On the left is the Alpha 200 body that stopped working for no good reason, while setting in my climate-controlled and dust-free studio. Everything else except the silver Sony NEX 3 camera body and the adapter is accessories originally obtained fior use with the A 200. With the help of the Sony Alpha Mount to E-Mount adapter will work on the NEX bodies. Although not shown here, the NEX 3 also has a detachable flash which works with metering TTL (Through The Lens) with the lens adapter. Manual focus is necessary but all the other electronics work with this adapter. Since I also have several other Minolta lenses, it makes sense for me to spring for one of two available adapters. The newer adapter has a motor on board, so it will auto focus with any of the lenses. It is about twice as expensive on the street, because it is much newer and highly desirable by most people who want auto-focus. I found all the components I need on Ebay and I am bidding on one of the new adapters. I have never paid retail for anything, and it simply is not necessary unless you are in a big hurry.
So I have two bodies and an the broken Alpha body. I'll have two adapters--one manual and one auto-focus. I have a good bunch of lenses plus some duplicates and the other accessories you see pictured. Once I get the other adapter, I will decide what goes with what. I will sell the broken Sony for parts and get as much a a hundred-fifty bucks for it with my chargers and batteries and what-not. I may then sell one of the bodies and the manual adapter and a lens or two for fair-market which is about six or seven bills. This amount will more than offset my expense for the new body and the adapter. since I am now only semi-pro status, I will use my point and shoot(s) for back-up. I would keep both NEX3 bodies and both adapters, but given a few more trials, I will probably opt to get a much newer, barely used NEX 7 body and another full-auto lens adapter. Or something better may strike my fancy by then. It changes so fast now.
Dragon flies are not out at this time of year, so here is something about the same size. I took this from about eight feet, using one of the two new Sony NEX3 bodies, the Alpha to E-Mount Lens adapter LEA A1 on one of my Sony Macro zoom lenses I originally acquired for use with the now-defunked Sony Alpha 200. This was taken from about eight feet away. I am limited to manual focus with THIS adapter, but the NEX3 offers a Manual focus-assist feature which blows the image up so that you can easily see details making the manual focus easy. Manual focus is second nature to me, so even half blind, it is not very hard, especially with this MF assist feature. However, I have been using the little Sony AF and what I am missing is the ability to focus with one hand. With manual focus, I have to use one hand to hold the camera and the other to turn the focus ring. Auto-focus I have found useful when I am taking pictures of a vintage reel that I am holding in one hand as shown. I do this kind of thing a lot while making pictures for blog illustration, which is what the rod and reel photograph is for. The remainder of the pictures are more macros taken with either the dragonflies in mind or the reels. I am happy with what I am getting, but I think I will go ahead and get the fully auto lens adapter. I am also thinking of my wife and one of my grown daughters who often wind up assisting me when I do a few of my ongoing Celebrity music annual events that I am obligated to cover in Memphis and Nashville. They may not even be aware there is such a thing as manual focus and will likely not be comfortable with it.
Digital camera choices are almost infinite. It can be hard to separate the interesting from the useful. You can also spend a bundle of cash without gaining much advantage if you are not judicious in your acquisitions. Long ago, I made a rule governing my photography equipment acquisitions. I was a working professional photographer when I made this decision. Although you may or may not be a professional, you likely do have spending constraints. My rule was simply, never purchase anything that could not be easily justified by a monetary return on investment. In other words, all acquisitions had to net me some tangible benefit in terms of helping me make money. It is with this strategy in mind that I make a case for my newly acquired equipment in hopes that others may understand and benefit from my frugal thinking.
This strategy is also tempered by a dozen or so years of digital realities that I had previously missed. The first is that digital products are not nearly as reliable as are mechanical analog products. The second is that anything you buy will be obsolete in a matter of months. So the lessons are, buy features that you need to do what you want to do now. Buy cheap, for the short-term. With conditions being what they are, you can always buy very state-of-the art equipment on the secondhand market. Take good advantage of Pay-Pal and Credit Card protections when acquiring used equipment and buy from recognized and established sources when possible, through Ebay, or Amazon, or similar participating sellers who are held to some degree of accountability. . Read all the fine print about returns.
