A700's High ISO Capabilities-My Personal Experience Going Beyond ISO 1600

Yesterday evening I went to a demonstration of capoeria. I was invited by a friend who practices it as part of a workshop where he studies.

I have been looking for an opportunity to practice shooting under low light with people moving around. This because I sometimes take photographs of my brothers' band performing and most of the the time, I had to use flash because there was really no lightning rigs.

Ever since I got my A700, Ive been looking for an opportunity to shoot under low light with no flash, and today I finally got it.

The purpose of this entry is to describe my experience with high ISOs.

First of all, let me establish something, my A700 arrived to me 2 days before Firmware V4 was leaked on Sony's Japanese website. When it was leaked, I installed the upgrade right away, so all my shots taken so far, are taken with V4.

When I shoot with my H1, I tend not to go beyond ISO 100 unless its really necessary, then I go to ISO 200 or 400, depending on how low light is. I usually avoid ISO 400 due to how noisy the pictures are, but if there is no other choice, I use it.

This kind of thinking remained after I got my A700.

Admittedly, a picture looks much better with no noise in it, and the safe rule always is to stick to the lowest ISO possible.

One of the main reasons why I switched to DSLR, was the immense need of higher ISOs to work with. Not always you can shoot with enough light or flash light and slow shutter speeds sometimes just don't work to get the pictures you need/want.

Having read a lot of threads in DPR's Sony SLR Forum, I got used to the idea of not using an ISO higher than 1600. This fell into the same idea of not going beyond ISO 100 in my H1.

However, this past month I experienced how much difference there is between how the human eye and a camera sensor perceive light (I know I owe you an article on that, I'm working on it). I took pictures at two birthdays indoors with the Sony 28mm f2.8 and high ISOS (around 2000 or so) and the pictures came out perfectly with little noise to be seen.

However, tonight was a completely different game.

I arrived late to the event, but luckily I didn't miss my friend's performance. When I arrived, there was a group of musicians playing, so I decided to use that chance to set the camera properly for my friend's turn.

The gear I used was: A700, Vertical Grip, 18-200mm.

Since I knew that my lens wasn't exactly a fast one (f 3.5-5.6), I knew I was going to be playing with ISO instead of aperture this time around. The goal was to get properly lit pictures without resorting to flash.

I first started at ISO 1600 and it wasn't good enough, mainly because I needed a shutter speed around 1/40-1/60 to freeze movement as much as possible. The pictures came out a bit underexposed.

I bumped it to ISO 2000 and it worked just fine. The noise was somewhat visible, but that was because NR was set to Low and not to Normal, so I switched it to Normal.

When my friend came on stage, the lightning conditions had changed completely because they turned off all lights in the auditorium and when they turned them on again, they turned just the scenario ones, which were weak. The band playing before was using those lights and the auditorium's lights which helped to increase light conditions.

This posed a problem, my ISO 2000 just didn't cut it, nor any other ISO after that; except 6400.

Yeah, you read right, ISO 6400.

So the question here was: should I go with it and get noisy pictures or should I go down to ISO 1000 and open the shutter?

Answer: Go with it and get noisy pictures

Why? Simple, a great photographer called Marc Mantha once said in a course I read from him that its better to get noisy pictures than no pictures at all. And that is so true. I managed to get a load of great shots with ISO 6400.

I could have reduced the ISO and open the shutter, but then I would have got all the subjects blurry in movement. This time I was aiming for subjects well in focus but with movement, in other words, pictures where you could tell who is who while having their movements recorded to some degree.

Besides, you can always use noise removing software to improve the quality of the image, but you cant undo the blurry movement of your subject.

So what's the big fuzz about ISO 6400?

Personally, I don't know. The noise is something you can't eliminate completely from a shot, unless you manage to take photos with no light... You can suppress it, but can't get rid of it for good.

I've come to think that pixel-peepers have successfully inserted the idea in the photographer community that high ISOs are a thing from the devil. They want pictures with no noise, perfect focus and no artifacts all the time, pixel by pixel. That's an utopia, that's technical perfection, and that doesn't exist.

Of course ISO 6400 is far more noisy than ISO 200, so what? That means it shouldn't be used? If you take a look at old pictures, specially war and newspaper pictures, all those used ASA 400 or higher. They look grainy, but if you're looking at the grain and not the shot, then you're missing the whole point.

