 (ISO 1250-2000), and most of my pictures were out of focus. Can you give me some exposure advice for the entire ride, beginning with the boat?

Haunted Mansion- I have the worst time getting shots on this ride. I finally got some of the ghosts dancing, but otherwise, I maybe have a couple of shots that work. Again, what are your exposure numbers for this ride- ISO, shutter, and aperture?

I also need advice on settings for Peter Pan, Under the Seas, and all other dark rides. I have some decent shots for Under the Seas, but I am still having major problems with Peter Pan.

What about Seven Dwarfs and Expedition Everest? I have never tried to take photos on these rides.

I have seen some incredible shots of the parks after dark when they are empty. It seems to me that ISO 100 with a f/8 to 11 and a long exposure (6 seconds to over one minute) work best. What have you found that works?

What are the best exposures for the Lion King show especially shutter speed and ISO?

Also, any exposure hints for the night shows- Fantasmic, Jungle Book, etc.

Any other advice????

I would love any links to existing photos with exposure data, so that I can add those to my other notes.

I know I have a lot of basic questions, but I have been experimenting for the last three trips and am quite frustrated with my results.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[havoc315]

First question, why both cameras?
There really is no situation where the a77 is better than the a6000. The a6000 has better image quality, better higher ISO ability. All while being a smaller and easier to carry.
Of course, the 28-75/2.8 is a superior lens to the e-mount 16-50 but when using outdoors in day time, it won't really matter.

Yes, the 28-75 will give you more reach on the safari than the 16-50, but just barely. Neither will really give you telephoto reach for the animals.

For dark rides, you'll want to use the 35/1.8 on the a6000. You can also use it in any challenging light.
The 28-75 is better in low light than the 16-50, but still nowhere near as good as the 35/1.8.
Problem with the 28-75, it's kinda a lost focal range. It's not wide enough for true landscapes, and it's not long enough for telephoto purposes. It is a good range and aperture for portraits, if you're planning on formal portrait shooting.

If your lens collections were different, there might be a reason to bring both cameras. But based on what you have, I'd stick to the a6000.

 

[hdmichael]

Thank you so much for your response. My plan now is to use the Sony a6000 with the 35mm 1.8 lens throughout the trip and just crop the photos if need be for more close-up shots. I will take the A77 with me as a back-up, just in case I drop the a6000: we are driving, so space isn't an issue.

For the dark rides such as POC, PPF, and HM, what is the highest I can push the shutter speed assuming I use ISO auto (which I am still not sure about)? Should I use ISO auto, and what range should I use (I can't decide if the top ISO should be 6400 or 12,800)? I want to make sure the pictures are usable. I know this is a stupid question, but do you change the shutter speed on the ride, or do you let the ISO compensate for the exposure? Also, I use the live view finder to focus on rides. Should I be using the EVF? Do you ever underexpose on dark rides? If yes, when and where?

Any thoughts you have on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

 

[havoc315]

Didn't get a chance to address some of your specific questions in the last post.... My comments in bold:

We are going to WDW at the end of May, and this will probably be our last visit for at least a few years. Because of this, I want to capture some really cool images. I have checked out Disney photos on flickr and other websites and made notes on the settings for specific types of photos such as indoor rides, etc. However, several of the photos that I loved had no exposure data listed. I am very rusty at photography as I have basically put everything away for the last 5 or 6 years until this past spring when we got annual passes for WDW.


Therefore, I still have a few questions about which settings will be the best on my two Sony cameras - the a6000 and A77. (I have the A550 as a back-up that I picked up for a little over $120 on ebay.) The a6000 is new, and I have not used it at WDW so I am nervous about using it. I have taken the A77 for the last three trips, but there are very few useful tutorials for it. I have been watching youtube tutorials and reading up on both cameras.

I have the following lens- I have not, and will not before we leave, picked up the adapter ring for the A lenses:

Sony e mount kit lens- 16-50mm
Sony e mount lens- 35mm 1.8

Alpha Lens-
Sony 50mm 1.4
Sigma 30mm 1.4
Sony 28-75mm 2.8
(I dropped a bag with some lens in it, including my Tamron 16-300mm, so I do not have a super zoom for the trip.)

