Alphatracks

Indoor basketball shot with a Vivitar M42 lens and Minolta 4000AF flash. Would a top-of-the-line lens/flash combination produce a better image?

Feb. 11, 2009

Sports photography is breed apart. In most forms of photography the photographer takes his or her time, carefully adjusting the lighting and arranging the scene to capture the perfect image.

It’s different for sport shooters. Covering action sports leaves little room for careful composition or lengthy setup. If the participants are constantly moving, the photographer needs to be on the move as well. Shooting fast action outdoors in daylight is difficult enough. Shooting sports indoors or after dark becomes more complex, because you are faced with the problem of finding enough light to stop the action. Dim light and fast shutter speeds are usually polar opposites. If you are going capture sharp action images indoors at a reasonable ISO setting, a fast lens becomes mandatory.

You gotta have fast glass

I was reminded of this when I set out to photograph my grandson’s youth basketball team. I realized that all of my zoom telephotos were too slow to capture indoor sports at ISO 400 or even ISO 800. My Minolta 70-210 Beercan is great for outdoor sports, but with a maximum aperture of f/4, you need to raise the ISO to 1600 to stop indoor action. The same for all my other telephotos. Although I have a nice selection of focal lengths, most of my lenses are too slow for indoor sports, with the exception of my Minolta 50mm f/1.7. While the nifty fifty is fast enough, the 50mm reach is too short to get in tight on the players.

Of course both the Sony and Minolta lens lines offer many excellent, fast optics. You can also obtain fast glass from third party lens makers such as Tamron, Sigma and others.

A fast telephoto is a joy to shoot with, but wide aperture optics involve consequences. First they are usually expensive, and secondly they are typically bulky and heavy. I don’t mind the weight when I am shooting, because it helps dampen vibration. However, carrying around a bag of heavy lenses gets old really fast.

This means that when I want to travel light (which is most of the time) the heavy, fast glass stays home. The most expensive lenses are the ones that get used the least.

That’s why I wasn’t too interested in laying out the cash for a fast AF zoom. I’m sure that a fast Carl Zeiss or a Sony G lens would be exciting to shoot with, but I can’t justify the price tag for a hunk of glass that I will only use on limited occasions.

Still, I needed something faster than a f/4 telephoto. In casting around for a solution, I stumbled across a long forgotten favorite — a second-hand, but little used Vivitar M42 screw mount 135mm f2.8 lens.

Enter the Vivitar 135 f/2.8 in a M42 mount

I was very familiar with this lens, because the the first axillary lens I ever owned was a near twin in the Minolta X mount. It was fast, light and very easy to handle. I bought it in the mid seventies, and used the lens extensively for more than a decade. I would probably still have it, but some low-life broke into our home and stole a bunch of camera equipment, including the 135.

Here’s the inexpensive Vivitar M42 lens and Minolta 4000AF flash mounted on the Sony A350. Note the Control Grip 1000 that serves as a flash bracket.

I wasn’t seeking this particular lens, but when I found a Vivitar 135 M42 mount on eBay, I realized this could be an excellent lens for indoor sports. With the APS-C crop sensor on the Sony A350, the 135 represents a 192mm equivalent. A 200mm f/2.8 lens, with good image quality and a price of less then $30? I didn’t see how I could go very far wrong with that deal. The fact that I already had a M42 to Minolta A mount adapter made it that much sweeter.

Of course, shooting with a M42 lens on a modern dSLR involves some compromises. Okay, a lot of compromises. I’m planning a full report on the Vivitar 135 M42 lens and I will outline the drawbacks of using a manual M42 lens. While there are some serious downsides to shooting with a M42 lens on the Sony Alpha, the fact is I am getting excellent results with the Vivitar 135.

My initial tests with the 135mm were good, but I decided I needed to add little kick by adding light from a flash. This immediately calls into question the whole idea of using the f/2.8 lens. If you are going to shoot with a flash, why not use the beercan or one of my other f/4 lenses. Surely it wouldn’t be difficult to find a flash that could fully light the players at f/4?

Do you really need a fast lens if you are going to use a flash?

