Just bought a Sony ALPHA 100 now what?

[nbbaig]

I just purchased a Sony ALPHA a100. I don't know much about DSLRs yet. I purchased it because it was cheap, had a 10.2 mpx, and had a built in steady shot stabilizer.

Was this a good choice for me being a novice?

I have just been using the camera's AUTO setting and the manual does not help to show how to use manual or change settings.

What is an ISO? What are ideal settings for different shots. SOrry just started and dont' know much. I will read into the other forums but just got signed in today 2/13/09.

THanks for any input.

[Anbesol]

The A100 is a good camera, but whats important is that you pair it with a good lens. That kit lens isn't going to be doing a whole lot for you.

ISO is the equivalent to film speed, 100 is good for very bright outdoors, 200 is a good universal, 400-800 are good for speedy/lower light situations, 1600 is for extremely speedy/low light situations, and 3200 is just too damned noisy.

[Canuck935]

Hi there!

Welcome to the forum! My first DSLR was the a100 as well. It sounds like you are interested in moving away from auto settings. A great resource that I always recommend is Gary Friedman's e-book. Here's the link: http://www.friedmanarchives.com/alpha100/index.htm

[Dougjgreen]

Now what? Go take a whole bunch of photos and play around with the camera's settings. Digital photos are cheap (as in free), and the bad ones delete real easily and without any stigma attached to deleting them.

[Ultra Magnus]

Toss the kit lens! The Tamron 17-50 2.8 is a good one for the money, the CZ 16-80 3.5 - 4.5 gives you more range at the expense of some speed- hit up ebay and grab a minolta 50 1.7 and the beercan 70-210 f4.

As far as the terminology goes- you'll catch on quick if you spend a lot of time here and at other photography websites...

quickly- three factors control the exposure (and other characteristics) of a picture 1) Shutter Speed, 2) Aperture (aka F-Stop), 3) ISO

All three offer compromises-

A fast shutter speed can freeze motion (to some extent), which can be a good or bad thing. Sometimes you want to captuer motion blur to communicate motion in your photos. To slow of a shutter speed can cause unintentional motion blur and/or camera shake (usually a bad thing)...

Aperture- The F-stop, is a number used to describe the actual physical size of the "hole" that light is passing through to get to your sensor (film in the 'old' days). A smaller number, F2.8 for example, is a larger physical diamter than F8 or F16. When you read the specs for a lens, the max aperture will usually be listed following the focal length (zoom range on a zoom lens) 70-200 F2.8, or 18-200 F3.5-6.3. In the 2nd example, the two F stop numbers denote the max apertures of the zoom lens at full wide and full telephoto, so in that example at 18mm zoom you can have a max aperture of F3.5, but at 200mm you only et F6.3. An F2.8 lens will work much better in low lgiht than an F6.3 lens. The bigger the max aperture, usually means the more $$ you have to shell out for that lens, for a lot of reasons. Now the aperture has two distinct effects on your photograph- first, the exposure (obviously) but also depth of field, which is how much of your photo is in focus. A large aperture gives you a shallower depth of field, if you want an in focus subject and a blurry background, and conversely, a smaller aperture is good when you want everything in front of the camera in focus. Prime lenses (fixed focal length, no zoom, likethe 50 f1.7), usually offer very wide max apertuers offering a lot of creative freedom, and generally are a lot sharper than most zooms. I've got a 50 1.4, but it's a lot more money than a 1.7 (like 3 - 4x as much), and it's one of my favorites. I'm dying to get my hands on a 135 f1.8, but man, that's some seriou $$...

ISO is quite simple- in the film days it was used to describe hte sensitivity of the film to light. A higher iso film exposes faster, so you can use faster shutter speeds, smaller apertures, or a little of both, and get a properly exposed photo. On the digital camera, it's like cranking up the gain on an amplifier. So, generally, always used the lowest iso that gives you a proper exposure w/ the F-stop and shutter speed in a reasonable range. As you run the iso up, you aslo crank up the noise (grain, kind of looks like static on an old tv)...

So, experiment- find a subject (anything, empty soda can, whatever) and try a few shots- Aperture priortity mode is an easy place to start, and shoot it at wide opne (whatever that is on your lens), and stopped dwon to F16- note the differences. Try some at iso100, thne iso1600, and everything in between. The only way to learn when to use what setting is to try them out, over and over again, until you get a 'feel' for what works in what situations.

I think I ended up writing far more than I had originally intended, but I hope I helped anyway...

Happy shooting, and welcome to the club-

BM

[pisco]

I had the kit lens for 1.5 years, took great pictures with it. So, just go ahead and take pictures.
The A100 is noisy at and above ISO 400 (I say noisier, all cameras from 06 have noise above ISO 400). So try to use only 100 & 200
If you want more leneses, buy a beercan (Minolta 75-210 f/4) on ebay (they might be cheap now because of Circuit city selling the equivalent G lens at around $ 460).
And post your pictures.

[NoKnees]

I'll second Canuck book recommendation. Friedman knows his stuff, and explains it in ways you can understand quickly.. Great place to start.

And that camera will treat you just fine as you are learning... The kit lens will do "okay" for you as you get used to learning the camera.

As for ISO, try to avoid anything higher than 400... 100 and 200 are best, 400 is okay, 800+ will start to see a pretty notable loss in image quality (grainy looking).

Lastly, get out and shoot! If you find one photo looks better than another, check the camera settings to see what was used. You'll see a pattern on what good settings are, and what are not. Find a subject, and take multiple shots playing with the settings... Just delete the bad shots, and remember what makes the good shots work... That's the best part of shooting with digital... Instant feedback.

[emooreart]

Great camera choice!

As for settings I'd start with:
ISO 400
Dial set to S (shutter)
Play with different shutter speeds until you find your groove.

The kit lens is ok. The a100 uses Minolta Maxxum lenses. You can get them used for cheap and they are great! I recommend the minolta 35-105mm (also known as the beer can) to start. You can get it for around 50 bucks. Here is a site I live by for lens reviews and info

www.dyxum.com