Alphatracks

Aug 23, 2010 Sony Alpha cameras are in the news in a big way, thanks to a flurry of announcements about their high-end dSLR and Translucent Mirror cameras.

Translucent what? Sony has announced the A55 and A33 cameras, which look like conventional dSLRs…but are actually a form of Pellix Mirror cameras.

Although the concept of a Pellix or half-mirror camera has been around for decades, Sony has adapted the translucent mirror concept to a modern electronic viewfinder to create a whole new animal.

The implications of utilizing this system in the Sony Alpha are quite exciting. The biggest benefit involves shooting video, since the Pellix technology allows the camera to maintain fast autofocus while shooting, eliminating a limitation that plagues dSLR video cameras from other manufacturers.

The translucent mirror uses beam-spliting technology to direct some light to the focusing sensor, while the rest of the light passes directly through the mirror to the imaging capture sensor. Thus the A55 and A33 can use fast phase-detection auto focus, even when shooting video.

To date other most other dSLRs handle the focusing issue by not offering auto focusing at all, or using slower Passive autofocus.

While I suspect that solving video issues is the main reason Sony has chosen to go down this road, there are several other advantages that photographers can look forward to in Sony Alpha translucent mirror cameras.

Because the mirror doesn’t need to flip up for each shot, the cameras is able to deliver faster frame rates. In the 1970s, Canon produced a high-speed motor-driven version of the F1 film SLR equipped with a pellix mirror. It was specifically aimed at sports and technical photographers looking for high-speed capture.

Because of the non-moving, translucent mirror, the Sony A55 can shoot at 10fps, an outstanding frame rate for a dSLR priced under $800. (US price is $749.)

Secondly, the Pelilx camera should be much quieter. Typically, shutter noise isn’t a big issue, but there are times when the noise generated by that flipping mirror can be objectionable. Shutter noise can negatively impact wedding ceremonies, speeches, training classes, undercover surveillance, wildlife photo shoots and other quiet events. I love shooting with my Sony Alpha dSLRs, but I keep an old Minolta Dimage 7i around because it can shoot in absolute silence. I don’t use it often, but I have captured images I never would have gotten because of the noise of a conventional SLR or dSLR would have interrupted the proceedings.

Finally, the photographer can follow fast action without the mirror blacking out the scene each time the shutter fires. In fact, the viewfinder will never black out, since the mirror will always be projecting light to the viewfinder, even when the shutter is open.

Sounds great, you say. Sign me up.

Before you get too enamored about the translucent system, there are good reasons you don’t see too many Pellix cameras on the market.

First that beam-splitting technology means the sensor and viewfinder have to share the available light. In bright sunlight it isn’t a problem, but as the illumination fades, any light reflected to the viewfinder must be subtracted from the light falling on the sensor. As a result, Pellix cameras are not known for their stellar low-light performance.

Sony has solved this problem by replacing the conventional optical viewfinder with an electronic viewfinder (EVF). (There is also a live-view LCD on the back.)

When you look through the eye-piece on a Alpha A55 or A33, you will actually be looking an electronic viewfinder — a feature the aforementioned DiMage 7i offered a decade or so ago. There is one big difference. The EVF in the old 7i was prone to smearing if the camera or subject moved quickly. I haven’t yet had a chance to play with a A55 or A33, but the newer EVF cameras I’ve used recently rival an optical viewfinder in refresh speed. Hopefully the new Sony models will have a similar high-performance EVF.

Because the EVF can amplify the signal in the viewfinder, we can expect that the view from the finder in the new cameras will be bright and clear in dim light, something that could not be said about old-scholl half-mirror cameras.

A third possible drawback involves dust on the mirror. In current dSLR designs, dust on the mirror is meaningless. Dust on the sensor is a concern, but anything on the mirror has no effect on the final image.

Since pellix style camera actually shoot through the mirror, however, crud on the mirror could reduce image quality.

I have no experience with pellix mirrors, but I am told that they are usually quite delicate. Will it be easy to keep the translucent mirror dust-free? Is the mirror easy to clean? Only time will tell.

I’m quite excited by the new Translucent cameras, and might just pickup one of these in the near future. Of course there are other items that must be budgeted for. Sony has also announced two new conventional dSLRs (with video capabilities) and three new lenses. I’ll discuss those in my next post.

