Archive for the 'Sony Alpha 700' category

Amateurs of sports photography and wildlife photography are generally well aware that the Holy Grail of lenses seems to be a (relatively) light tele-zoom lens of 100-400mm range and an aperture under f/5.6. This set of features allows a lot of versatility (tele range with the ability to quickly and easily change the frame) and a good behaviour in terms of AF (most modern AF behave correctly up to f/5.6 but no further than this).

This is the reason why the Canon 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 L IS UM and Nikon AF 80-400mm VR f/4.5-5.6 D ED has been so successful despite their obviously high prices (around $2000). When I’m on photo safari, I’d say that about half the people around me have one of the Canons as their main lens (somtimes, it’s even their only lens).

Some time ago, Sigma added its own version of this lens (see this high-end zoom lens comparison). And it was a winner in terms of price-performance.

Now, we can expect several significant news in this range of products coming from different manufacturers.

• Sony presented about a year ago a mockup of a zoom lens corresponding well to this range. The word is out that it will be a 70-400mm f/5.6 zoom presented to the European press on August 14th (for an official launch in the beginning of September, probably at the same time Sony launches the Sony Alpha 800 and/or Sony Alpha 900 Full Frame camera(s)).
• According to some rumors (mainly originating from an unsubstantiated initial post at NikonRumours), there will soon be a Nikon AF80-400mm f/4.5-5.6D ED VR update. And this should be explaining the reduced availability of the original version.

I would even be tempted to read between the lines of a recent test article of Chasseur d’Image and say that Canon will also be hard pressed to provide an update to its aging 100-400mm. After all, it’s a real cash cow and a sure sale for owners of top- and mid-range cameras like the Canon EOS 40D (and possibly its successor EOS 50D - next year?).

For the happy owners of the Sony Alpha 700 Digital SLR camera, I want to tell that there is a new firmware (version 3) available. The improvements are:

• Bug correction: Resolves an issue where the Access Lamp remains lit and the camera stops responding when several pictures are taken in rapid succession.
• Bug correction: Resolves an issue where powering the camera off while in “MR” mode may cause some registered settings to carry over to other shooting modes.

All this comes on top of the previously detailed improvements to image quality and noise management in version 2.

Everything is available on the Sony support site.

While I was browsing the Internet I found two interesting Digital SLR reviews for recent products:

• Nikon D300 at CameraLabs
• Sony Alpha 700 at Luminous Landscape

While I seemed unable to find the user manual of the Sony Alpha 700 D-SLR camera, there was the the Alpha 700 promotional brochure visible on the web.

But if you really want it all (including the Sony Alpha 700 user manual), you should check the Sony documentation server.

Two new reviews were just published for the Sony Alpha 700:

• Camera Labs (English)
• Trusted reviews (English)

It looks like this camera is definitely a good one. The Minolta people will like it is feeling a lot like the Dynax 7D in a better way, in a more modern technology.

Two bits of news today that are quite significant of what happens with most of today’s high-end cameras.

• First, Sony just announced a firmware upgrade for the just-launched Alpha 700 professional photo camera. Some reviewers (like Chasseur d’Images) had noticed that the excellent sensor was not giving its best with the tested cameras (low-contrast foliage was easily blurred by the noise reduction algorithm). Not surprisingly, Sony presents an upgrade to v1 firmware “improving image sharpness and noise performance as well as tweaking flash performance with non-ADI lenses.”
• Second, Canon UK stopped shipping of EOS-1D Mark III and initiated a recall of unsold cameras pending an official announcement by Canon related to camera repairs/replacements of the autofocus system.

All this points to excellent cameras that arrived a little too early on the market. The pressure to be right in time for the big year’s end sales seems to be forcing these apparently serious manufacturers into technologico-marketing limbo. Will we have to apply the automotive market adage of “never buy a car within less than 6 months of its launch”?

The Sony upgrade is only for to early production cameras with v1 firmware (press the Menu and Display buttons simultaneously to check your firmware version).

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Last minute update: Canon issued an official statement indicating that the issue comes from an AF mirror adjustement problem and that repairs will start in November 2007. If the serial number on the bottom of the camera is between 501001 and 546561, the camera might require an adjustment of its AF mirror mechanism.

Canon official statement.

Up to now, I have been able to identify a few reviews or previews of the new high-end digital SLR from Sony:

• DP review
• Photography blog
• PopPhoto (preview)
• PopPhoto (review)
• ThinkCamera
• PhotoReview
• QuestionsPhoto (prise en main)
• Imaging Resource (preview)
• LetsGoDigital
• MegaPixel

Some links jump to French articles. But not all, of course.

Feel free to send me other ones you found.

