Hot answers tagged sony
29
I don't have specific Sony experience, but I'd suggest getting over the doubts. There's a number of reasons for this:
Sony bought Minolta, a camera company, and thus bought into the Minolta legacy and their glass. In other words, your friend isn't correct, there is a lot of Minolta gear on the open market and much, if not all, will work on a Sony.
When it ...
23
As these camera makers own a smaller market share than Canon or Nikon, they have often tried more radical and innovative approaches than the big two. You can see both Canon and Nikon as more traditional makers with very consistent and proven features in their cameras.
When Sony bought Konica-Minolta's camera division, they inherited the only body-based ...
15
Well, the first thing I'd do if I were in your position is start asking people why they don't want me in the pictures :o)
The second is to avoid midday sun at all costs (unless the weather is horribly grey and overcast, which is actually a blessing). If there is open shade large enough for the whole group, use it, otherwise you'll want to have the sun ...
12
The problem with your prerequisites is that you've painted yourself into a corner.
First you asked for a single lens suitable for landscape (generally wide) and wildlife (long or very long). This restricts you to the few super-zooms around.
Then you've asked for that same lens to be good for fast actions and low light, both of which require bright lenses. ...
9
Minolta, like Canon, changed their mount when they moved to AF in the 1980s. Only Minolta AF lenses can be used on Sony's Alpha mount.
The field of view will be cropped due to the fact that the sensor in your camera is smaller than the imaging size of film. So a 50mm lens will have the field of view of a 75mm lens, as the crop factor is 1.5.
Here's a good ...
8
At least IMO, there are a few real reasons to favor Canon:
If you need/will use really long lenses. Canon has the best selection here -- but unless you're really going to use a 1200mm f/5.6, the fact that it's listed in the catalog doesn't really make a huge difference.
If you shoot a lot in low light. At ISO 1600 and above, Canon currently does ...
8
Yes, the A77 has a mechanical shutter and it does move at 12 FPS per second. There are a number of cameras with similar shutter-speeds including some ultra-zooms but indeed this is very fast.
What it does not have is a motor to move the mirror. This is more problematic for speed then the shutter itself since a mirror is heavy and has to move out of the way ...
8
Summary:
The 18-55mm kit lens is better than many kit lenses and is worth buying.
(This is based on an extensive body of information available for both lenses. See below)
While many old Minolta Full Frame lenses are very good optically, and better than typical entry level A-mount Sony lenses, in this case the 18-55mm kit lens is noticeably superior ...
7
There is no such thing as a universal lens. The shape of the connection, position of the contacts (and electric protocol too), distance between the connector and sensor are all different.
There are adapters to bridge the gap which are mostly used for legacy lenses. The reason is that with those adapters you will lose most communication between the body and ...
7
If you want to rent gear a lot of the time you may well be much better off with a Nikon or Canon system. I don't know what it's like where you are but the two rental places I use in the UK stock a wide range or Canon and Nikon lenses, bodies and other accessories and no Sony equipment. This isn't a criticism of Sony, it's just that C&N are far more ...
6
as Itai's answer was very detailed, I will only add some details regarding to Pentax, which at least for me were important when buying my first DSLR:
1) support for AA batteries in Pentax entry level DSLR - some people love it, some hate it ... (I am from the first group :-) ) - currently you can decide as newest K-r supports both.
2) Pentax has excellent ...
6
I'm familiar with Canon lenses featuring Image Stabilization that can emit a faint "whir" as IS operates. Your Sony body has a form of image stabilization built into the body, and if that's on during a long exposure, you might be hearing that as it operates.
If you're shooting long-exposure shots with the camera mounted on a tripod (which would be best), ...
6
It is impossible with Lightroom as the camera is not supported. See the supported list.
You will have to find other tethering software and check their requirements one-by-one. As a general rule, if your camera is neither Canon nor Nikon, there are far less chances of being supported by anyone else than the manufacturer. So, check with Sony first, they may ...
5
DT (Digital Technology - source) means that the lens is designed to work with a cropped sensor camera. It should not be used with a full frame sensor or 35mm film. If you use it with a full frame sensor then some of the image would be black, particularly towards the corners, as the light projected by the lens would not cover the sensor.
Having a smaller ...
5
The most common cause of spots in pictures is dust stuck to your sensor, but it's also possible that your sensor or AA filter is damaged.
Assuming that's a crop (not the whole picture), that looks like dust to me, though it could be something else ("goop", as Stan mentions) stuck to the sensor.
This question covers DSLR cleaning techniques, which should ...
5
Yes and they should all work. All of mine certainly do.
