But they let Sony down in a big way by only including the 18-55mm OSS lens for NEX, omitting the 16mm which must be very simple to profile (after all folks, there are only TWO officially available lenses for NEX right now – you found time to profile no fewer than 15 lenses for the Pentax AF645, for the benefit of all two dozen worldwide users of this outstandingly popular digital option…)

For ACR 3.2 Release Candidate download – http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Camera_Raw_6.2

For LR 3.2 Release Candidate download – http://labs.adobe.com/wiki/index.php/Lightroom_3.2

In addition, the Lightroom 3.2 Release Candidate now allows Lightroom 3 customers the ability to publish their photos directly to Facebook from within the application, and addresses issues reported by customers on the Lightroom 3.0 release. Adobe continues to encourage the community to provide feedback on the updates so it can ensure the highest quality experience for customers working on a variety of hardware and software configurations.

Pricing and Availability
The Lightroom 3.2 Release Candidate is available as a free download for Lightroom 3 customers, and the Photoshop Camera Raw 6.2 Release Candidate is available as a free download for Photoshop CS5 customers. For more information and to test out the updates visit http://labs.adobe.com. Feedback can be provided on the Adobe User to User forum at http://forums.adobe.com.

*Please visit the Lightroom Journal for more information on these Release Candidates and a full list of the improved and newly added lens profiles: http://blogs.adobe.com/lightroomjournal

Newly Supported Camera Models
Panasonic DMC-FZ100, Panasonic DMC-FZ40 (FZ45), Panasonic DMC-LX5, Pentax 645D, Samsung NX10, Samsung TL500 (EX1), Sony A290, Sony A390, Sony Alpha NEX-3, Sony Alpha NEX-5

Also, this update improves the colour and noise profiles for the following cameras that utilise the DNG raw file format already supported in previous versions of Lightroom and Camera Raw: Casio EXILIM EX-FH100 (DNG) and Leica S2 (DNG).

So, I copied my ramblings and moved them here, instead of putting them in a forum post where just a few hundred people would see them. Tens of thousands of visitors see Photoclubalpha’s main site articles, and I want this to be seen, because it matters.

PP’s write-up is very positive – it is not a ‘bad review’ in that sense – but much of the wording used is misleading, and omissions can sometimes distort the comparison a reader makes.

PP starts off by saying the NEX-5 has ‘the added advantage of HD video’ over the NEX-3 – of course, both have HD video, the NEX-5 is 1080/50i AVCHD while the NEX-3 is 720/25p MPEG4. It could be assumed that the PP reader has only a marginal interest in video, but this phrasing does not describe the feature and implies that the NEX-3 lacks HD video.

The screen is great for ‘low level composure’  and the APS-C sensor is ‘ideally placed for delivering DSLR quality images’.

The majority of the selecting, PP says, is done through ‘never get lost’ menus (sounds as if PP were fed a marketing term here – I would probably call some of them ‘dead end’ menus in maze terms – you have to return or exit). Confusingly, PP says there is ‘no dual sensor cleaning, but there is an electromagnetic vibration system and an anti-static coating on the sensor’. I thought this was a dual anti-dust measure. What is ‘dual sensor cleaning’ if it’s not this, and how does the NEX lack it?

PP also says that removing the lens reveals how close to the rear element the chip sits inside the camera, and states: ‘There are potential issues here, as this may cause image quality problems such as distortion and aberration’. Well, that’s just completely untrue and gives readers needless doubts. Some of the lowest distortion wideangles ever made have had very short clearance back focus, like the 21mm Super Angulon for Leica M or the classic 21mms designed for mirror lock-up by Nikon and Minolta – or the 16mm Zeiss Hologon for Contax G.

Some of the world’s best lens designs have used rear elements almost touching the film, including the Ricoh GR (for film), the Minolta TC-1; and the excellent Sony R-1 Carl Zeiss zoom also features a minimal gap between its rear element and the 1.7X sensor of that camera, the absence of a mirror freeing Zeiss to create one of the best 24-120mm equivalent zooms ever designed.

In fact the 18mm mount to sensor distance and the wide mount throat combine to offer the maximum possible scope for the makers to design distortion and aberration free lenses of a quality hard to achieve without high costs and large size, heavy weight even for APS-C DSLRs. PP has got it exactly the wrong way round. They have turned a huge positive aspect of the camera into a negative niggle.

Sweep Panorama is described as a function which is ‘not new on a Sony camera’. Actually, this type of Sweep Panorama is entirely new on a Sony, or any camera. This is not a video-composed Sweep Pan, as found on all previous Sony and other compacts. It is a high resolution, auto-stitched, multi-shot panorama of unprecedented size (up to 23 megapixels).

Confusing the issue, PP states that the panorama files are playable on a Sony Bravia 3D TV. This is incorrect. Normal sweep pan (.JPG) files are playable on any HD TV, and are not 3D. The camera(s) have a second entirely separate Sweep Pan 3D mode, which is not a sequence of shots, but a video pan like compacts. The file (.MOT) created is 1080p HD in height, and in a 3D format; and it can be played back on most 3D TVs using the same system as Sony Bravia.

Most of PP’s comments on using the camera are fair and balanced descriptions of its strengths and weaknesses, but once again, language gets in the way of accuracy. The ‘large optics help deliver… detail to the sensor’. What does that mean? Which large optics? The lenses are fairly small. Their size has no bearing on how much detail they ‘deliver’.

‘This is not the fastest camera out there, but with speed priority engaged it’s impressive at 7fps’ – well, actually, it IS the fastest CLC/ILC out there, and that 7fps has no competition from Micro 4/3rds, Samsung NX or Ricoh. The 2.3fps standard capture rate includes reliable AF tracking (certainly not guaranteed when shooting continuous action with the competitors), but this is not mentioned. It would be fair to comment on 2.3fps being a modest drive rate, but the continuous AF performance had to be taken into account when doing so.

‘The general consensus of opinion is that CSC cameras are effectively high quality compacts that deliver DSLR quality. Yet the NEX-5 is still rather bulky and certainly not pocket material’ - conclusion.

‘The NEX-5 takes the compact size of these CSC models down to a new level, as it’s the smallest and lightest of these removable lens models to date’ - second paragraph of the main report, and highlighted pullquote.

I don’t think I need to point out the conflict in these statements. And the day before writing this, I had the NEX-3 with 16mm lens in my shirt pocket.

‘The HDR mode is okay, but it’s not as good as true HDR creation using post-production software’ – not the best comment to make on the most advanced, 6EV range, in-camera HDR system yet seen and one which also saves a non-HDR JPEG of the normal exposure (not mentioned). None of the other multi-shot modes gets mentioned at all; no reference to the Anti Motion Blur or Twilight modes which blend several exposures to create one low-noise, sharp result.

Finally – ‘Most of the CSC products are quite similar in price, especially with lenses that cover the same focal lengths’. Actually, they are not quite similar in price. To get HD 1080/50i you have to spend almost twice as much. To get their equivalent of the 16mm lens… sorry, you can’t.

There is no 12mm f/2.8 pancake lens made for Micro 4/3rds, or any 16mm prime for APS-C. The 17mm offered by Olympus is a 34mm lens equivalent, not a 24mm equivalent. The 20mm offered by Panasonic is a 40mm equivalent. The 30mm from Samsung is a 45mm equivalent.

By glossing over such issues or ignoring them entirely, the PP report omits most of the unique selling (and using) points of the NEX, and the reader is left to assume that it’s pretty much the same as the competition.

I believe the job of a review is to highlight all the aspects of a product which may not be understood fully by the reader, because they are new or unfamiliar; to point out the differences between products, because these differences drive buying decisions. A single feature on a new camera may be the one feature which attracts many buyers. Sometimes, this matters more to the buyer than all other aspects of handling and design. Single features can persuade photographers to change their entire camera system. Just look at Nikon with ultra-high ISO in the D3/3S – or Canon with true 1080p in the 5D MkII, 7D and 550D.

