New DSLR

[MontaukPoint]

I just purchased a new Sony Alpha 350 DSLR tonight . From what I have seen so far, it is a great camera. The image quailty is much better than my previous one, and the low light shooting is excellent. I will probably head out for some lighthousing this week some time to test it out further, and hopefully I will have some photos by the weekend to post. Does anyone else at Lighthousing.net have a Sony DSLR?

Note for "Sony haters" (I know quite a few): I bought the Alpha 350 because I have a Minolta Maxxum SLR with a few lenses (good ones) and they are compatable with the Alpha (cheaper than buying new ones for another DSLR).

-Alan

[Larry]

Congrats on the new camera. Hope you have great fun with it.

Sincerely,
One of the Sony Haters

[Hersh]

I'm not a Sony fan, but I have no reason to be a hater yet. For one thing, I know how tough it can be to break away from a stable of favorite lenses and go to a completely new system.

It's been said before, and I'll say it again, the camera is a worthless hunk of metal & plastic until it's put into use by someone who knows how to really make photographs. You're the deciding factor, not your camera. So get out there and make that notta-Nikon sing!

(I am duty bound to say here that anything that's not Nikon is inherently inferior, yadda yadda yadda...)

[Ross]

I just happen to be Nikon fan myself, but any time you upgrade there is a bit of an advantage gain, if only a psychological one. Mike's right in that it certainly takes the eye and the talent. A quote:

"Photography is not about cameras, gadgets and gizmos. Photography is about photographers. A camera didn't make a great picture any more than a typewriter wrote a great novel." – Peter Adams

Good deal, though, you were already doing well before the camera change.

[rocky5128]

I am not a Sony hater, I actually know 2 people who have Sony cameras and love them. I hope you take a bunch of pictures and post them. It makes sense to get a camera with compatible lenses, it saves a whole lot of money.

Kathy

[MontaukPoint]

Well, I was down at the lakeshore today - no lighthouses but some waves and beach grass blowing in the strong winds. See below;



f4.5, 1/80 sec exposure, ISO 400 with Minolta 28-85mm/f3.5-4.5



f4, 1/80 sec exposure, ISO 400 with Minolta 28-85mm/f3.5-4.5

These were taken just before sunset in fog and light rain, under the conditions the camera was great. It must have been -2 out, and yet there were some surfers on the beach waiting for a big wave. I just ordered a Sony 18-250mm lens from B&H in NYC, I am looking forward to getting it.

Maybe some lighthouses later this week.

All the best,
-Alan

[Gary Martin]

I happen to shoot with Nikon cameras and Nikkor lenses... but it's not what you use... it's what you do with whatever you have in your hands Good luck with the new Sony....

Staying with a camera body that allows you to use good glass that you already have certainly makes sense. No matter what Canon or anyone else might put on the market, I'm unlikely to change simply because of my investiment in Nikkor lenses, some of which I really enjoy using.

[Biggy]

Everybody has his or her own reasons for buying what they buy, Alan, so you'll get no lectures from me on this. Good luck with the new camera. It's always nice to upgrade when possible, so make the most of it, which I'm sure you will.

[MontaukPoint]

Thanks everyone,

Just out of curiosity, are the majority of members on this forum Nikon users? I was down at the lake again today, I visited the Burlington lighthouse, but the conditions were bad the the results are not worth posting .

[Gary Martin]

Alan, don't be discouraged by "bad" conditions. Some of the best photographs I've ever taken have been shot in the most dreadful weather conditions you could imagine

[MontaukPoint]

By bad I was meaning bland conditions (gray sky, no clouds, no waves). I really enjoy storm photos (Gary, your storm photographs are great by the way - I really enjoy viewing them); unfortunetly we don't get many big waves in the Hamilton, Ontario area. Hamilton is in the far west corner of Lake Ontario while most of the waves go towards Toronto, Kingston or Rochester/Sodus Bay, New York area. Well, I guess I will have to get my equipment together and hit the roads around the lakes next storm season.

[Hersh]

Something else to consider, Alan, is to shoot in those crappy conditions anyway. You can still learn a lot about composition and sometimes get some very nice B&W photos. I don't do it as often as I should because I concentrate so much on colors.....

[Biggy]

Alan ... Mike is right ... No matter what conditions you have before you, keep shooting. It's the only way you're going to know how your particular camera produces in such conditions and learn more about developing your own particular shooting style.

And for the record, I'm a Canon user, but I got started with Nikons many years ago during my teen years.

[MontaukPoint]

I agree fully with Mike, I have posted several B+W shots before and enjoy shooting B+W. However, I did not think that my results were good enough to post. The lighthouse itself is in a bad location; and, as I said before, the results were not spectacular.

Anyway, with all this discussion about the lighthouse (Burlington Canal) I might as well make a report on it's condition.

A local group, the Beach Canal Lighthouse Group, is working towards it's preservation. So far we arranged the clean-out of 50+ years of bird droppings from inside the tower, have boarded up all openings to prevent further damage and have hired a company to do a study of the tower for aid in it's restoration and preservation (I cannot give details, I was away during the last meeting). Our original plan was to have the lighthouse restored for it's 150th birthday (Christmas 2008), but those plans are no longer possible because of several delays. The City of Hamilton approved up to 50,000 dollars for funding for use in the preservation. Progress is good and the lighthouse is well on it's way to being preserved.

The lighthouse is located behind a lift bridge beside the Burlington/Hamilton Bay Canal in the corner of the bridge control building. Behind the lighthouse towers the Burlington Skyway Bridge.



This image is from Russ Rowlett's site (taken by C.W. Bash), and was shot from a boat going through the canal. This is an angle that I won't have access to until this summer. I will most likely take a stop at Port Dalhousie tomorrow on the way to Buffalo for the day. Dalhousie is in a much nicer location so I will probably post at least one photo to satisfy all of you rowdy Nikonians and "Canonians" and Sony haters .