Calling all Sony Alpha users! (Part 3)

Status
Not open for further replies.
First impression of the 24-105mm...

Err... Not great I'm afraid. :thumbsdown:

It just feels like a slightly faster and longer kit lens. Sharpness doesn't really blow me away at any focal range or aperture. Blue fringing is easily visible wide open, and still there (but much better) at f/8.

Then again I only paid £130. The next step up from this is probably the Sigma 17-70mm, but that's almost double the price.

I'm keeping it for now, as I've sold my 18-70mm kit lens and I need something to cover this range. But if/when I start doing more professional work I doubt this will satisfy me.



ETA: To be fair, I've only tested it indoors so far. Either with flash or longer exposure with tripod. I think it deserves some proper use in anger before I make my mind up!
And on the plus side, it has a non-rotating front element and focus ring, feels nice to handle, very compact and very fast focus speed.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Is £199.99 cheap for a brand new A700 Grip?
Click to expand...

It's pretty good Chris, i was in Jacobs on friday and they wanted £235. I think I paid £180-185 for mine when cameraworld had a promotion on but I got the last one and the price went back up to £235 after that. I think the thing is you're going to have to bite the bullet if you really want one as I doub't they'll be around much longer.
 
Kev M said:
It's pretty good Chris, i was in Jacobs on friday and they wanted £235. I think I paid £180-185 for mine when cameraworld had a promotion on but I got the last one and the price went back up to £235 after that. I think the thing is you're going to have to bite the bullet if you really want one as I doub't they'll be around much longer.
Click to expand...

Yeah I think your right, I have seen it for £199.99 with a Sony Battery that seems about the best offer around right now.
 
i suppose i'm being dense but can anyone tell me the difference i'll notice between these lenses
i suppose i'm looking for clarity at a distance so is there anything else you can recommend i'd be delighted
and if i want to use it for birds is F4.5-5.6 fast enough

Sony SAL-70300G 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM Telephoto Zoom Lens £579.95

Sony Alpha 75-300mm F4.5-5.6 Lens
by Sony £167

Tamron AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 Sony/Minolta)
Buy new: £120.88
 
maggieme said:
i suppose i'm being dense but can anyone tell me the difference i'll notice between these lenses

and if i want to use it for birds is F4.5-5.6 fast enough

Sony SAL-70300G 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM Telephoto Zoom Lens £579.95

Sony Alpha 75-300mm F4.5-5.6 Lens
by Sony £167

Tamron AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 Sony/Minolta)
Buy new: £120.88
Click to expand...

Not sure about between the Tamron and Cheaper Sony but the Sony 70-300 G SSM is meant to be an amazing lens and much better than either of the other two.
 
Puddleduck will say otherwise (but I suspect that he either used a poor copy or is comparing it to a particularly good Nikon example) but the 70-300 G SSM is the >300mm stepup tele zoom compared to the Sony 75-300 or Tamron 70-300mm.

As for whether F4.5-5.6 is fast enough for birds that's going to depend on light, ISO & bird movement.
 
i suppose i guessed that the prices are like chalk and cheese....i dont want to spend the money on the 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM if its not a lens i use a lot.....we seem to be short of a camera club in this area its hard to know what you want without getting touchy feely
 
in most areas I suspect that people would say that 300mm is a bit short & that 400+ would be better but iirc the birds in Shetland aren't that frightened of humans - the bonxies certainly aren't!
Unfortunately lenses with wide max aperture, long focal range & good IQ rarely come in at cheap prices.

You could always order something & if not happy return it under the DSR?

btw if you could afford ~£1100 the 70-400mm/4-5.6 G SSM is even better.
 
chrism_scotland said:
Anyone live in Belfast or Guildford? Last 2 A700 grips are in those two Jessops stores and I can't get to either :(
Click to expand...
Call Belfast and ask for a store transfer. For discontinued items they'll do it free of charge... I've actually done it with the Belfast store before and they were completely fine about it!
 
bobiscuit said:
Call Belfast and ask for a store transfer. For discontinued items they'll do it free of charge... I've actually done it with the Belfast store before and they were completely fine about it!
Click to expand...

Well it seems Edinburgh was wrong, no stock in Guildford or Belfast.
 
Try Jessops in Loughborough, I know they had one a couple of weeks ago.
 
heidfirst said:
Puddleduck will say otherwise (but I suspect that he either used a poor copy or is comparing it to a particularly good Nikon example) but the 70-300 G SSM is the >300mm stepup tele zoom compared to the Sony 75-300 or Tamron 70-300mm.

As for whether F4.5-5.6 is fast enough for birds that's going to depend on light, ISO & bird movement.
Click to expand...

Well I didn't see any evidence the one I used was a bad sample - it'll be better than the Tamon or Sigmas above.

£500 is silly though - its a £350 lens optically.
 
puddleduck said:
Well I didn't see any evidence the one I used was a bad sample - it'll be better than the Tamon or Sigmas above.