The truth is that at f/4 and ISO 400, anything outside the flash range turns dark. It looks like the team is playing basketball inside a coal mine; or at least in a auditorium whose owners forgot to pay the electric bill. You can “drag the shutter” by shooting at a slower shutter speed, which will relieve the dark background. But if there is enough ambient light, motion steaks in the highlights becomes visible. With a fast lens, I can use a fast shutter speed to freeze the action while the f/2.8 aperture keeps the background nice and bright.

I could have used my Sony HLV-F42AM dedicated flash. Instead, I chose to go with another old relic — a Minolta 4000AF flash.

Common wisdom states that the older Minolta flashes don’t work well with the dSLRS from Sony or Minolta. In this case, common wisdom is way off base. The 4000AF can be made to work very well on the Sony Alpha. It is true the 4000AF won’t work as a dedicated flash on the Sony Alpha. You need to shoot with the flash in the manual mode and you have to tweak the power settings to match the conditions. But it works quite well if you know what you are doing.

I chose the 4000AF because I got a nice deal on a Minolta Control Grip CG-1000 Set and a 4000AF. This allowed me to mount the flash on the CG bracket and use the Sony FA-CC1AM Alpha Off-Camera sync cord to trigger the flash. This combination is far better balanced than shooting with the HLV-F42AM on the hot shoe.

The 4000AF is a powerful flash, so I bounce the flash off the ceiling, Somewhat surprisingly, even though the auditorium ceiling is at least 35 feet above the camera, at ISO 400 bounce lighting from the 4000AF is more than sufficient to fully light the players.

For indoor action, this combination is hard to beat

I intend to follow up the Vivitar 135 report with a second report exploring how to use the 4000AF with the Sony Alpha.

You may wonder just how well this primitive equipment works for shooting indoor sports with a dSLR. The answer is very well indeed. The images look awesome. The telephoto can isolate the emotion on the faces of individual players, and the bounce flash creates wonderful, shadow free lighting.

To shoot in a wide variety of lighting conditions, there is no doubt that a CZ or G lens would offer superior performance. Indoors, under constant lighting, an old M42 lens can easily hold its own against the much better AF lenses. With a little practice and effort, you can create images that look every bit as good at a fraction of the cost.

Stick around. This is going to be interesting.

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Certainly NOT your father’s Oldsmobile.

Jan 26, 2009: I had a chance to attend BarCamp Charlotte last weekend. If you are unfamiliar with the concept, barcamps consist of a loosely organized group of bloggers, internet marketers, computer programmers, film makers, web developers and new media types. While photographers weren’t as well represented as some of the other disciplines, there were several dSLR shooters in attendance. I also met at least one other Sony Alpha owner.

The Charlotte camp was held in an art community known as Area Fifteen, located in the NoDa art district. Area Fifteen is large meandering building with artist studios, large open areas, a labyrinth of hallways and winding stairways.

With the eclectic group of people and the fascinating backdrop of Area Fifteen, there was no shortage of photo subjects. I kept the A350 busy recording as much of the activities as I could, while still participating in the individual BarCamp sessions.

The most interesting thing about covering an event like BarCamp Charlottte, is the absolute lack of
self-consciousness of the part of the participants. There were video cameras and photographers everywhere. One of the principle themes of the barcamp movement is transparency and openness. That was a refreshing change from some ofther events I have photographed.

I took nearly 300 images during the day. No one said “Don’t take my picture!” No one turned away to hide from the camera. I could have been invisible…no one was the least bit concerned that I was aiming my lens at them. It was exciting to have the freedom to photograph whoever and whatever I wanted without interference.

I used a variety of lenses for the shoot. Because most of the activities were held indoors, I wanted the Minolta 50mm f/1.7. This gave me the ability to shoot available light under most conditions. I also brought along the Sony 18-70mm, primarily for the wideangle focal length. I thought about bringing along the Minolta beercan, but I figured the weight and f/4 aperture would be a negative.

Instead, I decided to continuie experimenting with a new acquisition, a Vivitar 135mm f/2.8 screw mount lens attached to the A350 with a M42 adapter. This arrangement has its drawbacks — no auto focusing, no Super Steady Shot, no automatic exposure. It is also a fixed focal length — no ability to zoom.

Grab shot somewhere in the depths of Area 15.

On the other hand, 135mm on the A350’s APS-C sensor equates to something like 192mm on a 35mm film camera. That meant I had the equivalent of a 200mm f2.8mm, great for capturing individual candids.

