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Dr. Harout
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by Dr. Harout »

Welcome Steve and enjoy your surf here. This is a very friendly forum.
A99 + a7rII + Sony, Zeiss, Minolta, Rokinon and M42 lenses

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sean_photography
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Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 5:54 pm
Location: hertfordshire, uk

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by sean_photography »

Hi all, newbie here. I live in hertfordshire in the uk and have always had a passion for photography since i was 6 years old. ive always used point and shoot cameras wether they were film or digital. i bought a a300 in 2008 and have been using it in auto mode till now. for the last 2 months ive been trying to self teach myself how to use the dslr fully and all its wonderful settings. i bought the Scott kelby bookset and its gave me a great start into learning how to use a dslr.
ive been into hiking and motorsport for many years and have always been known for taking copious amounts of pictures of my adventures. But now i wanna get serious, i wanna learn how to take pictures to be proud of.

so far i have the 18-70mm kit lens and the sony 70-300mm dt lens.

but ive been looking at getting a sony 11-18mm or the sigma 10-20mm for when im hiking and a sony 50mm f1.4 or f1.8 for when my daughter is born in may.

any advise would be helpful and much appreciated.

oh and im also looking to get a manfrotto 190xprob or a 055xprob tripod with the 804rc2 pan and tilt head. if anyone has some input on these.

much appreciated Sean
Sony Alpha A300 / 18-70mm / 75-300 / 50mm F1.4 / Manfrotto 055XPROB + 498RC2
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Dr. Harout
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Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 7:38 pm
Location: Yerevan, Armenia
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by Dr. Harout »

Hi Sean and welcome to this forum, a formidable one.
I guess you should change your signature because there isn't any 70-300 DT lens, I presume it's the 75-300 you have.
Do upload shots as much as you can.
A99 + a7rII + Sony, Zeiss, Minolta, Rokinon and M42 lenses

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Birma
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by Birma »

Hi Sean - welcome to the forum from me :D . I am sure you will find lots of help and advice here just as I and many others have. I found it very useful to post some pictures and ask for ideas on how to improve them, in fact I'm still doing that today :) .

My suggestion would be to go for the 50mm next (either 1.4 or 1.8). I found this sort of prime lens excellent for family portraits. It is now one of my favourite lenses (I have an older Minolta f/1.7).

I have the Manfrotto 055xprob and a pan-tilt head. Great tripod but it is heavy. I am happy to put up with the weight if I am going somewhere to take pictures, but not so happy if the walk is the mian objective. I have just got a ball head (322rc2) which I prefer but it is more expensive.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
sean_photography
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Location: hertfordshire, uk

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by sean_photography »

hi Birma, thank you for the great advice. ive played with the 50mm 1.8 but cant seem to get my hands on a 50mm 1.4 to play with to make up my final decision. as for the tripod same scenario , ive played with the 190 but haven't seen a 055 yet to compare the weight values. when i do i will let you all know.

thank you for the warm welcome.
Sony Alpha A300 / 18-70mm / 75-300 / 50mm F1.4 / Manfrotto 055XPROB + 498RC2
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Birma
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by Birma »

I have heard rumours that Sony are stopping selling the 50 1.4 in some geographies so that may be why there are less around. The advantage of the 50 1.4, as well as the slightly larger apperture, is that it is useable on the full-frame cameras (i.e. 850/900) as well as the APS-C (200 through 700). I believe the 50 1.8 is designed for APS-C only. If you're not planning on going full-frame soon then I would go for the 50 1.8, much cheaper and it has very good reviews. I think all of the recent Sony SAM lenses (18-55, 50, 30, 35, 85) are great value.
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
sean_photography
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by sean_photography »

ah rite, well i have been wondering if they were gonna do that, well ive got a friends 50mm f1.8 here with me, its pretty good for the price so im definitely considering getting this lens for myself., cheers for your help. sean
Sony Alpha A300 / 18-70mm / 75-300 / 50mm F1.4 / Manfrotto 055XPROB + 498RC2
classiccameras
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Joined: Sun Oct 21, 2012 9:33 am

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by classiccameras »

Hi all

Just joined the forum, it looks pretty good to me so I look forward to meeting some of you.
mvanrheenen

Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by mvanrheenen »

Welcome classiccameras!

Mark
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Birma
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by Birma »

A warm welcome from me as well Classiccameras :) Looking forward to perhaps seeing some of your pictures and hearing about your Classic Cameras?
Nex 5, Nex 6 (IR), A7M2, A99 and a bunch of lenses.
classiccameras
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by classiccameras »

Hi
Peter from London, Still got the XD-7, but also now digital.
Hope to make some friends

Peter [classiccameras]
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Dr. Harout
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by Dr. Harout »

Hi Peter, and welcome on board PCA (PhotoClubAlpha).
A99 + a7rII + Sony, Zeiss, Minolta, Rokinon and M42 lenses

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the_hefay
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by the_hefay »

Well, I've already posted a couple of times and decided I liked the forum enough I ought to sign the registry, so to speak. I'm Jeff and I hail from the state of Wyoming in the US. My first camera ever was an old Kodak instamatic that my Mom had quit using. I assumed ownership of it when she upgraded to a Polaroid. Dad said I could use it all i wanted but the flash cubes, film and developing costs were all mine. I still remember sparingly using the rotating flash cube in order to save my allowance for the 126 cartriges. From the very first of my phtography endeavors I operated under the theory that a bad picture is better than no picture. :) Next I had an Ansco disc camera and later a Kodak disc. After high school I quit taking pictures for quite a few years. Eventually, I was drawn back into photography with an Olympus p&s with a small zoom range. My friend had a Minolta Maxxum 300si and so I began to learn through image comparison the advantages to the slr over the p&s. After 4 or 5 years I upgraded to a Minolta Maxxum 400si, then the Sony a100 and finally the Sony a580. Recently I've dabbled in reverse lens macro and I'm just wating for spring to get some insect and flower shots.

About my user name. I used to play a car racing video game with my daughter, brother, and his kids. My name was jefe. If you now Spanish you understand the pronunciation to be "hefay" not "jeef" which is how my nephew pronounced it when I drove past him. "Who's Jeef?!" That's when I changed it to hefay, and it just kind of stuck.

Anyways, enough of this typing and back to the camera.

Jeff
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Dr. Harout
Subsuming Vortex of Brilliance
Posts: 5662
Joined: Wed May 30, 2007 7:38 pm
Location: Yerevan, Armenia
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by Dr. Harout »

Welcome Jeff and have a nice surf here. :D
I am currently in Beirut, Lebanon, enjoying a wonderful sun (we really needed that, because we had a cloud hanging over us, even lurking with us in Yerevan, with a temperature of -14 to -22 C).
So I wish you'll have a warm surfing on PCA (that stands for Photoclubalpha) :wink:
A99 + a7rII + Sony, Zeiss, Minolta, Rokinon and M42 lenses

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the_hefay
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Re: Welcome to our Forums

Unread post by the_hefay »

Thanks for the welcome. I'm glad you could warm up. I didn't think of Yerevan as being a place that would get that cold. I'm familiar with the cold myself. It's actually -15 C here right now. Of course it's 1:00 am and the sun has been long gone. ;)
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