Darter

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Raoul
Raoul's picture
Darter

Hi everyone, well yesterday i bought the new Sony 70/300g lens for $1200.00 it was the best price i could find after spending days on the web reading up on it and chasing the best price.
Came home read the instructions which were mostly the same as all the other lens and fired of 12 shots in the backyard, through the view finder they seemed nice and sharp yet when downloaded on the computer about half were out of focus.

Yep i was not impressed my $300 75/300 kit lens did a better job,not to be discouraged i got up at dawn and went to the river,now i know the tree the hawks occupy and sure enough they were both there, shot of 6 frames in the same settings that i used for my other lens and all were blurred,anyways i fired 70 pics out of the 70 i only got 12 worth saving.
Took the lens back to the shop this morning and got a refund, so now i'm back to the 75/300 kit lens.

pic of the dart taken with the 70/300g lens

Tassie

Gidday Raoul, thats a great shot mate.
I know how you feel about the focus every single time I shoot some pics of birds (usually around 40) I am lucky to get one thats worth keeping and that is on auto focus.
Mate I can't figure it out I am about to throw my camera in the Pioneer river :).
If I can't get clear shots on auto then what chance have I got on manual ?

VernJ
VernJ's picture

Hi! Raoul, I feel your pain.

I use a Konica Minolta 5D SLR. It came with a handy integrated “AF DT 18-70 Macro Zoom”. I also have some very expensive Minolta AF "Glass" from back last (analog) century.

These AF lenses are supposed to be fully compatible, with allowance for the multiplying focal length. The Macro is just superb on the 5D body. But the longer zoom lenses, which cost an absolute mint in 1990, seem really variable, sometimes great results, sometimes washed out, not really out of focus, no real evidence of camera shake, just not quite there.

Some of the images you guys are posting, wrt clarity and color density, really leave me pondering what I need to do, to improve my results.

Obliviously any advice would, like wise, be most welcome ...

Cheers!

VJ

SpotFocus
SpotFocus's picture

Hi Raol can I ask what settings you are using f stop, iso shutter speed, anti shake?.
Vern I find using my 50-500 0n pentax K10D that most of my shots need a lot of contrast adding this may help

Cheers
Nick

aa
aa's picture

hi raoul, you didn't give time to tame your g lens ei hehehe....i'm sure you will have a lens that you'll be happy with :)

Raoul
Raoul's picture

Nick mate i am as amateur as you can get mostly shoot on auto, as was this pic.

aa it was a faulty lens, i'm going to stick to the basic 75/300 lens, until i master manual mode..

VernJ
VernJ's picture

Hi! again guys. @ Spotfocus thanks mate, when I think about it, it is the washed out look and the color shift and bluring when post processed that stuffs things.

In a previous lifetime, back in anolog times, I would have exposed three rolls under controlled conditions with speed and aperture bracketing, with a grey scale and a color strip in frame so as to understand the emulsion, the lense and the TTL metering of my kit.

Looking back, I can't beleive I had that much patience 30 years ago.

I guess I'm spoilt by the instant technology.

I imagine you can still buy gray scales and color strips.

I best look into it ...

VJ

SpotFocus
SpotFocus's picture

Raoul one thing to keep in mind when using 300mm plus lenses on digital they are at least 450mm equivalent length and the rule of thumb is to use a shutter speed equal or faster than this to minimise camera shake.
I also use a monopod nearly all the time.

Please don't get disheartened as you only see better photographers best shot not the 50 bad ones of the same subject:)

Cheers
Nick

SpotFocus
SpotFocus's picture

Hi Vern if you would like to email me an image that's a bit flat I'll see what I can do I use a programme called silkypix for exposure contrast and noise reduction.
email: nws.foster @optusnet. com.au
omit spaces

Cheers
Nick

GeorgeP
GeorgeP's picture

Raoul,
.
I agree with Nick - you should not allow yourself to become disheartened just because you shoot a few dud photos. The "pros" shoot hundreds from which they may choose one or two satisfactory images. Practice, practice and more practice will give you the experience with both your equipment and choice of technical camera settings for different shooting situations. As a general rule, select a shutter speed at least as fast as the inverse of your focal length i.e 500mm focal length requires 1/500th sec shutter speed or faster. The type of focussing (spot, centre...etc) that you select will also determine whether your camera will focus on the subject or be fooled by either the fore- or background. Keep shooting in manual exposure mode. I have found it the best way to achieve acceptable results. I look forward to seeing more of your images.
.
Cheers,
.
George
.
PS I hope none of what I've mentioned above sounds like I'm trying to teach you how to suck eggs.

