Hello Alphanautics:
This is a quick newsflash related to the Alpha mount community.
Sony has finally phased out the 24-105mm f/3.5-4.5 and the DT 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom lenses. None appear anymore in the US SonyStyle site.
This means that if you were considering of buying any of those lenses, you can't do so now through authorized dealers or the SonyStyle sites, you'll have to resort to gray market (eBay and that kind of dubious places...).
There had been the persistent rumour that Sony was making a new 24-105mm lens, G class with SSM and what not, there were even photos of the manual around, but so far it hasn't happened.
Maybe Sony was waiting for all the stock on the 24-105mm to clear before releasing the new one or maybe it was just a rumour that turned out to be false.
The replacement for those lenses are the 28-75mm f/2.8 SAM lens and the DT 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens.
The new 18-55mm lens has been receiving a lot of good reviews, putting it ahead of the 18-70mm in every way possible, although some criticism has been given to the SAM motor which apparently doesn't make things smoother or quieter or easier.
The 28-75mm has yet to be tested since it hasn't been released yet. It will be paired with the new A850 as a kit or be sold separately.
My only gripe is that if you're shooting full frame and zoom lenses with long reach are your thing, you'll have to hunt for the 24-105mm someplace else. Now the official option is the 28-75mm lens, which may be a bit short for some of you. Of course it all depends on what kind of photography you exactly do. And isn't that bad either, if you get a 70-300mm or 75-300mm telephoto lens, that one carries on where the 28-75mm left off.
Still, its better to have options no?
The kit replacement was inevitable, those are replaced more frequently than other lenses. The good thing is that the new one its better than its predecessor. Even though the focal length has been reduced, I think its a fair trade off if you're getting better optical quality. Head over at www.kurtmunger.com to read reviews of these and other Alpha mount lenses.
Over and out.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Frequent Lens Changing Or Why It's Not So Convenient To Carry Multiple Lenses To Shoot With.
Hello Alphanautics:
This time I bring you an article based on my own experience about an issue that happens to photographers that have more that one or two lenses.
Introduction
1 week ago I went with some friends to a place a bit far from where I live to shoot out some scenery and whatever else came across in between.
Normally I can carry everything Ill need, including most of my lenses, due to the case I have. Usually I don't carry it with me per se but leave it nearby for easy access in case I need an item from the bag. It may not sound that practical to some of you, but its better to have that lens or filter near instead of saying "Great, I left it home".
Of course, one could plan meticulously ahead and just take what you'll need and that's that. I have to learn to do that.
Anyway, since we were going in my car and I was driving and it was just two of my pals and me, I had space to carry all my stuff.
Once we got there, I got a bit of a hang of how the shoot would go: we would be moving in short distances, stopping to shoot what we wanted for a "fixed amount" of time (and I use quotes because usually the 10 minutes we agreed on, turned 20 or 30... Nature is a beautiful thing to explore and enjoy) and then move on until we stopped again, we would repeat that routine until we reached the farthest place we could go.
Here is the lens line up I had with me that day:
Sony DT 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3
Sony 28mm f/2.8
Sony 50mm Macro f/2.8
Tamron LD Di Telemacro 75-300mm f/4-5.6
I wish I had taken the Lensbaby 3G I have...
And to my surprise, one of the friends that was going had a Minolta Maxxum 7000 SLR with a Minolta 35-70 f/4 lens. He took it because he wanted me to see it in case I wanted to buy it.So he gave it to me to test out.
So that made for 5 lenses available to use.
I tried the 35-70mm lens but I quickly took it off and switched back to the 18-200mm, the problem with it was that I was going for wide shots, and due to the crop factor of the sensor in my camera (1.5x), the 35-70mm yields a range of 52.5-105mm on my camera. Not exactly wide...That lens in APS-C sounds more useful for portraits or telephoto shots, not wide shots.
That's one drawback from APS-C, the focal lengths required for wide or ultra wide angles have to be from 18mm to 10mm. And that means specially designed lenses, full frame wide angles stop being wide when you use them on a smaller sensor.
Anyway, after the first stop and taking some photos, I realized I was going to want to do both wide angle shots and telephoto shots, so I took out the 75-300mm and put it in my vest. Its worth noting that I didn't left the 35-70mm in my bag, but I carried it around without noticing...
As we moved on, I found myself doing something that slowed me down big time: I was changing lenses frequently.
The problem with frequent lens changing and carrying lenses around.
For a good while, I kept going between the 18-200mm and the 75-300mm. While this produced good shots all over a wide focal length spectrum, it slowed me down and made my moving around very clumsy.
The great thing about the SLR system is that it allows you to change lenses in order to get the shot with the angle you want or get close with something far away. The possibilities are endless.
The problem is that, as you acquire more and more lenses, you have a need/craving to carry them all around and use them all at the same time.
Because you got so many choices, you want to try them all. The problem is that if you don't make up your mind about what kind of shots you want or in what focal length you'll want them, you'll end up switching lenses endlessly.
Back to me, every time I changed lenses, I either had to do some acrobatic stunt while holding two lenses, the camera body and caps or ask a friend to help me out. The problem was, whenever I switched lenses on my own, I stayed behind while my friends moved on.
Not to mention that I had to put my lenses on rocks, even though nothing happened, I was risking them to a fall or worse.
Once I actually managed to switch lenses and catch up, another problem showed up: I couldn't move with enough freedom.
The terrain we were at, was mostly rocky. Some points required jumping from rock to rock, climbing or sitting on the rock and sliding down just to name a few examples.
Its hard to do it as it is with no extra luggage, unless you do it all the time. But add a handicap of one hand busy holding the camera and things get a little bit more complicated, then to that add the fact that you're carrying two lenses in your vest bags, and those lenses wont let you jump comfortably because you risk of smashing them against a wall or press them against you, or they wont let you cross through a narrow space because the pocket is so bulky, or you cant get on the ground on your belly to take a shot because you got to take the lenses out of the pockets and you have a quite handicapped shoot.
After a while of enduring this, i said enough of the bulky 75-300mm and I placed it back in my bag since I wasn't using it anymore.
But then I made another mistake, I forgot to take out the 35-70mm and I took out the 28mm because I planned leaving the 18-200mm in the bag as well and just use a prime for the rest of the trip.
I know, I know, I collected more strikes at this point than a blind person would on the bottom of the 9th inning on the 7th game of the World Series...
In my defense Ill say that, as I was switching the 18-200mm off my camera, I noted a group of large birds landing on top of a rock and some flying around where I was. So I kept the 18-200mm lens on and shoot the birds (not literally of course) but I forgot to leave the 28mm behind...
Then I wandered off on my own and came across a rock that looks like a mushroom and wanted to shoot it at ground level, but just as I was setting on the floor, I felt two bulks on my pockets that didn't let me lay flat.
Yeah, those two bulks were the 28mm and the 35-70mm...
I finally decided to take them back to my car and leave them on my bag and just stick with the 18-200mm for the rest of the shoot out.
After doing that, things proceeded much more smoothly. No more lens changing slowing me down, no more unused lenses in my bag doing nothing but adding weight, no more worries.
Despite these problems, I had a great time and got great pictures. However, once I got home and I reviewed both the pictures and the experience, I came to some conclusions and lessons learnt that Id like to share with you.
What I learnt and what I realized.
The first thing I realized was that carrying multiple lenses around is just NOT practical. The best thing to do is to set on one lens or two at the most and stick to those.
I realized that, personally, I still tend to lean toward zoom lenses than primes. This is understandable; I come from a camera that allowed me to move between wide angle to telephoto shots with the same lens. Most of the cameras Ive used before (video and photography) have zoom lenses. The lens my A700 came paired with is a zoom. There's also the detail that these days, camera manufacturers tend to sell bodies with zoom lenses rather than primes.
This is understandable too, they want to give you options within the same lens. Back in SLR days (before 1980 or so), camera makers used to sell you the SLR with a 50mm lens and that's all you had to make pictures until you bought other lenses. But then lens makers got the hang of making zoom lenses that looked as good or better than fixed focal length lenses, and a lot of people switched to those and became the de facto "go-to-lens" for many.
A zoom lens is a versatile way to have plenty of focal lengths in the same lens to do shots up close or wide as possible.
The problem I see is that, if one sticks to this kind of lenses ALL the time, then one is not exploiting the full power of the SLR system, which one of its advantages is THE ABILITY TO CHANGE LENSES!
One might as well stick to a high end compact bridge camera or P&S in that case...
Since I realized that point, I have decided to shoot for a while only with a fixed focal length lens or a small zoom lens. That way I will learn to shoot in a new way and will get more used to those lenses that I don't use that much.
The other thing I concluded is that is not worth carrying plenty of lenses around "just in case" or "because I want to shoot with all of them". You'll waste more time changing lenses than taking pictures. And if you carry a bulk of lenses around, your attention will be on them; that nothing happens to them, which lens should you use, if they aren't rubbing against each other, etc.
Its just not worth it, the best thing to do is to set on one lens or two and fully exploit them and work around their short coming against other lenses.
For example, if I had just taken the 28mm lens all the way on my trip, I would have had a lighter camera+lens combination than with the 18-200mm. If I had wanted to get close, I would have walked or climbed as much as I could. If I had wanted to go wide, I would have walked back as long as it took to get all I wanted to get in the frame.
Maybe I could have taken the 28mm and the 75-300mm and deal with those. Or just do what I ended up doing: using just the 18-200mm and take pictures.
Its a trade-off, as anything related to photography, but the point in this case is to maximize the time you spend taking pictures instead of taking a lens off and putting another one on.
Of course, it all depends on the kind of shooting you do or the environment you shoot at, maybe a zoom will work better than a prime, maybe a heavy lens will be better than a lighter one, maybe a 50mm lens will be better than a 28mm lens.
The possibilities are infinite, only you know what you need to get the shot you want.
The trick is to learn how to get that shot when you don't have the specific lens you want or need.
There is also another issue: whether you're willing to let some shots go.
Take my example, if I had switched the 18-200mm lens to the 28mm and then I spotted the birds I saw, I would have had two choices: 1) Switch the lens again back to the 18-200mm or the 75-300mm or 2) Stick with the 28mm and get as close and as high as possible to the birds and shoot what I could get.
The zoom lenses allowed me to track the birds and get them close enough for the shots I wanted, but the 28mm wouldn't have got me as far as I needed. In that case I would had to compose differently or move to get them as close as possible.
Then there's also the post-processing resource of cropping. Taking a wide picture and then take out pixels off the picture to frame it as you originally wanted. Personally I'm not a big fan of this...
Of course there is always the possibility of hiring one or two people who carry your stuff around and have them have the lenses ready for you. But if you cant afford it or find two people willing to do it, you'll need to learn how to do some lens management.
One interesting and (awfully) surprising detail: Despite all the lens changing I did, I didn't get ANY dust bunnies on my sensor! Woo!
