Anybody use a Sony DSLR???

[sh0tyme83]

I just bought my first DSLR camera!!!! I picked up a new Sony A100 for 170 bucks. Can't beat that price. Can anyone help me set it up for taking pictures of my tank?? I don't know which settings I have to change. I just have the stock 0.38m/1.3ft Macro; DT 3.5-5.6/18-70 lens. Any help you can give me would be great.

Thanks,

Matt

[TitusvileSurfer]

This camera seems to have borrowed a little bit from everybody. You'll be using Minolta's lenses, Nikon's CCD sensor, and Canon's image processor. It all sounds cool on paper...but...I've never used one. Only $170 hu? Before switching from the Canon 10D to the Canon 40D, I very seriously considered the Sony A700. I have already invested considerable assets in Minolta from years past. Ultimately I decided my love infatuation with Canon couldn't be separated bringing the choice down to Canon or Both. I don't know of many others who actually use the Alpha line, though again it does look appealing to previous Minolta owners. I allllmost pulled the trigger on an A700 because of these previous ties. Good luck with your camera. If you have more specific questions maybe we could give you a more specific answer. I'm mainly giving this one as a bump anyway.

[sh0tyme83]

Thanks TitusvileSurfer. You always have a lot of knowledge and respond to my posts.

I liked the Sony for a couple of reasons. The main one being the price. The second was that this has an autofocus that begins to focus as soon as your eye gets close to the viewfinder. I have read that some people consider this annoying and a batter drain, but since I'm also going to be using this as my point and shoot camera, I thought that feature would be nice and I bought an extra battery so I'm not too worried about that. Another reason I got it was because it had the Nikon CCD sensor in it. And the final reason and Beerguy this one is for you, it just felt right when I held it. I didn't like the small feel of the Canons.

The more specific things I can think about is what is mirror lock up? What ISO should I set my camera too? How do I go about setting the proper white balance? You know the beginner noob questions.

[TitusvileSurfer]

Mirror Lockup
With a SLR (Single Lens Reflex) camera, whether film (SLR) or digital (DSLR), you are viewing the scene directly through the big lens mounted in front. To get from the lens to your eye, the light reflects off of a mirror, and then a pentaprism. I think the A100 uses another mirror instead of a pentaprism to cut cost though. The mirror is located behind the lens, and just in front of the shutter. When the shutter is released, this mirror flips up and out of the way long enough for the shutter to expose your spiffy Nikon CCD sensor, and then the shutter closes and the mirror flips back down to the viewing position.
All of this flipping, regardless of the manufacturers best efforts to quell it, causes a violent vibration. Mirror lock up forces the mirror to flip up and stay up, leaving only the shutter to determine exposure. This will result in sharper, crisper images but at the cost of your viewfinder, as the job of the mirror is to get light there.
Take a picture and notice when everything goes black for the exact amount of time as your shutter speed (maybe a littttle longer). This "blackout" is when your mirror is flipped up.

[TitusvileSurfer]

ISO
ISO is one of 3 edges in the exposure triangle. This determines how sensitive your camera is to light. If you are at f/5.6 @ 1/60 but really want that background in focus…and need a higher shutter speed, moving your ISO up a notch will fix your problem.
ISO 100, f/5.6, 1/60
ISO 200, move to f/8, 1/60 OR f/5.6, 1/125
ISO 400, move to f/11, 1/60 OR f/5.6 1/250 OR f/8, 1/125.
My camera goes from ISO 100-3200 in 1/3 increments
Aperture determines how much of the shot is in focus. Shutter speed determines how long the subject is recorded, and ISO determines how much interference you see as little black or colored dots, two different types of “noise” or with analog cameras “Film grain”. Different cameras handle noise better than others.

