[download2live]

Originally Posted by ajman28

The problem I usually face during parties/wedding is not about getting closer to the subject, infact it's the opposite. Capturing a group snap is usually the problem with the 50mm. I guess a 18-80 with a large aperture should also be sufficient.

Then I will suggest that you take Olympus XZ-1.
Its 24mm. Hence wide enough.
The lens is bright. F1.8.
And is right now going for 24k.
Olympus XZ-1 Point & Shoot: 10 Megapixels: Camera Review, Price in India, Compare: Flipkart.com

[Mugen_Power]

Originally Posted by clevermax

Thanks for the pics. The free bag looks very good. How is the LCD compared to older model? It now has more resolution I guess (920K?)

LCD is 3" with 921K dots.

Result on LCD is very good compared to older model.

BTW what is GPS in D3200? (optional)

[wanderer4x4]

I am searching for the remote shutter release for my newly procured Sony SLT A35. Am not able to find it online here in India and I don't want to buy from these China/Hong Kong sellers on Ebay. Can someone point me to any online store? Not many camera stores including the Sony Eclusive store around here have Sony accessories in stock.Also, can someone point me to where I can find some cheap Minolta lenses for the cam? (Heard that they are older and difficult to find, but are cheaper than the Sony branded ones). Have already bought one Tamron 70-300 mm lens. PS: I know, I know, not many people around here has Sony gear...but still the odd mans', pls help. Clevermax...are you there?

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by wanderer4x4

I am searching for the remote shutter release for my newly procured Sony SLT A35. Am not able to find it online here in India and I don't want to buy from these China/Hong Kong sellers on Ebay. Can someone point me to any online store? Not many camera stores including the Sony Eclusive store around here have Sony accessories in stock.

I am in the same boat... Looking for a remote shutter release as well as a wireless external flash trigger. In fact, I had asked about this several pages back here, and there were a couple of links given as responses. You can very well order from those sites and they will ship internationally. One of our members here have already procured wireless triggers for his Alpha from there.

EDIT: bhpian aburagohain has Alpha and Minolta cams and he had bought wireless triggers online, check his post:
http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/gadget...ml#post2781243

Originally Posted by wanderer4x4

Also, can someone point me to where I can find some cheap Minolta lenses for the cam? (Heard that they are older and difficult to find, but are cheaper than the Sony branded ones). Have already bought one Tamron 70-300 mm lens. PS: I know, I know, not many people around here has Sony gear...but still the odd mans', pls help. Clevermax...are you there?

I bought Minolta 70-210mm from ebay US, and got it shipped to my friend's address in US and he carried it to India for me. If you have someone over there who is returning soon, you can also do the same. It was only about INR 7500/- then.

Got my Minolta 50mm from fellow bhpian rajismine. He had two copies of the same lens, I bought one from him.

I found some old Minolta lenses in a local camera repair shop here in Trivandrum. There were both A mounts and MD mounts. (A mount can be used with Alphas). I had tested couple of them on my Alpha and they worked perfectly - even power zoom in one lens worked, not to mention the AF. If you know any such shops, it is worth to check there, you may find some old gems for cheap prices.

[kaushik_s]

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Where else one can buy a camera, one of my photographer friend says there is someone called Jitesh who gives a good deal. Does anyone know about him?

I guess that your friend is talking about Jayesh (Mehta) of Photocircle. Yes, he can give you good price and many people would vouch for him. But I buy my stuff from Naresh of RK Photoguide mostly.

I have a Nikon N70 (Film based camera) and two lenses along with it, one is a Tokina lens (30/300 or 80/300 have not checked) and another is a Nikon standard (18/55) lens. These are about 10 year old lenses. Should i buy another Nikon Digital camera body and use these lenses or go with some other brand like Canon.

Nikon lenses are of different types, some comes with inbuilt AF motors and some don't etc. You need to find that out what kind of lenses are they. But I don't know much about Nikon systems, so someone using Nikon can help you out here. Post the exact name/model number of these lenses and I guess someone will answer.

How do i check if the lenses are fine, or is there a way to get them serviced? Also are online prices (Like flipkart) are cheaper or should i hit a store?

Check for fungus in the lens elements ( look into a light source thru the lens). Check if AF is working or not if it's an AF lens. Check if aperature blades are working or not. If these things are fine then you are good to go. Most of the times the stores like Photocircle or RK Photoguide will give you much better price than online prices. So check with them too.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

Check for fungus in the lens elements ( look into a light source thru the lens).

I usually open up the aperture, point the lens to bright light (sky) and then move a finger on one end while looking through the other end - very easy way to spot dust and fungus in the glass elements.

[wanderer4x4]

Originally Posted by clevermax

I bought Minolta 70-210mm from ebay US, and got it shipped to my friend's address in US and he carried it to India for me. If you have someone over there who is returning soon, you can also do the same. It was only about INR 7500/- then.

Cousines/friends will be visiting from US/UK but that will be later in the year.So, thought of ordering directly from ebay or amazon US, but having second thoughts about courier damage to sensitive item like a lens. Hence, trying to find local deals in India.

Originally Posted by clevermax

I found some old Minolta lenses in a local camera repair shop here in Trivandrum... . If you know any such shops, it is worth to check there, you may find some old gems for cheap prices.