I guess the clean and cool air of the mountain is cleaner even at dust level than the city's air.
But then again I think, if I had done this in...downtown, my sensor would be filled will all sorts of garbage.
Well, there you have it. Some food for thought about how to best use your lenses and how to spend more time shooting than changing lenses or worrying about them.
In summary:
1.- Decide before hand what kind of shots you'll want to get and which focal length you'll need to get those shots. Then pick a lens with the suitable focal length.
2.- Carry as few lens as possible, carry what you need, but dont carry all of your lenses.
3.- Zoom lenses are one good way to minimize carrying many lenses around and switching them frequently, but also explore fixed focal length lenses to exploit the advantage of being able to change lenses in your camera.
4.- Keep in mind the sensor size of your camera, the smaller it is, the longer the focal length of any lens becomes if its meant for a full frame camera. The exception to this is when using lenses especially designed for smaller sensors.
If you shoot with a full frame camera, dont worry about this.
5.- Sticking to one lens may force you to develop the way you frame or compose in order to get the shot you want or a shot that looks just as good, this is a good thing worth exploring into.
6.- The only reason why you wouldnt need to worry about this stuff is if you got a crew of people taking care of your lenses so you just focus on shooting (pun intended).
7.- Its ok to have a lot of lenses, just dont carry ALL of them around, instead learn how to pick them depending on the pictures you want to get.
The only (valid) reason I can think of for carrying plenty of lenses around is because you work for a lens making company and youre displaying them on a show or in a field event sponsored by the lens maker, or borrowing them to people for them to use. But if youre going to take pictures, carrying 4 lenses or more is just going to slow you down.
I hope this article helps you out.
Until next time.
This time I bring you an article based on my own experience about an issue that happens to photographers that have more that one or two lenses.
Introduction
1 week ago I went with some friends to a place a bit far from where I live to shoot out some scenery and whatever else came across in between.
Normally I can carry everything Ill need, including most of my lenses, due to the case I have. Usually I don't carry it with me per se but leave it nearby for easy access in case I need an item from the bag. It may not sound that practical to some of you, but its better to have that lens or filter near instead of saying "Great, I left it home".
Of course, one could plan meticulously ahead and just take what you'll need and that's that. I have to learn to do that.
Anyway, since we were going in my car and I was driving and it was just two of my pals and me, I had space to carry all my stuff.
Once we got there, I got a bit of a hang of how the shoot would go: we would be moving in short distances, stopping to shoot what we wanted for a "fixed amount" of time (and I use quotes because usually the 10 minutes we agreed on, turned 20 or 30... Nature is a beautiful thing to explore and enjoy) and then move on until we stopped again, we would repeat that routine until we reached the farthest place we could go.
Here is the lens line up I had with me that day:
Sony DT 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3
Sony 28mm f/2.8
Sony 50mm Macro f/2.8
Tamron LD Di Telemacro 75-300mm f/4-5.6
I wish I had taken the Lensbaby 3G I have...
And to my surprise, one of the friends that was going had a Minolta Maxxum 7000 SLR with a Minolta 35-70 f/4 lens. He took it because he wanted me to see it in case I wanted to buy it.So he gave it to me to test out.
So that made for 5 lenses available to use.
I tried the 35-70mm lens but I quickly took it off and switched back to the 18-200mm, the problem with it was that I was going for wide shots, and due to the crop factor of the sensor in my camera (1.5x), the 35-70mm yields a range of 52.5-105mm on my camera. Not exactly wide...That lens in APS-C sounds more useful for portraits or telephoto shots, not wide shots.
That's one drawback from APS-C, the focal lengths required for wide or ultra wide angles have to be from 18mm to 10mm. And that means specially designed lenses, full frame wide angles stop being wide when you use them on a smaller sensor.
Anyway, after the first stop and taking some photos, I realized I was going to want to do both wide angle shots and telephoto shots, so I took out the 75-300mm and put it in my vest. Its worth noting that I didn't left the 35-70mm in my bag, but I carried it around without noticing...
As we moved on, I found myself doing something that slowed me down big time: I was changing lenses frequently.
The problem with frequent lens changing and carrying lenses around.
For a good while, I kept going between the 18-200mm and the 75-300mm. While this produced good shots all over a wide focal length spectrum, it slowed me down and made my moving around very clumsy.
The great thing about the SLR system is that it allows you to change lenses in order to get the shot with the angle you want or get close with something far away. The possibilities are endless.
The problem is that, as you acquire more and more lenses, you have a need/craving to carry them all around and use them all at the same time.
Because you got so many choices, you want to try them all. The problem is that if you don't make up your mind about what kind of shots you want or in what focal length you'll want them, you'll end up switching lenses endlessly.
Back to me, every time I changed lenses, I either had to do some acrobatic stunt while holding two lenses, the camera body and caps or ask a friend to help me out. The problem was, whenever I switched lenses on my own, I stayed behind while my friends moved on.
Not to mention that I had to put my lenses on rocks, even though nothing happened, I was risking them to a fall or worse.
Once I actually managed to switch lenses and catch up, another problem showed up: I couldn't move with enough freedom.
The terrain we were at, was mostly rocky. Some points required jumping from rock to rock, climbing or sitting on the rock and sliding down just to name a few examples.
Its hard to do it as it is with no extra luggage, unless you do it all the time. But add a handicap of one hand busy holding the camera and things get a little bit more complicated, then to that add the fact that you're carrying two lenses in your vest bags, and those lenses wont let you jump comfortably because you risk of smashing them against a wall or press them against you, or they wont let you cross through a narrow space because the pocket is so bulky, or you cant get on the ground on your belly to take a shot because you got to take the lenses out of the pockets and you have a quite handicapped shoot.
After a while of enduring this, i said enough of the bulky 75-300mm and I placed it back in my bag since I wasn't using it anymore.
But then I made another mistake, I forgot to take out the 35-70mm and I took out the 28mm because I planned leaving the 18-200mm in the bag as well and just use a prime for the rest of the trip.
I know, I know, I collected more strikes at this point than a blind person would on the bottom of the 9th inning on the 7th game of the World Series...
In my defense Ill say that, as I was switching the 18-200mm off my camera, I noted a group of large birds landing on top of a rock and some flying around where I was. So I kept the 18-200mm lens on and shoot the birds (not literally of course) but I forgot to leave the 28mm behind...
Then I wandered off on my own and came across a rock that looks like a mushroom and wanted to shoot it at ground level, but just as I was setting on the floor, I felt two bulks on my pockets that didn't let me lay flat.
Yeah, those two bulks were the 28mm and the 35-70mm...
I finally decided to take them back to my car and leave them on my bag and just stick with the 18-200mm for the rest of the shoot out.
After doing that, things proceeded much more smoothly. No more lens changing slowing me down, no more unused lenses in my bag doing nothing but adding weight, no more worries.
Despite these problems, I had a great time and got great pictures. However, once I got home and I reviewed both the pictures and the experience, I came to some conclusions and lessons learnt that Id like to share with you.
What I learnt and what I realized.
The first thing I realized was that carrying multiple lenses around is just NOT practical. The best thing to do is to set on one lens or two at the most and stick to those.
I realized that, personally, I still tend to lean toward zoom lenses than primes. This is understandable; I come from a camera that allowed me to move between wide angle to telephoto shots with the same lens. Most of the cameras Ive used before (video and photography) have zoom lenses. The lens my A700 came paired with is a zoom. There's also the detail that these days, camera manufacturers tend to sell bodies with zoom lenses rather than primes.
This is understandable too, they want to give you options within the same lens. Back in SLR days (before 1980 or so), camera makers used to sell you the SLR with a 50mm lens and that's all you had to make pictures until you bought other lenses. But then lens makers got the hang of making zoom lenses that looked as good or better than fixed focal length lenses, and a lot of people switched to those and became the de facto "go-to-lens" for many.
A zoom lens is a versatile way to have plenty of focal lengths in the same lens to do shots up close or wide as possible.
The problem I see is that, if one sticks to this kind of lenses ALL the time, then one is not exploiting the full power of the SLR system, which one of its advantages is THE ABILITY TO CHANGE LENSES!
One might as well stick to a high end compact bridge camera or P&S in that case...
Since I realized that point, I have decided to shoot for a while only with a fixed focal length lens or a small zoom lens. That way I will learn to shoot in a new way and will get more used to those lenses that I don't use that much.
The other thing I concluded is that is not worth carrying plenty of lenses around "just in case" or "because I want to shoot with all of them". You'll waste more time changing lenses than taking pictures. And if you carry a bulk of lenses around, your attention will be on them; that nothing happens to them, which lens should you use, if they aren't rubbing against each other, etc.
Its just not worth it, the best thing to do is to set on one lens or two and fully exploit them and work around their short coming against other lenses.
For example, if I had just taken the 28mm lens all the way on my trip, I would have had a lighter camera+lens combination than with the 18-200mm. If I had wanted to get close, I would have walked or climbed as much as I could. If I had wanted to go wide, I would have walked back as long as it took to get all I wanted to get in the frame.
Maybe I could have taken the 28mm and the 75-300mm and deal with those. Or just do what I ended up doing: using just the 18-200mm and take pictures.
Its a trade-off, as anything related to photography, but the point in this case is to maximize the time you spend taking pictures instead of taking a lens off and putting another one on.
Of course, it all depends on the kind of shooting you do or the environment you shoot at, maybe a zoom will work better than a prime, maybe a heavy lens will be better than a lighter one, maybe a 50mm lens will be better than a 28mm lens.
The possibilities are infinite, only you know what you need to get the shot you want.
The trick is to learn how to get that shot when you don't have the specific lens you want or need.
There is also another issue: whether you're willing to let some shots go.
Take my example, if I had switched the 18-200mm lens to the 28mm and then I spotted the birds I saw, I would have had two choices: 1) Switch the lens again back to the 18-200mm or the 75-300mm or 2) Stick with the 28mm and get as close and as high as possible to the birds and shoot what I could get.
The zoom lenses allowed me to track the birds and get them close enough for the shots I wanted, but the 28mm wouldn't have got me as far as I needed. In that case I would had to compose differently or move to get them as close as possible.
Then there's also the post-processing resource of cropping. Taking a wide picture and then take out pixels off the picture to frame it as you originally wanted. Personally I'm not a big fan of this...
Of course there is always the possibility of hiring one or two people who carry your stuff around and have them have the lenses ready for you. But if you cant afford it or find two people willing to do it, you'll need to learn how to do some lens management.
One interesting and (awfully) surprising detail: Despite all the lens changing I did, I didn't get ANY dust bunnies on my sensor! Woo!
I guess the clean and cool air of the mountain is cleaner even at dust level than the city's air.
But then again I think, if I had done this in...downtown, my sensor would be filled will all sorts of garbage.
