Calling all Sony Alpha users! (Part 4)

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What Sigma? If its an HSM you are stuffed. Sigma HSM and Kenko never work together.

If its an older non-HSM it should work.

Weather for Duxford tomorrow is going to be dire looking at the dark clouds of doom hovering over Cambridge right now.
 
You can get a Sigma TC, but you've got to get the version that supports HSM.

Most delears don't know there are two types:

1) Sigma 2.0x EX DG (non HSM)
2) Sigma 2.0x EX DG (HSM version)

Unfortunately the boxes are the same!
 
Funny you should mention, I had to point that out to Park cameras last week!

If your still intrested in the sony tc let me know...otherwise I shall get it up for sale again.the annoying thing is every advert ive check from retailors not one specifies which sony lenses work with it....bit off if you ask me.
 
civicboy40 said:
Funny you should mention, I had to point that out to Park cameras last week!

If your still intrested in the sony tc let me know...otherwise I shall get it up for sale again.the annoying thing is every advert ive check from retailors not one specifies which sony lenses work with it....bit off if you ask me.
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Yeah, I need to make sure it'll work with my lenses, the one I need it most with is my 80-200 f/2.8 APO HS. I don't plan to put a 2x on the 70-400 SSM, as 800mm f/11 isn't much use really!

I'll do a bit of reading... and try to figure out what it'll fit (it might be just SSM, I'm not sure)
 
civicboy40 said:
Funny you should mention, I had to point that out to Park cameras last week!

If your still intrested in the sony tc let me know...otherwise I shall get it up for sale again.the annoying thing is every advert ive check from retailors not one specifies which sony lenses work with it....bit off if you ask me.
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Well I'm probably going to chance Duxford.. keep an eye out for me, I'll have a A900 with the 70-400 SSM on, and as Sony owners are as rare as rocking horse you-know-what we might spot each other. I might also take a Nikon D300 with me as well (not sure.. might just take an A700 as second body)

I'll pop that Kenko TC in the bag but I really don't think it'll do what you need.
 
can anybody suggest a decent very wide angle lens for shooting landscapes and architecture shots??

I am looking the in the region of 10 - 30mm. The kit lens with my A200 is ok but it does have a lot of distortion when shooting near the 18mm mark which is a shame as I don't know how to get rid of the distortion.

Cheers guys
 
you can get rid of distortion in photoshop...go to filter>distort>lens correction.if it's perspective,then use the crop tool to put the "marching ants" around the shot in question,then tick the perspective box,and drag the corners so the marching ants are parallel with the building sides etc,drag the other corner to the extreme sides,then click on the "tick" in the toolbar...hope this helps,although i've not best described how to :bonk: (y)
 
TurnipFarmer said:
can anybody suggest a decent very wide angle lens for shooting landscapes and architecture shots??

I am looking the in the region of 10 - 30mm. The kit lens with my A200 is ok but it does have a lot of distortion when shooting near the 18mm mark which is a shame as I don't know how to get rid of the distortion.

Cheers guys
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Bit confused on this one, won't all lenses distort when you go further away from line of sight?

As for wide angle I have the sony 11-18mm and love it.
 
On searching some of my pics I've only got a couple, not used it as much as I should. I'm off out today to have a play.

26872_385138512476_722067476_4446940_340341_n.jpg
 
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civicboy40 said:
Anyone looking for a 2 x sony teleconveror? or even better got a 2 x sigma to swap for one....
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I'm interested as you know, but I'm not sure if it'll work on my 80-200 APO HS?

Does it have a screwdrive fitting, or it is just electrical contacts (so SSM only)

I sold my Sigma 70-200 f/2.8 HSM last week funnily enough, as it was such a git for find TC's for it!
 
Fabs original pics on still on his for sale advert..so have a look on that,

I just want to get it gone now, as its useless to me, and i spent my spare money till payday on it....

will you do me fav though please Pudleduck.......have a look at my duxford pics on my flickr..I cant work out if my lens is dirtry ( its one I hate so rarely use) or i have a horrible amount of sensor dust forming?
 
puddleduck said:
I'm interested as you know, but I'm not sure if it'll work on my 80-200 APO HS?

Does it have a screwdrive fitting, or it is just electrical contacts (so SSM only)
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I don't think you with be able to mount the lens to the converter.

See this http://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/faq.php#TC_80-200_dam

and

http://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/lenses.php#tcs

Might be of some interest.

Appearts the Sony converters are the same as the Minolta (D) versions with 8 contacts and a screw drive. My 1.4x is, anyway. I don't own a 2x
 
civicboy40 said:
Fabs original pics on still on his for sale advert..so have a look on that,

I just want to get it gone now, as its useless to me, and i spent my spare money till payday on it....

will you do me fav though please Pudleduck.......have a look at my duxford pics on my flickr..I cant work out if my lens is dirtry ( its one I hate so rarely use) or i have a horrible amount of sensor dust forming?
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Sensor dust, dust in or on a lens can never show.

I had a few dust bunnies too (check 2nd pic)

http://www.talkphotography.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=229198


I'll probably clean my sensor over the weekned :LOL:
 
onomatopoeia said:
I don't think you with be able to mount the lens to the converter.

See this http://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/faq.php#TC_80-200_dam

and

http://www.mhohner.de/sony-minolta/lenses.php#tcs

Might be of some interest.

