Sony Nex-7 - LEA2 Adapter - Sony DT 55-200 f4-5.6 SAM
I've only used this combination once because I wanted to see how the focusing works with the LEA2 adapter. In short it works very well indeed. Focusing is fast because you get PDAF with the adapter attached. A negative point would be the size of rig increases and the lens is not exactly small but quite workable. The lens gives sharp contrasty image with pop to them. I should use this more as you get an equivalent focal range of 82-300mm which should cover most situations. You need good light as the lens is only an f4 at the shortest focal length but like I said, if good light is available you should be fine. The other alternative is to use a tripod but I'm no fan of tripods (although I do own quite a number of them). I only tend to use tripods in senarios I know what to expect when I'm going for ultimate sharpness. I must admit, using a tripod will get you sharper images, no doubt about it.
I must get out and try some cheap prime lenses I have like the 85 f2.8 SAM which is a remarkable lens for the price (around €200 at the time of this post).
1157
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Focal Length: unknown
Aperture: unknown
Exposure Time: unknown
ISO: unknown
Sony Nex-7 - LEA2 - 55-200 f4-5.6
This is a composite of the graffiti images I took the other week. Since I didn't have another lens with me at the time and I couldn't back-up any further because of some fencing the lens was really a little too long for this purpose. As I was there three more photographers came up and started to take photos as well. These weren't in a group because they came at different intervals. Some were professional I believe because of the gear, and it was during a normal working day. I could be wrong but that is the impression I got.
Some amazing graffiti you must admit.
1187
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Focal Length: unknown
Aperture: unknown
Exposure Time: unknown
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Sony Nex-7 - LEA2 Adapter - DT 55-200 f4-5.6
Not a lot of text today, just another image with the 55-200 f4-5.6. I think people looking for information on lenses etc look ore of how the images look rather than long descriptions. Again a lot of CA removed from this image but it's not a drastic flaw in lenses these days. I think the newer lenses with their ED glass are really excellent but I don't think that CA can be eliminated completely.
1176
NEX-7
Focal Length: 100 mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/200 sec
ISO: 100
Sony Nex-7 - LEA2 - Sony DT 55-200 f4-5.6
I suppose I'd better get this done and over with. Adobe Photoshop CC. Right now I'm using CS3 and I was going to upgrade pretty soon. Now, there's no way I'm going to increase my monthly basic costs; on the contrary I'm trying to reduce it and reduce it I will. That means I'm going to have to make some decisions that I'm not going to like making. Do I stay with the present version or am I going to look elsewhere for something a little more basic. I have to admit, I don't use 90% of the functions available in Photoshop but it does what I do. I've used it for so long (albeit an older version) I know what I'm doing and it takes me a few minutes to finish off an image for web or print or for a stock site. I've got all my actions, plug-ins and whatnots in there and I know what they are. I'm not looking forward to re-learning another program and I'm sure that my plug-ins won't be compatible with the other programs. Why? Because Photoshop is the standard program out there and every image has been "Photoshoped", even if Photoshop hasn't been used for post processing.
Lightroom: Yes I have Lightroom and I've just updated to the latest version and I do a lot in Lightroom nowadays but I like finishing my images off in Photoshop. I guess I just hate change. That's bad because if you don't change, you lose. A lot of functions have crept into Lightroom in the last few upgrades that it nearly, but only nearly, gives me all the functions that I require. There are still a few things I still do in Photoshop. As Google released the full Nik suite for something like €150 I jumped on it. That is now incorporated into Lightroom and I've just purchased a couple of other donation ware software that I hope it will help me get weaned off Photophop. I'll let you know how I get along.
Other photo editing software: I've been looking around the Internet for a substitute to Photoshop and I'm not really impressed with any on them really. It's like learning another language and I'm tired of doing that too.
Let's have a little list of possible candidates:
I looked at this many years ago and I just didn't like it. Had too much of the Linux look for my taste but I've just downloaded the latest version and installed it. One major point it's got going for it is that it's free. Now that's what I call a good deal. Seems to have improved a lot since I last installed it so Gimp will be looked at a little further.
Installed the test version and it doesn't look too bad. Going to have to play with this some more too.
I haven't bought any OnOneSoftware packages, and I just didn't like the look of this suite. Going to get binned and I'm not going to consider it. It might be a very well thought out program and works wonderfully, but not for me.
I don't think so. Doesn't offer enough to even consider it.
I even bought the earlier version of this software and started using it in earnest. However, it was soooooooo slow I gave up in the end. I don't think I'm going back to this suite. I suppose it's a "Once bitten, twice shy" situation.