Well, there you have it. Some food for thought about how to best use your lenses and how to spend more time shooting than changing lenses or worrying about them.
In summary:
1.- Decide before hand what kind of shots you'll want to get and which focal length you'll need to get those shots. Then pick a lens with the suitable focal length.
2.- Carry as few lens as possible, carry what you need, but dont carry all of your lenses.
3.- Zoom lenses are one good way to minimize carrying many lenses around and switching them frequently, but also explore fixed focal length lenses to exploit the advantage of being able to change lenses in your camera.
4.- Keep in mind the sensor size of your camera, the smaller it is, the longer the focal length of any lens becomes if its meant for a full frame camera. The exception to this is when using lenses especially designed for smaller sensors.
If you shoot with a full frame camera, dont worry about this.
5.- Sticking to one lens may force you to develop the way you frame or compose in order to get the shot you want or a shot that looks just as good, this is a good thing worth exploring into.
6.- The only reason why you wouldnt need to worry about this stuff is if you got a crew of people taking care of your lenses so you just focus on shooting (pun intended).
7.- Its ok to have a lot of lenses, just dont carry ALL of them around, instead learn how to pick them depending on the pictures you want to get.
The only (valid) reason I can think of for carrying plenty of lenses around is because you work for a lens making company and youre displaying them on a show or in a field event sponsored by the lens maker, or borrowing them to people for them to use. But if youre going to take pictures, carrying 4 lenses or more is just going to slow you down.
I hope this article helps you out.
Until next time.
Sunday, August 30, 2009
Editorial: Sony Introduces New Alphas: A500/550/850
This aren't exactly fresh news, but they are still news: Sony has recently introduced 3 new Alpha DSLRs to its range: The Alpha A500/550 and A850.
The A500/550 carry APS-C sized sensors of 12.3 and 14.2 megapixels respectively. The A850 carries a CMOS of 24.6 megapixels (the same as the A900).
If you want to read the full press release and specs click here for the A500/550 and here for the A850.
So what's new and what isn't? (If you want to just read about the A850, head to the section titled "What about the A850?", the title is in green)
The A500/500 are an upgrade of the A230/A330/380, or the A200/300/350 for that matter for those of you who can't buy a A700 or don't want to yet.
Don't be tricked by the A550, it doesn't carry the same sensor as the A350/380. Even though they share the same resolution, the A550 carries a CMOS sensor instead of the CCD one found in the A350.
I'm assuming the A500 carries the same sensor as the A700, maybe tweaked enough or maybe its a new design alright. I don't know, Sony doesn't let me know this stuff.
The headlines of these models are:
ISO Range: Rated between 200 and 12,800, the models promise to deliver better noise reduction and better noise patterns that will keep detail even at ISO 12,800.
Personally, I could use ISO 12,800. But I wouldn't trade my A700 for one of these just yet, more on that later.
LCD screens of 3" with 230,000 pixels (A500) and 921,000 pixels (A550): Both cameras have a good and great resolutions on their screens. Not to mention they are tiltable up to 90 degrees up or down.
It's nice of Sony to include high res screens on these models, since it has been proven how useful they are to check your pictures. As for the tiltable screens, I haven't played too much with them but they seem a good idea.
Both models accept SD/SDHC and Memory Stick Duo memory cards: Ok, this is cool, but whatever happened to CF cards? I don't like too much SD cards...
Both models use the NP-FM500H battery: Woohoo! These means that all of you who have batteries of this kind don't have to worry about the current model being phased out. Personally I like this move from Sony, to keep using the same battery across the line (except for the A100/230/330/380) instead of introducing new batteries like other companies do, new batteries every time a new model is released.
The batteries are expected to let you shoot 480 times using LiveView and 950 using the viewfinder. Not too bad me thinks...
HDMI: If you got or are planning to buy a HDTV, you can blast your pictures in full HD in your TV with the proper cable (which I'm assuming it will cost a pretty penny).
Unfortunately this means that you cant show your pictures on regular TV sets that require the usual colored jacks. Maybe Sony is pushing people to move to HDTVs now that the US no longer transmit analog signals for TVs and everything is now digital.
Personally I would have preferred the A700/900 way: HDMI and digital jack exit. Not everything has an HDTV yet Sony...
4fps with LiveView/5fps with Optic Viewfinder/7fps with Speed Priority mode (A550 Only): These are good enough speeds for most work, and they maintain the average that's been delivered by Sony in upper models: 5fps. The 7fps the A550 delivers seems to work by delaying the mirror into coming down. If you shoot sports, 5 and 7 should work for you. Unless you need to be rattling away like a machine gun and need 9 fps or higher, look elsewhere.
Free advice: for those speeds you should get a quick card (300x). I'm assuming you will have to stick to the program as well: No DRO or DR+, NR low, etc.
And please don't complain about the fact that only the first shot has focus confirmation and the rest doesn't. EVERY SINGLE MANUFACTURER DOES THIS. They just don't talk about it so you wont complain.
Still, I think its good Sony mentions it, that way you know what to expect instead of thinking its a malfunction.
Price: Here's the part most of you will like. These cameras will be available on October with a price of $750 (A500) and $950 (A550) body only or $850 (A500) and $ 1050 (A500) with the DT18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. Worth mentioning that this kit lens has been receiving nice reviews.
New vertical grip: With the introduction of these cameras, a new vertical grip is introduced; the VG-B50AM, which fits both models. The usual benefits are guaranteed of course: holds two batteries, switches over to the next one when one runs out of power, plenty of buttons to press without having to go horizontal.
Do you need this camera? and Why I wouldn't trade my A700 for one of these:
Every time a new DSLR is announced, a lot of people think they need it just because. They think their current camera will melt or the sensor on it will crack and will be rendered useless. NOT THE CASE.
Do you need this camera? Well, only you can answer that.
Do you need a higher ISO range to work?
Do you need better resolution?
Do you need Live View?
Do you need the new Manual Focus Check Live View (the one off the main sensor)?
Do you need more fps?
If the answer is yes, then do consider these models. If you have invested money on the Alpha system, chances are you already got what you need to carry on with the new body.
If the answer is no, then don't buy just because its new. You can still work and make great pictures with your camera, Id invest in lenses or hardware (flashes, remotes, memory cards, etc.).
Personally, I wouldn't trade my A700 for one of these for a lot of reasons, some of them are:
Resolution: I manage well with 12 megapixels right now, going for 14 wont do much since 2 megapixels aren't that much difference just as 8 to 10 or 10 to 12 aren't that much difference either.
Body construction: The body in my A700 is far better than the new ones, more solid and resistant, seals on the buttons, AF lamp, IR remote terminal, grip sensors and it doesn't have the Nikonized shutter button that now carries the On/Off switch.
Note to Sony: This new shutter button isn't exactly a great idea, the shutter button should be a smooth place where there's nothing else but the shutter button, its shouldn't be the bulky thing you've made it by including the power switch on it. The power slider button you had/have on the rest of the Alphas is perfect. Please drop this for future models :)
I admit that when I first got my A700 I publicly said I wanted the silver shutter button found on my H1, but the simple black button has grown on me. I still would like to have a silver shutter button, but unfortunately I don't like the fact that it also carries the power switch. I tried a A330 the other day and the switch is just uncomfortable for me with the ring and the switch there. If its between this new shutter button and the simple black one, I take the black one.
Finally, the A700 is the right size for my hands, the new body design doesn't seem to be the right size (I just couldn't hold the A330) and even though the new A5XXs seem to be bigger than the smaller siblings, I don't think they will be like the A700 but more like the A200.
Quick Navi: I don't see it anywhere in the new models, but I wouldn't trade the Quick Navi on my A700 since it allows me to do changes at the speed of light. Ive been spoiled by it unfortunately, if I need to browse through menus or press a lot of buttons, I lose my patience. The new Alphas seem to just display the information but you got to go into menus or press the dedicated buttons to make changes. Not practical for fast changes. And the new screen that displays shutter speed and aperture relations to the EV scale doesn't seem to make much sense either in the sense that the values displayed on one scale dont match the others (in accordance to the principle of reciprocity) Check the A550's brief hands-on at DPReview to see what Im talking about .
I hope Sony fixes this before release to market. The screen should be made interactive among them, display the info but also allow to make changes on it on the fly.
Shutter speed range: The A700 has a better shutter speed range, the new models go up to 1/4000 which is the top speed for all the models below the A700, and that's ok, but I have used the speeds beyond 1/5000 frequently and I don't want to trade that. If you capture fast moving subjects or plan to capture them, a top speed of 1/8000 against 1/4000 does make a difference.
Overall connections: The A700 has more connections like the PC flash sync port or the IR wireless remote commander, regardless of what other people say I use that remote extensively, and the digital video jack. Maybe you don't need these, so the new Alphas should be ok for you, but I do show my pictures on TVs all the time, and most of them require the video jack. Personally I don't know why Sony removed it from the Alphas below the A700...
DOF and MF/AF buttons: For some reason, Sony doesn't include this in your camera unless you buy a A700/850/900, why I don't know, but it is a very useful button. The ability to know exactly how much of the scene will be in focus relative to the selected aperture is something I wouldn't let go, since I use that button all the time. Sony has compensated this in the new models by adding a display on the LCD screen that shows you how much of the scene will be in focus depending on the aperture selected, but its not the same thing to see an estimation on the screen than to see it yourself on the viewfinder.
Maybe with the Manual Focus Check Live View you will be able to check DOF too, but as far as Ive read, its just for focus accuracy.
The new models don't have a MF/AF button, this is a critical function to me. Being able to switch from manual to automatic focus and viceversa is so important to me. The new models still require you to look for the switch next to the lens mount which I find very impractical honestly if you need to switch like NOW.
Note to Sony: Please stop that trend of Nikonizing things, including lenses. I don't like that the new lenses require me to look for a switch on the lens to change between MF or AF when I already got a button AND a lever to do just that! There's no need for an extra switch on the lens as well, it just slows things down. They may be designed for APS-C lenses and all but that doesn't mean that the process should have extra steps.
Mirror lock up function: A lot of people say this isn't necessary and whatnot, but I do use it when using slow shutter speeds to avoid blurring because of the mirror slap, which is the function it is for. You can get away without it but its better to have it, or so I think.
Those are some reasons why I WOULD NOT switch my A700 for the A500/550, however, those cameras do have some stuff I could use, such as: ISO 12,800, I don't care what others say, I could give it good use even if its as noisy as a kinder garden.
I don't need LiveView that much but I could use it nonetheless, although I'm more interested in the Manual Focus Check function, that does sound interesting. The tiltable screen would be welcome as well for those odd angles where you cant watch the viewfinder in real time...
Now that Ive said all this, I must say the following:
The new A500/550 are NOT meant to replace the A700, they fill a gap between the A230/330/380 and the A700 or the A900 for that matter. I don't want to come across like I'm bashing the new Alphas as useless, they are not, but to me they'd be a step down overall instead of an upgrade because of the camera I use. It'd be the same as going from an A900 to a A230.