The Sony Alpha A55 is available for pre-order for $749.00 at Sony Style

The Sony Alpha A33 is avialable for pre-order for $649.00 at Sony Style

These are the body-only prices. The A55 and A33 use the complete range of Sony and Minolta A-Mount lenses.

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The most common question I get about the Sony Alpha dSLRs is “Can I use Minolta lenses on the Sony Alpha dSLR?” The answer is, not surprisingly, “it depends.”

Over a span of fifty-plus years, Minolta produced a dizzying array of optics. The company continued to pour its own glass, long after other camera manufactures started to outsource their glass making. In addition to making lenses for photographers, Minolta produced optics for scientific, medical and industrial needs. A lens may say “Minolta” on it, but that is no guarantee that lens is appropriate for photographic use.

“I don’t care about that, I just want to know if my dad’s old Minolta lenses will fit my new Sony Alpha!”

I understand, but the answer is still “it depends.” Fortunately, figuring which Minolta lens are compatible with the Sony mount is fairly straight forward, but there is a lot of confusion and misinformation about.

Minolta created a number of lens lines during its photographic manufacturing period. The early Minolta M43 Lieca mount lens were so well designed that Lieca actually contracted Minolta to produce some of their optics. Minolta also produced lenses for it’s short lived 110 SLR.

In the last fifty years or so, the bulk of Minolta optics production was devoted to lenses in three major mount types:

• A-Mount auto focus lenses (1985 – 2006) which are fully Sony compatible
• SR and ROKKOR manual focus lenses (1958-2001), which can only be used on the Sony Alpha with an adapter
• Vectis auto focus lenses, which cannot be used on the Alpha

As you might expect, there are idiosyncracies with certain lenses that could effect whether a specific lens is 100% compatible. The statements above, however, apply for the overwhelming amount of Minolta glass.

Let’s look at each lens mount in detail:

Minolta A-Mount lenses

Minolta introduced the A-mount in 1985, and with only a few slight variations, they continued to use the same mount for all their top level SLRs and DSLRs until the Minolta photographic assets were sold to Sony. Although Sony has started to use the term Alpha mount to describe their dSLR lens system, it is really the old Minolta A-mount. Minolta A-lenses work on the Sony Alpha, because Minolta originally designed the mount that Sony currently uses. Sony has beefed up the camera mount in its later offerings, but the lens mount itself is exactly the same as Minolta. So all Minolta A-Mount lenses attach and operate perfectly on the Sony Alpha. There is no difference, because the mounts are identical.

As I said, there are few idiosyncrasies that effect some of the Minolta lenses. The biggest of these involves the power zoom “i” lenses. When Minolta introduced the “i” series film SLRs, they included a power zoom feature that allowed users to change the focal length of certain lenses by pressing a button. I’m not sure how useful an asset this was, but Minolta sold a ton of I lenses.

Obviously, there are no power buttons or zoom motors on any Sony Alpha, or for that matter, any Minolta dSLR. So obviously, you can’t use the power zoom feature of the i lenses on these cameras. But that is the only limitation. These lens attach to the Sony Alpha, just like any lens in the Sony catalog. Auto focus, auto exposure, auto diaphragm all work perfectly. So does image stabilization. The only limitation is that there is no power zoom; you have to zoom manually. So technically, the i lenses are not 100% compatible with the Sony Alpha….but do you really care? For all practical purposes, the i optics work just fine.

Sony also indicates that Minolta DT lenses (designed to cover the APS-C sensor) may not work correctly on the full frame A850 and A900. They do work as expected on the APS-C cameras that compse most of the Sony dSLR lineup.

What about third-party A mount lenses? Almost as soon as Minolta introduced the A-mount in 1985, lens makers like Tamron, Sigma and Vivitar started cranking out auto-focus optics to fit the new Maxxum AF cameras. So there are thousands, if not millions of non-Minolta, non-Sony A-mount lenses out there.

In theory, these lenses were designed to be compatible with the original Maxxum 7000. Minolta lenses for the Maxxum 7000 are fully comptible with the Alpha, so you would expect the third party optics for the Maxxum to be usable on the Alpha.

In truth, most older third party A-Mount lenses work beautifully on the Alpha. Unfortunately, there are some early third party lenses that don’t work correctly when attached to the Sony Alpha. Some manufactures offer an upgrade program to convert older lenses to work on the Sony dSLR mount, but this involves time and expense.

