Calling all Sony Alpha users! (Part 5)

Beer_Stalker said:
The KM 17-35mm f2.8-4 is a nice UWA lens on FF. It is soft wide open but you don't often use a UWA wide open. On APS-C it's not as good as it's no longer UWA and has a limited zoom range.
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After receiving all your comments

tamron 17-55 2.8
sony zc 16-80 3.5
tokina 11-16
i love to get them all but funds will not allow
 
Beer_Stalker said:
The KM 17-35mm f2.8-4 is a nice UWA lens on FF. It is soft wide open...
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No its not. I posted crops here compared to a Zeiss 16-35 and there really isn't much in it, apart from extreme corners (which no one looks at)
 
puddleduck said:
No its not. I posted crops here compared to a Zeiss 16-35 and there really isn't much in it, apart from extreme corners (which no one looks at)
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OK, your copy is OK wide open but my one isn't. The CZ16-35 I tried at a Sony Expo was far better but since I don't use it wide open it'll do for now.
 
Beer_Stalker said:
OK, your copy is OK wide open but my one isn't. The CZ16-35 I tried at a Sony Expo was far better but since I don't use it wide open it'll do for now.
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so by that are we saying go for cz 16-80 ? if so what kind of monies are we talking ?
 
they are about £500, i have been looking at that or a sigma 17-70 or 17-50

i keep hoping one comes up in the 4sale section :(
 
The CZ 16-80 is advertised at £500 at the new oxford street jessops branch. Still a lot of money for what it is.

As a wide angle the Tokina is very, very good.
 
It's been rumoured for a long time, good to see it has finally arrived. I will be downloading and installing this evening I think.
 
ki_user said:
Not that I have one of these, but either I'm being thick or I can't find it on the site.
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It's not on the European sites yet.

I've put it on my A850. No IQ improvements (as expected) but focus with a screw lens is much, much faster and SSM lenses hunt less in low light.
 
Talking of the A900, don't know if I mentioned this, but I noticed the shutter sound on body 2 is much quieter and "lighter" sounding than my oldest one.

Anyone who has a A900 will recognise the typical "clonk" noise, the newer body I am 100% sure has a different shutter mech...
 
Mine must be older then, it gives a fairly solid clonk, almost like a car door being shut. When I first got it and fired a couple of single test shots I wondered that it would do 5fps (it does, obviously).
 
onomatopoeia said:
Mine must be older then, it gives a fairly solid clonk, almost like a car door being shut.
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Yep, thats the sound exactly - living up to your username there Mark, with that description :)

My first two bodies were purchased May 2009 and Sept 2009, and have the same distinctive "clonk"

Newest addition to the fleet was bought September 2010 is quieter, and sounds smoother.
 
civicboy40 said:
Mines not too loud either.......but i think i need to send mine to sony at some point, seems to struggle with focus sometimes.
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In what way? The center AF point is very accurate. If you are using the off center AF points, as these are not "+" shaped these will never be as good as the center point.

I've never had a problem with A900 focus, apparently the new firrmware improves this. I haven't bothered upgrading as I don't have a problem but I might this weekend.

Make sure you are setting up for "Focus" priority, with Spot focus.
 
evo456 said:
The CZ 16-80 is advertised at £500 at the new oxford street jessops branch. Still a lot of money for what it is.

As a wide angle the Tokina is very, very good.
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CZ 16-80 are available second-hand, but go quickly. I bought one last month from LCE, cost me £350. Great lens on my A700
 
Hi guys,

anyone had experience with sending in their equipment for repair to Sony. The diffuser panel has broken on my 58am flash :crying:

Last time I sent a camera in it was taken care off centrally, not sure about accessories.

Cheers
 
Care to mention any names of co, it seems the flash needs to be farmed out to service centres- and I'm not sure which one's are better than others. Otherwise I may attempt to dissect the flash myself...
 
I've found Sony's service center in Pencoed to be excellent.

-My first A900 mount failed and they got it fixed and returned to me in 6 workings day.
-I got my Zeiss 24-70 barrel tightened (it was a little wobbly on extension which is a knwon issue) with 1 day warranty remaining - also fixed within 6 days.
-The A/S on my A200 failed and that took a while (over Christmas last year) but that was also done.

My impression is that Sony do excellent work on the camera service side of things. Everything has been done under warranty with no quibble or extra charges.
 
Finally got round to updating one of my A900 bodies to V2.00 firmware.


DSC01710.jpg

​

The body on the left is my "old faithful" that I use for all my nature and wildlife work. The RRS-less body on the right is my event shooting body, so might benefit from the AF upgrade. If the upgrade is OK, then I might upgrade my main body, although I'm always "if it ain't broke, don't fix it!" when firmware updating is concerned so we'll see.

Upgrade was painless, turn off body, whack the file into the root directory of the memory stick, then switch on while holding down "menu". Took about 90 seconds.

Will report back more on any differences (if I can spot them!)
 
Well I had a little panic with this, at first my 70-200 wouldn't focus on anything. Then I realised I had the 3m limit switch on which is not that useful in the small room I am sat in ...