If you have been using an A200/300/350 and you want an upgrade, these cameras are for you. They offer a slight step up in resolution but increased functions overall. One particular that comes to mind is that you can now use DRO function in full extent; you can now use the Advanced levels that only the A700 and A900 had until now. And trust me, they ARE useful. Once you try it, you wont want to shoot without anymore.
Besides, at those prices, they are a good deal really. If I planned on staying in APS-C, Id pick a A550 as a second body. Maybe I will though, a A550 could be a good partner for my A700 while I go full frame. The good thing is that its sold as body only, so I could pick one of those and move on since I already got lenses and hardware.
But now that I think of it, having a DT18-55mm wouldn't hurt...:)
Hey, don't go yet! We still have the A850 to talk about!
What about the A850?
Well, Ill keep it simple.
The A850 is a slight downgrade of the A900 in specs but an upgrade in price.
The only differences between them are:
VF coverage: The A900 has a 100% coverage viewfinder, the A850 has a 98% coverage viewfinder. It seems that creating a viewfinder that covers 100% is an expensive process, so Sony masked it a little to save on cost.
Frame per second speed: The A900 delivers a stunning speed of 5 fps (its stunning because we're talking about a FF camera with 24 megapixels, which is faster than the Canon 5D Mark II and same as the Nikon D3X) but the A850 has been slowed down a bit to 3 fps, which is still fast for a camera with such a huge mirror and sensor.
IR remote commander: The A900 contains this in the box, but the A850 doesnt, its an optional accessory. No biggie though, you can still purchase it on its own for $30.
Price: The most important aspect of this release. Sony has set the price for the A850 at $2000 (1,999.99 if youre picky) against the original $3000 Sony asked for the A900 during release. Even though the A900's price has decreased to $2700, the difference is still substantial, enough to let you purchase some Sony or third party lenses or one G or Carl Zeiss lens.
Thats it! The double BIONZ processors, the ISO range, the 24.6 megapixel resolution, the Quick Navi, etc. has been kept. Its the same body, electronics, sensor, etc. It even takes the same vertical grip the A900 does.
No luck on the built in flash though...
I think its commendable that Sony is trying to bring FF cameras to a wider audience. These cameras on their own are more expensive than APS-C DSLRs. The A900 set a record for affordability and they do it again on the A850.
And lest I forget, Sony also introduced a new lens to be sold as a kit with the A850: The 28-75mm f/2.8 SAM lens. Press release here . The lens is priced at $800. This lens is an affordable option to the Carl Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 SSM that costs $1600. Some say that its the same version that Minolta and Tamron have around, but this is not confirmed yet, we'll wait for testing.
Taking in account both body and lens, youre looking at $2800 for both body and a lens, which in my opinion is a VERY sweet deal to start on FF.
Personally Im very tempted to give myself the go for this camera, but unfortunately I need a better computer first to deal with the files that camera generates. This one wont be able to cope.
If you were waiting for a good price on a FF camera, if you dont need such banalities as video or Live View and the reduced specs dont bother you, then this is what you were waiting for. There is also the possibility that the price will come down even more as time passes...
One final thing, video capabilities, although nice to have, in a DSLR are ultimately irrelevant to take good pictures. You dont need video on a DSLR to make a picture that will strike people. Sony didnt offer video on the A850 but that doesnt take any points off the camera.
Take in account the following: If you want video and the top resolution available on a DSLR, youd have to go Canon with their 5D Mark II, which is an impressive camera, but its still $700 more expensive than the A850 and it carries 21 megapixels, and while it may not be a huge difference from 21 to 24, the Sony sensor resolves detail much better than the Canon one.
In the Nikon system, the only option for top resolution (24.5 megapixels) but with no video, would be the D3X, but the price tag right now is $8,000. You do the math...
Sony is doing a nice thing for consumers, bringing good products at affordable prices. Personally, Im not one bit irritated that the new Alphas dont carry any video. Anyway, the video on DSLRs right now is limited at best and doesnt replace a good and proper video camera.
The only question right now that remains unanswered is: What will happen with the A700? Will it be replaced? Will it be kept for a while more and the A500/550 will take its place?
Regardless of what will happen in the future, things look good for Alpha DSLR users :)
Now, the only thing Sony needs to do before any new more DSLRs are released is to release firmware V5 for the A700 and V2 for the A900 ;).
Until next time!
The A500/550 carry APS-C sized sensors of 12.3 and 14.2 megapixels respectively. The A850 carries a CMOS of 24.6 megapixels (the same as the A900).
If you want to read the full press release and specs click here for the A500/550 and here for the A850.
So what's new and what isn't? (If you want to just read about the A850, head to the section titled "What about the A850?", the title is in green)
The A500/500 are an upgrade of the A230/A330/380, or the A200/300/350 for that matter for those of you who can't buy a A700 or don't want to yet.
Don't be tricked by the A550, it doesn't carry the same sensor as the A350/380. Even though they share the same resolution, the A550 carries a CMOS sensor instead of the CCD one found in the A350.
I'm assuming the A500 carries the same sensor as the A700, maybe tweaked enough or maybe its a new design alright. I don't know, Sony doesn't let me know this stuff.
The headlines of these models are:
ISO Range: Rated between 200 and 12,800, the models promise to deliver better noise reduction and better noise patterns that will keep detail even at ISO 12,800.
Personally, I could use ISO 12,800. But I wouldn't trade my A700 for one of these just yet, more on that later.
LCD screens of 3" with 230,000 pixels (A500) and 921,000 pixels (A550): Both cameras have a good and great resolutions on their screens. Not to mention they are tiltable up to 90 degrees up or down.
It's nice of Sony to include high res screens on these models, since it has been proven how useful they are to check your pictures. As for the tiltable screens, I haven't played too much with them but they seem a good idea.
Both models accept SD/SDHC and Memory Stick Duo memory cards: Ok, this is cool, but whatever happened to CF cards? I don't like too much SD cards...
Both models use the NP-FM500H battery: Woohoo! These means that all of you who have batteries of this kind don't have to worry about the current model being phased out. Personally I like this move from Sony, to keep using the same battery across the line (except for the A100/230/330/380) instead of introducing new batteries like other companies do, new batteries every time a new model is released.
The batteries are expected to let you shoot 480 times using LiveView and 950 using the viewfinder. Not too bad me thinks...
HDMI: If you got or are planning to buy a HDTV, you can blast your pictures in full HD in your TV with the proper cable (which I'm assuming it will cost a pretty penny).
Unfortunately this means that you cant show your pictures on regular TV sets that require the usual colored jacks. Maybe Sony is pushing people to move to HDTVs now that the US no longer transmit analog signals for TVs and everything is now digital.
Personally I would have preferred the A700/900 way: HDMI and digital jack exit. Not everything has an HDTV yet Sony...
4fps with LiveView/5fps with Optic Viewfinder/7fps with Speed Priority mode (A550 Only): These are good enough speeds for most work, and they maintain the average that's been delivered by Sony in upper models: 5fps. The 7fps the A550 delivers seems to work by delaying the mirror into coming down. If you shoot sports, 5 and 7 should work for you. Unless you need to be rattling away like a machine gun and need 9 fps or higher, look elsewhere.
Free advice: for those speeds you should get a quick card (300x). I'm assuming you will have to stick to the program as well: No DRO or DR+, NR low, etc.
And please don't complain about the fact that only the first shot has focus confirmation and the rest doesn't. EVERY SINGLE MANUFACTURER DOES THIS. They just don't talk about it so you wont complain.
Still, I think its good Sony mentions it, that way you know what to expect instead of thinking its a malfunction.
Price: Here's the part most of you will like. These cameras will be available on October with a price of $750 (A500) and $950 (A550) body only or $850 (A500) and $ 1050 (A500) with the DT18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens. Worth mentioning that this kit lens has been receiving nice reviews.
New vertical grip: With the introduction of these cameras, a new vertical grip is introduced; the VG-B50AM, which fits both models. The usual benefits are guaranteed of course: holds two batteries, switches over to the next one when one runs out of power, plenty of buttons to press without having to go horizontal.
Do you need this camera? and Why I wouldn't trade my A700 for one of these:
Every time a new DSLR is announced, a lot of people think they need it just because. They think their current camera will melt or the sensor on it will crack and will be rendered useless. NOT THE CASE.
Do you need this camera? Well, only you can answer that.
Do you need a higher ISO range to work?
Do you need better resolution?
Do you need Live View?
Do you need the new Manual Focus Check Live View (the one off the main sensor)?
Do you need more fps?
If the answer is yes, then do consider these models. If you have invested money on the Alpha system, chances are you already got what you need to carry on with the new body.
If the answer is no, then don't buy just because its new. You can still work and make great pictures with your camera, Id invest in lenses or hardware (flashes, remotes, memory cards, etc.).
Personally, I wouldn't trade my A700 for one of these for a lot of reasons, some of them are:
Resolution: I manage well with 12 megapixels right now, going for 14 wont do much since 2 megapixels aren't that much difference just as 8 to 10 or 10 to 12 aren't that much difference either.
Body construction: The body in my A700 is far better than the new ones, more solid and resistant, seals on the buttons, AF lamp, IR remote terminal, grip sensors and it doesn't have the Nikonized shutter button that now carries the On/Off switch.
Note to Sony: This new shutter button isn't exactly a great idea, the shutter button should be a smooth place where there's nothing else but the shutter button, its shouldn't be the bulky thing you've made it by including the power switch on it. The power slider button you had/have on the rest of the Alphas is perfect. Please drop this for future models :)
I admit that when I first got my A700 I publicly said I wanted the silver shutter button found on my H1, but the simple black button has grown on me. I still would like to have a silver shutter button, but unfortunately I don't like the fact that it also carries the power switch. I tried a A330 the other day and the switch is just uncomfortable for me with the ring and the switch there. If its between this new shutter button and the simple black one, I take the black one.
Finally, the A700 is the right size for my hands, the new body design doesn't seem to be the right size (I just couldn't hold the A330) and even though the new A5XXs seem to be bigger than the smaller siblings, I don't think they will be like the A700 but more like the A200.
Quick Navi: I don't see it anywhere in the new models, but I wouldn't trade the Quick Navi on my A700 since it allows me to do changes at the speed of light. Ive been spoiled by it unfortunately, if I need to browse through menus or press a lot of buttons, I lose my patience. The new Alphas seem to just display the information but you got to go into menus or press the dedicated buttons to make changes. Not practical for fast changes. And the new screen that displays shutter speed and aperture relations to the EV scale doesn't seem to make much sense either in the sense that the values displayed on one scale dont match the others (in accordance to the principle of reciprocity) Check the A550's brief hands-on at DPReview to see what Im talking about .