For me, 1080/50i video with stereo sound is important as the only other way to get that in an affordable package is the Canon 550D with external microphone, or the Panasonic Lumix GH1 at around 60% higher cost. The 16mm lens is important – there has never been a 5-element f/2.8 design covering this angle before. The E-mount is important, it allows more potential choice of adaptation to other optical systems (lenses, scientific, astro, micro, you name it) than any other mount. I’ve already ordered my Sony Alpha adaptor (mentioned briefly by PP without further details or comment), plus independent versions for Minolta SR/MD, Leica M39 and C-mount.

APS-C is important too, as this 14.2 megapixel sensor offers the best quality and largest image size in its class.

The PP Overall Conclusion

Ultimately, PP’s Overall Conclusion certainly fits the report, because so much is omitted which would engage and interest their readership, and so much is dwelled on with makes the NEX seem nothing all that different:

‘I wouldn’t recommend the NEX-5 to the more discerning user’, says Darren Harbar while giving the camera 8/10, ‘but for someone who wants a creative point-and-shoot that will give some control without added complication, the NEX-5 is perfect’.

The build quality, design of the lenses, availability of fisheye and ultrawide converters, battery life (or otherwise!), JPEG quality, and many other aspects are not touched on at all in the PP report. Some of these might be negative – battery life can be short, batteries are expensive. Others might be positive – no other system made offers the option of a 12mm (18mm equivalent) wide angle or 10.2mm (15mm equivalent) fisheye at such low cost.

Is ‘I wouldn’t recommend the NEX-5 to the more discerning user’ a damaging conclusion?

PP is certainly not alone in thinking this, but it’s something which should not be said unless you can qualify it by revealing what you would recommend to the ‘more discerning’ user. Think about the language again; above all, it’s the language of the PP report which will colour the readers’ opinions. What does ‘more discerning user’ actually mean?

As it happens, I’m a fairly discerning user; I can tell the difference between the qualities and capabilities of the many cameras I use, I am capable of making judgments, I have the ability to compare and make choices. I can pick the right tool from the rack. Sometimes, I do want a point-and-shoot that will give some control with added complication, just like PP says.

As it also happens, I want a point-and-shoot which can capture high quality 1080 Full HD video  (preferably 24-25-30p, but 50i will do) with excellent quality sound; I want more than 12 megapixels for stills, 14 is fine, 18 would be even better; and if anyone had put a list of possible lenses in front of me, a 24mm f/2.8 equivalent would have been ticked without hesitation.

It was the lens I could never get, or afford, for Leica; it was my favourite fixed focal length in manual focus SLR from the moment such lenses became available around 1974. 24mm f/2.8 was one reason I dumped the Pentax system and bought into Minolta back then; it was the first lens after the 35-70mm f/4 ‘kit’ and the 50mm f/1.7 that I bought for the Minolta AF system in 1985. 24mm wide reach was the reason I pre-ordered the Carl Zeiss 16-80mm for my Alpha 100 in 2006, and it’s the reason I like the Nikon 16-85mm and the Canon 15-85mm best of all the kit zooms for those systems. It’s even the reason I use a vintage 1999 24-85mm Minolta lens on my Alpha 900.

My conclusion

My NEX-5 with 16mm and 18-55mm OSS lenses cost me £679, but that price included a free stereo microphone which sells everywhere for £99. The built-in mics are so good I might not need it (the camera can record clean sound even if placed just a metre away from a PA speaker blasting out live music – try it with a Nikon D5000 or a Canon 550D). But it makes the two-lens kit cost a ‘real’ £580.

‘Worth the asking price’ is PP’s comment. Worth? It’s the bargain of the year, and that is at launch prices which inevitably fall later on. If you want the wide-angle capability, it’s on its own, and if you prefer the angle of a 28mm-equivalent view, you have 14 megapixels to be cropped down and still match the pixel count of Micro 4/3rds.

NEX has real weakness if you are looking for telephoto reach, and many point-and-shoot upgraders will have been used to surprising long lens equivalents; 300mm is nothing. Micro 4/3rds can get you to to that 300mm equivalent in a similarly priced kit, though without the same wide-angle end. This would have been a useful and valid point for the PP review to raise, of value to readers; don’t buy NEX if you are into safari parks, garden birds, or next door’s bedroom windows. When the 18-200mm OSS does arrive it will cost more than a complete Olympus kit with E-PL1, 14-42mm and 40-150mm – it is also a VERY large lens. There is no neat little 55-200mm OSS for NEX, as there is for Alpha, Nikon and pretty much every interchangeable lens system made whether CLC or DSLR.

Every time I use the NEX-5 I find points to criticise. That rear jog wheel has a tendency to change my selected A mode aperture setting when I pop the camera into the small bag I’m using, forgetting to turn it off first. There I am shooting at f/6.3 and the next time I use the camera it’s at f/22. I wish I could tilt the screen vertically, not just horizontally; I love the screen on my Nikon D5000, and the NEX would have been so much better with the D5000′s design. You could even have turned it to face the camera, protecting the screen and removing distracting displays when using the 16mm optical viewfinder. But no, it’s like the A350-550 series, and fairly limited by its hinged articulation.

When reviewers pick up on points like this, it helps the camera makers. In a magazine like PP, hugely influential, such observations can change the course of future camera design for the better. I don’t find a single observation in the Practical Photography August 2010 issue review of the NEX-5 which stems from the critically aware experience of using the camera or treads the risky ground of daring to compare it directly with competitors.

- David Kilpatrick

The European press launch

David Kilpatrick recorded the proceedings at Le Meridien Lav Hotel, Split, Croatia on March 11th 2010 using a Zoom H2 portable digital recorder. Shirley Kilpatrick transcribed the audio, with subsequent editing to translate verbal output to read well as text. This is a multi-page document please use the PAGE navigation at the foot of each page to continue reading. It is a very long document.

Nick Sharples, director of corporate communications for Sony, Europe, welcomed the press to Split in Croatia, and thanked everyone for getting up before breakfast – especially those from Portugal who arrived at midnight (volcanic ash delayed their flights). The launch was synchronised round the world, hence the 8.00am timing for the European meeting.

Yoshiyuki Mogami (Vice President of Digital Imaging, Europe) was introduced to explain a little bit more about the business strategy for Digital Imaging in Europe. Yoshiyuki thanked everyone for coming over to Split; the team from Munich had arrived by driving ten hours.

Sony started Alpha business in 2006, he said, introducing the Alpha 100 in Morocco. The Alpha 700 was launched in Italy in 2007, the Alpha 900 flagship model was introduced in Scotland in 2008. “We have carried out surveys asking people in Europe which brands they would think of when buying a digital camera; the figure has risen from 50%, to close to 70%. Now we are enjoying a 15% market share in Europe. This figure is OK, but Sony now really has to go to our next step.

“But looking at the DSLR as an industry it’s not like two years ago or three years ago. DSLRs were pretty much a booming industry, and that’s why everybody came into his segment. These days the growth of this segment has very much flattened, and of course you could say this is due to economic slow down or recession, but we suspect that the traditional DSLR has a limit in mass appeal to consumers.

“So that’s why Sony can try to break this type of barrier. We put together all kinds of voices and views on this technology to see what we can do – we think we have heard the customers’ voice, and really put it into this project.”

Mogami-san introduced Toru Katsumoto, senior general manager of Alpha:

“Today I would like to officially announce our new ultracompact interchangeable lens camera we have already shown at PMA in February and in Japan. In the current market the boundaries between the three categories – DSLR, compact still camera and camcorder – are already starting to merge.

“In the area when DSLR and Digital Still Compact merge, we see great possibilities. Let me introduce to you NEX-5 (he holds up the camera, in front of large projected images of the cameras). This beautifully crafted body is designed to bring out the presence of the lens. The body is so slim and compact but without sacrificing any size or balance. The grip on this camera ensures a firm and comfortable hold despite such a slim and compact body. The rigidity and texture of magnesium alloy gives a high grade appearance and solid feel to the camera.

