Camera and lens things
Jan. 17th, 2015 12:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
bunnI've been tootling along randomly photographing things for the last 4 years with my old Sony Nex 3 camera with (mostly) my manual 28mm or 50mm Pentax K mount lenses. I do have a big zoom lens, and the kit lens that the camera came with as well, but I rarely use those - the big zoom lens, because it's just a bit too huge and heavy, and the kit lens because it just seems a bit meh somehow.
That said, I do kind of feel I've sort of done most of the obvious things with that camera now. So I am very excited, because after some experimentation,![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
philmophlegm has decided that the old Nex3 is the perfect camera for taking endless photographs of ancient roleplaying games for The Shop on the Borderlands, and has therefore ordered a new Sony A5000 camera for me!
It is absolutely TINY - 269 grams! but somehow has a full sized 20.1MP sensor crammed into it. So it should be that much easier to carry about (thus reducing the temptation to just take my phone, which doesn't do a bad job really, but can't handle low light or anything moving) It has the same E-Mount lens mount as my current camera, so I will be able to go on using my old Pentax lenses too (although I've got him to buy a spare ancient 28mm lens because that's the lens that experiment has proved he'll need for what he wants to do).
Filled with camera-related excitement, I began to surf new lenses on Ebay, and discovered that Science has moved on. It used to be that one would buy a basic metal ring to marry the ancient lens to the modern camera. This works OK, and is cheap and easy - but it does crop the edges of the image, and create an effect of being more 'zoomed in' than the same lens would appear if it were attached to a conventional SLR camera. For some things, this is an advantage - my 50mm lens is about right for running-dog snaps as it is, I think - but it's often not so great for landscapes where I do find that I often just can't get all of it in.
Now, there is this new thing called a Focal Length Reducer, which allows the lens to perform on a tiny camera exactly as it would on a full-size DSLR. AND it somehow magically manages to get more light through to the sensor too. I always want more light, for taking photos in the winter. I think I want one of these. I probably wouldn't use it all the time, because since it has glass in it, it will be heavier - but it would add a new dimension to my existing lenses.
I was thinking of buying a 24mm lens for wide angle photos, but there don't seem to be any standard Pentax 24mm K-mount lenses, so I'd have to buy a different adaptor ring if I did that anyway. So, maybe I should buy a focal reducer adaptor ring instead, then I could use my 28mm lens in wide angle mode with it. This Camdiox one looks good and is 62 quid on Ebay. Still, 62 quid is 62quid. Maybe I should wait and play with the new camera first.
That said, I do kind of feel I've sort of done most of the obvious things with that camera now. So I am very excited, because after some experimentation,
philmophlegm has decided that the old Nex3 is the perfect camera for taking endless photographs of ancient roleplaying games for The Shop on the Borderlands, and has therefore ordered a new Sony A5000 camera for me!It is absolutely TINY - 269 grams! but somehow has a full sized 20.1MP sensor crammed into it. So it should be that much easier to carry about (thus reducing the temptation to just take my phone, which doesn't do a bad job really, but can't handle low light or anything moving) It has the same E-Mount lens mount as my current camera, so I will be able to go on using my old Pentax lenses too (although I've got him to buy a spare ancient 28mm lens because that's the lens that experiment has proved he'll need for what he wants to do).
Filled with camera-related excitement, I began to surf new lenses on Ebay, and discovered that Science has moved on. It used to be that one would buy a basic metal ring to marry the ancient lens to the modern camera. This works OK, and is cheap and easy - but it does crop the edges of the image, and create an effect of being more 'zoomed in' than the same lens would appear if it were attached to a conventional SLR camera. For some things, this is an advantage - my 50mm lens is about right for running-dog snaps as it is, I think - but it's often not so great for landscapes where I do find that I often just can't get all of it in.
Now, there is this new thing called a Focal Length Reducer, which allows the lens to perform on a tiny camera exactly as it would on a full-size DSLR. AND it somehow magically manages to get more light through to the sensor too. I always want more light, for taking photos in the winter. I think I want one of these. I probably wouldn't use it all the time, because since it has glass in it, it will be heavier - but it would add a new dimension to my existing lenses.
I was thinking of buying a 24mm lens for wide angle photos, but there don't seem to be any standard Pentax 24mm K-mount lenses, so I'd have to buy a different adaptor ring if I did that anyway. So, maybe I should buy a focal reducer adaptor ring instead, then I could use my 28mm lens in wide angle mode with it. This Camdiox one looks good and is 62 quid on Ebay. Still, 62 quid is 62quid. Maybe I should wait and play with the new camera first.
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Date: 2015-01-17 09:03 am (UTC)With the Camdiox focal reducer (which I still kind of want, for the magical extra light thing) that would be very wide angle indeed. But on the other hand, is it not foolish to buy a lens for a camera that is still in the post??? What if I love the new kit lens??????
aaaaaaaaaa! Decisiveness, I have it not.