Nikon D40 v Sony a200

leaky5 said:
My son was looking at a D40 today in Jessop's.

The 20 something year old salesman came out with this lot, I only told him I had an a200 afterwards, at which point he started to back track a bit -

1/ Only ever buy a Canon or Nikon. (could'nt give a reason when I asked why)
2/ All the old Minolta users don't like the fact that Sony bought them out.
3/ The Sony cameras are badly made.
4/ All magazine reviews back up his views.
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This appears to be a common attitude amongst Jessops staff, despite the fact that they have a close working relationshipwith Sony.
 
yeah checked online. oh well, got the grip sooner than expected

that's funny about the jessops experience.

i had a not so friendly team leader staff, while the youngsters were more enthusiastic, and more friendly due to a smile or two. i put a note to jessops online and they said they would advise the area manager. but seriously if i was a team leader, i would be embrassed if the junior staff were better!

but to choose, you have to feel them. i read and saw the canon 450d being a good camera, but didn't like the feel of it compared to my d40 back then and the sony seemed more solid, maybe because of the weight balance
 
I'm defo going to their victoria store tomorrow and taking advantage of this cashback offer. So that will take it to £282-though still hassle of getting folrm filled in, posted and wating ages no doubt for them to send a £50 cheque.
 
BTW. Anyone tried haggling at Jessops? Would they lower the price if asked? Like that bloke on the BBC program, Dom something??
 
fabs said:
Sometimes they will price match.
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I'm thinking when I'm down there tomorrow; just saying to the sales man. "Look fella, can you take a few quid off this for me?"-though when he will say no, I'll back down straight away! :D
 
they will mostly likely price match to a store near by, but online stores like play and amazon, i doubt it, as i asked about their over priced memory cards, and wouldn't do me a deal when buying my dslr!

if you go in for a discount just because, they would say they won't loose any sleep if not sell it to you, like they did to me!?!
 
onikami said:
I'm thinking when I'm down there tomorrow; just saying to the sales man. "Look fella, can you take a few quid off this for me?"-though when he will say no, I'll back down straight away! :D
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You need to print out some online prices, it's doubtful they'll just give you a discount out of hand.
 
p1tse said:
they will mostly likely price match to a store near by, but online stores like play and amazon, i doubt it, as i asked about their over priced memory cards, and wouldn't do me a deal when buying my dslr!

if you go in for a discount just because, they would say they won't loose any sleep if not sell it to you, like they did to me!?!
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They have been known to price match to Warehouse Express and the like.
 
OK. I got the camera and thought I'd post some pics I took with it yesterday. I used a 50-200mm Sony lens:

Any thoughts? Not perfect. I just point and shoot as I dont understand all this f.8 etc :D

The 2nd pic is blured at the top, dont know why. Maybe shook the camera or somthing?

DSC00191.jpg


DSC00171.jpg


DSC00179.jpg


DSC00182.jpg


DSC00188.jpg
 
onikami said:
The 2nd pic is blured at the top, dont know why. Maybe shook the camera or somthing?
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when you say at the top do you mean the vegetation or the heron's head?
the vegetation is out of focus because it's outside the depth of field for focus at that distance & aperture.
 
heidfirst said:
when you say at the top do you mean the vegetation or the heron's head?
the vegetation is out of focus because it's outside the depth of field for focus at that distance & aperture.
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If the vegetation was out of depth, what about the head?

What is aperture and would it have made a difference if I changed it?
 
onikami said:
If the vegetation was out of depth, what about the head?

What is aperture and would it have made a difference if I changed it?
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Depth of field relates to how much of the image is in focus. For example, if I take a photo of a person 10 feet away from me with a background a further 20 feet behind them, the greater the depth of field, the further into the background is in focus. The aperture is the opening of the lens which is controlled in the camera using the f numbers (f4, f5.6 etc). The higher the f number, the smaller the aperture, the smaller the aperture, the more of the background will be in focus. The depth of field is also controlled by the focal length of the lens and the proximity of camera to subject and subject to background.

Hope this helps
 
fabs said:
Depth of field relates to how much of the image is in focus. For example, if I take a photo of a person 10 feet away from me with a background a further 20 feet behind them, the greater the depth of field, the further into the background is in focus. The aperture is the opening of the lens which is controlled in the camera using the f numbers (f4, f5.6 etc). The higher the f number, the smaller the aperture, the smaller the aperture, the more of the background will be in focus. The depth of field is also controlled by the focal length of the lens and the proximity of camera to subject and subject to background.

Hope this helps
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Great thanks. Looking at the camera, I see I have it set at f4. I'll lower it and see what happens.
 
onikami said:
I think it may be the focus thing.
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I tried to look at photo bucket to see the exif data, if you can post this information it will help people come up with any potential issues. For example, if you click on my flickr link below, click on any of the pictures on the first page, look on the right hand side under the camera make and model. It should say 'more properties', this contains a lot of information on the camera settings for the picture.
 
It maybe the Sony backfocusing issue, I had 2 A200's which both suffered badly with this affliction:(.

It is when the camera focuses behind the subject at which you are aiming and thus trying to focus on.