I hope Sony fixes this before release to market. The screen should be made interactive among them, display the info but also allow to make changes on it on the fly.
Shutter speed range: The A700 has a better shutter speed range, the new models go up to 1/4000 which is the top speed for all the models below the A700, and that's ok, but I have used the speeds beyond 1/5000 frequently and I don't want to trade that. If you capture fast moving subjects or plan to capture them, a top speed of 1/8000 against 1/4000 does make a difference.
Overall connections: The A700 has more connections like the PC flash sync port or the IR wireless remote commander, regardless of what other people say I use that remote extensively, and the digital video jack. Maybe you don't need these, so the new Alphas should be ok for you, but I do show my pictures on TVs all the time, and most of them require the video jack. Personally I don't know why Sony removed it from the Alphas below the A700...
DOF and MF/AF buttons: For some reason, Sony doesn't include this in your camera unless you buy a A700/850/900, why I don't know, but it is a very useful button. The ability to know exactly how much of the scene will be in focus relative to the selected aperture is something I wouldn't let go, since I use that button all the time. Sony has compensated this in the new models by adding a display on the LCD screen that shows you how much of the scene will be in focus depending on the aperture selected, but its not the same thing to see an estimation on the screen than to see it yourself on the viewfinder.
Maybe with the Manual Focus Check Live View you will be able to check DOF too, but as far as Ive read, its just for focus accuracy.
The new models don't have a MF/AF button, this is a critical function to me. Being able to switch from manual to automatic focus and viceversa is so important to me. The new models still require you to look for the switch next to the lens mount which I find very impractical honestly if you need to switch like NOW.
Note to Sony: Please stop that trend of Nikonizing things, including lenses. I don't like that the new lenses require me to look for a switch on the lens to change between MF or AF when I already got a button AND a lever to do just that! There's no need for an extra switch on the lens as well, it just slows things down. They may be designed for APS-C lenses and all but that doesn't mean that the process should have extra steps.
Mirror lock up function: A lot of people say this isn't necessary and whatnot, but I do use it when using slow shutter speeds to avoid blurring because of the mirror slap, which is the function it is for. You can get away without it but its better to have it, or so I think.
Those are some reasons why I WOULD NOT switch my A700 for the A500/550, however, those cameras do have some stuff I could use, such as: ISO 12,800, I don't care what others say, I could give it good use even if its as noisy as a kinder garden.
I don't need LiveView that much but I could use it nonetheless, although I'm more interested in the Manual Focus Check function, that does sound interesting. The tiltable screen would be welcome as well for those odd angles where you cant watch the viewfinder in real time...
Now that Ive said all this, I must say the following:
The new A500/550 are NOT meant to replace the A700, they fill a gap between the A230/330/380 and the A700 or the A900 for that matter. I don't want to come across like I'm bashing the new Alphas as useless, they are not, but to me they'd be a step down overall instead of an upgrade because of the camera I use. It'd be the same as going from an A900 to a A230.
If you have been using an A200/300/350 and you want an upgrade, these cameras are for you. They offer a slight step up in resolution but increased functions overall. One particular that comes to mind is that you can now use DRO function in full extent; you can now use the Advanced levels that only the A700 and A900 had until now. And trust me, they ARE useful. Once you try it, you wont want to shoot without anymore.
Besides, at those prices, they are a good deal really. If I planned on staying in APS-C, Id pick a A550 as a second body. Maybe I will though, a A550 could be a good partner for my A700 while I go full frame. The good thing is that its sold as body only, so I could pick one of those and move on since I already got lenses and hardware.
But now that I think of it, having a DT18-55mm wouldn't hurt...:)
Hey, don't go yet! We still have the A850 to talk about!
What about the A850?
Well, Ill keep it simple.
The A850 is a slight downgrade of the A900 in specs but an upgrade in price.
The only differences between them are:
VF coverage: The A900 has a 100% coverage viewfinder, the A850 has a 98% coverage viewfinder. It seems that creating a viewfinder that covers 100% is an expensive process, so Sony masked it a little to save on cost.
Frame per second speed: The A900 delivers a stunning speed of 5 fps (its stunning because we're talking about a FF camera with 24 megapixels, which is faster than the Canon 5D Mark II and same as the Nikon D3X) but the A850 has been slowed down a bit to 3 fps, which is still fast for a camera with such a huge mirror and sensor.
IR remote commander: The A900 contains this in the box, but the A850 doesnt, its an optional accessory. No biggie though, you can still purchase it on its own for $30.
Price: The most important aspect of this release. Sony has set the price for the A850 at $2000 (1,999.99 if youre picky) against the original $3000 Sony asked for the A900 during release. Even though the A900's price has decreased to $2700, the difference is still substantial, enough to let you purchase some Sony or third party lenses or one G or Carl Zeiss lens.
Thats it! The double BIONZ processors, the ISO range, the 24.6 megapixel resolution, the Quick Navi, etc. has been kept. Its the same body, electronics, sensor, etc. It even takes the same vertical grip the A900 does.
No luck on the built in flash though...
I think its commendable that Sony is trying to bring FF cameras to a wider audience. These cameras on their own are more expensive than APS-C DSLRs. The A900 set a record for affordability and they do it again on the A850.
And lest I forget, Sony also introduced a new lens to be sold as a kit with the A850: The 28-75mm f/2.8 SAM lens. Press release here . The lens is priced at $800. This lens is an affordable option to the Carl Zeiss 24-70mm f/2.8 SSM that costs $1600. Some say that its the same version that Minolta and Tamron have around, but this is not confirmed yet, we'll wait for testing.
Taking in account both body and lens, youre looking at $2800 for both body and a lens, which in my opinion is a VERY sweet deal to start on FF.
Personally Im very tempted to give myself the go for this camera, but unfortunately I need a better computer first to deal with the files that camera generates. This one wont be able to cope.
If you were waiting for a good price on a FF camera, if you dont need such banalities as video or Live View and the reduced specs dont bother you, then this is what you were waiting for. There is also the possibility that the price will come down even more as time passes...
One final thing, video capabilities, although nice to have, in a DSLR are ultimately irrelevant to take good pictures. You dont need video on a DSLR to make a picture that will strike people. Sony didnt offer video on the A850 but that doesnt take any points off the camera.
Take in account the following: If you want video and the top resolution available on a DSLR, youd have to go Canon with their 5D Mark II, which is an impressive camera, but its still $700 more expensive than the A850 and it carries 21 megapixels, and while it may not be a huge difference from 21 to 24, the Sony sensor resolves detail much better than the Canon one.
In the Nikon system, the only option for top resolution (24.5 megapixels) but with no video, would be the D3X, but the price tag right now is $8,000. You do the math...
Sony is doing a nice thing for consumers, bringing good products at affordable prices. Personally, Im not one bit irritated that the new Alphas dont carry any video. Anyway, the video on DSLRs right now is limited at best and doesnt replace a good and proper video camera.
The only question right now that remains unanswered is: What will happen with the A700? Will it be replaced? Will it be kept for a while more and the A500/550 will take its place?
Regardless of what will happen in the future, things look good for Alpha DSLR users :)
Now, the only thing Sony needs to do before any new more DSLRs are released is to release firmware V5 for the A700 and V2 for the A900 ;).
Until next time!
Friday, July 17, 2009
Wet Cleaning & Product Review: Dust-Wand Kit By Dust-Aid
Introduction
So far, I've written articles to deal with dust on your sensor using dry-cleaning products ( such as the Sensor Klear or an air blaster).
However, sometimes that is not enough, dust is persistant and stubborn and won't go away no matter how much you blow or use the Sensor Klear's tip.
That kind of dust is called welded dust.
Welded because it sticks to the sensor filter as if you actually took a welding torch and bonded it with the filter.
The kit contains the following:
2.-.- Set the camera to Cleaning Mode
In the A100: Menu-> Setup (Wrench Icon) Page 3-> Clean CCD
A200/300/350: Menu-> Setup (Wrench Icon) Page 3-> Cleaning Mode
A700: Menu-> Setup (Wrench Icon) Page 3-> Cleaning Mode
A900: Menu-> Setup (Wrench Icon) Page 3-> Cleaning Mode
Cleaning Mode (or Clean CCD) locks the mirror up, opens the shutter and cuts power off the sensor for you to clean it.
DO NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT USE BULB SHUTTER SPEED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.
This is risky AND stupid. Bulb is designed for long exposures NOT sensor cleaning. While its true that it opens the shutter and reveals the sensor as long as you keep the shutter button pressed, IT DOES NOT LOCK THE MIRROR UP NOR IT CUTS POWER OFF THE SENSOR, IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY REMOVE YOUR FINGER OFF THE SHUTTER BUTTON AND IT CLOSES, THE SHUTTER CURTAINS CAN CRASH AGAINST THE WAND AND THEY WILL GET BENT, THIS MEANS YOUR CAMERA IS RUINED FOR GOOD.
DO NOT USE BULB SHUTTER SPEED, USE CLEANING MODE.
3.- Remove the lens mounted on the camera and put it aside where its safe.
4.- Clean the loose dust that may be on the sensor filter, for this you can use an air blaster, a Sensor Klear or the Dust-Aid Platinum cleaner (more on that one later).
5.- Apply 3-5 drops of the liquid included (Ultra Clean) to each side of the wrapped tip.
6.- Place the Dust-Wand in the lower corner of the sensor filter and gently move it across the sensor filter.
7.- Remove the Dust-Wand and replace the cloth with a new one to insure you wont have any dust particles in the reverse cleaning. (Check the Notes of use section)
8.- Add liquid again to the tip, place on the upper corner of the sensor and clean.
Youre done!
As you can see, this is a fairly simple and quick procedure. It takes practice to become a master on it, but once you get the hang of this, you will spare yourself the trouble of sending the camera for a clean everytime you got dust since you can do it yourself.
Notes of use
Dust-Aid's Official Site
So far, I've written articles to deal with dust on your sensor using dry-cleaning products ( such as the Sensor Klear or an air blaster).
However, sometimes that is not enough, dust is persistant and stubborn and won't go away no matter how much you blow or use the Sensor Klear's tip.
That kind of dust is called welded dust.
Welded because it sticks to the sensor filter as if you actually took a welding torch and bonded it with the filter.
As with lose dust, this kind will appear when using small apertures, however, it can show up in two forms:
1.- Like a regular black dust spot
or
2.- Like a liquid drop when it dries out on a crystal surface. This kind is tricky, because sometimes you can mistake it for something else or you won't see it because its translucid (meaning it will let light through it but its not completely transparent).
Particles such as pollen or that have a sticky composition will weld into the filter. Another way of welding a dry dust particle is to blow inside the mirror chamber with the sensor exposed with your mouth. The water in your breath will work as a glue for the particle.
