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Sony Users at "FOCUS" 2010?

dhsimmonds

New member
The "FOCUS on Imaging" exhibition opens in two weeks at Birmingham NEC, UK so we shall see what new goodies Sony and Zeiss may be announcing there, after their announcements at PMA.

Anyone else planning on going? I shall be there on Sunday the 7th March if anyone here is interested to meet up and put a Face to the Avatar, so to speak!

My fighter/bomber will NOT be parked in the expensive car parks by the way!

FOCUS runs from the 7th until 10th March 2010.
 

jonoslack

Active member
The "FOCUS on Imaging" exhibition opens in two weeks at Birmingham NEC, UK so we shall see what new goodies Sony and Zeiss may be announcing there, after their announcements at PMA.

Anyone else planning on going? I shall be there on Sunday the 7th March if anyone here is interested to meet up and put a Face to the Avatar, so to speak!

My fighter/bomber will NOT be parked in the expensive car parks by the way!

FOCUS runs from the 7th until 10th March 2010.
Hi Dave
I was hoping to go (I usually do) - but we're off to France on the 8th, and it's just too tricky to do both.

enjoy!

all the best
 

dhsimmonds

New member
Thanks Jono, but you enjoy France too. We will be there in May, south Brittany and the Loire.....we still have a few Chateux to "do" with our French friends who live in Brittany!

A number of us over at LUF used to meet up at Focus just to say hello, so It was just an off the cuff enquiry really, always a good thing to do though.:D
 

dhsimmonds

New member
Well, no replies so didn't bother to look out for anyone!

Sony had a big booth with pro photog's doing their stuff, both car photography and the usual fashion and beauty models. No sign of any of the new lenses shown at PMA though and neither did the staff know much about them or the A700 replacement.

Plenty of other good things to see though, so the day wasn't wasted.
 
T

tigertimb

Guest
I was there yesterday; plenty to see and try out on the Sony stand and helpful advice if you found the right person.;) (although they'd forgotton to bring a 16-35mm to try)

Sadly a little disappointing for me as I held off buying the ZA 135mm f1.8 with the plan of getting one at the show. It was available at the show for a great price, but the couple of stock went Sunday, and there was no chance to order at the show price for delivery; which leaves me with the painful choice of ordering online for nearly £200 more! :(

This was just on the 2nd day of 4 and I wouldn't be surprised if by today you couldn't find an 85mm f1.4, 16-35mm or a 70-400mm either as I only saw a sample or two of each, and no one selling the 300mm f2.8. All in contrast to Nikon and Canon where the huge telephotos were aplenty, and as the UK's premiere yearly show I was hoping for better coverage for Sony; certainly a dip from last year. (and maybe recession related as Olympus and Pentax weren't present at all)

But a new bag and CF card as consolation :)
Tim
 

dhsimmonds

New member
Hi Tim

You won't regret the extra £200 for the ZA135. It is a great lens.

I was surprised at how many 500mm lenses they had there...on Sunday at least and I just wondered if they were making a big push to eliminate stocks before the new 500mm is introduced.

Some bargains to be had if you were in the market for the things on offer!
 
T

tigertimb

Guest
I wouldn't have minded so much if they'd removed the label, so I didn't know about the £899 price; it just makes it very painful to be paying £1085 instead, particularly as I delayed buying it at Christmas with the expectation of buying it at the show. Last year, we went on day 3 and they had loads of stock of all the Sony high end lens, cameras and grips etc and I hadn't even imagined that I wouldn't be able to buy a 135mm at all, particularly as in my opinion it's the signature lens in the system.
I'm hearing of a few others on dyxum who were also unable to buy the equipment they wanted, (as well as from the guy who bought the 85mm and 135mm on the Sunday and halved the stock:rolleyes:) and thought that Sony had let themselves down a little from convincing pros to buy into the system.

