FloppyPoppy is learning Photography

FloppyPoppy has made a website I don't intend on taking on any paid work due to my lack of experience however if i can get into jobs for experience and portfolio work i will be extremely happy. Was talking to my uber driver today whos wedding has been cancelled three times due to covid. Told him if he wanted a free tertiary photographer for his wedding to get in touch and he seemed thrilled by that idea.

I suspect this is going to be like everything else where getting out there and getting experience is going to be the only way to progress.
 
So im currently up in arms about what lens to get

I have two in mind.

the Sigma 85mm F1.4 Art DG DN

Or to stick with the 50mm 1.8 for now and save a little more to get a Sony FE 70-200 F2.8 G master.

Uncle has offered to borrow me his Canon version of the 70-200 Gmaster so i will grab that next weekend to have a play for a few weeks so i can have hands on only issue being that due to the conversion from the cannon mount to e mount i lose things like autofocus and if the cannon lens doesn't have a manual aperture(like the canon 85mm prime) then it will be locked open at it's widest.

not a huge issue but will limit what i can really do with the lens. Hopefully though it will give me a bit of hands on to decide which one i would get more use out of and which i would rather carry around with me.

Will post some of the results here next weekend from the 70-200 :) hopefully i can find some nice subjects to shoot.
 
adrichardson81 said:
That's a tough call. The 70-200 covers 85mm, but there's a wealth of difference between f2.8, f1.8 and f1.4 at portrait distances.

Just to make your life harder, have you thought about the 55/1.8? It's by far my favourite lens.
Click to expand...

as i own a 50 1.8 i don’t think it would be a great idea to get a lens with such a close focal length.

the 50 1.8 is great though :)
 
Az7qJ5Ph.jpg

Well i have now got in my hands a loaner cannon 70-200 F4.

Was having a chat with him as i have been considering getting the F2.8 70-200 from He argues that you would never use the lens at 2.8 or even 4.0 as you lose too much sharpness. He tells me he mainly steps down to around F5.6. Would you guys agree with this?

I have been shooting mainly with aperture wide open with as low of an iso as possible but now im kind of conflicted.
 
sublime said:
The 70-200 2.8 GM is a great lens and I'd would choose that over the 85mm you're considering, looking at your subject matter and interests. It'll provide a lot more versatility.

The 2.8 comment is rubbish, you'll only see a slight vignette at all focal lengths and whilst this particular lens is slightly softer in the centre at 2.8 - it's not going to be a deal breaker. Best sharpness you'll get is 4-5.6 around 100-200mm. But unless you're looking to print anything in a huge format or pixel peep - I wouldn't worry about it. It's a very solid lens and worth the money.

(The lens also beats the Canon 70-200 2.8 for sharpness and low light performance)
Click to expand...


I have to say i am thoroughly enjoying the versatility of the 70-200 which is exactly what i expected to be quite frank.

I had a feeling that the F2.8 was the better option and think it is what i have mentally settled on. Of course i will have to save a little bit before i can invest into such a lens but for now i will continue to play around with the cannon F4. Can't wait to get my hands on the sony though! Might even pick up a 2x teleconverter.
 
few pictures here from the long weekend trips to dovestones reservoir and hope valley.

f0B7Z4mh.jpg
jGTe27Hh.jpg
g0v4qi2h.jpg
MGZccPmh.jpg


This guy was great gave us a lovely show of how he bathes every morning. Was great to watch and quite funny at times. didn't know they yeeted water on their backs via their heads.
wMS3ypQh.jpg

out of the probably 20 or so geese there.. there simply had to be two ****heads who came and bullied the other geese.. and then us.
svN7USgh.jpg

g216fmBh.jpg
 
Space Monkey said:
Lovely photos mate :cool: still with the Sony A7ii? I'm looking at getting a camera and this looks like it takes great photos, any idea how good/bad the video is?

Have they had any post processing at all? If so what program are you using?
Click to expand...

i haven’t taken a lot of videos but i will upload a sample though i know from the ones i have that a lens with optical image stabilisation is a must if not a gimbal as it’s very shaky whilst walking.

some of the images are processed in light room mainly just cropping, adjusting the exposure and saturation.

it does take absolutely wonderful images i’m more than happy with it and i’m absolutely sure i’m still limiting the camera by my own limits of current knowledge.

it is the a7ii still yes :). where about a are you based? if we are local to one another i would be more than happy to meet and let you have a play around with it to get hands on to see if you like it.
 
Space Monkey said:
Thanks for the feedback, especially the OIS needed and looking forward to the seeing the video :)

Your profile says King of the North and I'm at the furthest South :p but thanks for the kind offer :)
Click to expand...


Just noticed i have actually wiped my videos like an absolute tool as they were shaky though i know the camera does have an in camera image stabilisation so im not sure if i had that turned off?

here is a video i found for you :)

 
Space Monkey said:
Thought I'd replied to this? :confused:

Video looks great, found an open box one for just over £650 body only, good deal?

What type of lenses do I need to look for on this camera as it's a full frame?
Click to expand...

i paid £1000 for mine new without a kit lens.

So you want to look for Sony - E mount lenses those will fit natively to the camera body.

There are some great budget brands of lenses that make native E mount lenses too. Tamron and Sigma

Are you new to photography like i was?

