That's a really interesting classical rendering. I don't know how much of that is lens and how much is post, but it works, particularly with this shot. Interesting!
philber wrote:
...one of our fellow FMers claims he can shoot down to 1/5 over FL, whereas I can't go below 1/3. But, for me, that is only if I cradle the cam in my hands and shooot from the waist. If I try to handhold it at face level, it is much less effective, stability-wise.
Yah, that is best case and shot from the waist...and with a shorter fl. I doubt I could hand hold the 45 that slow.. I'll try! It helps I think that I'm tall, so shooting below my sternum is not that low for me.
Thanks h00ligan. Below is the link of the BW conversion that I use for this photo. Then I played a bit with Tony Kuyper's Luminosity Mask Lights Triple Play action.
Luminosity masks are key for good B&W conversions. I learned about them from Tony Kuyper also, then made an action to create 9 different masks and adjustment layers. Lightroom has made me lazy though, I have to force myself to go to PS to make conversions.
I need to spend some on Tony's site again to brush up on how he uses the masks to make his color photos really pop.
partitura wrote:
Yeah, you can see on the one below that I missed it (to the back side) by about a half inch or so. My adapter binds, so I get in the area, then it will stick, then go too far, etc, etc... Frustrating. Maybe I should try a couple of the no-name ones in the hope I get a smoother one. I'll try the focus bracketing! Thanks for the tip.
>Tripods are boring, dont use them.
ha, - I think they are boring, too. But they may be necessary... for me at least.
Perhaps a slight back focus but the image is nice as is :-)
Here are two tries to nail focus. I needed to turn to S-mode and set 1/100sec and it still took several shots. With a magnified screen it shakes severely at 90mm - but still of course no tripod comes near to MY camera . DOF is down to just over 10 mm according to the book. Apologize for lack artistic values, this was to test the Contax G 90 at MFD F/2.8.
Do you all use av when you just want to focus and then use ec to tune? That doesn't seem to work well for me. I've been shooting in sp mode and in some cases setting ISo.
It seems some shoot in av mode, I just don't see how that works...can someone explain?
I (almost) always shoot A, except for examples like the above. The camera will decrease timing down to 1/60, then auto ISO kicks in (leaving 100) - but you'll know when that starts to happen. In darker conditions I (normally) keep on at A and set a fix ISO which I recon will be "enough" -and then manipulate the otherwise excellent NEX light metering with exposure compensation (always on "down arrow - not programmable).
In truly dark conditions, auto-ISO on the NEX stops at ISO3200 (fine by me) and then starts to decrease time below 1/60.
If I was using tripods, I would rethink this scheme as I could do with longer shutter speeds. Otherwise these combined limits works well for me.
h00ligan wrote:
Do you all use av when you just want to focus and then use ec to tune? That doesn't seem to work well for me. I've been shooting in sp mode and in some cases setting ISo.
It seems some shoot in av mode, I just don't see how that works...can someone explain?
i shoot in aperture priority in bright light with at base iso and usually +.7 ev, though i compensate differently for different scenes (backlit etc). in lower light i shoot in shutter priority and auto iso with the shutter set to the minimum speed i can easily handhold (or stop motion for moving subjects). as in A mode i change exposure by changing ev compensation, but it usually stays at +.3-.7.
Jacob D wrote:
For you guys who shoot in AV (or other auto modes) what metering do you use, and what exposure compensation?
I've been shooting in M using the spot meter and histogram.
i use matrix, or whatever it's called. it is very consistant in how it works, so i know what types of scenes i need to adjust and how much. if it is a difficult scene i look at the histogram. my standard compensation is +.3 to +.7 unless i'm shooting in bright sunlight, but this is on the original NEX-3, the 5N may meter differently.
Jacob D wrote:
For you guys who shoot in AV (or other auto modes) what metering do you use, and what exposure compensation?
I've been shooting in M using the spot meter and histogram.
Well, in Av the histogram will automatically be adjusted according to the light metering method you choose. If unhappy, I'd go to exposure comp and fix it, but I wont decide that by the histogram, rather by the overexposure warning in the autodisplay right after the shot.
For me the evaluative metering works very well. I have skies in many of my shots, otherwise I would probably do like sebboh, doing a regular ETTR, but I'm too fond of my skies I think ... :-)
And if there is ONE area where the NEX 5N sensor excels over a 5DMkII, it's the abilities to lift shadows without any degrading effects.
If you're shooting manual lenses, you should give S mode a try with auto ISO. When I'm not shooting in M mode, I use S, which is pretty nifty. You can set the aperture on the lens, the shutter with the camera dial, and the camera picks the ISO for you, so it's essentially like having auto ISO in manual mode.
douglasf13 wrote:
If you're shooting manual lenses, you should give S mode a try with auto ISO. When I'm not shooting in M mode, I use S, which is pretty nifty. You can set the aperture on the lens, the shutter with the camera dial, and the camera picks the ISO for you, so it's essentially like having auto ISO in manual mode.
sebboh wrote:
i use matrix, or whatever it's called. it is very consistant in how it works, so i know what types of scenes i need to adjust and how much. if it is a difficult scene i look at the histogram. my standard compensation is +.3 to +.7 unless i'm shooting in bright sunlight, but this is on the original NEX-3, the 5N may meter differently.
douglasf13 wrote:
If you're shooting manual lenses, you should give S mode a try with auto ISO. When I'm not shooting in M mode, I use S, which is pretty nifty. You can set the aperture on the lens, the shutter with the camera dial, and the camera picks the ISO for you, so it's essentially like having auto ISO in manual mode.
Thanks guys. I need to do some experimentation with the metering modes and using S or A modes, or P mode with fixed ISO.
Yeah, since the camera picks the minimum shutter speed for you with A mode and auto ISO, S mode is a great work around, and the NEX is really the first camera I've spent much time shooting in S mode. I'm usually an M or A mode shooter.
p.s. In M mode, I prefer spot metering, because I can meter single elements in the frame, and the live histogram gives feedback. In A or S mode, I use both center weighted and multi-segment. I haven't quite decided which I prefer.
. DOF is down to just over 10 mm according to the book. Apologize for lack artistic values, this was to test the Contax G 90 at MFD F/2.8. 
