I don't know how you could hold the camera steady on that last one, halarious !

Yeah, I know what you mean. Fortunately, I had IS so that helped.

Doc, I really like your photo of the guys playing backgammon on the mountain!

Nice shots Henry . Excited to see you have some new travels planned. I hope we'll be able to follow things on your blog? Central America sounds like a place to be extra careful at the moment.

I like the 'anchor' man Gio67 .

Two very different individuals Ossie - interesting contrast .

Here are couple of images for which my son-in-law was actually the photographer.

They were taken by him at the beach earlier this year with his A700, fitted with a Sigma 70-200mm f:2.8 lens.

The first photo is of my daughter, and the second image is of their oldest child - age 13.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

Here is one - but whether it's as an individual character, or an individual element in a composition, different matter. This sort of shot goes back to why I ever started in photography, the images from Cartier-Bresson, Harald Mante, Kertesz, Van Wadenoyen and many others which used the human figure as an anchor for a formal 'crop' of the world framed by the viewfinder.

But using the Alpha 55, I find this type of photography almost impossible. This was a rare lucky example - the first frame seen and shot, actually in time (the camera can delay you even seeing through the finder at all for over 1 second) and in focus. I'm still using the A55 all the time, but all too aware of the number of shots completely lost because of the delay and the 'blank black view' given by the finder.

The location is a gate of the Dalt Vila of Eivissa, Ibiza old city. I have a few more taken carefully, waiting for further subjects to walk through the gate and more composed, but as is so often the case none works as well as the first shot seen.

Yes, this, to me, is the biggest problem with all EVFs that I have seen so far. It was the first thing I checked when I had a chance to play with an A33 last year (I think it has the same EVF as the A55). I wrote about that experience here last year. The dynamic range of the EVF is too small and often certain parts of a scene will be totally blown out in the EVF and you can't make out any detail at all in that area even though they appear there in the raw file. I think it is similar for dark parts of an image where the EVF displays black but there is something there in the raw file. Mostly these situations are in very contrasty situations like your photo. Also, as you say, when you bring the camera up to your eye sometimes there is a delay for the EVF to get the brightness adjusted so you can see. It will be interesting to see if the A77 EVF is significantly better.

Yeah, I am looking forward to the trip! I think I will take my netbook so will probably be able to make some updates as long as wifi is pretty common as it was in other recent travels such as Vietnam and Egypt.

gio67, great photo!

All taken in Washington DC, 1976 Bi-Centennial year. Minolta SRT 101b, Minolta MD 50/1.7, Kodachrome copied with NEX-5

And some more, this time from Santa Barbara again, 1981, Minolta SRT101b.

This is indeed a great thread with quite a diverse expressions of the theme.
I was out shooting this morning, and saw this chap on the balcony, and I instantly thought of this thread. I got this shot off, switched to my 100-300apo, looked up again, and he had gone back inside...Bummer

Good variety of great shots here.


A200 Minolta 28-75 in Reno.

Wow DA! He is definitely an individual... But, he may want to get his liver checked...