“NEX-3 is designed for a more casual approach, and can be very attractive especially for those who have yet to explore the world of the DSLR. The slim design comes in three different colour variations, with a unique texture on the grip. It simply feels great in one’s hand in addition to being a stylish camera.

“The key concept of NEX-5 and NEX-3 is to combine the best of both worlds – the image quality and power of expression of the DSLR, with the portability and ultra-compact design of a digital compact camera. We strongly believe that NEX-5 and NEX-3 are cameras that are capable of satisfying customers’ needs from both DSC and DSLR segments. Namely, compact digital still camera users who are motivated to step up from DSC, and DSLR users who are demanding a more compact camera without compromising DSLR power.

“Professional quality in your pocket is the buzzword for this camera. There are six elements:

• DSLR quality in still and moving images
• Compact and stylish
• Power of expression derived from interchangeable lenses
• Making creative work easier
• Beautiful high definition movies easily filmed
• High speed continuous shooting, 7fps

“The APS-C sensor successfully packs DSLR quality in a small body (he removes the lens and shows the sensor). The new sensor is significantly larger than the FourThirds sensor, resulting in a higher pixel count and superior picture quality.

“Our designers have done a great job; the philosophy is a minimalist design. The lens itself is small, but the body size is so small that the lens looks dominant overall. With the pancake lens, it comes close to the size of a point and shoot camera. It is the world’s smallest, and is lighter than either of the rival brands (Olympus and Panasonic profiles shown on screen but not named).

“The depth of the flange back on the camera is 18mm, the world’s thinnest. This is why we can make it so slim. There are three new lenses. Also conventional Alpha A-mount lenses, currently in customers’ hands, can be used via our mount adaptor.”

Katsumoto-san described the user interface with its virtual scroll wheel, adjusting depth of field; and the sweep panorama including the 3D function. “During the sweep motion, the camera generates two pictures, one for the right eye and the other for the left. You do not need two lenses for 3D.”

He said that Handycam experience had been used to set up high definition recording. Toru emphasised the value of Alpha NEX division working together with other Sony technologists.

“NEX-5 and NEX-3 are only the first two products to be offered by Sony in this emerging area. We believe that products based on the combination of a large imaging sensor and interchangeable lenses are not limited to NEX-5 and NEX-3; today, let me take the opportunity to reveal our second proposal to you briefly. As I am speaking now, a dedicated group of engineers is in the process of developing a new camcorder with the interchangeable lens system (he shows a mockup image).

“This camcorder will come with an EXMOR HD APS-C sensor for DSLR quality video in AVCHD form. Like the NEX-5 and NEX-3, with an adaptor, this new camcorder is also compatible with current Alpha lenses allowing videographers to access a wide range of high performance lenses to be used to express one’s creativity like never before.

“Needless to say, its body design is specially optimised for video shooting. Details of this product will be communicated soon, I’d say around the Autumn area, so please stay tuned. The combination of a large image sensor and interchangeable lenses can create whole new dimensions and expression and possibilities.

“To express our strength in such products, we would like to introduce the phrase “Beyond Our Eyes” which contains the following meanings – bringing new experiences, and style of unforeseen dimensions, that evoke deep emotions, and creating a visual world beyond how our eyes can see in both still photography and video.”

After this, the conference was officially over, and journalists were asked to re-convene for region specific in depth meetings. The meeting for the UK and Scandinavia was headed by Paul Genge of Sony UK. See next page.

The Leica M and screw mounts, with under 1mm difference between them, are 10mm greater than this at around 28mm. Screw mount Leica lenses can be adapted to M even though there is only 1mm difference. With 10mm difference, almost any lens ever made for any camera – even the Robot system, original Contax, maybe even the Pentax 110 SLR – can probably be adapted to fit the E-mount. In fact it will accept 16mm and 35mm (half-frame) ciné, C-mount CCTV lenses, and subminiature camera lenses.

You name it, the NEX will be able to do it. Telescopes, microscopes, endoscopes, whatever. And Alpha lenses, and MD lenses. There is even enough ROOM with over 25mm the spare to fit a true retrofocus format reduction converter – that is, a 0.66X optical unit which condenses the image from a full frame lens to fit the APS-C sensor. It is already done in the video and ciné world, and these converters have a wonderful bonus. Your 24-70mm f/2.8 SSM lens becomes, with a 0.66X reducing converter behind it, a 16-46mm f/2. That’s right – the same way a teleconverter loses you a stop or two, a format reduction converter gains you a stop.

The same converters also increase resolution, much as teleconverters reduce it. Zeiss can achieve 400 line pairs per millimetre from high grade 35mm format movie lenses when rear-converted to reduce on to 16mm or video.

Will Sony ever make such a converter? Do they even know that Zeiss have designs, and make exactly this type of converter for Arriflex and other systems via Angenieux? Do they realise that rear fitting format-reduction converters can also perform an AF function, allowing a manual focus lens from Nikon, Canon, Contax, Minolta or whoever to be mounted on a converter which has an ultrasonic AF mechanism of its own?

Imagine that – your 50mm f/1.2 Rokkor becomes an autofocus 33mm f/1.0 on the NEX. This is not blue sky thinking, it’s an optical practicality not a mere possibility. However, you don’t want to know the price of Zeiss converters, and for a system like NEX a universal converter might never be possible; it might have to be matched to the prime lens.

The NEX mount is almost as wide in the throat as an SLR mount; for some obscure reason, Sony chose to measure the outer diameter of the flange, which is not what matters, and came up with 62.6mm for the Alpha and 58.9mm for the NEX. Inner diameter of the bayonet, the bit which counts, was not stated. But it’s a wide throat and can cope with a huge potential range of adapted lenses.

Less of this ramble, and on to the plain vanilla – the camera.

Inside the camera there is a 14.2 megapixel CMOS sensor, capable of HD video and of course the vital live view and contrast-detection focusing on which the entire camera is based. This is fed to a 3 inch, 920,000 pixel TruBlack articulated rear screen and the user must compose, control and review everything on this screen. There are few buttons, no dials except a single control wheel, and everything is converted to a virtual control or a menu choice using a Sony-Ericsson developed graphical user interface.

The NEX5 camera, by some way the preferable model of the two, has a magnesium alloy body which matches the machined and brushed aluminium barrels of the lenses. It comes complete with a tiny camera-powered flashgun, screwed into an accessory slot on the camera top which has more contacts than a mere flash should need. Three, at least, must be for the stereo microphone audio interface which also draws Electret Condensor Microphone phantom power from the body’s battery.

At the end of less than 24 hours with the camera, I cleaned the white table on the hotel balcony and took a few pictures which will show you the camera in detail.

Here, you can see the 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS (stabilised) kit lens to the left; the camera body is fitted with the (raised) flash and the 16mm f/2.8 E-mount non stabilised wide angle pancake lens. In front is a 49mm fit lens cap (for either), InfoLithium battery good for around 350 shots, a 4GB MemoryStick Pro Duo MkII, and the lens hood for the 18-55mm.

The NEX baseplate view reveals the steel tripod bush set into the mag alloy casing, the lens release in a slightly unfamiliar position, the size of the grip and the location of the new Sony factory making this system – in Thailand. It was rumoured that these lenses would be branded as Zeiss. Having used these two, I can’t say they would ever have deserved that. Both are very sharp centrally but pretty soft at the edges unless well stopped down, and both have fairly strong CA. The central sharpness is excellent, about as good as you could expect, perhaps aided by the Contrast Detect focusing which is entirely free of back or front focus.

