isaac_leung

<p>From what I have seen, there is a disadvantage if like me, you use radio-triggered remote flashes (not Sony's system) to light your shots, since EVF adjusts the image to what it things it will be.<br>

So for example, in a typical situation, I would be in a dark room with multiple flashes set up to illuminate the subject. I stop down to f/8 and 1/160 shutter speed in anticipation of the flood of light from the flashes, and to prevent the ambient light from affecting my image. If I am using an A55, the EVF turns black as an indication of what the scene would look like if I wasn't using those flashes.<br>

The last time I tried a demo unit at the Sony store, there was no way to get the EVF to disregard the manual settings and adjust gain to actually let me see what was going on. Hopefully this gets fixed with a firmware update or in the next camera. For now, though, SLTs are of no use to me.</p>

<p>Similar to you, I have a Nikon D700 and an NEX-5. It has never crossed my mind to compare the two; they are such totally different creatures.<br>

I only have the 16mm f/2.8 lens with the NEX-5 and am constantly appalled by its quality. With the distortion introduced by this focal length (and lens), the panoramic stitching function of the NEX-5 is also less-than-reliable, with visible seams and warping.<br>

Battery life is horrendous. I regularly bring two spare batteries with me if I am going to be shooting throughout the day.<br>

ISO-wise, the Nikon delivers cleaner results all-round, but the NEX-5 compares favourably against my Sony A550. To me, the Handheld Twilight function (unfortunately hidden in scene mode and massively automated) which stacks high-ISO images is invaluable and really makes for a good available-light camera.<br>

I agree regarding the flash. While it would be impractical to have a DSLR-sized speedlight for the NEX-5, if they made a regular ISO hotshoe adapter, I could use radio triggers for lighting.<br>

Aside from the above, I rarely use the 16mm lens on this camera, instead opting to go for adapters and lenses. I don't really mind the manual focus caveat, since it is possible to configure the NEX-5 for easy manual focus aid.<br>

I have a tilt adapter for Leica R lenses, and a Leitz 28mm f/2.8 Elmarit-R, a configuration which is one of the cheapest ways I have found to get tilt capability on a DSLR-grade sensor.<br>

I also use a Minolta M adapter with a Rokkor 58mm f/1.2 for those razor-thin DOF shots, a Sony Alpha adapter to use all my Minolta AF and Sony glass, and a Leica M adapter which I use together with the MS Optical Super Triplet Perar 35mm f/3.5, forming a super-compact shooting solution.<br>

So for me, the real deal with the NEX-5 is not just its compactness (definitely a big point), but also its adaptability and the way it resurrects the use of unusual/older lenses. With a reasonably wide selection of adapters and lenses, it is really a great companion to DSLRs.</p>

<p>Yes, I think cheap radio triggers is the way to go. Optical triggers would present the same problem, as in the flashes will fire upon detection of flashes by other photographers.</p>

<p>parv has a point. The A580 has got sufficient capability for it to last you five or so years of shooting, as long as you don't go on an online wanderlust.<br>

But you know, with Sony's current strategy being to flood the market with units, yes, the A580 will be considered an obsolete product in 2 years. But you'll still be shooting with it, hopefully.<br>

I do not recommend getting a refurbished A700. You will find the A580 has superceded the A700. The A550 came close but the A580 nailed it in terms of features.<br>

An upgrade to a FF Sony camera does not currently make sense, as you have already figured.<br>

Switching to Canon or Nikon is a possibility but if you are attached to LiveView in terms of how Sony does it (and it's a beautiful implementation), keep in mind that their DSLR LiveView modes are much more clumsy.<br>

While I don't think I have been in a situation like yours, I recently came into some extra money and bought a Nikon D700, but am keeping all my Sony gear (including a number of Minolta gems), all of which run on my A550. I am loving the handling and capabilities of the D700 in situations where the A550 would not perform well in, but I think Sony has a lot of potential in terms of innovations. The greatest pain is waiting for it to come to the consumers.</p>

