[raju2512]

At last the Sony A500 body arrived. The OE came with a neck strap, battery, charger, usb cable , CD and manuals. The free bees by the dealer are an extra battery, 16GB transcend SD card with USB adaptor, carry case, neck strap, UV filter (doesn't fit on my existing lens), table top tripod, cleaning kit and LCD protector which is nothing but a plastic sheet to be pasted on the screen.

My friend who opened the original packing and repacked to fit his suitcase left out the charger. So could not try out the camera. Have to buy one locally today. My existing lens (for minolta maxuum) mounts cleanly and the MF switch on the camera works. Will post the initial experience after getting the charger

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by livyodream

....Does it mean it is possible only with a prime ? I have 55-250 IS which gives decent bokeh on a long end. But i am looking for some bokeh on a close end.

Bokeh on a close end is possible with primes like f/1.2, 1.4 or 1.8. Even 2.8 gives good enough bokeh. 50mm f/1.8 is the cheapest lens one can find in the market, dump the kit and get a prime, its worth.

Originally Posted by jeepster

BTW what do you think about used DSLR's

There are plenty of good deals in the used market. Our own classifieds always have some listing of DSLRs. You can also check JJ Mehta forums and their outlet for such deals. Used market has very good potential as people are never happy with what they have and constantly spend for better lenses and higher bodies as its not complicated like marriage and divorce

BUT, spend time to personally check and judge whats offered, if you are not sure, get help from friends to inspect the product.

[pawan_pullarwar]

Originally Posted by livyodream

Guys, need some explanation/ advice here.

I'm trying to imitate the Bokeh produced by canon 50mm 1/8 (referring pictures from internet) on my kit (18-55) lens and it is more or less impossible to get it.

Please refer the reference pictures below taken by 50mm 1/8 (pics taken from internet again)

Attachment 465940

Attachment 465941

Attachment 465942

Attachment 465943

the distance between the object and the background is very less, even then the 50mm lens produced noticeable bokeh. tried with my 18-55, impossible to get the same effect.

Does it mean it is possible only with a prime ? I have 55-250 IS which gives decent bokeh on a long end. But i am looking for some bokeh on a close end.

Im not good with techincal jargon's, hope someone understood what i am trying to say

for close end you need less f value, to produce the bokeh. 18-55 start with 3.5 f value from 18mm. You can try doing the following, set the 18-55 at 50mm and f value 3.5 take the shot. Change the lens to 50mm, set the f value 3.5, take the same shot from same distance. You must see the same result.

[abhinavm]

Originally Posted by pawan_pullarwar

for close end you need less f value, to produce the bokeh. 18-55 start with 3.5 f value from 18mm. You can try doing the following, set the 18-55 at 50mm and f value 3.5 take the shot. Change the lens to 50mm, set the f value 3.5, take the same shot from same distance. You must see the same result.

Actually this is not true. The bokeh is also a characteristic of the lens build, and no. of elements. The more the number of elements, the more "circular" and better the bokeh. So even with the same focal length and aperture value, lenses with different construction will give different bokeh.

But yes, good idea to experiment like the above and see what best you can achieve with the lens.

[shajufx]

Originally Posted by pawan_pullarwar

....You can try doing the following, set the 18-55 at 50mm and f value 3.5 take the shot. Change the lens to 50mm, set the f value 3.5, take the same shot from same distance. You must see the same result.

Pawan, recheck what you are suggesting. An 18-55 kit lens can never take a shot at 50mm on f value 3.5

Kit lens 18-55 will give you a maximum f value of 3.5 at 18mm and 5.6 at 55 mm. Even the maximum aperture you can get at 35mm is only f/5. Same thing applies to a 55-200 or any such lenses. Aperture gets smaller as you zoom higher !

There is something called 'straight blade' and 'round blade' which decides the quality of bokeh in lenses. Usually primes have 7 to 9 blades either rounded or straight. I think its more blades = better bokeh. You can see the details in every lens technical information. Nikon 50mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.4 and 85mm 1.8 have the highest number of blades = 9 straight blades. I think most macro lenses use 9 blades.

Are there lenses with more than 9 blades in the market ? I dont know, please add your comments if you know of a brand.

Post open to correction: I have tried to put whatever I have learnt from small and big gurus whomever I know !