The shots I got tonight sure are noisy, but I can take care of that once I get a noise removal software (and a new computer...). However, they are not THAT noisy as some people make it sound: "OH MY GOD, THAT SHOT IS IN ISO 6400, IT'S SO HORRIBLY NOISY MY EYES ARE GOING TO POP OUT OF THEIR HOLES!"

On top of that, I used DRO Level 3 as well and the shots came out as I wanted them to.

The best scenario in this case would have been to use a long lens with a big aperture, say f 2.8, in order to reduce the ISO and increase the shutter speed even more but right now I'm working with what Ive got.

One thing I noticed about ISO 6400 is that I could go to speeds as high as 1/600 and I still could get properly lit shots, which shows just how sensible the EXMOR sensor can be...

My advice to you this time is:

Don't be afraid of going to ISO 6400 or the top ISO number of your camera. It's better to get a noisy shot than NO shot at all. And you can always remove the noise to a bigger or lesser degree with software. Sometimes, when you print, the noise isn't even noticeable. This has happened to me frequently...

If you can stick to low ISOs, that's great, but if you need more light, don't be afraid to raise the ISO.

Sure, high ISOs are noisy, but that's one trade off you got to accept if you want to be a photographer. You can work around it anyway. You can't work around not having a picture, sometimes you may get another chance, but if it's a once in a lifetime event, no software in the world can help you.

Your Alpha DSLR goes up to ISO 3200 or ISO 6400? GOOD! USE IT!

A700 With $300 Discount In SonyStyle US

Are you a Sony lover and you want to make the jump from P&S to DSLR?

Are you a Sony Alpha DSLR user and you want to upgrade or get a second body?

Are you with another system and you want to jump to the Alpha mount?

Are you in the look for a camera to being your journey in DSLR water?

Were you waiting for prices to drop so you get a new A700?

Are you looking for a great Christmas gift?

Well, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE!

SonyStyle US is currently selling all the Alpha 700 kits or just the body with 300 dollars off the original price.

The A700 body now costs $999.999 instead of the original $1299.99.

The A700 with the 18-70mm lens now costs $1,099.99 instead of the original $1,399.99.

The A700 with the 18-200mm lens now costs $1,999.99 instead of the original $1,499.99.

The A700 with the 16-105mm lens now costs $1,499.99 instead of the original $1,799.99.

These discounts are good until December 24, so buy NOW!

Updated Version For Gary L Friedman's Complete Guide To Sony's A700

Back in October I mentioned a book that really helped me to get a good understanding of what the A700 can do, Gary L. Friedman's Complete Guide To Sony's A700 Digital SLR Camera And The Alpha Mount System.

Sony released Version 4 of the A700's firmware in September, and the upgrades in that firmware version changed the way the camera behaves. Mr. Friedman's book back then was based on firmware's Version 3.

Well, he has now updated his book to include the changes the A700 experienced with V4 among other things.

From an email he sent:

What's new with version 3.0?

• More detail about Firmware Version 4, including some unexpected behaviors
• A few more DRO examples added
• The Manual White Balance setting to use for Compact Florescent lighting.
• More on Zone Matching and the "Agorabosta method"
• Too many small formatting and typographical corrections to document

So if you bought his book already, you should be getting an email from him with a link to get the newest version of his book.

If you havent bought his guide because you were waiting for him to include information about V4 or because you just havent, now is the time to buy it. Read my post on his book clicking on the link above.

Keep in mind that buying a book from Mr. Friedman gives you access to free updates for life, so the investment you do when purchasing it pays for itself once you grasp all your A700 can do.

Go now to his online store to purchase his updated A700's guide .

*For those of you who purchased his book already and plan to get the update, please wait a few days if possible to download it so his main servers wont be overloaded with simultaneous downloads.

Shooting In Low Light, Where Did My 5fps Go?

The following is a problem that affects the A700 when shooting in low light.

On this thread at DPR Sony SLR Forum forum member JUMPH asked a question that I think its worth to post in here for future reference if anyone else has the same problem.

He mentions problems with his A700, when shooting in low light conditions (he lists sunset or indoors at night as his examples) the camera wont fire at 5fps, but at 2fps.

He mentioned how he tested the camera using shutter speeds from 1/60 to 1/8000 and shooting with no memory card. In theory the speed he tested the camera at its enough to achieve 5fps, but he couldnt get them.

