Getting stuck in again, but with what kit...?

kh_42

kh_42

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Hey folks, I'm just returning to this forum, and photography, after a loooooong time away (during which I had kids - who knew they could be so time consuming?!) Anyway, there are a couple of reasons I'm back into the fray, firstly, with the little angels being slightly older, I have more time on my hands to get back into this hobby and secondly, I'm living in the US for a couple of years and fully intend to travel around a lot, I'd like to capture as much of this adventure as I can!

So what am I asking? Advice, good old-fashioned, honest. I used to have a 30D, which I basically stopped using because I was already lugging around so much baby paraphernalia that it was just too cumbersome and as a result, became severely underused. To try and give myself half a chance, and also have something that my wife could easily use to capture the rapidly growing nipper, I traded it in for a CSC, specifically the Sony NEX-6 complete with kit lens and a 55-210mm zoom. (which felt like a good deal!)

That brings me to where I am now, almost 4 years later and somewhat out of practice. However, with the lure of some stunning landscapes and lots of family adventures to look forward too I need to get myself going again. Now getting out and about with the camera is the first step - obviously I know that - and with the autumn colours just around the corner I will have plenty of opportunities to do just that. What bothers me is that in that four years, I have struggled to get the quality of image I'd like from the Sony. The images it produces just seem soft and flat to me, no matter what I do. I always shoot RAW (either alone or with JPEG too) and no matter what I try in PP I just can't seem to bring them up to par. I accept it could be that I'm just very poor in LR/PS and will continue to work on that. But it has also got me wondering about re-investing in an SLR. Thankfully, I have that wonderful 'photographer's conscience' (known, colloquially, as the wife) to make sure I'm properly considering my thought processes.

Basically, I have been looking at the D750, which I like a lot and seems very well regarded. I want. But, do I need? I have also been considering investing instead in some new, better glass for the NEX to see if that helps. Specifically, the Sigma 19mm and the Sony 35mm which the Internet tells me is a great combination of lenses for landscape and people shots - with a considerable improvement in image quality. One option will cost me 2K, the other about 400 quid.

Now, as I write that, the answer almost seems obvious, however having rambled for this long I'd be interested in what you good folks think?!

Cheers,

Kris
 
Have you checked on flickr at Sony a6000 shots with the two primes? That would be my first port of call. Or you could look at the fujifilm x series which everyone seems to say look great straight out of camera in JPEG with no editting
 
What lenses would you buy if you got the D750? I personally think £2000 seems a bit cheap as you'd possibly want 24-70 and 70-200mm lenses to cover a decent range...
 
Sony a6000 would be a great option. I had some great to excellent results with the Sigma 60mm FN 2.8.
 
Scirocco_09 said:
What lenses would you buy if you got the D750? I personally think £2000 seems a bit cheap as you'd possibly want 24-70 and 70-200mm lenses to cover a decent range...
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Thats with the 24-120 f/4 VR lens. That would have to do me for a while, but thank you for reminding me again how once it starts, it never stops... :)
 
n0chex said:
Sony a6000 would be a great option. I had some great to excellent results with the Sigma 60mm FN 2.8.
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Not a bad shout, advantage being I can keep existing lenses and probably sell the NEX to help fund it, only issue is that then the cost starts creeping up again, although hasn't it been replaced with the a6300? Perhaps some bargains to be had...or indeed an ugrade somewhere in between my two original options.
 
I'm sorry I meant the nex6 not the A6000. Search for images taken with the camera an sigma 30mm.
 
When you say the images from the nex 6 are not up to par what do you mean? Do you mean you had better images from your 30d or you mean you have looked at other peoples images with a nex 6 and yours aren't as good?
 
Photopaque said:
When you say the images from the nex 6 are not up to par what do you mean? Do you mean you had better images from your 30d or you mean you have looked at other peoples images with a nex 6 and yours aren't as good?
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I suppose its a bit of both, but also they just aren't as good as I'd expect them to be, if that makes sense. Its not an incapable bit of kit by any means and I don't think I'm a complete numpty when it comes to photography, so I'm just disappointed at the quality of the image. Perhaps I'm just expecting too much?
 
kh_42 said:
I suppose its a bit of both, but also they just aren't as good as I'd expect them to be, if that makes sense. Its not an incapable bit of kit by any means and I don't think I'm a complete numpty when it comes to photography, so I'm just disappointed at the quality of the image. Perhaps I'm just expecting too much?
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I'm not sure about you expecting too much but there does seem to be something wrong here. I had a 20D for over 7 years and as far as I know the 30D had the same sensor so I should be pretty familiar with the image quality you get from these cameras and good though they are I think that a much more modern camera (and the Nex 6 is) should be easily capable of better results unless the lens on the newer camera is a complete duffer, and modern lenses don't tend to be.

I think that before buying anything else you should go back to basics if necessary and see if you can try and pin down what problems you are having as something seems to be amiss either when the shots are taken or in processing.
 
Perhaps you're right, maybe I'm over-estimating my own ability! Hopefully I'll figure it out shortly, I don't want to miss out on too much - we've got the autumn colours starting to appear now and I want to make sure to capture that! Thanks all for the thoughts and advice - very much appreciated!
 
kh_42 said:
What bothers me is that in that four years, I have struggled to get the quality of image I'd like from the Sony. The images it produces just seem soft and flat to me, no matter what I do. I always shoot RAW (either alone or with JPEG too) and no matter what I try in PP I just can't seem to bring them up to par.
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I think we should start here.

It's widely accepted that RAW files need a certain amount of processing, even to get them up to the standard of in-camera JPEG images. And in-camera JPEG conversions are mostly pretty good these days. So I feel the need to ask whether it's your processed RAW files, or your processed in-camera JPEGs, which are not up to par. I also feel the need to ask how much you've experimented with the camera's JPEG conversion settings (contrast, sharpness, etc}.
 
Its both - I accept completely that I may not be doing a stellar job of processing the RAW files, are there any particular things you think I should be doing? The JPEGS are also not that sharp, although I confess that I haven't played with the in-camera settings. I'll have a bit of a play and see if it makes a difference.

Thanks to everyone who has responded for offering up thoughts and suggestions, its much appreciated - I'm starting to feel like I need to strip everything right back to the very basics and re-learn how to do this!
 
kh_42 said:
Its both - I accept completely that I may not be doing a stellar job of processing the RAW files, are there any particular things you think I should be doing? The JPEGS are also not that sharp, although I confess that I haven't played with the in-camera settings. I'll have a bit of a play and see if it makes a difference.

Thanks to everyone who has responded for offering up thoughts and suggestions, its much appreciated - I'm starting to feel like I need to strip everything right back to the very basics and re-learn how to do this!
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Maybe you could start with some standard sharpening and noise reduction settings for your gear and processing package?

Maybe you could Google your way to so starting settings or maybe someone here with the same software could give you a starting point?

I think that a good starting point for sharpness and noise reduction is a lot easier a starting point than wading through endless gobbledegook and trying to figure it out from scratch. You can play with contrast, saturation and such like for best effect later.
 
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