I shot some available light images at ISO 400-800, but decided to use flash for most of the images. For a flash unit I went with another oldie but goodie; a Minolta 4000 AF mounted on Control Grip 1000 flash bracket. The old Minolta flash was connected to the A350 with a Sony FA-CC1AM Alpha Off-Camera Cable. Not exactly state of the art, but extremely capable.

So how well did this somewhat primitive setup work? Quite beautifully. You can check out the BarCamp Charlotte gallery I assembled here.

I wanted to get the images online as soon as possible after the event.
I did very little post processing, other than converting the RAW images in Adobe Lightroom. Thankfully, very few of the images required any retouching, including the images from the old Vivitar.

I converted, tagged, organized and exported the entire gallery the evening after BarCamp. The next day I added some links and edited some of the CSS files. I had the gallery posted to the web by noon.

I’m not trying to brag. I just wanted to point out the images I got from the older equipment required very little editing to be ready for the web.

If there is a BarCamp in your area, I recommend you check it out. You can find out about future events in Charlotte by signing up at the BarCamp Charlotte website.

All in all, I am quite pleased with how well the old M42 lens and the 25 year old flash unit worked on the modern A350. Stay tuned. I’ll talk more about the using the M42 adapter on the Sony Alpha in the near future.

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1/64 scale steam locomotive captured with Sony A350’s tilt-out live view system.

Jan 21, 2009: For the last several years, I’ve taken the grandkids to see the “trains, trains, trains” exhibit at the Kings Mountain Historical Museum. Held each December, the event is put on by the Carolinas Division of the Atlantic Coast S-Gaugers.

S-gauge is a model railroad term that indicates the scale of the model trains; larger than HO scale but smaller than the O-Gauge rolling stock from Lionel and other makers. American Flyer is the best known maker of S-Gauge rolling stock, but manufacturers like American Models, S-Helper Services and others produce compatible 1/64 scale locomotives, cars, track and accessories.

Naturally, I always haul a camera to these events. This year, the choice was the Sony Alpha A350. I figured the Live View option on the A350 would come in handy. I was, however, surprised how great the adjustable LCD screen proved to be for this type of work. By placing the camera right on the layout and composing with the LV screen, it was like I walked right into the scene. I’ve shot models at various times in the past, but the A350 Live View opened a brand new dimension for me.

The Carolinas Division of the Atlantic Coast S-Gaugers has created a large layout table, with two tracks running around the perimeter. While the trains are the centerpiece, there are dozens of buttons arranged around the table. Each button triggers an animated display of some sort. One button might cause a building to light up, while other buttons trigger railroad sounds, a plane to swoop over the layout or some lumberjacks to saw away at a fallen tree.

You can spend hours experimenting with the buttons, but for a photographer, the layout offers a host of wonderful subjects. Live View allowed me to capture some interesting viewpoints that I missed when shooting in the past.

By flipping the A350’s LCD into the horizontal position, I found I could aim directly down the track at an approaching locomotive. Choosing a vantage point outside a curve let me compose a head-on shot, secure that the train would swing away before it hit the camera.

Shooting in this manner, I did encounter one of the limitations of the Live View system. Like most electronic view finders (EVF) the Sony Live View LCD can’t show you an instant preview. There is a slight lag between what you see on the screen and what is actually happening. You can prove this by moving the camera quickly from side to side. You notice the image on the LCS screen will look smeared, because the LCD can’t refresh quickly enough.

In the case of the train heading directly at the camera, I found I had to shoot slightly before the locomotive looked in focus. If I waited until the front of the engine was perfectly focused on the LCD, the train would be unfocused in the actual image. Because of the shallow DOF, the engine would move beyond of the zone of sharpness while it still look perfectly focussed on the LCD.

Once I understood what was happening, I was able to significantly increase the number of in-focus, head-on shots using the LCD.

Shooting models (not that kind of model…we’re talking toy trains here) is always a challenge, due to depth of field issues. If you read the my basics article on depth of field, you know that the closer your lens gets to a subject, the shallower the depth of field will become. It is tempting to use a macro lens for this type of shooting, but with a macro lens the DOF is so shallow that only a very slim part of your subject will be in focus.

