α560/α580 are coming

[bfitzgerald]

It's listed on the spec sheet for both under modes. So MLU has returned.
http://www.sony.net/Products/ilc/A-seri ... ations.pdf

And about time.
Looks like AEL spot toggle and DMF have not though.
Not sure about P shift either no mention of that.

I can't give Sony a ton of credit for this..they took long enough (and never should have been removed anyway)
But still it seems the message did sink in after all.

[Greg Beetham]

Yep you certainly get the impression that Sony thinks that everyone just does snapshots and those essential features for high magnification type photography are just needless complications that no one ever uses. It will be interesting too see what features are retained on the next 7 camera, hopefully they'll bring a video version and a non video 'still' dedicated version...might be wishful thinking though. Just look at how long Macro photography has remained off Sony's radar, it's amazing that MLU could re-appear so fast by comparison with their Ringflash debacle.
Greg

[KevinBarrett]

Whoa whoa whoa! Anybody else notice that the a560 and a580 show "Contrast AF selectable" under "Focus Check Live View" in this PDF?

http://www.sony.net/Products/ilc/A-seri ... ations.pdf

[Birma]

Evidently the A580 is EU market only? Or UK only not sure.
As the only apparent difference is a few megapixels (unless mistaken) I'd not lose much sleep over that one.

Wasn't the 580 the only one of the two with GPS.

Funny, if so, the US, the inventer of and maintainer of the GPS system and sony leaves off the camera with it

Walt

The details on releases etc. are complicated by the fact that Sony seem to be releasing the two cameras at different times in different markets. My understanding is that the USA etc. get the 580v with GPS, and a 580 with no GPS. In Europe there is just a 580 with GPS. One side of the Atlantic gets the 560 first and then the 580 model(s) a few months later, and this is reversed on the other side. I'm kind of confused myself now as to which way round this is .

[David Kilpatrick]

I don't know if anyone has really noticed, either, that Sony's GPS in these models is the Holy Grail of GPS - triaxial with orientation! Longitude, latitude, elevation, and orientation (direction in which the camera is aimed).

I had a very vivid and detailed dream three or four months ago. I described it to Shirley and to Richard, who knows a lot about this stuff. I think it's time to write up the dream on the main pages.

David

[Dr. Harout]

I don't know if anyone has really noticed, either, that Sony's GPS in these models is the Holy Grail of GPS - triaxial with orientation! Longitude, latitude, elevation, and orientation (direction in which the camera is aimed).

I had a very vivid and detailed dream three or four months ago. I described it to Shirley and to Richard, who knows a lot about this stuff. I think it's time to write up the dream on the main pages.

David

Oh, a prophet (sorry, couldn't resist)
It's good you were not born in the middle ages

[David Kilpatrick]

I've always found dreams useful. Not all dreams, I only sleep about 6 hours a night and either don't dream much or forget them entirely. I've had some dreams which I remembered well enough, and only many years later realised were significant. I find half-dreaming very useful and my alarm is set for an hour before I get up. During that hour I can often 'write' a complete article, so I just have to type it out and remember the important bits. I can also practice guitar and write music in this half-awake state, well enough to be able to go downstairs, pick up the instrument and play what I have been 'dreaming' - I guess it is more like meditating, or maybe not because my mind is definitely not empty.

Here's the dream:

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/2010/08/2 ... -and-past/

David

[Dr. Harout]

Nice reading

[Birma]

Very interesting David - it does seem a logical progression from Google Street (which is a very useful tool for visiting new places!), and also the photo option on Google Maps.

Continuing the surveillance theme; I heard a radio programme last night about poor people in the third world etc. being employed by companies to carry out simple tasks that computers can not achieve e.g. determine if a Tweet is +ve or -ve. I have often thought that there was a degree of saftey from all the surveillance we are subject to because companies could not afford to pay enough people to carry out the survelliance. It now seems that Nike, for example, pay people in a refugee camp to review Twitter entries to see if a new shoe is received positively or negatively. So David's dream is another part of this "Web to the Fourth" evolution of the internet.

So, David, can I recommend a plate of stilton and crackers, with a large glass of single malt, tonight before bed, and then try and rustle us up a dream about the new A7x(x) ?

[Greg Beetham]

Hah the 5X4 view camera is a clever disguise, little do those future people realize it has an uplink via bigbird too a 100 teraflop super computer buried under a mountain...somewhere. Individual and group tracking co-ordinates and profiling analysis will be distributed....
DK your dream started out good, and sort of ended up a little creepy, I liked it, especially the huge fish fleeing in terror from the radio-active Piranha swarm.
Greg

[Dusty]

David,

Your dream shows what's happening today, and also being built upon in the future. The average person if photographed/captured on video something like 30 times a day! Imagine tying it all together - forcing convenience stores, banks, etc - (and all in the name of security!) to feed all their captures into a live system.

I know in Britain you already have many govt. run surveillance cameras. Imagine the power of adding all private ones as well. Add face recognition software, and it gets scary! Big Brother on steroids!

Now add Super PhotoShop. Anyone remember "Running Man" with Richard Dawson and Arnold Schwarzenegger? Big Brother will have the technology to put you anywhere they want you to be. They think you're in a gang, and a gang shooting went down last night. BINGO! They have the 'proof' that you were there!

This coming system will give politicians and bureaucrats the power to control everyone by blackmailing them into subjection. Do as we desire, or we'll 'prove' that you robbed that bank yesterday.

I never thought such things would be possible in my lifetime, but computer technology, following Moore's Law, is making the scary possible. And we all know that human nature will find a nefarious application for it.

Dusty

[Birma]

I suspect we've been in fear of new technology since the first printing press

There are a lot of cool places that it would be neat to explore in HD 3D.

[dynax800si]

Whoa whoa whoa! Anybody else notice that the a560 and a580 show "Contrast AF selectable" under "Focus Check Live View" in this PDF?

http://www.sony.net/Products/ilc/A-seri ... ations.pdf

Yes, that is nice but I can't understand is there Contrast AF in video mode or not ?

[KevinBarrett]

Yes, that is nice but I can't understand is there Contrast AF in video mode or not ?

I guess I just missed this in the press release--Contrast AF wasn't exactly heralded or anything, just quietly slipped in there.

I wonder what kind of focus selection we get with Contrast AF?

[Wes Gibbon]

The EU press release says 580 October, 560 '1st quarter 2011' - the US press release appears to say 560 October, 580 to follow. They have done this before and split releases between markets.

David

According to the junk email I got from Jesspos* the A560 is 'Jessops only' (presumably this only applies to the UK). They've done this before as well. They don't, however, give a date or allow you to pre-order yet, unlike the A33 & A55. No mention olf the A580.

* I rather liked this typo so I left it in!