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Fun With Sony Cameras

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Vivek

Guest
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Not to sound redundant, Terry, how can anyone make a portrait snap with the half tilt LCD?
 

douglasf13

New member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

I would not even dream of capturing something like that with the Sony half tilt LCDs (I am not that ambidextrous :( ).



Panasonic G1, Oly-D 17/2.8 plus a Ricoh 0.75X converter.

With square formats, I have enjoyed a few TLRs as well (and they all had shades around the GG).
Great shot!

Of course, you are limited to landscape and square, but I've been known to shoot square only. We'll see :)

Funny you should mention the GG shade. Ive been considering buying or making some kind of shade for NEX, if I do buy the camera.
 

lambert

New member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Correct me if I'm wrong but it appears this shot was taken at eye level (more or less). How did the swivel screen help in this instance?


I would not even dream of capturing something like that with the Sony half tilt LCDs (I am not that ambidextrous :( ).



Panasonic G1, Oly-D 17/2.8 plus a Ricoh 0.75X converter.

With square formats, I have enjoyed a few TLRs as well (and they all had shades around the GG).
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Douglas, Thanks.

This one (camera over my head and the swivel LCD coming in handy for framing and focus) reminded of inverted TLR use.



Panasonic G1, modified Fujinon-Tv 12.5mm f/1.4

The swivel LCD and the EVF alone are worth the cash of a G1. Having said that, it is the unimaginative G2 of Pana with no improvements to the G1 sensor that has prompted me to look to others.

Terry, I was saying "half tilt" because of the limited orientations the NEX LCD provides. Ever since the A350 (morphed to a better looking 380 with the flex cables all hidden or the latest avatar 390), I am quite aware of the tilt advantages and limits. Even Nikon's D5000 offers more degrees of freedom towards waist level use.
 

douglasf13

New member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Agreed. I think the D5000 LCD looks to be the best of both worlds, but I've never used it.
 

Terry

New member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Vivek, I'm not getting rid of my "G" any time soon. Even on the premise that there is no sensor improvement I do like the G2 better than the G1 for a couple of reasons. It didn't hurt that then upgrade only cost me $160 out of pocket cost.

The changes in button/dial placement are very good
The touch screen implementation is very nicely done and integrated in camera operation
The one touch iA can come in quite handy. I never really use iA mode but sometimes when you pick up the camera and quickly want to get a shot and you aren't sure where you are set a quick touch of the button can be helpful.
 

tom in mpls

Active member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Terry, how do you rate IQ for the NEX vs. G? I'm trying to get a better idea of what the Sony can do better than the Panny (I have the GF1). I love the compact nature of the GF1 with the 20/1.7 and am thinking that I would prefer the zoom with the Sony. Hmm, then I'm getting a bigger combo again.
 

Terry

New member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Tom, right now m4/3 is a more developed system and the 20 mm and GF1 is a great. combo. The NEX may have better IQ (dynamic range and ISO) but at higher ISO's you have a big lens speed advantage with the f1.7 vs either a wide 2.8 or the kit zoom at f4 (at the equivalent focal length).

I don't know how seriously I would have looked at the NEX if I didn't have my A900 kit and you couldn't adapt those lenses to the NEX bodies and retain aperture control.

Last year when i went away I took a complete A900 kit and a complete m4/3 kit and nothing was interchangeable. This year I can take the A900 kit and small NEX kit and I can mount the big Zeiss lenses on the NEX if I'm working on the tripod.

The thing is I like the NEX more than I thought I would. However, I'm not selling my M4/3 gear or advocating anyone go and do that. I will probably sell my E-PL1 as I do like the NEX and that is the odd man out.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Interesting thread this. I went to a big consumer electronics fair yesterday and tried out the NEX 5 with the 16mm. What a fun combo! It was rather dark at that part of the Sony stand, and the LCD went surprisingly dark as well, but I could well imagine this as a nice "walk-around-the-city-at-night" combo. Not very expensive either, at just over $700 here in Bangkok.

But it's very point-and-shoot. The user interface reminds me more of a mobile phone than a camera, but that's probably the market they're after anyway. Should I end up buying this, it would be instead of a p&s, and possibly only with the 16mm. There's no way it could replace the GH1 for me, for many reasons mentioned in this thread already.
 

Terry

New member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Jorgen - there are also auto and a sunlight settings for the LCD. Perhaps someone was playing with the camera settings. I find it holds up better (grain) than the Panny LCDs and just blows away the Oly LCD in low light..... Now for the definition of low light LOL.
 