ISO is the last item on your agenda. Ideally it would be at 100 every time. If I am feeling lazy I'll set it to 400 and forget about it. Get your aperture and shutter speed where they need to be. If you don't have enough light to get what you want then cheat a little with ISO. :)

[TitusvileSurfer]

White balance
I have no idea...sorry. This is a Sony specific question. I would set the camera to a RAW setting if you have it, and then fiddle with white balance on your computer after the pictures are downloaded from the camera. I always shoot RAW mainly for this purpose.
*RAW is a picture quality setting and file type, as apposed to JPEG or TIFF. JPEG is standard...all manufactures nod their hat to the same JPEG. RAW is the red headed step child, still rebelling from conformity. Every manufacturer's RAW is a little different. My Canon 40D's RAW is called ".CR2" even OTHER CANON cameras shoot different RAW formants (the rebels have a lesser RAW called "CRW" I believe). Sony RAW format is ".SRF" if memory serves.

Thanks for the compliment earlier. I'm glad my lectures have not been in vain. Best of luck to you and your camera. :)

[BlueCorn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12724064#post12724064 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by sh0tyme83
And the final reason and Beerguy this one is for you, it just felt right when I held it. I didn't like the small feel of the Canons.

:thumbsup:

I don't care for the XT* line for just that reason. I've never heard anyone comment that the 5D felt "small."

Congrats. I've got a photographer friend in New Hampshire that uses that camera with really good results.

[sh0tyme83]

I'm hoping I can get some good results. I'm going to try messing with it tomorrow. I'll throw some pictures up and you guys will have to tell me what I need to change.

[youngtimothy]

I use the sony alpha 100 and love it! I use aperture priority, ISO 100, f12 with the kit lens and white balance 5900, no flash, timer mode on a tripod this is for my coral shots.. good luck have fun shoot alot of pictures and remember there is no such thing as a bad picture!!

[TitusvileSurfer]

White balance 5900 means absolutely nothing to him unless you take the lights/ballast off of your stand and install them on his. Really ISO 100 and f/12 mean nothing to him unless you A) take the lights/ballast off of your stand and install them on his, B) he has the same size coral, and C) he is the same distance away from said coral. D) you forgot your shutter speed which is much more important than ISO.
If your shooting at f/12 with ISO 100, I bet you were pulling...1/2 second (just an off the wall guess). So you must have had a tripod...which I doubt he our friend the OP has secured yet. Just musing.

[TitusvileSurfer]

Oh and...we are eagerly awaiting your return sh0tyme83. You have had a brand new camera for two days now. How is it?!?

[Letmegrow]

I use the A100.
I have the stock lens, which is not great for anything, I use the manual setting and adjust the ISO as needed.
The best thing I did was get a remote trigger.
I can use the other functions BUT I shoot in RAW so I edit in PS instead of trying to do WB and all that jazz.
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a258/letmegrowstl/DSC01581q.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a258/letmegrowstl/DSC01586q.jpg
http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a258/letmegrowstl/DSC01576q.jpg

[youngtimothy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12734715#post12734715 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by TitusvileSurfer
White balance 5900 means absolutely nothing to him unless you take the lights/ballast off of your stand and install them on his. Really ISO 100 and f/12 mean nothing to him unless you A) take the lights/ballast off of your stand and install them on his, B) he has the same size coral, and C) he is the same distance away from said coral. D) you forgot your shutter speed which is much more important than ISO.
If your shooting at f/12 with ISO 100, I bet you were pulling...1/2 second (just an off the wall guess). So you must have had a tripod...which I doubt he our friend the OP has secured yet. Just musing.
you are right for the most part but it was a just a starting point. my post says " tripod,no flash and timer mode" as for shutter speed on aperture priority mode it automaticly sets your shutter speed to your other settings. as for WB he can use auto. as for f12 that is what I use to get the best depth of field on my tank with the kit lens I am by far from a professinal photographer but you have to start some where.

[TitusvileSurfer]

Shutter speed on aperture priority mode is still a HUGE piece of the puzzle whether you or the camera choose the setting. You can't just blow it off. You can't just trust your camera to pick the correct shutter speed. Take the pictures just above. The camera was set to full automatic mode and it did the best job it could picking settings. Even when allowed to pick the Aperture AND Shutter Speed, the camera still got it wrong. You see how dark the first shot is? The last example looks pretty good but the first two were way off.