I want to try to use both cameras during the trip, but I am unsure which is better for what.

I also have a Canon 40D with Sigma 85mm 1.4 and Sigma 18-35mm 1.8 lenses, which I don't plan on taking unless I receive advice suggesting I should.

The sigma 18-35/1.8 is a pretty special lens, and could be very useful on dark rides. But the Canon 40d is a bit older, with older sensor technology. So while you'd be gaining a bit on the lens, you'd be losing on the sensor. So I think you're right, I'd leave the Canon behind.

I shoot in both jpeg and RAW.

Here are my questions:
What is the highest ISO you use for one or both of the camera bodies? Do you have any other specific advice about either camera- their quirks, etc.?

I have used the A6000, and I was pretty comfortable with ISO 3200 for plus size use. For dark rides, and using web-shared images of dark rides, I'd be ok pushing as high as ISO 6400. I haven't used the A77, but I have used the A55 and A99, so I have a pretty good sense of the A77 performance as well. I'd prefer keeping the ISO at 800 or lower, be okay pushing it to 1600, and would really really avoid 3200 or higher.

What lenses should I use, and where are the best places to use them?

A6000 with 16-50 for landscapes, for use on a tripod, for outdoors. A6000 with 35/1.8 for dark rides, and/or if using indoors without flash.

Do you use the back focus button, and does it work better on dark rides?

I've rarely used back button flash. I'm not a big fan. But if your normal workflow uses it, it can be useful on dark rides -- The "advantage" of backbutton AF is to be able to use AF-C and AF-S at the same time. By that I mean, as long as you're holding down the button, it is AF-C. But if you release it, then you are locking the focus, as with AF-S. On a dark ride, where you are always moving, you won't really ever want to release the backbutton. Therefore, IMO, it's no different than using the shutter button to AF.

Since I don't have a superzoom, should I use my 28-75mm lens on the safari? What settings have you found that work best for the safari?

It's the longest lens you own, but not by much. You will get equivalent of 112mm with the 28-75 on the A77, as opposed to 75mm with the 16-50 on the A6000. When you consider that you would typically want 200-400mm range for the safari, both options would leave you very short. It's like asking which weather is better for going swimming... 45 degrees or 50 degrees. Technically, 50 degrees would be better than 45 degrees for swimming, but not practically any different. Unless you want to rent a lens or buy a new lens, you'll be focusing more on wide angle safari shots, and animals very very close to the tram. Regardless of what lens.
As animals can move unpredictably, and you're moving, I'd use a fairly fast shutter speed and stopped down aperture -- F8, 1/300 or faster.

I have read that you should overexpose a bit on dark rides because the shadows can have more noise than expected if you don't. Do you agree with this?

The a6000 has far less noise than the A77. I would not intentionally over-expose, because you will risk losing the highlights. Yes, there is a theory of intentionally overexposing (it's called exposing to the right), which lets you then pull down the exposure in post and reduce noise. But I'd just carefully process the shadow noise from raw files in post-processing.

Do you use ISO auto on dark rides, or do you set that yourself? My ISO auto is set to 100-6400 on the a6000 and 100-4000 on the A77.

A few schools of thought. You can manually set the ISO to the absolute highest you're comfortable with. Then set the widest aperture you're having with (in A mode), and let the camera give you the faster shutter that matches those settings.
Personally, I keep it in auto-ISO. I would set the shutter speed and aperture I want, and keep a close eye on the ISO with each shot. If the ISO is lower than I expected, I might take advantage and increase the shutter speed or stop down the aperture.

On POC, I used the Sigma 30mm with a 1/50 shutter and 1.4 (ISO 1250-2000), and most of my pictures were out of focus. Can you give me some exposure advice for the entire ride, beginning with the boat?

You're moving. 1/50 is much much too slow when you're moving. Plus, 1.4 is giving you a very narrow DOF. At a minimum, you probably want to double the shutter speed... 1/100, requiring an ISO of 2500-4000 for that same exposure. I'd try to bring the shutter speed even a little higher. You were likely missing focus from motion blur.