Here’s the body, which is 24.2mm thick at its thinnest point, with the lens removed – the sensor is exposed. But that’s how it normally is, whether switched on or off. Turning the camera off does not closed the focal plane shutter (30s to 1/4000th, X at 1/160th, vertical travel). Dust removal is not going to be all that easy with the sensor cover glass sitting so well shielded and recessed behind the shutter gate. When a lens is fitted, the sun can come in and focus itself on the sensor. What issues will that cause for anyone careless enough to leave a NEX with a 16mm f/2.8 lens on its back, with no lenscap, in tropical mid-day sun? As people sometimes do, dining or drinking outdoors?

The lens will afford some protection when fitted. The well-machined metal mount should not admit dust too easily. There are ten contacts on the E-mount lenses (note the legend ‘E-mount’ etched on the flange). They transfer EXIF information about the lens, power for the ultrasonic focusing motor which is a silent ring type, power for the aperture adjustment via a stepper motor, and command and feedback signals to make these adjustments. Enough of the protocol is shared for the E to A mount adaptor LA-EA1 to have been designed to operate SSM and SAM Alpha lenses. At the launch conference, Sony admitted their engineers had failed to get reliable focusing, so AF was disabled in firmware. They hoped that a firmware update would restore the planned AF functionality with in-lens motor Alpha glass.

The ability to change aperture during video shooting is only offered with E-mount lenses, and is disabled when A-mount lenses are fitted via the adaptor. Sony does not make it clear whether different apertures can still be preset, before filming.

This is one of the lenses which might have proved interesting on the NEX – the Sony SAM 30mm f/2.8 1:1 Macro. You can see the difference in scale and engineering approach. Note the AF/MF switch on the SAM lens – it’s the only way to over-ride AF on the Alpha bodies. The E-mount lenses are far superior, they have full time manual focus over-ride which is ultra smooth, just turn the focus ring at any time to shift away from the autofocused point. When you do this, the rear screen instantly and automatically switches to an enlarged view to aid manual fine focusing.

Here’s a close-up of the 16mm lens iris. Whatever shape of aperture is claimed, there are only seven blades (probably to keep the action very light) and that minimum f/22 does not look especially circular to me – much like any other lens with a very small iris diaphragm. The blades are oddly asymmetrical too.

Here you have the 18-55mm naked on the body. It’s a really good cosmetic match but you can see how large even this lens is compared to the camera. The 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 which was not ready to be tried out is even larger. Note the position of the strap lug(s). They are placed down the body and angled so that when neckdangled or shoulderslung, the camera tends to hang with the lens aiming down and the screen facing up. This saves a lot of screen scuffing, gives quick access to the info there presented, and keeps the bigger lenses neatly placed.

Be warned, though, that you can’t expect to grab a shot from hanging position. If the camera is turned off, it takes a short delay to fire up and for the screen to brighten as the gain is adjusted (always from dark). If the camera is sleeping, first touch on the shutter button does the same, with the screen ready for use in a second or so. Then a firmer pressure acquires focus and re-adjusts the screen exposure; AF officially takes 0.3s, but I found you could easily have 2-3 seconds from the moment of raising the camera to being able to fire the shutter in confidence. I actually think my old Konica Minolta Dimage A2 is faster. I missed several candids and moving subjects when testing the NEX5.

This is just a shot with the petal lens hood fitted. You may notice that the 16mm lens, supplied without a hood, does have a bayonet as well as a 49mm filter thread. This is to enable two afocal front lens convertors to be fitted – the VCL-ECU1 is a 0.75X rectilinear converter, turning the 16mm into a 12mm ultrawide, while the VCL-ECF1 is a 0.62X fisheye converter creating a 10mm full frame curved view fisheye. Given that the 16mm is expected to be only around £200 (or much less in effect when bought with a body), and these converters are £100 and £120 respectively, a system will be no great weight on the pocket.

There is also an optical finder for the 16mm, which occupies the flash/mic shoe, and will cost £130. Eh?

Like the flash, shown above, it will use the 12-pin gold plated connector and thumbscrew to attach. But it’s not an electronic finder. No-one would answer whether this contact array will support an EVF attachment.

This is how you secure the flash, which stows by folding down flat. Raising it, as in this shot, turns it on.

This runs off the battery, which lives next to the dual-purpose card slot. Previous models have had twin slots. The NEX range uses a dual MSPro/SD slot which auto senses the type of card being used. An AC mains adaptor is available which uses a dummy battery and a cable emerging through a hinged portal in the battery door (above).

The rear screen is articulated very much like the Alpha 550, and does not turn to face forwards, or orient itself in any way to suit vertical compositions. It is very much geared to the landscape format trend created by video shooting, HD, mobile phones and so on. Though the camera has auto orientation sensing for photos, the display does not change like an Alpha and it’s not really designed well for vertical shots.

The downfacing position is pretty odd. It does not fold out in the usual way. I was able to shoot well enough holding the camera overhead. The screen articulation is, like the 550, a very rugged metal mechanism. It does not feel as vulnerable as many other (more versatile) swivel and tilt rear screens.

The GUI is exactly what GUI means – very much a graphical, not textual, user interface. The six main menu icons resemble mobile phone menus. You get to them by rotating the scroll wheel and pushing its centre button. Shortcuts are marked at the compass points of the wheel for outer rim press-clicks taking you to different options or changing the display mode. The LCD has a glass cover but Sony still offers both hard and adhesive protectors. I took photographs using the ‘Sunny’ brightness setting, not Auto. ‘Sunny’ really boosts the backlight well beyond the auto brightness maximum.

The Brightness/Color Menu includes the options for DRO+ and for HDR shooting. HDR is now three frame bracketing, with manual control up to 6EV span (plus/minus 3). The NEX has a very powerful new BIONZ processor and crunches 3 raw files into an HDR JPEG instantly – while also saving, at the same time, the middle bracketed exposure from your rapidfire 7fps burst as a standard choice. So you get two frames from your triple shutterburst, one normal, one HDR. There are also six-shot Night Scene and Anti Motion Blur modes, which synthesise a final low noise or minimum blur JPEG in-camera; I failed to test these, as the presentations made no real mention of them.

Here you can see the second shutter release, marked MOVIE. Press this and there is no waiting – filming starts immediately, so you either need to be in Continuous AF mode, or have pre-focused using the main shutter release. A second press ends the take. Unlike almost every other HD Video 1080p capable model yet made, the NEX5 will shoot continuously without clip length limits, up to around 29 minutes (filesize limit).

Select Shoot Mode, and an image of a virtual mode dial appears concentric with the control wheel. It turns in perfect sync with the wheel. So, without having a physical dial, Sony has given you one. Text information appears as you perform changes. Some more annoying repetitive cyber-advice can be turned off; other ‘tips’ are not optional. They follow you round for life.

The camera includes many functions aimed at happy young exuberant target-market users. I don’t think it is complete, as the Smile Detection menu has not made adequate allowance for Goths, neo-punks, or grumpy old folk with permanently inverted scowls. A future version for the legacy Alpha-owner generation should include ‘Not Frowning’ as a smile mode!

The Display mode change options include a semi-graphical exposure scale exactly along the lines of current Alpha models.

Alternatively, you can opt for a different set of info more aimed at the advanced user. I found that no matter what display mode I used, the screen became so cluttered I sometimes could not see parts of the subject I was keen to check for alignment, cut off or inclusion in the shot.

This – a very simple display indeed – was what I found most acceptable. It is interesting to note that with the exposure metered live from the CMOS, there was much less need for the plus-minus over-ride function using NEX. I was shooting raw, but even the JPEGs obtained alongside the raw files were pretty much perfectly exposed every time. For difficult subjects the JPEG-only shooter can use a three-shot HDR in-camera process, and this worked very well.