Can't really tell any difference on the SSM lens as that always locked very quickly but since I'm interested in how that works for motorsport, focusing on my furniture is a bit of a waste of time anyway. The screw driven ZA prime lenses seem to lock more quickly but it's so subjective. I should have done some tests on the same subjects immediately before doing the upgrade I suppose.

Conclusion: AF feels quicker, no sign at all of any decrease in focus performance.
 
Just had quick play with my Tamron 70-200 f/2.8 on both bodies.

I think its probably a bit quicker, but too be honest its not jumping out at me. I'm wondering if I would have spotted. As you said its subjective..

I think I'll probably leave the old faithful on v1.00 for now.
 
puddleduck said:
I've found Sony's service center in Pencoed to be excellent.

-My first A900 mount failed and they got it fixed and returned to me in 6 workings day.
-I got my Zeiss 24-70 barrel tightened (it was a little wobbly on extension which is a knwon issue) with 1 day warranty remaining - also fixed within 6 days.
-The A/S on my A200 failed and that took a while (over Christmas last year) but that was also done.

My impression is that Sony do excellent work on the camera service side of things. Everything has been done under warranty with no quibble or extra charges.
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Fantastic, I'll give Pencoed a call tomorrow to arrange repair.

Incidently I found my 24-70 also a bit wobbly, not flapping all over the place- maybe .5mm of movement, although it has never given me any image related problems.

I covered a charity event yesterday using the upgraded v2 firmware on my A850, the beercan seem to perform better and hunted the full range less than before. Focus lock was accurate- although the A850/900 were very good already in this regard.
 
puddleduck said:
In what way? The center AF point is very accurate. If you are using the off center AF points, as these are not "+" shaped these will never be as good as the center point.

I've never had a problem with A900 focus, apparently the new firrmware improves this. I haven't bothered upgrading as I don't have a problem but I might this weekend.

Make sure you are setting up for "Focus" priority, with Spot focus.
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I'll check that, really should have read the manual by now...it seems to struggle to focus on anything thats moving, my A700 was always fine with this..but I find the A900 i have just isnt anything like i would expect at all.
 
evo456 said:
although the A850/900 were very good already in this regard.
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Indeed, I just ran out and tried my old faithful v1.00 body shooting a torture test with fast moving ice skaters wide open with a Sigma 50mm f/1.4 HSM using AF-C tracking.

These are the JPGs from the CF card just re-sized. Even with v1.00 (which I never had a problem with), focus is spot on :shrug:



DSC02224-web.jpg


DSC02236-web.jpg


​

So I'm keeping the old faithul on v1.00 tbh!
 
ki_user said:
Must have just been unlucky with my repair, my a500 was back focusing like a b**ch, took them 3 weeks to try and sort it but gave me a new one in the end.
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Manufacturers get **** loads of camera and lenses returned for back-focus or front-focus. Most are user error or because they did something silly like shoot an angled test chart.

So focus problems get low priority because they are almost always not a real issue and waste a lot of time.

Blame the test chart shooters for your genuine delay ;)
 
puddleduck said:
Manufacturers get **** loads of camera and lenses returned for back-focus or front-focus. Most are user error or because they did something silly like shoot an angled test chart.

So focus problems get low priority because they are almost always not a real issue and waste a lot of time.

Blame the test chart shooters for your genuine delay ;)
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The swines :razz:

The fact they cocked up the repair didn't help either. I phoned to ask about progress, they said it had been repaired and waiting to be tested, cool me thinks, phoned up the day after and it had failed the testing :crying:
 
http://www.flickr.com/groups/sony-alpha/discuss/72157614088133145/

Some interesting stuff on back focussing.

Anyone else with a sony alpha find low light under energy saving bulbs a swine to focus under? Even with a minolta 1.7 it's struggling under certain conditions. Move frame of view slightly and it can be ok. Does me head in!

So tempted to do the 0% finance and get an A580 from jessops while the cash back is still on...
 
I'm also wondering which flashgun to get. They have a nice looking metz (always wanted a metz!) for £80 in jessops. The jessops own brand seems to be slated. Other choice is sony but the cheaper one doesn't do as much as the jessops so feels a bit pointless which leaves the £200 one which is a bit expensive.

Is the jessops own brand one really bad?
 
srichards said:
I'm also wondering which flashgun to get. They have a nice looking metz (always wanted a metz!) for £80 in jessops. The jessops own brand seems to be slated. Other choice is sony but the cheaper one doesn't do as much as the jessops so feels a bit pointless which leaves the £200 one which is a bit expensive.

Is the jessops own brand one really bad?
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Nope, I'm shooting professionally with it and it hasn't let me down since, and I've had it for over 15 months now and shot countless portraits and weddings. If you have the cash then buy the sony f42am but for budget I highly recommend the jessops gun :)
 
srichards said:
I'm also wondering which flashgun to get. They have a nice looking metz (always wanted a metz!) for £80 in jessops. The jessops own brand seems to be slated. Other choice is sony but the cheaper one doesn't do as much as the jessops so feels a bit pointless which leaves the £200 one which is a bit expensive.

Is the jessops own brand one really bad?
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It is not really bad, it is just better then build in flash. You can get one for £40-£50 with very litle use, sony fit of course. (y)
 
Jessops one it is then :) Don't know how much I'm going to use it so I'd rather not use a £70 flash than a £200 one!
 
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