For example, I am semi-retired as a photographer. My work is driven more as a passive pursuit to other more relationally-oriented activities. I don't take photographs that I have no desire to. And yet every photograph that I take is driven by some previously instilled instinct for making money. I enjoy fishing and a thousand other activities that I mostly put on hold while I was required to earn a living continually during my prime earning years. I live on a rural property where I have a few small fishing lakes nearby.
During the regular pursuit of maintaining and enjoying my little faux farm, I necessarily and voluntarily do a lot of different things. Yes, I do fish, but even this is part of a greater compound pursuit. I am systematically acquiring old spin-cast fishing reels. There is a lack of resource material available regarding these vintage fishing reels. So I am identifying them as to their time and place and brand of origin. I use them, photograph them inside and out, and I review them as to relative quality and usability as they are measured against other old and new fishing reels. Quite a few people collect old fishing reels, so this becomes a sought-after resource for at least enough people to sustain a readership of my blog about them. The golden Age of Spin-casting Reels . . . . is one result of this pursuit.
This leads me to use one or more fishing reels at a time while fishing my ponds and other places regularly. Of course I photograph these activities both with a documentary style for the blog and for the eventual book, but I also take other purposeful and meaningful and artistic photographs as they are presented. Dragonflies seem to have a special fascination for investigating and landing upon the end of fishing rods. Some people also seem to have a special fascination for dragonflies. So I take a host of macro photographs of dragonflies at bank-side, often on the end of my fishing poles for specific and for stock purposes.
I like dragonflies. They are amazing and beautiful little creatures. Photographing them close-up or in mid-air at high resolution presents specific challenges. So for this one specialty photograph I have special needs in a digital camera. I am also often taking sequential how to photographs of various hobby or farm-type things that I am involved in. Sometimes I do small video clips of these activities. I am doing them anyway and they are often unique and interesting, so I often document these efforts with both sequential stills and with video. Lighting conditions for these activities often varies widely. I am also outside after dark quite a bit. These conditions and needs dictate that I need a lot of capability and versatility with cameras and and equipment outdoors and often extreme situations.
I am in boats a lot, mostly small boats, canoes, and kayaks, but sometimes larger motor-driven boats or small sailing vehicles. My wife and I enjoy cruises when health and circumstances permit. We have plans for more travel in general. My camera will always be a part of these activities, so I need equipment that travels well and that does not take up much space. Although I have always traveled a good bit, and I have always incorporated a photographic angle to my travels, never have I done so so coincidentally. I don't want to be dragging around a pile of photographic equipment. Therefore size, probably for the first time in my life, has become a factor. I have always preferred larger and heavier cameras for a lot of reasons. This is no longer the case--except in given rare circumstances. Compact is the rule for my needs now.
The electronic viewfinder is just fine for the purpose of the dragonflies. I have learned to like them okay for now. I prefer to also have an optical eye-level simply because that's what I used for so long. the tilt-able viewfinder is a nice feature that I am gaining over the A200 body, but I am losing the optical finder. Taking pix of dragonflies and such, the electronic finder is actually easier on me trying to get into posisiton that an the eye-level optical finder. My eye-sight is also sucking more and more. The ideal focus for me is full-auto spot (with the other optional adjustments) with quick-switch to manual for precision fine-tuning. Although auto-focus has become very sophisticated considering that the status-quo thinking not too long ago was that it would never be any good for pro work--it still cannot read my mind. I like being able to actually see the minute details of a macro shot come in and out of focus real time. I also like being able to see the actual depth of field.
