{"id":1453,"date":"2010-09-19T05:00:56","date_gmt":"2010-09-19T05:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1453"},"modified":"2010-09-19T05:00:56","modified_gmt":"2010-09-19T05:00:56","slug":"h-for-superzoom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1453","title":{"rendered":"H for Superzoom"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I came across the NEX-5H package – the NEX-5 with Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Active OSS!<\/p>\n


\nThe FA-EX1S flash extender comes with the NEX-5H package.<\/p>\n


\nIt is meant to extend the flash forward and above the large 18-200mm, like so.<\/p>\n


\nFrom the front, not raised (above) and raised (below).<\/p>\n


\nIt does look funny with the Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake…<\/p>\n


\nThe FA-EX1S flash extender has two nubs next to the screw hole. This prevents the ECM-SST1 external microphone (above) and FDA-SV1 optical viewfinder (below) from being mounted on the FA-EX1S.<\/p>\n


\nLeft-to=right<\/b>: Sony A850 with Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM, Sony NEX-5 with FA-EX1S flash extender and HVL-F7S flash and Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Active OSS in its shortest 18mm position with lens hood stored backwards.<\/p>\n


\nLeft-to=right<\/b>: Sony A850 with Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM, Sony NEX-5 with FA-EX1S flash extender and HVL-F7S flash and Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Active OSS in its longest 200mm position with lens hood stored forwards.<\/p>\n

So how does the flash extender work?<\/p>\n


\nTop-left<\/b>: 18mm without FA-EX1S flash extender; top-right<\/b>: 200mm without FA-EX1S flash extender; bottom-left<\/b>: 18mm with FA-EX1S flash extender; bottom-right<\/b>: 200mm with FA-EX1S flash extender.<\/p>\n

If you are going to use the HVL-F7S on the NEX with the Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Active OSS, the FA-EX1S flash extender is a must!<\/p>\n


\nThe FDA-SV1 optical viewfinder.<\/p>\n


\nIt matches the field of view of the Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake only, without the VCL-ECU1 ultra-wide converter or VCL-ECF1 fisheye converter.<\/p>\n


\nSince there is no way to turn off the NEX-3\/NEX-5 LCD screen, you will have to get close to the viewfinder to avoid glare from the screen!<\/p>\n

Honestly though, I thought the FDA-SV1 was optically crap. It had massive smearing away from the center, and only if you placed your eye exactly in the middle, with the 3 dashes getting illuminated, then you’d be in perfect alignment. Even then there was parallax error and there is no way to see depth of field in the viewfinder.<\/p>\n


\nThe rare NEX body cap makes an appearance in the NEX-5H package!<\/p>\n


\nThe Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Active OSS is Made in China. Nevertheless, it is a very solid lens.<\/p>\n


\n18mm F3.5 ISO1600 yielded 1\/30s with EV +1. Obviously, this is no indoor lens!<\/p>\n


\n200mm F6.3 ISO3200 1\/25s with EV +1. Still a bit too slow for indoors!<\/p>\n

Remember that the average camcorder that cannot change lenses has a F1.8 zoom lens even on the telephoto end! So before buying this, make sure you know what you are getting into.<\/p>\n


\nI also tried the Sony Cybershot WX-5, a proper replacement for the WX-1 (which I have.) F2.4 at 24mm (35mm equivalent) with Exmor-R backlit sensor means it is the low-light champion of the Cybershot series!<\/p>\n


\nOne new feature that it adds is Background Defocus<\/b>, which takes two shots and blends them.<\/p>\n


\nThis is the same shot in P mode (which chose F2.4).<\/p>\n


\nIt is not perfect though, as you can see it didn’t work so well on the wire and the lens on the right.<\/p>\n


\nWhat if there are many subjects in the picture? It states that it cannot perform Background Defocus, but takes a picture anyway.<\/p>\n


\nI tested the A33 with Sony 50mm F1.4, while looking at it from the front. In video, when looking from the front, it appeared to be wide open, but the moment I started recording, it stopped down to F3.5 as expected whenever AF was on. When MF was used, it could record videos at F1.4.<\/p>\n

Yes, ISO and menus can be accessed from the viewfinder, exactly as you would from the rear LCD screen.<\/p>\n


\nThis is the optional AC-PW20<\/b> AC Adapter (for NEX cameras) dummy battery. The battery cover has a flap just to allow the cable in.<\/p>\n

Hmmm the NEX-3\/NEX-5 doesn’t have this flap! However, interestingly, the NEX-3\/NEX-5 can operate just fine with the battery cover open, as I’ve just tried.<\/p>\n

The A560 is delayed to 2011, while the A580 would only come to Malaysia in October 2010 (but if other places are only getting it in November 2010, I can’t be too optimistic.)<\/p>\n

According to this:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.sony-asia.com\/support\/resources\/en_AP\/html\/Compatibility\/DSLR\/Lens\/Sonypages\/Sony.html<\/a><\/p>\n

The A560\/A580, which has contrast detect AF in Focus Check Live View, will not be able to use contrast detect on screw-drive lenses. This limits contrast detect to SAM\/SSM lenses. However, you can still use phase detect AF in Quick AF Live View with screw drive lenses.<\/p>\n

Also, video is strictly manual focus only on the A560\/A580.<\/p>\n

In other news:<\/p>\n

What the heck man, the Samyang 35mm F1.4 UMC in A-mount is 111mm long!<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.dpreview.com\/news\/1009\/10091610samsyng35mm1p4.asp<\/a><\/p>\n

Fortunately the MFD is 30cm like all other 35mm F1.4 lenses.<\/p>\n

Minolta\/Sony 35mm F1.4G – 55mm filter thread, 510 grams, 30cm MFD, 1:5x maximum magnification, 76mm long
\nCanon 35mm F1.4L USM – 72mm filter thread, 580 grams, 30cm MFD, 1:5.5x maximum magnification, 86mm long
\nNikkor AF-S 35mm F1.4G SWM – 67mm filter thread, 600 grams, 30cm MFD, 1:5x maximum magnification, 89.5mm long
\nSamyang 35mm F1.4 UMC – 77mm filter thread, weight N\/A, 30cm MFD, maximum magnification N\/A, 111mm long (Alpha mount)<\/p>\n

To give you an idea of how long 111mm is – the Carl Zeiss 24-70mm F2.8 SSM is 111mm long, and the Carl Zeiss 135mm F1.8 is 115mm long!<\/p>\n

Finally, here’s a picture from a roadshow:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The Sigma 85mm F1.4 EX DG HSM is starkly a lot higher in price than I expected. \ud83d\ude41 I was hoping it would be around RM3000 street price, even taking into account that these are retail prices!<\/p>\n

More reading here:
\nTracking with the A55<\/a>
\nMore Than Meets D.I.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I came across the NEX-5H package – the NEX-5 with Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Active OSS! The FA-EX1S flash extender comes with the NEX-5H package. It is meant to extend the flash forward and above the large 18-200mm, like so. From the front, not raised (above) and raised (below). It does […]<\/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-1453","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\/1453","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=1453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1453\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}