got the 580 on friday ,the weather is not so good

[gio67]

so i took this greenfly on the liveview magnified focus on the 16-80,I like this feature very much, they're not the greatest of pictures but this feature on the a580 opens up a whole new world to me as my eyesight is not the best,I,d never in a million years have been able to take this with the 700 for that reason,the greenfly was less than the size of a grain of rice

[Birma]

Congtraulations on the new camera Gio67 . Nice green fly shots.

I agree about the live-view + MF assist being a great feature. I used to get headaches after doing a lot of macro shots with my A100 and A700. Much, much easier with LV. I understand that those who shoot fast action etc. probably prefer a OVF or even EVF. For my style of shooting (a lot on a tripod) I'm wondering if I want another SLR/SLT type of camera. I'm sure a Sony 77 is in my (distant) future somewhere, but not sure if it will be A77 or Nex77.

[gio67]

thanks Birma, I was holding out for the a77 then looked again at the specs on the 580 and thought it will do the job for my needs,
until the next time that is or is it the nex time, I also got this one of a bee lapping up some pollen

[Birma]

Ooh - that's a really nice one Gio67 . Might be a hoverfly? Great view of it and fabulous detail in the eyes. I agee that the A580 looks a great camera and it is a real bargain at the moment.

[Dr. Harout]

Gio, why not use a macro lens? Were you using some close up lens?
I ask, because the sharpness is not what it should be. Composition wise, color and juxtaposition of subject with background is great, only that sharpness is missing... imho.

[gio67]

your right doc and I agree,
the last one of the bee was taken with a macro lens the others were cz16-80, my eyes are not the best but it is a lot clearer with the magnified liveview, mainly I was making the point that I could never have taken these with the a700 manual focus, the first 3 were just an attempt and I was so pleased that I even achieved that degree of sharpness manually focusing,then I tried the macro lens, thanks for the constructive comments they are very much appreciated as usual
gio

[Dr. Harout]

your right doc and I agree,
the last one of the bee was taken with a macro lens the others were cz16-80, my eyes are not the best but it is a lot clearer with the magnified liveview, mainly I was making the point that I could never have taken these with the a700 manual focus, the first 3 were just an attempt and I was so pleased that I even achieved that degree of sharpness manually focusing,then I tried the macro lens, thanks for the constructive comments they are very much appreciated as usual
gio

That's one of the reasons I want a77 (in fact, that's a major reason to prefer an EVF).

[stevecim]

Got to get my self a macro lens, from what I've seen around the net the 580 looks like a top camera, don't know why Sony didn't bring them into Australia

[Greg Beetham]

I agree the zoom feature gives great closeups but the sharpness is not wonderful, it probably is a limitation that goes with the territory; you'd probably need f22 on a standard lens to get the dof and then you'd get diffraction issues. Yes a macro lens at say f11 at 1:1 would be great, it's designed to do the job properly, and then zoom LV with that as well as required, maybe on a monopod for some extra steadiness, you can never have too much steadyness at high magnification I think.
Greg

[gio67]

I agree the zoom feature gives great closeups but the sharpness is not wonderful, it probably is a limitation that goes with the territory; you'd probably need f22 on a standard lens to get the dof and then you'd get diffraction issues. Yes a macro lens at say f11 at 1:1 would be great, it's designed to do the job properly, and then zoom LV with that as well as required, maybe on a monopod for some extra steadiness, you can never have too much steadyness at high magnification I think.
Greg

I tripod mounted this greg and put a little figurine on the bird box to pre focus on the spot where I predicted the squirrel would be, used the radio control thing I bought and this was the result

[Dusty]

Gio, Sonolta would be proud of such a squirrel shot!

Dusty

[Dr. Harout]

Gio, Sonolta would be proud of such a squirrel shot!

Dusty

I don't know if he would be proud or not, but I'm sure he would "backfire" with his shots of squirrels in a 1:4 relation.
BTW, rarely I do visit his sites, don't know why, but I do.