The point is to say, "aperture priority automatically picks my shutter speed, so the shutter speed isn't importiant", is a very foolish statement. You can't just set your camera to f/12, ISO 100, whatever shutter speed the camera picks, and expect to take awesome pictures of your tank consistently. You could very well get lucky, but this is a manual process. You have to manually tweak the settings to get everything right. You have to fully understand the settings to manually tweak them. You can't just list of settings and say "these will work". If you were to step 5 feet back or 5 feet to the side, the shot's setting would change...and he isn't even shooting the same tank!

[youngtimothy]

I guess I'm just one lucky foolish sob cause I'm consistantly happy with my pictures. just giving some suggestions, I guess I'll keep them to myself!

[sh0tyme83]

ok here are my first attempts to capture my cardinal. I have others I will post tomorrow.
http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/saltnewbie/DSC00171.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/saltnewbie/DSC00168.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/saltnewbie/DSC00116.jpg

[TitusvileSurfer]

Nice and sharp. One thing I would like to point out is the difference in colors between #1 and #2-3. Look at the dull off white (true color) of the spots on the fins in #1. Then look at the pure white with no detail (but a cool effect) in the other two. This was caused by your exposure, and this is why you can never trust your meter. You have to learn how it works so that before you take the picture you know what the real result will be. Then use your exposure needle to fine adjust! :) The camera does not see light the same way your eyes do. Over time you will gain the experience necessary to predict this phenomenon. Setting the camera to automatic will give you snapshot results. It will probably look decant but inconsistent. To make your snapshots photographs you need to understand and manually alter your settings to make the camera do exactly what you want it to. This comes with practice.

You did a good job, these are promising.

[MeuserReef]

I have been out of the DSLR game for far too long and recently found myself at the Sony store in the local mall. I played around quite a bit with the A350, and I think it has promise for my non-professional (yet aspiring) photography skills. 14.2 MP is pretty nice too!

I still miss my D70 though :(


ps... sh0tyme83, your shots look nice!

[jthao]

sh0tyme83....... you mean to tell me I can take nice pics like yours for less than $200??? man sweet deal!!!!!!!! I feel cheated now......I spent soo much money just to get pictures like those!!!
NICE PICS!!

[sh0tyme83]

Well it has taken me awhile, but here is the next round I took last week. I took these at the Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/saltnewbie/DSC00234.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/saltnewbie/DSC00250.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/saltnewbie/DSC00333.jpg

http://i232.photobucket.com/albums/ee33/saltnewbie/DSC00345.jpg

Let me know what you think. I'm working on other pictures I have taken and should have them posted soon.

[TitusvileSurfer]

I don't know if it is the water quality or what, but the 1st and 2nd pictures seem "whitish" to me. If you shoot RAW, this is an easy fix with tone curves in Digital Photo Professional. If you didn't shoot RAW, I suggest you start doing so. It turns hard to predict problems like these into simple fixes.

[sh0tyme83]

These pictures were all shot raw. I'm just gotta learn photo shop now to try and fix all these issues. The lighting in the tank was really weak, that might be what caused it.

[TitusvileSurfer]

I hope you don't mind, but I did a quick 30second job on the last one just to see.
I went to: _Adjust_Curves
The blue channel was taken down a bit and sharper contrast added to the RGB channel. I blew some highlights and could have done much better with patience, but just to give a rough estimate of what could be...

http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r236/TitusvileSurfer/Photoshop/DSC00345.jpg
http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r236/TitusvileSurfer/Photoshop/NotmineEdit113.jpg

[sh0tyme83]

Wow holy crap!!! You did that in 30 seconds?? Geez I need to learn photo shop. What are the primary tools you use in photoshop? Sharpness, contrast, white balance, what else?

[TitusvileSurfer]

Oh gosh I use lots of tools. Its taken years to learn everything and I'm still not satisfied with my proficiency. If you can take a Photoshop class at your local community college, that helped me a lot.

[sh0tyme83]

Titusvile, I have more. I'll try to post them tomorrow.