The Lightroom plug-ins I bought were from this site: Photographers Toolbox. I donated some money to keep the site going and they might supplement my Lightroom workflow. Now that LR5 incorporates the straightening tool (Upright), Radial Gradient tool and the Advanced Healing Brush that eliminates a lot from Photoshop. It just gets better with every release.
That's all I'm going to consider. Any more and I would lose interest in it all. It's not something I like doing (testing software) although I have been ion the industry for some time, which might just be the reason I don't like doing it.
There's a good article on TOP (The Online Photographer) that reflects my thoughts exactly. Photoshop is too complicated for what I do and Lightroom just doesn't do enough at present. I want the same software product that he does, something not too complicated, easy to learn, does just enough to eliminate Photoshop altogether and doesn't cost too much. Wishful thinking on my part.
Why did I bring all this up in this post? Well, it's partly because of the image above. Cycling through Frankfurt a few weeks ago I came across a building site and the outer perimeter was covered in graffiti. It was excellent stuff and the image above is just one photograph I took of the entire wall. I was wishing I was that talented but I have to revert to other methods to get my creativity going, hence Photoshop and my dilemma.
If anyone has any other ideas or programs they use, I would appreciate some feedback or recommendations. 1541
NEX-7
Focal Length: 55 mm
Aperture: f/8.0
Exposure Time: 1/100 sec
ISO: 200
Sony Nex-7 - LEA2 Adapter - DT 55-200 f4-5.6
This is one image that needed a lot of CA removal especially at the top edge of the building. At this focal length (140mm) there isn't a lot of distortion with this lens but there certainly is at 55 and 200 settings. The DT 55-200 f4-5.6 will not be one of my favourite lenses of all time but it is quite useful on these Nex cameras as the Nex lenses aren't up to much at present. The 18-55 f3.5-5.6 kit zoom isn't all that bad and I quite like the output but it is quite short for my liking. I also have the 55-210 f4.5-6.3 but I just can't get along with it. I think one of the reasons for this is when I received the lens and I tried to get the hood on, and found it extremely difficult to match the hood to the lens. This is carrying on to this day. I took that lens out with me on a short walk a week or two ago and I'll be posting images from that lens mounted on the Nex-7. I have seen some remarkable images posted on some forums and I still wonder how they managed to get that sort of quality from the lens. Maybe, just maybe I have a Monday morning lens. Meaning of course that's it's a lemon of a lens.
The great thing about the two lenses mentioned above is that both incorporate Sony's OSS (Optical Image Stabilisation) and that, for me, is a major plus. I think cameras can only be made so small before they get too small to handle successfully. What I mean is they are really too light, no weight in the hand and the whole thing becomes unstable. Anything smaller that the Nex-5N is really too small for me and I wouldn't touch it with a barge pole.
1254
NEX-7
Focal Length: 140 mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/250 sec
ISO: 100
Sonx Nex-7 - LEA2 Adapter - DT 55-200 f4-5.6
Sometimes a 55-200 zoom can be a little long. The angle of view at 55mm is equivalent to 82mm in 35mm terms and I just managed to get this building in the frame. My fault of course as I only had this combination with me at the time. My Think Tank Retrospective 5 didn't have enough room for another camera and I didn't expect I'd need a shorter focal length lens. Next time I'll just take a bigger shoulder bag so that I can get 2 cameras in there.
Architecture has always interested me and it really is amazing how these architects get the ideas for all these different buildings. Not only that, they also have to be built so how does that work? What comes first the chicken or the egg? I sometimes roam to places that I don't usually get to and that's the first thing I tend to do, just photograph the buildings. You never know, they might not be there next year or the year after that. I just like keeping these images for posterity so to speak. I'll be looking at these when I'm old and remember how it looked then. Isn't that what taking photographs is all about anyway, to document how things were or looked like in the past?
1222
NEX-7
Focal Length: 55 mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/320 sec
ISO: 100
Sony Nex-7 - LEA2 - Sony 55-200 f4-5.6
Taken at 200 and f5.6, so that means full zoom wide open. Normally you have to stop down 2 stops approximately to get the sharpness out of a lens but I thought I’d try this and see what the sharpness is like. Not bad at all and I can't complain about the bokeh either. This is one image that I didn't have to eliminate CA so the lens is capable (in conjunction with the Nex-7) of not producing CA.
I didn't see any difference in sharpness between 55 and 200 so at least the lens is consistent in that respect.
Let's talk about size. It's not small and you definitely can't put this into your pocket, and it doesn't matter how big your trouser pockets are. You either carry this in your hand or get a shoulder bag like the Think Tank Retrospective 5. I have one of these and use it a lot. I can easily put 2 cameras in there with prime lenses attached or the Sony Nex-7 with the LEA2 adapter and DT 55-200 lens attached fits in there too with plenty of space left over.
