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mattbarber

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Posts posted by mattbarber

    A350 V A700

    in Sony/Minolta

    Posted

    I'd second the suggestion to read Kiklop's review.<p>

     

    There are many functions lacking in the a350 that are available in the a700. I would think the foremost would be, the difference in AF accuracy -- the a700 has a cross-type sensor and at least f/2.8 sensitivity, whereas with the a100 - a350 you have less accuracy with large-aperture lenses. That's fine in an entry level body, but if you expect to own a bunch of f/2.8 G lenses, you might want the a700 to make maximum use of them.<p>

     

    Another one (a big one for me) is the AEL spot metering toggle. This feature is available on the a100 and the a700, but not on any of the in-between models. Granted, you can still switch to spot metering, but you have to go thru the menus with the in-between models. You could miss your shot while going thru the steps to change the metering mode.<p>

     

    @ Ed - with all due respect to Kilpatrick, who is usually quite good in his assessments, if you're shooting at 400mm MLU IS useless, unless maybe you're talking about astrophotography with its slow shutter speeds. But if you're shooting at night, at 18mm, with longer than one-second shutter speeds, the camera vibration from the mirror slap just might make the difference between a sharp photo and a "bleedingly sharp" photo. <a href="http://photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=6963378">Ask me how I know</a>. DOF preview might be useful for a macro shooter taking pictures of insects, if the shooter only gets one shot (i.e. can't bracket) before the insect takes off. It's easy to just hold down the DOF preview button & cycle thru aperture settings.<p>

     

    And maybe I'm a dork, but I find DMF useful, too, and the a200-a350 models don't have that, either.<p>

    Are 1800mAh clones of Sony NP-FM55H battery for A100 any good?

    in Sony/Minolta

    Posted

    Ah, I see. For a backup battery, a clone would probably be fine, because you're concerned less with how long it goes in use, than how long it lasts in storage.

     

    In theory, the higher mAh batteries _should_ hold their charge longer. They should power the camera longer, too, assuming their output rate is the same as the Sony battery (but that is what I doubt). Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if the clone batteries _require_ the higher mAh capacity in order to match the longevity of the Sony.

     

    I should say, in any case, we're talking about Li-ion batteries here, so they should last quite a while in storage. Far longer than a NiMH battery, at any rate.

    Are 1800mAh clones of Sony NP-FM55H battery for A100 any good?

    in Sony/Minolta

    Posted

    I don't know from experience, but, if anything, I've heard that the clones do NOT hold their charge as long as the Sony branded version.

     

    Also, my own experience with rechargeable batteries in general would suggest to me that the mAh rating does not speak to longevity of the charge, but merely to peak or sustained output.

     

    As I say, I don't have any personal experience with the clone-batteries, but I wrote all of the above because my inclination is to caution you against buying a clone.

     

    Do you really need a battery that lasts longer? I get hundreds of shots (with and without flash) out of mine. Maybe you have a bad battery?

    Tamron 75-300 macro setting and usage

    in Sony/Minolta

    Posted

    On some lenses the 'macro' feature is not selectable. It just refers to the magnification ratio at the minimum focusing distance. I have a Sigma lens, for example, that has 1:4 magnification (or 0.25 x actual size), but this is only at the minimum focusing distance of about a foot and a half. The mag ratio would be the same, at the minimum focal distance (1.5m if I read the specs correctly) regardless what focal length you are zoomed out to.

     

    So in other words, to 'set it to macro mode', you have to get to about 1.5 meters close to your subject, for 1:4 magnification.

     

    So goes my understanding, but then I don't have personal experience with the lens you are talking about.

     

    There's a little more information on that lens here: http://www.dyxum.com/lenses/detail.asp?IDLens=112.

    A700 and long exposures

    in Sony/Minolta

    Posted

    Ah, I have heard of what you describe, though I haven't experienced it yet. This came up on www.dyxum.com (another forum) as well. <a href="http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/forum_posts.asp?TID=20629&KW=purple&PN=1">Link to relevant thread here</a>. Unfortunately, too few people are shooting w/the A700 as of yet, so no one over at dyxum has tried a long exposure w/the A700 either. Still, you might find the info in that link helpful.<p>

     

    To deal with the purple corners on the A100 you'll have to turn on NR for exposures 30 sec. or over, according to the people on the dyxum board. No other way around it, apparently.<p>

     

    As for my photo, it is a flare problem, but a weird one -- it only appeared with very small apertures (f/22 in this case). I was using the kit lens, though, so it may have lackluster coatings or something. There are also some odd reflections that might've come from my leaving the viewfinder uncovered (I was beneath a street light when I took this shot). Wish I could be of more help. I don't own an A700. Perhaps someone else will chime in.

    A100 Remote

    in Sony/Minolta

    Posted

    No problems per se, I have a cheap eBay remote that I inherited from the previous owner of my A100. Used to have some trouble getting it plugged into the camera. But the cheap plastic plug on the (wired) remote has been shedding plastic bits, like shavings or hangnails. I finally, recently, took an emery board to it to remove the shavings of plastic that were sort of flaking off. It now fits more easily into the camera, and still functions. No more trouble.

    minolta x-700 problem

    in Sony/Minolta

    Posted

    Another possibility: since you haven't used it in awhile, you may have forgotten that you have to have the camera "on" in order to trigger the shutter. Once you turn it on, and then trigger the shutter, the advance lever should turn past 30 deg. HTH

    x 700 light measuring

    in Sony/Minolta

    Posted

    Mladen: Regarding the photo you attached: That looks like an OK exposure, maybe a little light in the center background, but you seem not to have lost any detail.<p>

     

    Perhaps this will help: The difference in using TTL is that it is "center weighted," in the X-700 as in most cameras that have TTL metering (digital SLRs now have multiple selectable metering modes, including center weighted & several other modes). Unfortunately, on the X-700, you cannot turn off the center weighted metering feature.<p>

     

    The X-700's center weighted meter will try to provide the best exposure for whatever is in the <u>center</u> of your viewfinder. So, if you have some deep shadows off center, and a bright object in the center, then you will lose much of the detail in the shadows. Conversely, if the object in the center is dark, but you have a bright sky, then the camera will expose for the dark (center) object, and your sky will be overexposed. The effect is not nearly so pronounced in color negative exposures, so that might explain why your color photos are OK but your B&W are not coming out right.<p>

     

    The best way to meter is still to use a dedicated, hand-held meter, but you can do without it, if you use the technique I mentioned of metering the shadows and highlights & choosing the average among the two. (Of course, there will be times when you will not want to take the average, but will want to make the shadows very dark & the highlights/background very light, such as when you wish to create a silhouette effect).<p>

     

    TTL metering is perhaps more useful for flash photography. Of course, TTL works perfectly when there is a uniform light level in your environment, because the edges will meter the same as the center.<p>

     

    Does that help?

    x 700 light measuring

    in Sony/Minolta

    Posted

    I'd have to say my experience has been the opposite: my X-700, consistently, seems to over-estimate how much light it's getting, when I use the TTL meter. If anything I wind up with underexposed images -- that goes for both B&W and color. As a result, I usually meter (TTL) the darker parts of my subject and use the exposure lock. Or I take an average between the highlights and the shadows, or the shadows and the general reading.

     

    I wonder if you are getting flare from your lens(es)?

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