Hello all,

Sorry if there is a similar thread but I haven't had a chance to do a proper search through the threads yet!

I have recently bought a Sony a200 dslr. It's my first slr camera and I'm very pleased with it. I'm slowly learning how to use it and understand the various functions, however do any current, more expereicned users of this or other Sony Slr's have any advice on their use, any tips etc?

Thanks for any help!

Rich

Keep the ISO down if you can ;)

sony tend to be underated cameras, I have used a a100 and currently use an a700

the cameras are great cameras as a rule however i tend to stick with my ISO below 600, moving to 800 at a push. I rarely go higher then that even in the more difficult conditions i have worked in.

apart from that there arent really any other tricks I think i could give you, i think we are always learning as photographers it one of those things. I'll have a think however.

Dafoot and Nomis offer good advice regarding the higher noise level past ISO800. I bought the A300 back in january and read lots of user reviews before buying. I considered this slight problem with Sony's entry level DSLR's but as i very rarely move away from ISO100, i don't find this to be a problem.

On some shots however, i have wanted a high level of noise/grain for effect, so the high noise level of the Sony will work in my favour.

Here's one that i took a couple of years ago with the old Oly e-500, i took the shot at ISO 1600 to get as much noise as possible out of the camera and then pushed the noise even further through the PP work on the shot.
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3639/3445031426_394f647307_o.jpg

Cheers, H.

Hello all,

Sorry if there is a similar thread but I haven't had a chance to do a proper search through the threads yet!

I have recently bought a Sony a200 dslr. It's my first slr camera and I'm very pleased with it. I'm slowly learning how to use it and understand the various functions, however do any current, more expereicned users of this or other Sony Slr's have any advice on their use, any tips etc?

Thanks for any help!

Rich

I've also got the a200 which I bought a few months ago for £250 from Amazon.

I got the Tamron 55-200 zoom lens from Bristol Cameras a couple of months ago for £59.99 - its £105 at the moment though. This is a great lens for the price and you can get some really nice close ups - great for wildlife photos.

Obviously its not professional standard but its certainly good enough for me while I learn what I'm doing.

I have the a200 and am getting on great with it but same as everyone says keep the iso low especially if you crop and blow up images.Only put the iso up to the bigger numbers if you really need to if the light is very poor.

But a used Minolta 50mm F1.7 from ebay.

A great lens, really fast (if a bit soft at f1.7)

But a used Minolta 50mm F1.7 from ebay.

A great lens, really fast (if a bit soft at f1.7)

prices are going silly on there, could be worth buying new,

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/products/Sony/50mm%20f1.8%20SAM%20Portrait%20Lens-76287/Show.html

prices are going silly on there, could be worth buying new,

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/categories/products/Sony/50mm%20f1.8%20SAM%20Portrait%20Lens-76287/Show.html

Could be, I saw one today in their Meadowhell branch.

However the old Minolta glass will give a 75mm focal length on the DSLR's; much better for portrait work.

Can't really give you many tips as I am just getting to grips with my a200, but if you are changing over from a more automatic camera my top tip would be to always spend 30secs just checking the setting the camera is in (e.g. shutter speed) before taking anything. This will prevent the slightly embarrassing experience I had of all your pictures looking like they have been taken on a very dark day.

I was not best pleased.