Photoclub Alpha

The parallel development of Carl Zeiss lenses for Sony (AF lenses in the Alpha mount) and independent manual focus lenses for other makes continues. The latest CZ design is a revision of the classic 18mm Distagon last seen in the Contax system, optimised for colour balance and reflection supression with digital SLRs.

Here’s a question which came in to my email just now:

“Could I process a RAW file in Photoshop to achieve a similar effect as if I had used a Polaroid lens filter?
Or would I be better just using the Polaroid filter?”

The answer is that you can never imitate the effect of polarizing light (which changes the way reflective surfaces look, and deepens or lightens the sky blue according to the zone of the sky relative to the sun’s position. But you can use Adobe Camera Raw (CS3 versions) to deepen skies you never thought could be rescued.

The introduction of a £399 (street price, RRP £449) DSLR with 14.2 megapixels – with or without a useful type of Live View – should have been applauded by reviewers. It’s the single most important point about the camera. No other DSLR approaches this image size and resolution at such a low price.

Our cover photo for the Spring 2008 issue of Photoworld was taken with a Tamron 70-300mm zoom costing less than £120 from most larger retailers or internet shops. The reputation of the lens meant we had to take a look at it, because the current choice in the Sony range is limited to one ‘kit’ 75-300mm costing £179, and the new 70-300mm G SSM lens costing £600.

CLICKING on key mapping points of a face, then adjusting some simple overlaid Bezier curves using movable anchors, it takes only a minute to load a typical headshot portrait into Portrait Professional.

Now that there are five Sony Alpha DSLR bodies in circulation, with many owners of the original 2006 Alpha 100 considering a replacement, the differences between this ur-Alpha and the 2007-8 generation of Alpha 700, 200, 300 and 350 need examining.

The Sony Alpha 350 14.2 megapixel DSLR pioneers a new type of Live View, related to Olympus’s original Mode A of the E-330 where a beamsplitting arrangement allowed a video CCD to view the actual focusing screen of the SLR system.

There’s a lot of controversy right now about whether or not the image structure of the Alpha 700 files at very high ISO - mainly 3200 and 6400 - is as clean as raw processed results from other comparable cameras like the Canon 40D (does not offer ISO 6400), the Olympus E-3 (does not offer ISO 6400) or the Nikon D300. At the heart of this is the way different raw processors handle file conversion, and most specifically, the current performance of Adobe Camera Raw 4.3.1.

The Sony DSLR A200 is now on sale, following the end of Alpha 100 production. Although it is without any doubt the Alpha 100 replacement mentioned by Sony executives in October 2007, when they first revealed that the 100 was no longer being made, it is not an exact equivalent and represents a mixture of upgraded performance and simplified specification. Because it has gone in two directions at the same time, the A200 poses a problem for A100 owners.

Apple’s Aperture 2.0 is a tedious program to test, with all its creation of ‘projects’ and ‘libraries’, ‘albums’, ‘vaults’ and nonstandard GUI, and it isn’t fast in processing files or passing them to Photoshop (which it does in 16-bit form, just another step to reverse before saving as far as I’m concerned). However, it’s handling Alpha 700 raw quite well. And it does things differently, with non-destructive raw editing, stacks of image versions, and so on.

Sony Corporation today announced the development of a 35mm full size (diagonal:43.3mm) 24.81 effective megapixel, ultra-high speed high image quality CMOS image sensor designed to meet the increasing requirement for rapid image capture and advanced picture quality within digital SLR cameras.

AT THE Consumer Electronics Show, Las Vegas, Sony has announced introduction of the new Alpha DSLR-A200 camera which has been the subject of some strange speculation but was known beforehand to be a replacement for the Alpha 100. This is the first time a DSLR has been launched to the world at this show, and Sony’s decision to do so sends a major signal out as to where they see themselves and the Alpha system in the marketplace. It is highly competitive in price and we have just ordered our body for £369 including VAT (£314 + VAT) plus £13 express shipping from www.sonystyle.co.uk. This is exactly the same price as we paid for our last Alpha 100 in summer 2006.

After reading Andrea Nivini’s article in Italian Tutti Fotografi, December 2007, which launches an attack on Adobe’s Camera Raw plug-in and its handling of many camera types - but specifically, the Sony Alpha 700 - I decided to check out whether the December 5th release, ACR 4.3.1, fixed the problems.

THE specifications of the CMOS 13.1 megapixel, 12.3 effective megapixel sensor used in the Sony Alpha 700 and the Nikon D300 continue to provoke discussion. On the one hand, we have Sony’s own announcement of the ‘commercialisation’ of the IMX21 sensor in August, preceding Nikon’s advance publicity by a few days. On the other hand, we have people who refuse to believe that Nikon, who openly bought Sony CMOS technology to create the D2X, is not entirely responsible for its own sensor.

I HAVE set up a pBase gallery with a large number of comparison studio shots, all the way from ISO 100 to the maximum, using the A700 and Nikon D300. It has some minor discrepancies in shooting conditions which I need to explain to anyone visiting the gallery.