<p>This is one of the main weaknesses in the NEX system. The proprietary flash shoe has yet to be hacked (I was expecting China to have done so within months of the first NEX release). So there are no third party accessories out yet.<br>

Thus far, our solutions have consisted of strapping an optical hot shoe adapter with a radio trigger mounted on it to the mini flash, allowing the use of radio-controlled flash systems. But this is really a temporary solution and very clumsy.</p>

<p>Seems to me like the beginnings of a sticky aperture (usually) due to oily blades. But the Sony 50mm 1.4 is not a lens which is noted for that problem (the older Minolta 50mm 1.7 are). Try manually actuating the apertures via the lever on the back of the lens under good light and see if you can detect moisture of any sort on the blades? But usually technicians should be able to detect that so perhaps you are looking at other problems like warped aperture blades (which would be bad).</p>

<p>Some are pretty sharp. I love the 20mm 2.8 for this.<br>

Other benefits of older lenses besides those already mentioned by Gregory, include:<br>

Build quality: many have full metal construction<br>

Cost: meaning you can buy something like three primes for the equivalent cost of one modern zoom. This has been instrumental for me in terms of moving into shooting primes and building a usable collection of lenses. And even these older primes tend to compete with contemporary zoom lenses in sharpness. I have not played with modern primes yet.</p>

<p>I have never been a point and shoot believer. I use the NEX-5 as a second camera although usually I prefer to use two DSLRs when doing events.<br>

The NEX-5 has been a very useful companion in capturing available light images due to its processing, and the 16mm has thus far been my widest lens. In one event, I had the beercan on the A550, the NEX-5 + 16mm combo in my jacket pocket, and that was it.<br>

The only thing is, I think the 16mm is pretty soft for a prime. I would jump on an alternative compact solution which provided better quality. For example, I am now looking to experiment with the MS Super Triplet Perar 35mm f/3.5 with M-mount adapter. It's manual focus but if Sony comes out with a nice wide pancake with auto-focus, I'll be the first one lining up for it.</p>

<p>@Richard Sorry, I should have clarified more explicitly. The adapter is glassless, which is exactly the reason why I am so happy with it.</p>

<p>I personally use a 58mm f/1.2 Rokkor on my NEX-5. Focus to infinity with a glassless adapter, easily obtainable from ebay. No lens modification needed. Manual focus assist helps. Simplicity condensed. And of course, a fairly cost-effective solution.<br>

The way I see it, the crop factor is only really an issue if you make it an issue. I love old lenses, but many of them are out-resolved by today's sensors. Using only the central part of the lens might actually be advantageous in these cases.</p>

<p>Hi John, that's actually what I do almost exclusively. The issue with fragilehotshoe material is still pertinent when using off-camera flash because accidents do happen (and actually happen more if the flash is on a light stand, especially if an umbrella is being used, regardless of weighting).</p>

<p>While getting my HVL-F580AM flashes back from the repair shop following a second costly fix of their hot shoes, the old but oft-overlooked issue of the hotshoe came to the fore in our discussion. Namely, why does Sony not move on to using metal hotshoes?</p>

<p>I was quite surprised recently when I got two YongNuo YN460-II to see that they had transitioned to a metal type ISO shoe (an earlier version of the same flash had a plastic shoe), and of course, various flashes from Canon and Nikon use metal as well.</p>

<p>I kind of understand the rationale cited for the choice of material, i.e. the hotshoe connection is a sacrificial part, but my painful "tests" regarding the effect of impacts on the flashes found that the mini-stand offered with the Sony flashes actually withstands the impact at the expense of the connector on the flash itself. If we were looking at sacrificial parts, wouldn't the mini-stand be a better candidate?</p>

<p>In any case, that got me thinking about whether third-party manufacturers had introduced flashes with the Sony hotshoe connector in metal. My current thinking is that Sigma may have some, although I have yet to see detailed images of Sigma's Sony version flashes to determine this for certain. Does anyone have experience in this area?</p>

<p>If you are shooting sports, a snappy AF is a must-have to catch the decisive moments, so I'd been inclined toward the Sigma too.</p>