If you are considering buying a third party A-mount lens, I suggest that you check out the lens database at Dyxum. They have an entry for almost every A-mount lens in existence, including optics you probably never knew existed. The great thing is every lens is rated for sharpness, quality build and general usefulness. You can check whether a third party lens will work on on the Alpha. In just a couple of minutes you will have an idea if a particular lens is a dud or a bargain.

Minolta Rokkor lenses

Next up, you will run across millions of older Rokkor and SR mount lenses. Minolta cranked these out in great numbers before they introduced the Maxxum auto focus cameras in 1985. At one point, Minolta was churning out 30,000 lenses a month, and they did that for years.

What many photographers don’t realize is that Minolta kept many of the older Rokkor lenses in their catalog for years after introducing the Maxxum. As late as 2001, you could still buy a brand new X700 manual focus camera from Minolta, and they also offered many of the more popular Rokkor lenses to go with it.

As I mentioned in an earlier article, Minolta probably would have continued to use the Rokkor X-mount on the Maxxum cameras, but they couldn’t find the room to incorporate auto-focus into the Rokkor design. So they made the painful choice to abandon the old mount and create a completely new design for the auto focus cameras.

This means that you cannot attach a Rokkor lens directly to an A-Mount camera. The mounts are completely different, there is no compatibility.

Of course, Minolta realized that they had millions of existing customers with extensive collections of Rokkor lenses. These photographers were unlikely to adopt the new Maxxum models unless they could bring their older lenses with them. So Minolta designed an adapter which allowed Maxxum users to make use of Rokkor lenses. These adapters were actually in the form of a teleconverter, and for a long time were very expensive and difficult to find. More recently, a number of accessory manufacturers have responded to the need by offering inexpensive Minolta MA-MC adapters. I will delve more completely into MA-MC adapters in a later post in this series. The important thing is that the only way to mount a Minolta SR, MC, MD Rokkor style lens to the Sony Alpha is with an adapter. Unless you want to seriously modify the lens, which is another possibly I will discuss in another post.

Minolta Vectis Lenses

The final lens you might run across in your search for used Minolta lenses are known as Vectis mount lenses. In the 1990s, Minolta developed a line of APS (Advance Photo System) cameras they called the Vectis. Some of the Vectis models were fixed lens rangefinders, but Minolta also offered a Vectis SLR that offered interchangeable lenses. There was even a 3mpVectis dSLR known as the RD3000.

While Vectis lenses are not as common at the A-mount and X-Mount optics, you may still run across them on eBay, Craig’s List, pawn shops and used camera vendors. They look quite similar to the A-mount lenses and many of them are marked with the Minolta logo.

Do not be fooled. Vectis lenses are not compatible with the Minolta A-mount and there is no way to use these optics on a Sony Alpha. When the Vectis SLR was introduced, Minolta announced they were creating an adapter that would allow photographers to use their existing A-mount lenses on the new Vectis cameras. As far as I can tell, the adapter was never put into production, so the A-mount and Vectis lenses are totally incompatible. Even if Minolta did actually produce the adapter, it wa designed to attach A-mount lenses to Vectis cameras, so it would be no help in using Vectis glass on the Alpha models. I don’t know of any adapter that would mount a Vectis lens on the A-mount, and I doubt that there is sufficient interest in the V-mount optics that any third party will ever produce one.

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June 10, 2010: Remember when Sony waited a full 18 months to introduce a new dSLR after releasing the A100? Now it seems they seldom wait more than 18 days before releasing a new model. Okay, that may be a slight exaggeration, but the Sony dSLR factory will soon be cranking out two new entry-level models: the A290 and A390.

Sony is aiming the new A-mount cameras at first time dSLR users, and the specs are similar to earlier Alpha starter dSLRs. The new cameras are obviously closely related, the principle difference being the tilting live view system on the A390.

Both cameras will use a 14.2 megapixel sensor, and they include the usual Sony Alpha feature set: Steady Shot image stabilization, Sony and Minolta A-mount lens compatibility, pop-up flash and 9-point auotfocus system.

A couple of things set the new modles apart from earlier editions. There is a new grip design, which Sony claims is more comfortable to use. in addition, both cameras include HDMI output and BRAVIA Sync, so you can view images on your big-screen television if you are so inclined.

Because Sony is targeting first time dSLR buyers with these cameras, both models include Sony’s on-screen Help Guide and Graphic Display program.

The tilting live-view follows the design first offered in the A350 and A300.

