Jill Morgan Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Got a chance to get a deal on this camera. Anyone have any experience with one? Jill Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Linda Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 Never had one.It came out in 2009 though.Old tech so I don't know if you'd like an older sensor's offerings compared to something newer you might already have. Try Amazon for review? Look on Flickr? L Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I don't have any experience with the Sony a380, but it is quite an old (by today's standards) camera. I would tend to want to go with a newer SLT model such as the 20MP a58, which can be quite inexpensive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jill Morgan Posted February 26, 2015 Author Share Posted February 26, 2015 I decided against it. A bit old tech so figured better to wait till the right camera comes along. Thinking of maybe an NEX. JILL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 I decided against it. A bit old tech so figured better to wait till the right camera comes along. Thinking of maybe an NEX. JILL I really like the 16 MP NEX-6. You might find a good deal on one now that the a6000 has more or less replaced it. The high-res EVF is excellent. I've used the NEX-6 for almost all my photography during the past year and don't have plans to "upgrade" any time soon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted February 26, 2015 Share Posted February 26, 2015 My NEX 6 has been very good, touch wood, no reliability problems and the paint is wearing off around the edges. I use it in preference to my Canon 5DII most of the time, as it is so much lighter, while the greater depth of field is a bonus for a lot of stock shooting However the standard lens is not the best, and it is difficult and/or very expensive to source good quality modern auto focus lenses that will work with the camera. I therefore use a mix of old manual focus lenses that I happen to have in my possession, and a Sigma 19mm f2.8 bought new. The Sigma is optically OK without being stellar, while the quality of build is poor, the number of times that the hood has fallen off has been enough to drive me to distraction! It still works though. If I take posed people photos I prefer to use the Canon, with its reliable autofocus and a very good standard zoom lens. Most stock objects are happy to stay still while I mess around focusing, but groups of people are not so understanding! You should also be aware that a new NEX (a7000) is rumoured to be around the corner, although that rumour is failing to make it to fruition. A counter rumour is that Sony is putting all of its eggs into the mirrorless full frame basket and maybe abandoning the smaller format as far as pro users are concerned. A consequence of the latter course would be a dearth of new 3rd party lenses for the NEX range. Think carefully before you jump. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 My NEX 6 has been very good, touch wood, no reliability problems and the paint is wearing off around the edges. I use it in preference to my Canon 5DII most of the time, as it is so much lighter, while the greater depth of field is a bonus for a lot of stock shooting After a good few months of use, my conclusion is that the NEX6 (with 16-50) is not as good as the 5D2. Whereas I can pretty much guarantee that any pic I take with the 5D2 in decent light will pass QC, far too many from the NEX fall short of what I consider the safe borderline. I love it for the fact that it slips in a pocket which means I can still get pics when it's not practical or desirable to carry a heavy bag, but I frequently get a sense of great disappointment when I find that only about 30% of the images are usable for Alamy. It doesn't appear to be camera shake (and if I was prone to that it would affect the 5D2 as well) so my comclusion is that since some pics are perfectly sharp it's not the fault of the lens either and is therefore probably indifferent auto-focus. Adding my experience with the X-T1 last year into the mix, there is no way on earth I would replace my 5D2 with any Fuji or Sony system at the moment. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 My NEX 6 has been very good, touch wood, no reliability problems and the paint is wearing off around the edges. I use it in preference to my Canon 5DII most of the time, as it is so much lighter, while the greater depth of field is a bonus for a lot of stock shooting After a good few months of use, my conclusion is that the NEX6 (with 16-50) is not as good as the 5D2. Whereas I can pretty much guarantee that any pic I take with the 5D2 in decent light will pass QC, far too many from the NEX fall short of what I consider the safe borderline. I love it for the fact that it slips in a pocket which means I can still get pics when it's not practical or desirable to carry a heavy bag, but I frequently get a sense of great disappointment when I find that only about 30% of the images are usable for Alamy. It doesn't appear to be camera shake (and if I was prone to that it would affect the 5D2 as well) so my comclusion is that since some pics are perfectly sharp it's not the fault of the lens either and is therefore probably indifferent auto-focus. Adding my experience with the X-T1 last year into the mix, there is no way on earth I would replace my 5D2 with any Fuji or Sony system at the moment. Alan Occasional back-focusing seems to be main problem with the NEX-6. I find that using "flexible spot" or manual AF can really help in tricky situations and increase the number of keepers. Perhaps the contrast-detection component of the hybrid AF system is partially to blame. I also have the original NEX-3, which only has contrast-detect AF (not the