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NEX3 is finally dialed in, and seeing sunlight!

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zackiedawg

zackiedawg

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I figured out my setting preferences, and got my JPGs all dialed in to my taste so I don't have to post process anything, the kit lens performs surprisingly well, and I've finally had a few weeks of nice sunlight to get out and around with the NEX3 and play with it. I've definitely settled in with settings fairly close to what I had on my A550 - center-weight metering, Vivid mode, saturation -1, and EV set to -2/3 as a default. I like to shoot in P or A priority most of the time. Just a variety of random around-my-town shots I figured I'd share - most shot in the worst time of the day around noonish-2pm - but I worked with shade or angles to cut down the harshness of direct noon sunlight:

My wetlands area for birding - the NEX comes along with my A550 as a second body so I can occasionally snap the landscapes and scenics and let the bird lens stay on the A550:



Some of the birds nest so close to the boardwalk area over the ponds that even the kit 18-55mm can capture some birding action:





Down at the beach, I did a little closeup shooting of a plant sprouting out of the sand - tilt LCD saved my knees the grief:



This beach bike parked along the grass dunes by the beach path had that classic beach photo look to it, so I couldn't resist:



More closeup stuff at 55mm - that kit lens has surprisingly nice blur & bokeh, and nice sharpness and color too when stopped down a bit:







A little lizard hanging out on a mossy cypress log along the intercoastal waterway:



And this is our town's Gumbo Limbo Nature Center - a little marine research and cypress reserve along the beach where they rescue and nurse injured sea turtles:



Any comments, questions, or critique always welcomed.

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
That last turtle shot is ace!
 
Great Shots. I really like the saturation and color. When you say dialed in, did you manual overides.
 
Royal1 said:
Great Shots. I really like the saturation and color. When you say dialed in, did you manual overides.
Click to expand...
Never mind me, I missed your explanation at the top, since I was drawn to the pictures.
 
Thank you! I pass those all the time for over a decade, and it's the first time I thought to stop and shoot them.

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
No problem - and thanks for the compliments.

Yeah, one of the first things I do with any new camera is start a series of test shots to figure out how I want to set up the picture settings - contrast, saturation, and sharpness...then start figuring how the system meters - whether best in multi or center (Sonys are usually excellent in center-weighted metering mode), then find out if the camera has a tendency to over or underexpose reliably (fortunately, the NEX almost always overexposes in center-weight mode, very consistently)...then dial in some negative EV. After that, it's just set the aperture, shutter, & ISO and fire away!

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
Thanks - I'm already working on that - I have a CPL but the wrong filter size for the 18-55mm lens, so I'm likely picking up another over the weekend. I've added one to my Pentax 50mm F2 and 28mm F2.8 lenses for when I use those. This is definitely a camera that will respond well to CPLs...on my A550, I find I don't need or want them at all on most lenses, but the NEX seems to need it a bit more and overexposes a bit so there's plenty of headroom for the loss of light.

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
It certainly is: I use my CPL for most everything out doors that isn't incredibly low-light (not really much need for it there).

I've been using an older Tiffen CPL but recently ordered the new Hoya "HD" CPL which has a built in UV filter... seems like the perfect solution for most "sky" or distant shots, where I can both cut the light loss from it and avoid filter stacking (a big no-no, in my opinion).

I can with fair certainty say that your 2nd and 3rd photos would be a bit nicer with the use of one, as would the image with the rock.

As an idea, if your problem's likened to mine (filters from a previous camera, with a larger filter-size than the small-ish 49mm of most current / kit lenses for the nex) you can always buy a cheap ($4-5) step-up adapter. I wouldn't use a step-down adapter as you may get vignetting depending on how much of a step-down and how wide of a lens but I see no problem with my step-downs for my lenses.

--
-mark

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_mcd/
 
I considered the step down rings, but the CPL I have is just too big, and looks a bit silly on the end of the 18-55 - not worth the step ring - I'll just likely pick up a used CPL - there's a great used camera store near me that is chock full of little bits and pieces like filters, lens caps, end caps, etc...as long as they've been cared for optically, it'll be a lot cheaper than new.

I do have a 58-49mm step down ring that I intend to make use of for another filter I'm dying to try on the NEX - my ND400! Some daylight slow shutter sounds very fun with the NEX.

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
zackiedawg said:
I figured out my setting preferences, and got my JPGs all dialed in to my taste so I don't have to post process anything, the kit lens performs surprisingly well, and I've finally had a few weeks of nice sunlight to get out and around with the NEX3 and play with it. I've definitely settled in with settings fairly close to what I had on my A550 - center-weight metering, Vivid mode, saturation -1, and EV set to -2/3 as a default. I like to shoot in P or A priority most of the time. Just a variety of random around-my-town shots I figured I'd share - most shot in the worst time of the day around noonish-2pm - but I worked with shade or angles to cut down the harshness of direct noon sunlight:

My wetlands area for birding - the NEX comes along with my A550 as a second body so I can occasionally snap the landscapes and scenics and let the bird lens stay on the A550:



Some of the birds nest so close to the boardwalk area over the ponds that even the kit 18-55mm can capture some birding action:





Down at the beach, I did a little closeup shooting of a plant sprouting out of the sand - tilt LCD saved my knees the grief:



This beach bike parked along the grass dunes by the beach path had that classic beach photo look to it, so I couldn't resist:



More closeup stuff at 55mm - that kit lens has surprisingly nice blur & bokeh, and nice sharpness and color too when stopped down a bit:







A little lizard hanging out on a mossy cypress log along the intercoastal waterway:



And this is our town's Gumbo Limbo Nature Center - a little marine research and cypress reserve along the beach where they rescue and nurse injured sea turtles:



Any comments, questions, or critique always welcomed.

