A6000 + Zeiss Touit 1.8/32 and Sonnar 1.8/55 (model shoot pics)

José B · May 6, 2014

Finally got some nice weather here and did a photoshoot by the lake. Took some fitness shots too including some with the model running fast towards me. I've prepared for the latter as I even had it pre-programmed under one of my memory settings. My settings are: AF-C, high bursts, f/2.2 aperture using flexible spot center point right on model's middle section, AF tracking on. I'm happy with the results considering that I had zero success when I tried this with the NEX-6 prior to the latest firmware upgrade. I still got a few out of focus shots but definitely not bad for a mirrorless camera. It's nowhere close to the performance of my Canon 1DMKIII but then again it is less bulkier than the Canon.

Having said the above, overall, I am ecstatic about how fast the A6000 focuses. Unless I plan to shoot sports again, I am considering trading off the rest of my DSLR equipment. More or less I've replicated my Canon DSLR gear with little compromise at a smaller package to boot! I'm just waiting for that Zeiss 85/1.8 to complete my lens lineup.

Here are the ones I have processed so far:

http://www.pbase.com/jmb_56/a6000_nikki

As always, I welcome all comments.

Cheers,

José

D Cox · May 7, 2014

Expensive teeth.

José B · May 7, 2014

D Cox said:
Expensive teeth.

Slynky · May 7, 2014

I like the third one the best. For some reason, the head looks too big in the second one--as if some fore-shortening occurred but that shouldn't be happening with those lenses. Color looks nice and sharpness fine.

José B · May 7, 2014

Slynky said:
I like the third one the best. For some reason, the head looks too big in the second one--as if some fore-shortening occurred but that shouldn't be happening with those lenses. Color looks nice and sharpness fine.

José B · May 7, 2014

It's been awhile since I attempted the shallow depth of field portrait with the two eyes in focus only like the one in here.

I tried doing it with the Sonnar 55. I even had it programmed as one of the memory settings----to shoot DMF (last picture). In a lot of cases with my other cameras I can only get one eye in focus. I think I need to look at my DOF calc on my iphone. I need to bracket distance and aperture as well, definitely more practice. Plus I think the model's face needs to be squared on to the camera not tilted. Having said that, I still like the results.

gary stepic · May 7, 2014

Nice shots. Your thinking may be similar to mine. Over the years I have shot a ton of sports and had fun, but economically it was not worth my time. I made some money as well as making some money shooting events, portraits, and weddings.

Now I want to concentrate more on travel blog type photography with the hope of being able to produce some nice landscape prints. Now that I sold all my Nikon gear I seem to be getting a ton of opportunities to shoot weddings and events (will always have opportunities for portraits). My RX10 can do the job (keep in mind I am not really going after this type of business). I was one of the sports photographers for the University of New Mexico and pretty much made up my mind to give it all up to keep life simple. I probably would have been very content to just use the RX10. But when the a6000 came out I thought I may be able to have my cake and eat it too - having a light, small mirrorles system that actually can be used for sports.

So looks like we both will have our eye on the 70-200 4.0 FE lens (maybe you have already purchased it). Not as fast as our dslr 2.8s but it seems like we can up the iso with the a6000 without a read hit in quality to make up for the lens speed difference.

Gary

José B · May 7, 2014

Love the cropping power of this lens and the camera

José B · May 7, 2014

gary stepic said:
Nice shots. Your thinking may be similar to mine. Over the years I have shot a ton of sports and had fun, but economically it was not worth my time. I made some money as well as making some money shooting events, portraits, and weddings.

Now I want to concentrate more on travel blog type photography with the hope of being able to produce some nice landscape prints. Now that I sold all my Nikon gear I seem to be getting a ton of opportunities to shoot weddings and events (will always have opportunities for portraits). My RX10 can do the job (keep in mind I am not really going after this type of business). I was one of the sports photographers for the University of New Mexico and pretty much made up my mind to give it all up to keep life simple. I probably would have been very content to just use the RX10. But when the a6000 came out I thought I may be able to have my cake and eat it too - having a light, small mirrorles system that actually can be used for sports.

So looks like we both will have our eye on the 70-200 4.0 FE lens (maybe you have already purchased it). Not as fast as our dslr 2.8s but it seems like we can up the iso with the a6000 without a read hit in quality to make up for the lens speed difference.

Gary

gary stepic · May 7, 2014

In my case may not have a choice. I have a friend that runs an organization that trains student athletes and she wants me to take sports photos for the parents and kids. I already sold all my dslr stuff so I would have to make do with the 70-200 Sony. Agreed, it does not look like it would be balanced very well.

I will be curious how fast the 16-70 tracks action. For basketball games when I am right under the basket I liked the long end of that range. I would use the 24-120 on my D7100 and felt like it was perfect for under the basket shots, the 70-200 was often too tight.

Gary

V1V1D · May 7, 2014

gary stepic said:
In my case may not have a choice. I have a friend that runs an organization that trains student athletes and she wants me to take sports photos for the parents and kids. I already sold all my dslr stuff so I would have to make do with the 70-200 Sony. Agreed, it does not look like it would be balanced very well.

I will be curious how fast the 16-70 tracks action. For basketball games when I am right under the basket I liked the long end of that range. I would use the 24-120 on my D7100 and felt like it was perfect for under the basket shots, the 70-200 was often too tight.

Gary

--
http://www.garystepicphotography.com
http://www.garystepicenterprises.com

The sel 55-210 is a light option although not a fast one. Under the right lighting conditions it holds up pretty well.

José B · May 7, 2014

gary stepic said:
In my case may not have a choice. I have a friend that runs an organization that trains student athletes and she wants me to take sports photos for the parents and kids. I already sold all my dslr stuff so I would have to make do with the 70-200 Sony. Agreed, it does not look like it would be balanced very well.

I will be curious how fast the 16-70 tracks action. For basketball games when I am right under the basket I liked the long end of that range. I would use the 24-120 on my D7100 and felt like it was perfect for under the basket shots, the 70-200 was often too tight.

Gary

--
http://www.garystepicphotography.com
http://www.garystepicenterprises.com

Hi Gary,

Yes if that is the case then I would also go for a 70-200/4 G. I haven't used my 16-70/4 for action yet but I am very confident it will track your subject(s) well.

How is the lighting in the arena? I've shot in an NBA arena before and f/2.8 is pretty good but for dimly lit gyms you might have to hike up the ISO to 6400. I have yet to shoot my A6000 at that level.

José

gary stepic · May 7, 2014

Jose,

For my college games I was able to use 2.8, 500 shutter speed, and 1600 iso. Using 4.0 would mean a higher iso, but still very good results and my guess is the a6000 would do fine up to 3200 iso.

I agree in some high school gyms, which is where my efforts in the future would be, I would have some problems. But in high school gyms I could use flash or strobes and I do have an Einstein I could use. I am not going to chase after this business, but would like to get the job done for the right opportunities.

Gary

José B · May 8, 2014

José B · May 8, 2014

José B · May 8, 2014

It seems that the subject coming at me results are lens specific. The Sonnar performed better than the Touit in this regard. In this sequence, I chose 11 fps bursts (from frame 907 to 934). I don't want to put a lot of pictures here and on pbase so I will make it every 5 frames. Other than opening frame 907 and last frame 934, I cropped the images. Once again, the aperture is set at f/2.2, flexible spot focus starting on subject's waist, AFS-C and AF tracking on. BTW, my model wasn't merely jogging, she was running as fast as she could.

Here are the shots:

mailman88 · May 8, 2014

....Jose B.

A big fan of Jose and I don't own the gear. Each forum has a master, here its Jose. We can learn a lot from this guy. His pics have energy and style, I like that. Great Job Jose....

José B · May 9, 2014

mailman88 said:
....Jose B.

A big fan of Jose and I don't own the gear. Each forum has a master, here its Jose. We can learn a lot from this guy. His pics have energy and style, I like that. Great Job Jose....

Hi mailman88, great seeing you here on this forum! Thanks for the very kind words. In the past few years I've been fortunate to work with talented and gorgeous women and their beautiful expressions and poses.

Best regards and happy clicking,

José

José B · May 9, 2014

José B · May 9, 2014

A6000 + Zeiss Touit 1.8/32 and Sonnar 1.8/55 (model shoot pics)

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