Sony Alpha Related Posts

I recently posted a video to my YouTube channel about processing some Sony A6000 images in Capture One. In the video I mentioned some sharpening and noise reduction presets that I use. These should work with any Sony RAW file, so even those from the Sony A7 series or the A9. You can find links to download in this post, as well as the video itself.

A few weeks ago I wanted to photograph something a little different, so we headed out to a place in North County Dublin where you can see Dublin Port from the far side, as well as watch the boats come and go. We timed the trip so that we would arrive as the sun begins to set, and I was only travelling light camera wise. I went equipped with the Sony A6000, with the only lens being the kit lens. I also had the Canon G7XII with me, which I had initially brought just to shoot video, but I ended up shooting stills with it too.

When I did a recent episode of my “Street Photo Diary” series of videos, in which I shot with the Sony A6000, I got a lot of questions about the lenses that I use. The two that I probably use the most when shooting street photography, str two Sigma Lenses, the 30mm and 19mm f/2.8. In this video, I go shooting with these lenses and give you a quick review as well as showcasing the process.

While Sony’s APS-C E-mount lineup is known for not exactly having an exciting lineup of lenses, people often forget that you can use full frame E-mount lenses on these cameras too. Having said that, many of Sony’s full-frame E-mount lenses are quite expensive and heavy or both. However, there are a few new third party lenses coming out that are designed for full frame but I can see actually working really well on cropped sensors too. One of those is the new 24mm Autofocus lens from Rokinon.

Lately, I’ve been getting a few emails from readers asking about the Sony A6000. In particular, people are interested in using the camera for street photography. I’ve shot street photos a lot with the A6000, and it’s one of my favourite cameras for street shooting. However, as I hadn’t shot this genre with it for a little while I thought I’d take it out for a spin, and record the proceedings as an episode of “Street Photo Diary.”

Sony has just announced the newest iteration of their full frame “A7” series. The A7III is the new “basic” model in the A7 lineup. This is the third generation of Sony’s first full frame mirrorless camera, and it feels like the line has reached a level of maturity with this new version. Sony may call it “basic”, but based on the specs it is anything but.

I’ve covered working with Fuji RAW files in Luminar before here on the blog, but I haven’t talked too much about using it with RAW files from other cameras. I had been going through some old images for another project, and I came across some images that I had taken with the Sony A7II which I had borrowed from a friend at the time. So, I tried some of the images in Luminar, and I was pleasantly surprised.

If there’s one complaint I hear again and again about Sony cameras, is that the colours are not pleasant. This is the most common complaint that people have when trying the camera. I have certainly grappled with this myself in the past when first using Sony cameras. The thing is though, it’s not strictly true. There isn’t really anything inherently wrong with Sony’s cameras though. The problem often comes from either a poor white balance or the calibration. If you’re shooting RAW and using Lightroom, there’s another issue: Adobe’s calibration for Sony files in Lightroom is awful.

I recently had the opportunity to borrow a friend’s Sony RX100. The original RX100 was revolutionary when it first came out and I have always wanted to try one. Having used it, I can see now why it was such a game changer at the time. 

Sometimes I just like to go for a walk with my camera, without intent or purpose. Just to see what one can see. This was one of those days. I set out with my Sony A6000 and Sigma 30mm lens. I didn’t really have any goals in mind. I just wanted to go for a walk and hopefully find some nice images.

A while ago I attempted my first “blog” style video, where I filmed myself shooting street photography and editing the results. I’ve done another similar video and in this one I spent some time shooting with the Sony A6000 using adapted lenses. I used two different lenses on this shoot: an old Nikon 105mm f2/2.8 macro lens, and a Canon 17-40 f/4 L wide angle lens. I started in a local park shooting some flowers and then did a little bit of street photography too.

I recently watched a video on YouTube where the use of a SonyA6000 was discussed as a low cost entry into shooting video. In the video they acquired an A6000 second hand for a very reasonable price, and it got me thinking that this makes a really good entry level camera for street photography. I have kept a lot of my old cameras over the years, and it got me thinking as to what else would work well too. So after doing a bit of research, here are my two suggestions. 

A few weeks ago, I was up and out early into the city to shoot some things for my Streets of Dublin project, and while I was there I ended up shooting a lot of street photography too. What was funny though was that, as it was early in the morning, people were heading to work and the mood was quite different from how it is later in the day. For a start everyone was walking with haste and with a real sense of purpose.

Despite being widely rumoured, Sony still managed to make quite a splash when they announced the new A9 earlier this week. The new high end camera looks like it could be a genuine game changer for mirrorless cameras, and could cement Sony’s place at the number 2 spot, if not push it to number 1. I have been using Sony cameras on and off for the past few years, and I was eagerly waiting to see what this new high end alpha might entail. The camera is exciting in and of itself, but whats more exciting is Sony’s approach to the camera market. Let me explain.

The other day I posted a possible work around for an annoying Lightroom bug that had been frustrating me. When working with Sony ARW files, when you move from one image to another in the develop module, it can sometimes take seconds (sometimes 10 or more) before moving the sliders have any effect. The not really a solution, solution, that I offered was to wait till the Auto button enabled before trying to edit. Well, after a bit more research, I think I’ve found the source of this issue.

This is a tip that I shouldn’t have to write. There has been some serious performance issues in the last few versions of Lightroom. It seems worse for  raw files from some cameras rather than others, but the issue seems reasonably widespread. While getting extremely frustrated at this bug the other day, I noticed something that may save you tearing your hair out.

I’ve talked a lot about using Capture One Pro for processing Fuji Files here on this blog, but I also use it when working with other cameras too. In particular, I find that it does a really nice job when working with files from Sony cameras. In the past I’ve used it with both a Sony A7II (Which I had borrowed), and my own Sony A6000. 

I was reading a blog post from Brian Smith the other day and he was asking people for what they wanted from Sony in terms of lenses. I thought it was an interesting post, and it got me thinking of other things that I would like to see from Sony to improve the company’s camera offerings. Sony has really pushed the envelope with their camera designs over the last few years, but in my opinion, there’s quite still a few areas that could do with some improvement. So, in no particular order, here’s my Sony wish list. Feel free to add your own suggestions in the comments.