aster wrote:Welcome back David,
Looks like you used the A900 extensively in almost all weather conditions and photography types. Was it a trying task to carry the camera and the lenses in these situations?
Yildiz
Thanks for you comments, although the equipment was a bit heavier than my previous A700 APS-C system, I didn't find it too much as really I was not having to carry it around all the time. I tended to take only a couple of lenses out with me, so a small lightweight camera shoulder bag was all I needed.
A lot of places had restrictions on cameras or bags, so I had to be careful what I carried on a trip by trip basis anyway. The rules seem to change on the whim of the officials on the day, sometimes no cameras allowed, or no flash and then another time you can do anything. In Alexandria Library we were told we could use the camera inside no problem. As part of the tour we got entry into an exhibition and I saw a notice about NO Flash, so I just took available light photos, then an official approached me and told me there was no photography allowed without a special ticket. I apologised and offered to delete my photos, but they kindly let me keep them. A lot of the restrictions on photography were for practical reasons, like very busy monasteries where there were hundreds of people with point and shoot cameras who did not know how to turn off their flashes, so the easiest thing to do was to ban ALL photography.
The most annoying thing for a still camera photographer is a guy with a video camera, because he stands in front for ages zooming and panning around, getting in the way of those who want to take a quick snap and away.
I mainly use the CZ 24-70 for walking around. I also had my Tamron 17-35 for wider angle - it is nice and light, quality is reasonable if stopped down - plenty of light most of the time so not a problem. For reasons of weight and space I did not take a telephoto zoom, instead just taking the 135/1.8 Zeiss - I loved using that. A longer telephoto would not have been much use as the heat mirage and dust in many places would have limited it I feel. I did get a few dust spots on the sensor, but they only showed up on over f11 shots, so relatively few shots affected and I can easily clone them out. I was changing lenses quite a bit outside in the dusty conditions.
I would have loved to have been able to take more people shots, but I'm a little too shy to ask permission in many situations, so I mainly did candid shots, but the large A900 attracted too much attention, where a small point and shoot camera would not have. Quite often others would be taking shots of camel drivers with their tiny camera with no problems, but as soon as I pointed the Zeiss anywhere in their direction they covered their faces or demanded payment for a photo. We also had to pay baksheesh to the tourist police in Alexandria to take pictures of a Mosque (outside).
Also we travelled long distances in coaches and saw some great mountain and desert scenery, but didn't get a chance to stop and photograph it. I did get some reasonable shots through the windows even though we we going fast and the windows were tinted, sometimes with enough shutter speed and camera close to the window to eliminate reflections they came out.
I left the A900 on Auto ISO (200-800) and that worked well, especially in Petra where the gorge is quite dark and next moment you are in mid day sunshine. I took a few bracketed sequences as well, just in case I wanted to do some HDR. I shot cRAW all the time.
I bought a bunch of 8GB cards before I went - when I put the second one in I was puzzled why it had only a quarter of the capacity of the first - I discovered that the dealer had sent me a 2GB by mistake (same colour and I had not noticed.) When I got home I emailed and explained the situation - the dealer said I had solved their puzzle - the stock-take had shown 1 extra 8GB card and 1 lost 2GB. They gave me a refund AND let me keep the 2GB - very good honest dealing I felt.