Sony of Europe has announced that the A290 and A390 will be available in Summer 2010. Will the new cameras be sold in the United States? So far, there is no mention of the new cameras on Sony’s US web site. The Sony A450, profiled here some months back, has been on the market for several months…but it is not sold in the US.

Will Sony offer the A290/A390 in the USA? Or do they have something else in mind?

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One of the most intriguing things about the Sony Alpha NEX-5 and NEX-3 cameras is that you can use your existing A-mount lenses on the new models. Well, sort of. You need the Sony LA-EA1 adapter to mount an A-mount lens on the NEX system, and that involves some minor sacrifices. Overall, however, your current lenses should deliver great images on the NEX system.

The LA-EA1 is a far cry from the simple adapters used to mount non A-mount lenses on the Sony Alpha. It differs from the typical simple machined ring found in  MC to A-mount adapters or M-42 lens conversion mounts. The A-mount to NEX adapter is a sophisticated piece of electronics.

Unlike Minolta Rokkor or M-42 lenses, A-mount lenses from Sony and Minolta do not have an aperture adjusting ring, Older style lenses have a mechanical ring that allows the user to change the aperture opening manually. When Minolta introduced the Maxxum cameras in 1985, however, they did away with the aperture ring and used electronics inside the camera to regulate the aperture. If desired, the photographer could still manipulate the aperture manually, but it had to be done through a menu on the camera body.

This makes a conversion adapter for A-mount lenses more challenging to design. Conventional adapters rely on the user manually setting the aperture. Since there is no external method for changing the aperture on an A-mount lens, any useful adapter needs to provide a way for the camera to actually control the lens electronically.

Admittedly, it isn’t difficult to pass electrical information through an adapter. but the adapter needs to be designed so the camera’s aperture control can control the lens.

The LA-EA1 can do just that, providing automatic — and presumably manual — control of the lens from the camera’s  controls. Since the auto-diaphragm on the A-mount lenses is also controlled electronically, the new adapter will provide auto-diaphragm capability as well.

What the adapter will not provide, however is auto-focusing. The overwhelming majority of A-mount lenses do not have internal focusing motors, so the adapter is not designed to offer auto-focus.

The other limitation is image stabilization. Sony Alpha dSLRs are famous for having image stabilization built into the body. In order to make the NEX bodies as small as possible, however, Sony engineered the small cameras to use in-lens stabilization. As a result, A-mount lenses mounted to the NEX series cameras will not have stabilization.

One other interesting feature of the adapter is the built-in tripod collar. The NEX series cameras are so small that there might be problems using a heavy lens on the camera while it is on a tripod. Sony eliminated the problem by incorporating a standard tripod mount within the adapter. You merely hang the camera body on the adapter, while all the weight of the lens is borne by the adapter.

The LA-EA1 is available for pre-order at Sony Style for $199.00.

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E-Mount Lenses for the Alpha NEX series

May 17, 2010 Sony has introduced a brand new lens mount for the NEX series, which will be known as the E-Mount. Older A-mount lenses from Sony and Minolta can be used through the LA-EA1 NEX Alpha Camera Mount Adapter, but if you want Auto-Focus and Image Stabilization, you will need E-mount lenses,

Sony is introducing the NEX cameras with catalog of three lenses. Undoubtedly the E-mount lens line will grow, but for the time being the available lenses include:

16mm f/2.8 Pancake lens

The smallest and lightest E-mount lens is the 16mm f/2.8 pancake prime lens. The term pancake referrers to the narrow appearance when attached to the camera. This is one of the two “kit” lenses offered for the NEX series.

Like all cameras with APS-C sensors, the 16mm focal length doesn’t provide as wide a view as a 16mm lens on a 35mm, full-frame camera. The crop factor is 1.5, which means that the 16mm lens will provide the view of a 24mm lens on a 35mm camera.

Besides being the widest lens in the E-Mount series, the 16mm lens is also the fastest at f/2.8. This is suitable for shooting in poor light, but you will need to increase the ISO to match the low-light capabilities of the f/1.8 or f/1/4 A-Mount dSLR lenses.

Unlike the Sony Alpha dSLRs, which have in-body image-stabilization, the NEX cameras require in-lens stabilization. Sony has built stabilization into all of the initial E-Mount lenses, including the 16mm f/2.8

You should consider this lens if you want to shoot with available light, shoot wide-angle views (real-estate interiors, scenic vistas) or want to carry your NEX camera in a (large) pocket.

