1st photo with new camera

[dragonfly]

this is the 1st photo taken with my new Sony A900 camera and the bargain lens bought off ebay - Sigma 70-300 F4 - 5.6 APO Macro Super. This is straight off the camera, no processing done other than to reduce the image size so very happy with it as a 1st try and can't wait to get out and practice with it (if the rain ever stops). Also impatiently waiting on the arrival of my 24-70mm F2.8 Carl Zeiss lens!!

just need the sun to start shining again and the rain to go away! Oh and to read the manual!

[upolian]

Im gona sound like a parrot in all your photography threads lol,just amazing!!

[Mystical Potato Head]

Im gona sound like a parrot in all your photography threads lol,just amazing!!

Well call me picky if you want but that doesnt seem particularly sharp,i know its a shollow dof and nice bokeh etc, but it just doesnt appear very sharp or crisp in the center.
Sorry.

[shazzap]

Well call me picky if you want but that doesnt seem particularly sharp,i know its a shollow dof and nice bokeh etc, but it just doesnt appear very sharp or crisp in the center.
Sorry.

I agree with you.
But it is still a nice photo

[dragonfly]

LOL I agree too but it was 1st photo taken on brand new camera and macro lens (both different formats to what I am used to) so with more practice they will be (hopefully ) sharper - on holiday for a week and a half as of now so will have plenty of time to try it out

[shazzap]

LOL I agree too but it was 1st photo taken on brand new camera and macro lens (both different formats to what I am used to) so with more practice they will be (hopefully ) sharper - on holiday for a week and a half as of now so will have plenty of time to try it out

Hope you didn't mind my comment as i am no David bailey myself.
Enjoy your holiday.

[dragonfly]

I don't mind any comments Shazzap, I know I have room for improvement (much room lol) and you and MPH are right in what you are saying, I know its not as sharp as it could be but just happy that it didn't need any colour tweaking etc saves a lot of time if that is a sign of what I can expect from future shots

[Deemac]

Welcome to the "full frame" universe dragonfly. It is a jump up from the crop sensor world and does take a little getting used to, especialy with the stated focal length of the lens actually being correct. So where I once used to shoot all my landscapes with a 10-20mm lens I now use my 24-70mm much, much more. DOF also changes and having (in your case) 24Mp resolution is just wonderful. I'm sure you will take no time at all to "adjust."

PS: I just daren't mention your focus issues with your image as I appear to get jumped on from a great height these days by all and sundry at the least constructive comment that I may utter!!

[dragonfly]

really Deemac, I don't know why that would be LOL.

I took some others of my colleagues and they were very impressive really clear and sharp to the point where Skinnydog was horrified at the amount of wrinkles she has - would post them here but don't think I would be welcome back at work if I were to do that

24-70 should be here on Friday so will definately be snap happy when it does

Also what would be your opinion on this lens on ebay? worth a bid if still reasonably priced or no point as 24-70 a better lens??

[shazzap]

Welcome to the "full frame" universe dragonfly. It is a jump up from the crop sensor world and does take a little getting used to, especialy with the stated focal length of the lens actually being correct. So where I once used to shoot all my landscapes with a 10-20mm lens I now use my 24-70mm much, much more. DOF also changes and having (in your case) 24Mp resolution is just wonderful. I'm sure you will take no time at all to "adjust."

PS: I just daren't mention your focus issues with your image as I appear to get jumped on from a great height these days by all and sundry at the least constructive comment that I may utter!!

I don't see why anyone should jump on you for constructive criticism.
I for one would welcome it.

[Deemac]

really Deemac, I don't know why that would be LOL.

I took some others of my colleagues and they were very impressive really clear and sharp to the point where Skinnydog was horrified at the amount of wrinkles she has - would post them here but don't think I would be welcome back at work if I were to do that

24-70 should be here on Friday so will definately be snap happy when it does

Also what would be your opinion on this lens on ebay? worth a bid if still reasonably priced or no point as 24-70 a better lens??

Don't get me wrong, although I use the 24-70mm much more the first thing I did after getting the 5D was buy a 17-40mm f4 L lens. Still love the ultra wide end. At its present bid price your ebay lens is a steal. Bid away.

[nirofo]

Hi Dragonfly

Just a thought, do you use a tripod for your close up work ?

nirofo.

[dragonfly]

I have a tripod but that photo was hand held, I'll try again using a tripod and hopefully it will be a lot sharper!

thanks

[Kenn]

I find that using a tripod for close ups just does n't work as they are almost all impossible to get to right height for the subject, it may mean that I am either on my knees or lying on the ground which raises a few smiles but at least it works on such things as wild flowers etc.

[Deemac]

I could be wrong but doesn't this camera have built in image stabilisation? Should reduce the need for tripod mounted shooting situations. Handy for both telephoto and macro work.

[dragonfly]

I could be wrong but doesn't this camera have built in image stabilisation? Should reduce the need for tripod mounted shooting situations. Handy for both telephoto and macro work.

yes the majority of Sonys have image stabilisation inbuilt which you have to turn off when using a tripod

[nirofo]

yes the majority of Sonys have image stabilisation inbuilt which you have to turn off when using a tripod

Hi dragonfly

You may well have image stabalisation built into your camera, but I bet it doesn't counteract the change in focus brought about by a slight shift in the distance from the subject when your body sways to and fro. Macro subjects unfortunately have very little depth of field due to the close focussing needed to to obtain a decent sized image. The higher the magnification, the less depth of field given the same subject distance. In some cases a shift in focus distance of only a couple of millimetres will be enough to make the focal point unsharp, this is easily acheived with the swaying motion of the body with a hand held camera. Try it if you don't believe me. I would never take a macro shot of an image I cared about without a good firm tripod, having said that, I very often photograph butterflies and insects with a hand held macro setup. Working with these creatures is very difficult from a tripod, so I'm prepared to waste lots of shots just to get one good one. This is fine if you're using digital, but can work out very expensive if you're on film. I never use autofocus for hand held macro shots of insects, I prefer to prefocus at a given distance, then sway to and fro slightly to bring the insect into the focus point, infact thinking about it, I never use autofocus for any of my macro or landscape shots; I prefer full control over the focus point to give me maximum depth of field.

nirofo.

[Deemac]

On any tripod work (HDR, landscape, product or portraits) I manually focus using the camera's live view display mode set to x10 magnification (using the joystick to pan to the object of my interest). I usually get pin sharp results every time. Obviously this is only usable in controlled and time friendly conditions.

[dragonfly]

A900 doesn't have liveview, A850 does but I never found it of any benefit to me on my A300 so it wasn't an issue to me - until now lol, never thought of doing it like that to get right sharpness!

was out and about last night - missed the best of the sunset while driving about but still happy with what I got

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