Photoclubalpha

Well, maybe I am just posting this to tell you I finally got an A700 , battery is charging..

Anyway, my background is the KM5D, any good tips for an upgrader? Any fundamental changes I am not yet aware of? Any traps and pitfalls to avoid?

Maybe I should just go out and shoot

If you are used to the 5D colours, set +1 sharpness, +1 contrast and +1 saturation and use sRGB JPEGs; get an LCD screen cover (Sony, £9.99, 'Hard Cover for A700') because the screen coating scratches easily; when you are shooting with flash, set DRO Advanced Manual to +2 or +3 and you'll get much better illumination for groups and people shots generally, but it only affects the JPEG; turn off High ISO NR; set the Focus to Slow, not Fast, unless you need the slightly higher energy of the Fast setting for a lens like the 18-250mm; use the centre focus point; avoid using Spot metering unless you are targeting exact areas and locking the setting; set ISO 200 as your standard rather than 100; set the LCD brightness to maximum when working outdoors in summer or you may think that perfectly good shots are underexposed.

David

Thanks David, a few good points I hadn't yet thought about !

David Kilpatrick wrote:when you are shooting with flash, set DRO Advanced Manual to +2 or +3 and you'll get much better illumination for groups and people shots generally, but it only affects the JPEG;
David

I think this applies if your background is not too dark, if you can get enough available light to reduce the contrast without DRO. Otherwise, in my experience, dark background force DRO to ceratin limits where noise became too present and skin tones looks overprocessed and ther is a lost of detail (like point and shoot look or, worst, Canon look!!!)

I shoot a wedding last Saturday and I tried DRO again, but just a conservative +1. Pics are good, but mostly because the lighting techniques...

And don't forget that you have 2 slots now, thus specify which card slot should the camera use, i.e. CF or MS.
Happy shooting (or should it be 'merry shooting' )

Also don't be afraid to use the system as it is set. I had a lengthy discussion elsewhere about functions being different to access and the "flaw" that there are no direct buttons for Flash mode and Flash comp. With the quick-nav system the way it is, the custom button, and the menu start option on page three of the setup menu set to 'previous', you basically have 3 customizable buttons. How is this? Well I set the button-ops setting to 'quick-nav' so I can always see all my settings and therefor am less likely to miss an incorrect setting. As I said, with the previous setting, the menu button always goes back to the last point. The Fn button always goes back to the last changed option too, so if I go into a shooting situation where I know I will need a couple things I don't have dedicated buttons for, I can simply move the quick-navi cursor to one, set the menu to another, and I still have the custom button free for a third. At an event this means that my C button is set for flash mode, my quick-nav screen is set to the flash comp field so that I have all my flash controls in one place, and my menu is on the creative styles since I might change it, but not often. Very fast system, but I know this is a little unconventional. I suppose that is the greatest tip, don't be afraid to try unconventional things with it. It might just surprise you.

Thanks to all for your ideas. Yesterday evening I did my first test. Wow!! What a difference. The shutter feels so fast . I could sit here til the end of the week and press the shutter again and again just for the fun of it .

Coming from the KM5D, the display is just unbelievable, as is the rest of the camera. I set +1 sharpness, +1 contrast and +1 saturation as recommended by DK, still I need to get used to pictures produced by the A700. I'll try some other settings (vivid etc), or I just wait and get used to the difference.

Still lot's of thing to test

An advice based on own sad experience: set the menu switch to "no exposure without card". I forgot and took some pictures I really needed - without card. They showed up oh so well on the screen, but that was all...

Another good thing is to have at least a medium sized 2nd card that allows you to switch in case your main card fills up. I only wish sony had foreseen an automatic overflow facility - I simply don't get it that they missed this. And it would definitely be a great addition for a firmware upgrade.

Markus

Down-load a copy of Friedman's book on the A700 - excellent advice on a whole range of photographic techniques specifically directed at this camera:
http://www.friedmanarchives.com/alpha700/index.htm

Good shooting with your new camera - I'm having a ball with mine!
Bruce