Sony a200 kit lens replacement

[kopite]

Hey all,

After some of the feedback I received on another forum regarding my last photo outing I`m thinking It might be time to upgrade the kit lens to something a bit better.

Budget is 200.

So far my bag contains a tamron 55-200 di2 lens a minolta 50mm 1.7 lens and the kit lens.

So what are the suggestions?

[kalniel]

What's the main problem with the existing kit lens? Sharpness/max. aperture/AF speed/etc? Got any sample shots showing the problem?

A simple upgrade would just be the more recent Sony 18-55 SAM kit lens, but it won't really buy you anything in terms of max aperture. Better AF and sharpness though.
"Sharpness is high for this class of lens, and impressively consistent across the frame at all settings (a big improvement over the 18-70mm). " - dpreview

[kopite]

Latest examples are here: http://forums.hexus.net/photography-...anoe-trip.html

Mostly sharpness is the problem I`m having.

[kalniel]

First photo in that thread looks mostly sharp to me (look at trees). However you've got horrendous jpeg compression artefacts going on in all those shots - which are nothing to do with the lens obviously. I'd look at your processing of images before blaming the glass.

edit: just followed the link to the full sized shot and same thing still applies - have compression artefacts. If you have to shoot jpeg then make sure your camera is outputting the highest quality it can and be careful in post process not to degrade the image further.

[kopite]

I`m shooting raw but using irfanview to convert to jpeg....

[kalniel]

Irfanview wouldn't be my first choice for photo quality resizing, let alone RAW conversion :/

Do Sony provide a RAW converter? Try that first. If not, then get Raw Therapee (free). If you need to resize from jpeg to jpeg then FastStone photo resizer is a better bet than irfanview (though I use the GIMP for it's editing facilities).

[stavroshamster]

Do you do any post-processing? It's amazing how much an unsharp mask or similar can achieve.
For example - this was taken on a Canon 75-300 F4-5.6 which is a low-end lens not renowned at all for it's sharpness:



A bit of PP (I use a high pass filter) and it's pretty sharp (although that's not to say I haven't got my eye on an upgrade ).

If you already do post processing and you're still not happy that's fair enough - but if not then maybe give it a go first?

I don't know anything about Sony lenses, but for £200 I wouldn't have thought you'd get a massively improved lens - although you might be able to pick up a bargain second hand. I could be wrong though - as I said I know nothing about Sony lenses.

[kopite]

I was using irfanview as it allowed batch conversion and seemed pretty quick. Guess that should have been a sign

I have access to photoshop and lightroom are they better bets for converting?


Also I havent done any PP on the pics as I havent got a clue where to start. Any books or websites that could give me pointers in relation to that?

[kalniel]

It's a fair point stavros, but he's got to get rid of the artefacts first - sharpening in PP will only make them worse. To be honest I don't think the photos need more USM as the good ones are already pretty high contrast.

And I'm guessing with your talk of 'high pass filter' you're talking programs that cost upwards of several hundred pounds?

edit: kopite, photoshop and lightroom?! *sigh* I don't get how people can spend so much on software but carry on with bad kit lenses

Adobe Camera Raw for photoshop is a good raw converter, or use Lightroom if you want batch. Both should do a great job.

[GoNz0]

Irfanview wouldn't be my first choice for photo quality resizing, let alone RAW conversion :/

Do Sony provide a RAW converter? Try that first. If not, then get Raw Therapee (free). If you need to resize from jpeg to jpeg then FastStone photo resizer is a better bet than irfanview (though I use the GIMP for it's editing facilities).

would photoshop be a good option ?

[kalniel]

would photoshop be a good option ?

With the adobe camera raw plugin, sure. I was assuming that if he was shooting with an a200 and the kit lens he couldn't afford photoshop, which has just made an ass out of me (I have a much more expensive system and collection of lenses, but have to make do with free alternatives at the moment )

So yeah, you'll have to ask someone else about expertise in them. I trialled the lightroom 3 beta and it was great. Then I saw the price and cried some more.

[kopite]

edit: kopite, photoshop and lightroom?! *sigh* I don't get how people can spend so much on software but carry on with bad kit lenses

Adobe Camera Raw for photoshop is a good raw converter, or use Lightroom if you want batch. Both should do a great job.

thats why I was looking at better lenses

To be fair I havent paid out for the software. Lightroom is the beta version of 3 which I`ve just checked has run out

So its likely that my pictures are ok and the problems are with my converting then?

[GoNz0]

i already have photoshop, until yesterday i had never tried to open a raw image with it as i was playing with the a450, you got me wondering if i needed something better

[stavroshamster]

It's a fair point stavros, but he's got to get rid of the artefacts first - sharpening in PP will only make them worse.

And I'm guessing with your talk of 'high pass filter' you're talking programs that cost upwards of several hundred pounds?

Yeah - no point sharpening JPEG artifacts - I do all my sharpening in Photoshop on TIFF files after using Camera Raw to convert. But he has Photoshop - so he can do that too if he likes.

High Pass filter tutorial: http://www.photoshopessentials.com/p...pen-high-pass/

If you have Photoshop it's definitely worth learning a few tricks as it can improve your photo's greatly. There are some simple things you can do (that website is good as a starter) which can greatly improve your images (without going overboard).

[kalniel]

So its likely that my pictures are ok and the problems are with my converting then?

If you take a picture then smear vasoline all over it, I can only tell you that the vasoline doesn't help the picture - can't make a judgement on the photo until I've seen it without the vasoline

[kopite]

I boughtessential guide to landscape photography and there is an article in that about smearing vaseline on lenses to give an interesting effect. to me the effect looking like someone had screwed up when taking the pics


I still have all the raw`s I`ve taken with my camera so will try converting with photoshop