Photo sharing: Sony Alpha

I must be making a mistake somewhere when uploading either to Flickr or here. No matter what I do, the sharpness and resolution is terrible. When I view them on the Dis or when enlarged on Flickr, some of them look horrible. When I enlarge them on my PC they look amazingly sharp. I just don't get it and it's driving me crazy!:confused3

I think Flickr does some degree of compression. I always think the photos I upload from my Smugmug account look sharper than the same photo on Flickr.

Top is smugmug...

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Flickr

Crescent Lake by Chris Dikos, on Flickr


Smugmug

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Flickr

Boardwalk at Dusk by Chris Dikos, on Flickr


Or maybe it's just my imagination. What do you think?
 
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Had quite the spectacular sky show for dusk at Disney Springs last Friday...it was my first night up for my summer trip - and the afternoon began with very strong storms...those broke around 6pm, just in time to head over to Springs for dinner. You know the storms were strong when you see mammatus clouds after:
original.jpg


Hitting the bar out on the docks of the Boathouse, we got the first bits of the sun peeking out just before it set, under the storm clouds - the grey sky can still be seen in the background moving away:
original.jpg


Then the sun slipped below the horizon a little after 8pm, and the skies started taking on some nice colors to the west where it was more clear:
original.jpg


But the real show on colors and patterns was where the last edge of clouds were still drifting past. I went up on the roof deck of Paddlefish to get a nice view over Disney Springs:
original.jpg


original.jpg


The view over the Disney Springs roofs up there has an almost Mary Poppins look, of the gables and chimneys:
original.jpg


As evening got a little darker, I headed out to the patio deck at Jock Lindsay's for a few drinks, and still getting some last shots of that spectacular dusk sky:
original.jpg


Zoomed in on the west-end a little:
original.jpg


I was all handheld this night - no tripods - I also just headed out with my A6300 and the SEL18-135mm lens attached, no camera bag or extra lenses as it was my first night up, and I didn't feel like unpacking everything yet...plus, if the rains returned, I had a ziplok bag in my back pocket that could fit the camera and lens for easy protection. It was quite the lovely sunset, dusk, and evening sky for the first night up - and ended up being the nicest evening skies of the whole trip.
 


Had quite the spectacular sky show for dusk at Disney Springs last Friday...it was my first night up for my summer trip - and the afternoon began with very strong storms...those broke around 6pm, just in time to head over to Springs for dinner. You know the storms were strong when you see mammatus clouds after:
original.jpg


Hitting the bar out on the docks of the Boathouse, we got the first bits of the sun peeking out just before it set, under the storm clouds - the grey sky can still be seen in the background moving away:
original.jpg


Then the sun slipped below the horizon a little after 8pm, and the skies started taking on some nice colors to the west where it was more clear:
original.jpg


But the real show on colors and patterns was where the last edge of clouds were still drifting past. I went up on the roof deck of Paddlefish to get a nice view over Disney Springs:
original.jpg


original.jpg


The view over the Disney Springs roofs up there has an almost Mary Poppins look, of the gables and chimneys:
original.jpg


As evening got a little darker, I headed out to the patio deck at Jock Lindsay's for a few drinks, and still getting some last shots of that spectacular dusk sky:
original.jpg


Zoomed in on the west-end a little:
original.jpg


I was all handheld this night - no tripods - I also just headed out with my A6300 and the SEL18-135mm lens attached, no camera bag or extra lenses as it was my first night up, and I didn't feel like unpacking everything yet...plus, if the rains returned, I had a ziplok bag in my back pocket that could fit the camera and lens for easy protection. It was quite the lovely sunset, dusk, and evening sky for the first night up - and ended up being the nicest evening skies of the whole trip.

Beautiful pictures; I'm impressed that these were handheld and tell a story as well!
 
My daughter had her annual dance recital last weekend. It's actually more than a dance recital - more like a dance performance. It's held at a beautiful theater built in the 1920's with a full lighting, sound and stage crew. I shot the dress rehearsal on Friday and the main event on Saturday. Literally thousands of photos. The rehearsal I shot extra-fine JPEG and the recital in RAW. I do it for the practice and enjoyment but also for the kids who love the photos. I'm still not through all the recital photos and now my daughter's starting to give me grief. :D

These 2 shots are from the opening scene "Princess and a Frog".

A7R2 + FE 85mm 1.8 (Raw) shot at f/2.2, ISO 1250, 1/800 sec . I used spot metering and "locked expand flexible spot" AF-C. I was quite happy with the Autofocus. There was better lighting during the Recital vs. Rehearsal, however I was stuck in my seat having to shoot over a few tall heads.

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This was shot at the Rehearsal in Jpeg.

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400 2.8????

lol, not quite.. the 100-400..

I would have no interest in he 400/2.8, even if it was 90% cheaper. Now, if it was 90% cheaper and weighed 75% less, then maybe.

But honestly.. the 100-400 appears to be optically superb, but even it's too heavy for my tastes.
 
lol, not quite.. the 100-400..

I would have no interest in he 400/2.8, even if it was 90% cheaper. Now, if it was 90% cheaper and weighed 75% less, then maybe.

But honestly.. the 100-400 appears to be optically superb, but even it's too heavy for my tastes.

Looking forward to the review!
 
I certainly love my copy. Wonderful lens. Pairs very nicely with the 1.4x TC too - are you including use with the TCs in your review?
 
Looking forward to the review!

I'm so ridiculously behind on reviews... I have all my images done for a review of the Batis 25mm, but I still have to label the photos and actually do the review. (Captioning the photos is actually the most time consuming part).

I'm currently test shooting the 100-400 and the 16-35 f/4.

Skylum gave me a copy of Luminar and asked me to do a review.. I've barely tried the software thus far.

I have several partially written articles... including "RIP Sony A-mount" -- though I'm afraid that's just too much of a trolling/flaming post.

Fractal.. invitation is always open to you -- want to write up something? Anything? "How to" for July 4th fireworks maybe?
 
I certainly love my copy. Wonderful lens. Pairs very nicely with the 1.4x TC too - are you including use with the TCs in your review?

I didn't get the TC. I'd love for you to write a blurb about using the lens on APS-C, and with the teleconverter... Your images will certainly be more impressive than mine.

I expect to publish the review in mid-July.... if you want to contribute something. (With of course, credit and links to whatever pages you want linked)
 

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