[Peter E]

I am in the process of buying a new cam and I am very interested on the Sony ALT-A58K, as my son on law bought one for their holidays in Mexico and the results are stunning.
Being an SLR/Bridge cam hybrid with interchangable lenses, this would be quite a step up from my Fujipix S4300,
The thing that bothers me a bit, as a novice, is that my Fuji has 24X Optical Zoom, whereas the Sony uses an 18 - 55mm lens as standard, as far as I can gather this is equal to about 3.1 Optical Zoom, which seems tiny by comparison. It's difficult to visualise in real terms, just how much zoom value one is using under normal conditions, but Sony say that it is fine for most normal situations! Is that correct? can anyone advise me please.
The sort of photography I am involved with is holiday type, ie., scenery stuff, people, maybe visiting historical towns and buildings etc., and more recently the studio model photography I have become involved with. I play around with the zoom control a lot but only to the extent of framing a shot, or getting a bit closer, what value would I be likely to be using?. I only used really long shots now and again for the fun of zooming into something a long way off, like when I was up a mountain in France and wanted to Zoom in on the river, or the road, miles down!
Any one got any thoughts on this, and has anyone here got a Sony SLT - A58 to tell me about their experiences with?
I would love to here from you.

[EdMak]

Does the Fuji indicate your Zoom length, if so, take pics restricting to Sony spec, there is a big difference. Obviously buying another lens for Sony would "cure" this, but not to the 24 times extent. Also raises overall costs. You may find the Sony a bit restrictive, in terms of zoom comparison. Is there a shop near you where you could evaluate it. Welcome. Ed.

[Barbara G.]

Hello,

Welcome to the forums! It is nice to meet you and please make yourself at home here. Others will be along to help you with your questions who have more experience in the area you are searching for. Would love to see some of your work sometime!

[Peter E]

Hello,

Welcome to the forums! It is nice to meet you and please make yourself at home here. Others will be along to help you with your questions who have more experience in the area you are searching for. Would love to see some of your work sometime!

Thanks Barbara, nice to be here.
Peter.

[Peter E]

Does the Fuji indicate your Zoom length, if so, take pics restricting to Sony spec, there is a big difference. Obviously buying another lens for Sony would "cure" this, but not to the 24 times extent. Also raises overall costs. You may find the Sony a bit restrictive, in terms of zoom comparison. Is there a shop near you where you could evaluate it. Welcome. Ed.

Hi Ed,
I did answer this message under the other posting, about being new here. Posted this message twice, as this heading was missing first time. Now I get replies to both, and in your case it's appeared on both!
Being new to the workings of this forum, I haven't really found my way round it yet. Strange but although I can find the first posting again easily, the only way I can find this one is by going in through e-mail notification. Very odd!!
Peter.

[Barbara G.]

Peter,

If you need to find your posts, click on your name and then you will see an option to view all posts or all threads created for you. This should help you out on looking for replies to your posts or threads created.

[Peter E]

Peter,

If you need to find your posts, click on your name and then you will see an option to view all posts or all threads created for you. This should help you out on looking for replies to your posts or threads created.

Thanks Barbara, Great information. I will find my way all round this eventually!!

I tried looking at the galleries to see others work and, whilst I did get a selection of examples to go into (which seemed to refresh every time I went in and out of the page), My attempts to find some sorting of listings to search through if, for example you wanted to view a particular persons albums, gave me no luck at all.
I did find the boxes at the top left, where you can look at your own favourites Etc., and there did seem to be a gategory for searching but, and maybe I was doing something wrong, it seemed to go nowhere, and certainly not into a general album listig, as I had hoped.

Peter.

[Barbara G.]

Peter, if you will click on User Galleries, it will take you to a list of each user's photo albums. Is this what you are looking for?

Here is the link:

http://www.shuttertalk.com/gallery/index.php?cat=1

[Peter E]

Peter, if you will click on User Galleries, it will take you to a list of each user's photo albums. Is this what you are looking for?

Here is the link:

http://www.shuttertalk.com/gallery/index.php?cat=1

Hi Barbara,
Thanks for sending me that info. I had already discovered that if you go into gallery you get the thumbnails that you can click onto to view all the pics (This random selection changes each time you go in and out of gallery) but what I am trying to fathom out is an easy was to view a particular persons work, without hoping it just comes up by chance in that random selection.

For example, if you had an album on there and I wanted to go directly to it. How would I do it?

There is a click on, at the top of the page marked 'search' but it doesn't seem to supply that answer! I tried several times to type in people that I new had an album, from the selections below (Like say photokev). I new he had an album because I could click on it from the thumbnail, but the search box just told me 'no image to display' each time!! very strange!! I even tried filling in the search criteria, made no difference.

So tell me what I am doing wrong, please.

Peter.

[Barbara G.]

Peter,

Go the Gallery - choose User Galleries

   

Click on the user's name you would like to view

   

Click on the album you would like to view of that person

   

   

[a_orme]

I am in the process of buying a new cam and I am very interested on the Sony ALT-A58K, as my son on law bought one for their holidays in Mexico and the results are stunning.
Being an SLR/Bridge cam hybrid with interchangable lenses, this would be quite a step up from my Fujipix S4300,
The thing that bothers me a bit, as a novice, is that my Fuji has 24X Optical Zoom, whereas the Sony uses an 18 - 55mm lens as standard, as far as I can gather this is equal to about 3.1 Optical Zoom, which seems tiny by comparison. It's difficult to visualise in real terms, just how much zoom value one is using under normal conditions, but Sony say that it is fine for most normal situations! Is that correct? can anyone advise me please.
The sort of photography I am involved with is holiday type, ie., scenery stuff, people, maybe visiting historical towns and buildings etc., and more recently the studio model photography I have become involved with. I play around with the zoom control a lot but only to the extent of framing a shot, or getting a bit closer, what value would I be likely to be using?. I only used really long shots now and again for the fun of zooming into something a long way off, like when I was up a mountain in France and wanted to Zoom in on the river, or the road, miles down!
Any one got any thoughts on this, and has anyone here got a Sony SLT - A58 to tell me about their experiences with?
I would love to here from you.

hi-peter
I have just purchased a sony a58 slt but still have my sony hx200v bridge camera and found out very quickly the two do not meet.as far as I have found out with trail and error, relying on the auto system on the a58 is ok but using the -a-setting can give you better results in quality.If you want an alround lens the sony dt 55-200 has given me some good results but then so has the dt 18-55.Using the -a-setting allows you to alter settings with the fn button.if you want I can send you some settings to try.regards andy

[a_orme]

hi-peter
I have just purchased a sony a58 slt but still have my sony hx200v bridge camera and found out very quickly the two do not meet.as far as I have found out with trail and error, relying on the auto system on the a58 is ok but using the -a-setting can give you better results in quality.If you want an alround lens the sony dt 55-200 has given me some good results but then so has the dt 18-55.Using the -a-setting allows you to alter settings with the fn button.if you want I can send you some settings to try.regards andy

[Peter E]

Peter,

Go the Gallery - choose User Galleries



Click on the user's name you would like to view



Click on the album you would like to view of that person

[Peter E]

Peter,

Go the Gallery - choose User Galleries



Click on the user's name you would like to view



Click on the album you would like to view of that person

Hi Barbara
Thanks for that very explicit instruction. No probs using that now.

Peter.

[Peter E]

hi-peter
I have just purchased a sony a58 slt but still have my sony hx200v bridge camera and found out very quickly the two do not meet.as far as I have found out with trail and error, relying on the auto system on the a58 is ok but using the -a-setting can give you better results in quality.If you want an alround lens the sony dt 55-200 has given me some good results but then so has the dt 18-55.Using the -a-setting allows you to alter settings with the fn button.if you want I can send you some settings to try.regards andy

Hi Andy,
Thanks for your reply I have got the A58 now, Complete with the standard (18 - 55)
What a lovely camera! The results I have had so far, are fantastic, quite stunning. I have downloaded the full manual but it will take me some time (as a beginner) to get to grips with all those settings, and its capabilities.
I haven't really got involved yet in the settings you mention so, yes please, any advice would be grateful. It's a bit daunting for a novice like me to sort out what settings, and for what uses. My supposition would have been that the camera would know for itself the absolute optimum settings for the Scene, shot, light, movement etc. It would be good to know where this logic falls down, as per what you said earlier.
I did notice that it's AF is so pin sharp that I can't really seem to better it by using manual focus.
My tendency is to use the Yellow superior auto plus, over the green intelligent auto, just because it sounds as though it aught to be better! but it begs the question why have the intelligent auto if you have one step up to use? guess I am probably not understanding under what circumstances you would use one instead of the other. there seems no explanation of that fact! I am not sure I can see much difference in the same shot, using both settings to compare. Superior auto plus says, to quote 'The device beautifully shoots automatically while reducing blurring and noise' but I don't notice any blurring and noise bars on the intelligent auto setting either, which just reinforces what I was saying, why have both if the second does exactly the same job only supposedly better. ie. no point in having the first.
There is a lot about this I just don't understand yet. It's a blessing to have joined a community like this, you guys really know what you are talking about, and it's a heck of a complex subject to wade through, and learn on your own.

Peter.

[a_orme]

[quote='a_orme' pid='89598' dateline='1380571743']
hi-peter
I have just purchased a sony a58 slt but still have my sony hx200v bridge camera and found out very quickly the two do not meet.as far as I have found out with trail and error, relying on the auto system on the a58 is ok but using the -a-setting can give you better results in quality.If you want an alround lens the sony dt 55-200 has given me some good results but then so has the dt 18-55.Using the -a-setting allows you to alter settings with the fn button.if you want I can send you some settings to try.regards andy

Hi Andy,
Thanks for your reply I have got the A58 now, Complete with the standard (18 - 55)
What a lovely camera! The results I have had so far, are fantastic, quite stunning. I have downloaded the full manual but it will take me some time (as a beginner) to get to grips with all those settings, and its capabilities.
I haven't really got involved yet in the settings you mention so, yes please, any advice would be grateful. It's a bit daunting for a novice like me to sort out what settings, and for what uses. My supposition would have been that the camera would know for itself the absolute optimum settings for the Scene, shot, light, movement etc. It would be good to know where this logic falls down, as per what you said earlier.
I did notice that it's AF is so pin sharp that I can't really seem to better it by using manual focus.
My tendency is to use the Yellow superior auto plus, over the green intelligent auto, just because it sounds as though it aught to be better! but it begs the question why have the intelligent auto if you have one step up to use? guess I am probably not understanding under what circumstances you would use one instead of the other. there seems no explanation of that fact! I am not sure I can see much difference in the same shot, using both settings to compare. Superior auto plus says, to quote 'The device beautifully shoots automatically while reducing blurring and noise' but I don't notice any blurring and noise bars on the intelligent auto setting either, which just reinforces what I was saying, why have both if the second does exactly the same job only supposedly better. ie. no point in having the first.
There is a lot about this I just don't understand yet. It's a blessing to have joined a community like this, you guys really know what you are talking about, and it's a heck of a complex subject to wade through, and learn on your own.

Peter.
hi-pete
Know how you feel -I am a novice to-now -the auto settings-ie the green gives you a standard shot-the yellow includes depth of field and hdr plus a little more colour depth- also will take up to 3 pics if required auto and sorts out the best.As for the af-yes it is good-but in any of the auto modes it is auto-which you may be ok with at the moment but will soon see that being able to alter this setting alone can make some difference.Also the reason you may not have noticed any change in manual focus could be you did not turn on -peaking level-this is in your main menu-turn it on -set to high-then pick a colour-I have red-now -if you put your lens to mf -turn the focus ring on the front of your lens-when the object glows red your focus is spot on.what I noticed in auto mode -when zooming in to the pic I took some areas were not as sharp -this is on the pc-so I used mf-this was a little better-now set your control button to -p-/go into fn-set dro to lv2.then set creative style to-vivid-contrast +1-sat to +1 sharp to +2 and give it a go.Andy

[a_orme]

Peter.
hi-pete
Know how you feel -I am a novice to-now -the auto settings-ie the green gives you a standard shot-the yellow includes depth of field and hdr plus a little more colour depth- also will take up to 3 pics if required auto and sorts out the best.As for the af-yes it is good-but in any of the auto modes it is auto-which you may be ok with at the moment but will soon see that being able to alter this setting alone can make some difference.Also the reason you may not have noticed any change in manual focus could be you did not turn on -peaking level-this is in your main menu-turn it on -set to high-then pick a colour-I have red-now -if you put your lens to mf -turn the focus ring on the front of your lens-when the object glows red your focus is spot on.what I noticed in auto mode -when zooming in to the pic I took some areas were not as sharp -this is on the pc-so I used mf-this was a little better-now set your control button to -p-/go into fn-set dro to lv2.then set creative style to-vivid-contrast +1-sat to +1 sharp to +2 and give it a go.Andy

[a_orme]

Also pete try this setting with lens set in af upload photos to pc and compare-hope this is not to much all at once

[Peter E]

Also pete try this setting with lens set in af upload photos to pc and compare-hope this is not to much all at once

Wow quite a bit to think about there Andy! not sure I understand everything you said in the last bit, ie. the seemingly complex -P settings. (mainly because of the abbreviations) but I am sure I will fathom it out.
Thing that worries me a bit, Is it possible that I could mess it all up and find my auto pics are no longer as good as they are now! Hope you can understand that worry? I know you will say that I can always set things back to where they were, but not always easy to remember what that was.
Is there a control somewhere to revert everything to default settings? Or does intelligent auto or superior auto override the other settings. In other words do the settings you make in -P only apply to P or do they alter intelligent auto shoot settings. Hope you see what I am getting at, I don't want to do anything to mess up what I have got so far.

I too found that focusing in on landscape, is nowhere near as good as the localised pics, especially if the Auto focus just clips something nearer! I guess that could be improved with MF. and also Zooming lacks the same sharpness as closer stuff. Only to be expected normally from Zoom, but after all an 18 - 55 mm lens is only giving you a maximum of 3.1 X optical Zoom, so I would have expected pin sharp results.

When my son in law showed me his A58 (which made me buy one) he was going on about wanting a telephoto lens because when he tried to take a shot some distance away the results where, as he put it, blurry. I think I know what he means now, but I am confused. I would have expected the Optical Zoom factor to restrict what magnification he could get only, and any distance shots to be sharp to infinity, like on any fixed focus cam. Doesn't seem to be the case though. Have you any idea why that is?

Would any of these problems be overcome by fitting a wide angle lens Like f 1.8?
My fuji with it's 26X Zoom is fitted with a wide angle zoom lens, which, of course gives me a much wider angle of shot, hence a bigger picture near to, but does seem to be in focus quite some distance away too and, when I zoom in on something like my car a long way off, the results are very clear. The close in shots on the fuji however, whilst still very good, are far outclassed by the Sony.

Pete.

[a_orme]

hi-pete
1- your auto settings remain the same no matter what you do with the other settings,thats the first thing
2- the lens that you have is a wide angle in the terms of 18-55.put it this way-if you are short sighted you can see things close up the further away they are the more blurry they become,long sighted not as clear close becoming better the further away.So it you want to take pics of objects further away to get them closer-telephoto lens is needed-but of course no lens or eyes will reach infinity.So if you want to take landscapes,nature,macro or lets say everyday shots the lens you have is good.If you want to take shots of airplanes flying ,birds flying,the moon anything that is far away-then a telephoto lens is needed.Your Fuji is a 26xoptical zoom and picks the best of both worlds with mimimium fuss for you-but you suffer with slower shutter speed when you need it fast and less range of adjustments.i also have a sony hx 200 v 30xoptical zoom with a carl zeiss lens and it takes brill pics so will not part with it and in some cases it is hard to tell the difference in pic quality.BUT I must say I can see better colour,and sharpness and the reason to get any slt is to create better photos and be able to use the manual side to create this but it takes time.
Anyway back to basics another issue is the quality of the lens makes a big difference -a poor lens may bring your object closer but the quality is poor -how you set up your camera for the shot is what matters.Also if you use digital zoom will not help the outcome.If you do not want to use different lenses you can get an allrounder lens of say 18-270 or 18-200.this will give you around 17-20 optical zoom you can even go further than this.You have an 18-55 so you could get an 55-200 lens if you don't mind changing lens.i agree with what you said about the auto focus on landscapes and the zooming this I found to be because of multipoint focus in auto mode and it cannot be changed so.
1- set mode dial to P [this sets the aperture and shutter speed for you

2-press the Fn button

3-select AF AREA

4-Set to SPOT

5-Press FN

6-Select ISO

7-Select AUTO

8- Fn again

9-select DRO

10-Select Lv2

11 fn

12-Select -Creative style
set to -vivid
set contrast to +1 saturation to +1 Sharpness to +2

just try these settings and see how you go it you feel they are to dark adjust the iso with the button next to the on switch
Also check in your menu settings the QUALITY is set to fine-Andy

ps.not wishing to be rude but how old are you pete I have reason to ask-because I am 67

[Peter E]

hi-pete
1- your auto settings remain the same no matter what you do with the other settings,thats the first thing
2- the lens that you have is a wide angle in the terms of 18-55.put it this way-if you are short sighted you can see things close up the further away they are the more blurry they become,long sighted not as clear close becoming better the further away.So it you want to take pics of objects further away to get them closer-telephoto lens is needed-but of course no lens or eyes will reach infinity.So if you want to take landscapes,nature,macro or lets say everyday shots the lens you have is good.If you want to take shots of airplanes flying ,birds flying,the moon anything that is far away-then a telephoto lens is needed.Your Fuji is a 26xoptical zoom and picks the best of both worlds with mimimium fuss for you-but you suffer with slower shutter speed when you need it fast and less range of adjustments.i also have a sony hx 200 v 30xoptical zoom with a carl zeiss lens and it takes brill pics so will not part with it and in some cases it is hard to tell the difference in pic quality.BUT I must say I can see better colour,and sharpness and the reason to get any slt is to create better photos and be able to use the manual side to create this but it takes time.
Anyway back to basics another issue is the quality of the lens makes a big difference -a poor lens may bring your object closer but the quality is poor -how you set up your camera for the shot is what matters.Also if you use digital zoom will not help the outcome.If you do not want to use different lenses you can get an allrounder lens of say 18-270 or 18-200.this will give you around 17-20 optical zoom you can even go further than this.You have an 18-55 so you could get an 55-200 lens if you don't mind changing lens.i agree with what you said about the auto focus on landscapes and the zooming this I found to be because of multipoint focus in auto mode and it cannot be changed so.
1- set mode dial to P [this sets the aperture and shutter speed for you

2-press the Fn button

3-select AF AREA

4-Set to SPOT

5-Press FN

6-Select ISO

7-Select AUTO

8- Fn again

9-select DRO

10-Select Lv2

11 fn

12-Select -Creative style
set to -vivid
set contrast to +1 saturation to +1 Sharpness to +2

just try these settings and see how you go it you feel they are to dark adjust the iso with the button next to the on switch
Also check in your menu settings the QUALITY is set to fine-Andy

ps.not wishing to be rude but how old are you pete I have reason to ask-because I am 67

Hi Andy,
Thanks for all that info. Kind of you to go to that much trouble.

To answer your last question first, I just turned 70 last Thursday. The A85 was an extravagant birthday present to myself!

I hear everything you say about lenses and, cash restricting as a major factor,and common sense as another, I intend to stick with, and thoroughly explore the 18-55 for the time being. Any upgrade can come after I have thoroughly explored and used this lens. Then I will be able to evaluate what benefits I am truly experiencing with any upgrade.

Now I followed your instruction to the letter regarding setting the manual focus to best advantage. The red glow is a wonderful innovation, and is truly spot on.
I did as you said and took exactly the same indoor shot in my lounge using first the MF and then again with AF (both with flash) The difference is unbelievable on close examination, when I have them both side by side on my laptop, especially noticeable if you blow the pic up and compare individual parts, quite remarkable actually. I seriously doubt if I shall use AF much more now.

I haven't, as yet altered any of the fn settings. but I did select -P and press the fn button but I couldn't see anything on the list that corresponded with your abbreviations. Now that you have clarified that for me I will try as you suggest, when I get a bit of spare time to experiment! I do know, by the way that my ISO is already set to AUTO by default. The screen keeps telling me so for one thing. I did set my Quality to FINE already.
Also why do you recommend setting the AF to spot, is this to avoid the AF from accidentally latching onto anything closer. I intend to use MF in the future so maybe this is not really an issue?

Presumably I will have to just use the P mode (with the cam selecting optimum aperture and shutter speed for itself) to benefit from the settings you suggest, like high contrast, sharpness and vivid creative style, made to fn.
Do you recommend this revised P mode to be the one to normally use to best advantage? put your self back a few years into my novice state, and imagine how my mind is trying to take all this in!

I am relieved to hear you say that any setting to fn will be overridden by auto use.
Actually when I read again what I had posted to you regarding that very point I realised that I hadn't put that point as well as I first thought.
I did realise that settings in the -P mode would probably only apply to the P mode but it was the fn button use I was so concerned about, as I got it into my head that fn settings were probably basic camera settings that might well govern the intelligent Auto modes too, and everything else. That was what I was trying to ask. However it seems that worry is groundless if I am understanding you correctly.
Incidentally when you originally mentioned this and offered to send me trial settings, I notice you called them -A settings, which I thought you meant aperture priority settings, as in that mode on the dial, but when you came back you were calling them -P settings? Just puzzled me a bit there and I had intended to ask you about that in the last memo.

Cheers for now Andy, and thanks for all your help.
By the way , whereabouts are you in this big wide world. I am in Surrey.

Pete.

[a_orme]

hi-pete
1- your auto settings remain the same no matter what you do with the other settings,thats the first thing
2- the lens that you have is a wide angle in the terms of 18-55.put it this way-if you are short sighted you can see things close up the further away they are the more blurry they become,long sighted not as clear close becoming better the further away.So it you want to take pics of objects further away to get them closer-telephoto lens is needed-but of course no lens or eyes will reach infinity.So if you want to take landscapes,nature,macro or lets say everyday shots the lens you have is good.If you want to take shots of airplanes flying ,birds flying,the moon anything that is far away-then a telephoto lens is needed.Your Fuji is a 26xoptical zoom and picks the best of both worlds with mimimium fuss for you-but you suffer with slower shutter speed when you need it fast and less range of adjustments.i also have a sony hx 200 v 30xoptical zoom with a carl zeiss lens and it takes brill pics so will not part with it and in some cases it is hard to tell the difference in pic quality.BUT I must say I can see better colour,and sharpness and the reason to get any slt is to create better photos and be able to use the manual side to create this but it takes time.
Anyway back to basics another issue is the quality of the lens makes a big difference -a poor lens may bring your object closer but the quality is poor -how you set up your camera for the shot is what matters.Also if you use digital zoom will not help the outcome.If you do not want to use different lenses you can get an allrounder lens of say 18-270 or 18-200.this will give you around 17-20 optical zoom you can even go further than this.You have an 18-55 so you could get an 55-200 lens if you don't mind changing lens.i agree with what you said about the auto focus on landscapes and the zooming this I found to be because of multipoint focus in auto mode and it cannot be changed so.
1- set mode dial to P [this sets the aperture and shutter speed for you

2-press the Fn button

3-select AF AREA

4-Set to SPOT

5-Press FN

6-Select ISO

7-Select AUTO

8- Fn again

9-select DRO

10-Select Lv2

11 fn

12-Select -Creative style
set to -vivid
set contrast to +1 saturation to +1 Sharpness to +2

just try these settings and see how you go it you feel they are to dark adjust the iso with the button next to the on switch
Also check in your menu settings the QUALITY is set to fine-Andy

ps.not wishing to be rude but how old are you pete I have reason to ask-because I am 67

Hi Andy,
Thanks for all that info. Kind of you to go to that much trouble.

To answer your last question first, I just turned 70 last Thursday. The A85 was an extravagant birthday present to myself!

I hear everything you say about lenses and, cash restricting as a major factor,and common sense as another, I intend to stick with, and thoroughly explore the 18-55 for the time being. Any upgrade can come after I have thoroughly explored and used this lens. Then I will be able to evaluate what benefits I am truly experiencing with any upgrade.

Now I followed your instruction to the letter regarding setting the manual focus to best advantage. The red glow is a wonderful innovation, and is truly spot on.
I did as you said and took exactly the same indoor shot in my lounge using first the MF and then again with AF (both with flash) The difference is unbelievable on close examination, when I have them both side by side on my laptop, especially noticeable if you blow the pic up and compare individual parts, quite remarkable actually. I seriously doubt if I shall use AF much more now.

I haven't, as yet altered any of the fn settings. but I did select -P and press the fn button but I couldn't see anything on the list that corresponded with your abbreviations. Now that you have clarified that for me I will try as you suggest, when I get a bit of spare time to experiment! I do know, by the way that my ISO is already set to AUTO by default. The screen keeps telling me so for one thing. I did set my Quality to FINE already.
Also why do you recommend setting the AF to spot, is this to avoid the AF from accidentally latching onto anything closer. I intend to use MF in the future so maybe this is not really an issue?

Presumably I will have to just use the P mode (with the cam selecting optimum aperture and shutter speed for itself) to benefit from the settings you suggest, like high contrast, sharpness and vivid creative style, made to fn.
Do you recommend this revised P mode to be the one to normally use to best advantage? put your self back a few years into my novice state, and imagine how my mind is trying to take all this in!

I am relieved to hear you say that any setting to fn will be overridden by auto use.
Actually when I read again what I had posted to you regarding that very point I realised that I hadn't put that point as well as I first thought.
I did realise that settings in the -P mode would probably only apply to the P mode but it was the fn button use I was so concerned about, as I got it into my head that fn settings were probably basic camera settings that might well govern the intelligent Auto modes too, and everything else. That was what I was trying to ask. However it seems that worry is groundless if I am understanding you correctly.
Incidentally when you originally mentioned this and offered to send me trial settings, I notice you called them -A settings, which I thought you meant aperture priority settings, as in that mode on the dial, but when you came back you were calling them -P settings? Just puzzled me a bit there and I had intended to ask you about that in the last memo.

Cheers for now Andy, and thanks for all your help.
By the way , whereabouts are you in this big wide world. I am in Surrey.

Pete.

[a_orme]

hi-pete
just got your reply well done on the mf setting and pleased to hear it worked.the reason I went to P setting was to first make it easy for you to not have to bother with aperture and shutter speed and yes well thought through -spot focus prevents you from latching onto undisirables.so for now practise with the settings you have in P mode and altering things like -dro- to auto or +1 or +3 or 5 to see the change.Contrast can be altered more the same with sharpness when you can see what they do you will select your own settings.Next will be iso and -A- settings.Keep it up pete

[Peter E]

hi-pete
just got your reply well done on the mf setting and pleased to hear it worked.the reason I went to P setting was to first make it easy for you to not have to bother with aperture and shutter speed and yes well thought through -spot focus prevents you from latching onto undisirables.so for now practise with the settings you have in P mode and altering things like -dro- to auto or +1 or +3 or 5 to see the change.Contrast can be altered more the same with sharpness when you can see what they do you will select your own settings.Next will be iso and -A- settings.Keep it up pete

Hi Andy,

Thanks for that. I am a bit pushed for time to really play with the cam right now, quite a bit of other things going on at the moment. Playing about with settings like that is something I want to to do when I really have time, and inclination, to concentrate on it, also I would like to to use the cam a bit more as it is, on different types of subject matter, before I change things, in order to really appreciate differences.
Right now the results I am getting, and all thanks to your focusing help, are fantastic, when I get used to these I will try improving them even more as you suggest.

As a completely separate matter, Have you, or anyone you know, had any experience, or issues with cheap Amazon batteries? I want to get a spare battery a.s.a.p. and one from Sony is an arm and a leg job, like £70 plus (ridiculous price for a battery, and I think Sony are taking the Mick!)
The same battery from Amazon, and I don't know if it is refurbished, a copy (which is most likely) or a genuine part, can be got for a fraction of the cost ie. £11 - 13
The natural worry is, are they reliable, not in longevity of use, but on things like voltage output. I imagine it would only take a surge of too higher voltage to have a drastic effect on the cam's delicate micro chips.
What are your thoughts on this? Are they in common use generally by most photographers, after all they do seem a wonderful alternative don't they.
I did buy one from Amazon (also at a fraction of the cost) for my old Panasonic TZ2 pocket cam a while back, which is working the cam to this day. However the Panasonic began to have issues, which seem to be getting worse now! I have no proof that it has anything to do with the replacement battery, but one can't help wondering, especially now with this expensive Sony.

Pete.

[KeithB]

Hi Peter, how are you getting on with the new A58? I can see from the previous posts in this topic that you have certainly been exploring the possibilities.

Further to Andy's comments about autofocus there are a couple of important points to remember. the autofocus on the SLT range of cameras is very fast and accurate, but like all autofocus systems out there it has shortcomings that cannot be overcome no matter how advanced the technology might be. Regardless of which lens you use, autofocus will depending on your focus settings look for an area of distinct contrast under one or all the sensors and autofocus on that and usually, very well even if its the wrong subject. Hence your problems with blurry subjects.

As Andy rightly points out, if you alter your autofocus setting to spot focus, this can go a long way toward solving the problem ( there are other ways). When composing the image, sit the spot sensor (little white rectangle in the centre of the viewfinder) on the subject or part of the subject you want in focus and half press the shutter. If this point is not in the right place in your composition, either hold the shutter half down or press the AE lock button to hold your exposure settings and re-frame the subject before you shoot.

Also remember that your aperture setting has a big influence on focus. If you use a wide aperture, say, f2.8 the depth of field i.e. the area in focus will be much shorter near to far than if you use a small setting like f22 for example. With wider aperture settings, precise focussing is far more critical. The SLT autofocus system is more than capable of coping. Tell it what to focus on and it will!

Rather than using the camera's auto settings I would recommend that you use aperture priority mode ('A' on the mode dial). This allows you to set an aperture of your choosing and the camera will automatically select appropriate shutter speed, white balance and ISO to complement your choice. If you're not familiar with the effect that aperture size has on your images, try taking several pictures of the same subject at different aperture settings (keep the focal length and lighting conditions constant) and compare results. You will then easily understand which settings are going to give the best results for whatever you are shooting.

With regard to your comments about batteries, go for it! The only thing a duff battery will do is stop the camera working. The cameras power supply is regulated internally regardless of what the battery may or may not do. 35 years in the electronics industry tells me I'm on firm ground here! Amazon's return policy is pretty damn good so there is little or no risk involved.

Let me know how you're getting on. Regards
Keith