The SEL16F28 will list for $250.

Sony has announced two auxiliary converters for the NEX 16mm f/2.8. One converts the lens to a fisheye, while the other creates a much wider view. I’ll discuss the converters in another post

18-55mm f/F3.5-F5.6 zoom lens

The other available kit lens is the 18-55mm f/3.5-5/6 zoom lens. Although not as wide or as fast as the 16mm pancake, the 18-55mm lens offers a convienent wide-angle to short-telephoto zoom range. At the wide end, the 18mm setting will yield roughly the same field of view as a 27mm lens on a 35mm camera. At the other side of the scale, the 55mm length will be equivalent to 82.5mm on a full frame SLR.

The lens isn’t a speed demon, as the maximum aperture at the wide end is f/3.5, while at the telephoto side the aperture drops to f/5.6. Still, with the built image stabilization, the lens should be fast enough for most photography situations.

The minimum focusing distance is a respectable 9.8″ (0.25m). The filter ring diameter is 49mm.

Chose this lens for portrait or all around shooting in good light. It is isn’t as pocketable as the 16mm pancake, but it offers more versatility.

List price for the SEL1855 lenses will be $300.

18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom lens

If you want or need longer telephoto capabilities, Sony will be adding a 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 zoom to the E-mount line up in the fall of 2010. This will not be offered in a kit package, at least initially. Since Sony currently doesn’t market the NEX models in a body-only package, buyers will need to buy a camera with a lens, then purchase the 18-200mm zoom as an accessory.

Since the big zoom completely overlaps the 18-55mm lens, it makes little sense to buy the 18-55mm kit lens, then buy the 18-200 zoom. To my mind, it would make much more sense to buy the kit with the 16mm prime lens if you plan to buy the 18-200mm zoom.

The crop factor on this lens makes it equivalent to 27-300mm lens on a 35mm camera. This lens also features the Active Mode image stabilization that Sony claims makes it possible to shoot movies while walking.

Of course all lenses are compromise and the big zoom has a slow maximum aperture of f/6.3 at the 200mm focal length. That is fine for outdoor shooting in bright sunlight, but don’t expect to shoot indoor basketball action at f/6.3.

The SEL18200 zoom lens should be available this fall for about $800.

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May 12, 2010: As expected, Sony formally announced their new mirror-less digicams, the Nex-3 and Nex-5 on Tuesday. Both cameras carry the Alpha brand, but aside from the Alpha logo and sensor size, they don’t share anything with the Sony dSLR models.

Both EVIL (Electronic Viewfinder, Interchangeable Lens)  models use the same 14.2 mp, APS-C Exmor sensor. The primary difference between the two models is video. The Nex-3 captures 720p MP4 High Definition video, while the Nex-5 can record AVCHD files in Full HD (1920 x 1080i).

The body on the Nex-3 is polycarbonate, while the Nex-5 is crafted from magnesium alloy.

The new cameras share a new lens system, while Sony has dubbed the E-Mount. Sony hasn’t forgotten A-Mount Alpha users, however, as there will be an extra cost adapter that will mate A-Mount lenses to the Nex models.

The adapter is far more advanced than the adapters used to mount MD/MC and M42 lenses on Alpha dSLRs. Because the Alpha mount lenses have no manual aperture control, the adapter has to send signals from the camera to the lens to regulate the f/stop. Sony hasn’t provided full details on the adapter as yet, but the release suggests that legacy A-mount images will be manual focus only.

They have shown the adapter, however. It incorporates  a solid tripod mount, so you will be able to use your heaviest A-Mount lenses on the Nex twins without fear of straining the tiny camera body. No word on whether auto-diaphragm will operate with A-Mount lenses.

Sony has announced three E-Mount lenses: a 16mm f/2.8 pancake prime, a 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 zoom and a nice 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 zoom. Apparently rumors that the new cameras will use in-lens stabilization is true as the zooms offer Sony’s Optical Steady Shot, similar to what is used in Sony Handicam camcorders.

There are many situations where composing on the rear LCD won’t cut it, especially if you have to use manual focus with legacy glass. I recently had to chance to play with the extra-cost, eye-level viewfinder on an Olympus 4/3 camera, and it made a huge difference in usability. I was afraid that Sony might ignore this need, but Nex accessories include the FDA-SV1 Optical Viewfinder. Sony isn’t offering much info on the optical viewfinder, but I will be hugely disappointed if it doesn’t equal the one Olympus offers.