The first thing Sony did when acquiring Konica-Minolta's camera division is release DSLRs with the same mount. These were named Alpha which is the same name Minolta used in Japan, they used the Maxxum name in North America and Dynax in Europe. In other words, Sony Alpha mount IS the Minolta ...
5
The best pro trick is to get a good tripod. You will need it here because even with the remote trigger and self-timer you have to touch the camera between exposures.
Then go to Manual exposure mode, then:
Select the aperture you need
Set the focus and and lock it by going into MF mode
Set the white-balance to any setting other than Auto (unless shooting ...
5
A few points that haven't been mentioned about Sony's cameras:
The only way to get autofocus Zeiss lenses1. While Zeiss makes lenses for Canon and Nikon mounts, they're strictly manual focus.
Yes, old Minolta lenses work -- and many are almost amazingly good on digital. Just for one example, there was a recent comparative review of the old (circa 1985) ...
5
I'll add Sigma for completeness.
Sigma fits well with the "smaller camera makers can be more experimental" theme: Their primary claim to uniqueness is that the Sigma DSLRs are using a different type of sensor, the Foveon X3, which has higher per-pixel color resolution than the standard Bayer filter sensor.
A little background:
Almost all DSLRs use a type ...
5
As it's practically a once in a lifetime situation you might want to consider hiring a professional photographer. If nothing else it should eliminate the stress.
The other thing to do is PRACTICE. Practice, practice, practice. This is one of the things that separates professionals from hobbyists.
Take the camera with you everywhere and take a shot of ...
5
The NEX F3 should be superior to the 1 J1 in low-light due to its larger sensors. Now you say, you see the opposite but have not mentioned how you determine superior.
The F3 has a much larger pixel count than the J1, so if you look at 100% view, it wont look as good as expect per-pixel. However if you display or print to the same size, the F3 would normally ...
5
In theory, there should be two areas where the larger sensor provides a noticeable benefit:
It should have an advantage at higher ISOs. You should see less noise, and higher ISO overall may be an option.
There should be more fine detail overall, but so many factors play into this that you're only likely to be able to discern the difference in controlled ...
4
So I decided to switch to Canon. I got a 5D mark II with 24-105/f4 lens. And all i can say is "WOW"... its totally awesome!
Granted the comparison is not really fair (partial frame Sony with prosumer lens vs full frame canon with pro lens)... but already i'm happy i've made the switch.
Now to sell the old Sony kit.. hopefully i can get half my money back.
...
4
On a NEX-camera in Av, the back wheel selects an aperture unless you press "up" (on the combined d-pad/wheel) which will allow you to change exposure compensation. Not as quick as having two dials, but better than most P&S cameras. You could also configure the center button to allow quick access to ISO and metering mode, without having to delve into the ...
4
When done with the contrast detect method, you can say it is software-based. That is, the camera reads the sensor, computes contrast and moves the lens according. It repeats the process until focus is locked... and then repeats it when contrast drops to reacquire focus.
This is what most cameras due for autofocus while recording and is rather annoying as ...
4
Here's my lazy answer ;) http://gizmodo.com/5616241/nikon-d3100-the-first-dslr-with-real-video-autofocus
As an addition to that, 1080p and continual video autofocus is not a desired combination, which is why it's a rare thing to find on more professional cameras. 1080p is designed for high quality video, and no actual movie of any kind ever uses autofocus. ...
4
Unfortunately, the A55 you are unhappy with is the best-performing at video autofocus among digital cameras to date since it uses phase-detect which is not only is faster but does not require back-and-forth movement of the lens to confirm focus, which is disturbing during video.
Yet, technology moves fast so you may not have long to wait:
The Alpha ...
4
From what I have read, the Sony Bloggie has quite poor quality and is pretty limited as far as what you can do for 360 degree photography. It is more of a market gimmick then a full fledged option. The camera only starts with a 5MP sensor, and stretching that out over a very small sensor, and a very very large aspect, you can only imagine that it isn't setup ...
4
A full-frame sensor is physically larger than an APS-C sensor. APS-C sensors are 1.5X smaller linearly which is why they are also called 1.5X cropped sensors.
Full-frame sensors are known to have higher quality because they have bigger pixels. Bigger pixels means less noise and higher dynamic-range but of course there are variations. If you compare modern ...
3
First, for your fast focusing requirement: skip any camera that must do contrast-detect AF (which pretty much knocks most m4/3rds out of the running). You'll end up with a camera that is great from a portability perspective, but will be consistently frustrating as it hunts through its zoom range to find the best contrast.
Second, for your lens requirements:
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