If so there are a couple of majorly important numbers when it comes to lenses.

#1 is the Aperture(F number). You will see lots of different numbers but the important one usually is the maximum (lowest number) aperture. So for example when you are looking at the lenses if one says it is an F1.8 and another F4.0 the F1.8 generally will provide more flexibility, sharpness and a more beautiful background bokeh because it means the lens can let more light into the cameras sensor. Below is an example of what i mean.

ffONqHl.jpg

The other number that is important with your lens choice is the Focal length this is basically how "zoomed" the lens is.

so a really low focal length such as 16mm would be a super ultra wide view of everything around you. 50mm is much less wide but it's not so wide that you don't get a lot of environment. Most of my images you see were shot on the Sony 1.8 50mm.
i think 85mm is a much revered focal length for portraiture and anything between 200-400 is lovely for getting a nicer zoom onto your subjects. I personally after playing around a lot with the camera and falling in love with photography have decided on getting a Sony 70-200mm F2.8 Gmaster lens because it has a relatively good aperture at F2.8 and the 70mm-200mm zoom gives me so much flexibility to take all sorts of different shots without changing the lens.

below is an example of different focal lengths.

KlHXHQO.jpg

if you don't want to break the bank with lenses then you should get yourself an M42 - sony E mount adaptor and get some old vintage lenses from the likes of zeiss. Some of them still produce absolutely lovely images and will get you started for much less money. Though you would eventually want to replace them for some quality of life improvements such as autofocus ect.

Also my apologies if you already knew all of the above. I just wish i was more informed when i purchased my camera regarding what the different lenses did.

EDIT :

I see you have extremely good trust so you are more than welcome to borrow my 50mm F1.8 if you would like to try it before choosing a lens. I would be happy to ship it the second my new lens arrives of course i would need to back after a few weeks.
 
Last edited:
so with the above lens you will need to sit at least 80cm away to get it to even focus, however at that distance it would be so zoomed into your face you would be able to count the pixels on each tash hair. You would want something considerably more wide for webcam use. However it would be no doubt an absolutely stunning lens for other purposes.

and that seems like an absolute bargain to me! i would buy it all over again for that price!
 
Space Monkey said:
So they do a budget 50mm full frame SEL50F18F, still too close for webcam use?
Click to expand...

not too sure how much view do you want of the background? to give you an idea if i hold out my 50mm at full arms length the photos barley fits my face into the full frame :D

Space Monkey said:
@FloppyPoppy

Didn't see your edit, that would be great mate, I can buy the body now and test your 50mm out, then I'll know exact which way to go on lenses, that's a mighty fine and generous offer mate, thank you :)
Click to expand...

no worries at all! to be fair i have a loaner cannon from my uncle that i can use in lieu of the 50mm so if you trust me over your address and i can get it popped into the post either tomorrow or friday
 
Space Monkey said:
The camera will be on a monopod at the back of the desk behind the monitor, so I'd say about 80/100cms away from me?

Just bought the camera: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/SONY-a7-...-/353354675997?_trksid=p2349624.m46890.l49286

Think that's the same model as yours?

I'll fire over my info now, and again, can't thank you enough mate, this will really help me out without having to buy lenses to get the one I need!
Click to expand...

it might be just about right at that distance you will have to have a play around with it as i don't have a desk with that much space.

It is the same model yes! You won't regret the purchase im confident of that!

No worries at all i have already boxed it up and also thrown in something called an ND filter for you to try ( you screw it to the front of the lens and it gives you one more method of controlling how much light comes into the image ) these are really nice when you are outside because it means you can use a lower F stop such as F1.8 without having the image over exposed. They can be had for nice and cheap mind you :)

im not sure how well the camera works as a webcam however there are two ports on the side of it, one is a usb and one is a hdmi output so i would imagine you will need to get a hdmi cable to get full function from it as i think the image over usb will be really limited due to the bandwidth of usb.
 
Space Monkey said:
Cool, really can't wait to start having fun now :D

I'll be using it with the Elgato Camlink (buying from OCUK) even though it's not mentioned as compatible on their website I've read a few posts/comments that confirm it works perfectly.
Click to expand...

ah fantastic! let me know how you get on with it as i may use it later down the line as a webcam for facial recognition on star citizen (nerd)

it really is a blast to shoot with and it's forced me to do extra exercise than i otherwise would have to get to locations with nice views haha
 
Space Monkey said:
That's just obscene :p

You buy it?
Click to expand...

Yes i bought it after trying my uncles 70-200 canon F4.0

This is an upgrade from that as it's F2.8 and because it's a native sony lens and not adapted to the E mount i have a lot more functionality with focusing/stability/aperture control ect plus this has much sharper images over all compared to the cannon lens. Managed to get a good deal on it at £1600 new and i can get £100 from sony as cashback. Once you register your camera to their website they do cashback on your first three lenses
 
you register here once you have done that they will email you three codes that you use on this page to claim the cashback. It's not for ALL lenses like my 50mm isn't in the promotion but you should be able to see the list of lenses on the drop down to see if the ones you are interested in the offer ( i only realised now that it's not for all lenses sorry, i was going to claim on the 50mm but it's not in the list.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom