Photoclubalpha

After my airshow pics and some pics from a kayak fishing tournament this weekend, I am not happy with the $250 sony 70-300. Should I upgrade to the Sony 70-300G lens, will the difference be obvious?

I shoot JPEGS, and edit with Photoshop, what is the optimum settings (size)for me to use for posted pictures. Bear with me, I am fairly new to this.

I presume it's the 75-300 you're talking about.
It's not a bad lens, I might even say it's a decent lens as long as you don't close the aperture much. Of course the 70-300 G SSM is a serious upgrade. If the price is not an issue, then go for it.
But in the meantime do some shots with your existing lens wide open.

Dr. Harout wrote:I presume it's the 75-300 you're talking about.
It's not a bad lens, I might even say it's a decent lens as long as you don't close the aperture much. Of course the 70-300 G SSM is a serious upgrade. If the price is not an issue, then go for it.
But in the meantime do some shots with your existing lens wide open.

You are absolutely right Dr. Harout. Though SAL-70300G is a serious upgrade , the SAL75-300 is very close to it.

ruthless wrote:I shoot JPEGS, and edit with Photoshop, what is the optimum settings (size)for me to use for posted pictures. Bear with me, I am fairly new to this.

You can post links to images up to 1000 x 1000 pixels maximum, to display in-line in your posts.

David

Ok here are some of the better shot with the SAL 75-300. These are various members of Project Healing Waters, an orginazation that uses flyfishing to aid in the recovery of injured war veterans. I hosted 6 of these guys on a half day kayak fishing trip.

Given the original question, I think we need to see examples of why you don't like the lens!

As for airshow photos, that's a tougher job than some other tasks. For example, I always have to set the shutter speed manually to ensure that it's fast enough, regardless of the camera or lens. If your lens is wide open at f5.6, if it's not sharp, that might be a problem. You might have to use ISO 200 instead of 100 to make up the difference of using f8, for example. It just seems to be at the limits of these consumer-grade lenses. So, I've stepped up a notch to a bit better lens (I hope) and look forward to my next airshow. But the 70-300G just seemed too expensive, too large, perhaps too much for my needs. We'll see.

Even so, I managed to come away with several very good shots from my last airshow. It was tough work, and I do think a better lens can help, but you should be able to get something pretty decent from a more modest lens, at least sometimes....

I gave the lens a second chance and got better pics, I now know what settings to use si I am going to hold off and find an APO lens later on.