Haunted Mansion- I have the worst time getting shots on this ride. I finally got some of the ghosts dancing, but otherwise, I maybe have a couple of shots that work. Again, what are your exposure numbers for this ride- ISO, shutter, and aperture?

I also need advice on settings for Peter Pan, Under the Seas, and all other dark rides. I have some decent shots for Under the Seas, but I am still having major problems with Peter Pan.

What about Seven Dwarfs and Expedition Everest? I have never tried to take photos on these rides.

I have seen some incredible shots of the parks after dark when they are empty. It seems to me that ISO 100 with a f/8 to 11 and a long exposure (6 seconds to over one minute) work best. What have you found that works?

Yup... stick the camera on a tripod. Set the ISO at 100, aperture at F8 if you have a wide angle lens. If it's not a very wide angle, then I would stop down more -- F11-F16. And let the camera determine the shutter speed, which will likely be 10 seconds or more.

What are the best exposures for the Lion King show especially shutter speed and ISO?

Also, any exposure hints for the night shows- Fantasmic, Jungle Book, etc.

You're shooting bright lights, in the dark. Basically, watch for over-exposure. Use spot metering.

Any other advice????

I would love any links to existing photos with exposure data, so that I can add those to my other notes.



I know I have a lot of basic questions, but I have been experimenting for the last three trips and am quite frustrated with my results.

Thanks for any advice you can give.

 

[havoc315]

Thank you so much for your response. My plan now is to use the Sony a6000 with the 35mm 1.8 lens throughout the trip and just crop the photos if need be for more close-up shots. I will take the A77 with me as a back-up, just in case I drop the a6000: we are driving, so space isn't an issue.

For the dark rides such as POC, PPF, and HM, what is the highest I can push the shutter speed assuming I use ISO auto (which I am still not sure about)? Should I use ISO auto, and what range should I use (I can't decide if the top ISO should be 6400 or 12,800)? I want to make sure the pictures are usable. I know this is a stupid question, but do you change the shutter speed on the ride, or do you let the ISO compensate for the exposure? Also, I use the live view finder to focus on rides. Should I be using the EVF? Do you ever underexpose on dark rides? If yes, when and where?

Any thoughts you have on this topic would be greatly appreciated.

I gave my thoughts in another response. But I would definitely use the EVF. You'll get better balance of the camera, and you won't have light annoying other guests on the ride. I know some people with the A6000 prefer to use manual focus on dark rides, using focus peaking to nail the focus. Thought being it's faster and more reliable than letting the camera figure out focus in those difficult situations.

I haven't personally shot dark rides in 4 years... and my camera gear, and my photography skills, have GREATLY advanced in those 4 years. For my trip this August, I'm actually torn whether to go with just the A6300(which is my backup and light camera), or to bring my D750 in addition (which I use for some pro work), knowing that the D750 will be far better on dark rides. But the A6300 should be very capable for most of my shooting.

 

[hdmichael]

Thank you again!! After reading your responses, I will take the 16-50mm with me and use it for outside shots and the safari? I appreciate the time you have taken to respond to my questions, it makes me feel more confident about my upcoming trip!

 

[havoc315]

The 16-50 definitely isn't ideal for the safari but none of your other combinations are really significantly better.

My Animal Kingdom kit, I anticipate being Sony a6300 with 70-200/4 for safari, 10-18/4, and probably 24/1.8.

 

[fractal]

I have a Sony NEX-7 which is similar to the A6000.

For Dark Rides, I recommend shooting RAW. I've found that you can underexpose by a stop or so in dark rides and bring up the exposure in Post. Shutter speed is more important if you want a clear shot in Peter Pan or other quick moving dark rides. The 35mm 1.8 should serve you well on dark rides as @havoc315 stated. I would also work on shooting technique - elbows in, breathing, maybe resting the camera on a bag, etc. Practice makes perfect. ISO 3200 on the NEX-7 is stretching it, on the A6000 I think you can go to ISO 6400.

On Everest, I would go wide with the kit lens - you can get some nice shots right from the start as you make your way up the Mountain. Getting a shot of the Yeti projection tearing the track should be fairly easy.