Cheers,

George
Melbourne, VIC

Raoul
Raoul's picture

Thanks for the encouragement guys!George i remember as a kid i used to put a pinhole in a egg and suck it out,now i know why i like taking photo's, thanks mate i appreciate your comments.. Cheers Raoul

Birdgirl2009
Birdgirl2009's picture

Hi Raoul
I know how you feel - I bough a tele conversion lens a few weeks ago and took photos of waterbirds - almost all were blurry. I was so disappointed! I only got 3 that were ok. I hadn't used the lens again until I read your post this morning. I looked at the manual and discovered that although I'd selected conversion there was a submenu I hadn't noticed and I had to select tele conversion as well. So I took the camera out to the bird feeder and had another go. The results are better so I think there is hope. I have also been shooting in auto - I really want to use the camera better but the manual is 134 pages long and hard to understand.


aa - I found the trick to getting the right exposure - have a blue sky but the sun behind a cloud! Now to train the birds to come when that happens!

Cameraman
Cameraman's picture

Hi everyone, I don't know exactly what camera equipment you guys are talking about except the brand. Generally, if the camera or the lens are some old products made before, say 2000, then it might not provide some shape focused images. By the way, Raoul, how old was the $1200 lens you just brought?
Also, I use a Canon camera plus a Sigma telephoto lens to shoot those picture I took. The Sigma 170-500mm APO DG is quite cheap in price and provides a superb focal length and images. That is how I got those sharp images, if anyone ever looks into one of my photos.

aa
aa's picture

raoul, try to consider a minolta lens, awesome glass mate :)

@birdgirl, that's nice to know....thru constant shooting you'll know what aperture/shutter you can use given the available light or weather conditions.....then, you can play around with white balance :)

Raoul
Raoul's picture

Cameraman lens only came out last year

VernJ
VernJ's picture

Hi Guys this is a great thread discussion. Thanks.

WRT to my old Minolta AF 100-300 (read 150-450)lens on the new 5D body, I suspect I need to rethink exposures and apertures. I always manage to get good clarity and focus (if not a lot of contrast) somewhere on an image but often there is precious little "Depth of field", and the edges loose contrast. Pretty clasic symptoms of pushing a lens to far I guess.

@Spotfocus thanks for the offer to photosoop 4 me. I will take up your offer thanks, but I will have a good look at the shutter speeds and apertures that the camera is selecting first. Also I might just run a series of bracketed shots and maybe even adjust for greater Sharpness and Contrast with the long lens ... yes ... I did just go and read the 5D's manual

Cheers!

VJ

Cameraman
Cameraman's picture

Hi VernJ,
If you are using a digital SLR, I have some useful advice for taking the Depth of field further. You can set the ISO higher, then use the combination of shutter speed and aperture to make the Depth of Field larger. To do this, you have to take a slower shutter speed if necessary, and then set the aperture value higher(as in slower aperture value), but the shutter/aperture combination has to be on the same exposure level as before.

Gelmir
Gelmir's picture

Hi everyone, great thread.
.
@ Raoul, I know what you're going through, we've all been there and to some extent are still learning about photography.
The best thing you can do is practice, practice, practice. When I first got my Canon, I would go out just to play around with the settings, to see what the results were.
And nothing makes better subjects than your local ducks in the pond!
Don't get too hard on yourself, it is frustrating learning about photography, I only started in the last 2 years myself, but keep at it. Cause one day you'll take a shot that'll make you grin from ear to ear. :^)
.
@ Cameraman, What body are you using? I thought about the Sigma 50-500 last year, but decided against it, for reasons I know forget. Does it have some sort of image stabilisation on the lense?

Cameraman
Cameraman's picture

Hi Gelmir,

I used to take photos with my EOS 30D, but I sold it and brought a 5D mark II. Well, of course I needed a couple of years saving to get there. I am sticking with my EOS 5D mark II now. To answer your lens question, my lens is just an ordinary telephoto lens with no image stabilisation installed. Anyway, I found that particulator Sigma lens is quite good ,the photos taken with it have quite good contrast and quality, considering the price range for that kind of lenses.

aa
aa's picture

@gelmir, i own a bigma (sigma 50-500) and it's a very good lens for its distance but still you need some taming ofcourse hehehe....

cheers

Gelmir
Gelmir's picture

You have a 5D Mark II!??! I'm officially jealous now. :^(

@aa. You've photo's make me rethink me choice of glass.

SpotFocus
SpotFocus's picture

Hi Gelmir you may like to look at the latest sigma 150-500 it has OS and HSM and is reported to be similar to 50-500 performance and is a bit cheaper. I have the 50-500 its good for its price the next step up would be a sigma 500 f4.5 $5400 usd or a pentax 600mm F4 at $13000 aus so I'll have the Bigma for a while :)

Cheers
Nick

aa
aa's picture

raoul, i have an email for you that may help you in choosing your lens :)

cheers mate

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