Flash options are a bit of a mystery. Some of the press images show a flash above the lens, but there are no flashes shown in the accessory options. Will there be a popup flash? How will an auxiliary flash attach to the camera? Can you use off-camera flash? Sony isn’t saying, so we will have determine this as the Nex models become available.

Other accessories include an auxiliary stereo microphone and an AC adapter. Both camera’s include built-in stereo recording abilities, but the accessory mic apparently provides superior sound quality.

Equipped with the SEL16F28 lens, the Nex-3 will list about $550, with the Nex-5 selling for about $100 more. NEX-5K and NEX-3K cameras, come with the SEL1855 lens will list around $700 and $600 respectively. Sony has not published prices for the lens mount adapter, auxiliary viewfinder and the other accessories.

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May 10, 2010 If you’ve been caught up in the excitement of the imminent Nex-3 and Nex-5 EVIL cameras from Sony, you may have overlooked the bells tolling for the A900.

Several rumor sites are claiming that Sony’s Hong Kong site is listing the A900 as discontinued.

Curious, I checked the site myself. I couldn’t find anything expressly saying  the A900 was discontinued, but significantly, the A900 was not listed among the Alpha dSLRs offered for sale. The site lists the top model as the A850.

It could be a simple error, but I am inclined the rumors have at least some truth to them, I don’t have access to sales figures, but I would guess that A900 sales have flatlined since the introduction of the Sony A850. The cameras are nearly identical, but the A850 can save you several hundred dollars. Unless you really, really need the faster frame rate of the A900, the A850 is a much better bargain.

Does this mean the A850 is the new flagship? I doubt it. I would assume that there is a new flagship on the launching ways, and Sony will replace the A900 with something better. At least I hope that is the case.

Some of the rumor sites are expecting an A900 replacement to be announced along side the new Sony EVIL twins.

I’m not so sure about that. I think a brand new top-of-the-line dSLR deserves it’s own special day. At the same time, a completely new camera system should have it’s own special day.

I could be wrong, but I would expect we will see the Sony Nex models first, with a new full-frame dSLR (if there is one coming soon) following some time afterward.

We may know as soon as tomorrow, as Sony has apparently chosen May 11 to announce the Nex system.

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April 28, 2010: Website SonyAlphaRumors has posted photos they say they received from an anonymous reader. The source claims to have snapped the images in a bar in Asia. While the story sounds a bit like the recent Gizmoto-Apple iPhone dustup, apparently the Nex3 was not left at the bar and no one tried to sell the prototype to anyone.

Like any prototype/rumor story, there is no way to confirm that the camera in the photos will resemble the final product, but I would guess it is pretty close. The word is that Sony will introduce the new cameras on May 11, so it would seem that any real-world testing would involve prototypes that are very close to the real deal.

SonyAlphaRumors expects there will be two models at launch, the Nex3 and Nex5. The principle difference between the two will be the video capabilities, with the Nex5 shooting at 1080p, and the Nex3 limited to 720p. Both cameras will use a APS-C size, 14mp ExmorHD sensor.

SAR is also claiming that unlike the Sony Alpha dSLRs, the Nex models will not have image stabilization in the body. They claim the 16mm 2.8 lens shown in the photos has image stabilization built in to it. SAR theorizes that this will make it easier to add stabilization for video recording.

While most commentators are obsessed with the lens, I was much more intrigued by the flash unit. I had assumed that the new cameras would have some sort of pop-up flash, but the camera in the bar shots is using what appears to be a small, detachable external flash. The flash doesn’t resemble any current Sony Alpha flash, so it will apparently be a new design. Since the mockups at the PMA show did not have a hot shoe, I’m not sure how the flash attaches to the Nex3 and Nex5.

There may still be a small pop-up flash on the cameras, with the external flash providing better flash range. On the other hand, it is possible that there is no popup flash and you will need an external flash for any auxiliary illumination. If so, I hope Sony offers an off-camera cord so users can move the flash away from the camera.

Finally, I am really hoping Sony will offer an external viewfinder, similar to the one Olympus sells for their micro four-thirds models. I was able to play with one of these recently and the extra-cost viewfinder made a real difference when shooting in direct sunlight.

Time will tell, as May 11 is less than two weeks away. Bring it!