There are fixes but to be honest I would take the camera back and get a new one. If you don't have confidence in your equipment your not going to enjoy your photography.

atb
 
leaky5 said:
I tried to look at photo bucket to see the exif data, if you can post this information it will help people come up with any potential issues. For example, if you click on my flickr link below, click on any of the pictures on the first page, look on the right hand side under the camera make and model. It should say 'more properties', this contains a lot of information on the camera settings for the picture.
Click to expand...

Hi, OK. Here is the info (if anyone can make sense of it as I dont understand much of it)

Camera: Sony DSLR-A300
Exposure: 0.004 sec (1/250)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 60 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 0 EV
Flash: Off

File Size: 2.2 MB
File Type: JPEG
MIME Type: image/jpeg
Image Width: 3872
Image Height: 2592
Encoding Process: Baseline DCT, Huffman coding
Bits Per Sample: 8
Color Components: 3
Image Description: SONY DSC
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
X-Resolution: 72 dpi
Y-Resolution: 72 dpi
Software: DSLR-A300 v1.00
Date and Time (Modified): 2009:02:14 14:47:07
YCbCr Positioning: Co-sited
Exposure Program: Manual
Date and Time (Original): 2009:02:14 14:47:07
Date and Time (Digitized): 2009:02:14 14:47:07
Compressed Bits Per Pixel: 8
Brightness Value: 5.37
Max Aperture Value: 4.0
Metering Mode: Multi-segment
Light Source: Unknown
Color Space: sRGB
Custom Rendered: Normal
Exposure Mode: Manual
White Balance: Auto
Focal Length In35mm Format: 90 mm
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Contrast: Normal
Saturation: Normal
Sharpness: Normal
Quality: Standard
Flash Exposure Comp: 0
Teleconverter: None
White Balance Fine Tune: 0
White Balance: Auto
Preview Image: Binary data 531518 bytes
Color Temperature: Auto
Scene Mode: Standard
Zone Matching: ISO Setting Used
Dynamic Range Optimizer: Standard
Image Stabilization: On
Lens Type: Sony AF DT 55-200mm F4-5.6
Color Mode: Standard
Compression: JPEG (old-style)
Orientation: Horizontal (normal)
 
HJS said:
It maybe the Sony backfocusing issue, I had 2 A200's which both suffered badly with this affliction:(.

It is when the camera focuses behind the subject at which you are aiming and thus trying to focus on.

There are fixes but to be honest I would take the camera back and get a new one. If you don't have confidence in your equipment your not going to enjoy your photography.

atb
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That is worrying. Hope I'm not affected by it?
 
it's not just a Sony issue with backfocussing - you'll find plenty of posts about similar with all brands of DSLR.


onikami, it's certainly something to check out but I'm just concerned (given your apparent lack of knowledge) about your ability to do so. Your other photos look OK though for focus.
You need to be sure that you have the AF focussing on your subject (not sure on A200 but on A700 the active focus point will glow red briefly & ou get a confirmation beep). set your lens at it's widest aperture
set the camera to centre point AF
place the centre point AF point over a subject (something like a fence post in a fence running diagonally away from you would be ideal) at a distance & take some photos.
 
heidfirst said:
it's not just a Sony issue with backfocussing - you'll find plenty of posts about similar with all brands of DSLR.


onikami, it's certainly something to check out but I'm just concerned (given your apparent lack of knowledge) about your ability to do so. Your other photos look OK though for focus.
You need to be sure that you have the AF focussing on your subject (not sure on A200 but on A700 the active focus point will glow red briefly & ou get a confirmation beep). set your lens at it's widest aperture
set the camera to centre point AF
place the centre point AF point over a subject (something like a fence post in a fence running diagonally away from you would be ideal) at a distance & take some photos.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll see if I can get someone who knows about this to take a look for me.
 
Do you know what focus mode you were in ? This is one thing the exif does not show.

The choices are Wide, Spot & Local.
Wide the camera chooses which of the 9 AF points to use.
Spot use the centre square.
Local you choose via the arrow keys which of the 9 to use.

So if you were in Wide, the AF points might have been trying to focus on the heron and the stones behind it..

For this shot Spot would be better, focus on the Herons head/eye and re-compse the shot.

I am guessing at the distance here. If it was taken at 3m you should have about 25cm in front and 25cm behind the focus point in focus. At 4m it becomes approx 50cm in front and 50cm behind.

BTW, nice to see you shooting in manual mode.
 
leaky5 said:
Do you know what focus mode you were in ? This is one thing the exif does not show.

The choices are Wide, Spot & Local.
Wide the camera chooses which of the 9 AF points to use.
Spot use the centre square.
Local you choose via the arrow keys which of the 9 to use.

So if you were in Wide, the AF points might have been trying to focus on the heron and the stones behind it..

For this shot Spot would be better, focus on the Herons head/eye and re-compse the shot.

I am guessing at the distance here. If it was taken at 3m you should have about 25cm in front and 25cm behind the focus point in focus. At 4m it becomes approx 50cm in front and 50cm behind.

BTW, nice to see you shooting in manual mode.
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I'm gonna print this thread out and show it to someone I know to see if they can help.

leaky5 said:
BTW, nice to see you shooting in manual mode.
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That was not intentional. I was such a rush trying to get the perfect pic that I put the dial on the "M" setting thinking it stood for Macro. :D
 
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