As far as the Safari, You should be able to get some good ones at 50mm - plenty of room to crop with your sensor. However, if you had the 55-210 zoom (or the 70-200) it would be ideal. Depending on how important the Safari shots are to you maybe consider renting one of those lenses.

You're on the right track with night long exposure shots. I'm stating the obvious here, but of course you would need a tripod or find a nice trashcan top.

 

[zackiedawg]

I want to try to use both cameras during the trip, but I am unsure which is better for what.

I agree with Havoc about the A6000 being better in pretty much all situations compared to the A77, so there's no real reason to use the other camera. Bringing it as the backup is a fine idea though - always nice to have something in case of a problem - or even an unexpected dead battery or something. I don't think you mentioned, but it would be a good idea to have extra batteries along for the A6000 - most of the time you'd probably only need one per day, but you never know, especially if doing lots of long-exposure tripod work - another battery or two would be safer and they're so small and easy to bring.

I shoot in both jpeg and RAW.

I find JPG does fine for me 99% of the time, and use it most of the time when I shoot at Disney - if you are going to use RAW though, use it for dark rides, especially on those that you expect to be pushing ISOs over 6400, as it will let you pull some more detail out of shadows.

What is the highest ISO you use for one or both of the camera bodies? Do you have any other specific advice about either camera- their quirks, etc.?

Remember that ISO is very much a personal thing - some people have such intolerance for any noise at all and want pixel-level perfection blown up to 100% viewable - and might consider ISO1600 that absolute maximum they feel OK with - while someone else might find the same camera completely comfortable at ISO6400. It's what you consider usable or not. For me personally, I consider ISO6400 to be the comfortable normal ISO level I'll shoot with on the A6000 in JPG, and can use up to ISO12,800 in a pinch if I feel it's really needed...moving up to RAW, I'm OK using ISO12,800 on the A6000, mostly for dark rides where you might really need it. ISO6400 is comfortable, ISO12,800 usable.

What lenses should I use, and where are the best places to use them?

Of the lenses you have for E-mount - both would be fine and cover many bases - the kit lens is fine for 85% of your shooting and walkaround needs, and the 35mm F1.8 for dark ride, night handheld, and shallow DOF closeups. For the night tripod long exposures, I'd use the kit lens - you can stop down and use low ISO, so the variable focal and wider focal will both come in handy.

Do you use the back focus button, and does it work better on dark rides?

Personally no - I've never been a fan of back-button focusing in general, so I never use it.

Since I don't have a superzoom, should I use my 28-75mm lens on the safari? What settings have you found that work best for the safari?

I'd say this would be the one area you may want to bring the A77 and the 28-75mm lens. You could use the lens with adapter on the A6000 - but you didn't mention which adapter you have. If it's the LA-EA2/4, then it will work about as well - if it's the LA-EA1/3, it will be likely too slow to focus in time on safari with the A6000...so it's probably the one day I'd bring the A77 and the longest reach lens you have. 28-75mm isn't ideal - but if it's your longest lens, it's the one I'd bring that day.

I have read that you should overexpose a bit on dark rides because the shadows can have more noise than expected if you don't. Do you agree with this?

Not really - for me. I find generally exposing correctly to be the best bet - avoid way underexposing because at the high ISO levels you're at, you won't have that much room to pull the shadows more than a stop or so - but overexposing will leave many areas of the shots unrecoverable due to the extremely bright lights used on the rides - the contrast between the brightest lights and dark shadows is very extreme - so trying to get the exposure as centered as possible is my goal. Sony sensors tend to have a little more shadow room than highlight room, so if you're going to leave a little, I'd leave the shadows slightly underexposed and pull them up.

Do you use ISO auto on dark rides, or do you set that yourself? My ISO auto is set to 100-6400 on the a6000 and 100-4000 on the A77.

Generally, yes. With the A6000, I find the variable ISO to be pretty safe for ensuring I get the exposure right - manually setting to ISO6400 leaves a few very dark scenes way too dark, and manually setting to ISO12800 forces too high of an ISO in some scenes where it's just not necessary. Plus, with auto ISO you get many more middle-ISO ranges that can be used if needed. I set auto ISO from 100 to 12,800 when shooting dark rides on my A6000...normally I'd limit to ISO6400 for regular walkaround, but for dark rides, the extra stop can be valuable.

