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TheEmrys
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Thu May 02, 2013 11:02 am

Here is a pretty cool link to sample images people take with the Tokina you mentioned. http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/topic70031.html
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Thu May 02, 2013 1:54 pm

TheEmrys wrote:
Here is a pretty cool link to sample images people take with the Tokina you mentioned. http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/topic70031.html


Those are fantastic images; perfect examples of why I want an ultra wide angle lens.
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Thu May 02, 2013 2:30 pm

flip-mode wrote:
TheEmrys wrote:
Here is a pretty cool link to sample images people take with the Tokina you mentioned. http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/topic70031.html


Those are fantastic images; perfect examples of why I want an ultra wide angle lens.


Indeed ... my Fuji XF 14mm 2.8 is in customs. I should have it in a day or so. Excited.
Fuji X-E1 Leica Elmar 135 4 XF60mm 2.4 Macro | Zeiss FE 35mm 2.8
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Airmantharp
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Thu May 02, 2013 4:38 pm

I've been pouring over the Canon-mount ultra-wides, but given the relative quality of the 15mm end on my 15-85, needing distortion correction only while providing a 3.5 aperture and IS, I can't bring myself to swallow the $300+ entry price :).

The fisheyes, though, are looking interesting. 8mm seems to be a pretty good focal length for crop there, though I'd have to make sure it's useful on full-frame too.
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Tue May 07, 2013 5:34 pm

Been doing some shooting (military stuff, can't share), but I did want to point out that Adobe's Lightroom 5 is in beta. It will work for free until sometime in June, and it's the best all-around photo editor/manager available, and definitely worth learning.
 
TheEmrys
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Tue May 07, 2013 5:52 pm

Airmantharp wrote:
Been doing some shooting (military stuff, can't share), but I did want to point out that Adobe's Lightroom 5 is in beta. It will work for free until sometime in June, and it's the best all-around photo editor/manager available, and definitely worth learning.


Is it that much different from 4?
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Tue May 07, 2013 6:14 pm

TheEmrys wrote:
Airmantharp wrote:
Been doing some shooting (military stuff, can't share), but I did want to point out that Adobe's Lightroom 5 is in beta. It will work for free until sometime in June, and it's the best all-around photo editor/manager available, and definitely worth learning.


Is it that much different from 4?


I've only used 3 previously, which doesn't support a number of lenses I'm using regularly (24mm f/2.8 IS, 40mm f/2.8 STM at least), while 5 does.
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Tue May 07, 2013 6:47 pm

Woah, it supports lenses? Heh, cool.
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Wed May 08, 2013 1:52 pm

Image

A rabbit went to lunch. Using the 70-300 IS USM with PP in LR5 beta.
 
TheEmrys
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Wed May 08, 2013 2:00 pm

flip-mode wrote:
Woah, it supports lenses? Heh, cool.


LR4 does as well. It mostly does correction for distortion. However, if you check your camera body, you have some in-body distortion correct built-in for some Sony lenses. If you check dyxum, there are some pre-made lens correction profiles for LR and they are pretty handy.
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Fri May 10, 2013 8:59 am

TheEmrys wrote:
flip-mode wrote:
Woah, it supports lenses? Heh, cool.


LR4 does as well. It mostly does correction for distortion. However, if you check your camera body, you have some in-body distortion correct built-in for some Sony lenses. If you check dyxum, there are some pre-made lens correction profiles for LR and they are pretty handy.


Yup, you can get distortion and vignetting (corner shading) correction for most brand lenses on most bodies. Lightroom just gives you a total solution in this regard, while giving you the ability to manage your photos and do critical processing quickly. it's not necessary if you're only shooting a few dozen shots a week, but I took over 700 shots last weekend... management helps :). In other news, I just grabbed the latest Magic Lantern and tested the HDR bracketing feature:

Image
60D with 100L Macro and 50/1.4 generating HDR with Magic Lantern and PhotoMerge Exposure by John C. Tharp, on Flickr
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Fri May 10, 2013 9:28 am

Interesting: that is not the kind of shot that I assumed HDR was good for. My understanding is that HDR takes the darks from the overexposed shot, the highlights from the underexposed shot, and merges them into the properly exposed shot. But with the photo you've posted above, I'm not thinking there would be much need for that. Can you post the bracketed shots to your photostream as well?
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Fri May 10, 2013 9:37 am

flip-mode wrote:
Interesting: that is not the kind of shot that I assumed HDR was good for. My understanding is that HDR takes the darks from the overexposed shot, the highlights from the underexposed shot, and merges them into the properly exposed shot. But with the photo you've posted above, I'm not thinking there would be much need for that. Can you post the bracketed shots to your photostream as well?