<p>I have an A550 and I use the Phottix Plato wireless remote on occasion. It is the only one I have used thus far (my previous remote was cabled), but form-factor-wise, I prefer this to the older Cleon I and Cleon II models (which have extendable antennae). I quite like it. It looks professional, has a very nice design, and it has a good bulb mode as well, although the continuous shutter feature has limited use.<br>

Pro: longer wireless range than wired remotes, obviously, and no cables to get in the way. Perfect for awkward angles, self portraits, etc.<br>

Con: Takes longer to setup on the camera, requires AAA battery for the remote (receiver uses one of those powerful small batteries too), the receiver at the camera end either slots into the hotshoe, or has to be left hanging if the hotshoe is taken by something else, like a flash or a wireless flash controller.<br>

Pro: you can take photos without being at the camera! Secondary event camera mounted on a tripod?<br>

Con: This actually requires more skill in setting up the composition and pre-focusing, unless you are taking stuff which does not move. I'd give this approach another go if I had an hour before any particular event to spare, but unless you are in those particular situations where having a remotely triggered camera is a must-have, I would prefer to take my photos in the flesh, or get a friend in for secondary.<br>

Pro: has coded light signals which indicate if the shot was taken successfully<br>

Con: still somewhat cryptic, and you never really know, unless you are close enough to hear the shutter sound.</p>

<p>Actually, the lens I have and which I was referring to was the Sigma 24-70mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM, but as noted, that's just my individual experience with that lens on a consumer-grade crop-frame camera. It could well be my particular combination or copy.</p>

<p>Personally, I cannot recommend the Sigma 24-70 f/2.8. It might be just my copy (or my camera) but performance at the 50 to 70mm range was a bit lacklustre for me, which basically just had me lugging around this large chunk of glass (82mm filters!) as a 24 f/2.8 lens. We'll see if it gets more use if/when I move to FF.<br /> Then again, I have pretty much converted into a prime lens kind of shooter (with the exception of telephoto, which the beercan serves well for). They just seem that much more reliable, although I am not a big fan of 24mm on crop. Have you considered a 35mm?</p>

<p>It might be a problem with your wireless trigger system or your adapter, especially if, as you say, the camera attempts to pop up its flash when it is fitted on the hotshoe (meaning probably that the camera does not detect anything connected on the hotshoe).<br /> My hunch is you need a new adapter if your canon and nikons work well with the trigger.<br /> I use a cheap PT-04 type trigger and receiver system from ebay alongside a hotshoe adapter and it gives me 1/160 sec sync speed no problems.<br>

Also, would you happen to have more information regarding what camera you are using?</p>

<p>Hi Cally,<br>

Here is the step-by-step process.<br>

1) Press the Fn button<br>

2) Select "AF Area" with the D-pad/joystick and press the middle button<br>

3) Select "Local" (last option) then press the middle button<br>

4) When shooting, use the directionals on the D-pad to utilise one of the nine AF points. The middle button corresponds to the middle AF point of course. The selected points will be highlighted in red on your OVF, or in orange on your LiveView screen. Of course, your composition must be so that the selected AF point is on what you want to focus on.<br>

Like others have already pointed out in this thread, I personally only use the center AF point, and recompose after attaining focus with that. Not saying that the other AF points are bad or anything, I just find the cross sensor in the center to be that much more accurate and reliable. Of course, this method is not perfect because the shifting in recomposition does affect the area in focus, but the effects of this are not really noticeable in most cases.</p>

<p>I'm not too sure if I will correctly answer your question since it has been a long time since I set up my camera settings.<br>

By default, I think the control dial changes the shutter speed. According to page 63 of the A300 and A350 manual, hold down the +/- button while using the control dial to change aperture value.<br>

I think it is possible to change the function of the button so that it becomes a toggle (press once to change between shutter/aperture), though I do prefer the hold method.</p>

