Sony A7x lounge

Puckman wrote in post #18015645
Well reading this made me feel a bit better about my day.
But this is pretty much an exact play by play of my shooting experience today, only with other things instead of wildlife (trains, engines, civil war re-enactors).
Same end result. I really don't know if it's more me or more the camera (obviously, I'm its operator, so it's me in the end), but things just don't come easy to me and when the tool is harder to use, has too many settings, or is unintuitive....well...​that doesn't help.

When I get frustrated and think back to my 1dmkIII and 6d I always remember the grass being so green..... however it was "easier" to navigate it was no sony. For me I find that I try to deep on the menus with Sony. I really need to think before I walk out the door and perhaps dumb down the options and focus on what I need to shoot if I set it up that way I probably would do better.

As long as my mom is not screaming Rabies in my head

eriet30 wrote in post #18015535
Im a total failure as a wildlife photographer.

I was hiking and taking pics of petroglyphs in the Agua Fria monument. After the hike I was driving down the road.... oh whats that white thing and another...Oh its Pronghorn running in front of me. Where is my camera... in the back seat. Bah #1

Stop by the riverbed on my way out to try to get some bird photos I am always hopeful of the elusive Arizona cuckoo a very rare bird... river is running low pond areas are not there start to head back and hear rustling in the bushes... hmm just a lizard but I will go look... oh wait its a snake at my feet (check for rattles) pause (check again) nope line up the camera to get the Glossey Snake 5' long and pretty tame but big.... totally forgot about the rustling till i put the camera up to my eye and as I am focusing on the snake see something out of the corner of my other eye.... yup it was a lizard a frickin Gila Monster.... got a shot of its butt before it was gone... go back to get the snake and he has moved so not such a good shot.

Disappointed head back to the car but take a wrong path and have to cut through some thick underbrush and trees..... as I am coming out of the trees to the trail I see something.

Dog.. no... a dog would have a person... coyote no....I pop out and it is passing by almost stepping on me... looks up and keeps moving.... Its a frickin BOBCAT. I totally stand there two cameras in my hand. The 6300 with the 70-200 which is turned off and my A7rii with the 90 macro turned on.... grab that and start walk shooting with it just pointed the direction of the now just strolling in front of me Cat... i hear the motor zooming in and out.. bah i had it on close focus... Throw it over my shoulder mount up the 6300.... cat is a little further ahead. I am still not right in the head because I am photog in one part of my brain observer in another and something like my mom is in my head going "its got rabies your going to die".... get a few shots of its butt then try to circle around it in an opening I know is comming up Get there just behind it and it starts to growl ... loudly never looked at me but paused for a sec.... am I shooting ... no the rabies comment is in my head.

Best shot I got was this out of focus one

IMAGE LINK: https://www.flickr.com …ulvanderveen/26​557516524/
_63K4918.jpg by Paul on Flickr


Sigh need to stick to static wildlife

Your post made me smile, thanks for sharing your experience. I think we've all gone through something like that to one degree or another at some point in our photographic journey.

Puckman wrote in post #18015536
So today's been one of those days where frustration rules and makes me reconsider this whole Sony thing.
Went to the civil war reenactment that Gene was at yesterday.
Tried using the a7rii with the EF-70-200/4 to capture the battle in fairly harsh lighting.
The AF was an exercise in frustration.
The Sony AF as powerful as it is for certain things, simply does not play well with adapted lenses.
Shooting in bursts causes the camera to Lock up while it writes to the card.
Trying to review what I just shot, forget about it.
Focus recompose does not work very well with lenses like the sigma 35 art (field curvature) and seems to be the best way to AF when usIng adapted lenses (the AF-c seems iffy to me every time I try it).
Then I come home and try to go slow. 35art on the 6D is a pleasure to use.
The canons are just so much more intuitive it feels natural.
I fought with th Sony menus and settings all day. Each time I thought to try a different setting for something, I wasted minutes trying to find it and set it.
But then, after coming home and playing w the 6d a bit, I put the FE 90 on the Sony and shot the wife and dog in AF-C and it's a pleasure to use with native lenses (eye and face AF).
I'm half tempted to go back to canon and half tempted to go all native with Sony. No more adapted lenses! Such a pain.