£500 is silly though - its a £350 lens optically.
Click to expand...
it's as good as or better than the Nikon 70-300 VR & that's £400 street ...
Canon don't really have a direct competitor -nearest is probably the Canon EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS USM & that's £1000.:bonk: Even the EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM is £400 street.
 
heidfirst said:
it's as good as or better than the Nikon 70-300 VR & that's £400 street ...
Canon don't really have a direct competitor -nearest is probably the Canon EF 70-300mm f4.5-5.6 DO IS USM & that's £1000.:bonk: Even the EF 70-300mm f4-5.6 IS USM is £400 street.
Click to expand...

I think that sort of makes my point - Nikon and Canon's lens in that category are around £400. The extra £100 doesn't buy you any more quality (well not over the Nikon, can't comment on the Canon), and don't forget Sony don't need to built in a VR unit (which adds 25% to Nikon's prices generally), so I think its £150 more than it ought to be.

£500 is getting towards a nice f/2.8 lens price wise.

The lens really isn't a £500 performer - its an above average variable aperture zoom.

I think this sort of silly pricing can't be doing the Sony brand any good - a lens with more zoom is often on the wish-lists of beginners, and a 70-300 variable aperture zoom needs to be priced accordingly.
 
thanks heidfirst.... thats useful will wait a while before i think of spending ^grand on a lens i dont know if i'll love...but i'll keep that one in mind

and thanks puddleduck from what u say the 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM isn't worth the money so i'll hang on a while and play with the kit lens that doesn't seem so bad to me

but i cant live here and not take bird pics. can i...

no the bonxies aint shy especially if you wander into their nest site....ouch!
 
Evening all, hope you can help I am after a 1.4 50mm anyone know of any deals?

Also I have got a Stellar X 300/300 Umbrella Two Head Kit on order and was wondering the best way control the flash remotely

cheers

Matt
 
maggieme said:
and thanks puddleduck from what u say the 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM isn't worth the money so i'll hang on a while and play with the kit lens that doesn't seem so bad to me
Click to expand...

Please don't just take my word for it - see if you can try it out. If you can find a used one in the £300-£350 ballpark then it's a bit more interesting.

My local Currys have (had last time I looked) the 70-300 SSM for £349-ish a while back, they have a few Sony odds and sods cheap, some sort of grip is down to £79 and the 50mm f/1.4 is £249 which is good for a street price.
 
After much thought I now want an A550, now I just need to save some money
 
maggieme said:
i suppose i'm being dense but can anyone tell me the difference i'll notice between these lenses
i suppose i'm looking for clarity at a distance so is there anything else you can recommend i'd be delighted
and if i want to use it for birds is F4.5-5.6 fast enough

Sony SAL-70300G 70-300mm F4.5-5.6 G SSM Telephoto Zoom Lens £579.95

Sony Alpha 75-300mm F4.5-5.6 Lens
by Sony £167

Tamron AF 70-300mm F4-5.6 Di LD Macro 1:2 Sony/Minolta)
Buy new: £120.88
Click to expand...

I must admit, I was pleased with the 70-300G (although I did sell, but not because of IQ).

Although not ideal conditions, this might be of some use - someone on DD compared the two Sony's at Jessops:

http://www.dynaxdigital.com/index.php/topic,12304.0.html

But the two images at 100% - look like they are different ISO's :thinking:
 
mattmo said:
Evening all, hope you can help I am after a 1.4 50mm anyone know of any deals?

Also I have got a Stellar X 300/300 Umbrella Two Head Kit on order and was wondering the best way control the flash remotely

cheers

Matt
Click to expand...

I can't help you with any lens deals but as for the Stellar's I take it you are asking which is the best way to trigger them. Well I have the EXD200 two head kit also from Interfit & I trigger mine with some cheap wireless triggers similar to the ones supplied by Flash In The Pan on here. But you will need a Sony to ISO hot shoe adapter to fit it to your a200 (Chinese copies widely available). You will also need the hot shoe adapter if you are going to use the supplied sync cables as it also comes with a sync connector built in (which is missing the a200/300/350 models). It is also possible to use the pop up flash to trigger them using their built in slave sensors. I have managed to sync 3 wireless HVL F42AM Sony strobes using the pop up flash (obviously:D)with the Interfits using the the cheap wireless triggers. Hope this helps. :thumbs:
 
Both of the reviews I've read on the A550 so far have been quite uncomplimentary on the image quality. It might be another example where the Sony files aren't working with the standard adobe software tools or it might be that Sony have dropped the ball.
 
Kev M said:
Both of the reviews I've read on the A550 so far have been quite uncomplimentary on the image quality. It might be another example where the Sony files aren't working with the standard adobe software tools or it might be that Sony have dropped the ball.
Click to expand...

Yeah I've heard that the jpeg output is not great but RAW is meant to be pretty good,.
 
