some fun with Macro

[Zero]

well yesterday i was invited to meet a Sony rep at one of the local photography stores. i went and we talked about some things. i have been interested in getting a 50mm lens and they currently have one which is a 50mm 1.4 but they are releaseing at the end of the month a 50mm 1.8 which is going to sell for half the price. currently the 1.4 is the fastest lens available from Sony as well.

we talked and he showed me the 50mm 1.4 and i got to take some pics with it. over all its more of what i want. i can take the pictures i want without having to walk a mile away like i do with my Macro. i also got to play with some of their newer cameras and their wireless flash. needless to say i was completely impressed and very happy with my camera. i got to mess with a Alpha700, which the Sony rep suggested would be an excellent upgrade from a A100 if i chose to do so and i agree, and i got to play with the stupied expensive Alpha900. lets just say with a price of $2,300 for just the body i was alittle intimidated :eek14:.

then we were messing around with the flashes and found out that the available flashes work both mounted and wirelessly with my A100. both me and the Sony Rep werent sure if it would wirelessly. the store setup a demonstration. they took a bowl of water and had drops of water fall from above so the camera could catch the photo of the waterdrops hitting the water. they used the A700 with a 18-250mm lens and both the cameras flash and a wireless flash. their camera was also on a tripod.

i on the other hand decided to use my Macro on my camera without a tripod and off and on using their flash with my cameras flash since i could wirelessly connect to theirs lol. after a few shots i just used my own flash instead and the pictures in the link im about to post are of that. i also took pictures of my car with the macro as i now have a better understanding of how to use it and my camera alittle better at closer distances.

oh and there are some pictures of my new citylight sockets compared to the old ones. tell me what you think of that. i kinda like the shorter ones better and the LED bulbs didnt really change anything when they were extended out with the new sockets.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wicked_sano/?saved=1

[77]

Very detailed pictures, I like that a lot.
I also like your "touch" pictures highlighting what you typically only realize through touching something.

[Jams_ek]

damn the waters shots are really crisp

[Sean @ NDF]

Who makes the 50 1.4 for Sony? Is it Carl-Zeiss? Only 7 aperature blades as opposed to Nikkor's 9 for the 50mm's....

Examples I've seen of Sony's 50 @ 1.4 are extremely soft. If you get it please post some examples, Sony photographers are hard to come by. I don't get to see much work.

[Zero]

Sony makes all their own lenses. Minolta lenses will mount to Sony bodies since it was originally Minoltas camera technology but they lack the electronic gadgets that make the Sony lenses work so well. it would be like taking a SLR lens and putting it on a DSLR camera. it will work but chances are it wont work as well compared the newer DSLR made lens

to date Carl-Zeiss only makes three DSLR lenses for Sony Alpha cameras.

SAL85F14Z
SAL135F18Z
SAL1680Z

ill break it down for you on how the lens names work. once you know it becomes extremely simple

(S)ony
(A)lpha
(L)ens
(85)mm
(F)ixed
(14)[1.4 F stop]
(Z)eiss

the bigger the number is usually a Zoom lens i.e.

SAL1680Z = a 16mm-80mm Carl-Zeiss lens

all Carl-Zeiss lenses have a "Z" at the very end of the lens name.
all G-series lenses have a "G" at the end.
all Zoom lenses dont show the F-stop in the name.
Macro lenses have a "M" instead of the "F"

so my macro is a SAL100M28

i did take a few pics with the SAL50F14 but they were quick shots with no real intent other then to see if thats what i was looking for.
hopefully this picture will show some of what the lens is capable of though i doubt it lol.

[.saint]

good info

[Jams_ek]

very good to know I'm looking for a new lens but not too sure what I'm lookin for

[Zero]

^^ the info is mainly used for Sony lenses but im sure other manufacturers use a naming system similar to that. its the price of said lenses that kills me. its either get one lens or buy a car part. its that expensive. the cost of my Macro could have easily gotten my my Spoon B pipe ive been wanting O_O

[.saint]

i was looking at a sony alpha 700 awhile back when circuit city was closing down.

[Zero]

should have got it. its currently the second highest camera Sony has available. they go for about $700- $800 for just the body i believe where as the A900 is in the 2k range