Translucent Mirror Technology also called Mirror-less SLR Technology (a real misnomer)is one feature that has come to the forefront during the past few years. Sony jumped out front early, but almost all players are now offering some of these products. The basic idea is that no mirror has to move in order to allow a picture to be taken. This is huge. The ramifications are many. But the net net benefit for me comes down to three resulting capabilities. One is, that this technology allows much faster shooting speeds. We are talking half-dozen or substantially more frames per second.
Another resulting capability is usable photographs in very low light situations without a flash. This can be expressed a number of ways such as formerly unheard of ISO. A third capability that this technology brings us is increased stability; less movement, less blur at slow shutter speeds. There are several more, but the fourth that is important to me is a smaller physical design. Some of these cameras are so small that it is almost hard for me to take them seriously--until I see the price. In reality the entry-level price is amazingly low for what is offered relative to analog cameras, but I got over that part several years ago. Now my expectation is relative to what else is available. Even so--it is pretty amazing--both on the side of good and bad.
Taken from about eight feet away with a non-macro zoom Sony Alpha lens and no tele-converter. It offers pretty good depth of field in the sunlight and good detail. The NEX 3 body gives me the feel of the little Sony point and shoots that I have been carrying with me everywhere, with a lot more heavy-duty features, when needed. It also offers a good combo of image formats including RAW and RAW plus jpg, which is what I prefer for serious illustration purposes. The broken Sony Alpha 200 offered this as well, but the point and shoots do not.
Probably the most notable cameras to offer this technology on the low price end of the spectrum are the Sony NEX models. I am not unduly prejudiced toward Sony, so I am merely calling it like it is. I worked for Canon back in the analog-to-digital transition days, so I know a lot about them and I do respect them as a wonderful technology company. They are hard to beat on most everything photographic. Back in the completely analog days, my 35mm cameras of choice were Nikons, and I still like Nikon digital cameras. they are right up there. Just prior to the big swing toward digital cameras, Minolta, then Konica-Minolta was up and coming regarding their electronics and their metering capabilities. I have written several times that during those days, the ideal camera would borrow from each of these manufacturers. There are other good cameras too. But where did Sony come from. Well, they became the heirs of all the combined Konica-Minolta technology hen the former got out of the camera business.
But that's not all. Sony has long been an innovator in the movie electronics business--which early-on translated to digital video technology. This includes optics. So in a way, Sony has been the company best positioned, since the beginning of the digital camera transition. An early semi-professional digital camera was the first of its sophistication to fall into my hands, when my wife bought me one as a gift a few years back. So, it was by hap-stance that I was exposed to the Sony products instead of Nikon, or Canon. It turned out to be a good thing. Otherwise I might not have tried Sony digital cameras until much later. So it is what it is, or was what it was.
I am not thrilled with Sony as a company lately, nor for their support, nor for the reliability of their products over others. I don't think anyone else is doing much better. But I am impressed with their camera features for the buck. Now back to my current needs. Sony NEX cameras were the first cameras to offer this technology at what I considered an affordable price. The first Sony models to offer the MOST combined features for my price-range is the Sony NEX 3 camera. Considering why I decided to get a newer camera in the first place--the irreparable malfunction of my virtually unused and well-cared-for Sony Alpha 200 body.
These are some tired old wookie eyes that don't see much anymore. Close focus macro lenses left over from my Alpha 200 kit work flawlessly while using either Alpha to E Mount Sony brand adapters. Only the newer adapter offers full-auto focus, because it actually has a drive motor mounted within the adapter. But the manual focus adapter detects and reads all the other electronics perfectly.
Another shot from about thirty feet. I shot these at low resolution, but the Nex 3 provides over 14 megapixels at max resolution settings. This is less than the point and shoots I've been using but a 4 mp more than the broken Sony SLR that it is replacing. By shooting at the highest resolution, the small lure could be cropped to appear substantially closer without much loss of sharpness. Any loss of sharpness would be from enlarged motion-blur rather than from mosaic pixilization.