Appearts the Sony converters are the same as the Minolta (D) versions with 8 contacts and a screw drive. My 1.4x is, anyway. I don't own a 2x
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Cheers, looks like no go then :(

I'm quite tempted to get a Sony 70-200 SSM and replace my Minolta 80-200 APO HS, but the HS is sooooo good (it smokes the Sigma 70-200 HSM wide open), I'm not sure it'll be worth the £500 price difference!

Plus I have the 70-400 SSM anyhow, so can do 400mm already...
 
civicboy40 said:
Ok well back to the drawing board then :(
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Seems that TC only works with 4 lenses :(

I think your best bet is to order an HSM 2x if you can find one. Although I think you'd be happier with a 1.4x.

Or just buy a Sony 70-400 SSM which really is a super lens and surprises me (in a nice way!) whenever I use it!
 
Just a question of curiosity - I use my Sony A700 for Landscape mainly and a lot of low light at that (sunset/sunrise) and have noticed the noise in some scenes is a bit more than appreciated.

Now I use ISO 100 tripod mounted - I know it's base ISO is 200 but it feels wrong using it, however using a lower ISO than base would this increase my noise factor?

I have version 4 firmware too btw.

Can anyone recommend anything good for noise reduction?
 
Using ISO100 loses you 1 stop of DR, and is the same as shooting at ISO200 +1 EV then bringing the exposure back -1EV in a raw converter.

However as you are essentially exposing the shadows 1 stop higher, you shouldn't see much noise.

However it's well known the A100, A200, A300 and A350 all with native ISO100 produce better IQ than the A700 at ISO200 (Nikon D300 shares the same sensor,and same issues)

Make sure you are not using Zone Matching (set it to -1) and also make sure DRO is set to Off.
 
Granty_ said:
Thank you - DRO is off and I think I'll give it a go at 200 then and see what that yields...slightly annoying as I used to have an A200!
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The Sony CMOS sensor with base ISO of 200 is definately noiser at low ISO than the previous Sony CCD sensor based with native ISO of 100.

Even DPReview (who are not very good with real world results, frankly) noticed this in their recent D300s review mentioning low ISO grain. A700 has the same sensor.
 
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Granty_ said:
Hmmm this is not good for me....can't quite afford an A900 yet either and wouldn't want to go back to an A200.
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Are you printing? If so, doesn't matter.

I'm guessing you are seeing sky noise in the dark tones, and general grain in shadow errors.

Post some crops.
 
Where I notice it most, is where I shoot a scene that's mainly orange and blacks...maybe its the contrast of only having two colours that makes it very noticeable, as there is no where for it to hide and blend.

I will be printing if I do ever sell them, I just wouldn't want it to be on my website, someone order it and it not to be up to quality. Also they stand no chance of getting in alamy which is a shame.

Here are a few crops:

crop1.jpg


crop2.jpg


crop3.jpg
 
Granty_ said:
Where I notice it most, is where I shoot a scene that's mainly orange and blacks...maybe its the contrast of only having two colours that makes it very noticeable, as there is no where for it to hide and blend.

Here are a few crops:

crop1.jpg
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Thats pretty typical from that sensor.

Just FYI here is the Sony A900 at ISO200:

a900-iso200.jpg


100%

a900-iso200-crop.jpg



You should be able to improve your IQ a bit mind you. Don't underexpose, try ISO160 (which is effectively the same as shooting ISO200 with +1/3EV). Don't boost shadows in PP if you can help it. Use Capture One, or RawTherepee over Abobe if shooting RAW. Don't use Zone setting of 0 as it biases the meter 1/3EV under.

HTH
 
Granty_ said:
Thanks - I do tend to under expose for a shot when looking at the histograms.
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Histograms are no good as they are based on the in-camera embedded JPG, which is using pre-cooked white balance.

If you go by the histogram you can underexpose by nearly 1EV (check how the channel levels change when wb changes).

Lightroom and ACR applies an under-the-hood +0.7EV "boost" which is not ideal as this boosts shadow noise.
 
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^^ Something else to bear in mind with lightroom and the A700 is the preset for the camera, automatically increases brightness by +50 before youve even done anything to a file, so it may well benifit you to creatate a custom profile for your camera too.

( thats obv assuming you use lightroom of course!)

ive ' flirted with capture one 5 pro and find it much better, but a pain to save batch files...
 
puddleduck said:
Histograms are no good as they are based on the in-camera embedded JPG, which is using pre-cooked white balance.

If you go by the histogram you can underexpose by nearly 1EV (check how the channel levels change when wb changes).

Lightroom and ACR applies an under-the-hood +0.7EV "boost" which is not ideal as this boosts shadow noise.
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Thanks - so why are people so religious by the histogram then?
 
Granty_ said:
Thanks - so why are people so religious by the histogram then?
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Histogram is fine for JPG shooters, but it not useful for RAW as you are not seeing the raw data histogram, just the histogram based on the in-camera JPEG preview.
 
Granty_ said:
Okey doke....what about checking the on screen pictures for blown highlights etc?

I'd have thought anyone using an histogram religiously wouldn't use JPG! lol
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My A900 has approximately +1.3EV more highlight headroom than indicated by the histo.

I'd advise taking a few shots - manual exposure - same exposure each time, same subject - then just messing around with WB to see how it influences the histo (watch those R,G,B channels change!). You should be able to work out how much "headroom" you have.

If you really want to know what is going on Google "UniWB" but even I'm not hardcore enough to go down that route! But the UniWB concept is aimed at providing a WB neutral raw histogram.

See how you get on with ISO160 vs ISO200. That will cost you a little highlight DR, but you might see a shadow improvement.
 
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