A700 replacement 2011 25MP...

[Greg Beetham]

Thanks I looked at the Sigma unit once Dennis, but doesn't the controller unit stand straight up, or did they release a new model? If the controller is verticle it's difficult to use the RA finder.
Greg

[pakodominguez]

I bought several Minolta Macro Flash Systems on eBay but ultimately sold them when I could get twice what I paid for them.

Good move!

I did about the same, not with flashes but with lenses. I paid 35 US$ for a 50f1.7 that I sold 110 (SSHH included) 3 times the original price is not bad! I bought a Minolta 85f1.4 at the time nobody gave a dime for the A-mount system, for 600 US$ and sold it last winter for 900 US$

I recently purchased a Sigma Flash Macro Ring EM-140 DG for $379US and am very happy with it.

Cheers,

No exposure issues? what camera do you use? any samples?

Regards

[bakubo]

Okay, here we are once again. Someone bashes other members rather than discussing the topic. Where are the moderators?

[dennismullen]

Thanks I looked at the Sigma unit once Dennis, but doesn't the controller unit stand straight up, or did they release a new model? If the controller is verticle it's difficult to use the RA finder.
Greg

Thanks for reminding me I have a right angle finder in my camera bag

The Sigma controller seems to have about a 15 degree pitch forward which is a tiny bit less than the older style Minolta controller I still have.
The RA finder works OK with the Sigma if you put your head at an angle of 45 degrees or more to the camera. I use my left eye.
It seems to give better exposure control than the Minolta and can use HSS. My only minor gripe is the monitor lamps auto turn off in 20 seconds which can be annoying.
I use a Sony A900 and A700 with 100/2.8 macro. Sorry for the off topic tangent.

Cheers,

[twm47099]

Thanks I looked at the Sigma unit once Dennis, but doesn't the controller unit stand straight up, or did they release a new model? If the controller is verticle it's difficult to use the RA finder.
Greg

Greg,
I have the Sigma, and it works well (although it broke my heart to buy a non-OEM accessory - Sony's choice). I find that because it stands straighter I have difficulties using the RA finder that I didn't with the Minolta (head hits the controller before the eye hits the eyepiece.) Moving the RA about 45 degrees does help, but its difficult to use hand held that way. On a tripod, I just use the flash cable and a tripod clamp that holds the controller on the tripod. I am putting together a cheap flash bracket that will hold the controller to the side and still let me hand hold the camera.

tom

[Greg Beetham]

Yeah Dennis there's a thing, if they had the modelling lamps in LED form you could leave em on as long as you liked and not waste any power to speak of. Hmm 15 degrees doesn't sound too bad, a lot better than straight up that's for sure, I guess it's a case of suck it and see.
Well I guess Sony sold you an OC cable Tom, (unless it was a Minolta one), so even though Sony don't make a Macro Ring Flash they might make a killing in OC accessory cables so we can use someone elses Ring Flash conveniently.
How about posting a couple of Ring Flash pix in the Flash forum so we can see how well the Sigma works.
Greg

[agorabasta]

It's more likely they will stick with the SLT design for APS-C...

That's the most likely scenario, for sure.

But! It's pretty much obvious that APSC sales are immeasurably greater than FF digital sales, especially so in Sony case
So having an advanced APSC design that can be near-completely re-utilised as needed to make a few FF cams now and then fits the Sony business model perfectly.

And an advanced 7-series SLT fits here near-perfectly...

[twm47099]

Yeah Dennis there's a thing, if they had the modelling lamps in LED form you could leave em on as long as you liked and not waste any power to speak of. Hmm 15 degrees doesn't sound too bad, a lot better than straight up that's for sure, I guess it's a case of suck it and see.
Well I guess Sony sold you an OC cable Tom, (unless it was a Minolta one), so even though Sony don't make a Macro Ring Flash they might make a killing in OC accessory cables so we can use someone elses Ring Flash conveniently.
How about posting a couple of Ring Flash pix in the Flash forum so we can see how well the Sigma works.
Greg

I use the OC-1100 (cable) and the OS1100 (shoe) with the small slot in the top of the rail filled in so the camera thinks the flash is mounted on the camera. Not sure I need that feature since my Macro lens is the original 100 f/2.8 (not a D lens), but I have one made up for mounting regular flashes on a bracket and being able to use the flash AF focus assist and ADI (when I use direct flash). And yes, my cables and shoes (2 sets) are Minolta.

Unfortunately, my photo organization in LR3 leaves a lot to be desired. I never keyworded by type of flash. I'll have to take a few shots (unfortunately no flowers now) to show how it works.

tom

[twm47099]

Yeah Dennis there's a thing, if they had the modelling lamps in LED form you could leave em on as long as you liked and not waste any power to speak of. Hmm 15 degrees doesn't sound too bad, a lot better than straight up that's for sure, I guess it's a case of suck it and see.
Well I guess Sony sold you an OC cable Tom, (unless it was a Minolta one), so even though Sony don't make a Macro Ring Flash they might make a killing in OC accessory cables so we can use someone elses Ring Flash conveniently.
How about posting a couple of Ring Flash pix in the Flash forum so we can see how well the Sigma works.
Greg

I use the OC-1100 (cable) and the OS1100 (shoe) with the small slot in the top of the rail filled in so the camera thinks the flash is mounted on the camera. Not sure I need that feature since my Macro lens is the original 100 f/2.8 (not a D lens), but I have one made up for mounting regular flashes on a bracket and being able to use the flash AF focus assist and ADI (when I use direct flash). And yes, my cables and shoes (2 sets) are Minolta.