My price-range was driven by what would be the minimum charge to me to send my camera to a Sony Service Center just to have them look at it. This offered no assurance that it would be fixed evn at that. The value of a used Sony Alpha 200 camera is a fraction of what it originally cost. The value of a broken Sony Alpha 200 Camera body is zilch. So therein is part of the new digital camera reality that is not so glamorous. I have vintage analog cameras over a hundred years old that still work--fifty years old that work as well as they ever did--just as a comparison.
This image of a hung-up fishing lure was taken from a good thirty feet away with a zoom macro suing the adapter and a 2x tele-converter. The exposure is right on. the image is not real sharp, but this was on a cloudy day while just messing around. The fuzz is not a faulty lens set up, it is a little motion blur. I used the stability feature hand-held. If I was going for perfection, I would be using a tripod or mono-pod to help my stability. I could once hold any lens incredibly well at slow speeds, but older now I shake a bit. Other things I kike about the NEX 3 include the small size. This is counter to my usual preference and if I am shooting something where I feel that I want a larger frame, the grip and off-camera flash holder I used with the Alpha 200 works nicely. But having become used to the idea of being able to carry a camera without much trouble virtually anywhere as I do my point and shoot cameras, I like the idea of using one E Mount lenses on this NEX3 camera and gaining all the additional features if I want them.
The NEX 3 will shoot up to 7 frames per second and will shoot usable images in very low light conditions without any special care taken except a high ISO or a tripod. The NEX 3 gained me a bunch more ISO capability. I can't wait to try some stock-car race pix. Although I haven't even begun to wrap my head completely around the video feature yet, it makes really fine video clips as well. I may be integrating this into my mini-digital video instructional videos. Over the Alpha 200, I also gained an additional 4 gigabytes of resolution. There are so many potentially helpful settings that I haven't even looked much beyond the surface menus yet, but I know they are there from reading about them. The menus are complicated, and cumbersome to use, but what the heck, everything that I need immediately is right there. Everything else is a bonus.
I have a bunch of Sony Alpha and Sony Alpha-compatible lenses. I could either have this one fixed, buy another Sony Alpha 200 body for what it cost to have it fixed, or I can buy the newer technologies with more features for just a bit more by buying a Sony NEX 3 Camera that theoretically offers the features that I want and need--including higher resolution. For me it is a no-brainier. I merely want my readers to understand the process whereby I arrived at my choice. I have made the choice given my circumstances for the least amount of financial exposure that would provide me the most features. This is sound business thinking.
The digitization of bits of bokeh patterns formed in the out-of-focus foreground image while focused on jet vapros at infinity shows both the sharp focus and the ability to selectively expose while using this lens with the adapter.
Now, in order to make all the features work with my lenses, I will need to acquire a Sony adapter that will enable my existing Sony Alpha lenses to work with the new Sony NEX 3 camera body. Here I have three options (possibly four depending upon how you measure a true solution), each potentially better and each more expensive than the other. The first is to get a generic mount for less than fifty bucks including shipping. I can't get a good answer from anyone regarding how much, if any of the electronics will work. My best guess is that the automatic TTL exposure metering will work in the aperture-priority mode--but maybe not. This pretty much shoots any benefits obtained by using the mirror-less technology. So this is not a valid option.
The second option that I can choose, is to buy the first Sony model LEA-A1 adapter which is assured to work properly with any Sony Alpha lens used on an NEX 3 body. But working properly means that on any older Sony, Konica, or Minolta or other lens not having a built-in lens motor, the focus will be manual only. for me, I would not mind this at all--except that my eyesight is now so lousy.