Even without resorting to a macro lens, you’ll probably notice very shallow DOF. Usually I would stop the lens down to create more DOF. However the trains at the King’s Mountain Exhibit were always moving. This led to an interesting dilemma. If I stopped the lens down, the shutter speed became too slow to stop the moving trains. Opening the lens up to the maximum aperture gave me a sufficient shutter speed to prevent the trains from blurring, but the DOF became too shallow to display an entire locomotive — let alone an entire train.

I tried some flash images, with a hand held Minolta 4000 AF flash cabled to the Sony A350. By hand-holding the flash I could aim it in various directions to get some interesting, shadowless light. This gave me some decent DOF and effectively froze the motion of the trains. Actually the flash was too effective in freezing the motion. The 4000 AF stopped the locomotives so well that they appeared static. If I was going to shoot with the flash, I might just as well have asked the guys from the Atlantic Coast S-Gaugers to stop the trains so I could shoot them while they were not moving.

I could have upped the ISO, which would have allowed me to shoot at faster shutter speeds with the lens stopped down. However, I was concerned that this would increase noise, which might obscure some of the fine details on the models. So I tried a variety of shooting techniques. I scrapped many of the captures because they didn’t work out. But I got a few I really liked, and there were enough interesting ones to create a nice magazine or newspaper spread.

Take a look over the gallery and tell me what you think. After shooting the layout with the Sony A350, it is hard to imagine photographing this kind of subject with any camera that doesn’t offer a tilt out LCD.

Check out the model train image gallery to see how the A350 performed.

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Is that antique sailing canoe levitating in thin air? Find out in the image gallery.

Dec. 17, 2008 A few weeks ago, we dropped in at the Bob Timberlake art gallery in Lexington, North Carolina. My wife fostered my original interest in Timberlake’s art. Then, while we were living in Wilmington, the St. John s Museum of Art (since replaced by the Cameron Art Museum) had a wonderful exhibit featuring the works of Timberlake and Andrew Wyeth. Timberlake’s subject matter dovetailed closely with many of my own interests; snow covered barns, historical scenes, seascapes and mountain ranges. Most importantly, I love wooden boats, and many of Timberlake’s subjects are wood boats.

I wasn’t sure whether my Sony A350 would be welcome at the gallery, since many similar establishments have a “no cameras” policy. Thankfully, the staff at the Lexington gallery gave me permission to shoot, as long as I didn’t photograph the artwork directly. The huge hexagonal building is filled to the rafters (literally!) with interesting stuff…artwork, antiques and memorabilia. It would be a wonderful place to play “I Spy,” because there is a jumble of things everywhere you look.

That doesn’t mean the gallery is unattractive. The interior is light and airy and the items on display are attractively arranged. There is a whole lot of stuff, but the gallery is not cluttered by any means. The modern building itself is lovely, with a large well-lit atrium, dominated by a huge stone chimney.

The highlight, other than the artwork, is the fully rigged, antique sailing canoe suspended in the main gallery. It has gorgeous lines, and it was the main reason I wanted to tote the A350 into the gallery. Although the sailing canoe is the centerpiece, there are several other wooden boats and canoes inside.

Although there are many fascinating antiques, these aren’t offered for sale. The old guns, farm equipment, fishing gear and beach flotsam are simply backdrops for the artwork, furniture and clothing.

Yes furniture and clothing. While Timberlake is best known for his art (with good reason) he has branched into designing furniture, luggage and clothing. Naturally, almost everything in the Timberlake catalog is on display at the gallery.

Because I didn’t want to use flash inside the gallery, I shot everything with existing light. Thankfully, the large overhead windows and skylights provided bright, even natural light. The upper gallery was very well lit. In the lower area the light was dimmer, but Super Steady Shot made it possible to get decent hand-held images.

The Lexington location is one of two Timberlake galleries. The other one is located in Blowing Rock, in the western North Carolina mountains. I haven’t made it to the Blowing Rock gallery, yet…maybe next summer.

View the Bob Timberlake image gallery

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F/9 at 28mm and extremely shallow depth of field? Only from the mind of Minolta

Nov. 25, 2008 A couple weeks ago my wife suggested we go apple picking. It has been a while since I last picked apples and as the last of the fall colors were still decorating the trees, I agreed immediately.