He shot this video to show how the camera would only go to 5fps if he used a bright light source pointed at the Eye-Start sensors.

Originally I thought that the problem was the shutter speed used or the memory card. But I was wrong.

According to forum member Ken_5D, the problem is that the AF is taking longer to confirm focus in low light. This makes sense since digital sensors do not see light as the human eye does, so a low light for us is dark to them.

He mentioned two possible ways to get around this problem:

1.- Use Manual Focus
(I told you, you will need to learn how to use it ;) )

Or

2.- Set the shutter to Release

Or

3.- Point a light source to the Eye-Start sensors.

So now you know, if you come across this problem, these are your options to get those frames per second back.

Finally, there is a thread in Dyxum forum that talks about this problem in great extent

Until next post!

DOF Button-What Is It And Why You Should Use It

The following article is about a function that applies only to the A100/A700/A900.

If you're new to the DSLR world, you may be having a hard time learning how to predict the behavior of the camera when you use a scene mode or one of the P(rogram) A(perture) S(hutter) M(anual) modes, especially when changing the aperture, your pictures may be coming out well illuminated but not eveything is in focus or maybe you wanted to isolate the subject from the background but actually the whole picture turned out in focus.

Its true that you can actually achieve pictures with focus or defocused backgrounds by learning the changes that will occur when you change the aperture, but the A100/A700/A900 have a button that makes this task easier and gives you more control on the outcome of your picture before you take your shot.

Thats the D(epth) O(f) F(ield) button.

But lets take a look about why this button exists in the first place.

The Why for the DOF Button.

If youre familiar with the concept of Depth Of Field, you will know that the amount of focused subjects or how much of a subject is properly focused in your picture depends on the aperture you use.

Using a big aperture (ie 1.4, 2.0, 2.8) will give you a shallow depth of field, where a minium portion of the picture or subject will be properly focused, and the rest will have a smooth focus or completely out of focus.

Using a small aperture (ie 8, 11, 16) will have a lot more things in focus and the background may be a bit or a lot more focused than using big apertures. This depends on the aperture selected of course.

If you are shooting macros or portraits and you want a small portion of your subject focused and the rest not, you use a big aperture. And if youre shooting a scene, landscape, etc. that you want all in focus, you use a small aperture.

You should know and remember that increasing or decreasing aperture has an effect on the overall exposition of the photo. A big aperture will allow more light in and a small light will allow less. If you over do it, you may end up with a blown out picture (horribly overexposed) or a nearly impossible to see shot (horribly underexposed).

Think of the aperture as the light intensity control. The more you allow in, the brighter the picture, the less you allow in, the darker. Along with shutter speed, you need to combine both to get a properly shot picture.

Now, back to the DOF button.

If you're taking shots and you need or want them to have different grades of focus, you need to change the aperture to have this changes take place.

The thing with DSLRs is that usually you can't see the effects take place until you take the shot, why? it's simple. In order to provide the photographer with the maximum light possible to compose a shot, even in low light, all the lenses are opened to their maximum aperture. If this wasnt done, you wouldnt be able to see through the viewfinder if youre using an aperture of F20 in low light.

The lens closes down to the aperture you selected when you press the shutter to take your shot, but it wont before that. After you take the picture, the lens opens again all the way. So if youre using a 50mm 1.4 lens, it will be always open at 1.4 until you take a picture.

The problem people may have is that they see the focus and defocused parts of the frame on that aperture, but cant see what will REALLY happen once they press the shutter with the aperture set to F 16 (or any aperture that's not the maximum for the lens you use)... unless you're using an Alpha 700 or Alpha 900.

(If you have one of these cameras, now it would a good time to get it with you if you havent already).

What does the DOF Button do and why you should use it.

If you look at the camera from the front side, you will notice a small black button on the lower left side of the mount. On the right side is the focusing mode lever so you cant mistake it.

That little black button is the DOF Button.

The purpose of the DOF Button is to close down the lens to the aperture youve selected BEFORE you take the shot. By pressing this button, you will see the focused and defocused parts of your shot and decide if thats what you want, if you want less parts in focus or more and adjust accordingly before you press the shutter.

