Photoclubalpha

The SAL70-400--G is one of my two most-used lenses. The other is the Sony Zeiss 24-70. Since you're wondering about this lens, in his review, Michael Reichman (Luminous Landscape) said "the Zeiss 24-70mm F2.8 glass alone is worth the price of admission to the Sony system." By the way, Roge...

Don't overlook used Minolta lenses. The ones made for film cameras are all full-frame. The 100mm macro is excellent.

At this time of year it is hard for me to resist the temptation of trying to catch the winter migrant geese flying across the full moon. With a winter storm approaching, I was hoping for a trifecta of the geese flying against a background of the moon and a frame-filling expanse of moonlit clouds. I ...

.... Wonderful picture - real Zeiss type contrast; i assume you were usingthe CZ 24-70. I had been planning on buying the new Tamron 24-70 but if this is the sort of thing one gets from the CZ I must think again. Or maybe the RX-1 with CZ 35/2! In one of their reviews, Luminous Landscape said the Z...

I agree with Sury. Regardless of what one calls the space to the right, I think it's too much extraneous space. The girl is looking to our left, which tends to make that space to the right unbalanced. Adding to the distraction is the brighter Y-shaped concrete mortar to the right, and the pair of sy...

Very nice shot. I am curious to know how much of it is due to that fabulous lens and how much is due to camera. Or is the combination that makes it so good. Sury Hi Sury, I think the answer is the combo. My main concern is that the A99 can work with the lens as well as the A900 does. The better per...

More testing of the Sony A99: how well does it track moving objects, handle bright whites, and resolve fine detail? This shot was made with the Sony 70-400 at 400mm, in natural light, at 1/2000th, ISO 640, and f8. The frame is partially cropped. http://cubit.smugmug.com/Nature/Misc/i-rdfGXkW/0/XL/_D...

For wildlife photography with telephoto lenses, at high shutter speeds, using smaller apertures, and under dim light, I need the highest ISO performance available. To this end, I've been testing a Sony A99 at extreme ISO's. Here are some initial results. All were shot under natural light with the A9...

In principle, I think it's a nice composition, forcing the eye to shift back and forth from the bird's head to the head's shadow. The effect is eerie enough to claim that it's a frame from an Alfred Hitchcock film, which would explain the "grain." Tippi Hedren watch out

Hi Sury, I think the shadow is interesting enough to reverse the question to ... a bird with shadow worth two without.... If you have the usable pixels, it might be interesting to experiment by croppng out all the background and parts of the bird to have a composition of just the gull body, the wing...

Thanks Yildiz, The blur in the last shot is the result of wind blowing the flowers. The meadow was in an open, wind-exposed, location. and the flowers were whipping back-and-forth. The 1/500th wasn't fast enough to stop the movement. The first two photos were taken in more wind-sheltered locations. ...

John, Thank you. I did not realize the tricky challenges that the wind causes. I I am blown away with the realization. :lol: Could you elaborate your technique a bit? Do you use a tripod or the the shots hand held? I certainly have some things to experiment. With best regards, Sury Blown away, inde...

John, Very nice indeed. One question I have is that why do you want to do focus stacking for landscapes. I always thought focus stacking is a technique to address the thin dof when doing macros. You have the luxury of not going wide open especially when you have so much light? Zerene stacker is my ...

The new version of PhotoShop, CS6, has a function for automatic focus stacking. I tried it at one of my favorite fall sites in the California desert. Each of the images below was produced using a stack of 3 to 5 images ranging from near to far focus. The verdict? It works, but not perfectly. I would...

Amateur Photographer just published an interview with Sony's deputy president of digital imaging, Toru Katsumoto and senior marketing manager, Tetsuya Numata, about the Alpha 99 and RX1. One item of interest to me: although Sony is adept at making sensors with higher pixel count, the A99 was produce...