I have a gallery of 48 full size in-camera JPEGs taken during the photo shoot opportunity organised for the press, which involved two hours in sealed dirty-window ferry and bus plus half an hour wasted on a wine tasting (?!) session, for the sake of maybe an hour of pictures. They would have been better just bussing us into Split old city and telling us to meet later. Escorting a gaggle of journos round Hvar town was singularly unproductive!

http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/nex5_samples

48 full size in-camera JPEGs with peculiarly deficient EXIF data. Where it says 16mm, the 16mm was used. Everything else is on the 18-55mm. The NEX5 body was used.

The NEX system and the initial 3 and 5 model cameras needs much more writing about it, with many new functions and features. This has just been a small guided tour of the camera for you to see it in detail. We will be posting further reports as time permits, rush-blogging not being something I intend to do when there is so much detailed information to be digested. My quick reports from Croatia and during transit back home have already appeared on the BJP website:

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=874544

http://www.bjp-online.com/public/showPage.html?page=874550

You can see a short 720p HD movie (rescaled from the original 1080i for YouTube, edited using iMovie 09 on Mac) here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSl3jN2sk7Q

- David Kilpatrick

But Sony may prove yet to be the tortoise – or perhaps to be Brer Rabbit. They could make the finishing line, the goal of a truly useful video DSLR, before Nikon/Canon/Pentax/OlySamPanny get there.

The dream of any camera maker is to sow a few dragons’ teeth and have fully armed warriors spring from the ground, something which Olympus has managed to achieve twice in succession, first with the E-1 and 4/3rds, then with the digital Pen and Micro 4/3rds.

Sony, ignoring Greek myths, has so far gone for the Celtic version and chucked the bones of its dead warriors (Minolta!) into the Cauldron of Bran to rise and fight again. As reanimated corpses go, the Alpha models so far have proved pretty lively. But in all good myths, whether Greek or Celtic, it’s the real live heroes who eventually win. Sony has a couple of real giants in the Alpha 900 and 850, but not much else until a true Alpha 700 successor arrives.

That is what PMA is said to have revealed – without a name, but with a mockup and some tentative specifications:

You may not think these studio packshots from Sony are very exciting. Think again. That, dear Alpha fan, is a magnesium alloy body shell. You can tell it’s built the same way as the Alpha 900 and 700 by the small screws visible outside the perimeter of the body lens mount, and the traditional strap lugs. If it’s not magnesium or mag alloy, it’s a new material to the range and it certainly is not the same stuff the A100-200-300-500 series is made of.

Inside this camera, as with the Canon EOS 550D, there are two activating motors not one. The mirror action and the shutter action are separate. That’s not the case with the recent sub-700 series Alphas which have used a single motor to drive a permanently hard-linked mirror-shutter cycle, a cost saving measure which simplifies assembly but rules out any chance of providing mirror lock up. There is every chance this camera will have MLU.

It also has a full AF mode switch, and a depth of field preview button (presumed, unless Sony has changed the function of the button in that position, which is unlikely); it has a Memory Recall position on the shutter dial. All this says, very clearly ‘A700-900 type internal design’ to match a solid metal, weathersealed exterior shell.

The format

My press information from Sony implies that the new HD-AVCHD CMOS sensor used in the DSLR models is exactly the same sensor as they are using in the EVIL models (the mock-ups above).

Sony press release wording:

In 2010 Sony will introduce a new ultra-compact camera with interchangeable lenses that teams “any time, anywhere” convenience with DSLR picture quality. Exhibited in early concept mock-up form at PMA, the camera features a newly-developed Exmor APS-C HD CMOS sensor. It will also support HD video recording using the efficient and high quality AVCHD format. Shown in mock-up form alongside the compact, easy-to-use new camera is a selection of compatible interchangeable lenses.

Mainstream DSLR range to grow further
Sony also confirms that the current α range will continue to grow with the introduction of further new mainstream DSLR models using the newly-developed Exmor APS HD CMOS sensor and integrating HD video function with AVCHD format.

This seems to be a clear indication that it’s a new HD sensor and not the same as the A550. The term APS-C is hopeful, I have amended this post – my quick measurement in Photoshop of the sensor in the image above indicated (allowing extra for overlap of the mask) that it was 16:9 but I’ve since seen a head-on shot of the PMA mockup which shows it is 2:3 format as normal.

Video

The new camera will have HD video and probably won’t attempt to focus during filming; doing so is a red herring with cameras of this format anyway, as autofocus doesn’t even work reliably with regular camcorders. But it will probably autofocus rapidly from Live View, replacing QV autofocus with a contrast-detect system that actually works, especially when combined with Face Recognition. If it does allow AF during filming, the CZ 16-80mm lens shown fitted here might not be the best choice.

Or might it be OK? Try an Alpha body and work out where the body-driven focus sounds really come from. Some lenses are noisy. But I have just stuck my ear next to several, even vintage Minolta AF designs 25 years old, and turned the manual focus ring. Guess what? They are as quiet as SSM. All that Sony needs is a silent drive motor for the focus in the body, and the ZIP sound will disappear. There is absolutely no reason why a new AF motor generation using silent technology should not transform the apparently ‘noisy’ performance of body-driven optics.

Sony’s use of the AVCHD format is much publicised. So what? It doesn’t say it is the Lite flavour, so that means the camera is probably 1080p and that the files as saved to the memory card will be easily read via the card slots of Sony devices such as Bravia televisions or PlayStation, or played from the camera’s USB connection. It also means that some computer systems and portable players, digital photo frames or PDAs may need the video converting before they can play it.

Sony has almost certainly made sure the format shoots 1080/24p, the industry standard. But I think they have done much more than this. I think the A7xx will be the first video DSLR which allows you to capture a still frame while recording unbroken video, and to do so without a shutter actuation. It may be nothing more than a 1080p JPEG still, extracted and saved in  real time (Nikon allow saving of 720p JPEGs by reviewing the footage and selecting frames, in-camera, on the D3S).

But I think Sony’s recent experiments with auto image alignment (in the two-shot HDR function of the Alpha 550, etc) are a clue to what they may do to create higher resolution JPEGs than 1080p, without interrupting video recording. A software utility which can re-mosaic and conflate two or more video frames is already available:

http://photoacute.com/studio/guide/guide.html#video_import

I’m already using this software to create double resolution images from my A550 raw files – incredible 55 megapixel landscape and still-subject shots made using a set of exposures, with SSS switched on even on a tripod to ensure that each raw records the data slightly offset on the Bayer grid. The report on this will be in the Spring Photoworld magazine.

At the moment, pressing the shutter during filming on a Canon DSLR captures a full res image but interrupts the video and sound for about 1 second. Pressing the shutter on a Nikon DSLR terminates the video and captures a still frame. Sony will, I think, be the first maker to allow instant capture of a still frame during filming without interruption.

For many, the critical factor will be whether or not Sony provides a stereo mic/line input jack, and firmware to control the impedance, fixed gain or auto gain for this (and any built-in mic). Sound has been the Achilles Heel (sorry, Greek legends again!) of video DSLRs. Only the Nikon D3S so far allows external input with mic/line compatibility, and manual fixed gain. All Canon DSLRs to date have forced auto gain even for the external input – and not one of them is compatible with line sources (officially) making the use of external preamps or mixers a matching lottery.

Now if you think all this does not matter, all you want is a good DSLR, I know a nice patch of warm sand with plenty of ostriches to keep you company. I only shoot video on DSLR once every couple of months. When I want it, it’s great to have it. They cost me no more than non-video capable DSLRs and the inclusion of video has zero impact on the way they work as still cameras. I will welcome video on Alpha. I have the lenses for it and I’ll use it!

And the rest

The A7xx will allow studio shooting with Live View and AF, with auto gain to enable modelling lights. It will have its own LED video lighting system, with a new flashgun capable of either flash or a modelling-light/video strength continuous LED output. You will be able to see depth of field through the glass prism optical finder (no QV, no mirror prisms) or to perfect accuracy on the high resolution rear screen, and magnify the Live View image for critical focusing and d-o-f checking.