We chose the Apple Hill Orchard in Morganton, NC, about a hour and half drive.

Naturally I brought along a camera; the Sony Alpha A350 equipped with my trusty Minolta 28-85mm f3.5-4.5 zoom. Because this was an apple picking excursion, I didn’t want haul along a lot of extra equipment, and I wasn’t interested in changing lenses while traipsing around the groves. So I went with the 28-85mm because I expected it would provide sufficient versatility for the day’s shooting.

The aperture was a little slow for shooting inside the Apple Hill general store, but with a little care I got some excellent shots. Outside in the actual orchard, the 28-85 proved to be an excellent choice. On the A350’s APSC size sensor, the focal length is the equivalent to a 42 to 127.5mm zoom. I would have liked a little wider angle of view inside the cider mill, but otherwise the lens was perfect for my purposes.

The biggest surprise for me was how much I enjoyed using the macro mode of the 28-85mm. For reasons I don’t fully understand, Minolta designed the 28-85mm lens so that the macro mode can only be engaged at the 28mm focal length. This is directly opposite of most macro zoom lenses, which either provide their macro effect at the maximum telephoto focal length or else offer macro throughout the entire zoom range of the lens.

I have heard some photographers harshly criticize the lens because of its wide-angle only macro design.

It is a somewhat odd configuration, but I found it was great for creating the effect of very shallow depth of field. I could shift into the macro setting, focus on an apple or other subject and watch everything outside of my main subject turn soft and dreamy. I was shooting at f/9, which would normally cause nearly everything to be in focus with a 28mm focal length. Shooting in macro however, gave me a razor sharp subject against a soft background.

So maybe Minolta knew what they were doing when they created the 28-85 with a wide-angle macro. I guarantee you I will be shooting with this setting much more often in the future.

You can view the image gallery at Alphatracks visits the Apple Hill Orchard.

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We spent a couple of days in Winston-Salem (North Carolina) recently. One of the highlights was a visit to Old-Salem Village. Established by the Moravians in the 1700s, the village is an interesting mix of modern shops in a historical setting. Unlike most attractions of this type, the town is freely open to everyone, with no admission. A Ticket are required to enter some of the buildings, but you are free to wander about and enjoy the setting without paying an admission.

Old Salem Village Image Gallery.

We only had a couple of hours to spend in the village, but the light was grand for photography. I had the Sony Alpha A350 with me, and since there wasn’t much time I decided I didn’t want to lug around a camera bag. So I selected my Minolta 28-85mm lens, figuring it would provide the best combination of focal lengths for a quick tour.

There was no shortage of subjects to shoot, and even though it was late in the afternoon, I found the long autumn shadows were quite interesting.

I used between a half and one and half stops exposure compensation to open up the shadows many of the buildings. I shifted between aperture and shutter priority for most of the shots. Everything was shot in RAW.

The lens revealed the famous “Minolta Colors” in many of the images. All in all, I was pleased with what I shot. I was somewhat surprised, however that my favorite shot was the front of a couple of buildings lining a side street. There was nothing especially noteworthy about the buildings and I the resulting photo was pretty much a simple grab shot. When I first looked at the image on my Mac, I thought it was okay, with pleasing colors.

There is more to this building in Old Salem Village than meets the eye…

Then I looked closer and started to notice dozens of small, but interesting details. The architecture and construction drew me deeper and deeper into the photo. This has nothing to do with me as a photographer. Well, maybe a little..:). I did see the potential in the shot, but I never noticed the details while we were in Old Salem. My true appreciation of the building’s construction details didn’t come until several days later, sitting at my computer. An even then, it didn’t jump out at me as something special. It wasn’t until I went through the images in Lightroom a few times that I started to see the things that make the image special.

I’ve put together a small gallery images from my visit. You can view it here: Old Salem Village Image Gallery. As I said, all images were shot with the A350 and the Minolta 28-85mm lens.

As I said, we spent less than two hours at the village. My appetite has certainly been whetted to go back when I can spend more time. I am sure Christmas time would be an excellent time to return. I imagine tons of Moraivain stars everywhere, steaming cups of hot chocolate…and of course; Moravian cookies! Yes, Christmas time should be an excellent time to go back.

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I’m back….