On POC, I used the Sigma 30mm with a 1/50 shutter and 1.4 (ISO 1250-2000), and most of my pictures were out of focus. Can you give me some exposure advice for the entire ride, beginning with the boat?

I find a 1/50 shutter to actually be OK - IF you are a very steady shooter, and have stabilization. If non stabilized, I'd want to stick to 1/100 as the floor. The boat is slow moving enough where I don't think the boat's motion was what gave you problems - it was either your focus being off, too long a delay between acquiring focus and tripping the shutter, or motion blur from you moving around a bit. Remember focusing in very low light can be challenging - best method for me is to use flex spot focus point, and as I enter a scene, I find a well lit and contrasty point in the scene to focus on - a striped pirate shirt, the rim of a hat, the eyes on a face, etc - I use AF-S focus mode, and I half-press to acquire, and immediately trip the shutter when I get focus confirmed...no delay.

With the A6000 and 35mm F1.8 combo at ISO6400:

Haunted Mansion- I have the worst time getting shots on this ride. I finally got some of the ghosts dancing, but otherwise, I maybe have a couple of shots that work. Again, what are your exposure numbers for this ride- ISO, shutter, and aperture?

It's a dark one for sure. Shutter speeds should probably be kept to 1/60 or 1/100 at a minimum, and you may need to use ISO6400 to 12,800 through the entire ride. Aperture wide open - no other choice! Just don't let there be any delay between focus acquisition and shutter - if you wait 1/2 second after you get focus tone, it's already too late for accurate focus.

A few ISO12,800 examples with the A6000 & 35mm F1.8 lens, converted from RAW:

I also need advice on settings for Peter Pan, Under the Seas, and all other dark rides. I have some decent shots for Under the Seas, but I am still having major problems with Peter Pan.

PP is legendary for being one of the most difficult - don't feel too bad. Even as you improve your results on others, you may find yourself still struggling on PP. It's mostly blacklight and very dark, plus you move at a faster pace than the boat rides. Shutter 1/100 is usually not enough, and ISO may be at 12,800 the whole way through.

I have seen some incredible shots of the parks after dark when they are empty. It seems to me that ISO 100 with a f/8 to 11 and a long exposure (6 seconds to over one minute) work best. What have you found that works?

Yes - use a tripod, use minimum ISO setting (100), and generally a stopped down aperture around F8 is a perfect starting point...if you're unsure, you can use A priority mode - set it to F8 with ISO100, and let the camera choose the shutter length - if the shot is too dark, dial in some EV +1 or +2 to expose longer...or dial EV down if it's overexposed. Also - I'd give you a Sony-specific recommendation: Consider using the built-in HDR mode if doing long exposures at night! It does a wonderful job at bringing up dark shadows and controlling bright lights, always a constant battle with night shots at Disney. You may want to turn off the long-exposure NR in the camera before shooting HDR night shots though - the camera will be taking 3 shots and merging them together - if you set to 5 seconds for example with HDR set to +3, the camera will take a 2.5 second exposure, 5 second exposure, and 10 second exposure. If you have long-exposure NR on, you'll also be getting a 2.5, 5, and 10 second dark frame - meaning it's going to take 45 seconds for the camera to finish the exposure instead of 17.5 seconds! The results of in-camera HDR at night for me are very pleasing and I can avoid any post processing or RAW conversions since it does such an excellent job of controlling highlights and shadows.

Here are a few examples of JPGs shot on a tripod with the A6000, using in-camera HDR mode - all straight out of the camera with no post-processing:

Hope that helps!

 

[havoc315]

Justin offered some great advice, I'd just comment on some of his comments...

I find JPG does fine for me 99% of the time, and use it most of the time when I shoot at Disney - if you are going to use RAW though, use it for dark rides, especially on those that you expect to be pushing ISOs over 6400, as it will let you pull some more detail out of shadows.