hybrid system), and it too is prone to back-focusing. As you say, I don't think it's the Sony lenses. They can produce perfectly sharp pictures, and their built-in image stabilization works very well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I've not had too much trouble producing Alamy presentable images with the NEX 6, most of my shots are manually focused using aged lenses and most are pin sharp. Even the standard lens using auto focus produces acceptable images, they tend to result in smaller JPG files than the old primes, and lack a bit of sparkle, but I've never had a NEX 6 image fail QC ( tempting fate here!). The one real problem that I have had was with the 55-210 Sony zoom, which was producing images that were noticeably soft down one side, and that was fixed under warranty. However I don't have full confidence in that lens, to the extent that I have stopped using it (preferring instead an old pentax 75-150 mm f4). It is asking a lot to be able to hand hold a 210 mm lens on a crop factor camera, equivalent to over 300 mm on full frame, Maybe I am expecting too much. Of course any errors in focus will be more acute using a telephoto and I really need to conduct some more tests using a tripod and comparing manual to auto focus. Overall I use the NEX 6 for the great majority of my stock work, and the 5DII is reserved for close up people pics (normally friends and family), where rapid and accurate auto focus is highly desirable. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 I've not had too much trouble producing Alamy presentable images with the NEX 6, most of my shots are manually focused using aged lenses and most are pin sharp. Even the standard lens using auto focus produces acceptable images, they tend to result in smaller JPG files than the old primes, and lack a bit of sparkle, but I've never had a NEX 6 image fail QC ( tempting fate here!). The one real problem that I have had was with the 55-210 Sony zoom, which was producing images that were noticeably soft down one side, and that was fixed under warranty. However I don't have full confidence in that lens, to the extent that I have stopped using it (preferring instead an old pentax 75-150 mm f4). It is asking a lot to be able to hand hold a 210 mm lens on a crop factor camera, equivalent to over 300 mm on full frame, Maybe I am expecting too much. Of course any errors in focus will be more acute using a telephoto and I really need to conduct some more tests using a tripod and comparing manual to auto focus. Overall I use the NEX 6 for the great majority of my stock work, and the 5DII is reserved for close up people pics (normally friends and family), where rapid and accurate auto focus is highly desirable. I've discovered that with my copy of the Sony SEL 55-210, the image stabilization (ISS/OSS) only kicks in if I shoot in "continuous" drive mode, especially at longer focal lengths. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to clue into this. I now take a series of images with the 55-210, and the second or third one is usually sharp. Also, I normally use flexible AF or MF with this lens as back and missed focusing in general can be a real issue. Optically, it's a good lens, though, IMO. Tripod shots -- with IS turned off -- are always sharp if I get the focusing right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inchiquin Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 far too many from the NEX fall short of what I consider the safe borderline. Occasional back-focusing seems to be main problem with the NEX-6. Interesting. Several times I've noticed that the focus seems to be in the background rather than an object in the foreground that I thought I had focused on. Is there a cure for this? Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Mitchell Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 far too many from the NEX fall short of what I consider the safe borderline. Occasional back-focusing seems to be main problem with the NEX-6. Interesting. Several times I've noticed that the focus seems to be in the background rather than an object in the foreground that I thought I had focused on. Is there a cure for this? Alan Yup, that's it. I had a couple of QC failures before I cottoned onto this problem. As mentioned, when in doubt, I use "flexible spot" AF and focus on an object in the foreground (or on whatever subject I want to be the main point of focus). Not sure if this can be called a cure, but it usually does the trick. I find back-focusing to be a concern mainly when using "multi" point AF. The camera can develop a mind of its own in this mode, especially when all the focus points are activated and there are a number of high-contrast areas in the frame. I have a feeling that the phase-detection pixels only kick in with moving subjects. However, I'm not sure about that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryan Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 ] I've discovered that with my copy of the Sony SEL 55-210, the image stabilization (ISS/OSS) only kicks in if I shoot in "continuous" drive mode, especially at longer focal lengths. Unfortunately, it took me a long time to clue into this. I now take a series of images with the 55-210, and the second or third one is usually sharp. Also, I normally use flexible AF or MF with this lens as back and missed focusing in general can be a real issue. Optically, it's a good lens, though, IMO. Tripod shots -- with IS turned off -- are always sharp if I get the focusing right. Interesting John, you shouldn't have to jump through hoops to make the thing work, but it's currently sitting on my desk out of use and I might try some of these tricks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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