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
Click to expand...
Love the bike shot, I'm very tempted by the NEX cameras, as have an A-700 but would like something lighter, is the 14mp sensor the same as in the A-550 / A-33 and as good?
--
"Pru, it's kicking off!"
 
Gavin 11 said:
Love the bike shot, I'm very tempted by the NEX cameras, as have an A-700 but would like something lighter, is the 14mp sensor the same as in the A-550 / A-33 and as good?
Click to expand...
Thank you. Indeed it's the same sensor as the A550, and I presume the A33. And it does perform as well, if not better in a few ways. The NEX has slightly retuned processing on the JPGs at higher ISOs that looks like a touch better than the A550 - the sensitivity and ISO performance is the same, just the processing has altered a bit. And the NEX appears to have an extremely weak AA filter, as it is more susceptible to moire in tight patterns, but also appears to have a slight sharpness edge over the sensor in their DSLRs.

I've only used mine with the 18-55mm kit so far, plus some experimentation with a few of my old 1970's vintage Pentax K-mount lenses - none of which is high-end. The results have been quite good though, and I find it is a great second body for DSLR shooters looking for something smaller and lighter without losing APS-C image quality and low light potential.

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
zackiedawg said:
Gavin 11 said:
Love the bike shot, I'm very tempted by the NEX cameras, as have an A-700 but would like something lighter, is the 14mp sensor the same as in the A-550 / A-33 and as good?
Click to expand...
Thank you. Indeed it's the same sensor as the A550, and I presume the A33. And it does perform as well, if not better in a few ways. The NEX has slightly retuned processing on the JPGs at higher ISOs that looks like a touch better than the A550 - the sensitivity and ISO performance is the same, just the processing has altered a bit. And the NEX appears to have an extremely weak AA filter, as it is more susceptible to moire in tight patterns, but also appears to have a slight sharpness edge over the sensor in their DSLRs.

I've only used mine with the 18-55mm kit so far, plus some experimentation with a few of my old 1970's vintage Pentax K-mount lenses - none of which is high-end. The results have been quite good though, and I find it is a great second body for DSLR shooters looking for something smaller and lighter without losing APS-C image quality and low light potential.

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
Click to expand...
Thanks Justin, I'm just keeping an eye on UK prices at this moment, not sure if i can justify a NEX5, but i do prefer the idea of that camera, still may wait longer and see what Sony replace them with? :-)
--
"Pru, it's kicking off!"
 
Beautiful shots. I think we learn so much when people share like this and open up for comments. I will try your settings, although I am very happy with what I am getting out of mine already. It doesn't hurt to go for that extra oomph!

From one commenter's advice, I will pick up a Hoya HD CPL filter, too.

One question, you have -1 for the saturation. What levels are your sharpening and contrast? Do you have them set to zero?

Thanks,
Toby

--

HX1 / HX5V User Group on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=596585274&ref=name#/group.php?gid=101987207312

Sony HX-1, HX5V, NEX3
16mm (E-Mount)
18-55mm (E-Mount)
70-300 (A-Mount)
 
Thanks Toby - yes, I've left contrast and sharpness at 0. I've even toyed with the possibility of bringing sharpness down to -1 as well, as the NEX presents much sharper by default than I was used to with DSLRs...but I've messed about with a few prints, and find it holds up well and no artifacts, so 0 seems to be just right for me for now.

I use the same on my A550, with the main difference being the A550 has -1/3 EV dialed in, versus -2/3 EV on the NEX which overexposes a touch more.

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
Hello,

you mentioned : "Sonys are usually excellent in center-weighted metering mode"

I have a question regarding this. I see 2 settings for this, one under the Camera menu and one under the brightness menu. Which one need to be at the center weighted setting?

Thanks
 
should be the one under the brightness menu. the one under the camera is the center focus area.

@zackiedawg

very nice pictures. the turtle looks yum. xD
 
thanks for clarifying :) I am a new nex 3 user as well and trying to master the camera!

edit: one more question, the one under the camera menu should be set to which setting then? Currently I have it on multi.
 
afinite said:
thanks for clarifying :) I am a new nex 3 user as well and trying to master the camera!

edit: one more question, the one under the camera menu should be set to which setting then? Currently I have it on multi.
Click to expand...
That one should be for your focus area - and it's up to you. Multi will make all of the focus points/area active, and the camera will attempt to decide what should be in focus in your shot. Center will only attempt to focus on whatever falls in the central focus point area, right in the middle of the frame - so you point at what you want to focus on then recompose. The last one is the local/spot setting - this one will also use the central focus point initially, and allows you to move the focus point around to anywhere within the focus grid.

Many of us prefer center focus point, but some like multi. I have always been a fan of center focus area, and use it on all of my cameras.

--
Justin
galleries: http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg
 
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