One can debate endlessly jpg vs raw. It really comes down to personal preference, how comfortable you are with post-processing, and how much time you want to spend post-processing. Personally, I feel I can almost always get better results by processing raw myself. BUT, those results are often very close, and raw processing is time consuming, and I am coming away from vacation with thousands of shots. So shooting jpg can be a real time-saver, and often you aren't giving up much. I shot my last August vacation all in raw,and I'm still not done with all my post-processing.
Where I would definitely use raw (or raw + jpg), would be dark rides, and sunrise/sunset landscapes. Also, though the advice is often to use raw when shooting high ISO, so that you can control the noise/detail in post... And that does make sense, but you really are just doing it to control noise. On the A6000, ISO 6400 files aren't going to have a ton of extra dynamic range. You really won't be able to pull much from shadows. On the other hand, I love shooting RAW with very low ISO, because you get huge dynamic range at low ISO. I'll intentionally reduce the exposure at low ISO, and I can effectively get an HDR shot, lifting the shadows in post.
So really depends on what you are hoping to pull out of each shot. I may end up using jpg for family snapshots and safari, but raw for "Disney" shots.

Remember that ISO is very much a personal thing - some people have such intolerance for any noise at all and want pixel-level perfection blown up to 100% viewable - and might consider ISO1600 that absolute maximum they feel OK with - while someone else might find the same camera completely comfortable at ISO6400. It's what you consider usable or not. For me personally, I consider ISO6400 to be the comfortable normal ISO level I'll shoot with on the A6000 in JPG, and can use up to ISO12,800 in a pinch if I feel it's really needed...moving up to RAW, I'm OK using ISO12,800 on the A6000, mostly for dark rides where you might really need it. ISO6400 is comfortable, ISO12,800 usable.

Totally true. I've seen people say about their full frame cameras, that anything over ISO 400 is unusable.
Just keep in mind, what are you hoping to do with the shot. If you are looking for a jpg that you can share on facebook, you can push the ISO pretty high. If you are looking for a large print to hang in your living room, you'll likely want to shoot raw at low ISO.
Basically, ISO at 400 or lower, you can get the highest quality jpgs, and raw files with almost no noise, and high dynamic range.
From around 800-3200, your jpgs will start to get a little mushy when pixel peeping, but you can still get good quality prints. 800-3200 in raw, you will get manageable noise, and some latitude in dynamic range, but far less than low ISO. Go over 3200, your jpgs will start to get noticeably more mushy as the ISO goes higher and higher. In raw, you will be able to preserve more detail, if you can live with a bit of noise in your images, and you really won't get much extra dynamic range wiggle room.

 

[hdmichael]

Remember focusing in very low light can be challenging - best method for me is to use flex spot focus point, and as I enter a scene, I find a well lit and contrasty point in the scene to focus on - a striped pirate shirt, the rim of a hat, the eyes on a face, etc - I use AF-S focus mode, and I half-press to acquire, and immediately trip the shutter when I get focus confirmed...no delay.

Thank you so much for your assistance. I have another question, this one related to using the flexible spot. I have been practicing for the last several minutes, but I am confused. Do I set a flexible spot and keep it that way? Or do I keep changing the flexible spot on the ride? I am having difficulty switching the spot quickly enough to get the shot on a slowly moving object. Also, I tried to take pictures of my cat (black and white) while he or I was moving, and the camera/ lens kept searching for a spot to lock on and focus: I was using the kit lens. Is this typical, or am I just making some obvious mistakes? I switched between the EVF and the live view, and that didn't seem to make a difference.

Also, I have the center button set to lock-on focus m(per suggestions from some of the videos I watched), should I change it back to the default so it can be used for flexible spot focusing?

Thanks so much!

 

[zackiedawg]

Thank you so much for your assistance. I have another question, this one related to using the flexible spot. I have been practicing for the last several minutes, but I am confused. Do I set a flexible spot and keep it that way? Or do I keep changing the flexible spot on the ride?

That one's up to what you're most comfortable with - some people like to move the spot around, but I find at least for that type of handheld shooting that it's preferable to leave the flex spot at center, and then just use the center area to gain focus, recompose and shoot. Between getting focus confirm on the spot, then moving and shooting, is less than 1/8 second - basically instant - you get used to quickly reframing as you hit the shutter.
Trying to move the flex spot point can be exceedingly difficult while moving and with a moving subject, so better to just leave the spot in the middle. I just find the 'spot' focus to be more accurate in low light than the center or wide focus areas.