There is one thing that will also happen that shouldnt disconcert you or confuse you. When you press this button, a screen will appear in the viewfinder, making what you see through it dark, how dark will depend on the aperture selected, the smaller the aperture is, the darker it will be. This function simulates how much light enters through the lens at the selected aperture, bear in mind though that it will not represent the final outcome of the picture, since shutter speed or ISO arent taken in account here. This is just the lens closing the aperture blades.

The good thing of the viewfinder going dark is that you can actually see the things that the aperture you select will have in focus. If you look at edges in your frame, you will see how they become sharper when you press the DOF button.

Since this button works on your command, there is one neat trick to it. If you want to see how the focus changes when going through aperture numbers, keep the button pressed and at the same time move the dial youve assigned to aperture, you will see and hear how the blades open or close as you move the dial. This will help you decide which aperture you want to use before taking a shot.

There is one thing you have to keep in mind about this button, it will only work when you use small apertures, if you use for example, F2.8, the lens wont close down, you will hear the mechanism trying to close it but it wont.

Since lenses are not the same and all of them vary in aperture, the range at which you can start using the DOF button varies from lens to lens.

Example:

If you use a 18-200mm 3.5.-5.6 lens, at 18 mm the max aperture will be 3.5, if you press the DOF button, nothing will happen. If you close it down to, F7 or higher, the button will work. If you extend the lens to 200 mm, the max aperture will be 5.6, pressing the button wont work either until you move the aperture to around F8 or smaller.

Like I said, the range at which the lens will close upon pressing the DOF button varies on the aperture range your lens has.

The use of this button will guarantee you get the shot the way you want it everytime regarding how much of the shot is in focus.

If you're shooting pictures of a leaf and you want its edges to be sharply in focus, you select a small aperture and check using the DOF button and adjust accordingly. The button will help you in any kind of shooting.

Finally, there are two tips you can use with this button.

1.- To overcome the darkness that occurs in the viewfinder when pressing this button, you can use a flashlight or any light source you can control. This will lit the scene and give you more light to check the focus of your shot without letting go of the button.

2.- You can achieve focus lock while pressing the DOF button, either half press the shutter or press the Multi selector (the joystick) to get focus lock and keep the DOF button pressed to check the shot before taking it, if its what you want, press all the way the shutter.


Now that you know whats that little black button on your A100/A700/A900, go out, use it and improve your photography!


Until next time.

First Month With My A700 And Alpha Sight

Today I have one month with my A700 and I would like to share some thoughts.

Initially I was somewhat scared with it, mostly because its a DSLR and I had no experience using a camera that only used the VF to frame, letting go of LiveView was hard the first days...

When I first got it, 5 out 10 pictures I took were good (in the sense that I got the shot I wanted), right now Ive managed to move that to 7 out of 10. I know it may sound a bit cocky (or maybe too...) but thats how I personally feel.

I must admit that reading Gary Friendman's guide for the A700 (read previous post) REALLY cleared things for me regarding the A700's capabilities and practical uses. When I started reading the book, I was all confused and scared, after I was done with it, I felt more secure and with a lot of ideas.

Ive been shooting a lot lately with it and my handle of the camera's behavior is improving, feels like the A700 and me are getting in the same channel. The thing I need to work on right now is the use of different lenses, especially the Lensbaby 3G...

Another thing Ive realized is that I really missed a lot by pushing flash photography aside when I used my H1. I didnt want to use the flash back then because of how ugly it made the pictures look, but I never thought something could be done about it! After reading Mr. Friedman's book, Ive realized how wrong I was and ever since then Ive been playing with a Minolta Program 3500xi flash and a sheet of paper attached to it, and Ive been having so much fun! The results Ive been getting with that combination werent possible to me according to my wrong idea. Ive even used the principle of using the sheet of paper as a diffuser on my H1 and Ive got a great result with it for my blog Out Of Place, the issue #38 was shot using flash but diffused, and it looks so much better that way than without it.

DSLR is truly an amazing, flexible and infinite world to explore!

And now I got to keep learning.

Today is also the first month of existance of Alpha Sight. Ive been posting as much as Ive been able to about topics I've seen are needed by the Sony Alpha user community.

I would like to thank to the people who participated in my poll, letting me know they have found information here useful to them. Im really pleased to know Im being of service to you and that this blog has showed you information you needed or didnt know about. Thank you!

Remember you can always submit information of topics worth for other Alpha users to know, be it you write the article or you leave that job to me, be sure to send me an email to freeradical09@gmail.com with your submissions. You can also request information about a certain topic of your interest to that mail as well, I will either look it up myself or get help from other users to have an article about it.

