The overall contrast and black balance of the second image really makes the subject pop out. Thanks for sharing
Thanks & I agree, the background really makes it pop. I really like the first shot so I may have to burn the background in a bit to make it pop a bit more.
I reckon it's the contrast between the green, magenta and black in the second pic that make it almost 3D, The 1st images has its own charm as well, in a dreamy almost ethereal feel.
+1 I'm amazed how nice the bokeh is even at f8... the Sony SEL1855 kit lens is possibly the best standard-issue zoom I've used. I feel quite confident when it's on my 5N. Great shots, Bimjo!
great pictures, great sharpness, the 18-55 kit lens but l read it have a rather bad reputation regarding their build quality due to the use of cheap plastic and a rather "laissez-faire" clearance between the inner lens tube and the outer lens body. The AF performance is pretty good for a contrast detection system,the AF are basically noiseless and the OSS , image stabilization mechanism it good like the Canon and Nikon variants,I am planning to buy the 55-210mm zoom on this month
I think all this so called 'bad reputation' regarding this lens come from people who don't own or use it, lol!
I think this will come down to how and what you shoot, as well as what do you prefer and what do you expect from it. I'm not a big fan of this lens because of the way I shoot and what I expect from it, but this doesn't necessarily mean that images shot with this lens arent any good (as we have seen from Bimjo's fantastic shots as well as many others who use this lens). According to Vernon Trent Amateurs worry about equipment, professionals worry about money, masters worry about light... I just take pictures... Maybe when I graduate from amateur to pro I'll be less fussy with gear (trying to anyways )
With my Pentax gear I've always had fast zooms and that colored my choices in what apertures I used. It was sort of like "I have this fast lens I need to shoot it wide open, or nearly wide open or it was a waste of money." Strangely, now that I'm shooting with a relatively slow lens my thought process has changed to "let's get the whole subject in focus." The image quality this lens provides has a lot to do with that. As you note, even @ f/8 the bokeh is fairly smooth. Would I like a faster zoom? Yes and no. Yes for the obvious reasons, no because it would defeat the whole reason I got the 5N in the first place (light weight/small size). I shot those lanyard pics the other day with the K20/grip & Tamron 28-75/2.8 and when I pulled it out of the bag I'm thinking "I used to lug this beast all over the place??!?!?" Oh yeah, thanks for the kudos.
Gosh, Mr Trent knows a lot of worried people... Nothing wrong about being fussy with equipment, but you've nailed it on the head... let's just take pictures!
Since I bought the NEX-5N, my whole experience with it so far has caused me to re-evaluate my entire mindset regarding various aspects of photography. Why did cameras need a floppy mirror in the first place? It was introduced not only as a cheaper alternative to the previous Twin Lens Reflex format, but also because we needed the advantages of seeing and focusing thu-the-lens. Why do SLRs have pyramid tops? A periscopic pentaprism was needed so that we can view the thru-the-lens image coming off the mirror, right-side-up. Then one day Sony said hey folks, we can do away with the mirror and pentaprism because we can view the thru-the-lens image directly off the digital sensor. Two weeks into using my 5N, it just suddenly dawned on me... hang on a minute, my program-mode isn't changing my aperture NOR my shutter speed?! It's changing my ISO! All this time, I've been walking around taking digital pictures thinking it had the same process limitations of exposing negative film. Took long enough for my penny to drop, lol! With that in mind, do we really need a faster zoom? Well, yes and no like you said. Fast lenses were essential in the past so that we can have brighter viewfinders, take hand-held pictures in the dark, without having to resort to grainy ASA 400 or 800 film. We can achieve all of that now with an f2.8 or even a f3.5 lens when mounted on a NEX. Granted a faster lens will of course provide further desirable advantages, but they're usually bigger and heavier (and pricey). These trade-offs have become almost insignificant for general photography because the NEX sensor only just begins to show bad grain at ISO 3200. I think Sony got the balance right with their SEL1855 f3.5 kit zoom design. On a NEX body - it's fast enough, cheap enough, small enough and light enough. It's a decent performer, very well made from both metal and plastic, and the MF focus barrel moves firmly but smoothly and doesn't wobble like most AF kit lenses do. I still haven't been able to find a MF legacy zoom that would biff it off my camera bag.
I'm liking the kit lens more and more. With the OSS, and high ISO of the 5n/7, you're able to take shots that you might not be able to take with a "faster" prime lens because it doesn't have OSS. Of course, you're limited to still or slow moving objects. I keep debating on the Sigma lenses - 2.8 doesn't seem fast enough, and the lack of OSS on them doesn't help. The Zeiss is faster and excellent optics - both of which you pay extra for. I really want to get the 50mm 1.8, as that has OSS and would seem to be a killer low-light lens. Just a little long in the tooth for want I'm looking for at the moment. So many choices. And more to come. What do I want to see? An ultra-wide OSS zoom or some very fast primes. And a long tele, maybe f4/300 or f4/400 with OSS.
Doubtful you'll ever see an ultra-wide lens of any persuasion w/OSS. The DOF is so great it really isn't needed. A UWA zoom would be nice though. I can live without fast AF primes as there's too many fast manual focus lenses around that are inexpensive. I'd mostly use such lenses in good light or off a tripod so OSS isn't that important to me. YMMV though.
I agree mate,The NEX e-mount 18-55mm makes a great lens to keep permanently on your NEX camera, it's not so big and heavy to become burdensome, and just small and light enough to be pocket-able, well, distortion that occurs at and near 18mm but that's normal for an inexpensive kit type lens, you can't have everything.I also use LR to fix my photos, I mean Distortion. You'll notice strong barrel distortion at 18mm, becoming flat around 22mm, Then turning to moderate pincushion distortion at 55mm.
Whoops, read it again just now and it's rather wordy isn't it, lol! It's been known to happen when I'm elated about something, haha. Your in-camera firmware can correct all the distortions out of your kit lenses automatically, btw. I don't know if Sony actually started the mirror-less format, but who ever did it - just blew the door wide open. It will usher massive mind-shifts in camera construction if it hasn't already. Take lens design for example. Professional lenses are very expensive and very complex because they are designed to flatten the depth of field, remove CA, remove image distortion, remove vignetting. They also use a lot of glass in order to be fast and saturated, hence their size and weight. This was necessary with film cameras because all the corrections needed to be done optically - before the image hits the film emulsion. Any remaining flaws after that is rendered permanent. Now that we no longer use film and digital technology has come of age, lens designers no longer have to adhere to those old methodologies. I believe Sony took the new-school approach in lens design when they created the SEL1855 Zoom and the SEL16 Pancake. They made these lenses as simple as possible (optically) and relegated the remaining optical corrections to digital solutions by firmware (the simpler the optical flaws the easier it is to write a software to correct it). Sony didn't have to make these lenses fast either, the new generation NEX sensor took care of that. It's not a super lens on it's own, but the genius comes from the sensor and the firmware it's dedicated to. The results we're seeing proves this. I believe the gains we're going see in the future won't be from super-lenses. It'll come from faster grain-free sensors and more sophisticated software coupled with simpler lenses with fewer optical elements. (Dang, I'm still elated, lol!) Must... stop... typing... now ...
