New Camera
I think having my camera die on my three days into my holiday was a blessing in disguise. I’d had a Fuji S1000, which I was never really happy with, and faced with an exposure meter fault that would cost more to repair than the camera was worth, I decided it was time to upgrade to the DLSR I should have bought a year ago.
None of this shopping around, poring over “Whatever SLR” and comparing rival cameras with similar specs; just a matter of what Jessops in Torquay had in stock that was within my budget.
I ended up with a Sony α200 with an 18-70 zoom lens, plus a 75-300 telephoto zoom, and after two weeks I can say I’m very happy with it so far. It did take a few failed photos to get used to the fact that it didn’t have the shutter delay which was a ‘feature’ of the bridge camera I had before. What you see in the viewfinder when you press the shutter is pretty much what you get in the picture; the autofocus is extremely fast.
So here’s some examples of what I took with it
The down platform at Lostwithiel in Cornwall is a classic shot for early to mid morning. Loco-hauled passenger trains are long-gone, but I find Voyagers are quite photogenic.
An EWS 66 moves sllowly across the crossing at Lostwithiel on a china clay train.
Testing what the 300mm telephoto can do. The train was something like half a mile away.
And of course it’s got to be able to handle indoor concert photography, which is one of the most challenging types of photography there is. This one of of Heather Findlay of Mostly Autumn at The Wharf in Tavistock. I took it at 3200 ASA handheld at something like 1/60th.
One from DEMU showcase on Saturday; another high ASA slow shutter speed handheld shot; I think I went down to 1/15th sec on this.
This camera is also a joy to use; all the buttons are clearly labelled and the menus are intuitive so that you don’t keep needing to refer to the manual to find out what something does, or how to something. After a year in which I took very few photographs, this camera has got me excited about photography again.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Pretty nice. I wish my camera could do concert pics — it’s just a point and shoot though.
June 9th, 2009 at 6:28 pm
I managed to get some decent concert pics with my old Fuju S5000, which a point-and-shoot compared with what I’ve got now, and only went up to 800 ASA. All you really need is something you can set to a decent ASA.
June 14th, 2009 at 12:15 pm
You had sunshine in Lostwithiel! I’m impressed, lovely photos too
June 14th, 2009 at 12:20 pm
Yes, I managed to pick the one day in Lostwithiel when the sun came out. Lovely town, although I wonder how on earth all the restaurants in the place manage to stay in business. Even the pubs have all turned into ‘gastro-pubs’.
Just had some 10×8 prints made, including a couple of the images above - they’ve come out well.