I haven’t abandoned Alphatracks…although it probably seemed like I had.

In actuality, I have been wrapped up finishing the Sony Alpha DSLR-A300/A350 Digital Field Guide
 for Wiley Press. It was a lot of work, with many late nights and more than a few weekends spent rewriting text and editing images. I really enjoyed the process, however, and I am happy to say the completed manuscript is the printer and the book should be shipping by early December. My only regret is that I had to neglect this blog for so long. I hope to make up for lost time in the coming months.

The new book is part of the Wiley Digital Field Guide series, each of which focuses on a specific dSLR camera. As you may have inferred from the title, this particular book is for users of the Alpha A300 and Alpha A350 dSLRs. I found the A350 a truly fun camera to work with, and I attempted to convey that in the book.

Following the patten of all Wiley Field Guides, this book includes a full description of the A300 series, exploring the menus, controls and features of both cameras. The A300 and the A350 are nearly identical, the only difference being the A300 has a 10.2mp sensor, while the A350 utilizes a 14.2mp chip. Because files from the A300 are smaller, the Alpha 300 offers a slightly faster continuous frame rate, while the A350 cranks out massive 4592 x 3056 pixel images. Otherwise, the controls and operation of both cameras are the same, so this book covers both cameras in depth.

There are chapters on compatible lenses and flash units, including a look at compatible Minolta AF lenses. There are also chapters on basic photography, lighting, camera troubleshooting and image editing workflows. All the Digital Field Guides include a large section comprised of photo exercises designed to elevate your skills in a wide variety of photographic pursuits; including sports, travel, event photography, animal photography, portraiture and many other specialty disciplines.

My goal for the book to create a resource that can be tossed into your camera bag to provide help, instruction and inspiration when you are shooting in the field. That is the field guide portion of the book. At the same time, I hope readers might find it useful to curl up with these pages on a rainy day and immerse themselves in the operation of the Sony A300 and A350.

Sorry if this sounds like a commercial, but I have been living with this book for the last several months, so I have to talk about it here.

One final thing. The book won’t be available until December. It is however, available for pre-order on Amazon now. If you buy it in advance, Amazon will knock $6.40 off the list price, so you can get it for $13.59. That represents a 32% savings. After the book is published, Amazon will raise the price back to $19.99.  So, if you’re interested, you can save almost a third by buying in advance. The book qualifies for free shipping from Amazon, however there is a $25 minimum, so you will have to combine the order with something else to qualify.

If you’re interested, there is an Amazon link on the sidebar that will take you directly to the book’s Amazon page. It is also available through must online sellers; Books-A-Million, Barnes and Noble, Borders, etc. Once it is in print, you should be able to find it at most brick and mortar bookstores as well.

Although this book is aimed at the A300 series, Alphatracks will continue to look at all the full range of Sony Alpha and Minolta SLRs. If your camera uses A-mount lenses, you’re always welcome here!

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Sony has started shipping the Alpha A350. I took delivery of one of the big orange boxes last week and have started putting the A350 through it’s paces. So far, I am fairly pleased with the 14m dSLR — I will post a review with samples shortly.

I had hoped to update my copy of Adobe Lightroom to version 1.4, which is required to read the RAW files from the Sony Alpha A350, A300 and the A200 as well as several other new cameras. Unfortunately, Adobe posted the update for only a few hours. If you click on the link to update to 1.4, you get the message:

Adobe hasn’t said when the revised 1.4 updater will be available, but until they get their act together, I won’t be able to process my A350 RAW files in Lightroom. This limitation also applies to Adobe Camera Raw, meaning at this point there is no way to edit A350 RAW files with an Adobe product.

Sony has started shipping the A350 model, with the similar A300 to come shortly. Don’t expect to edit RAW files in Lightroom/ACR until Adobe perfects the latest update to ACR.

My fall back has been Sony’s Image Data Converter and Lightbox SR which shipped with the A350. The two programs do a credible job, but I know exactly what to expect from LR. It will take some time to become comfortable with editing in with the Sony software. In addition, the Sony software does not recognize my older Minolta RAW files, so I require two different sets of software to work with my image collection. Grrr. I hope Adobe fixes the bugs in 1.4 soon.

