Impulse buy

Cal Goat

Cal Goat

Prestige Worldwide™
Laying over in tax-free Oregon yesterday, I wandered over to the Best Buy to have a look around. I've been giving great thought to getting a mirrorless camera for a while now, and temptation got the better of me.

I'm not in the mood to spend the money on a DSLR and figure out how to carry it around with all the other crap jammed into my flight bag. On the other hand, the Canon P&S had serious limitations in addition to being a bit long in the tooth.

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So here we are with Alpha 5000. I'll post some edited pictures later, but right off the bat it seems like a decent value at $400. A lot more versatility and not much gain in size. Still getting used to Sony's UI, but it's good for most things. Switching between shooting modes and making other adjustments could be easier, but then with all of the options available, I guess I'm not surprised by all of the sub menus necessary.
 
Still figuring out all of the functions. There are a couple of annoying automated features I need to disable and I keep mistaking the on-off switch for the zoom, but overall a very nice tool. It's definitely got a nice, wide range of conditions it can work in; the only catch is learning how to best utilize it across those conditions. I had 2 deadheads with absolutely atrocious windows to shoot through, and every airplane I flew had a terrible graveyard of insect guts on the cockpit windows. Here are some of the salvageable pictures:

The scene of the crime:








Still working on balancing the glare of the CRTs and getting the correct exposure on the sunset:






 
Cool, it looks very similar to the Sony NEX-5r I got a couple years ago. They are small enough that you can put them in a cargo pocket and actually take your camera with you. The articulating LCD is nice for getting shots above the crowd or video without blocking your view. I did have to get a fold out LCD sun cover though. It can be very difficult to see the screen if the sun is anywhere behind you.
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Yeah, the limitations of not having a traditional viewfinder become rapidly apparent with this camera. However, that's really the tradeoff with these mirrorless cameras. You can option up for an LCD viewfinder, but I really only committed to this because of the entry price.

The capabilities at this physical size are pretty much unmatched. My only grip at this point is the finicky autofocus. I understand it's better on some of the higher up models, but I can work around the limitation at my skill level. Obviously, the pros want more capability. But I feel like I can exploit the features in this model with my mediocre talent.
 
Cal Goat said:
Yeah, the limitations of not having a traditional viewfinder become rapidly apparent with this camera. However, that's really the tradeoff with these mirrorless cameras. You can option up for an LCD viewfinder, but I really only committed to this because of the entry price.

The capabilities at this physical size are pretty much unmatched. My only grip at this point is the finicky autofocus. I understand it's better on some of the higher up models, but I can work around the limitation at my skill level. Obviously, the pros want more capability. But I feel like I can exploit the features in this model with my mediocre talent.
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Try playing in the settings on your focus to a single point target vs what is typically a single point surrounded by a ring of say 5-7 points.

It will require a steadier hand, but what your aiming at is what your focusing on. Once you get good enough at finding it you can even do it on the fly. I swap between depending on how wide a scene I'm shooting at events. That is when I don't have a second or even third rig in the game, but I shoot a lot of action heavy event photos so I can't afford to pause a lot of the time.
 
Lawman said:
Try playing in the settings on your focus to a single point target vs what is typically a single point surrounded by a ring of say 5-7 points.

It will require a steadier hand, but what your aiming at is what your focusing on. Once you get good enough at finding it you can even do it on the fly. I swap between depending on how wide a scene I'm shooting at events. That is when I don't have a second or even third rig in the game, but I shoot a lot of action heavy event photos so I can't afford to pause a lot of the time.
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Yeah, I'm still experimenting with the different settings and modes. Do you have the same camera?
 
Cal Goat said:
Yeah, I'm still experimenting with the different settings and modes. Do you have the same camera?
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No I'm running Canon rigs.

You'll find both due to incomparable accessories and personal preferences once you get a brand you stay with it.

Nikons have a more yellow light tint to them over Canons and since most of my shooting is in poor lighting conditions this makes more issue with post editing.

And having 3 SLRs of various types I have no need for anything else because I've gotten so used to shooting with them I hate using less camera.
 
Lawman said:
No I'm running Canon rigs.

You'll find both due to incomparable accessories and personal preferences once you get a brand you stay with it.

Nikons have a more yellow light tint to them over Canons and since most of my shooting is in poor lighting conditions this makes more issue with post editing.

And having 3 SLRs of various types I have no need for anything else because I've gotten so used to shooting with them I hate using less camera.
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I was a Canon guy. Had a 35mm SLR and then the first gen Digital Rebel. I got to a point where I couldn't, financially, keep up with rapid advancements in digital photography equipment. I've never been an expert photographer, but I wanted to get above the limitations of the P&S but still keep the equipment equipment as compact as practical.

This definitely qualifies as "less camera", but I think it's enough for me to exploit with my talent level.
 
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