Sony A7x lounge

I'll add to the portrait pool, the occasional pose by my girls

FE55

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/xe5R​Mz

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/xe5S​Cn

Charlie wrote in post #17693714
I'll add to the portrait pool, the occasional pose by my girls

FE55

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/xe5R​Mz Baby Girl by Charlie, on Flickr

attempted photobomb by son

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/xe5S​Cn Baby Girl by Charlie, on Flickr

Nice! I can't get my grandkids to pose for me without making goofy faces. I keep telling them their faces will get stuck that way some day but I don't think they believe me.

What i like in portrait now is to make sure my model would get tease by her/his friends like "hey i saw your picture in facebook, it's too photoshopped". For me it doesn't sound good to the person. Just me.

Except if i'm hired to retouch a headshot for a magazine cover( i still like to see texture though). for normal portrait, i'm trying not to oversmooth. For artistic point of view, i'm ok too. After all, i'm a former graphic designer. But i'm trying to establish my own consistent style now that's why i'm still asking for cc recently.

jocau wrote in post #17693687
Well, I know what I want and what my deal-breakers are. There is no perfect camera, but I won't upgrade to a camera which has a deal-breaker. You don't want a camera with mediocre/bad high ISO performance and that's perfectly fine. I just don't want compression artifacts. Different people, different values. And thank God for that, otherwise there would only be one camera on the market. I'll just be creative and keep using my 550D for now. Besides, since the beginning of this year the stray cat hasn't shown up anymore. About half of my pictures were of him. I think I haven't even taken 100 pictures since the beginning of this year, so getting a new camera is really at the bottom of my priority list. A new camera is rather a "want" than a "need" here. Luckily I'm pretty good at fighting GAS.

Jocau, you don't need more gear. You need to shoot more!

Bring your 50D out and find something, anything, or interest to shoot a couple times a week. You may have to look at the world around you and and your day to day life a little more creatively, but there's always something worth documenting. The plus side, is that actively looking for things to shoot within otherwise uneventful days gives you a great appreciation for the little things in life.

I decided to try my Vivitar Series 1 28/1.9 again, since I haven't touched it since I got the FE 28mm. I'll probably sell it, I just don't see myself wanting to really use it anymore... it does render pretty uniquely wide open though (the shot below was stopped down to around f2.8)

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/xLmE​mq

navydoc wrote in post #17693727
Nice! I can't get my grandkids to pose for me without making goofy faces. I keep telling them their faces will get stuck that way some day but I don't think they believe me.

the key is 3-5 seconds for me, that's about as long as I can get them to pose before the silly faces come out.

keeping them off guard helps too, I'll call them over, ask for a quick pose, then done.

Talk to the kids about fart and they will crack it up... Lol works for me

vinmunoz wrote in post #17693882
Talk to the kids about fart and they will crack it up... Lol works for me

Getting them to laugh has never been a problem...in fact, that IS the problem...they laugh and giggle and make faces and generally get all goofy on me. The best thing I can do to help is to separate them so they don't have anyone to show off to.

Now, you'd think I was talking about kids the same age as Charlie's. Nope, I'm talking about a sixteen year old and a fourteen year old. No one has told them that they are growing up yet I suppose.

Bit disappointed here. Flocked my adaptor last night and then went out just now to take a test photo and getting some sort of flare issue still. Its no longer in the corner but look at the bridge below and you will see the sort of flare/reflection on the underside of the bridge at the left support.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/y8X6​QL

xpfloyd wrote in post #17693919
Bit disappointed here. Flocked my adaptor last night and then went out just now to take a test photo and getting some sort of flare issue still. Its no longer in the corner but look at the bridge below and you will see the sort of flare/reflection on the underside of the bridge at the left support.