Finally, the rumours about the name of the new digital reflex camera from Sony were not based on reality (at least concerning the name of the animal). Today, Sony announces its new leading product under the Sony Alpha 700 or Sony A-700 label. Obviously, this is coming back to the naming conventions of Minolta where the figure 7 was associated to the high-end products (9 was for fully pro and 3 and 5 for amateur).

Nevertheless, the general indications of technical characteristics where rahter precise. I let you be the judge. Here are the final/official specs:

• Magnesium allow for a robust and light-weight body (The Alpha 100 had strong opposition from people feeling it was too “plastics-based”
• 12.2MP CMOS sensor
• 5 frames per second (sequences of 17 images in Raw format)
• 11-point Autofocus
• 100-6400 ISO (we will wait for the real images to know the quality)
• 1/8000e second max shutter speed (1/250e flash synch)
• LCD screen 3″ (7,5cm)
• Optional battery grip
• Compatible with CompactFlash and MemoryStick flash memory
• Minolta flash system
• HDMI, PAL, NTSC video output

You will notice that, contrary to what many other digital SLR recently announced, there is no LiveView option. It’s not that I think it is very important (I believe that it is mostly useless), but there is a notable difference when you compare to the current wave of SLR launches.

All this puts the Alpha 700 in the same class as the old Konica Minolta Dynax 7D which it should naturally replace and in the competition against the other cameras at more than $1000/1000€ that were launched or announced by Nikon, Canon, Panasonic, Olympus, etc. However, the price is not officialized yet while the availability is set to mid-October.

Useful links:

• DP review
• Photography blog
• PopPhoto
• ThinkCamera
• PhotoReview
• QuestionsPhoto (prise en main)
• Imaging Resource (preview)

We long thought that Alpha 200 would be the name of the new Sony Digital Single Lens Reflex. However, Sony surprised most people and named it Sony Alpha 700.

After the recent information (or rumour) that Sony is actually preparing a 14-million-pixel digital SLR camera under the name of either Alpha 200 or Alpha 300, and taking into acount that Nikon is in tight partnership with Sony since the Nikon D200, it is time to ask what resolution will come out of the next replacement of the D200.

I would bet on Nikon using the same 14MP+ for the Nikon D300 (as the D200 used a speedier version of the Alpha 100 10MP sensor). If this happens and the Canon 40D still has a 10MP or even a 12MP CMOS sensor, it could mean that the both Nikon and sony will have a nice time beating the Canon 40D just out of launch. Even if you repeat that resolution is not the solution to all problems, Canon would have to fight for image quality (and we know they are at the highest level of the competition) without having any resolution advantage, while users are still driven by mega-pixel figures.

A rather interesting post on the Dyxum forums tells us more about the future of the digital single lens reflex cameras at Sony (provided that we believe what is still only a talk between Internet users who say they know). The first item is about the name of the future cameras: There’s no more Alpha 200 but Alpha 300 (this year) and Alpha 500 (next year). I may have to rename the category where I post thos messages

Let’s look deeper: the most advanced model (Alpha 500, as we should understand) will be the first Full-Frame in the product line (with a sensor of the same size as the old 24×36/35mm film image). So, it would not be usable with lenses specially optimized for the small APS-C sesors. This is quite well in line with the observation already done that Sony developped no lens of this type and stayed ready to switch to Full-Frame cameras. It would give them a very significant advantage if you compare with Nikon and Canon, in a competitive environment where the small compact cameras are starting to put some pressure on the lower end of the D-SLR market.

So, the Alpha 500 would have a FF 20MP sensor and through the use of an intelligent organization of the sensitive zones of the sensor, Sony would claim to be providing a stunning 40MP. Striking!

But this is only about a 2008 camera that is still far from being ready. For 2007, the Alpha 300 (or can I still call it Alpha 200?) would bring no less than 14-15 mega-pixels with a crop factor fo 1.25 that would near the FF target. Think about it: As the Alpha 100 shocked the public with the first ultra-low-cost 10MP when only Nikon could fight on the field of image size (with a Sony sensor, by the way), the Alpha 200/300 could be able to shake down the best oppponents, even without the marketoid-like doubling of resolution through the sensitive site organization of the sensor.

But to stay compatible with the already existing market of compatible low-cost lenses, the Alpha 200-300 would include a menu option allowing the user to switch to a lower resolution (11MP?) and giving compatibility to the cheapest lenses.

Most of the rest of the post is rants and raves about the Sony marketing babble: “We are the world leader in photo sensors; We succeeded in prying 6% market share out of Canon and Nikon hands in a year only, we are ready to overtake anon and leave them the 3rd rank“. All is quite in line with the information recently appeared in the news: Canon has recently left the pole position to Nikon on the Japanese market (many analysts believe that the Japanese are showing the way for the rest of the world with a year of advance).

Such cameras would be able to transform the dreamof Sony into a hard reality and move the market around. Howevern we still do not have a precise launch date for such an Alpha 200 or 300. and even less about the Alpha 500…