Photoclub Alpha

In mid 2007, rumours of a 14.8 megapixel Sony sensor came from the usual Far Eastern ‘inside’ sources. As a full-frame Alpha model (the so-called 900) had been previewed at PMA 2007, it was possible this megapixel count related to full frame, or near-full frame. It now looks as if it may have been a leak of development for currently rumoured 14.2 megapixel (active) Alpha 350, which is an APS-C sensor camera.

Sony Europe’s Recording Media & Energy (RME) division today announced a new LTO-4 photo contest promotion that offers the chance to win one of three digital cameras from Sony – in return for creative pictures of LTO-4 tape cartridges. The competition can be entered by distributors, resellers and end-customers of Sony’s LTO-4, its highest capacity media.

We have a Photoworld day in Edinburgh on February 10th 2008, to which all Photoclubalpha registered members are welcome (it is strictly by prior arrangement, so please do not turn up on the day). It starts at 10.30am and ends around 4.30pm, and will be held at Edinburgh Photographic Society. There is a small fee for refreshments. Details follow.

Sony say that the Alpha 100 has a 230,000 pixel rear screen and the Alpha 700 has 920,000 pixels. What they don’t make entirely clear is how many individual R, G or B pixels are used to create each ‘pixel’ of the image (complete RGB). In fact the 920,000 pixel screen is VGA - 640 x 480 - in display resolution, which is 307,000 pixels not 920,000. What is going on? We took some macro images to show you.

On January 5th, Photoworld was lucky enough to be able to attend the dress rehearsal and official photo-call for the new Cirque du Soleil production at the Royal Albert Hall in London, and to put the Alpha 700 through its paces for high ISO fast action stage show capture. This article with large reproductions of the images appears in our Photoworld issue due out later in January.

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.

SINCE September 2007 I have had for test the Canon EOS 40D, Sony Alpha 700, Nikon D300, Olympus E-3 and Nikon D3 in that order. The reports have been published in the British Journal of Photography, and later on in Master Photo Digital and f2 magazines (some are yet to appear, in February, in these titles). My own system is Sony Alpha but I have to be as objective as possible when field testing all makes. I also have to seek out the unique selling points, the reasons for owning any given model, rather than just compare them on a tick-chart feature basis.

With the Alpha 200 about to appear, I guess it’s time to sum up what I think about the Sony Alpha 700 and how it compares to the competition.

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.

It’s the same on every web forum - if you post a digital picture which would be acceptable to a photo library or professional buyer, half a dozen grumpy one-liners will come out saying ‘That don’t look sharp to me’ or ‘there must be something wrong with your XXX’ (fill in D300, A700, E-3, D3, 40D as required). Then someone posts a hugely messed up image and people say ‘Wow! What sharpness!’…

The Sony Alpha Unseen Britain Challenge has embarked on its campaign to capture never seen before images of Britain with renowned photographer and climber Mike Robertson. Commissioned by Sony, Mike will tour the country scaling new heights and legendary landmarks to create totally new and exciting photographic images using the new Sony Alpha 700 (α700) Digital SLR camera.

I’m still testing the Alpha 700 and still struggling with aspects of image quality, notably the failure to get much wow factor from straightforward shots in good light. It seems easy enough to get exceptional high ISO images, of the type they are expected to be, but even then many examples seen are marred by a very coarse noise structure.

Sony has released a firmware update for the Alpha 100 - version 1.04. This comes in four regional flavours and it is important to use the right one. Here are all the links you need plus instructions.

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 World Photography Awards (WPA), sponsored by Sony, is an international showcase of the best images taken by renowned and undiscovered photographers alike. From landscape to music and photojournalism to fashion photography, the WPA is the first awards of its kind and is supported by hundreds of the industry’s top photographers, critics, gallery curators, directors, founders and more.

Photo © Ed Robinson/OneRedEye courtesy WPA

SONY, following their entry into the serious DSLR arena with the Alpha system inherited from Minolta, is to become the sponsor of a high-profile World Photography Awards salon and event with a 2008 presentation ceremony in Cannes and support from some of the biggest names in independent fine photography.

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.

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

PRODUCT shots of the Sony Alpha 700 have been released, and are shown here to our standard web page size of 600 pixels or smaller.

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.

FUJIO NISHIDA, President of Sony Europe, speaking at the Berlin IFA consumer electronics and technology show on August 30th, mentioned the Alpha system alongside Cyber-shot digital still cameras and Handycam digital video as part of Sony’s plan to introduce HD (High Definition Television) formats throughout. He held up the new ‘smile shoot’ Cyber-shot T200 with its ability to output playback of images in 16:9 format directly to Sony Bravia LCD TVs.

With only three days to go before the launch of the new Alpha, rumours of a ’sneak preview’ press release have appeared on dPreview’s internet forums. Leon van Bommel, writing from Holland, says he has seen a magazine which has a photograph showing the camera with a kit lens marked 16-105mm f/3.5-5.6. Certainly, a more expensive body than the A100 would look out of place wearing the $99 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 kit lens which is the only cheap option now.

Here is one for all you film users in the UK –

Fujifilm Professional has announced details of a photographic competition held to celebrate the re-launch of Fujichrome Velvia 50. The winner will jet-off to Turkey on a photographic holiday-of-a-lifetime worth over £2,000.

Weybridge, 22nd August 2007 - For sports, for travel or simply for having fun with friends and family – the Cyber-shot H3 from Sony packs big-camera features into its ultra-compact body at a price that’s irresistible (reads Sony press release).

Weybridge, 22nd August 2007 - The stylish, slimline Cyber-shot T Series from Sony gains two feature-packed new models that make it easier than ever to grab great pictures (reads a press release issued by Sony UK).

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.

To save a few dollars, whoever assembled a double page advert for Sony-sponsored photo workshops which (I gather) has just appeared in the US magazine Popular Photography went to cheap online stock library iStockphoto and downloaded this image:

THIS morning I received from the Managing Director of Sony United Kingdom Limited a copy of the book ‘Sony Alpha Lenses’, inscribed to me and signed by Mr Katsumoto, Senior General Manager of the Alpha Mount Company. This is a very high-quality book which contains not only the expected promotional shoot images (nice freebie trip to the French Riviera in the company of an attractive model, properly credited to the facilitators in small print at the end of the volume) but work from four selected former Minolta shooting stars.

More work went into this page than you think! While it was possible to get an idea of Sony’s lenses and cameras planned for 2007-8 from the group image, the individual press images have all been shot to different scales.