Until next post!

Focusing Modes-Part 3

The following applies only to the Alpha 700 and the Alpha 900.

There are two options to further increase your control over the kind of focus the camera uses.

AF/MF Button

In the A700/A900 there is a button in the back of the camera, next to the AEL button thats labeled AF/MF.

This button allows you to easily change between AF and MF without doing anything else with the lever.

If the lever is set to S, A or C, pressing this button will change from AF to MF. If the lever is set to MF, when you press the button, the focus will change to AF-S mode.

This is an extremely useful button, why?, because if your camera doesnt focus what you want due to confusion or the lens takes too long to focus at all, you can IMMEDIATLY switch to Manual Focus and do the job yourself, instead of reaching out to a lever placed below the lens release button, you can switch the focusing style without taking the eye from the viewfinder.

I believe Sony kept this button just for the A700/900 due to the fact that usually advanced or professional users will be the ones switching from AF to MF and viceversa more frequently than amateurs or beginners. This is just my personal opinion.

Now, there is something about this button that you should know to determine which option suits you best.

The default setting for this button requires for you to HOLD the button in order to work. In other words, if you are shooting in AF and want to go to MF, you got to press the button AND keep it pressed in order for the camera to remain in MF, because as soon as you take your finger off the button, it goes back to AF.

Personally, I find this setting really annoying, because if I got to do a careful movement of the focusing ring and I got to worry also about keeping the button pressed, it just takes some of my attention and places it on the button. Not to mention that if Im pressing the button and my hands move for whatever reason, the focus goes back to AF and I still think its on MF. I can notice if this happened because the focusing ring gets stiff and not lose as it would be in MF, but if someone else doesnt notice the change, it can force the focusing ring, which can lead to breaking the lens internally and ruining it.

Of course, that is just my opinion, there will be some people who feel a lot more comfortable with holding the button and thats completely ok. The camera is designed to be customized to the user's wishes, not someone else's.

However, for those of us who dont like the idea of holding while focusing and rather press and forget, Sony also thought of the option to TOGGLE with this button.

When you set the button to Toggle, you need to press it once to change from AF to MF, the camera will remain in that mode until you press again the button, which will switch it back to the original focusing mode (either AF or MF, depending on where the lever is set).

To change the AF/MF setting: Menu->Custom (the tab with the clockwork icon) Menu 1-> AF/MF control->Toggle.

If you change your mind later, follow the same instructions but pick Hold instead of Toggle.

If the location of the button doesnt suit you but you still want another button to work as the AF/MF button, you can always use the C(ustom) button.

To set the C button to work as the AF/MF button, go to: Menu-> Recording (the tab with the camera icon) Menu 1-> Custom Button->With the joystick (Multi selector) choose AF/MF control and press the joystick to set it.

DMF

If you browsed through the Menu pages or the camera manual, you may have seen a function called DMF.

DMF stands for Direct Manual Focus. DMF is a cross between AF and MF.

When DMF is enabled, the camera will focus using AF, but once it has achieved focus, it will release the focusing ring for you to move it if you decide to do so. It will remain in MF until you half press the shutter again, which will prompt the camera to focus in AF and then go to MF.

This is an useful function if you want to have the MF function enabled without having to press the AF/MF button (these cameras give you plenty of choice, dont they? :-) ). This would be like those gearboxes in cars that allow you to switch between manual and automatic. Cool eh?

DMF can only configured using the AF-A mode. You cant use it if the lever is set to something else than AF-A.

To set DMF, go to: Menu->Recording (camera icon) Menu 3->AF-A Setup->DMF

Now everytime you have the lever on AF-A, the camera will go to DMF.

Both the button AF/MF and DMF give you direct and quick access to either AF or MF or both. These two functions are of great value when you shoot in circumstances where you need to switch between both modes frequently. Remember I said it'd pay off to learn about Manual Focus? These two functions make it a lot easier for you to work with MF.

And with this we conclude our series about Focusing Modes. I hope it was of some help to you, go out and test all the settings, determine which one suits you better and keep shooting!

Until next time.

Gary L. Friedman's Complete Guide To Sony's A700 Digital SLR Camera And The Alpha Mount System

Whenever you buy a new thing, you should ALWAYS read the instructions manual to fully understand how the item works and what you can and can not do with it.