I’m almost prepared to bet that it will not support motordrive speeds faster than 5fps (or a minor variation on 5, such as 5.5fps) because the 7fps of the A550 was partly enabled by the hard-linked shutter mirror mechanism with its single motor, plus the fixed stop-down of the lens (which does not open and close repeatedly during 7fps shooting). But through the video function of the new HD sensor, Sony will enable some interesting high speed sequence options for stills, with capture speeds dependent on subsampled resolution taken directly from the CMOS. There has been a firm rumour for some time about a Sony prototype DSLR, seen in SE Asia and Australia, which could shoot something like 15fps at a usable resolution (6MP or thereabouts). So a feature like that would not surprise me.

There are new 24mm f/2 (prototype) and 500mm f/4 G (previsualisation) lenses on the way, which leaves another eight for Sony still to work on including a rumoured 35mm f/2 and 85mm f/2.8 Chinese plastic SAM duo. The nasty little 30mm f/2.8 SAM macro, by the way, turns out to be one of the best lenses I’ve ever used despite its horrible cheap skin and clunky focus motor. So if Sony does make 35mm f/2 and 85mm f/2.8 lenses for £199 apiece, do not dismiss them.

This camera will have a superb quality LCD overlay focusing screen like the Canon EOS 7D, maybe even losing the visible ‘wires’ of the Alpha 550 precursor. It will have one of the brightest viewfinders seen in an APS-C DSLR to date. Will the AF module be updated – along with a new in-body focusing motor that works in fully variable torque mode, silently?

Well, if I was a designer at Sony, all this would be happening.

The alternative would be to chuck some more bones in the cauldron and see what kind of zombie jumped out.

- David Kilpatrick

Sitting behind a desk in Scotland while Gary Friedman attends PMA on our behalf. Gary will trash all this errant speculation and provide the real story, extracted from Sony staff under duress (he carries a Xaphoon, it works every time!).

The latest news is that Tokina is to introduce the 11-16mm ƒ2.8 in Sony Alpha mount. Tokina stopped making Minolta mount lenses shortly before their parent company Hoya acquired Pentax. The Tokina factory has been producing Pentax lenses (not all of them) and also the Schneider-Kreuznach branded range for the Samsung GX Pentax clone DSLR system.

Now that Samsung has gone its own way with the N-system, abandoning Sony sensors and Pentax lenses, some of the conflicts which possibly inhibited Tokina from returning to the Alpha mount have disappeared – and some of the capacity and market share taken up by their Samsung contract likewise. Alpha lenses will fill the gap nicely.

Sony must, surely, have observed that the Tokina 11-16mm ƒ2.8 is not just the best such wide-angle currently made. It’s also the only one which activates the ƒ2.8 central double cross sensor of the Alpha 700 properly, doubling the focus accuracy which is critical with such short lenses. Depth of field may be huge, but depth of focus (the tolerance at the sensor plane) is not. Calibration needs to be perfect with lenses like this. The 11-16mm could be a perfect match for the next generation of Sony 700-level camera with one or more ƒ2.8-capable AF focus points.

Tokina has made lenses for the Alpha system in the past. They designed, and produced exclusively for Minolta, the 100-400mm ƒ4.5-6.3 APO AF lens. They made one variant of the 28-80mm ƒ3.5-5.6 kit lens, regarded as the best optically. It is possible that Tokina also designed the 100-300mm ƒ4.5-5.6 APO (D) and one or more of its predecessors, whether delivered to Minolta in element form for assembly or not. I would also suspect that odd and much acclaimed one-off, the 35-200mm ƒ4.5-5.6 Xi Power Zoom, of origins outside Minolta. Tokina would be the most likely source.

So it is not out of the question that Hoya/Tokina is once again involved in working with the Alpha system, this time with new owners Sony. The 11-16mm might perhaps even appear in a Sony guise. After all, Tamron has been allowed to continue selling Alpha mount 11-18mms despite making a Sony branded version. Why should Tokina not be able to market their own, while also creating a Sony SSM or SAM version?

I was able to test the Tokina 11-16mm on a Nikon D90 (same basic sensor as the A700, A500 in terms of resolution and physical size) thanks to professional photographer David Bryce, during a seminar held in Scotland in Autumn 2008.

The brief test

David Bryce was one of the first to obtain a Tokina 11-16mm ƒ2.8 zoom, and I had a chance to take a good look at it during a Master Photographers Association Scottish Region seminar in 2008. In addition to trying it out on the Nikon D90 with architectural subjects (the venue, Solsgirth House) I was able to make some full aperture and ƒ4 tests of no pictorial merit, positioning details in the corners to check out how well it performs. If you click on most of the images, you will be able to access full size 12 megapixel files.

Here’s the subject – using converging verticals and a very close viewpoint, at f/9 and 11mm, in nice sunny conditions. The sun kindly disappeared for the straight-on tests of wide open and f/4 performance.

11mm at f/2.8

16mm at f/2.8

11mm at f/4

16mm at f/4

There was some sign of softness in the corners which was not fully removed even by ƒ11. What was surprising was the relative lack of vignetting – even at ƒ2.8, the corners were well illuminated. Performance on Canon’s 1.6X sensor (substantially smaller than the Nikon 1.5X sensor) will appear a little better as the extreme corners are not included.

Uncorrected at 11mm (click image for a larger, but not full size, view)

Corrected in Photoshop (Distortion>Lens Correction) with 3% de-barrelling

The lens turns out to have very good flare resistance, and better geometry than might be expected, needing only 3% correction for pure barrel distortion at 11mm. On most distant subjects, or buildings photographed to allow convergence rather than correct the verticals no correction is really needed.

Compared to Nikon’s 18-105mm VR lens, the Tokina had higher contrast and produced a more punchy image. Both lenses at their widest needed a similar CA correction in Adobe Camera Raw of around -30 Red/Cyan defringeing, and the Nikon showed more vignetting. On revisiting the files, I found the Tokina could survive with -20 CA correction and was generally cleaner than the 18-105mm. I’ve since bought an 18-105mm VR Nikkor myself and can confirm it’s a modest performer optically, but cheap.

16mm at minimum focus, f/8, into the light with a very bright sky

Close focus was impressive, more useful at 16mm than 11mm, with not too much field curvature or corner sharpness loss. The close-focus shot also shows pretty good bokeh, and being taken directly into the light, well controlled internal reflections with no veiling glare over the shadows.

For most medium and long distance subjects, full aperture would not produce an acceptable print. The 35mm shaped frame would need to be cropped to 10 x 8 shape to lose unsharp zones at the ends of the shot. The centre, even wide open, is exceptionally sharp. At ƒ4 there is a small improvement but not enough to make the full frame useful.

Interior at f/8, 1/30th. The Nikon D90 has no sensor stabilisation and the Tokina also has no IS/VR. You can see the degree of barrel distortion present at the frame end (the example above shows it on the long side, this displays it on the short side. The good news is that although it is strong barrel, it is simple, not moustache-shaped wave form distortion. This means a simple correction can fix it, no need for a lens geometry map.

By ƒ8 sharpness is good across the frame bar the extreme corners; these may demand ƒ11, an aperture which now begins the soften the whole frame as a result of diffraction. Even so, for architectural or industrial shots, ƒ11 would be a suggested setting to get corner to corner sharpness at 11mm. With the right subject and precise focusing, wider apertures may produce perfect results, as the very ordinary shot below shows.

Normally, I either wouldn’t put up an image with a badly angled composition and poor lighting like the one above – at the least it would be cropped and straightened. However, this particular shot at f/7.1 and 11mm must have been optimally focused (I’d guess, on the gravel not the house) and shows what the Tokina can do when the depth of field is adequate. The grass is sharp pretty much to the extreme corner. Click to view the full size file.

The centre to edge difference at full aperture is emphasised by the unusually high resolution on-axis. The ƒ2.8 aperture enables extra accurate focusing with most DSLRs including the D90, and this really pays off in terms of micro-contrast and detail.