If this has or hasn't happened to you yet, rest assured, there is a solution to try before having to send it to the manufacturer.
And that's to perform a Wet Cleaning.
Wet Cleaning
A wet cleaning is basically the cleaning of the sensor filter with a liquid solution and especially made pads or cloths to rub the filter.
There are many ways to do this, the most popular is the Copper Hill method. Of course there are many other sites in the internet that can help you perform a wet cleaning, but this one is one of the most accurate.
The wet cleaning is usually regarded as a very difficult and/or risky process, and if it's the first time you do it, it will be.
Difficult because you got to be precise and fast in your movements, risky because you can make a worse mess on your sensor; you can move it out of place or spill liquid under the filter, and that would be BAD, because it would dry on the sensor itself, which means that all the pictures you take will have the pattern of the dried liquid and will require that you send it to the manufacturer so they can remove the filter and either clean or replace the sensor.
However, a well executed wet cleaning can get rid of all the welded dust attached your sensor, remove liquid stains and lose dust; leaving your sensor filter completely clean.
Just as its inevitable that at some point you WILL have to perform a sensor cleaning, it is INEVITABLE that at some point you will have to do a wet cleaning.
One problem of wet cleaning is the price of materials, they can be somewhat expensive and in the long run it may not be affordable to do a wet cleaning.
Another problem of the wet cleaning is that it's not as fast as blowing air into the mirror box or using a Sensor Klear. Not to mention that requires a clean place to perform the operation, otherwise it will be adding dirt over dirt...
The second point doesnt have much work around, but the first one does have a solution...
The charge of Dust bunny; my personal esperience
A few months ago I noticed a dust bunny (a.k.a. dust spot or dust particle) on the sensor filter of my A700, I blew and blew and blew at it with my air blaster, and just like the wolf from The Three Little Pigs, I ended getting nowhere...
Then I brought out my Sensor Klear and tried to remove it but it wouldnt budge either. I left it alone for a few days and tried again with the Sensor Klear, but the dust bunny had made a home in the sensor filter.
At this point I knew this meant only one thing... Welded dust, dreadful welded dust.
I was pretty much screwed because 1.- I didnt know how to perform a wet cleaning 2.- I didnt have anything to perform a wet cleaning and 3.- The dust bunny prevented me from using small apertures.
One small thing in my favor was that the dust bunny lost itself in the picture most of the time without being noticed, but if I used f/22 to f/40, it was visible if you know where to look for it.
I was pretty bothered at this because I thought I was staying ahead of the dust because I check for dust frequently and if there is, I blow it or rub it away. How this one got welded in particular, beats me.
I had to do a lot of reasearch about HOW to clean the filter using liquids, WHAT products to use and not to use and WHERE to get them. And when I say a lot of reasearch, I mean A L-O-T.
I found a lot of products to use but I needed something that included all the items I needed in one box, that was affordable and most importantly SIMPLE to use.
I kept coming across the items required for a wet cleaning separately in Amazon, and unfortunately the liquids I kept founding werent allowed in airplanes due to the fact they are flammable due to their chemical composition.
However, I came across a product called Dust-Wand Kit by Dust-Aid that included all the items needed to perform a wet cleaning, and all in one box.
So I decided to do some research about it.
I went to the official Dust-Aid site and researched the Dust-Wand kit, it seemed to be a good option to purchase for wet cleanings. However, I don't take everything the maker of a product says blindly, when trying to sell something, people will say whatever to convince you. Thats why the input of other people in this kind of stuff is needed.
I then tried to find reviews about this product and came up short of them, I guess because its a fairly new product, not many people have tried it. I kept finding mostly reviews by other users who got it and used it. As with all reviews, there were good and bad ones. Although the bad ones seemed to have happened due to a failure to follow the instructions contained in the box.
At this point it pretty much meant that I either went with it or kept looking. So I bit the bullet and purchased it.
Once it arrived, I reviewed videos, tutorials and articles related to wet cleaning. Then I watched the video by Dust-Aid about how to use their kit several times.
Once I felt sure enough, I did my first wet cleaning.
As of this point, I have performed two wet cleanings using the Dust-Wand kit with excellent results.
The Dust-Wand Kit by Dust-Aid
The Dust-Wand kit its a product from a company called Dust-Aid that offers sensor cleaning products, either for dry or wet cleanings. The Dust-Wand is obviously for wet cleaning.The kit contains the following:
- Travel case, red color
- Instructions manual
- Ultra Clean cleaning liquid (fast drying liquid)
- 3 plastic wands (they come in different sizes to cover the different sensor sizes: 1.0x, 1.6x and 1.3x)
- 3 cloth clips (these are used to hold the cloth on the wand once your wrap it)
- Dust Cloths x 50 (this are the wipes that youll use to clean the sensor)
Things regarding the contents:
- Everything comes packed in zip lock bags, this is in order to keep the items clean. Don't throw those bags away!
- The Ultra Clean liquid is a fast drying liquid (the fastest on the planet according to Dust-Aid) so dont let too much time pass once you apply it. This liquid is safe for travel, so you can take it on airplanes with no problem. It also leave very little trace once it dries.
- The plastic wands are small so they wont clash against the mirror box walls, they come in different ratios to cover different sensor sizes: A200/300/330/700 use the 1.3x wands, A900 should use the 1.0x wand since its the biggest and meant to be used with full frame sensors.
- The Dust Cloths are said to be lint free but I have experienced this isnt exactly true all the time, some of the cloths will have it, but usually it will come up in parts that you wont use to clean the sensor.
Extra recommended items
Aside from the Dust-Wand kit, I will list a few items I consider that you also should have in order to have a successful wet cleaning, especially if its your first time:
a.- Latex gloves: Like the ones doctors use, these will prevent that you touch the cloth with your fingers in the center or elsewhere in the camera.
b.- Head lamp or a lamp: This will allow you to see the welded dust particles and to light the area you need to see.
c.- A magnifying glass: Especially those pocket magnifying glasses with light included. This will help you spot the dust particles and check if your sensor is clean once you perform a wet cleaning.
d.- An air blaster: It may happen that dust falls on the sensor while cleaning it or after you do but before you put the lens back, in that case, the blaster can get it out of the way quickly without having to clean again.
Finally, if you feel you need it, something to cover your mouth and nose, like those things surgeons use while operating. It prevents that you breathe into the mirror box, but again, only if you feel you need it.
How to use it
1.- You first have to put the wand and wrap it with the cloth included in the box. The exact procedure of how to wrap it is included in the instructions as well as in the video of how to use (which Ill link in the Links section). I wont put it here since it wont much sense unless you actually see how.2.-.- Set the camera to Cleaning Mode
In the A100: Menu-> Setup (Wrench Icon) Page 3-> Clean CCD
A200/300/350: Menu-> Setup (Wrench Icon) Page 3-> Cleaning Mode
A700: Menu-> Setup (Wrench Icon) Page 3-> Cleaning Mode
A900: Menu-> Setup (Wrench Icon) Page 3-> Cleaning Mode
Cleaning Mode (or Clean CCD) locks the mirror up, opens the shutter and cuts power off the sensor for you to clean it.
DO NOT NOT NOT NOT NOT USE BULB SHUTTER SPEED UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE.
This is risky AND stupid. Bulb is designed for long exposures NOT sensor cleaning. While its true that it opens the shutter and reveals the sensor as long as you keep the shutter button pressed, IT DOES NOT LOCK THE MIRROR UP NOR IT CUTS POWER OFF THE SENSOR, IF YOU ACCIDENTALLY REMOVE YOUR FINGER OFF THE SHUTTER BUTTON AND IT CLOSES, THE SHUTTER CURTAINS CAN CRASH AGAINST THE WAND AND THEY WILL GET BENT, THIS MEANS YOUR CAMERA IS RUINED FOR GOOD.
DO NOT USE BULB SHUTTER SPEED, USE CLEANING MODE.
3.- Remove the lens mounted on the camera and put it aside where its safe.
4.- Clean the loose dust that may be on the sensor filter, for this you can use an air blaster, a Sensor Klear or the Dust-Aid Platinum cleaner (more on that one later).
5.- Apply 3-5 drops of the liquid included (Ultra Clean) to each side of the wrapped tip.
6.- Place the Dust-Wand in the lower corner of the sensor filter and gently move it across the sensor filter.
7.- Remove the Dust-Wand and replace the cloth with a new one to insure you wont have any dust particles in the reverse cleaning. (Check the Notes of use section)
8.- Add liquid again to the tip, place on the upper corner of the sensor and clean.
Youre done!
As you can see, this is a fairly simple and quick procedure. It takes practice to become a master on it, but once you get the hang of this, you will spare yourself the trouble of sending the camera for a clean everytime you got dust since you can do it yourself.
Notes of use
- The instruction booklet includes diagrams as to how to wrap the cloth around the wand, how to move the wand on the filter, so if you couldnt picture it from the instructions above, dont worry.
- The liquid dries VERY quickly, so once you apply it, go straight for the sensor. A work around for this is to add 6-8 drops of liquid to the tip.
- I personally recommend wet cleaning only when its called for. Some sites recommend you do it weekly, but I feel that too much intervention too frequently on the filter may be more harm than good. If the blower and a dry cleaning dont work, then go for the wet method.
- The instructions recommend you also get a Dust-Aid Platinum for dry cleaning. The Dust-Aid Platinum is a stick with a sticky pad thats supposed to collect dust and other contamination from the sensor without damaging it. However, I cant vouch for the veracity of this, Ive seen the video of how to use it, but I personally dont feel that sticky pads are a thing you want to put in your sensor. I may be wrong, if anyone of you uses this product, let me know your experience.
- You will find a contradiction in the written instructions and in the video of how to use the Dust-Wand Kit. The instructions tell you to replace the cloth when going in reverse, but the guy in the video doesnt do this, he actually turns the wand and uses the same cloth. If you use the tip, then you will need to replace the cloth, but if you actually use the parts just below the tip, you can actually turn the wand around and avoid having to change the cloth. Ive tried this and it has worked perfectly for me. With this Im not suggesting you deviate from the instructions, just pointing out and letting you know the options. You decide what you do.
- One aspect that can turn confusing and requires A LOT of research is the kind of coatings the sensor filter uses. Why is this important? Because some wet cleaning liquids are meant for specifical coatings, not for everyone. The liquid in the Dust-Wand Kit is meant to be used with all Alphas since they all share the same coating. The Sony Alpha DSLRs use the ITO coating, ITO stands for Indium Tin Oxide, which is the chemical that the filter is coated with. For future reference also, if you cant remember the name of the coatiing, go with this, if the liquid you pick is safe to use with the Nikon D300, then its safe for the Alphas, since the sensor of that camera also shares the ITO coating.