Unfortunately some manuals not always cover the issues you want to know about in the way you want it to.

Sony's manuals are this kind of manuals, while they do provide the things a manual should provide, they have a dry tone and lack explanation in some issues. Not to mention they dont use pictures taken by the camera you have in your hands. They excel at providing technical data about the camera, but they give you a small overview of the functions available for the camera or software bundled with it.

For some people this will not be a problem at all, for some it will be a huge problem. Some people won't even bother to read it.

The Alpha 700 is a camera with infinite options and lots of customization possible. If you dont learn how to use those functions, if you dont understand what they do to the pictures you'll take, if you dont know what does each button do, you wont get the full benefits this camera can offer (or any camera for that matter).

The task of learning may be a bit scary, but fortunately, there is a way to make the task an easy one.

Months before I got my A700, I read and read and read threads in DPR Sony SLR Forum about the Alpha system. One thread that caught my attention mentioned a book which explained the A700 in huge detail and was highly recommended by a vast group of people.

The book was The Complete Guide To Sony's Alpha 700 Digital SLR Camera And The Alpha Mount System by Gary L. Friedman.

Gary L. Friedman is a professional photographer who has used Minolta cameras for a long time, and now uses Sony as well. The man knows the system pretty well in other words.

His book its a long book (476 pages), but it will cover everything you need to know about the A700, and when I say everything, it's E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. From button functions (With EXAMPLES!) to Creative Styles, from Wireless Flash to Scene and Program Modes, from the advantages the A700 offers over competitors (such as SuperSteadyShot) to all the possibly configurations hidden in the menu pages.

It also covers photographic techniques to improve your composition, the difference between RAW and JPEG, how to use the Sony Image Data Converter. DRO function explained and many many things more.

That's why the book is long, it covers a lot, but trust me, once you're done with it, you will be amazed at how much you can do with your A700 and how simple it has been laid out for you.

The best achievement of this book is the friendly writing style and the vast range of EXAMPLES it includes, I know I already wrote that, but when you want to see how the DOF button REALLY works, you need to see PICTURES, not text. And this book provides them. The book will never bore you, and it will drag you deeply into it that you will be done before you know it.

You should read the manual, thats a fact, but this book will fill all the gaps or holes the manual may leave once youre done with it.

The book is offered in 3 versions: Digital PDF file, Printed Black & White version and Printed Color version.

I HIGHLY recommend this book, if you really want to squeeze all you can from your A700, you should read this book. Several times if possible.

In a thread on the DPR Sony SLR forum I read that Sony should pay Mr. Friedman for writing this book and bundle it with the A700, that statement its as accurate as it gets.

Buy this book, you won't regret it, if youre just starting your journey into the Alpha DSLR system or youre lost in it and not getting the results you want, THIS IS THE POINT TO START GETTING THE ANSWERS YOU NEED!

If you want to convert the learning curve into straight airport strip, get this book.

Link to purchase this book

Keep in mind that there are also books for the Alpha 100/200
300/350, in case you dont own a A700 but own one of those cameras.

Car themed A700's

Browising through the Dyxum Camera Talk forum, I came across a thread worth the look.

It links you to a site where a A700 user applied real car maker's designs on the A700 body. Photoshop was used obviously.

If I could buy the Aston Martin DBR9 version, I would. That's the sexiest thing Ive seen in a long while...

Pictures and Source

A700 Official Firmware Version 4 Upgrade

As previously reported, Sony has made official the version 4 of the firmware upgrade for A700.

Initial reports seem to indicate that the version most people installed when leaked a week ago is the same version released now.

At the moment of writing this, V4 was official through the japanese and european Sony sites.

The european site states the following improvements and error fixes V4 includes:

Improvements and solved issues

The choice to select auto exposure bracketing (single & continuous) with 3 shots in 2 EV steps has been added.

The choice to turn [Off] the High ISO NR feature has been added.

Improvement of the image quality in high ISO setting.

Improvement of the auto white balance and D-Range Optimizer performance.

Improvement of reliability for communication between camera body and vertical grip.

This confirms the first 3 things fixed by the leaked version, and now the WB improvements reported in the DPR Sony SLR Forum are confirmed, along with an upgraded DRO performance.

