{"id":1171,"date":"2008-10-30T03:10:27","date_gmt":"2008-10-30T03:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1171"},"modified":"2008-10-30T03:10:27","modified_gmt":"2008-10-30T03:10:27","slug":"my-first-proper-evening-with-the-a900","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1171","title":{"rendered":"My first proper evening with the A900"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>And now, for my first proper shots from the Sony Alpha 900! All EXIF data is included.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan1t.jpg\"><br \/>\nMinolta 70-210mm F4 beercan at 210mm F8. I always shoot plants with Daylight WB to give the green its color. DRO Level 3 helped, too.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan2t.jpg\"><br \/>\nSigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX at 17mm F2.8. Note how shallow the depth of field is&#8230; even my watch is out-of-focus. I love the natural light fall-off at the edges, and I waited for the sunlight to hit my hands to pull extra attention to it.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan3t.jpg\"><br \/>\nSigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX at 17mm F16. This is with DRO Level 3. Hmm wait what&#8217;s that on the second floor?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan3cropt.jpg\"><br \/>\nRight, it&#8217;s a person.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan4t.jpg\"><br \/>\nSigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX at 17mm F2.8. This is with DRO Level 5. Did I mention that I love the light fall-off?<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan5t.jpg\"><br \/>\nSigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX at 17mm F2.8. This is with DRO Level 5.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan6t.jpg\"><br \/>\nMinolta 70-210mm F4 beercan at 210mm F4. This is a 50% crop! Despite the A900 having only a 10.58 megapixel APS-C crop mode, it is actually advantageous when tracking &#8211; the AF assist sensors spread around do a much better job than the center double-cross AF sensor of the A700 (which packed 12.2 megapixels in APS-C) or the A350 (which packed 14.2 megapixels in APS-C). Also, the AF sensors of the A900 are only in the APS-C area, so you know if your subject is off the frame. Being able to see outside your APS-C area, when APS-C capture mode is selected, is very useful for fast-flying birds.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan7.jpg\"><br \/>\nMinolta 70-210mm F4 beercan at 210mm F4. This is a 100% crop.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan8t.jpg\"><br \/>\nMinolta 70-210mm F4 beercan at 210mm F4. This is in APS-C capture mode.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan9t.jpg\"><br \/>\nMinolta 70-210mm F4 beercan at 130mm F4. This is in APS-C capture mode, regrettably; if I had quickly switched back to full-frame capture mode, I could zoom in at 210mm and get a shallower depth of field. But I still like this picture, the car was glowing and begging me to take its picture! DRO Level 3 boosted the background.<\/p>\n<p>On the LRT, I tweaked my Creative Style: Vivid to -3 Contrast, -3 Saturation, +3 Sharpness, -2 Brightness and -1 Zone. This gave a muted look to the pictures that will follow (but they also decrease noise dramatically.)<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan10t.jpg\"><br \/>\nSigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX at 35mm F4. My friend asked if I was afraid to whip out my camera &#8211; I said no, knowing the location and the conditions. In this case I wasn&#8217;t brandishing a battery grip (though I wish my Minolta 50mm F1.4 was on, for ultimate stealth.)<\/p>\n<p>Oh, and what&#8217;s he going to do, get up? That would&#8217;ve made a more interesting picture&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan11t.jpg\"><br \/>\nSigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX at 17mm F3.2, cropped. Later at Tarita Low Yat, a photographer (who has a food book coming up with pictures from his A350!) checks out the A900 + F58 + battery package. I gave him a few pointers but I had to go so I didn&#8217;t see the deal through. \ud83d\ude41<\/p>\n<p>Yes, that&#8217;s the kit lens on it. Told him how to bypass auto-APS-C mode, too!<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan12t.jpg\"><br \/>\nMinolta 50mm F1.4 at 50mm F1.4, ISO1600, WB set at 3200K M4. Gotta love how F1.4 throws everything else into defocus. That&#8217;s a wonderful camera by the way, the Canon Ixus 870 IS&#8230; 28mm wide and pretty darn good macro! Of course, the Panasonic LX-3 was all sold out&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.glaringnotebook.com\/zimages\/bwtan13t.jpg\"><br \/>\nMinolta 50mm F1.4 at 50mm F1.4, ISO1600, WB set at 3200K M4. This alone granted the setting memory slot #2!<\/p>\n<p>This is what I&#8217;ve been looking for all this while &#8211; <b>INSPIRATION!<\/b> And the A900 renewed it. If the solid rubber grip, 100% bright viewfinder and pump-action shotgun mirror slap don&#8217;t inspire you to shoot some magical pictures, I don&#8217;t know what will.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And now, for my first proper shots from the Sony Alpha 900! All EXIF data is included. Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan at 210mm F8. I always shoot plants with Daylight WB to give the green its color. DRO Level 3 helped, too. Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4 EX at 17mm F2.8. Note how shallow the depth of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geek","category-pictures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1171\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}