Hi from Asia

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osquar
Acolyte
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 6:35 am
Location: Thailand

Hi from Asia

Unread post by osquar »

Hi all,

Unlike previous introduction post by members before me with many experieces from many camera, A100 is my first (D)SLR. Prior to this I had a compact Olympus C100. A big clumsy piece, drains battery pretty fast, which I handed over to my mom once I got my A100 second handed back in Nov 2006. The guy didn't like Sony's lens prices so he went to the big N.

It took me months to learn more about DSLR from several Thai Digital camera website. Most of them refer their source from Dpreview where I later spent days reading about Nikon, Canon and also Sony. Here in Thailand Canon and Nikon are the dominating brand, so people around me recommend these two as it's easy to find accessories and cheaper price than other not so popular brand here.

But why did Sony came in the picture. It is because my dad used to have X-700 which I don't remember much because I was so young. I think he had 2-3 lenses which I never allowed to touch. All X-700 stuffs were later trade/sell to get Dynax 7000i back in 1989 or 1990. I was almost in highschool then. Now I was old enough to be allowed to hold it from time to time. A few years later it was stolen and my dad never bought a SLR again. He just downsized to several point-and-shoot film camera. However not all of his gears were stolen. He had 100-300mm (not Apo version) and other accessories such as a dozen of 55mm filters laying in the closet. That was the main reason why I chose Sony because I could save money.

After using the A100 for a while, I discovered that those dozen color correction filters are not neccessary anymore since you can change whitebalance instead. Pictures from 100-300mm seems to give worse result than on film. 5200i does fire when attaching on A100 but doesn't seems to work. I read more on the internet, especially on Dyxum and found out why 5200i behaved the way it is and use it on Manual mode. I came also to learn what the beercan is and I just got it last month.

While on shoping for protection filter for 55mm (which is quite uncommon, since most of the shops have filter starting from 58mm due to the factor that most camera here are C or N) I spotted the lens that was on my dad's Dynax 7000i, the AF 35-105mm RS. Fully in dust and barried among many MD lens. Two weeks later I saw dynax7000i on sales on the net here in Thailand. It took me 2 minutes to pick up the phone and made the deal.

I got a very bad shape Dynax 7000i body the week after in the percel and I put the 35-105mm on it. While holding it in my hand I wish my dad could be here with me right now. I am on my first film role with it. Being used to the DSLR, I always look at the back of Dynax7000i for a preview after every shutter released. :lol:
David Kilpatrick
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Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

The 35-105mm RS will be pretty good on your A100. Here is a tip - ever since the first program AF SLRs, the Minolta/KM/Sony program exposure has pushed towards using full aperture, wide open on lenses like the 100-300mm. The reason it was designed like this was camera shake. Unless the light is fantastic, very bright, the program sets the lens wide open at any length over 100mm and selects a fast shutter speed. It does the same with flash. Because so many people use flash from too far away, the program setting for flash is wide open with tele lenses, just one stop down with others - or even wide open.

Now that we have SSS/AS, the program is out of date, but it's still there. For the best results from the 35-105mm and 100-300mm, turn the camera to Aperture priority A setting, and adjust the aperture to f8 for normal days, f11 for very sunny days. Set the camera to ISO 200, this gives the best combination of sharpness, noise and dynamic range with a slightly faster shutter speed.

If you set f8, f9 or f11 you'll get really sharp optical imaging from those early lenses.

You will also find that if you use bounce flash with the 5200i, f8 is about right at full power in a domestic room with light decoration, at ISO 400.

David
osquar
Acolyte
Posts: 8
Joined: Tue Jun 05, 2007 6:35 am
Location: Thailand

Unread post by osquar »

Thank you very much for your advice. I will try that, once I get my A100 back from CCD cleaning.
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