Hi there from Holland

[MFS]

Hello everybody (or is it everyone?),

My name is John, live in Holland or better The Netherlands, for Holland is also the name of a little village in de USA. The province of Noord Brabant and the South West of it is my home region. I’m 47 years of age, married 24 years and dad from a daughter (who’s living Down Under (QLD) currently) and a Son.

Well, my nick is MFS which is short for My First Sony (how original).

Since very recently I have an A700 but I still kept my precious KM 7D. Also a couple of fine Minolta lenses. My best performing lens, in my humble opinion, is the Minolta AF 200/2.8 HS APO G. This one is even better than de 70-200 SSM which is also in my collection. Further on I probably have the same lenses as most of you will have. My next goal is the 85/1.4 or the CZ 135/1.8 (but prefer the 85 since I already have the Minolta 135/2.8, so that range is covered actually although I know both lenses are not comparable)

I started with a Minolta Dimage F100 and feb 2006 I bougt my first DSLR, the legendary KM D7D. Started shotting in Jpeg + Raw (otherwise you can't look back the results on the LCD) and now using the A700 only shooting in RAW. Using C1P as my standard RAW converter, finetuning in CS.

Too be honest with you all I joined PA because I’m not satisfied about my A700 till so far, but I will open a separate topic on that issue.

I hope too learn and read a lot of you all. Thanks in advance.

In advance I would like to excuse me for my English, for it’s not that good and it might be that I need to ask several times what you mean.

John.

[alfake]

John: A warm welcome from me! (I am your age, have also a son –but, unfortunately, no daughter in Australia…– and use a Sony A700, so we have a few things in common!) I hope somebody here will be able to help you on your issues with the A700. Best regards,
Alfonso

[bakubo]

Welcome to the forum! I use an A700 also and I am very happy with it. I have been to your wonderful country a couple of times.

[MFS]

Well thanks Guys !! A warm welcome from both sides, Europe and the Pacific. Had a short peek at your website Henry and I must say "you do a lot of traveling". Funny, typical tourist, pic's from A'dam (common short for Amsterdam overhere. Just like R'dam for Rotterdam). Thanks again for your welcome on PA.

John.

[David Kilpatrick]

Hi, and please do explain what the problem is with the A700. I should have used mine more, but I have to use each different camera, and we got the A200 and A350 after the A700, then the A900 came along - so I probably used the A700 much less than I wanted to before moving to the A900. The only consistent problem I had was with back focus on certain lenses.

David

[bakubo]

In 1994 I was in Amsterdam and then in 2005 I was back. This Dutch woman seemed to be offering me a twofer. By the way, this photo was made with the KM 7D.

[Dr. Harout]

Welcome John.
I am shocked that you don't like the A700. Waiting for the separate thread you mentioned.

[MFS]

Thanks again guys, these are replies I hoped for. To go short: I'm very disappointed on Noise Levels at low too moderate ISO levels and the LCD is not a good concelleri (adviser) for shooting, because it looks all different compared to my RAW files. Yes, a very clear and bright LCD indeed but I prefer clear and predictable results pic’s instead. Also having problems with the WB which I just can’t seem to get right. A short intro of what I mean with the Noise thing can be found here:

http://www.pbase.com/batraaf/sony_alpha_700" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When I bought the camera Firmware V1.0 was installed and I almost immediately replaced it whit V 4.0 (after charging the battery too the full).

Thanks in advance

[david antony]

This Dutch woman seemed to be offering me a twofer. By the way, this photo was made with the KM 7D.

I think that was a bait & switch! Henry

[David Kilpatrick]

Thanks again guys, these are replies I hoped for. To go short: I'm very disappointed on Noise Levels at low too moderate ISO levels and the LCD is not a good concelleri (adviser) for shooting, because it looks all different compared to my RAW files. Yes, a very clear and bright LCD indeed but I prefer clear and predictable results pic’s instead. Also having problems with the WB which I just can’t seem to get right. A short intro of what I mean with the Noise thing can be found here:

http://www.pbase.com/batraaf/sony_alpha_700" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

When I bought the camera Firmware V1.0 was installed and I almost immediately replaced it whit V 4.0 (after charging the battery too the full).

Thanks in advance

Why shoot a sunset sky underexposed by 2 stops, at 1/1250th of a second, f10, ISO 500? You could have shot at 1/100th at f8 at ISO 100 and had a better exposed, perfectly clean result. You have effectively exposed this at ISO 2000, so noise is to be expected in a mid-grey tone. I don't have time now to show some examples right now, but I'll try to come back and show how correct exposure, ISO setting and raw conversion (for a start, setting the WB correctly and not relying on ACR which is miles wrong for many shots) can make completely clean results from a subject like this.

What you must do is turn off Auto ISO, lock down to ISO 200 or 100 for sunsets/dusk, and make sure you expose correctly to get minimal noise.

David

[bakubo]

I think that was a bait & switch! Henry

Don't worry, I didn't fall for that old trick! I passed on her offer and instead just photographed her and her partner in crime.

[MFS]

I'll try to come back on this issue during the weekend. For now already some thanks and David K, you just gave me some hope. I hope it's me and not the camera or the firmware. Thank a lot so far.

John.