ON OCTOBER 10th I left the UK London press launch complete with an Alpha 700 review camera. I’ll be covering the many aspects of the Alpha 700 performance in later reviews, but this camera is so good I wanted to get just something out to you right the next day.

THE ALPHA 700 cameras tried in Italy by press representatives, including Paul Olsen of Dinside Data in Norway who sent us the raw and JPEG files for the image used here, may or may not have been pre-production samples. Some cameras which were felt to be poor had over 1,000 exposures recorded before the event. Olsen’s camera appears to have been new, recording frame counts in the 40s during his shoot, and may be a final production sample rather than one of the much-used demo bodies.

Adobe has posted updates to Photoshop, Lightroom, and the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in, both available immediately for download on Adobe.com. The updates provide raw file support for 14 additional camera models and camera backs within Lightroom and Camera Raw, including the Sony Alpha 700. Links here.

IT IS very difficult to find a good JPEG from the Alpha 700 pre-production model tests shot in Italy, because too few cameras were available for too short a time - and many of the journalists present were not photographers. But we have found one image you will love.

THE question is being asked, will the Alpha 700 match the rich colour rendering of the Konica Minolta 7D and 5D? These cameras had identical colour profiles, and were in turn very similar to the Dimage A1 and A2. The Sony Alpha 100 proved very different. Here’s my best attempt to explain why.

I know that many of you expect a full detailed report about new Alpha 700 (writes Damir Tiljak). Unfortunately we had limited time to spent with new camera, which left us with just a few impressions. Good news is that most of impressions are positive. Although Sony rates this camera as their ‘advanced amateur’ model, I am sure it will be suitable for semi-professional or even professional use in fields like wedding photography.

THE high ISO image quality of the Alpha 700 is important if it is to appeal to news, sports and wildlife photographers. Sony claims the A700’s three-stage noise reduction process (on-chip, RAW file NR, and user controlled High ISO NR) will match the best results from competing Canon and Nikon models. These are excerpts from full resolution pictures, not resized pictures, you can find full pictures on the links stated under the pictures. Please be aware that entire picture is almost 6 MB.

System
Camera type: Digital SLR with built-in flash and interchangeable lenses
Lens mount: Sony mount; compatible with Minolta A-type bayonet mount
Lens compatibility: All Sony a lenses and Konica Minolta MAXXUM / DYNAX lenses

TOUGH, RESPONSIVE α700 DELIVERS STUNNING NEXT-GENERATION PICTURE QUALITY… FROM SHOOTING TO VIEWING

Sep 6, 2007

• Superb picture quality with newly developed Sony 12.24 effective megapixel Exmorâ„¢ CMOS sensor and brand new high-speed BIONZâ„¢ processor with RAW noise reduction
• Ultra-responsive operation with fast, high-accuracy 11-point autofocus and 5fps continuous shooting
• New ‘Quick Navigation’ function for instant access to camera settings
• Rugged magnesium body with dust/moisture resistant seals
• ‘PhotoTV HD’ Full HD image display on new BRAVIA televisions
• 3-inch 921k dot photo-quality LCD screen and bright, high-magnification viewfinder

TEMPORARY website pages on the afternoon (GMT) of September 5th managed to leak the entire specification sheet and several new PR images of the advanced amateur Alpha model, along with its name - the Alpha 700. You wouldn’t pick a wife or husband on the basis of their on-paper specification, so remember, the only way to partner up with a DSLR and be happy is to try it in your hands first.

THE PRESS and trade announcement made below on August 20th 2007 does little to confirm on deny rumours about the forthcoming AA and Flagship DSLRs. Why? You need to study the image, and study the dimension data, and fully understand what they are talking about, before the implications are clear.

THE Konica Minolta Maxxum/Dynax 5D colour modes and conversions are like a whole box of film choices in one roll. This article was written using the 5D in 2005. The modes of the Sony Alpha 100 are similar, but the colour palettes will vary from these results.

I SELL digital images through Alamy, the on-line photo library. When an original piece of art is out of copyright, and displayed in public or by an owner permitting photography, the ability to get a good quality reproduction copy on the spot without lights, tripod or flash is valuable. Some 8 per cent of my overall Alamy images sales over the past four years have been of signs, notices and labels - disproportionately high, compared to the actual number of such shots. As someone has commented, editors like pictures which tell their own story, and sometimes have words in the pictures does just that.

TESTING the flash options most widely sold for the Minolta/Sony unique hot shoe system became a necessity after the launch of the Alpha 100. Despite the reliability of automatic TTL off-the-film flash metering ever since Minolta first introduced it with the Auto Electroflash PX series in 1981, things began to go wrong with the shift to digital SLRs.

DxO OPTICS PRO 4.1 is the latest version of a clever raw file processor which includes lens lookup tables to auto-correct distortion, vignetting and chromatic aberration. It also lets you alter the look of Dynax or Alpha images so they match popular films - or other DSLRs by Canon and Nikon!