The last item is of particular interest to me, Ive read some threads in the forum mentioned above of people having problems with the Vertical Grip, that it suddenly stop working and forced people to remove and reintroduce the batteries in the grip. Even the VG's manual mentions this problem in the Troubleshooting guide.

I certainly hope that error is now fixed with this upgrade.

Also, the Sony Image Data Suite has been updated, the new upgrades are:

Image Data Converter SR Ver.3.0
Software to view, adjust and save the RAW format still images shot with your camera.

Image Data Lightbox SR Ver.2.0
Software to view, compare, and rate the RAW/JPEG format still images shot with your camera.

Remote Camera Control Ver.2.0*
Software to control your camera connected to the computer via USB to shoot images or change the settings.

* This software can be used with DSLR-A700 only.

V4 for Windows

V4 For Mac

Sony Image Data Suite for Windows

Sony Image Data Suite for Mac

Sony Europe Customer Portal for A700

Installation instructions for V4 and SIDS in those links.

Dont forget to click on the + button next to Overview/Features and Download and Installation Procedure for full information display.

DSLR 101

After 2 days of not touching my A700 at all (due to work overload, not because I didnt want to) I finally managed to invest some more time today with the camera, lenses and manuals.

First of all, this day was a reality check.

Even though I have a great control over my previous camera, Im making the same mistakes I did when I got the H1 almost 3 years ago, proving that I have to learn everything from scratch again in a new unit of time.

Welcome to DSLR 101.

Today I learnt that even though the A700 has a bigger sensor, better NR reduction and wider ISO range; APERTURE AND SHUTTER SPEED STILL MATTER. AND NO MATTER WHAT, LOW LIGHT IS LOW LIGHT.

I overexposed or subexposed a lot of shots, and some of them were blurry due to slow shutter speeds in low light.

I feel like a rookie, I still need to go back to the Auto mode to get a shot properly quickly; WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I DID WHEN I GOT MY H1 FOR THE FIRST TIME!

In theory Im not a rookie, but in practice I am. In theory Im not because I know how aperture, shutter speed, ISO, focal length, EV, etc. affect a photo, but in practice I am because I just screw up when setting those.

One problem Im having is letting go of the Live View.

My H1 has Live View and an Electronic View Finder, which means that using the EVF or the LCD screen, I can see the frame in real time and the adjustments I make are also displayed in real time, by adjustments I mean WB, speed, f number, and I used those all the time to frame my shots.

My A700 doesnt have LV (which is something it has been critiqued a lot about, but I dont mind), which requires me to drop the LV thinking and start thinking pentaprism.

In other words, I need to develop the skill to know the settings in my head and what effect they will have in the picture before taking it. With LV I depended on the changes taking place immediately in the LCD or EVF, with the pentaprism I just see the reflection of the scene infront of me, but not the changes the picture will have if I move a setting.

I really need to practice, I need to move the changes from the camera to my head, so when I move something, I already know what Im doing without screwing up.

I know A900 has Intelligent Preview, which I find it more handy than Live View since on DSLR's apparantly its something hard to implement and make it work without slowing things down. Theres the idea that IP could be implemented to the A700 through a firmware update, I would like a lot to have that, but I would use it when Im doing work that doesnt require fast shooting, like studio stuff. It would be more comfortable to have it under those conditions.

I personally want to learn how to shoot without any technical aid, like a lot of photographers did before digital cameras: Their instinct and creativity plus the camera and its tools.

One thing Ive experienced and proven to myself is that no matter if its film or digital, a photograph still relies on the techniques used in photography. Film and digital are two ways of presenting a photograph, but that doesnt change the fact that the bare basics of the subject HAVE to be learned.

Its like a car with manual gearbox and another one with automatic gearbox, different systems and different driving style, but you still have to wear the seatbelt, check your mirrors, change your oil and stop at any red lights.

The bare fact is that Im now working with another system, more professional, more creative, more allowing; and I need to learn about it, study about it, practice with it, get results with it.

That is going to take time and effort, practice and study. Im just beginning to know my camera and the system of SLR.

Right now Im at DSLR 101, and its tough, but no one said it was going to be easy or that I even had to upgrade my camera. This was my choice, and Im going through with it no matter what.

A700 Shutter Actuation

In this thread

Forum member was2aks filmed two videos of the A700's shutter acting at 1/250 and 1/500 speed with a high speed camera.

One of the interesting parts of it, is how the mirror bounces when it goes up. That should be a good reason to have SuperSteadyShot on.