We do not yet know how Sony will tackle the problem of ensuring accurate AF with rising resolution values. It is a more complex subject than I thought possible, with everything from the focal length and aperture to the design parameters of each lens affecting accuracy. AF point (front or back focus) even changes with temperature, more so for outer field sensors than the central point. The Canon 1D MkIV has a temperature sensor in its AF module to apply recalibration on the fly and correct for the differential expansion of silicon and glass components of the AF array within its working temperature range.

There is one surefire way to get perfect wide angle focus – contrast detect focusing from the imaging sensor itself, or for Alpha system owners (so far), Manual Focus Check Live View on the Alpha 550 and 500. The Tokina 11-16mm will be perfect for this method as the wide aperture will show the correct focus point clearly.

– David Kilpatrick

The Alpha System celebrates its Silver Jubilee or 25th Anniversary this month – though left uncelebrated by the inheritors of the Minolta AF legacy, Sony. They have no reason to draw fresh attention to the age of the system, as in four years they have taken it the same sort of distance that Minolta took the world’s first AF system in the late 1980s.

It’s not only Alpha’s 25th birthday. This is also the 25th birthday of modern AF SLR systems – all of them!

This is a multi-page article. See the links at the bottom of the page to Continue Reading after each page.

For Photoclubalpha and the historic Minolta Club of Great Britain, the anniversary does matter. A good many of you out there have been members since the launch of the system, often using the earlier SR and X manual focus systems before that. We still have a 1985 Minolta 7000AF and it’s still working just as it did when new.

25 years before the first Minolta SLRs appeared – a folding Minolta Six of 1935

I don’t mind showing my age to make a comparison. I was 11 in 1963 when I took my first pictures with an SLR camera. My father had bought himself a Pentax S3 – and the camera it replaced was 25 years old, a pre-war Zeiss Ikon Kolibri collapsible 16-on-127 model.

When the Kolibri was made, 127 was the ‘vest pocket’ format of choice. 35mm was on the rise, but 35mm SLRs had not yet arrived. They were as much a thing of the future as digital SLRs were when the Minolta 7000AF was launched.

But within that 25 years, there was hardly a single camera system made with interchangeable lenses that did not become obsolete. Only the ‘frozen assets’ of the cold war kept some systems, like the Exakta bayonet and the Praktina, alive. New brands were launched, from the British Wrayflex and Periflex to the Italian Rectaflex and many German oddities. It was not unusual for an entire system to be come and gone within a few years.

Even in the following quarter-century, the high years of the Japanese 35mm SLR, the succession of lens mount changes was bewildering. Independent lens makers like Tamron and Sigma were forced to make systems using interchangeable mounts not just because the public wanted it. A dozen or more mounts were made for every lens and in the 42mm screw thread fit alone there were endless variants – Praktica LLC (Pentacon Electric), Olympus FTL, Pentax ES and more.

It was more or less a 25-year cycle – the SR system was announced in 1958, and really got underway by 1960. It was to be another quarter century before the AF system arrived. We are now a further 25 years on – can we expect a totally new camera system, once again, in 2010?

Minolta’s SR bayonet mount, introduced in 1958/9, actually remained basically unchanged all the way through to 2005 when the last manual focus model, the X-370S, was available. It survives even now as a mount popular in China where the Seagull range from Shanghai Optical includes Minolta fit models. That mount only ever had one major revision, to add a linkage for open aperture TTL metering. The introduction of programmed exposure and shutter priority was cleverly enabled by using the existing design of lens mechanism and improving its accuracy, while adding a simple reference lug to the ƒ-stop setting ring.

Nikon’s 1959 F-mount proved similarly easy to improve without any basic modification. Both these bayonet mounts celebrated half a century of production in 2008/9 – another landmark, which Nikon was able to celebrate but Minolta of course could not.

So, here is the size difference. You can see the scruffy Sony rubber grip, but that brand new Sigma with even the a few days’ handling also picks up dirt. You are looking at a lens with a 72mm filter versus 62mm for the Sony, and it feels far bigger in the hand or on the camera. The zoom action is also pretty stiff if the lens is opposing gravity – trying to zoom in while tracking an aircraft or bird in the air above you needs a strong twist, as does zooming back if you are aiming down from a high viewpoint. However, the Sigma on the level has a good feel. I just wonder what time will do to the mechanism. The zoom lock only works at 18mm, as expected. It is positioned very close to the AF/MF switch which in turn is above the Optical Stabiliser on/off switch. With the camera to the eye, I sometimes operated either one of these when trying to hit the zoom lock release, most often the AF/MF switch.

Although the Sigma is HSM, do not confuse this HSM with the version found in the 70-200mm f/2.8 Sigma, or with Sony SSM. The focusing ring moves, to start with, and has no direct manual focus over-ride. To use manual focus you must switch the lens from AF to MF using the lens switch, not the switch on the camera body, or indeed the AF/MF toggle-hold button. All body controls for auto or manual focus are disabled and you can not turn the focus ring on the lens unless you switch to MF on the lens itself.

It is similar in operation to Sony SAM though the HSM motor is in a different class to whatever Sony has chosen put inside their SAM lenses. Focusing is moderate in speed for long travel (a typical HSM thing) but very fast indeed for tiny incremental adjustments. It is quiet as well. I would not swear that the Sigma is faster than the Sony with its mechanical drive, but it is much smoother in use. It certain gives the impression of being faster, and focusing is extremely accurate on our A700, A350 and A380 bodies alike. The focusing ring only needs about one-eighth of a turn from ‘beyond infinity’ to the closest (45cm, 18″) setting. The zoom ring uses a quarter turn and is well marked from 18 to 135mm with focal lengths 18, 24, 28, 35, 50, 80 and 135. Between 135 and 250mm there’s barely 15mm of scale and attempts to set a guessed focal length like 200mm could be wildly inaccurate.

Apertures appear to be f/3.5 until just under 24mm, f/4 from 24 to 35mm, f/4.5 to around 48mm,  f/5 from 50mm to 75mm,  f/5.6 from 80 to 135mm, and from then on f/6.3. These are not sudden jumps, of course, just the closest the camera can report to a continuous change in maximum aperture. This is a good result, especially at the wide end where having a true f/3.5 from 18mm to 23mm is unusual.

The lens itself comes with a petal hood, good quality front and rear caps, but no case. Why would you need one? This lens, if you buy it, will live on the camera all the time. The lens hood will reverse on to the lens, but should always be fitted properly for shooting. This complex zoom is no more flare-prone than any other, but it does have a very large front element which is not recessed.

When collapsed to 18mm, ideally locked to prevent zoom creep wearing the mechanism out prematurely, it’s a chunky but reasonably compact lens, comparable in size to the CZ 135mm f/1.8 or 24-70mm f/2.8 zooms for the Alpha system.

You can see here that even on the Alpha 700 body, not a compact design, the Sigma can also be an impressive weapon – perhaps attracting the wrong attention from security guards, community police, concert and sports venue staff or parents convinced you are the bogey-man or bogey-woman. Extended, it is as large as the Sigma 70-200mm (which does not change size). The double extension is very firm and not wobbly in the slightest – this is a well made lens, very solid with a metal mount.

Lens Construction – 18 Elements in 14 Groups
Angle if View (1.5X Format) – 78.5 – 6.5 degrees
Number of Diaphragm Blades – 7 Blades
Minimum Aperture – f/22 to f/40
Minimum Focusing Distance – 45cm
Maximum Magnification – 1:3.4
Filter Size – 72mm
Dimensions – Diameter 79mm x Length 101mm
Weight – 630g
SRP – £559.99

I took three cameras – the Alpha 900, Alpha 700 and Alpha 380 – and three lenses – the 70-300mm Sony G SSM, the Sigma 70-200mm EX DGII Macro HSM, and the Sigma 18-250mm EX DC HSM optically stabilised superzoom. The subject was a Scottish Under-15s cricket match held just over the road from my office, but time and the evening light dictated carrying all three together. While juggling bodies and lenses one combination, the Alpha 700 with 70-300mm G, was omitted. The Alpha 380 got tested with all three lenses. The Alpha 900 didn’t get used with the 18-250mm as it’s an APS-C lens.