Unfortunately, my photo organization in LR3 leaves a lot to be desired. I never keyworded by type of flash. I'll have to take a few shots (unfortunately no flowers now) to show how it works.

tom

This is a quick update regarding exposure and the Sigma ring flash. I ran some tests with the ring flash photographing some fine lettering on some O-scale model trains at magnifications of about 1:5, 1:2, 1:1 and 1:1 + Raynox 150. The prime lens was the Minolta 100 f/2.8 macro (non-D version). I thought it would be simple, but ...

A couple of issues - One was with my A700. Apparently, when using auto ISO in a dimly lit area, the camera will set ISO 1600 when using flash (both with the Sigma and my Minolta 5600HSD). This resulted in screwy exposures at the close focusing so I repeated everything setting ISO 200 for consistency.

White balance - I needed to play with the white balance with the Sigma and found that Cloudy worked best (I didn't think to try custom - duh, and will try again - hence "quick update".) I took a shot with the 5600HSD using auto-WB and it worked fine.

Exposure - Since the model train I was photographing was dark, I probably would have normally expected to use -1 ev flash comp. I had to actually use -2 ev.

Once I saw that behavior, I ran an exposure test series on a cinder block wall - almost mid tone- from -3 ev to +3 ev. I also ran a series with my 5600 and a zero comp shot with the built in flash. I measured the peak of the resulting JPEG histogram (standard creative mode) in Paint Shop Pro X2.

The results showed the following:
1. At zero comp the built in, the 5600, and the ring do not have their peak at the same luminance:
Built in: 126
5600HSD: 116
Sigma Ring: 157

2. The comp required for the Sigma Ring to match the built in is -1.0ev (Luminance 129 vs 126)

3. The comp required for the Sigma ring to match the 5600HSD is -1.5 ev (112 vs 116).

4. The comps seem to be consistent across the range of magnifications.

It would be interesting to try the same test with a macro D-lens to see how ADI affects things (unfortunately I don't have one).

tom

[Greg Beetham]

Thanks Tom, my KM100 is a (D) but I'm not sure if that would make much difference at 1:1, that's at about 1ft from memory and pretty close for critical flash power control at tight f-stops, especially at ISO1600, ISO400 is usually fairly good using the F56 in WL held alongside the lens, I'd probably still have to tinker with the balance using the Sigma.
Greg

[bakubo]

This is a quick update regarding exposure and the Sigma ring flash.

Pretty much nothing for me to disagree with there.

[rush2112]

Barry, it's quite obvious that measly compacts have much higher absolute resolution as measured in 'lines per mm' than all the current APS/FF/MF ever had, period. So there's no fundamental limitation in the lens optics.
Sure some lenses will show their limitations as sensor res goes up simply because making low-res lenses is cheaper. But the final goal of any digital representation of an analog signal is to provide a lossless image of that analog signal. Hence we must ideally have sensors capable to outresolve even the best of lenses.

So there's a very long way of resolution race ahead. And it doesn't mean that files will grow too much as the less photons are caught per sensel, the less bits are needed to represent the sensel data and the compression of such simpler data also becomes more effective.

So it's better to simply enjoy the ride at this technology race...

Yeah and look how much resolution these compacts put out on MTF charts, not a whole lot. Just remember that when you're dealing with a digital product, whether it be a computer or a digital camera, its only going to perform as good as its bottleneck.

Carl

[agorabasta]

Yeah and look how much resolution these compacts put out on MTF charts, not a whole lot. Just remember that when you're dealing with a digital product, whether it be a computer or a digital camera, its only going to perform as good as its bottleneck.

Carl

Dear Carl,

It's exactly you who has to remember what the **** the 'absolute resolution' is.

Cheers,

[alphaomega]

Yeah and look how much resolution these compacts put out on MTF charts, not a whole lot. Just remember that when you're dealing with a digital product, whether it be a computer or a digital camera, its only going to perform as good as its bottleneck.
Carl

I wonder if Carl has ever looked at an LX2 or 3 image at 100% and wondered how a sensor size 1/1.63 could produce such a detailed and sharp picture. I refer to my 11 January post quoted below estimating that the same image taken with an APS-C sensor would be over 90Mb at 8 bits RGB if it had the same density.

Reference my "challenge" above for one of the technically savvy members to work out LX3 sensor up-scaled to APS-C. Found some details here http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossar ... zes_01.htm
No mention of 1/1.63 but there is a 1/1.7 size mentioned. A rough calculation
1/1.7 sensor 7.6x5.7mm equals 43.32mm sq.
APS-C sensor 23.7x15.7mm equals 372.09mm sq.
Divide 43.32 into 372.09 equals 8.6
Multiply 11,300,000 pixels with 8.6 and we arrive at a 97Mp sensor near enough. Now the LX3 has a larger 1/1.63 sensor so the up-scaled size would probably be nearer 90Mp, but I think the point is made that Leica's 24-60 (35mm equivalent) zoom on LX3 could match a 90Mp APS-C sensor for resolution and sharpness.
I have always wondered about the performance of these Leica lenses on Pana's top P&S cameras. I am convinced that sensors have a long way to go growing in size before they embarrass the very best lenses and that would include CZ and G lenses.

[WaltKnapp]

How about posting a couple of Ring Flash pix in the Flash forum so we can see how well the Sigma works.
Greg

I'm still one of those suffering with the Obsolete equipment and DSLR. a700, Minolta 100mm D macro, Minolta 1200 macro ringflash.

The macro ringflash is terrible, only have to put it on my equipment and shoot. The least it could do is mess up once in a while, but it refuses Must need replacement by modern innovative equipment to add adventure.

My fickr photostream has some shots taken with this combo if you are interested in comparing. Luna Moth, Snake, and "Cowkiller" Ant

http://www.flickr.com/photos/54156826@N04/

Walt