Drangonfly

[sparkie1263]

Not very good. I could not get one in focus. I was using spot focus. Was that the right focus setting?
Thanks Frank

[AmberC]

Have you tried manual? These guys here converted me to manual a while back and I rarely use auto focus anymore. You just have so much more control over where the focus is with manual.

Amber

[Sushigaijin]

I don't think focus is a problem here, they both look like they are in focus to me. Only compositional nitpick would be to see more of a frontal view of the first dragon.

There is something weird going on with these shots though - the first might suffer from a bit of camera shake and purple fringing, but the second is possibly the strangest effect I've ever seen - WAY overexposed, full of noise, unsharp, and characterized by color bleed. Are these heavy crops? I don't think that your alpha should be giving you this kind of output. I don't think the photos are bad, but I do think the photo quality is bad.

[nps474]

Nice shots Sparkie.

I think you need to set your camera to a wide aperture with a very fast shutter speed. If you have a "sports" mode, or "action" setting (preset) you can try that, as far as the focus, thats the really tricky part with these critters, most often, if you can get the head, eyes, and wings into a nice sharp focus it will make for a nice photograph. Stalking these guys can be trying on your patience, but I have found if you keep at it, and immerse yourself into their enviornment for a few hours, you will be likely to yeild some great results. Shoot hundreds of frames if you can. Its worth the editing process when you find you "winners". Hope this helps. Good luck on your future shoots!

-Sushi is right, the second shot looks oversharpened, the pixels appear stretched creating a lot of noise and grain. Overcropping is a common error with dragons I think, if you can get one to pose in close proximity, a macro lens and short focal distance (actual distance between your lens and the bug) will give you the results you are looking for me thinks. You and I are using similar equipment, I also have a SONY Alpha 100, but with a Tamron 90mm macro lens.

[sparkie1263]

I tried MF on my Quantary lens because the AF stopped working. It is hard because the Sony A100 does not have a split screen to help with MF. I did crop these but they were not sharp in the originals. I will try again and post my results.
Thanks Frank

[Sushigaijin]

I've been struggling with manual focus as well. My 4/3 format viewfinder is so small that it is difficult - certainly a huge difference between 4/3, aps-C and my old 35mm film camera :-)

Your birds in the other thread are quite good, composition and quality. I wonder what it is that is different.

[sparkie1263]

This is what i can't understand. Most of my images come out good. Those were taken with the same lens. I lowered the in camera contrast back to zero and left the sharpness on + one.
Thanks Frank

[AmberC]

I tried MF on my Quantary lens because the AF stopped working. It is hard because the Sony A100 does not have a split screen to help with MF. I did crop these but they were not sharp in the originals. I will try again and post my results.
Thanks Frank

Ok.. perhaps I'm lost because of the technical stuff (I'm not so great with technical stuff :blush2: ) lol .. but I'm shooting with the A100 too. The only difference is that I am using a sony 75-300mm telephoto lens. What do you mean by split screen? I shoot in manual mode with manual focus.

Here are some of my dragonflies.

[sparkie1263]

Nice images. It is the same dragonfly as the one I was trying to shoot. Can I add yours to my photos. LOL As far as the split screen I was talking about on my old 35mm there was a focus screen so you can tell when you were focused properly. I don't know if I am explaining it correctly. Maybe somebody can help explain it better.
Thanks Frank

[nps474]

Sparkie, do you ever use your Depth of Field preview button on the front of your A100? I use mine sometimes, seems to help a bit with dragons as you get a good idea what portions of the insect fall into the acceptably sharp range. Here are some shots I took last sumer with my Alpha and Tamron macro 90mm, you should be able to get similar stuff (if my shots are pleasing to you that is )

[sparkie1263]

Very nice captures. I would be happy with them. I never use the depth of view button. I didn't even have time to focus properly as you can see.LOL
Thanks Frank

[AmberC]

Nice images. It is the same dragonfly as the one I was trying to shoot. Can I add yours to my photos. LOL As far as the split screen I was talking about on my old 35mm there was a focus screen so you can tell when you were focused properly. I don't know if I am explaining it correctly. Maybe somebody can help explain it better.
Thanks Frank

Ok.. well even tho I have never seen it, I think I understand then. (I'll google it to be sure though ) Thanks for explaining that.

Amber

[sparkie1263]

Here is a search I did.Hope this helps.

A split-screen focusing aid is that little circle in the middle of the focusing screen that looks like it's been cut into two equal parts with the cut usually running either diagonally at 45 degrees or horizontally. Each half of the circle is actually a small prism.

The way that it works is that when you point the circle over a subject that has vertical lines, when the subject is not in focus, the top half of the lines will not lineup with the bottom half. When you adjust the focusing ring so that the subject is in focus, the lines will all line up perfectly. The diagonal split has the advantage that you can also focus with it using horizontal lines.

The other common type of focusing screen is the micro-prism focusing screen. The same principle is applied here except that when the subject is out of focus, the image breaks down into lots of "speckles". When the subject is in focus, the speckles will not be evidient. Some people find this type of screen harder to use than the split-screen focusing screen.

[AmberC]

Ok.. I get it

Well.. the only thing I can say is to keep practicing and train your eye. Thats pretty much what I had to do and I still dont always get it right.. but like I said before, I think its much more worth it when you do get it right because of the control you have over it.

[retroactiv]

any who, beyond the focusing problems you are having with your sony's. GREAT FREAKING JOB TO EVERYONE that posted a dragonfly image on this post. They are all amazing and vivid.