But I have now swallowed my frustration and splashed out, so will look forward to trying it out soon

One quick question if I may:
I played with the sample on the Sony stand and took a shot of cameras in the display stand at f1.8 and focusing on the front of the fitted lens - noticed that the white Sony logo was then showing green, and on the camera next door was purple and similar bokeh CA in a number of places. I know the lights weren't helping, and neither was the white-on-black and typically for portraits the problem wouldn't arise, but is there any way of reducing these? Is it worth getting the specific Zeiss 77mm protection filter, or any other brand for that matter, or better without a filter at all?

Tim :)
 

Eoin

Member
Lateral CA is what you're seeing with this lens, it is a common flaw to both the 135 & 85 ZA. But in my experience while present (only sometimes) is really nothing to be too concerned about. These lenses exhibit this more so with bright / dark objects such as text at oblique angles.

There are far more positive attributes with these lenses than the small negative of lateral CA. But then again it really depends on the subject matter you shoot. It seems to totally disappear by f/4
 
T

tigertimb

Guest
Thanks Eoin; I have the older Minolta 85mm f1.4 and the 100mm f2 and do notice the same fringing particularly when shooting Snowdrops recently and when doing a recent wedding, most noticably during the service trying to isolate the couple from the crowds who were then out of focus.

So I know it's still going to be an issue, and I'm not too concerned, going in with my eyes open, but any thing I can do to limit the effect by choice of which filter or none, would save a fair bit of editing time later.

If I can figure out how, I'll post the test shot that I took at the show:
View attachment 28650

Note the bottom writing also showing a transition from magenta to green, even though it's almost in focus!

Alternatively does anyone know of a RAW converter that handles these well - Lightroom 3 beta has proved excellent for my A900 conversions, but has no setting for this particular CA

Tim
 

Eoin

Member
Tim, I understand what you're saying. I was desperately disappointed with the ZA 85 when I got it first, I thought it was polluted with CA or what others call sensor bloom (purple fringing arround the highlights). But I discovered it was very unforgiving with exposure, get it wrong by half a stop and it's a mess (subject dependent) some times.
Now however, it's one of my favorite lenses.

The 135 ZA is IMO a much better controlled lens. Rarely does one get CA or sensor bloom, but it does exhibit lateral CA, the colour shifts from green to magenta as you pass through near out of focus to far out of focus. But by in large it's well controlled with a little stopping down. To be frank its not really an issue for me in general shooting but here's an example that would stress any lens, I think it did quite well considering.. YMMV

It's a super lens, I defy you to not be impressed with it once you get to know it.;)
 
T

tigertimb

Guest
The lens has now arrived and I've been having great fun over the weekend taking portraits of my family.
Just unpacking the lens shade lets you know the quality and I'm very impressed so far :)

Been noticing far less of the CA in the OOF areas than my 85mm gives.
But at the moment, this doesn't have a filter on the front and I'm beginning to suspect that the one at the show had a cheap filter fitted - I should have checked at the time, but the results I'm seeing now aren't showing issues to the same degree.
I'll do some testing with and without a protection filter to see what difference it makes - it would certainly be nice to fit one if it doesn't affect the quality.

And a lovely shot of the orchid Eoin - the white on white hardly showing up any of the issues, but with the higher contrast from the darker edges and particularly with the OOF stalk they're still quite prevalent and I'd be intrigued to know of any strategies of minimising these whilst keeping the lens wide open and if any of the RAW converters do a good job in dealing with them?

Tim :)
 

douglasf13

New member
This longitudinal CA (not lateral) that you're speaking of is unfortunately the toughest to get rid of in post. There is no facility in LR3, or most other converters that I know of, to get rid of it. Lateral CA is an easier thing to deal with. Watching your exposure and stopping down a smidgen helps.
 
T

tigertimb

Guest
Thanks Douglas; useful to know that I should call off the search for a magic solution.

It's time consuming, but I've got fairly proficient at dealing with the worst of it from a recent wedding shoot for my friends.
But I'll keep an eye out for the circumstances where it occurs and adjust in camera when I can; at least for most portrait work it's not looking to be much of an issue.

Tim:)
 
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