I got a new camera!

[zackiedawg]

And I'm just waiting for the rest of you to start throwing stones at me.

Why? Because I didn't join one of the two main flocks that everyone else belongs to - I didn't get a Nikon or a Canon. I got an Alpha A300 (*gasp*).



Just wanted to share some of the news. I have only had the camera since Monday, which means not alot of time to shoot with it during the work week. Still, it has been a pleasure to use, and most of the controls seem to fall easily to hand for me. Ergonomics are great - good build and solid grip...buttons in all the right places. Live view works as advertised - truly the most seamless and simple solution I've tried of all the DSLRs. Each implementation may have advantages and disadvantages...but the absolute seamlessness of the Sony system is what sold me on it (flip a switch, and 1/8 second later, live view is ready to go. It focuses the same, and there is absolutely no shutter delay...no mirrors flipping up and down and refocusing going on, etc.). I use OVF more than live view, since I like to shoot wildlife, but having the live view option, especially with an articulating LCD, makes for great tripod use.

Speed is amazing - focus is instant, shutter delay nonexistant, accuracy has been spot on, burst mode is a hair better than 3fps until the card runs out...different world from my P&S. And of course, being able to get clean ISO800 and 1600 is great...with 3200 usable in a pinch.

Lens-wise - the kit lens hasn't ever come out of its box. I bought the camera with two additional lenses so far, with more to come later. The first is the main walkaround lens - Sony 18-250mm F3.5-6.3. A solid, small, lightweight lens with great overall versatility - with the 1.5x crop factor, it gives me 27mm to 375mm in 35mm equiv. It has fairly strong barrel at full wide, with a bit of corner softness at wide open apertures, but usable...excellent mid ranges, and stopped down a bit at full telephoto is excellent sharpness. Amazing range and performance for the price and size.

My other lens is the big boy - a Tamron 200-500 F5-6.3. This is my wildlife and birding lens...it's a monster for someone coming from ultrazoom compacts...but great build quality, nice handling, and smooth action on the zoom ring and focus ring. AF is quite fast with the A300...this lens suits it well. And the IQ is fantastic - this lens is tack-sharp, excellent detail, beautiful color, great bokeh, no corner softness or vignetting at any range, and absolutely no CA/PF throughout even in very strong backlighting.

So far, all of my shooting has been around my yard. If you want to check out samples, please take a look in this gallery:

http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg/dslra300

I've noted which lens was used in the title of each shot. The gallery includes alot of cropped or resized shots for easy viewing, but also 9 full-res samples, unretouched straight from the camera. All shots so far taken in jpeg from camera - no RAWs yet.

Here are a few quick resized samples out of the gallery from around the front and back yards:

Tamron 200-500:

SAL 18-250:

SAL 18-250 (at ISO1600):

Questions, comments, critiques, and observations always welcome! I can't wait to get out this weekend and take some shots in some more scenic locations than my backyard.

 

[Roger]

Congrats Justin!

You won't hear anything from me. I *would* have gotten an A700 if the Sonystyle store near me had a working one - their security bar wouldn't power it, so I couldn't try it for myself. Then it came down to availability of rentals, and wouldn't you know right after I bought my new one lensrentals.com added the Sony line. (Roger said he had to try the A350 and it's live view)


Have fun!

 

[Roger]

And BTW, it seems that a lot of people using the Alpha mount like the old Minolta 50/1.7, which you can still get rather cheap on eBay. And KEH seems to have two copies. Good starter low light lens, before you spend more money and get the 35/1.4G!

 

[Craig]

awesome Justin. Congratulations!
Looks like you have a great lens combo!

 

[Tim]

congrats. dude... it's a shame your property isn't nicer though...

 

[Dan]

I was wondering if the third party lens makers were making lenses for the Sony mount. I guess I just haven't been paying attention, I just glanced at a dealer's website and found that almost every Tamron lens has a Sony/Minolta version. Except their new 28-300 VC. I was going to say that it was odd that that high profile lens wasn't being put out for the Sony crowd, then I realized... the camera's stabilized, adding a stabilized lens onto that could wreak havoc if the systems weren't designed to work together.

I admit that in camera stabilization is sounding awfully nice right now. I'm starting to look for a longer wildlife lens, and much as I want IS on it the added cost can be substantial. It's killing me to think of the Sony, Pentax, and Olympus users who have it built in to their cameras.

 

[Roger]

And Sigma's releasing their top-of-the-line lenses for the Alpha mount, Pentax and 4/3rds, with the first two getting some of their first HSM lenses. I know Minolta allows for in-lens motors (unlike the opposite with Nikon's D40/60), but Sigma used to only get HSM for the Sigma, Canon and Nikon mounts.

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses ... avigator=3

Heck, they even figured out how to deactivate the OS on their new OS line!

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses ... avigator=3

And imagine the crop factor for this puppy on an Olympus/Panasonic:

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/lenses/lenses ... avigator=3

 

[DisneyGeek92]

Have fun with your new camera! congratualation on your purchase,

 

[zackiedawg]

Thanks Roger. Actually, the 50mm F1.7 has already been bought - just waiting for it to ship! Had to pick up one of those used, especially for when I'm up at Disney and want to try to get those inside-the-ride shots...and since you can pick one up under $100, they're quite a bargain.

Thanks Craig!

And thanks Tim...typical Florida yard - a few less trees than in the past (thank you Hurricane Wilma), but still fairly tropical looking. During the long hot summer, you have to have a pool!

Dan,

That's one of the things that tempted me into the Sony - the fact that the lens cost is alot cheaper for stabilized lenses...since the body carries it. I can pick up used Minolta AF lenses, which are nice glass, and get them stabilized too. That, and I've had very good experiences with other Sony cameras for years.

Rog...I'd love to play with that 800mm puppy - 1200mm optical in 35mm equiv! The Tamron 200-500 is just about right for me...I was fairly used to shooting 720mm optical with my H5, so I didn't want to lose that extreme telephoto capability...the Tamron at full tele gives me 750mm equiv. When I go to my wildlife places, I use every bit of it too!

Thanks DisneyGeek!