Visit the Nex3 and Nex5 pages at SonyAlphaRumors.

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April 22. 2010 A few weeks ago, I attended the “Picture Perfect” weekend at the Daniel Stowe Botanical Gardens. The program included several photo workshops and gear demonstrations. After the workshop concluded, I wandered over to the Orchid Conservatory and collected some new images.

The conservatory is great location for photographs. In the first place, it is filled with exotic, colorful flowers, most of which you won’t see in the average garden. So the conservatory offers up an almost unlimited array of vivid subjects.

Beyond that, the lighting at the DSBG Conservatory is fantastic. There is glass in nearly every direction, and the resulting shadow-free light can turn an ordinary snapshot into a portfolio photo.

Finally, because you are indoors, there is no breeze to disturb the leaves and petals. Don’t get me wrong, I love taking my Sony Alpha dSLR outdoors and capturing nature photos. But when you are trying to capture razor sharp close-ups, any kind of breeze becomes a frustration. You get the composition just right, then a cats paw comes up and shifts your subject around.

Inside a conservatory, there are no sudden gusts, so the flowers remain stationary while you arrange your shot. You can take all the time you need to set up your image, confident that the focus and composition won’t change.

I put together a gallery of my best images from the DSBG Orchid Conservatory. While there was plenty of light to shoot hand-held, I used a tripod for the bulk of the shooting that day. Because my subjects were unlikely to move, placing the camera on a tripod allowed me to set critical focus knowing I wouldn’t shift the lens toward or away from the flowers.

Although I used a wide-ange lens to capture some establishing shots, photographing orchids is work for long lenses. I used the Minolta 70-210 f/4 “beercan” for the majority of my gallery images. The beercan features a close-focusing mode, as well as wonderful bokeh in the out of focus areas.

I’m pretty happy with my results. If there is an indoor conservatory in your area, grab a tripod, your camera and some long, close-focusing lenses. If it is anything liker the Daniel Stowe Conservatory, you will come away with some great photos!

View the DSBG Orchid Gallery

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BarCamp Charlotte returned to Area 15 in Charlotte’s NODA district, and I was on hand for the third edition. BarCampCLT just keeps getting better, and I really enjoyed my time at the “un-conference.”

I’ve posted galleries of the pervious Charlotte Bar Camps on Alphatracks. For the third edition, I choose to shoot everything with available light; no flash. I also wound up shooting the entire day without using a single A-mount lens. My lenses for this shoot were the Minolta Rokkor 58mm f/1.4, the Rokkor 16mm f/2.8 and the Vivitar 135mm f/2.8.

I chose these lenses over my comparable A-mount lenses because they were the fastest lenses I own for their particular focal length. Most of my A-mount zooms feature a maximum aperture of f/3.5 or f/4 and I needed more aperture. So I used my older lenses with an A-mount adapter and would up setting the exposure manually for everything.

I wasn’t trying to be cute by limiting myself to non-auto-focus A-mount glass, it simply worked out that my fastest lenses for the task proved to be manual-focus lenses attached to the Sony Alpha A350 with an adapter.

I did bring a couple of flash units, but I elected not to use them, in-part because I had gotten nice available results at Area 15 in the past. Since the last time I was at the facility, however, the main room was extensively refurbished.

In the past, the walls were cream painted cinderblock and the ceiling beams were natural wood. Over the winter the artists at Area 15 gave the room a complete makeover. The walls are now covered in dark green and purple hues, while a dark brown color covers the ceiling.

The darker colors required shooting at a higher ISO, even with fast glass. I’m not suggesting the room itself is dark, as it is well-lit and airy. But the dark tones absorbed all the stray light, requiring me to use a higher ISO to capture the feel I was looking for.

Higher ISO, of course, creates more noise. The images still look good, but I think the flash images I shot in the past were cleaner overall. Still, it was nice to shoot candids without the flash alerting my subjects they were being photographed.

If you look through the entire BarCamp Charlotte 3 gallery, you’ll note the ISO I used varied between 200 and 1600. I shot RAW and processed everything in Adobe Lightroom. I used Lightroom’s noise reduction settings to clean up the noise in the 800 and 1600 ISO images.

Overall, I was pleased with the available light images. For the next Bar Camp, however, I think I may return to bouncing electronic flash off the ceiling for certain images.

Here is the Bar Camp Charlotte 3 photo gallery

The official Bar Camp Charlotte website

The Area 15 Website

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