Of course there is another solution: Apples’ Aperture. Frequent Alphatracks contributor Bert Pasquale has been playing with Aperture 2.0 and he seems more than happy with it. He writes:

Let me think about this. Aperture and iPhoto are more or less niche products in Apple’s product line. They help with the bottom line, of course, but they are far from Apple’s main bread and butter. On the other hand, Photoshop is Adobe’s crown jewel. They make a lot of cash from other sources, but Photoshop is their premier product.

So how is it that Apple appears to effortlessly produce an update that supports the latest cameras well in advance of their release date, while Adobe’s can’t ship it’s famed Camera Raw software until after the new models hit the street? For that matter, why did Adobe release an ACR/Lightroom update that was so filled with bugs that almost a week afterwards they still haven’t been able to fix it?

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Mark Weir, the Senior Technology and Marketing Manager for Sony’s Alpha dSLR division appears in an interview on the latest podcast from The Digital Photography Show.

I am a frequent listener to the DPS podcast. It is an easy-going. no-stress show. Hosts Scott Sherman and Michael Stein freely admit they aren’t professional photographers — they are just a couple of regular guys who are nuts over digital photography. The testimony to their interest in digital photography lies in the latest show, which happens to be episode #84. It takes a lot of work and effort to produce a podcast on a regular basis — most of casts in my iTunes library are abandoned during the first year. Sherman and Stein, however, have just released their eighty-fourth show and don’t appear ready to quit anytime soon.

Although I enjoy listening to show, the pair spend way too much time yammering about cameras that start with the letters “C” and “N,” WAY too much time. Until recently, they attempted to defend their posture with usual “most people” use certain brand cameras. Now, however, it appears they have had enough complaints from listeners that they have rethought their show. They have started discussing lots of other cameras on the podcast. The Mark Weir interview is one of their efforts to welcome other dSLR makers to their party.

They caught up with Weir at the Sony booth at the recent PMA show. The interview runs about 30 minutes — the first half discusses the Sony Alpha dLSRs, while the second explores some of the new technologies Sony is bringing to their point and shoot models.

There isn’t anything really new in the interview, but it is still worth listening to, especially if you are an A-mount shooter. Weir explains in detail the advantages to the new Sony Live View system offered in the Alpha A300 and A350. He also hammers home the advantages of in-body image stabilization. In addition to not having to buy IS with every lens you acquire, Weir points out that it is impractical to add lens-based IS to many macro and wide aperture lenses. Thus the Sony in-body system allows users to enjoy IS in many types of lenses that are simply unavailable from competing lens-based IS systems.

Weir also proudly announced that the upcoming Alpha flagship dSLR will be the first full-frame SLR with in-body IS. I guess that answers some of our questions on that point. I was really impressed that he was able to say the phrase “Super Steady Shot” and not sound the least bit silly.

Sherman did try to pry information about the price of the flagship out of Weir, but got nowhere. All Weir would say on the subject of price is that he thought everyone would be pleasantly surprised about the price — or words to that effect. I liked hearing that, but only time will tell.

You can download the Sony Mark Weir interview at The Digital Photography Show. As you might expect, the show is also available on iTunes. Just search for The Digital Photography Show in the podcast directory and download episode #84. It’s a fairly long podcast, and a lot of the stuff in the beginning wasn’t all that interesting to me. The Weir interview starts exactly at the 30 minute point.

A while back, I pointed out that the A700 was forcing many of the media to look at Sony with fresh eyes. With the addition of the A200, A300 and the A350, Sony is developing a line of dSLRs that demand respect and attention. It appears that Scott Sherman, Michael Stein and the Digital Photography Show have started to get the message. After all, “A” comes before “C” and “N” in the alphabet!

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What a difference a year makes. At the 2007 PMA show Sony Alpha dSLR line was shunned by most of the press. There were no great announcements, although Sony did show off two mockups of yet unnamed dSLRs. The “Advanced Amateur” model eventually came to pass as the A700, while the tantalizing “flagship” is still waiting to be released. Other than the concept cameras, which Sony refused to elaborate on, there wasn’t much to see. The press lavished tons of coverage to other major and minor dSLR offerings, but except for the few A-mount sites and forums, Sony was just a postscript at PMA 2007.