Sorry to hear you struggled so much. I always try to keep things as simple as I can and believe in the "KISS" principle (keep it simple stupid). I normally just shoot in single focus and single shot mode. I shot everything wide open with auto iso. The only thing I had to do was switch from one lens to another occasionally. Of course, whenever I did that, it was always the other lens, whichever that one was, that I thought I should be using for the next shot!. When I tried to shoot the horses, I changed focus to AFC instead of AFS. The only time I turned on burst mode was to capture the muzzle blast of the cannons (I got a heads up that when the gunners turn away and put their hand over their ear, firing was immanent.

Since we are sharing sad photography stories about our day; I'll share my own disaster: I'm still here at Petit Jean State Park, but Friday I got sidelined with the flu (or some similar virus). Totally wrecked my photography plans here (I did manage to get a few shots though).

Here's another gripe with the Sony.

Do you guys all shoot in Multi mode for exposure?
I find that sometimes messes up what I'm trying to expose for when I'm not doing landscapes (in harsh lighting and contrasty situations).
I can't tell you how many times I've ended up with overblown skies, or almost too dark to see faces, because the metering was not going by what I expected.
I've tried using spot metering, but that has its own set of challenges (and one has to be a lot more precise).
I don't recall having that much difficulty with my 6D.

Thank you for the tip! I used a microfiber towel but this lens skirt is a better solution. My son loved the aquarium, especially the octopus, turtles, and sharks.

StudioAbe wrote in post #18015669
When my daughter was young, it was right around when "Finding Nemo" came out and the interest in marine life was high. I used to take her to the aquarium frequently and found an excellent product to help shoot through the glass without getting reflections. Check out Lenskirt. It also comes in larger size for use with ultra-wideangle applications. It's handy for shooting cityscapes through hotel or skyscraper observatory (like Willis Tower and London Shard) window.

Ah rats, that sucks David. I bet you're few shots will be stellar. Hope you feel better soon.

David Arbogast wrote in post #18015691
Since we are sharing sad photography stories about our day; I'll share my own disaster: I'm still here at Petit Jean State Park, but Friday I got sidelined with the flu (or some similar virus). Totally wrecked my photography plans here (I did manage to get a few shots though).

Eriet30, that was a funny story. It's happened to all of us at some point. Glad you came away with a shot. Be careful out there!

Nadim, that's a bummer about your shooting experience. I like Gene's advice on keeping it simple. Setup your camera and use those Custom buttons on the dial to setup a few different scenarios. I try to avoid going through the menu in the field as much as possible.

Candid shot of my son and wife in front of a large aquarium.

FE55

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-czzQvRv-XL.jpg&lb=1&s=A

digital_AM wrote in post #18015711
Candid of my son and wife in front of a large aquarium.

FE55

IMAGE LINK: https://photos.smugmug​.com …i-czzQvRv-XL.jpg&lb=1&s=A on Smugmug

Awesome.

EverydayGetaway wrote in post #18015718
Awesome.

Thank you!

I heart octopus is what my son would say.

I tried out the $380 samyang 24 TSE...... Have to say... I like it!

This is full shift

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Hoii​Qk

digital_AM wrote in post #18015754
Thank you!

I heart octopus is what my son would say.

eriet30 wrote in post #18015764
I tried out the $380 samyang 24 TSE...... Have to say... I like it!

This is full shift

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Hoii​Qk _DSC7859.jpg by Paul, on Flickr

Really enjoying the sequential juxtaposition of these two images.

StudioAbe wrote in post #18015783
Really enjoying the sequential juxtaposition of these two images.

Hah, thanks for pointing that out, I didn't notice until you mentioned it

FE 28mm

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/Hhmt​ax

Puckman wrote in post #18015645
Well reading this made me feel a bit better about my day.
But this is pretty much an exact play by play of my shooting experience today, only with other things instead of wildlife (trains, engines, civil war re-enactors).
Same end result. I really don't know if it's more me or more the camera (obviously, I'm its operator, so it's me in the end), but things just don't come easy to me and when the tool is harder to use, has too many settings, or is unintuitive....well...​that doesn't help.

Well...yesterday was pretty bad. Had no troubles with the EF70-200 2.8L II. Took great pictures. I got ate up by chiggers! Let the itching begin.

Will this work here?

Samantha....

Nice one vin!

Thanks....