[royalcruiser]

Guys, I have a question - maybe dumb, but still. I have an old SLR (non-digital), a Minolta Maxxum which I dont use anymore. I'm wondering if there would be any takers for that camera anymore? Any suggestions where I can look to sell it?

[livyodream]

Originally Posted by shajufx

Usually primes have 7 to 9 blades either rounded or straight. I think its more blades = better bokeh. You can see the details in every lens technical information. Nikon 50mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.4 and 85mm 1.8 have the highest number of blades = 9 straight blades. I think most macro lenses use 9 blades.

Are there lenses with more than 9 blades in the market ? I dont know, please add your comments if you know of a brand.

Thanks for the reply guys..


Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens Reviews | Canon-Reviews.com

The lens which i am talking about has 5 blades.
Something i am supposed to look out for ?

And also I don't see IS on this. Is it worth buying this? im basically looking out for close end Bokeh and do not want to spend more (Not as pro as you guys)

[prasadee]

Originally Posted by royalcruiser

Guys, I have a question - maybe dumb, but still. I have an old SLR (non-digital), a Minolta Maxxum which I dont use anymore. I'm wondering if there would be any takers for that camera anymore? Any suggestions where I can look to sell it?

I had a Minolta Maxxum 35mm film camera that I had bought in mid 90s in Germany. There was a camera shop on brigade road that had offered me Rs. 7000 in 2001. I held on to it and sold it on ebay (US) for $90 in 2005. The sooner you sell it, the better off you will be.

[jacs]

Originally Posted by livyodream

Thanks for the reply guys..
Attachment 466450

Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II Lens Reviews | Canon-Reviews.com

The lens which i am talking about has 5 blades.
Something i am supposed to look out for ?

And also I don't see IS on this. Is it worth buying this? im basically looking out for close end Bokeh and do not want to spend more (Not as pro as you guys)

livyodream, I'm no expert in DSLR photography but using Canon EF 50mm f1.8 since day one (may be couple of months). I also have a 18-55mm for comparison. Believe me its a must have lens. Cheapest of the Canon lot but one of the best for portraits. Crisp. Few samples from my collection, not sure whether you can call it a bokeh! All are handheld on 1000D with 50mm 1.8 prime.

[royalcruiser]

Originally Posted by prasadee

I had a Minolta Maxxum 35mm film camera that I had bought in mid 90s in Germany. There was a camera shop on brigade road that had offered me Rs. 7000 in 2001. I held on to it and sold it on ebay (US) for $90 in 2005. The sooner you sell it, the better off you will be.

Thanks! In the US for a few days now - I should've probably asked this much earlier. Could've got it along and sold it while I was here. Anyway, will put it up for sale immediately.

[arunsasi]

Originally Posted by livyodream

And also I don't see IS on this. Is it worth buying this? im basically looking out for close end Bokeh and do not want to spend more (Not as pro as you guys)

You don't need to worry about the blade count or IS. You simply cannot buy a better lens at the this price range. what more would you want?

[Aroy]

Originally Posted by amitk26

This sounds interesting can you please elaborate how to use the color correction sheets or if it is too long to explain please provide pointers from the web

What you achieve by taking colour correction sheet photos, is the colour profile of the sensor at that time. To elaborate if the colour profile is same (or nearly so) between two shots, then all the photographs taken between these two shots can be corrected for colour using software.

Unfortunately colour correction is usually provided with RAW processing software, and not for JPG. Otherwise if you are proficient with software coding, you can easily write code which would map the colours of a reference sheet to you photograph, and you get correct colours.

With film the colour profile was in the film, and was constant in a batch. With DSLR, various issues crop up and most are time dependent - sensor temparature, dark current drift, shot noise, ambient temparature etc. So your correction carried out at the beginning may not hold for the last shot, hence the requirements that you keep calibrating at intervals.

Originally Posted by Ho0ligaN

Hey thanks for trying to explain, I know that 50mm on FF is 80mm on APS-C, and 10mm on APS-C is 16mm on FF. I wanted to know why I can't take similar looking pictures if both can be compared. I am not looking to go eye ripping wide, I just want to know if I can attain 16mm kind FF pictures with a 10mm focal length on a crop sensor body.