I am having difficulty switching the spot quickly enough to get the shot on a slowly moving object. Also, I tried to take pictures of my cat (black and white) while he or I was moving, and the camera/ lens kept searching for a spot to lock on and focus: I was using the kit lens. Is this typical, or am I just making some obvious mistakes? I switched between the EVF and the live view, and that didn't seem to make a difference.

If you were in very low light when trying, it could just be typical slow focus in low light. The A6000 is actually not too bad, but it's not as quick as a DSLR in low light, so you have to help it along to get focus more quickly. Though the room probably wasn't super-dark, it was probably indoor light and with the slow kit lens, that meant you were giving the focus system very little to work with. Focus would be easier and more snappy with the 35mm F1.8 lens on, due to the much faster aperture. But also a low light focusing technique becomes more useful - knowing where the best spot is to focus on a subject - a glint of light on a reflective surface, or an area on your black and white cat where there's clear separation between the black and white, that line providing good contrast. Also note: you can choose the size of the flexible spot - so if leaving it on center, you can choose between small, medium, and large. The smallest point can get a little difficult to pinpoint focus, so I'd suggest leaving it on Medium for dark ride use - that usually gives enough area for the focus system to find something to lock on, but not so large that it can get distracted and focus on something unintended in the background.

 

[hdmichael]

I want to once again thank you for your responses and assistance!! Your photos are great!!!

I actually forgot that I had kept all of my Minolta lenses from the 1980s and 1990s: I was on a strict budget, so I don't have any of the expensive ones. However, I did find a Minolta 70-210/4 lens. I played with it a little eariler on the A77: inside, it hunted some but the pictures were sharp. Would this work on the safari, or is the lens going to hunt too much?

Also, based on your recommendations:
I changed the AF back to the shutter button. I had just changed it a couple of days ago and was still uncomfortable with the back focusing. It is much more comfortable this way.
Based upon what you said about why my shots might be blurry on the dark rides, I realized I was waiting between focusing and pushing the shutter button and spent time last night working on decreasing the time between the two. My shots of the dogs moving around the house became more in focus as I practiced.
I am going to try the HDR feature for some of the night shots as well as RAW. The photos using HDR above are stellar.
I am going to use flexible focus- with focus in the center. Should I use spot metering with that or multimetering? I used spot metering on previous trips.

Thank you!

 

[havoc315]

I want to once again thank you for your responses and assistance!! Your photos are great!!!

I actually forgot that I had kept all of my Minolta lenses from the 1980s and 1990s: I was on a strict budget, so I don't have any of the expensive ones. However, I did find a Minolta 70-210/4 lens. I played with it a little eariler on the A77: inside, it hunted some but the pictures were sharp. Would this work on the safari, or is the lens going to hunt too much?

Also, based on your recommendations:
I changed the AF back to the shutter button. I had just changed it a couple of days ago and was still uncomfortable with the back focusing. It is much more comfortable this way.
Based upon what you said about why my shots might be blurry on the dark rides, I realized I was waiting between focusing and pushing the shutter button and spent time last night working on decreasing the time between the two. My shots of the dogs moving around the house became more in focus as I practiced.
I am going to try the HDR feature for some of the night shots as well as RAW. The photos using HDR above are stellar.
I am going to use flexible focus- with focus in the center. Should I use spot metering with that or multimetering? I used spot metering on previous trips.

Thank you!

The 70-210/4 is the famous Minolta beercan. It is showing it's age, but it's still a special lens. It should be fine on the safari. Focus should work fine in good light.

This was from the beercan:

novplayground-6.jpg by Adam Brown, on Flickr

 

[hdmichael]

That is a great photo with that lens. I have been practicing with the lens and learning the tricks for focusing it correctly.

 

[zackiedawg]

However, I did find a Minolta 70-210/4 lens. I played with it a little eariler on the A77: inside, it hunted some but the pictures were sharp. Would this work on the safari, or is the lens going to hunt too much?

