Comparison 2.1 Sony/S2 Pro

[Swampy]

Comments please? Is the S2 photo something indicative to the particular lens I'm using (Nikkor 24-120mm)? I'm hunting for a new lens as we speak. No one had what I wanted in stock locally, so I'm ordering on the web this evening.

I took a previous picture (hand held camera even) of a humming bird, cropped, but not enlarged or modified in another way, and took another picture (on a tripod) with my S2 this morning of a humming bird, cropped and not modified as well and put them up here:

http://theswampbbs.com/S2/compare.htm

I'm just wondering if this particular lens won't get any sharper than this. I spent hours and countless shots manually focusing shot after shot until I found one where the area that the humming bird is on was as sharp as I could get it. The focus dot was solid or at least blinking in every test shot.

I've also tripodded the S2 and with continuous focus on, I shot 7 quick shots and ended up with what seemed like 7 different focus points, minor as they were. I am still in search of the cleaner shot than my old Sony 2.1 produced. Still learning every day and pictures are getting sharper every day, but I think I'm at the point where I'm expecting too much from an inexpensive lens (3/4 of the cost of the Sony camera!!). Anyway, I'm guessing it's the lense and slightly bad exposure on my part. The Sony picture is by far not the sharpest I've taken with it either, just a similar shot is all.

I did take a satisfing shot of a strangely lit up building the other night, which can be seen in full res at http://theswampbbs.com/s2/pics (which I'll also take comments on too!:))

Bryan

[memobug]

I can't make much from a photo taken at night vs. one taken during the day with different cameras.

I think you will see much better performance when you get a decent lens on that S2. I tried a 24-120 on my D1 and after seeing what the 80-200 looked like, I dumped it in the closet. I have never tried it on my S2.

Regards,

Matt

[Swampy]

Originally posted by memobug
I can't make much from a photo taken at night vs. one taken during the day with different cameras.

I think you will see much better performance when you get a decent lens on that S2. I tried a 24-120 on my D1 and after seeing what the 80-200 looked like, I dumped it in the closet. I have never tried it on my S2.


That's what I was thinking. Few more days and I'll be trying the Sigma 24-70mm 2.8. Hopefully that one will be better. We'll see what 350 bucks and a better aperture will do for me.

Thanks for the comment!

Bryan

[memobug]

I saw this s2pro bird on another forum. No idea what lens this was...

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1014&message=4107661

[Ron Green]

Humming birds are among nature's most difficult subjects, particularly when moving. Auto-flash is not the best solution. I always try to get them to settle down and hold still. Here's a recent S2 image.

[Swampy]

Originally posted by Ron Green
Humming birds are among nature's most difficult subjects, particularly when moving. Auto-flash is not the best solution. I always try to get them to settle down and hold still. Here's a recent S2 image.

There wasn't much else I could do with the Sony camera but use auto. It was dim out so I also had to use the flash on that top picture. I think besides the wings benig cut off, it was a great picture for clarity under those conditions. The second shot with the S2 was with them settled down and no flash. Although I like to catch them mid-air in a hover. My ultimate goal will be to get 2 or 3 of them, mid-air, fighting with each other, which happens all day long since we have so many of them and they're so territorial.

Nice shot, what lense did you use for that? Funny, you're from Portland, my Uncle and twin cousins are showing up at my house this afternoon from Hillsboro.

Thanks,

Bryan

[Swampy]

Originally posted by memobug
I can't make much from a photo taken at night vs. one taken during the day with different cameras.

I think you will see much better performance when you get a decent lens on that S2. I tried a 24-120 on my D1 and after seeing what the 80-200 looked like, I dumped it in the closet. I have never tried it on my S2.

Regards,

Matt

Ok, Finally ordered the Sigma 24-70mm 2.8 lens this morning. I should get it Wednesday. The problems I was having with sharpness are gone now that my buddy at work finally brought in a different lens. So I took 2 pictures, one with the 24-120mm Nikkor and one with a Nikkor 80-200mm f2.8. Both are fairly similar positions, and of exactly the same object and exactly the same camera settings. I'm a happy guy with the clarity of the 80-200mm. REAL happy. Can't wait to get the Sigma in to try out.

Let's see if I can post a couple of samples from the test shoot above...Remember, I just turned to somthing in my office and shot real quick. Top shot was the 24-120mm. No editing was done to these except cropping. the 24-120 was much darker and with the 80-200mm, you can see the sparkle on the plastic and is sharper. This is a cropped picture of my Sony UD-PR100 dye sub printer. Actually, it's my boss's, but it's in MY Office. :)