Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 Sky Photos

[darklow 0]

If anyone ever considering buying or already having Sony A-200 instead of Canon, don't be afraid, photos and quality from skydive is great :)

First weekend with new camera, still experimenting, but like pictures a lot. Just remember Sony has different type of connection for remote control. I bought biteswitch and used ending from Sony RM-S1AM remote controller, everything works ok.

Photos are made with Sony Alpha DSLR-A200 mostly with Sony 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 DT (SAL-1118) lens.

Photos here:
http://darklow.first.lv/

The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness
http://adventure.lv/

[dragon2 2]

Not bad, nice colours. You need to clean your sensor though.

Let us know how the camera holds up, if it survives a few hundred jumps or shows any problems - I'd mainly worry about the super steady shot.

A tip:
I'd strongly advise against looking up at your canopy on deployment, you'll hurt your neck one day and you have a larger chance of lines/risers snagging your helmet.

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[mccordia 74]

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A tip:
I'd strongly advise against looking up at your canopy on deployment, you'll hurt your neck one day and you have a larger chance of lines/risers snagging your helmet.

So how did you ever shoot those pix of your deploying reserve

JC
FlyLikeBrick
I'm an Athlete?

[dragon2 2]

I don't have any?

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[Costyn 1]

Very nice... I like the colors and the dynamic range is good too.

How many skydiving pics have you made with this camera so far?

BTW, you guys coming to the Cochstedt boogie?

Cheers

Costyn van Dongen - http://www.flylikebrick.com/ - World Wide Wingsuit News

[darklow 0]

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Not bad, nice colours. You need to clean your sensor though.

1. It is brand new camera, maybe i wasn't accurate while changing lens... By what details in photos you can tell camera needs sensor cleaning?

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Let us know how the camera holds up, if it survives a few hundred jumps or shows any problems - I'd mainly worry about the super steady shot.

2. I am turning off "Super SteadyShot Image Stabilization" option. I red somewhere it is not good for skydive photos, or maybe i am wrong?

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A tip: I'd strongly advise against looking up at your canopy on deployment, you'll hurt your neck one day and you have a larger chance of lines/risers snagging your helmet.

When i throw pilot chute, i hold my neck straight and tight. After canopy comes out of bag and starts filling, only then i turn my head up, so used to do that from first day of AFF by checking canopy while opening, quite hard to not do that. Thanks for the tip, will remember i need to be more careful on this, i never had hard openings and it opens really soft, however if i wouldnt like to know what could be feeling on hard opening and looking up...

I am new to this camera, had Canon 400D before. Still learning and experimenting. There are also one annoying option that i still didn't find how to turn off - when turning camera power On, it automatically pulls lens in and sets distance to infinity...

To Costyn:
This was first weekend with new camera, tow days, about 10 jumps, made about 400 photos, average 40 photos per jump :) first tandems, first freefly, first rw formations, wingsuits are coming :)
Nope we are skipping Cochstedt boogie this year.

The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness
http://adventure.lv/

[dragon2 2]

Dust and moisture happen anyway, esp when you're using a zoom lens (you pull in dust when zooming). No biggie, just need to pay close attention to your photos and clean it as soon as you notice any dust.

At a quick glance, here are some pics with dust:
http://darklow.first.lv/i/f1_3.jpg
http://darklow.first.lv/i/f1_7.jpg
http://darklow.first.lv/i/f1_8.jpg
http://darklow.first.lv/i/i1_1.jpg
http://darklow.first.lv/i/rw1_2.jpg
http://darklow.first.lv/i/rw1_5.jpg
(it shows up easiest on a blue sky background)

I'd simply photoshop the blemishes away in this case, looks better on your website


About the stabilization, yeah you should turn it off, I'm just concerned that because the sensor CAN move, it will at some point. If it does, your photos will be no good and I'm wondering if you can permanently damage such a camera this way. I don't get why anyone would buy/make a stills camera with the image stabilization in the sensor instead of in the lenses, yeah it's a somewhat cheaper option but mostly it sucks for DSLR's (google for why), and even more so in our case since we don't WANT stabilization/movement. So that's a big reason why I won't recommend anyone jump a camera like this (or heck even buy one for "normal" use), I'm hoping it'll hold up though for you as the pics are really pretty nice. But why didn't you stay with canon?

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[darklow 0]

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But why didn't you stay with canon?

Got Sony as a sponsor :)

The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness
http://adventure.lv/

[dragon2 2]

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But why didn't you stay with canon?

Got Sony as a sponsor :)

Good reason

ciel bleu,
Saskia

[padu 0]

I'm curious to learn why SSS would be bad for skydiving. I have an A100 and I almost never turn it off.

Una volta che avrete imparato a Volare, camminerete sulla terra guardando il cielo perchè è là che siete stati ed è là che vorrete tornare.

[darklow 0]

Finally finished my skydiving portfolio page - personal blog and also photo portfolio.

And still - all photos made using Sony A-200 and wide lenses.

Portfolio is updated with best and most interesting on my opinion photos from 2008 and 2009 year.

Photos here:
http://www.adventure.lv/en/photo/

Tech stuff, equipment and helmet here:
http://www.adventure.lv/en/about/

Enjoy ;)

The Earth is Art, The Photographer is only a Witness
http://adventure.lv/