<p>This is going back to basics, but perhaps check your ISO? This is the most common factor which would result in different aperture values being used in studio lighting. My hunch is that everyone else is on ISO 100, and the light meter is taking readings for that sensitivity setting.</p>

<p>Ah the Phantoms. They're used for niche requirements in film making and also for machinery maintenance purposes. For example, technicians use them to freeze the motion of fast moving parts in their machines, in order to provide analysis on any malfunctions. </p>

<p>The LiveView with AF is the same as the older style cameras. You will still get mirror slap when you take the picture. As mentioned, where using normal LiveView mode, the mirror does not go up.<br>

The crazy LiveView system mentioned by Kevin is actually in A550 as well. This is the Manual Focus Check LiveView. You activate it, the mirror goes up. You adjust focus and composition, and when you take the picture, the mirror comes down and then goes back up to take the picture.<br>

I'm not too fussed over MLU myself but yes that's a pretty dumb method. The only reason I can see for them to do it is that the picture-taking algorithm or whatever is intrinsically linked with the mirror mechanism, so you can't take a picture without the mirror going up.</p>

<p>Well if you are using simple radio triggered wireless, the type of flash used at the other end doesn't really matter since they are just triggered (no HSS/TTL considerations here, so manual power adjustments).<br>

So yes, YongNuos don't directly work with Sony cameras if you want to attach them (you need a hotshoe adapter), but with radio triggers, a non-issue. The advantage of having at least one Sony flash is that you can just quickly snap it on if you want a flash on your camera sometimes.</p>

<p>In addition to the above replies, using the keyword "adapter" as opposed to "converter" will also aid in your search.</p>

<p>Your arrangements will depend on what you want to do with your flashes, and what wireless system you want to use.<br>

If you want to use Sony's wireless system, both your flashes need to be Sony's units, and off your camera, since with the A350 only the onboard flash will provide the wireless signals required. Fitting a HVL-F42AM (or even an F58AM) to the hotshoe on the camera will only allow you to use that flash, and not fire the other Sony flash.<br>

However, I have found the Sony system to be less than reliable in certain situations.<br>

Another option is to use the HVL-F42, and like you said, have the other one being some other brand (I actually recommend something like the cheap YongNuo YN460-II units from ebay). This is advantageous as in you can start to grow your Sony flash configuration in case you want to adopt the Sony wireless system in a large way some time down the track.<br>

In this case, I suggest using the HVL-F42 on your camera and setting the other flash as an optical slave (check the feature list on the flash before you buy -- not all flashes have this mode). The HVL-F42 will then trigger the other flash when it goes off, and you can rotate it depending whether you want light falling on the subject from your camera.<br>

Advantages:<br>

- No need for additional equipment other than your flashes<br>

- Flexible to a degree<br>

Disadvantages:<br>

- In many cases you might be looking at one effective flash lighting your subject only if like me, you prefer to not have visible flash coming from the camera. <br>

- Line of sight considerations still need to be made with optical slave mode.<br>

The third option is to go with radio triggering. Current generation ebay radio triggers (PT-04 V2S: the more compact type, not the long type) are generally reliable and well-built, in addition to being reasonably priced.<br>

You will need a hotshoe adapter to get the transmitter working on your Alpha, but once that's done, you can then fit the receivers with normal cheap flashes which have the standard ISO feet (if you wish to use Sony flashes on them you will need additional hotshoe adapters).<br>

This configuration could well be the cheapest way of getting a two-light wireless flash working on the Alpha system:<br>

- 1 x hotshoe adapter for the camera<br>

- 1 x wireless transmitter fitted onto the adapter on the camera<br>

- 2 x wireless receivers<br>

- 2 x cheap YongNuo flashes set to manual mode, mounted on the receivers<br>

If you want, you can even use one of the YongNuo flashes on the camera (because of the hotshoe adapter), and set the other to optical mode like mentioned above.<br>

Caveats:<br>

- 1/160 sync times only -- no HSS support<br>

- Not Sony flashes: adapter needed to use them on the camera, or need to get an additional Sony flash if you want a flash on your camera.</p>