Sony was not about to let that happen again. The 2008 PMA show was packed with Sony and Sony Alpha dLSR news. Of course everyone is still talking about the incredible 24mp, full-frame sensor that Sony announced, and the introduction of not one but two new live view dSLR bodies caught a lot of people by surprise. The A300 and A350 are a huge shot in the arm to the Alpha line, and should go a long way to convince potential customers that Sony is serious about playing in the dSLR arena.

In the excitement of the huge sensor and live-view SLR announcements, many observers may have overlooked Sony’s release of several new dSLR accessories.

Sony will add a new flash unit to their existing Alpha flashes.

The first totally new Sony Alpha Flash unit, the HVL-F42AM, will be available in the near future. The other Flashes in Sony’s line up appear to be re-badged versions of Minolta flash units. That isn’t a bad thing, Minolta’s wireless flash system was considered by many to be excellent.

The new HVL-F42AM might appear to be a middle of the road unit, filling the gap between the the HVL-F36AM (GN 36) and the big HVL-F56AM (GN 56). While the new flash’s guide number of 42 does place between the current two Sony shoe mount flash units, the HVL-F42AM has an zoom range of 24-105mm. You can cover up to a 16mm lens with wide angle adapter. The current flashes in the Sony catalog offer a range of 24-85mm and the adapter covers 17mm.

As usual, Mike Hohner seems to have an inside track on Sony’s latest products. Here is Hohner’s “Flash tech data for Sony Alpha HVL-F42AM” page.

There is also a Sony Europe press release covering the PMA announcement floating about. Here’s what the release has to say:

With wireless, ADI and manual modes, plus a full range of tilt and swivel possibilities, the new flash unit sounds like it might be an excellent addition to any A-mount user’s camera bag.

Then there are the lenses. Although technically not a PMA announced product, Sony’s latest two lenses were introduced on the eve of the show, so they might as well be considered new PM products. Both of the new lenses use SSM technology for quicker auto focusing.

Say hello to the Carl Zeiss® 24-70mm f/2.8 lens

Coming this spring, the $1,700 Vario Sonnar T* 24-70mm f/2.8 ZA is a very-fast, wide to mid range zoom lens. According to the Sony release:

The second new lens, also available this spring, is the $800 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G-series zoom.

The SAL70300G lens incorporates the optical performance of Sony’s G series in a compact and flexible telephoto zoom lens ideal for sports and portrait photography. Constructed of 16 elements in 11 groups, with one extra-low dispersion element, this lens offers superb contrast and sharpness across its wide focal length range.

The use of extra-low dispersion glass compensates for chromatic aberrations which challenge long telephoto zoom lens design, maintaining excellent optical characteristics from center to periphery. Internal focus construction not only realizes compact size, but also a close focusing capability of just 47 inches (1.2m), unusual for a lens of this focal length range.

New 70-300 G-series SSM Alpha mount lens

Like the SAL2470Z, focus drive is provided by Sony’s Super Sonic wave Motor (SSM) technology. Silent and highly accurate, the SSM system is ideal for providing larger lenses with the speed and rotational precision often required by telephoto shooting. To match auto focus operation to the situation, a focus range limiter can be set to a minimum distance of three meters. A lens barrel mounted focus hold button locks focus if desired.

These lenses are good ammunition to use against those who imply that Sony doesn’t offer sufficient quality glass to complete against the “established camera makers.” We will have to wait to see how these lenses perform in the real world, but it sounds like they could hold their own against anything similar from other manufacturers.

Next up, the new vertical grip. Again this isn’t technically a PMA product, as it was announced along with the A200. The grip is available now at a lest price of $249.00 (less batteries). The PM news is that it is compatible with the A300 and the A350, as well as the original A200. This provides a great deal of flexibility if you trade up or add second body in the A200-A350 family. It does not fit the A700, which has it’s own specific vertical grip, and will not fit the A100 style bodies.

With the PMA announcements, Sony has taken a major step forward in it’s quest to become a major player in the dSLR realm. Many observers have relegated the Sony Alpha as niche product, offering some nice features but unable to compete against the big name dSLR makers. Sony continues to add luster to its brand, unhurriedly creating a dSLR system that can compete against the best of the best. As these products begin to gain momentum in the marketplace, watch for Sony to assume a dominate role as a dSLR maker.

Read the complete Sony Alpha Europe Press release

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