- One important thing you will need to perform a successful wet cleaning is a clean room. By clean room I dont mean the one where sensors are actually mounted or records are recorded into the master plaques (in other words, 100% dust-less) If you could use one of these, great, go for it, but a more practical approach is this:
A clean room should be free of:
- Air currents. Turn off the ventilators or close the vents.
- Kids. Ask them out and buy them an ice cream if theyre nice and leave.
- Pets. They let hairs loose into the environment. So take them out of the room.
- Dust. Duh...
- Anything that can distract you. This is a sensitive procedure, and you must put your full attention to it so you wont screw up. Whatever distracts you, get rid of it momentarily.
If you follow this, you shouldnt have a problem when cleaning the sensor on a well cleaned room in your house.
- I recommend that once youve done cleaning with the wet method, to test if the sensor is clean. For this do the following:
- Use the smallest aperture possible on the lens your using. If it goes up to f/40, go there. Raise the ISO if you have to.
- Set the exposure for 0EV or +1EV maximum. If your shutter speed is too slow (0.6" or slower) dont worry about it, the dust will come out even if there is slight movement in the photo. Just dont make the picture TOO bright otherwise the dust will be hidden in the highlights.
- Focus at infinity at a white wall or the sky.
- Take a shot, if theres nothing on it but color, then youre done, if there is a hair or dust spec, go to Cleaning Mode again and try getting rid of that with a blower or Sensor Klear. If it wont do, do a wet cleaning again.
- The gloves I recommended earlier are meant to be used when you manipulate the cloths, here's why: If you touch the middle section of the cloth with your fingers, the oils in your hand will be transfered to the cloth, therefore you will rub them all over the sensor. I recommend using the gloves so you wont touch any of the cloth with your fingers and eliminating the risk of messing the filter worse than already is. If you touch the center and clean the sensor with it and you notice, repeat the procedure for the cleaning but with gloves, the liquid will remove the oil stains.
- Make sure that you do this procedure from A to B with no stops in between. One reason is to reduce the time the sensor is exposed to the environment so it wont gather more dust, another one is to avoid light build up on the sensor itself, it may affect the Bayer filter in it and affect the colors the camera yields.
- If you welded dust that wont budge using the normal dosage of liquid, double it and soak the dust spec by placing the tip over it. In my experience when welded dust is soaked, it lets go easily when you brush it off with the wand.
- I recommend that if its the first time you do a wet cleaning, that you watch the instruction video several times, read this instructions and do a simulation of the movements youll need to do. This way youll be familiar with what you need to know so you dont have to interrupt the procedure when you actually do it.
- An important point: BE CALM when doing this procedure.
- The Dust-Wand Kit is safe for air travel.
- Finally, remember the Sensor Cleaning Axiom #1: IF YOU DO NOT TRUST YOURSELF OR DO NOT FEEL CONFIDENT ENOUGH TO DO A CLEANING PROCEDURE, DO NOT DO IT. TAKE YOUR CAMERA TO AN AUTHORIZED SERVICE CENTER OR LET A QUALIFIED PERSON TO DO IT.
Links
Dust-Aid's Official Site
Link to purchase it through Amazon US
Closure
No one likes to clean their sensors, but its a fact we have to deal with until someone invents a way to stop dust from entering the mirror chamber.
Now you know of the three ways I recommend for sensor cleaning: Air blaster->Dry Cleaning->Wet Cleaning. If all else fails, then you have to send the camera to Sony for them to deal with it.
Eventually you will have to do a wet cleaning, which is a trickier procedure than dry cleaning, but it can be done easily and quickly if you got the right tools and you know how.
The Dust-Wand Kit is a product Ive tried on my A700 with excellent results. The first time I used it it removed a spec of welded dust than had on my filter some time, the next one it removed some weird streaks that showed up on the pictures at small apertures. I still dont know how they got there, but they did and the Dust-Wand Kit got rid of them for good.
The good thing about the kit is that you can take it with you and perform a wet cleaning anywhere, just as you would with the Sensor Klear. The procedure isnt as fast as the dry cleaning, but its better to have the option available than having to wait to get home to perform a cleaning and either waste time post-processing your pictures to remove the contamination on your sensor or worse, miss the pictures due to a dirty sensor.
This product is therefore an Alpha Sight Recommended Product.
Finally, if you dont feel up to the ask to do a wet cleaning, dont ruin your sensor and leave it to someone who has done it successfully or take it to an authorized center. Dont risk a more expensive repair or having to replace your camera body.
I hope this article was helpful to you,
Until next time.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Editorial: End Of Production Of The A700 And Sony's Future Plans
Hello fellow Alphanautics:
I'll be opening a new segment on this blog called Editorial, on which I express my point of view about certain topics relating to Sony and Alpha DSLRs.
As the beginning of this segment, Ill be talking about a certain issue that's been causing a lot of stir in the Alpha mount world: The end of the A700's production.
Reported by a Japanese website, Sony has officially announced the end of production for the A700. Source here , I tried to translate it using Google Translator but it keeps stalling on me.
For a while now, there has been a lot of speculation about whether Sony was or wasn't producing any more A700 bodies and if he A700 had finally reached the end of its product life.
Well, that is confirmed now, it has.
Unfortunately, a lot of people are interpreting this as the end of the world, that Sony wont be making more cameras, that Sony will be pulling out of the DSLR market leaving all of us abandoned, that Sony is now pushing for people that want to upgrade to buy an A900, that Sony's range is now polarized, ad infinitum.
Let's look at some facts:
Fact #1: All electronic devices are inevitably replaced.
This is as obvious as the fact water is transparent. Digital cameras are based on electronic technology. That technology evolves every single day and finds its way to products on a yearly basis or sometimes even sooner.
Electronic manufacturers (computers, TVs, cameras, circuits, mp3 players, cell phones, etc.) and banks have made people to be used to the fact of replacing an electronic device every year. So now, if you have the latest model of a product, you're hip and cool, but that model will be replaced within months.
Every single product has a estimated life: how much time the product will be current before the manufacturer comes up with a new model that its an improvement over the current one.
Cameras are no exception to this, just how many P&S pocket cameras have been released just this year to replace last year's line-up? Same applies to DSLRs, eventually they will be replaced by a model that has upgrades while keeping the same structure or its a complete overhaul.
From the moment the A700 was on stores for the first time, its time started running, and now it reached its end.
Fact #2: The A700 has been current for almost two years.
You read that right. The A700 was released back in September of 2007. As of now, its been current for a year and 10 months.
2 years is a lot of time for an electronic device. So the fact that the A700 lasted this long means two things: a) It's a great camera that only got better with the firmware upgrades released during its lifetime and b) it bought time to Sony in order for it to focus on the A900 and the entry level models.
Now, a lot of people, have been complaining that the camera is outdated. Maybe, but then again, Nikon's D300 is exactly the same age as the A700, that means the all-glorified and all-powerful Nikon is junk too now?
Which brings me to a more disturbing issue; Alpha mount users have been complaining for a LONG while of to how out-dated the Alphas are; lack of Live View, video, swiveling LCDs, blah blah blah.
There has been persistent rumours that Sony will release the A500/550, that the A700's replacement will be Full Frame, that they will all record video and what not. But nevertheless, they are rumours and not confirmed facts.
In the DPReview Sony SLR forum there has been an insane amount of people complaining, moaning, growling, crying and so forth that the current DSLR's offered by Sony are outdated and that there is no light in the horizon as to what will come next.
In my own personal opinion, people who think that they need features like Live View, video, screens that detach from the body and float on the air at the angle you place them in order to take pictures, are people who aren't photographers, but rather snapshooters with a serious lust for features.
Sure, they may, read that, MAY help you take pictures, but that doesn't mean that your pictures will look any better than without them. Just as having expensive lenses doesn't guarantee that your picture will strike people's minds, Live View doesn't make a better photographer, neither does video.
Nikon and Canon have been pushing video in their DSLRs because they needed something hip and cool for P&S shooters to convince themselves that they need a DSLR with video so they will feel right at home. Olympus, Panasonic and Pentax have followed this trend and Sony so far has refused.
What the companies don't tell you is that the video they offer is either limited to 5 minutes per clip, or you got to record on monaural sound, not to mention weird digital artifacts on the video. Sure, some cameras are designed for video like Panasonic's GH1, but you got to record at AVCHD, a format not widely accepted so far.
If Sony hasn't released a body with video capabilities is because they either want to develop the technology so it will be useful and better than the current offers or they aren't just interested in it.
We come back to the point where people right now are complaining about lack of information from Sony.
For some weird reason, Sony users think that they are entitled to receive a newsletter where Sony states the future plans for the DSLR line up. That's just not going to happen unless you work at the DSLR division or you're in management in Sony or you're a major stockholder...
The fact that Nikon has suffered the leaks of the D3, D700, D3x and the D5000 doesn't mean that is a cool thing. The fact that other manufacturers could know what Nikon was planning, helped them to plan accordingly, hindering Nikon's plans.
None of us know what is coming from Sony in the near future, and if you actually do, you surely are under a non-disclosure agreement that if violated, allows Sony to sue your rear for all you got and more. Complaining about the fact that Sony isn't releasing its plans its just as stupid as expecting the CIA to disclose in the newspapers their plans for covert operations.
There is also the issue of ludicrous speculation as to what will the A500/550 will be: a cut down version of the A700, an upgrade from the A200/300/350 with video, another model for beginners, etc.
Just what exactly do people get out of speculating? Besides wasting time on issues that they got NO control in? Is Sony giving out A900's to the people who actually nail their plans or future camera specs and I don't know about it?
Let's make some sense here; Sony can't afford to have a line-up where there are just entry level models and on the other side there is the top of the line model. That's quitting to a very juicy portion of the market, the bunch of us who know enough of photography to handle an A700 but cant afford or don't need/want an A900. Sony can't leave a gap in there, and it will fill it up eventually.
So yeah, maybe right now the line-up is polarized, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. Besides, the A700 is still available in the US and the rest of the world. Furthermore, the A700 will always be available! You can STILL find A100's in Amazon!
A lot of people have been threatening to sell their Alpha gear and lenses and go to Nikon or Canon unless Sony publicly states their plans for the next 2 years. I'm sorry people, but that just wont happen. If you cant wait a few months to see what Sony does, then you're entitled to do whatever suits you best, but don't expect that kind of rants and tantrums will make Sony yield.
For some reason, people think that now that the A700 is no longer being produced, that the camera will stop working or that once the new model is introduced, the camera's sensor will melt or the mount will morph in another mount and wont take your lenses anymore. Or just plainly that because its a 2 year old camera and wont have some features that the new one will have, that the pictures out of it will suck for some reason.
For those of you worrying about it, there will be plenty of spare parts for at least 7 years! That's a lifetime for a camera, and I'm sure that in that time Sony will have released more bodies.
Assuming that the A700's replacement is packed with new features and all, THAT WON'T MAKE THE PICTURES OUT OF YOUR CAMERA LOOK BAD. Your camera will KEEP working as long as its parts allow it and you got 7 years to repair it or overhaul it.
