dee
Well-known
Biggin Hill Airfair retuned on Sunday.
In the past, I took the M8/Color Scopar and Helios for static shots, plus LeicaDigilux 3/L1 with a pair of Olympus zooms, but most crucially the tiny lightweight Rokkor 135mm f3.5 with 4/3rds adapter for a arial shots.
Instead I took the comparatively new Sony A35 and A290 with a pair of zooms and 35 f1.8.
Useless.
The SLT viewfinder was dark, the autofocus on a small aircraft almost impossible, and manual focus worse.
Switching to the DSLR, admittedly an entry level camera, it would not focus at all, shunting all over, and manual focus equally tricky as the ring is tiny and keeps slipping off.
i guess I was thrown 'cos metering was messed up too as I tried to keep detail in the clouds etc.
The Sonys are fine for most snapshots, and were gifted to me specifically to use my Minolta lenses, but not right for me this time.
Blaming the cameras?
Not really, it was inexperience with their capability in this scenario, and a reluctance to use familiar, but outdated equipment [ OK, I could not find that SRT-4/3rds adapter, which also swayed the outcome]
I was unused to using an autofocus longer zoom which I found bulky and awkward, more so than the Dig3/Olympus.
With the Rokkor, I found it easy to prefocus and forget about it and set a manual exposure based upon a similar foreground airplane.
I also loved the constant, relatively clear, if rangefinder-squinty 4/3rds finder!!
The ground shots were kind of OK, but there is a quality about the M8 which was lacking somewhat.
For me, the lack of pixels of the 7 mg Dig3/L1 is outweighed by the ease of familiarity, which I just had not recognised as essential.
it's not a big deal, but lesson learned methinks!!
In the past, I took the M8/Color Scopar and Helios for static shots, plus LeicaDigilux 3/L1 with a pair of Olympus zooms, but most crucially the tiny lightweight Rokkor 135mm f3.5 with 4/3rds adapter for a arial shots.
Instead I took the comparatively new Sony A35 and A290 with a pair of zooms and 35 f1.8.
Useless.
The SLT viewfinder was dark, the autofocus on a small aircraft almost impossible, and manual focus worse.
Switching to the DSLR, admittedly an entry level camera, it would not focus at all, shunting all over, and manual focus equally tricky as the ring is tiny and keeps slipping off.
i guess I was thrown 'cos metering was messed up too as I tried to keep detail in the clouds etc.
The Sonys are fine for most snapshots, and were gifted to me specifically to use my Minolta lenses, but not right for me this time.
Blaming the cameras?
Not really, it was inexperience with their capability in this scenario, and a reluctance to use familiar, but outdated equipment [ OK, I could not find that SRT-4/3rds adapter, which also swayed the outcome]
I was unused to using an autofocus longer zoom which I found bulky and awkward, more so than the Dig3/Olympus.
With the Rokkor, I found it easy to prefocus and forget about it and set a manual exposure based upon a similar foreground airplane.
I also loved the constant, relatively clear, if rangefinder-squinty 4/3rds finder!!
The ground shots were kind of OK, but there is a quality about the M8 which was lacking somewhat.
For me, the lack of pixels of the 7 mg Dig3/L1 is outweighed by the ease of familiarity, which I just had not recognised as essential.
it's not a big deal, but lesson learned methinks!!