Well, well... all the local shops around here are almost sure not to have anything remotely related to Konica/Minolta/Sony. All of them are stocked up on only Canons/Nikons. A couple of stores where I enquired about Minolta/Sony lenses gave me such a look as if I'd asked for the 12th molar tooth of T Rex.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by wanderer4x4

Cousines/friends will be visiting from US/UK but that will be later in the year.So, thought of ordering directly from ebay or amazon US, but having second thoughts about courier damage to sensitive item like a lens. Hence, trying to find local deals in India.

You won't have to worry much about damage during courier transit - these kind of items will be packed so well that even throwing it around will not damage the shipped item. My lens was packed very well.

Originally Posted by wanderer4x4

Well, well... all the local shops around here are almost sure not to have anything remotely related to Konica/Minolta/Sony. All of them are stocked up on only Canons/Nikons. A couple of stores where I enquired about Minolta/Sony lenses gave me such a look as if I'd asked for the 12th molar tooth of T Rex.

I guess Minolta was popular in our region during film days. Camera repair guys do have it and some old gen studio guys as well. I know that bhpian pramodkumar was able to get couple of Minolta lenses from a studio guy in Kollam, the town next to Trivandrum. I remember testing the big beercan (70-300) in my A200 back then.

Do check in Free classifieds in India, Classified ads in India, Online Classified Advertising to see anybody near your place is selling anything.

The best way is to get them from ebay/Amazon US. There are lots of them on sale.

[ajman28]

Originally Posted by download2live

Then I will suggest that you take Olympus XZ-1.

Well, my requirement is for a lens & not a P&S!

Guys,
What's your opinion on the following lens?

Tamron 17-50mm f/2.8
TAMRON | SP AF 17-50mm F/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical (Model A16)

Sigma 18-50mm f/2.8
18-50mm F2.8-4.5 DC OS HSM - Standard Zoom Lenses - SigmaPhoto.com

Sigma 17-70mm f/2.8
17-70mm F2.8-4 DC Macro OS HSM - Standard Zoom Lenses - SigmaPhoto.com

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by Mugen_Power

BTW what is GPS in D3200? (optional)

It is for geo-tagging your photos and I think it can auto-set the date and time too. With Assist data loaded, it will take roughly about 10 seconds to pin point your location. This feature will run quietly in the background and will geo-tag the pictures you take.

[Mugen_Power]

Originally Posted by clevermax

It is for geo-tagging your photos and I think it can auto-set the date and time too. With Assist data loaded, it will take roughly about 10 seconds to pin point your location. This feature will run quietly in the background and will geo-tag the pictures you take.

Thanks for information.

[mayankjha1806]

Originally Posted by kaushik_s

I guess that your friend is talking about Jayesh (Mehta) of Photocircle. But I buy my stuff from Naresh of RK Photoguide mostly.

Yes he gave me his name as well, i tried calling on the web site there is only Land line number and it was difficult to get him. Do you have Naresh Raheja's mobile number as well.

Post the exact name/model number of these lenses and I guess someone will answer.

Attaching pictures of the lenses.

Check for fungus in the lens elements ( look into a light source thru the lens). Check if AF is working or not if it's an AF lens. Most of the times the stores like Photocircle or RK Photoguide will give you much better price than online prices. So check with them too.

Excellent, Thanks a ton Kaushik, its been very helpful. Tried doing that with the lenses could not make anything out by pointing towards a light source. Probably will take Naresh's help in checking it out.













Questions
Now i am assuming these lenses are expensive, I do not recall what i paid for them 15 years back. My guess is it was probably around USD ~600. How expensive are they now? Is it better to continue using them or they are basically last gen so its better to replace them? Apart form D90 and D7000 which other Nikon Body can work with them?

[nfsfreak]

Originally Posted by ajman28

Is the 18-250 a Canon lens? What's the aperture limit?

Apologies, its a typo. The lens offered is EF-S 55-250mm IS II. Aperture range: f/4 - 5.6.

[R2D2]

Originally Posted by clevermax

On another topic,
I was doing some pixel peeping (photographic tests) of various cameras and came across this - It is present in both jpeg and RAW - does anyone know what kind of optical distortion is causing this? It is very evident in D3200's test shot.

Quite unusual. What site is this?

Originally Posted by mayankjha1806

Attaching pictures of the lenses.

Questions
Now i am assuming these lenses are expensive, I do not recall what i paid for them 15 years back. My guess is it was probably around USD ~600. How expensive are they now? Is it better to continue using them or they are basically last gen so its better to replace them? Apart form D90 and D7000 which other Nikon Body can work with them?

I had the nearly the same set of lenses back in 2001 that I used with my F80/N80. In fact my copy of the 70-300 is what put me off Tamron permanently. The 28-80 is a nice lens, I had the G version (w/o aperture ring) that came with my F80/N80 kit.

You can use both these lenses on DSLRs - D90 and higher i.e. D90, D300/300s, D700, D800/E, D3 series and D4. All these bodies have focus motors built in. The 3xxx and 5xxx series bodies require AF-S lenses.

Of course technology has moved ahead in the past 10+ years and the newer lenses are more tailored to digital sensors rather than film which is what these lenses were designed for. As long as the lenses are fine i.e. mechanically and optically you can choose to to continue with them provided the body has a focus motor. The choice is yours.

[clevermax]

Originally Posted by R2D2

Quite unusual. What site is this?

It is dpreview itself. It suggests that the kit lenses that come with those cameras are having this distortion very much visible at the sides.