A6300 w/55-210mm OSS (Experimenting At The Bird Feeder)

After working with my Larger A-Mount lenses with LA-EA3 on the A6300 I thought I would try the easy way with my 55-210mm OSS (native e-mount lens).

Using the native e-mount lens gives ma all the focusing capabilities which I need to understand. Even with the limited zoom reach the 55-210mm OSS is a pleasure to use on the A6300. Shot in RAW, post processed in PS CC and did a bit of cropping. Even though I cropped my image I seem to be struggling to get sharpness and reduced noise (not sure if it's caused by cropping or something else).









--
A6300, A99, A900, A55, A700, R1, w/Zeiss + Sony G Glass, PS CC, Lr CC
One Of My Google Photos Albums: https://goo.gl/photos/cv1f6KY7rKfJ6iM5A
BIF, A6300 + LA-EA3 w/70-400mm G: https://goo.gl/photos/tLk5bbkbzYU5N7py8

Beautiful images. Just to clarify do you mean to say that the images are sharper/less noisey than expected or less sharp and noisier than expected?

NewestGuy said:

Beautiful images. Just to clarify do you mean to say that the images are sharper/less noisey than expected or less sharp and noisier than expected?

Click to expand...

To me my images seem less sharp and to have too much noise (also maybe slightly out of focus). In post processing I added some sharpening and noise reduction (sharpening and noise reduction work against each other so everything is modestly applied).

William Curtindale said:

To me my images seem less sharp and to have too much noise (also maybe slightly out of focus). In post processing I added some sharpening and noise reduction (sharpening and noise reduction work against each other so everything is modestly applied).

Click to expand...

The birds seem to be reasonably still so my feeling is you could have used ISO400 or 320 for these images at about 1/500s for less noise.

Since you're experimenting, if it were me I would even drop ISO further and engage OSS for a slower shutter speed and see how that worked. I'd also try a various apertures. Smaller apertures can start to introduce diffraction which may be a source of some fuzziness.

I have the same lens and it seems to be the consensus that at 210, it tends to be soft all-round. I always back it up to 200 and it gets a little sharper there.

The lens has been amazing for me but I'm going to upgrade to the 70-300 then it comes out.

rjjr said:

William Curtindale said:

To me my images seem less sharp and to have too much noise (also maybe slightly out of focus). In post processing I added some sharpening and noise reduction (sharpening and noise reduction work against each other so everything is modestly applied).

Click to expand...

The birds seem to be reasonably still so my feeling is you could have used ISO400 or 320 for these images at about 1/500s for less noise.

Since you're experimenting, if it were me I would even drop ISO further and engage OSS for a slower shutter speed and see how that worked. I'd also try a various apertures. Smaller apertures can start to introduce diffraction which may be a source of some fuzziness.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the great suggestions. I understand and agree. Although, I was preparing for BIF (some fast action - high shutter speed required). Yeah if I was only going for static position I would have slowed things down (ISO and Shutter).

On the other hand I am expecting the A6300 to give me good images with a much higher ISO. I am not sure about what to expect from my 55-210mm OSS (I will figure it out with additional testing).

I will also post a comparison with my FF A-Mount 70-200mm G lens.

William Curtindale said:

After working with my Larger A-Mount lenses with LA-EA3 on the A6300 I thought I would try the easy way with my 55-210mm OSS (native e-mount lens).

Using the native e-mount lens gives ma all the focusing capabilities which I need to understand. Even with the limited zoom reach the 55-210mm OSS is a pleasure to use on the A6300. Shot in RAW, post processed in PS CC and did a bit of cropping. Even though I cropped my image I seem to be struggling to get sharpness and reduced noise (not sure if it's caused by cropping or something else).

Click to expand...

Below are some images using the same general settings with my A6300 w/LA-EA3, FF A-Mount 70-200mm G SSM lens (this is in attempt to compare image quality during actually use). I am not trying to critique the 55-210mm OSS but I want to know what to expect from this kit lens. I don't want to set too higher expectations than I should when using it (on the other hand if it performs when setting correctly that will be great).

Well, the A-Mount FF 70-200mm G is definitely sharper and has more contrast (no surprise).











--
A6300, A99, A900, A55, A700, R1, w/Zeiss + Sony G Glass, PS CC, Lr CC
One Of My Google Photos Albums: https://goo.gl/photos/cv1f6KY7rKfJ6iM5A
BIF, A6300 + LA-EA3 w/70-400mm G: https://goo.gl/photos/tLk5bbkbzYU5N7py8

except for the third one they look fine, William

HomeFryRy said:

I have the same lens and it seems to be the consensus that at 210, it tends to be soft all-round. I always back it up to 200 and it gets a little sharper there.

The lens has been amazing for me but I'm going to upgrade to the 70-300 then it comes out.

Click to expand...

Thanks, the information is appreciated. I will give it a try at 200mm.

William Curtindale said:

rjjr said:

William Curtindale said:

To me my images seem less sharp and to have too much noise (also maybe slightly out of focus). In post processing I added some sharpening and noise reduction (sharpening and noise reduction work against each other so everything is modestly applied).

Click to expand...

The birds seem to be reasonably still so my feeling is you could have used ISO400 or 320 for these images at about 1/500s for less noise.

Since you're experimenting, if it were me I would even drop ISO further and engage OSS for a slower shutter speed and see how that worked. I'd also try a various apertures. Smaller apertures can start to introduce diffraction which may be a source of some fuzziness.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the great suggestions. I understand and agree. Although, I was preparing for BIF (some fast action - high shutter speed required). Yeah if I was only going for static position I would have slowed things down (ISO and Shutter).

On the other hand I am expecting the A6300 to give me good images with a much higher ISO.

Click to expand...

Form what I've seen of seamples on the web, the A6300 is about 2/3 - 1 stop advantage over the A6000.

Willy81 said:

I am not sure about what to expect from my 55-210mm OSS (I will figure it out with additional testing).

Click to expand...

I use my 55-210 as a light, handy, convenient walkaround lens. As was already mentioned, 210 isn't it's "sweet spot" for sharpness, but it works well for me otherwise.

The 70-200 shots definitely look better, similar to what I get using my Canon EF 70-200 f/4 L lens with an adapter on my A6000.