Testing A New Sdlr Camera

[WillFly]

A chappie on another forum was offering a Sony H300 SDLR digital camera for a good price last week. His sister had bought it on impulse at the beginning of December, but prefers her iPhone!

 

Anyway, I wanted a digital camera that would focus down to 1cm - which is what the spec for it said - so bought it, and it arrived today. I've been wandering around Hove this murky afternoon, trying out various shots. I usually photograph my  watches on plain, white paper in daylight, but thought I'd try a quick close-up of my Citizen Eco-Drive by lamplight this evening. Not too bad, but I'll check it out properly for close-up tomorrow morning.

 

20 Megapixels - each snap is 7.15Mb in size.

 

Edited January 7, 2015 by WillFly

[Geo]

Nowt wrong with that photo Will, I'm sure once you get your head around all the functions you'll be putting all these megapixies to good use. :-)

[BlakeL]

Looks like that should work well for you!  My Sony NEX camera with the kit lens does not allow me to focus close enough so I'm thinking of picking up some macro close up filters.

[ro63rto]

Will. Don't forget its not how many megapixels a camera has that gives a good pic but on the electronics on the CMOS etc as well as the optics.

I bet the photos would look just as good at 5mp or even 3mp.

[clockboy]

In my opinion the more pixels the more critical the focus for instance. I have  Nikon D7000 which has 16.2 megapixels and it is a lovely camera but I have found that shutter speed has to be on the quackish side or I don,t get what I call a real crisp shot. My previous camera was a Nikkon D60 which had 10.2 megapixels and focusing was never as critical. A tripod for macro is essential.

[WillFly]

Oohh, don't worry - I never choose a camera on the number of pixels - the lens is everything. It's just that my other camera, a Fuji with 6 Mpixels, takes lovely shots - but not down to 1cm. The reason I got this almost-new one for a knock-down price was its ability to focus down to 1cm - the number of pixels was incidental!

 

I have two mini desk tripods for close-up work.

Edited January 8, 2015 by WillFly

[jnash]

Always wanted to get a proper camera for my blog but never get around to buying it, looks good

[Mark]

Looks good Will. I know you are going to enjoy using that. And you are right, it's all about the glass. The lens I use for the videos actually cost more than the camera body, but I think it was worth it.

 

One thing I want to do this year is to invest in better lighting so I can reduce my ISO whilst recording/taking pics. 

[WillFly]

Yes, I'm going to invest in a nice lamp - daylight/blue bulb or good quality LED.

 

The camera was bought on 1st December last year for £100 from PC World (RRP £129) - never used - and I got it for £70, incl postage. Good deal as far as I'm concerned.

Edited January 8, 2015 by WillFly

[Blacklab]

Here's a question for you all, 3 photos taken with a mobile phone, compact digital & a DSLR. Which one is which and which do you prefer? All were taken in quick succession without flash and were cropped & resized to the same dimensions.

 

A:

 

B:

 

C:

 

[ro63rto]

Too easy. You left the exif data [emoji6] [emoji1]

[Geo]

My money is on "C"

[Geo]

Too easy. You left the exif data [emoji6] [emoji1]

Answer the man's question, which do you prefer. He wasn't asking you to guess what camera took what. :-)

[ro63rto]

Answer the man's question, which do you prefer. He wasn't asking you to guess what camera took what. :-)

Was trying to on next post but 3 network is fluctuating in sth london [emoji35]

I prefer b. as it looks to be the nearest in colour rendition.

Edited January 8, 2015 by ro63rto

[Mark]

C seems to be the most in focus.

[bobm12]

Yep C it is!

[WillFly]

Here's a comparison test on a spare Enicar 1292 movement.

 

The first picture is a section of a photo taken with my old Fuji Finepix - an excellent, but old camera - with 6 Mpixels, at 100% actual size. The second picture is the same section taken with the Sony H300 - this has been reduced to 66% to give the same frame size and dimensions. (No digital buggering about with the images other than that, by the way).

 

It's an interesting comparison. A picture of the whole movement from each camera revels that, at first glance, the Fuji gives a brighter, smarter-looking photo, whereas the Sony whole picture is darker. This is because the Sony lens is extremely close to the movement - and larger - so it obscures more of the light reaching the movement. However, at a higher resolution, it's obvious that the Sony shows up more detail and is sharper - even at just 66% - than the Fuji. You can see dirt and rust in the Sony picture that's not apparent in the Fuji picture.

 

Edited January 9, 2015 by WillFly

[Geo]

An interesting comparison Will, was a tripod or support used or were they taken hand held?

Just as an aside, is that a Will coloured hair sitting on the balance wheel?

[WillFly]

The photos were both taken hand held - elbows resting on the table to eliminate camera shake.

 

The scrap movement's been sitting in a cardboard box with a loose foam material bottom - possibly a strand has detached itself!

[Mark]

A remarkable improvement Will.

[dbals]

Some nice stuff will-

 

I have no idea about Sony but check if there is alternative firmware.  I have a Canon 7D and run magiclantern- amazing firmware that opens up even lower end cameras in the Canon line to give them incredible features e.g. fine tuning (focus, percentage of acceptable blown details), built-in timelaspe, HDR video, Dual ISO images, sound capture, lighting capture, movement capture, etc....  

 

http://www.magiclantern.fm/

[Mark]

I keep meaning to play with Magic Lantern but i'm too scared of buggering up my camera. Is it risky?

[dbals]

No, follow the steps and done. Remember that each memory card has to had magic lantern installed or you only get the Canon firmware. The only thing that's being done to the camera is changing a bootflag.

[Mark]

I see, so if you put in a clean SD then the stock FW is loaded?

[dbals]

Yes