Hi All,

I have got some pretty bad scratches now on my A700 LCD screen and am at a loss as to how to get this fixed/repaired cheaply. I was advised by another site to try and use DISPLEX. I bought this and tried applying one coat to it and rubbed away...sadly to no avail :-(

I am guessing that the scratched are too deep?

Please can anyone help me on this one?

I have the screen protector now, but the damage has already been done as they say....

As always, many thanks in advance for your time.
Cheers
G
 
puddleduck said:
I think that sort of makes my point - Nikon and Canon's lens in that category are around £400. The extra £100 doesn't buy you any more quality (well not over the Nikon, can't comment on the Canon),
Click to expand...
mmm, imo it does buy you more quality (imo the G is build/mechanically better than the Nikon & both build & optically than the Canon) but with all these things you are into the law of diminishing returns - they are all 2-3x dearer than the cheaper 70/75-300s but none of them is 2-3x better.
It's an individual choice as to whether you are willing to pay the increased cost for the demonstrable improvements.
of course as such it's all subjective so it's not surprising that there are different opinions.
 
:help: I'm hoping someone can help me with this.

I've just received my Jessops flash and I'm trying to get it to work off camera wirelessly without triggers. The flash works fine on camera and the results are clear to see but off camera I simply can't get to work. The onboard flash and the 360AFD both fire but the image is totally underexposed. Is this the pre-flash firing the main flash before it should? If so how do I sort it? I'm reluctant to buy triggers as this is something I won't use very often, but at the moment I'm tearing my hair out trying to figure it out! :bang:
 
rob_t said:
:help: I'm hoping someone can help me with this.

I've just received my Jessops flash and I'm trying to get it to work off camera wirelessly without triggers. The flash works fine on camera and the results are clear to see but off camera I simply can't get to work. The onboard flash and the 360AFD both fire but the image is totally underexposed. Is this the pre-flash firing the main flash before it should? If so how do I sort it? I'm reluctant to buy triggers as this is something I won't use very often, but at the moment I'm tearing my hair out trying to figure it out! :bang:
Click to expand...

Didn't realise the 360AFD was wireless?:thinking:
 
rob_t said:
It can be used as a slave I've been told, it does fire off camera just not at the right time (I think)...
Click to expand...

I'm sorry but I really don't think the 360AFD (you do mean the Jessops one) is wireless capable......

There is no mention at all of this on the Jessops website :shrug: and they would mention it as it's a very strong selling point!

I have the Canon version (which doesn't have it) and I doubt they would add that feature on to the Sony model and sell it at the same price.

I think Puddleduck bought a Sony version the other day, he'll be able to help you with this one!
 
It won't be wireless in the sense of ttl control but it probably is wireless in the sense of being used in manual as a slave. You're probably right in that it is the pre-flash but I don'y know if you're camera can disable it. You should check the manual and have a root through the menus.
 
I've having another play around with it, it works off camera but only if you put the power to 1/4 or less, also can't find anywhere in the menu to turn off pre-flash and the manual has no mention of it :(
 
I went to my local jacobs today and asked about the Sony 11-18mm
And it cost 400+ pounds, is there any chance that can price match with something so can get it for 249 pounds?
Also my local Jessops has none Sony 11-18mm T.T
And it is very hard to find one on ebay and all cost more than 250 pounds.
Really would like to have one at 250 pounds range. T.T

Anyone can help me out?!
 
kevin612 said:
I went to my local jacobs today and asked about the Sony 11-18mm
And it cost 400+ pounds, is there any chance that can price match with something so can get it for 249 pounds?
Also my local Jessops has none Sony 11-18mm T.T
And it is very hard to find one on ebay and all cost more than 250 pounds.
Really would like to have one at 250 pounds range. T.T

Anyone can help me out?!
Click to expand...

Did you ask your local jessops which offer store had stock left? Then get them to reserve / transfer it to your local branch.
 
I don't think Jessops have any of the 11-18 left, they went pretty quickly when word of the price got about. I heard they were down to exactly one sometime last week and it was only available over the counter, no inter-shop transfer. I imagine its gone now, but you could try giving their national number a ring.
 
onomatopoeia said:
I don't think Jessops have any of the 11-18 left, they went pretty quickly when word of the price got about. I heard they were down to exactly one sometime last week and it was only available over the counter, no inter-shop transfer. I imagine its gone now, but you could try giving their national number a ring.
Click to expand...

I think London Oxford Street were the last store with any, try giving them a call, their national stock system seems to be awful if my experience tracking down a grip this week was anything to go by.
 
oO.. thanks all
I might just have to wait until new ultra wide angle or get sigma/tamron ultra wide.
But then I someone to compare for me.
As i have heard the tamron 10-24 is not as good as others. cause I used Tokina 12-24 with my nikon D90 before. and result are very good even in wide open aperature shots.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top