Just some twigs and leaves dragonflies land on in warmer weather from about seven feet away. I have been pretty limited by the zoom capabilities of the point and shoot Sony cameras I got started shooting those bugs with during the summer. I actually got some nice images, but of course we always want to do better. I was a working pro much of my life, so I know what is possible. This is what prompted me to get my more feature-rich digital Sony out in hopes of getting better dragonfly images while fishing. And my fishing is actually reviewing and blogging about both new and vintage fishing rods and reels, and lures, and other fishing gear--so it warrants doing the best job I can for illustration purposes. When my Sony alpha 200 SLR body would do nothing but fast-blink a red light it spelled trouble. The cost to send the barely-used body to a Sony servicing center to look at it, with that not even ensuring that it would be fixed without additional charges, exceed the cost of buying a good used body. So I decided that I would explore what additional capabilities I could gain for the same amount of money. This is what started me looking at the Sony NEX technology in earnest. I knew I would have to have this technology soon anyway, so this merely precipitated a little acquisitional search to see what I could justify.
So, this leaves the newest LEA-AE2 Sony Alpha Mount to Sony E Mount Adapter. This mount actually has a built-in lens motor--right there in the adapter itself. I am told that this adapter will communicate electronically for all metering and auto-focus functions with any of these lenses. The advantage is obvious, but it may not be readily clear that many of these lenses--very high-quality lenses-- can often be found on the used market with Minolta labels at very reasonable prices. This should more than offset the associated cost of the adapter. BTW, old Minolta glass is pretty hard to beat. Good stuff.
I could also consider selling all my old Alpha lenses and non-functioning Sony Alpha 200 body and reinvesting into E Mount lenses. The reason I am not doing this is that I still like the new features found exclusively on the Sony Alpha bodies even with the bad experience with the Sony Alpha 200's poor reliability. This is just the paradox of all electronics. I should have bought the three-year extended warranty and then renewed it (but probably still won't in the future). I also like the future of the NEX and other E Mount cameras and lenses using Mirror-less Technology. Keeping my old lenses provides the most options for future growth along the lines that I desire.
I'll probably also buy a used E Mount lenses or two in my preferred zoom or fixed ranges and close-up and/or telephoto rings. Then given time, I will make a use-based decision about getting a fancier or more highly featured Mirror-less camera.
In the end, the love you make is equal to the love, you make. Whatever the heck that means--thank you John and Paul. The music was good. No, seriously, in the final analysis, this is where I am at. After a lifetime of the demands of photography, photography lost a lot of the fun for em. I could do it in my sleep and do it well enough, but my images were, at least it seemed to me, lacking the unique vibe they once had and that I was known for. I have a whole thing to write about this and whether it was merely my perception or if the images were actually not as good, but you may look for that in a future post.
What I do know for sure is that using the new digital stuff, primarily the point and shoots, got me again hooked on the fun of photography. When it is fun, you do more of it. When you do more of it, you get more good images. And, more than that, when it is fun, and you have new features offering new capabilities you begin to experiment again. I do. It is when I am experimenting that I really tend to shine. So, the fact that this new camera body offers me so many new things, I am actually getting excited about taking pictures again. So this was a success for me--and I recommend it to anyone who needs a little boost.All the better, the whole transition will wind up not costing me a dime more of out-of-pocket expense. But even if it did, it would be well worth it.
With the 2x tele-converter on this particular zoom macro Minolta lens, the nearest focus is a smidgen too far for my purposes product illustration purposes, but any number of shorter lenses or leaving the tele-convertor off is fine. On the other-hand, I love the reach provided by this set-up for catching dragonflies. I have bunches of macro images of dragonflies as they are prone to land on the end of fishing poles. Any movement or waive of a lure has them flying over to inspect and challenge the lure, the rod, and sometime seven me. They will actually pause in mid-flight a few feet in front of my face and size me up, before buzzing off. I usually wait for them to land somewhere--which is on the fishing rod tip more often than not. But I also catch them in midair. The gains of the NEX 3 body and adapter will put me in great shape for catching these critters at greater distances, and greater resolutions than I have yet been able to catch them previously. But the exposure and imaging quality as well as much faster imaging speeds will assist greatly too while tracking these guys in flight. These old Sony and Minolta lenses are hard to beat for sharpness as well. I say this combo is a winner.