Holding the camera is ok because I tend to support the lens withe base of the LEA2 adapter. One more thing I like about the adapter apart from allowing me to mount a plethora of lenses. Being a long zoom sort of guy I've also noticed that they've also introduced a DT 55-300 f4.5-5.6 lens which even incorporated some ED (Extra-low Dispersion) glass elements. That is used to eliminate CA so it should prove to be better than the DT 55-200 f4-5.6 lens. Notice though that is slightly slower at the shorter focal length being f4.5 as to f4 for the 55-200 lens.
Having looked again at the specs for the 2 lenses I see that both lenses have ED glass incorporated in them and both are SAM (Smooth Autofocus Motor). Well you could have fooled me, or maybe the focusing speed and CA problems have something to do with the Nex-7 body. I know that I have immense problems using rangefinder lenses on the Nex-7 and I've practically given up on using them on that body. The Nex-5N doesn't have this problem and that is what I use those bodies for now.
If anybody has any experience with the 55-300 lens, I'd appreciate some feedback on it.
1462
NEX-7
Focal Length: 200 mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/320 sec
ISO: 320
Sony Nex-7 - LEA2 Adapter - Sony DT 55-200 f4-5.6
There is a term that many older people use "You get what you pay for", and in this case it's true especially when using this lens with the Nex-7. There is a lot of purple fringing or axial chromatic aberration. This happens when the colours don't meet up in the same plane. This isn't something that happens with cheap lenses, the more known brands have this too. Nowadays this isn't something to worry about because it is easily removed in LR, you just have to be on the lookout for it in your images. However I had to remove the CA from a lot of the images on this outing because the weather wasn't all that good, the sky being rather grey so that a lot of edges had a light background. This is when CA might be visible especially when photographing leaves etc against a lighter sky.
It's not the sharpest lens I have but they do sharpen up nicely in post processing and even with these low res images you can see what I mean. There isn't a lot of sharpening done but you have apply some to all images. Focusing on the Nex-7 was quite quick, but then the Nex-7 isn't the fastest focusing camera on the planet. You can't compare it to the Olympus OM-D of Panasonic G5 for instance but it's fast enough for me with my subjects. It isn't the quietest lens when focusing either, not having a micro motor inside but you don't notice the noise after a while. You just get used to it like everything else. Well I did anyway. There is not a lot of hunting going on and it locked focus at the first attempt with 99% of my shots.
I tend to see my world through a zoom lens, which is why I have a lot of problems using wide angle lenses so most of the images I took were at the longer end of the zoom. I did however try to get some at the shorter end because I wanted to test all focal lengths of the lens. I do like prime lenses, they do in my mind, have better image quality (especially when it comes to low priced zoom lenses) but I just hate changing lenses. If I'm going out with primes I have at least 2 cameras with me, one with a relatively short focal length and one with a 100 or 135 lens attached.
1127
NEX-7
Focal Length: 105 mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/320 sec
ISO: 100
Sony Nex-7 - LEA2 Adapter - Sony DT 55-200 f4-5.6
This was a master stroke by Sony. Whoever came up with this idea of bringing out an adapter for their A lenses deserves a medal. They work quite well and with Phase Detect Focusing incorporated. I didn't want to spend too much money on purchasing the more expensive lenses but I did want to try this configuration with the LEA2 adapter. In the end I decided to buy a zoom and two prime lenses, namely the DT 55-200 f4-5.6 , the 85 f2.8 and the DT 35 f1.8 lenses. I haven't had much opportunity to try out the 2 prime lenses but I had a spin with the zoom mounted on the Nex-7 the other week. I took the combination around Frankfurt with me and just photographed what took my fancy. The idea was to test it with as many different subjects as possible. 1319
NEX-7
Focal Length: 120 mm
Aperture: f/5.6
Exposure Time: 1/200 sec
ISO: 100
Nex-5N + LEA2 Adapter with Sony Alpha 85 f2.8 Lens
This combination works very well. I've tried the Alpha 85 f2.8 and the 35 f1.8 Alpha lenses so far (because they are cheap, small and image quality is good). Both are pretty snappy to focus and the image quality is quite good. I thought the adapter was much larger than it really is and adds nearly nothing in weight when carrying it when out on a shooting session. It also adds phase detect focusing which is very nice to have. This is the first image I've posted using this equipment and I'm hoping to test and post some more images using these two lenses. 2831
NEX-5N
Focal Length: 85 mm
Aperture: f/22.0
Exposure Time: 2/1 sec
ISO: 100
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