The shots may cover the same field, but the perspective changes. Further as the pixels in a smaller sensor are smaller than those in a larger sensor, the colour saturation and sharpness is better in a larger sensor, assuming that the lenses are of similar quality. This is usually not so, as smaller sensor cameras normally use "relatively cheaper" lenses to control costs.

So to answer you query, YES you may get same scene, but the quality will differ, at times drastically. Also note that for landscape the idea is to get maximum pixels, so that you can print large, hence a larger sensor is not only desirable but at times necessary. (may be that is one of the reasons that a lot of professional landscape photographers use 40MP or larger sensors!)

Originally Posted by livyodream

Guys, need some explanation/ advice here.

I'm trying to imitate the Bokeh produced by canon 50mm 1/8 (referring pictures from internet) on my kit (18-55) lens and it is more or less impossible to get it.

Does it mean it is possible only with a prime ? I have 55-250 IS which gives decent bokeh on a long end. But i am looking for some bokeh on a close end.

Im not good with techincal jargon's, hope someone understood what i am trying to say

Originally Posted by arunsasi

Its impossible to get f1.8 bokeh on the kit lens which is f3.5 wide open. You should get the 50mm lens which is the best vfm lens you can find

The "bokeh" describes how an out of focus image will be drawn by the lense. Amongst other things the bokeh is dependent on the lense aperture diaphram design and to lesser extent the lense optical design. Some lenses give excellent bokeh, while others very bad. Hence you cannot expect one lense to duplicate another lense's bokeh! For further explanation Bokeh - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[raju2512]

Originally Posted by royalcruiser

Guys, I have a question - maybe dumb, but still. I have an old SLR (non-digital), a Minolta Maxxum which I dont use anymore. I'm wondering if there would be any takers for that camera anymore? Any suggestions where I can look to sell it?

I too have a Minolta Maxxum film camera. I decided to use the lens available with the Sony A500. I will hold on to the body whatever it is worth since the investment I make on the lenses for Sony A500 can be used on this body also.

[raju2512]

I started going through this fascinating thread a month back when I decided to buy a DSLR.

As someone who learnt photography the hard way in B&W with Yashica Ds and range finder 35mm cameras, moving over to color with Olympus OM10 and Minoltas and Pentax , I thought I would write my perspective to those venturing into SLRs.

With technology brining out more and more features and sophistication in to the cameras, it seems that the criteria for good photography has shifted from the photographer to the camera. What ever equipment you have ultimately it is you who can produce a good shot. There are limitation imposed by the equipment so buy what you need. You can't do good wildlife photography with 50mm prime nor can you do a portrait with a 150-400 zoom. Not every one can afford all the best gears nor it is required.

1. Understand and assimilate the basics of photography. Just reading thro is not enough. Have a thorough understanding of concepts like aperture, shutter speed, ISO, DOF, focal length etc.,

2. Understand the way your camera works. Experiment by shooting the same scene in variuos modes and see how the camera behaves in various setting. Shoot in full manual mode with setting you select and see how it differs.

3. You should be able to take excellent pictures in full manual mode. That will give you the confidence to over come the limitations of the camera in certain tricky shots.

4. The subject of the photograph should draw the attention of the viewer rather than the photograph itself. For example a photograph (not up to specialists standard in terms of technicalities) of a child showing nice expressions be it smiling or crying will be more attractive rather than a blank stare in to the lens however perfect the photo may be.

5. There are lot of things which are out side the camera squarely in the photographers hand. Good composition, point of view, reflected lighting using a mirror on white cloth etc., can work wonders.

6. Be prepared to move around the subject before shooting.

7. Keep experimenting. One great thing with digital photography is you don't have spend on film and processing.

8. A good photographer with entry level equipment can produce excellent shots. Remember , every shot you take need not be of the standard of NG.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by royalcruiser

Guys, I have a question - maybe dumb, but still. I have an old SLR (non-digital), a Minolta Maxxum which I dont use anymore. I'm wondering if there would be any takers for that camera anymore? Any suggestions where I can look to sell it?

Do you have lenses with that camera? All that lenses are usable in Sony Alpha DSLRs. So you can sell them for very good prices nowadays, if you don't plan to use it. A Bbeercan (70-210 f/4) sells at $200 in ebay for example.)

Do let me know if you have a 50 mm or a macro lens with that, I'll buy