Videos:

1/250




1/500

Alpha 700 Firmware Version 4, Beta?

A new firmware version for the Sony Alpha 700 was leaked two days ago via Sony's chinese site (for some reason, the leaks from camera makers come from their chinese sites most of the time). The firmware was later removed.

The firmware included the following:

Option to turn NR OFF, something long wanted by Alpha users. Took one year to happen but better late than never.

New bracketing options for those who shoot High Dynamic Range pictures.

Its also been reported that the AWB setting has improved performance with incandescent lights, no longer yielding a yellowish tone. This came from a thread in DPR Sony SLR Forum.

The weird thing however, is that the Sony Electronics Blog had the firmware update linked for a while and there was a post talking about it, saying how we found out about it in a way they didnt plan to and that the official release would be on September 16th, but now the post is gone, the firmware is gone and it just links to Version 3.

A lot of people (including me) installed this upgrade. I sensed something was up before I installed V4, but apparantly there was no reason NOT to install it. One day later, this happens.

All this made me wonder a few things:

The version a lot of us installed was a beta version?

Was it removed from those sites in order to focus attention on the A900 launch?
The V4 gathered a lot of attention, and maybe Sony wanted all of us looking at the new camera and not the upgrade.

The version we installed is incomplete?
Maybe there are other functions that are missing...

When Sony launches officially the upgrade, will it work for those of us who already installed the leaked version? Will it be a 4.1 or 4.01 version?

All signs point that Sony IS aware that a LOT of people installed the upgrade, so I hope they take that information in account and update the upgrade for those of us who installed it.

I never heard of something like this happening before, when V2 and V3 were released, there wasnt any removal from the Sony sites.

Either someone at Sony leaked a beta version of it for us to test and see if we were happy with it or someone screwed up and leaked it before it was done at all. Otherwise there isnt any point in removing the firmware from user's reach if everyone knows about it already.

The official launch of it is in 6 days, we'll see what happens then.

This is the original message removed from the Sony blog:

"A700 Firmware Upgrade Oct. 30, 2007 2:22am

UPDATE: September 9, 2008 Hello again from Mark Weir, in Sony’s Digital Imaging group.

Since yesterday, we’ve seen a number of comments in this and other forums regarding new firmware for α700. Although the news of this development didn’t happen quite the way we had intended, we can acknowledge that we’ll soon make available a firmware upgrade for α700 on Sony’s eSupport website.

We are always listening to your feedback, and we are aware of the concern expressed for α700 Noise Reduction and EV bracketing. Borrowing from some of the development for α900, we’ve developed new α700 firmware with expanded EV bracketing (±2EV/3shots) for High Dynamic Range composting, as well as Noise Reduction “off” for those who prefer the control of post processing NR. We will make these updates (and some others) officially available on Sep 16th at http://esupport.sony.com.

We’ll have more news available as we approach Sep 16th, and we appreciate your patience!"

First Day With A700

After a year I decided to make the move from high end point and shoot to DSLR, the wait is finally over.

I finally got my new A700 on Sunday.

I havent taken shots with it yet. One of the main reasons is because Ive been reading the manuals that came with the camera, lenses, vertical grip, etc. This is a new system for me and I want to know how to use it properly. I dont want to break anything either, I just got all this stuff and the last thing I want is to send something back to repair.

The other reason is because Ive been busy working on delivering the job that allowed me to buy the new camera.

My recommendation to all of you is that whenever you get a new piece of equipment (camera, lens, tripod, case, editing program, whatever) that you READ the manual.

What for? Simple, you need to know what your gear can and can not do. If you dont know its limits, you will push it to extremes its not designed for or you wont get all the benefits you can get from it.

Ive read an infinite amount of reviews of the A700 and in all of them its stated of how much customization and capabilities the camera has. In order to obtain the maximum power of it, its best to know as much as possible of it. Knowledge over something gives you control, the more you know, the more you can control. Its highly recommended that you read your camera manual or gear manual before you use it, and its also highly recommended to read further literature on the subject to expand your knowledge. Ill post later what Ive been reading lately.

One thing I havent said yet is that Im REALLY happy that I finally have my A700 with me. I have big plans and the camera is crucial part of those plans.

Congratulations to Sony for releasing (AT LAST) the new A900! Good things in the future for us Alphanautics.