IMAGE LINK: https://flic.kr/p/y8X6​QL Erskine Bridge - 03.09.15 by xpfloyd, on Flickr

Also this shot was ISO 100 30 seconds and there was colour noise I had to remove in post. Lots of red pixels. When I tested the hot pixel thing I didnt have any at ISO 100 but on this real world shot I had lots of red pixels (not sure if noise or hot pixels). Feel a bit disheartened at the moment. If I could just get my TS-E lens to work without reflections/flare I would be happy.

Edit - red pixels were only visible in shadows after I pushed them in post. I used to be able to push a7r shadows without issue

First: beautiful image!

Second: That flare doesn't not look like an internal reflection to me. Usually it only happens with just-off-frame light sources. The sun is below the horizon here, so shouldn't have been an issue. Also, internal reflections are light glare that blooms from the side of the just-off-frame light source. Have you tested against a simple light leak? With the adapter you can either have a light leak between lens and adapter or adapter and camera. That would be relatively easily solved by a rubber ring.

navydoc wrote in post #17693397
I remember a time not too long ago that many of us here said that using the Sony A7x series camera put the fun back in photography for them because it gave them a small, light setup that was easy to take along. Oh how soon we forget.

Not me A7, CV40, Leitz 90/2.8 and FE35/2.8 is the MOST I take anywhere. The FE35 only goes when with the girlfriend or kids so they can take photos. I'm usually happy with just the CV40

David Arbogast wrote in post #17693931
First: beautiful image!

Second: That flare doesn't not look like an internal reflection to me. Usually it only happens with just-off-frame light sources. The sun is below the horizon here, so shouldn't have been an issue. Also, internal reflections are light glare that blooms from the side of the just-off-frame light source. Have you tested against a simple light leak? With the adapter you can either have a light leak between lens and adapter or adapter and camera. That would be relatively easily solved by a rubber ring.

Thanks David. After reading your post I checked the setup. I can actually flex the lens while it's connected to the adaptor and see the joint opening ever so slightly (can't see daylight through it but it's def moving). The camera to adaptor joint feels more solid. I took a few high ISO photos there with the lens cap on shining a torch round the adaptor and there's definitely light getting in. It's very subtle but I can see different levels of black between the exposures. So I'm thinking you are right.

As a temp fix I've wrapped electrical tape around the adaptor/lens joint (could only find blue tape so it looks a bit nuts). It's the only lens I need the adaptor for so its ok that I have taped them together. Once I'm back my holiday I will try and sort a more elegant looking solution (black tape for starters!), that's assuming this sorts it. I will know shortly as will be taking in a lot of landscapes over the coming week.

Also with the colour noise in the pushed shadows I will have to investigate this more. It's not concerning me too much as it's easily removed but it's noticeably different to the way you can work a7r files. Exposing to the right and then bringing back in post may be the way forward with long exposures to avoid having to push shadows as much

I have always pushed as far as possible to the right before blowing out highlights I want to keep...it is like the old film days.

I look at a scene, and in a night scene, I know everything interesting is a good 4-5 stops "below a middle grey"...so I bump it all +2 to +3 EV to get the detail I want and if I blow some highlights I wanted to keep...an HDR may be the fix for non-moving stuff.

xpfloyd wrote in post #17693981
Thanks David. After reading your post I checked the setup. I can actually flex the lens while it's connected to the adaptor and see the joint opening ever so slightly (can't see daylight through it but it's def moving). The camera to adaptor joint feels more solid. I took a few high ISO photos there with the lens cap on shining a torch round the adaptor and there's definitely light getting in. It's very subtle but I can see different levels of black between the exposures. So I'm thinking you are right.

As a temp fix I've wrapped electrical tape around the adaptor/lens joint (could only find blue tape so it looks a bit nuts). It's the only lens I need the adaptor for so its ok that I have taped them together. Once I'm back my holiday I will try and sort a more elegant looking solution (black tape for starters!), that's assuming this sorts it. I will know shortly as will be taking in a lot of landscapes over the coming week.

I've heard of people using a hair tie/bun to remedy the problem, however, you only use one EF lens, so tape can work

I would avoid electrical tape though, leaves a nasty residue.