Search found 5961 matches

by David Kilpatrick
Fri Feb 13, 2015 4:20 pm
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: Sony FE 70-200mm OSS - help needed - info
Replies: 15
Views: 12620

Re: Sony FE 70-200mm OSS - help needed - info

I have the answer - one Sony site onl;y, sony.net, appears to print it -

1–1.5 (AF) 1–1.35 (MF)

So AF works at 70mm down to 1m, but the close-up ability of the lens is very disappointing.

David
by David Kilpatrick
Fri Feb 13, 2015 1:26 pm
Forum: Alpha A-mount System
Topic: Using The LA-EA4 for alpha mounts
Replies: 9
Views: 6334

Re: Using The LA-EA4 for alpha mounts

Difficult - I think, given the difficulty I'm having working out a decent lens set for the A7II without using the LA-EA4, that I might well have chosen to go back to the A99 rather than go through this hassle. I do have the LA-EA4 and it works well, but somehow it all feels like a bit of a waste of ...
by David Kilpatrick
Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:46 am
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: Sony FE 70-200mm OSS - help needed - info
Replies: 15
Views: 12620

Sony FE 70-200mm OSS - help needed - info

I have been met so far by a wall of silence from dPreview and an FB group with over 6000 E-mount users, after trying to find out something very simple which is not made clear by Sony or by any vendors. The 70-200mm f/4 G OSS is extremely expensive so i don't want to drop this sum on glass and find i...
by David Kilpatrick
Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:16 am
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: Minolta 500mm reflex vs. Tamron 70-300mm - real world
Replies: 10
Views: 9941

Re: Minolta 500mm reflex vs. Tamron 70-300mm - real world

The Min-Sony 500mm is a hybrid. It has a more 'important' optical group than most mirror lenses and it's very much cata-di-optric not catoptic. The Tamron 500mm macro reflex I've bought recently is in a different class - never expected to use any mirror lens with the same contrast and sharpness. David
by David Kilpatrick
Fri Feb 13, 2015 11:13 am
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: 24-85mm Minolta
Replies: 69
Views: 38552

Re: 24-85mm Minolta

I had a Minolta 24-105mm and it was terrible. I moves on to the 24-85mm and it was one of the best lenses I've owned. There is also no distortion at 24mm and sharpness at 85mm was not a problem. Then I picked up a bargain Sony SAL 24-105mm and that was completely different from the original Minolta ...
by David Kilpatrick
Sat Jan 10, 2015 4:52 pm
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: SAR - "Under development" full frame FE 24-240
Replies: 4
Views: 6508

Re: SAR - "Under development" full frame FE 24-240

Would you really want f/6.9 or whatever the long end of this will be? 1.4X converter on a 70-210mm would be better!

David
by David Kilpatrick
Sat Jan 10, 2015 4:49 pm
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: Lens advice for Alpha A580
Replies: 7
Views: 7778

Re: Lens advice for Alpha A580

Looking at your portfolio and what you already have, I'd go for the big Sigma - they may not be around at the current price for long because the 150-600mm has taken over their slot, and the 500mm version is actually discontinued. And a bargain!

David
by David Kilpatrick
Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:56 pm
Forum: Alpha A-mount System
Topic: Photokina 2014
Replies: 21
Views: 9797

Re: Photokina 2014

Mty 45-minute 'tour' of the Sony stand amounted to little less than an insult. Sony's former PR head girl has now left Sony and become part of a PR agency, possibly because she is also married to Amateur Photographer's technical editor, and that would be an unacceptable situation for an empoyee. She...
by David Kilpatrick
Mon Sep 15, 2014 11:28 pm
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: Minolta 24-105mm D
Replies: 11
Views: 8851

Re: Minolta 24-105mm D

Good lens Barry now that lens corrections have been introduced in LR/ACR etc. It does need them. Compare the size with the latest Sigma and it's a mere peanut of a lens...
by David Kilpatrick
Tue Sep 09, 2014 12:11 pm
Forum: Film non-SLR
Topic: What do I need to get this sort of self-portrait?
Replies: 7
Views: 11065

Re: What do I need to get this sort of self-portrait?

Minolta's old cameras with an extending pole and a mirror viewfinder on the front! Selfies work because women hold the camera higher than eye level, men hold it at chest level. Done the other way round and they look awful...
by David Kilpatrick
Sat Aug 02, 2014 9:54 pm
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: Shift with big stopper, 8X red, 20mm...
Replies: 5
Views: 3740

Re: Shift with big stopper, 8X red, 20mm...

Some of the best photographers are using bw contrast filters, especially red. Tim Wallace is an example. All his 'Darwin' ghost town pictures just going on show now (Death Valley road trip stuff) were taken with a red filter.

David
by David Kilpatrick
Sat Aug 02, 2014 3:37 pm
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: Shift with big stopper, 8X red, 20mm...
Replies: 5
Views: 3740

Re: Shift with big stopper, 8X red, 20mm...

Using the red filter is not especially easy. In theory, you should ignore the factor, but in practice it does also cut light from other channels. Straight auto exposure nearly always results in burned out highlights. The results are better than using raw with a conversion (especially in terms of noi...
by David Kilpatrick
Thu Jul 31, 2014 5:26 pm
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: Shift with big stopper, 8X red, 20mm...
Replies: 5
Views: 3740

Shift with big stopper, 8X red, 20mm...

Although the sky today was a hazy blue - it can be much deeper when humidity is lower - I got what I have tried for for a couple of days. To the A7R is fitted a Kipon Shift adaptor, Canon FD mountl; then a 20mm f/2.8 Canon FDn lens; then an 8X Red Minolta AC filter; finally, a Camdiox 10000 (10 stop...
by David Kilpatrick
Thu Jul 17, 2014 8:45 pm
Forum: Lens Lore
Topic: Who actually made these AF 75-200mm f/4.5 Macro Zoom Lenses?
Replies: 12
Views: 8228

Re: Who actually made these AF 75-200mm f/4.5 Macro Zoom Len

Many Quantaray lenses were Sigma but I'm pretty sure this is not. If the AF works on a modern body, if definitely is not. It looks like a design from the same stable - maybe even something pitched to Minolta as a budget lens but never taken up. The size is really appealing. How does it perform?

David
by David Kilpatrick
Tue Jul 15, 2014 11:20 am
Forum: Alpha A-mount System
Topic: A900 spares readily available?
Replies: 11
Views: 7284

Re: A900 spares readily available?

Electronic viewfinder is the problem in the studio. It's not impossible, but where the A900 has a memory setting which can be studio-ready (M, 1/160th at f/14, ISO 100, daylight balance) so I just turn the camera to memory position 1, the A7R and all other Sony EVF cameras will not store the 'settin...