Finally Released: Gary L. Friedman's Complete Guide To Sony's A900 Digital SLR Camera And The Alpha Mount System

Hello Alphanautics:

For those of you who are lucky enough to own a A900, you'd be interested to know that Gary Friedman has finally published it's book dedicated for the A900.

The book has a 85% of new content or refreshed information and has been organized differently from his previous books for the rest of the Alpha family. It's 525 pages long.

Mr. Friedman's books present photography and your camera in an easy-to-understand fashion, whether you're a rookie or a seasoned photographer, his books contain something worth knowing.

Interesting concepts covered in this book include:

• Dynamic Range Optimization function
• The new Sony Wireless Flash protocol (the protocol changed with the introduction of the HVL-F58AM and 42AM flashes, which replaced the F56 and 36AM flashes)
• Features exclusive to the A900 (Im guessing one of them is the fact that you can have Mirror Lock Up function and use of the Bulb speed at the same time)
• How to get great high quality ISO images out of the camera (which I think this is something a lot of people are interested in)

The book is presented in two formats: E-book or printed book (in B&W or color). The E-book costs $29.95 USD. No price yet revealed for the printed version though, all I know is that they will be presented in two volumes due to the book's length.

I own Mr. Friedman's book for the A700, which helped me a HUGE deal to understand my camera (right now I'm giving it a second read) and I can say that every cent paid for his books is worth it. You'll get the info you need to understand your camera and to take off and create a vision of your own with your Alpha.

His books make more sense than the official manual does, so you won't regret buying this book.

So if you own a A900, this book MUST be part of your library.

Click here to go to the Friedman Archives site for the A900's book

A900 And Carl Zeiss 24-70mm Bundle At SonyStyle

Hello fellow Alphanautics;

For those of you considering to acquire Sony's A900 and the Carl Zeiss 24-70 f/2.8 lens but the price is a problem, there are some good news for you.

SonyStyle US is offering a 500 dollar discount if you purchase the items in a bundle!

The normal retail price for the A900 is 3,000 USD while the CZ 24-70 is 1,750 USD.

If you bought these two separately, you'd end up paying 4750 USD.

Which is a lot of dough...

However, with the discount offered right now, the price comes down to 4250 USD. That should ease a bit on your wallet or leave you some cash to purchase another lens.

There doesn't seem to be a deadline for the deal, but if you were waiting for some discounts, this is your chance.

Visual Guide To Change Focusing Screens On A900

One great feature of the A900 is that you can change the focusing screen without having to send your camera to an authorized repair center.

If you own an A900, this video guides you step by step on how to change the focusing screen yourself.

The focusing screen is that piece of glass that goes over the mirror that has the lines you end up seeing in the viewfinder. It can be changed to one that has a grid and the points of composition in compliance with the rule of thirds, or a plain but bright one for manual focusing.

You can find the Focusing Screen Type L and the Focusing Screen Type M in SonyStyle.

Bear in mind that the A900 is the only Alpha DSLR that allows the owner to change the focusing screens, the rest of the Alphas can have the screen changed, but only by authorized personnel, otherwise it may void your warranty.

If you attempt this kind of procedure, I suggest you watch the video a few times before proceeding. Get a good idea of what you need to do, practicing the movements first is also recommended.

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.

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.

SonyStyle US Taking Pre-Orders for A900

That's right people, for those of you who are wealthy, lucky enough and decided to purchase a brand new A900, SonyStyle US is taking pre orders for it.

The price is 2,999.99 dollars and it will be shipped around the 30th of October.

The camera is just being offered as body only. Maybe there will be some kits with Carl Zeiss lenses in the future?