Jorgen Udvang

Subscriber Member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Jorgen - there are also auto and a sunlight settings for the LCD. Perhaps someone was playing with the camera settings. I find it holds up better (grain) than the Panny LCDs and just blows away the Oly LCD in low light..... Now for the definition of low light LOL.
I believe you. What the mentioned camera/lens combination would be absolutely perfect for, is all kinds of cityscapes, particularly at night. With the relatively fast WA lens and the good low-light performance of this camera, this can probably to a large extent be done hand-held. Add a small Gorilla Pod, and there are hardly any limits.

And I just decided to halt all camera investments until... until I find a good reason to spend more :confused: :ROTFL: :scry:
 

Terry

New member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Jorgen,
Didn't mean to come off as defensive on the LCD. The achiles heel of the mirroless cameras is pre-dawn setting up for a shot with no way to focus when you can't see anything on the screen and you have no distance scale on the lens which o why I always try to have one manual lens in my kit.
 

monza

Active member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Quick and (very) dirty test of manual focus...with no lens attached (and the menu set to shoot without lens) the lower control button defaults to a manual focus assist (direct access button, no hunting thru menus, sweet.) Mag options are 7x and 14x. Took this with a Contax G 45/2 at f/2 held in front of the camera, no guarantees as to whether the lens bayonet was coplanar with the lens mount. :) 1/100s f/2 ISO 200 AWB.
 
V

Vivek

Guest
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Correct me if I'm wrong but it appears this shot was taken at eye level (more or less). How did the swivel screen help in this instance?
That is the beauty of the G1 swivel screen. Incredibly versatile. You have to try to use it to experience it. Makes the cam feel part of you. (Also, please take note a wide angle ~25mm full frame equivalent lens is used for that capture)

Most of my street shots are done using that for framing and focusing (when a manual focus lens is used).

Mostly, I restrict myself using a few primes (Computar-TV 25/1.3, Oly-D 17 +Ricoh 0.75X, Pana 20/1.7 nowadays for IR) so that I "know" the distance for a given capture. Reading the light in advance helps and such matters. So, in the end, it is just a click at the right (anticipated) moment.
 
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Interesting thread this. I went to a big consumer electronics fair yesterday and tried out the NEX 5 with the 16mm. What a fun combo! It was rather dark at that part of the Sony stand, and the LCD went surprisingly dark as well, but I could well imagine this as a nice "walk-around-the-city-at-night" combo. Not very expensive either, at just over $700 here in Bangkok.

But it's very point-and-shoot. The user interface reminds me more of a mobile phone than a camera, but that's probably the market they're after anyway. Should I end up buying this, it would be instead of a p&s, and possibly only with the 16mm. There's no way it could replace the GH1 for me, for many reasons mentioned in this thread already.
do you think it's possible to focus via live view with a manual lens stopped down to f/5.6?
 

monza

Active member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

do you think it's possible to focus via live view with a manual lens stopped down to f/5.6?
Generally speaking, yes, if light is enough to shoot without flash, I think there is enough light do this. To simulate, just put the camera in manual focus mode and zoom the kit lens out to 55mm, which is f/5.6.
 

ustein

Contributing Editor
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

A good friend of mine borrowed me a NEX-3 for a week. It took a while, but now I start loving to use the NEX HDR for B&W. The HDR provides soft nice color images with open shadows and hardly clipped highlights.

Processing:

1. HDR in camera (have still to find the optimal EV settings, likely 2-4 depending on the scene)

2. Create Virtual Copy in Lightroom

3. Some corrections for barrel distortions, rotate and crop

4. Convert to B&W and tune tonality (slight warm Split Tones).

These images are only processed in LR.





 
B

boyzo

Guest
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Wow Terry you are geared up ;)
Am amazed at the size of the Sony compared to the small PL1 it looks real cool.
Would be so compact with a small fast prime and great IQ (NAPA) and (SF PArade)


Remember this is a public service. Any and all references to being a gear whore are wholly unappreciated. :ROTFL::ROTFL::ROTFL:

I will say it is very hard to translate the pictures to how these feel in hand. The Sony really does feel small even if the lens looks huge. The Hexanon lens on the GF1 is almost identical in size to the Panny kit lens not extended.






 

Terry

New member
Re: Fun with the NEX cameras....

Yes, geared up is correct.....but gearing down is coming soon!
 
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