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Alphatracks is dedicated to Sony’s high-end cameras and lenses, as well as the wonderful SLRs made by Minolta.

If you are a Sony/Minolta shooter...or if you just love photography in general, you are bound to find something useful here. Enjoy!

Category Archives: Photography

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Lenses: How to tell an A-Mount and Rokkor Lens Apart

By Tom Bonner | Published: December 17, 2010

Strolling through a garage sale and you stumble across a cache of old Minolta lenses. They look clean and the optics are clear. Will they fit your Sony Alpha?

Also posted in A-Mount, Hardware, Lenses, Rokkor Lenses | Tagged A-mount, digital camera, digital SLR, Photography, Rokkor, Sony Alpha, Sony Alpha dSLR, Tom Bonner | Leave a comment

Want great floral photos? Try a conservatory

By Tom Bonner | Published: April 22, 2010

Conservatories are great for photographs. Vivid colors, exotic subjects, wonderful lighting and a protected location provide the basis for portfolio-worthy images.

Also posted in DSLR | Tagged Alphatracks, cameras, Conservatory, digital camera, Orchid Photography, Photography, Sony Alpha dSLR, Tom Bonner | Leave a comment

A foggy Christmas at the Billy Graham Library

By Tom Bonner | Published: December 23, 2009

High ISO images of nighttime Christmas decorations at the Billy Graham Library in the fog.

Also posted in DSLR | Leave a comment

Sony Alpha dSLR lens catalog will be expanded with six new lenses

By Tom Bonner | Published: March 4, 2009

March 4, 2009: Yesterday Sony has just announced six new optics to the Alpha dSLR lens lineup. They are: Super Telephoto Lens DT 50mm F1.8 DT 30mm F2.8 Macro DT 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 DT 55-200mm F4-5.6 28-75mm F2.8 No word on pricing or when they will be available, but Sony says they are coming. I find [...]

Also posted in A-Mount, DSLR, Lenses, Sony Alpha, Sony DSLR | 8 Comments

Photographing basketball on the cheap

By Tom Bonner | Published: February 12, 2009

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 [...]

Also posted in A350, Aftermarket Lenses, Flash unit, Lenses | 9 Comments

Sony A350 — the perfect dSLR to photograph model trains

By Tom Bonner | Published: January 23, 2009

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 [...]

Also posted in A350, Alphatracks Visits, DSLR, Sony A300, Sony DSLR | 4 Comments

Free Dust and Scratch Removal software saves your scans

By Tom Bonner | Published: January 9, 2009

Scan of 1968 Kodak Instamatic negative produced this. Not bad for a cheap, plastic lens camera, but even at this reduced size you can see it is loaded with dust marks. Tip of the Week: This week’s tip involves a free piece of software from — surprise — Polaroid Corporation. (PRDCQ) You’ve no doubt heard [...]

Also posted in Software, Tips & Tricks | 58 Comments

Beta Picasa for Macintosh only runs on Intel Macs

By Tom Bonner | Published: January 7, 2009

Jan 6, 2009: Two great announcements for Mac using photographers today. Apple announced iPhoto 9, with a host of new features. At the same time, Google released the long awaited beta of Picasa for Macintosh. I was really excited with the chance to use Picasa for the Mac. I’ve used the Windows version of Picasa [...]

Also posted in Rumors, Software | 8 Comments

Will you be a grinch or a snapshooter this Christmas?

By Tom Bonner | Published: December 10, 2008

Dec. 10, 2008 This time around, I have a question for you. We all know Christmas is coming, with all that entails. Christmas is considered a wonderful time for photographers, with good reason. True photo opportunities abound. What photographer could ignore the lights, decorations and family scenes? Still, there is something I would like your [...]

Also posted in Flash unit | 7 Comments

Multiple Compact Flash cards? Avoid confusion with this tip

By Tom Bonner | Published: December 5, 2008

Note: This is the first of a series of photography tips that will be appearing weekly in Alphatracks. Watch for the a new tip each week. Practice this technique and you will know at a glance which Compact Flash cards are free to use and which need to be uploaded to your computer. Dec 5, [...]

Also posted in DSLR, Memory Card | 2 Comments
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