ok lets talk about the Sony current line up of lenses also thoughts on third party options

[Cαscαdian]

I could use more f/2 primes and f/4ish zooms outside the magic-trio range. Like Tamron's 35-150 but slower. Minolta had an excellent set of f/3.5-4.5 zooms, as did others.

 

[Brownie]

I'm curious, Tim - do you have a name for car shows in building with thousands of separate lights that give your car images specular measles? That must be really annoying! Or do you just not notice any more? (awesome shots, I must say!)

The one time I've photographed cars like these (well, aspiring to be like these!) they were outside in bright sunshine, which looked good on all but one (the owner must have had last choice of position, and the light was hitting his car at a bad angle when I was there).

It's the nature of the beast. February in Michigan doesn't give you much of a chance for outdoors. That particular show is Detroit Autorama, one of the largest hot rod shows in the world. We're talking extreme customs and hot rods. When you have the shiniest cars under this kind of lighting you either deal with it or don't take photographs. Of course there are some shots where it doesn't really matter, and if you take a look through the album you'll see many.

GR 3 by Shotglass Photo, on Flickr

Autorama was originally the hot rod and drag racing world's answer to the Auto Show, which is simply new models and concept vehicles. It is in fact next weekend. This year is the 70th anniversary, with tributes to Big Daddy Ed Roth and George Barris. These guys were the masters of outrageous hot rods during the heyday. Many of their vehicles were designed specifically for the model car industry, which was huge at the time. The original Munstermobile and Dragula will be on display, along with the original Batmobile designed by Barris for the TV Show. From Roth, we'll see Tweedy Pie, Orbitron, Mysterion and a few others.

This link takes you to the website for this year. Scroll down to see celebrity appearances, displays, contests, etc.

https://autorama.com/attend/detroit/

This vehicle won the Riddler Award last year, which it the most prestigious of awards. Extreme? The paint job was $500,000.00

DSC00750 by Shotglass Photo, on Flickr

 

[Landshark99]

I'm curious, Tim - do you have a name for car shows in building with thousands of separate lights that give your car images specular measles? That must be really annoying! Or do you just not notice any more? (awesome shots, I must say!)

The one time I've photographed cars like these (well, aspiring to be like these!) they were outside in bright sunshine, which looked good on all but one (the owner must have had last choice of position, and the light was hitting his car at a bad angle when I was there).

Most car adv shots done outside in the days of film were done right before sunrise or right after sunset with cloudless skies so the highlights were soft and smooth.. Indoors was a very large soft box bigger than the car, both techniques saved a lot on air brushing costs.

 

[Landshark99]

I stlll only a want a 100mm f1.4 macro from Sony

 

[Clix Pix]

A 150mm macro from Sony, or even better, a zoom macro, would just be so, so nice..... Bring it on, Sony!

 

[AlphaWorld]

I stlll only a want a 100mm f1.4 macro from Sony

That is a big ask! I don’t think I have ever seen a macro lens with max aperture larger f/2.8 (and my 180mm L macro was f/3.5).

A macro lens has to have a much shorter minimum focus distance than a regular lens, and that has a huge impact on maximum possible aperture.

 

[Landshark99]

ok I will settle for a 100mm F1.8 macro then