Tag: Sony NEX

Photography Tips: Shooting at the Wedding Banquet
This is my first post for the photography tips series. Although I’m not a professional wedding photographer, the tips below are what I learned and sorted from various online resources and applied during the wedding banquet. In addition, by sharing my experience with all of you here, I hope you will share yours with me to help each other improve.
Tips
1. Be Ready and Well Prepared
Check your camera condition, ensure all the settings like exposure, white balance, ISO, flash mode, or any other settings are set up correctly. Ensure the battery is fully charged and the memory card is formatted.
2. Have Extra Backup Equipment
Having multiple batteries and memory cards is a plus. I highly recommend you to bring an extra camera as backup (yea I know the it costs more $$). Ensure you are familiar with it and the settings are identical/similar to your primary gear. A zoom lens is good enough and convenient. But if you prefer to use a prime lens on your primary camera, attach another lens with different focal lengths on the backup camera as you do not have extra time to change your lens carefully.
3. Shoot in RAW
It is another highly recommended tip. It is critical and easy to overexpose the bride’s white dress or underexpose the groom’s dark suit. You will need the capability of RAW to get them right.
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5 Dec 2013
Review: Sony Zeiss SEL24F18Z
Today, I would like to review the Sony Zeiss SEL24F18Z prime lens, as mentioned in the previous post. Although the SEL24F18Z was introduced and released in 2011 December, it is still one of the best prime lenses in the market. Besides, I prefer to do a specific review for each E-mount lens before comparing them (e.g., the SEL24F18Z, SEL35F18, and perhaps the Carl Zeiss Touit 32 mm).
Introduction
Sony Zeiss SEL24F18Z – with B+W UV Filter
Sony introduced and released their “home-made” Zeiss E-mount prime lens – the Sony Zeiss SEL24F18Z in 2011 December. This lens aims to deliver superior corner-to-corner sharpness with minimum distortion even at the largest aperture F1.8. The SEL24F18Z performance had been praised and complimented by most of its owners, but it comes with an extremely high price tag (SGD 1,699). So is it worth the price for you to purchase it? And so, how does it perform?
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2 Oct 2013
Review: Sony E-mount Lens SELP1650
Introduction
The Sony SELP1650 is the new kit lens with the new NEX cameras like the NEX-5R, NEX-6, and NEX-3N. It has a filter size of 40.5 mm, and it allows us to us a filter on it easily.
SELP1650 – Attached on Sony Alpha NEX-6
The Sony SELP1650 covers a 24mm – 75mm focal length in 35mm equivalent which is enough for the basic daily shooting. The maximum apertures are F3.5 and F5.6, and the minimum focus distances are at 25 cm and 30 cm on the wide-angle and telephoto side, respectively. It comes with the power zoom feature, which provides highly smooth zooming during the video recording. A focus/zoom ring is found at the front of the lens, it is smooth to turn, and there is no endpoint to stop turning the focus/zoom ring; it also has a built-in OSS, which is great and powerful for low light shooting or video recording.
This lens is retractable like a point-and-shoot camera. When the camera is powered on, this lens will need a few seconds to extend itself before being ready to use. It collapses itself when it is not in use, and the height is only around 3 cm! It’s so compact and looks like a pancake lens. It makes the NEX camera more compact and portable without having a cheap feel. However, the lens is criticized for its fish-eye-effect-like barrel distortion on the wide-angle side before being officially available on the market. So how is its optical performance? Is it worth your money to buy it for the compactness? Let’s look at the following review.
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20 Sep 2013
Review: Sony Alpha NEX-6
Introduction
Sony introduced the Alpha NEX-6 in November 2012. It comes with a price tag fit in between the flagship NEX-7 and the mid-range NEX-5R. The NEX-6 has the excellent XGA OLED viewfinder as the NEX-7 and the fast hybrid focus system, and wireless as the NEX-5R. So is it worth the extra SGD 250 than the NEX-5R without the 180 degrees flip-able LCD touchscreen? Or pay SGD 500 more to get the more convenient Tri-Navi design, solid metal-built body, and the higher 24 mp resolution NEX-7?
Pros & Cons
16.1 MP APS-C CMOS sensor
Great XGA OLED viewfinder
Solid-body build, comfortable hand grip design
Lightweight (approx. 345g including battery and memory card, without a lens attached)
Wireless accessible
Tilt-able 3 inches LCD screen (upwards 90 degrees and downwards 45 degrees)
Hybrid focus system(phase-detection & contrast detection) for faster and more accurate AF
Convenience control dial design (not as good as the Sony NEX-7 Tri-Navi design, but still great)
Quick graphical navigation menu display
Low battery life (approx 340~380 images with LCD screen; reduce to 230~ 280 if mix with EVF and some camera settings tweaking)
No way to turn off the wireless
Not 180 degrees tilt-able
Need the Sony Entertainment Network account to install the free-apps
No memorable self settings function is available
The text-based menu design is not so intuitive; it is not that bad but could be better
Look & Feels
Although the Sony NEX-6 body does not have a metal build body like the Sony NEX-7, you would not feel it cheap. When I first looked at it, I thought it would sound like a cheap plastic body when I knocked at it? But at the time I tried it, wow! It is a solid build, lightweight, and would not feel cheap at all (maybe some of you do). The improved design of the handgrip makes it comfortable to hold in hand for a whole day trip.
Sony Alpha NEX-6 – Front View without lens attached
Sony Alpha NEX-6 – Front View with SELP1650 kit lens attached
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18 Aug 2013