I agree with Havoc - it's a solid lens, well respected and even hunted down by a lot of Alpha shooters - it should do fine for safari ride needs. 200mm on APS-C is good for most of what you see, so I'd take that lens over the 75mm one.

I am going to use flexible focus- with focus in the center. Should I use spot metering with that or multimetering? I used spot metering on previous trips.

Spot metering can work well when you have more time to take the shot - you can move the spot around and adjust your exposure watching the EVF - and you can use the AE Lock button to lock it down when you get it the way you want. But spot metering can be tricky when you're trying to shoot quickly, because the tiniest difference in where that spot is pointed can drastically change the metering of the shot. I personally was never too excited about multi- or wide mode metering, as too often I think it can mess up when there's a light subject against a lot of dark background or vice versa. The one I've always preferred personally is Center-weighted metering. It's like wide, in that it considers the whole scene, but it puts more weight on what's in the center - so shooting a bright subject on a dark background it will give more consideration to the bright subject and bring the metering down, but not as aggressively as spot metering, and less susceptible to small movements causing huge metering adjustments.

 

[havoc315]

I agree with Havoc - it's a solid lens, well respected and even hunted down by a lot of Alpha shooters - it should do fine for safari ride needs. 200mm on APS-C is good for most of what you see, so I'd take that lens over the 75mm one.



Spot metering can work well when you have more time to take the shot - you can move the spot around and adjust your exposure watching the EVF - and you can use the AE Lock button to lock it down when you get it the way you want. But spot metering can be tricky when you're trying to shoot quickly, because the tiniest difference in where that spot is pointed can drastically change the metering of the shot. I personally was never too excited about multi- or wide mode metering, as too often I think it can mess up when there's a light subject against a lot of dark background or vice versa. The one I've always preferred personally is Center-weighted metering. It's like wide, in that it considers the whole scene, but it puts more weight on what's in the center - so shooting a bright subject on a dark background it will give more consideration to the bright subject and bring the metering down, but not as aggressively as spot metering, and less susceptible to small movements causing huge metering adjustments.

It's totally off-topic, but spot metering is still a place where Sony lags behind. On Nikon cameras, spot metering can be tied to the AF point, instead of being centered. So it's the same spot as your focus point.

 

[hdmichael]

Thanks again. I think because I have been watching so many videos, etc. on the Sony a6000, I have been all over the board with exposure numbers and focusing- even more so than before. I now have a notebook with S, A, and ISO for the pictures online that I really want to try to duplicate the exposure, and I am going to carry that around. LOL. I leave next week and will be there for about 8 days. I will share my favorites, if any, when I get back.

 

[havoc315]

Thanks again. I think because I have been watching so many videos, etc. on the Sony a6000, I have been all over the board with exposure numbers and focusing- even more so than before. I now have a notebook with S, A, and ISO for the pictures online that I really want to try to duplicate the exposure, and I am going to carry that around. LOL. .

Careful.... You can't just duplicate settings to duplicate exposure. If a different camera was used, then the same settings can still produce a different exposure. And if the lighting is not EXACTLY the same as the prior picture, then the settings will be different. So if you are looking at a picture of the castle taken at sunrise on a clear day -- the settings will be very different then the castle at noon, which will be very different than the settings on a cloudy day.
You may get some consistency with dark rides -- At least, if you are talking about the same scene, in the same dark ride. But even within a dark ride, the settings will vary.

I just taught a photography class... and there was an instinct among students to try to memorize settings. I worked hard to encourage them, that you can't memorize settings, you just need to understand how they work, so you can make the decisions as you go.

 

[hdmichael]

Thank you for your response. I know what you mean about trying to duplicate exposure. I find it difficult to get it right: 80% of the time, it is not what I want even when I think it works by looking at the photo in the camera.

I thought I would look at the perimeters for the dark ride shots and the evening shots to get an idea of what might work. I am looking at the lenses and cameras that are used. For outside daylight shots, I think I am going to try Manual exposure and Shutter Priority, maybe. I have reread Understanding Exposure, and I am reading Exposure- A Field Guide. Exposure is such an art, I would be happy to get a dozen shots I like as far as it goes.