Thinking that you need the latest camera is ridiculous.
Thinking that Sony must announce its plans for people not to switch to other brand is ridiculous.
Thinking that you can't make good pictures with a 2 year old camera is ridiculous.
There have been a lot of historical photographs taken waaaaaaaaaaaaay before DSLRs, they were taken with much less featured cameras, with noisy-as-hell film, YET THEY ARE ICONS IN HISTORY.
People are worrying too much about stuff they can't control instead of taking pictures NOW or developing their skills or technique NOW.
The end of the A700's product life is inevitable, a replacement will arrive when the time is right for Sony, there will be spare parts for the A700 for almost a decade, but more importantly, if you got a camera, THE IMPORTANT THING IS TAKE PICTURES NOW AND NOT WORRY ABOUT THE CLOUDY FUTURE.
Only a snapshooter worries about not having the latest camera, the latest features, the latest trends. A snapshooter is that guy who thinks that needs expensive cameras and lenses to make great pictures. A snapshooter is just a boring amateur who's pictures are just as interesting to look at as looking how the grass grows.
A real photographer worries about what it can do with its current camera, what else it can shoot, how to improve its techniques, worries about learning new stuff and how to push itself and its camera to the limit. A real photographer is the one who creates images worth looking at and that make you say: Wow!
A real photographer upgrades bodies when it really needs functions in the newer model that will help his process, not just because it has video or two more megapixels in the total resolution.
The world wont end, Sony will keep making cameras, replacement models will come out eventually and they will be replaced further in time eventually.
In the meantime, your only concern should be how to improve as a photographer or what else will you shoot. Leave technological banalities to boring snapshooters and Sony's competition.
Until next time.
P.S. For those of you complaining about the lack of Live View in the Alphas, the A300/330/350/380 offer the FASTEST Live View there is so far in the market. Sony found a smart way to have it without affecting focusing speed, which other cameras from other makers suffer from, the Live View is just too slow or its just meant for static subjects.
Body build of those models is not an acceptable complaint, they may have plastic bodies, but they are solidly built. Of course, if you plan to actually throw them to the floor frequently or let your kid play ball with it, it may not endure it...
I'll be opening a new segment on this blog called Editorial, on which I express my point of view about certain topics relating to Sony and Alpha DSLRs.
As the beginning of this segment, Ill be talking about a certain issue that's been causing a lot of stir in the Alpha mount world: The end of the A700's production.
Reported by a Japanese website, Sony has officially announced the end of production for the A700. Source here , I tried to translate it using Google Translator but it keeps stalling on me.
For a while now, there has been a lot of speculation about whether Sony was or wasn't producing any more A700 bodies and if he A700 had finally reached the end of its product life.
Well, that is confirmed now, it has.
Unfortunately, a lot of people are interpreting this as the end of the world, that Sony wont be making more cameras, that Sony will be pulling out of the DSLR market leaving all of us abandoned, that Sony is now pushing for people that want to upgrade to buy an A900, that Sony's range is now polarized, ad infinitum.
Let's look at some facts:
Fact #1: All electronic devices are inevitably replaced.
This is as obvious as the fact water is transparent. Digital cameras are based on electronic technology. That technology evolves every single day and finds its way to products on a yearly basis or sometimes even sooner.
Electronic manufacturers (computers, TVs, cameras, circuits, mp3 players, cell phones, etc.) and banks have made people to be used to the fact of replacing an electronic device every year. So now, if you have the latest model of a product, you're hip and cool, but that model will be replaced within months.
Every single product has a estimated life: how much time the product will be current before the manufacturer comes up with a new model that its an improvement over the current one.
Cameras are no exception to this, just how many P&S pocket cameras have been released just this year to replace last year's line-up? Same applies to DSLRs, eventually they will be replaced by a model that has upgrades while keeping the same structure or its a complete overhaul.
From the moment the A700 was on stores for the first time, its time started running, and now it reached its end.
Fact #2: The A700 has been current for almost two years.
You read that right. The A700 was released back in September of 2007. As of now, its been current for a year and 10 months.
2 years is a lot of time for an electronic device. So the fact that the A700 lasted this long means two things: a) It's a great camera that only got better with the firmware upgrades released during its lifetime and b) it bought time to Sony in order for it to focus on the A900 and the entry level models.
Now, a lot of people, have been complaining that the camera is outdated. Maybe, but then again, Nikon's D300 is exactly the same age as the A700, that means the all-glorified and all-powerful Nikon is junk too now?
Which brings me to a more disturbing issue; Alpha mount users have been complaining for a LONG while of to how out-dated the Alphas are; lack of Live View, video, swiveling LCDs, blah blah blah.
There has been persistent rumours that Sony will release the A500/550, that the A700's replacement will be Full Frame, that they will all record video and what not. But nevertheless, they are rumours and not confirmed facts.
In the DPReview Sony SLR forum there has been an insane amount of people complaining, moaning, growling, crying and so forth that the current DSLR's offered by Sony are outdated and that there is no light in the horizon as to what will come next.
In my own personal opinion, people who think that they need features like Live View, video, screens that detach from the body and float on the air at the angle you place them in order to take pictures, are people who aren't photographers, but rather snapshooters with a serious lust for features.
Sure, they may, read that, MAY help you take pictures, but that doesn't mean that your pictures will look any better than without them. Just as having expensive lenses doesn't guarantee that your picture will strike people's minds, Live View doesn't make a better photographer, neither does video.
Nikon and Canon have been pushing video in their DSLRs because they needed something hip and cool for P&S shooters to convince themselves that they need a DSLR with video so they will feel right at home. Olympus, Panasonic and Pentax have followed this trend and Sony so far has refused.
What the companies don't tell you is that the video they offer is either limited to 5 minutes per clip, or you got to record on monaural sound, not to mention weird digital artifacts on the video. Sure, some cameras are designed for video like Panasonic's GH1, but you got to record at AVCHD, a format not widely accepted so far.
If Sony hasn't released a body with video capabilities is because they either want to develop the technology so it will be useful and better than the current offers or they aren't just interested in it.
We come back to the point where people right now are complaining about lack of information from Sony.
For some weird reason, Sony users think that they are entitled to receive a newsletter where Sony states the future plans for the DSLR line up. That's just not going to happen unless you work at the DSLR division or you're in management in Sony or you're a major stockholder...
The fact that Nikon has suffered the leaks of the D3, D700, D3x and the D5000 doesn't mean that is a cool thing. The fact that other manufacturers could know what Nikon was planning, helped them to plan accordingly, hindering Nikon's plans.
None of us know what is coming from Sony in the near future, and if you actually do, you surely are under a non-disclosure agreement that if violated, allows Sony to sue your rear for all you got and more. Complaining about the fact that Sony isn't releasing its plans its just as stupid as expecting the CIA to disclose in the newspapers their plans for covert operations.
There is also the issue of ludicrous speculation as to what will the A500/550 will be: a cut down version of the A700, an upgrade from the A200/300/350 with video, another model for beginners, etc.
Just what exactly do people get out of speculating? Besides wasting time on issues that they got NO control in? Is Sony giving out A900's to the people who actually nail their plans or future camera specs and I don't know about it?
Let's make some sense here; Sony can't afford to have a line-up where there are just entry level models and on the other side there is the top of the line model. That's quitting to a very juicy portion of the market, the bunch of us who know enough of photography to handle an A700 but cant afford or don't need/want an A900. Sony can't leave a gap in there, and it will fill it up eventually.
So yeah, maybe right now the line-up is polarized, but that doesn't mean it will stay that way. Besides, the A700 is still available in the US and the rest of the world. Furthermore, the A700 will always be available! You can STILL find A100's in Amazon!
A lot of people have been threatening to sell their Alpha gear and lenses and go to Nikon or Canon unless Sony publicly states their plans for the next 2 years. I'm sorry people, but that just wont happen. If you cant wait a few months to see what Sony does, then you're entitled to do whatever suits you best, but don't expect that kind of rants and tantrums will make Sony yield.
For some reason, people think that now that the A700 is no longer being produced, that the camera will stop working or that once the new model is introduced, the camera's sensor will melt or the mount will morph in another mount and wont take your lenses anymore. Or just plainly that because its a 2 year old camera and wont have some features that the new one will have, that the pictures out of it will suck for some reason.
For those of you worrying about it, there will be plenty of spare parts for at least 7 years! That's a lifetime for a camera, and I'm sure that in that time Sony will have released more bodies.
Assuming that the A700's replacement is packed with new features and all, THAT WON'T MAKE THE PICTURES OUT OF YOUR CAMERA LOOK BAD. Your camera will KEEP working as long as its parts allow it and you got 7 years to repair it or overhaul it.
Thinking that you need the latest camera is ridiculous.
Thinking that Sony must announce its plans for people not to switch to other brand is ridiculous.
Thinking that you can't make good pictures with a 2 year old camera is ridiculous.
There have been a lot of historical photographs taken waaaaaaaaaaaaay before DSLRs, they were taken with much less featured cameras, with noisy-as-hell film, YET THEY ARE ICONS IN HISTORY.
People are worrying too much about stuff they can't control instead of taking pictures NOW or developing their skills or technique NOW.
The end of the A700's product life is inevitable, a replacement will arrive when the time is right for Sony, there will be spare parts for the A700 for almost a decade, but more importantly, if you got a camera, THE IMPORTANT THING IS TAKE PICTURES NOW AND NOT WORRY ABOUT THE CLOUDY FUTURE.
Only a snapshooter worries about not having the latest camera, the latest features, the latest trends. A snapshooter is that guy who thinks that needs expensive cameras and lenses to make great pictures. A snapshooter is just a boring amateur who's pictures are just as interesting to look at as looking how the grass grows.
A real photographer worries about what it can do with its current camera, what else it can shoot, how to improve its techniques, worries about learning new stuff and how to push itself and its camera to the limit. A real photographer is the one who creates images worth looking at and that make you say: Wow!
A real photographer upgrades bodies when it really needs functions in the newer model that will help his process, not just because it has video or two more megapixels in the total resolution.
The world wont end, Sony will keep making cameras, replacement models will come out eventually and they will be replaced further in time eventually.
In the meantime, your only concern should be how to improve as a photographer or what else will you shoot. Leave technological banalities to boring snapshooters and Sony's competition.
Until next time.
P.S. For those of you complaining about the lack of Live View in the Alphas, the A300/330/350/380 offer the FASTEST Live View there is so far in the market. Sony found a smart way to have it without affecting focusing speed, which other cameras from other makers suffer from, the Live View is just too slow or its just meant for static subjects.
Body build of those models is not an acceptable complaint, they may have plastic bodies, but they are solidly built. Of course, if you plan to actually throw them to the floor frequently or let your kid play ball with it, it may not endure it...
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