Sure- those shots were my 'proofing' of the HDR function. The challenge, as you'd expect, is that you need the camera and subject to be still for the duration of the shoot, which may take ~20 seconds. My first efforts were not usable, and Photoshop made ugly work of those captures. In the ones I posted above, I was able to keep the camera still, even at close distances, and get sharp captures- also, these were shot with a single ugly incandescent light overhead.
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Fri May 10, 2013 9:56 am

Ah, cool. I did notice the other shot of the can on your photostream that looked very much like lighting from a single dim source :P
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Fri May 10, 2013 12:10 pm

flip-mode wrote:
Ah, cool. I did notice the other shot of the can on your photostream that looked very much like lighting from a single dim source :P


Got a few more HDR shots, with the 50/1.4 and 85/1.8 looking out an open door in that set, and have most of the source shots uploaded here.
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sat May 11, 2013 8:42 am

AMT, your pictures of the bullets are nice. I was surprised to see the benefit of HDR in those pictures. I didn't realize HDR would benefit color, er, fidelity (?) so much.

Also, I wanted to look into alternatives to Lightroom just to see what else is out there and came across this article. The article recommends Corel Aftershot Pro. Looking around, it seems that Aftershot Pro is pretty well regarded, and only $80.
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sat May 11, 2013 9:39 am

If you have a tripod, your in-camera HDR is pretty nice, too. I love it for landscapes or anything colorful, really. You can try it hand held, but its a bit tricky if you want a high level of detail.
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
TheEmrys
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sat May 11, 2013 9:52 am

So, I am pretty excited. I found a Minolta 28-135mm f/4-4.5 "Secret Handshake" on ebay that was mislabeled, and I picked it up for $190 (with shipping). Its a big, bulky lens, but its got some amazing performance. However, I don't need it. I've got a Sony 18-135mm SAM that covers the range, even though its f/5.6 at 70-135mm. But, my idea is to sell it. It usually runs between $300-$400 on ebay. So I've ordered the last Minolta 135mm/2.8 "pocket rocket" with their free shipping. Now, the pocket rocket is a small, light 135mm prime @ f/2.8. On APS-C, it will be essentially a 200mm/2.8. Either way, it will go well with my primes (24mm/2.8 and 50mm/1.7) and augment my 28-70/2.8 zoom. I'll still have my beercan 70-210mm/4, but the 135mm/2.8 will be an indoor and discrete shooter.

Its only 365g and 83mm. I've quite stocked about this. Photos will be coming.
Sony a7II 55/1.8 Minolta 100/2, 17-35D, Tamron 28-75/2.8
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sat May 11, 2013 10:02 am

Sweet news about those lenses!

And yes, I've tasted the goodness of the a57's in-camera HDR - the a57 makes two images, one at normal exposure and one 3-exposure HDR image. The extent to which the HDR image brings out the detail on the building (Cincinnati Music Hall) is fantastic.

Image
Image
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sat May 11, 2013 10:07 am

That's such a fantastic building. The massing, the detailing, the roof line... :sigh:
 
PenGun
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sat May 11, 2013 1:31 pm

Got my Fuji XF 14mm 2.8. It's my first wide lens. As with all the Fuji X stuff it's a magic lens.

Image

Now I just have to learn how to use it. Wide is fun but tricky. I'm a bit soft at the top.
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sat May 11, 2013 1:57 pm

Oh, Pengun, jealousy is what they call my affliction. I want me an ultra wide. Tokina 11-16mm, wherefore art thou?
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sat May 11, 2013 2:34 pm

flip-mode wrote:
I want me an ultra wide. Tokina 11-16mm, wherefore art thou?
It's at B&H, Adorama or Amazon, waiting for your credit card. I've got the EF-S 10-22 ultra-wide. How's the Sigma 8-16mm? It can't fit a polarizer, but think of the panorama.
http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/515-sigma816f4556apsc
http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Revi ... eview.aspx
http://www.kenrockwell.com/sigma/8-16mm.htm
 
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sat May 11, 2013 2:56 pm

I am not going to wait for the XF 10-24 and I don't much like zooms anyway so the 14mm is my wide lens. Next most likely will be a Leica Elmar 135 4 which can be found surprisingly cheaply. Then perhaps the XF 23mm 1.4 to round out the collection.

So a 60mm which I have, a 90mm equivalent, I am used to 35mm standards. A 14mm, for 21mm equivalent, a 23mm for 35mm equivalent and a 135 for a moderately long 200mm equivalent. So 21,35,90 and 200mm looks good to me. I might go for the XF 55-200mm when it comes out for a longer, fully integrated stabilized lens.
Fuji X-E1 Leica Elmar 135 4 XF60mm 2.4 Macro | Zeiss FE 35mm 2.8
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Airmantharp
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sun May 12, 2013 1:51 am

While discussing gear, I went and grabbed a 6D 24-105L kit and shot it with my current primes along with the 70-300 IS USM and 100L Macro at a college graduation, and fell in love. In moving from APS-C to full-frame after using mostly full-frame lenses on the crop, I found:

-the mediocre 70-300 non-L (granted it's the best 'non-L' tele-zoom) comes alive on FF. The 6D's highly sensitive center point and higher dynamic range and lower and more pleasing noise all conspire to make this lens actually useful.
-the 100L Macro remains incredibly sharp and hand-holdable; I don't see much difference here aside from the wider full-frame field of view.
-the 40 STM becomes downright perfect- it's the ultimate 'body-cap' lens, and it turns a bulky SLR into an over-sized point-and-shoot, just with ten times the speed and quality.
-the 24 IS USM, one of Canon's new-fangled 'video-primes,' also comes into it's own, as it becomes the wide FOV lense it's meant to be. Probably the perfect 'carry-all' lens.
-the 50/1.4 and 85/1.8 both become wider and focus faster and more accurately (in the case of the 50)- the 50 became the perfect indoor portrait lens, and the 85 became the perfect outdoor portrait lens. These two are just amazing. I'll also note that I tested my spare 50/1.8 (the belligerent 'nifty-fifty') on the 6D, and found it to be quite nice. If I didn't already have the 50/1.4 as well, I might not have bought it; but as it stands, the 50/1.8 went on to help round out my sister's T1i kit with her kit 18-55 and 55-250.
-the 24-105 F4L went onto the superceded 60D for medium telephoto work in the hands of a non-photo shooter, and it did alright. I need to rag it out on the 6D before I form a real opinion of this 'kit L', but I can at least say that the build quality is deserving of the red ring when compared to the 100L Macro. It was also +$500 on the kit price, which is just too cheap to pass up, given it's $1100 retail price and the $1300-1500 price for a preferred Canon 24-70 F4L or third party 24-70 F2.8 OS/VC. The 24-105L will have to be really bad to convince me to pass it on, and I'll be comparing it on the 6D against the 15-85 IS USM on the 60D. I expect the L to win largely on account of the 6D's sensor, though the lack of range might irk me.
-the excellent 15-85 IS USM stayed in the bag- the 60D carried the effectively longer and sometimes wider 24-105L, while my sister's T1i carried the 55-250 IS, which yielded the longest effective zoom of the bunch at 400mm.

Comparing the 6D to the older 60D externally is pretty easy- on the outside they are very similar, especially in the shape and feel of the grip and the workflow, with some buttons changed or re-positioned. The ergonomic shift is gentle and quick, though the lack of built in flash is a minor annoyance and you very quickly miss the flip out LCD screen; it is THAT useful.

My first, and biggest impression of shooting the 6D is by far most the shutter- it's just so damn buttery smooth and quiet, in a way that makes you want to take pictures. The center-point AF sensitivity IS all it's cracked up to be, and the low ISO performance is incredible with a much more pleasant feel to the noise. Less noise would be better, but the noise this sensor records is at least aesthetically neutral to pleasing, unlike the harsh near-pattern mess that the sensor in the T2i/T3i/60D/7D spit out. Much less post processing needed to produce saleable art, and time is money!

My short term plans are to fully evaluate the kit lens and perform manual calibration on all of my lenses for auto-focus micro adjust. Then I need to find some hiking boots and somewhere to ruck and stalk wildlife on the east side of Dallas!
 
JustAnEngineer
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sun May 12, 2013 2:07 am

I'd bet that if you tried the 100-400L on instead of the 70-300 IS USM, you wouldn't go back. Admittedly, it does cost almost three times as much. :-?

The center of frame of the 70-300 IS USM is quite sharp for an affordable telephoto zoom. The less-impressive performance of the lens at the corners gets cut off when you use it on an APS-C crop body. The characteristic that I liked the least on the 70-300 IS USM was the quality of the out-of-focus "bokeh". Compare the backgrounds in these telephoto shots, all from the same camera body in the same yard with similar lighting conditions.
Image Image Image
Last edited by JustAnEngineer on Sun May 12, 2013 2:18 am, edited 1 time in total.
 
Airmantharp
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Re: Just got a Sony a57 (name changed)

Sun May 12, 2013 2:18 am

JustAnEngineer wrote:
I'd bet that if you tried the 100-400L on instead of the 70-300 IS USM, you wouldn't go back. Admittedly, it does cost almost three times as much. :-?


I bet I'd agree with you :). Cost is the reason I have a tele-zoom at all; I got that 70-300 for near what the 55-250 sells for and couldn't pass it up, given that I'd already passed the excellent 55-250 along.

But tele-zooms are somewhere where I'm a little confounded; there's a lot of different options, and I"m not terribly sure myself what opportunities I want to explore and challenge myself with. Right now I'm beginning to think that a 1.4x Kenko might be my best option as a way of digging into both super-tele and >1:1 Macro.

And given that Canon has stated that the 6D is getting a firmware to upgrade the center point to F8, a 70-200 F/4L IS with a 2x TC begins to look mighty interesting assuming I replace my current 70-300 IS USM.

So now I'm looking for quality (Canon) and compatible (Kenko) 1.4x and 2.0x TCs.
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