Camera Labs

hello all, first post

After toying with the idea of going with a Nikon or a Canon, after much research i decided the A55 would be the best choice for me, as it seems to be the best bang for the buck and all around great camera. I am sort of die hard sony fan anyway, although this is my first DSLR (or SLT whatever lol). My previous camera was / is a Sony Cybershot DSC F707 5 megapixel, that when i bought was a state of the art $1000 camera, and that now you can probably get on ebay for $150 lol, however that camera took amazing pictures for me in the past decade and im really excited to make the step up. I'll be moving to NYC in june and look to make the city my subject, so in the meantime if anyone has any threads to point me to to get aquainted with DSLR photography that would be great, also i was looking online for some complementary reading to the manual, i see there are many books for different (older) Alpha series but none that i could find for the A55, i did find a complete guide to the a380 that got good reviews, how close to an a55 would the feature set be or shoudl i not bother with it?
Any recommendations would be appreciated...

Anyway, looking forward to lots of reading on this forum, merry xmas !

Feeling guilty for not mentioning owning a 10mpx cybershot as well until last summer, when i found out that if you fall off a boat while taking a picture the camera goes bye bye!

Rip

Hello weblogik and welcome to the friendly Camera Labs forum!
To enjoy your stay here please have a look at the house-rules!
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Sorry to hear you lost a camera while taking a dive. Hope your new A55 makes you happy.
My only advice is to shoot a lot in fully automatic mode first, to understand thoroughly, what your camera can do for you. Only after having seen which images don't cut it in Auto-mode can you understand, what "help" your camera needs to get it right.
After shooting a lot of images with my equipment I'm still using Aperture Priority automatic (as the aperture determines what dof you get) and only correct for extremely dark scenes (-1EV exposure compensation for e.g. night-shots) or extremely bright scenes (+1 EV exp.comp. for e.g. snow). And I shoot with Auto-Focus all the time.
Other than that I can only recommend shooting RAW (+jpg) as you can correct things like white-balance (and exposure) much better in RAW than in jpg.
Ah, and don't get too sloppy because you have image stabilization: Even the best systems are of limited value if you don't hold the camera steady.

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thanks, good tips!

So my camera arrived... is it common for these things not to come with memory sticks? Kinda disappointed to have to go spend more money on one right away!

Also first thing i see i will need is zoom lens as i m pretty spoiled with my old school cyber shot... Whats a decent sony lens or compatible that wont break the bank?

Can someone post how much video / pics fits on sony memory stick (per gig?)

Hi weblogik,

Don't expect a memory card unless it was listed on the "box contents" part of the vendor's or manufaacturer's web page.

As for how much memory you need, if you check out the "Recording" section of the A55's specifications page it tells you the image file sizes and video recording rates so you can use that information, together with your own estimate of the number and quality of the shots and/or amount of video you want to record to work out what size you need.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

@weblogik

Don’t feel bad, my A700 didn’t come with a card either.
The nice thing is that Boxing day sales are still on so you can pick one up for ½ price.
I would recommend a Sal 18 – 250 lens, great IQ and versatile reach.

Welcome, and congrats on the camera...it should be lots of fun. As a fellow Floridian (Boca Raton), and one who previously had gotten into digital photography with an F717, I know where you're coming from! My current is a DSLR-A550 - I've had the opportunity to play with an A55 that a friend got while up at Disney last week - it's a very capable camera with lots of nice features and should let you do what you did with the 707, and so much more.

I agree on the 18-250 as a great all-around lens - it's essentially a 14x zoom, that covers from wide to long telephoto, and does a pretty decent job throughout the range. I've got the Sony version of the lens ever since I bought it with my A300 3 years ago, and it's been a workhorse lens. Don't be afraid to shop for a used one - lenses can still be just as good even 20 years later, and no electronics to worry about...as long as they've been taken care of or refurbed, you can pick up some 20+ year old Minolta AF lenses, stick them on your A55, and fire away with great results. A few really good, reliable resellers of used gear would be my recommendation - KEH is a favorite of mine and many, as they are extremely reliable, conservative on their ratings for lenses, and have buyer guarantees. I noticed as of today they've got a Sony 18-250 for about $450 used in excellent condition - it's normally an $800 lens, so that's a deal. And you can also go for the Tamron 18-250 version - it's nearly identical as Tamron makes the Sony version of the lens too - Tamron's version has slightly slower gearing in the focus, but optically is an equal - and they go for a lot less money - KEH has a few for under $200.

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Justin Miller
Sony DSLR-A580 / Sony 18-250mm / Minolta 50mm F1.7 / Sigma 30mm F1.4 / Tamron 10-24mm / Tamron 200-500mm / Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro / Minolta 300mm F4 APO
Sony NEX5N / 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 / 55-210mm F4-6.3 / Pentax K adapter / Konica K/AR adapter / bunches o' Konica & Pentax lenses!

Galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

Wow thanks very informative
i'm a very experienced graphic designer but this is my first experience with dslr photography, never had a camera I could switch lenses on... I'm not even going to pretend i know anything about them, I think the wise thing for me to do would be to try to not break the bank on lenses for now and try to get a couple of acceptable low priced ones, and once i get really familiar make the jump to a pricier/better one, so i will appreciate the difference as well... I will check out those Tamrons for sure!
Thank you