But, it could have been. Although the Sigma does not auto-switch the A900 to APS-C crop mode, I could have selected that on the camera menus manually. The question being answered is one posed on the Photoclubalpha Forums. Does a crop from the A900 match using an A700 or A380? Is it better or worse?

Alpha 900 full frame 24 megapixel cropped to 10.7 megapixel results

Here is an A900 shot taken at 200mm using the 70-300mm Sony G SSM, at f/8. It was necessary to use manual exposure at preview as metering simply didn’t work with the cricket whites – 1/1250th seemed best at ISO 320. Cricket needs exposures of 1/1000th or shorter, and the lens is f/5.6 maximum aperture, benefiting a lot from that one-stop down closure to f/8. So although the sun is out, this is a situation where ISO 320 is only just high enough. It is slightly tilted, and the framing has plenty of space to allow an APS-C crop which corrects that:

Clicking this image will open a pBase file page with the option to view full size. Exactly what is full size? It is 10.7 megapixels, or 3960 x 2640. This compares with the 4272 x 2848 of the Alpha 700, and the 4592 x 3056 of the Alpha 380. There is no real doubting the quality of the Alpha 900 file, which is here processed without using sharpening, noise reduction or any lens corrections in Adobe Camera Raw. A strong tone curve and a small adjustment to white balance and black point bring the image closer to in-camera JPEG tonality.

Here is an Alpha 900 shot using the Sigma 70-200mm EX DGII HSM, again at f/8 and the same settings exactly, with the full frame:

You will notice that the batsman is more or less central in both shots, one to the right, one to the left. Single-frame AF and lock (shutter pressure) was used with the central f/2.8 AF cross sensor. Space must be left to the front of the batsman to see the ball enter the frame – this is a possibility with the fast shutter reactions of the A900, and the extra frame area. Jerking the camera in a pan movement would risk losing sharpness even at 1/1000th or faster. Therefore, the APS-C crop is not from the central sweet spot of the lens, but one edge, and in the conversion below I have used no CA correction, sharpening, or NR etc.

Once again, click the image to go to the pBase full sizer option. There is no doubt, after shooting a few dozen of these cricket shots with all three cameras, that the Alpha 900 enabled me to time my single exposures almost perfectly every time. The extra space round the subject gace more room for the ball to be shown in-frame, and to see it arriving even if the bulk of the camera prevented my ‘second eye’ observing the bowler – I had to time by sound as well as vision. In nearly all cases, the sound of my shutter firing reached my ear before the sound of the ball on the bat.

To experiment, I did try some 5 fps sequences as well. These were fascinating in that they showed the speed of reactions of the batsmen moving off for a run when the ball was only a yard or two off the bat (they could tell whether it was going in the right direction!) but in most cases no single shot was as accurately timed as a one-off. Within three frames, the ball could be six feet in front of the batsman, disappear behind the bat and appear six feet behind. To capture something as simple and static as a young amateur batsman in action, something more like 15 frames a second would be needed. I also tried 3 fps and the Alpha 380′s modest 2.5 fps. That mainly missed the moment entirely!

Here, finally from the Alpha 900, is a full frame taken with the 70-300mm SSM lens set to 300mm – using the benefit of 24 megapixels fully:

Here, my timing was a little early because I had to use judgement with no chance to see the ball entering the viewfinder. Again, click to visit a full 24 megapixel file from this shot. The 70-300mm SSM G is very free from CA and the ‘neutrally processed’ image is very clean. Because of the shutter speed involved, SSS was turned off for all these images. If I was shooting sport with the A900, I would always use full frame, and never use the manual crop option. The chances of getting some action within the frame, rather than too close to the edge or cut off, give the full frame a real value.

Now we move on – to the Alpha 700.

To date, many Sony users have been using eyepiece magnifiers from other makes. Nikon, Sony and Pentax models can all be made to fit. Most have a higher magnification than the Sony offering (the range is between 1.17X and 1.2X). Olympus’s 1.2X ME-1 is not a perfect fit, while the Pentax O-ME53 allows the eye start sensors to function normally and offers 1.18X.

The new Sony magnifier FDA-ME1AM is equally compact and will offer better compatibility with the A700 as well as a good optical match to the Sony ocular. These magnifiers are NOT the same type of device as the FDA-M1AM which is a macro magnifier for focusing. What they do is enlarge the screen view, especially for non-spectacle-wearers, so the viewfinder appears larger.

For the rear screens of cameras, there are now hard covers for all models. These are clip-in rigid protectors, and are coded PCK-LH. A range of AR-coated adhesive soft protectors is also made coded PCK-LS. It’s very important to order exactly the right model. For the A230, 330 and 380 a brand new LCD Hood is offered.

The SH-L1AM clips on like a rigid cover, and folds down flat to become a further protector. When flipped open, it provides a full size top ‘canopy’ and two partial wings to each side. The attachment method uses a clear hard plastic screen protector built in to the design.

The new A230, 330 and 380 no longer have a remote release socket but they are compatible with the Remote Commander RMT-DSLR1 which is supplied with both the A700 and A900. No commander is thrown in with the new entry level Alpha kits, you must buy it as an accessory. It also functions as a playback controller when the cameras are connected by HDMI to a TV or monitor.

Minor new accessories include the Wrapping Cloth LCS-WR1AM in a choice of three colours. This is simply a microfibre cloth large enough to wrap up any camera or lens inside your bag, with a large elastic ring on one corner to hold the cloth round lenses or other items.

A Lens Cap holder LCS-LC1AM is also made in three colours. This is a not-so-small pouch which can hold lens caps up to 77mm diameter, with an O-ring to slip it on to your camera strap. Sony marketing has failed to spot that it can also be used to hold a filter in its case, and it’s probably of most interest for that function!

There is a new universal Hand Strap STP-HS1AM which is similar to older designs of right-hand strap used mainly with battery packs or vertical grips. This one is compatible with any model, with or without vertical grip, due to the extendible strap section. However, it occupies your tripod thread. The good news is that a second strap lug is provided, so that your neck strap can be attached simultaneously. The older leather ‘Grip Belt’ STP-GB1AM does not allow this.

Sony now has an entire range of shoulder/neck camera straps. We can only recommend one type – the leather soft wide strap STO-SH1AM. Do not confuse this with the hard narrow leather strap STP-SH2AM. The wide one is like the old Minolta Dynax wide leather straps and far more comfortable; it also shoves into camera bags more easily, unlike the SH2 which gets in the way due to its thick, rigid leather section.

A new GPS tracking unit, GPS-CS3KA, replaces the earlier original Sony GPS tracker. It still does not have any connectivity to any DSLR, requires a PC-only program that will only embed data in JPEGs, and overall it’s a crippled and makeshift answer to adding GPS location data to images.

Finally, there is a new AC Adaptor/Charger for the A230, 330 and 380 only – the AC-PW10AM. All earlier Alphas can be run from AC mains using the expensive intelligent twin charger unit, AC-V900AM, which accepts two batteries (NP-FM500H or NP-FM55H). Though the AC adaptor for the new models is labelled Adaptor/Charger, there is no indication that the battery can be charged while in the camera. The Sony website says this adaptor is for ALL Alpha DSLRs and is a universal (use anywhere in the world) AC adaptor. If so, this lower cost option for running ALL Alphas is to be applauded. The Sony leaflet says it is for 230/330/380 only.

The accessories brochure supplied with the new A230-380 models contains more detail. It also shows clearly that there are no vertical grips for these models, or other dedicated accessories.

- DK