Photoclub Alpha

At the end of September 2006, I set off for a quick visit to photokina in Cologne, having parted company with Icon’s am-pro magazine ƒ2 and not really needing to report on the whole show in detail. Here’s the report I wrote then, with photos, and some thoughts for the 2008 show.

Received this morning from Olympus PR:

Tokyo, 5 August 2008 – Olympus Imaging Corporation (Olympus Imaging) and Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. (Panasonic) today announced joint development of technologies and devices for the “Micro Four Thirds System standard”.

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.

Nikon is holding a launch today (June 30th) in London, and presumably worldwide. Richard Kilpatrick is attending for Icon Publications Ltd. As at 1.30am Monday, no press release has been received from Nikon, so we can assume an embargo will be in place but news may be released around 10.30am Monday 30th (GMT).

The launch is expected to reveal a low-cost 12 megapixel ‘full frame D300′ based on the sensor used in the D3, with a D100-type body like the D300. It may also preview the D3X, a full frame 24.x megapixel D3-type body using the new Sony high resolution full frame sensor.

We had early information that Sony would launch new products in June, which now has one day to go. The 58 flashgun may have been the only launch for June. A possible clue to imminent roll-outs may be that new Sony point of sale cabinets have space for products which the dealers don’t yet have! The 24-105mm f/4 G SSM has already been leaked but we can expect two more key lenses in the wide angle and medium tele zoom ranges. Rumours of a June 30th launch may apply to the Nikon conferences, not Sony.

My bet is that the first we may actually see of some new items for sale will be in the window of Foto Gregor, Cologne, around September 23rd. We shall be at photokina from the press day on September 22nd - watch this space!

- David

Following announcements that Sony has developed a backlight technique to enable extremely low noise exposures, we receive this press release which may or may not be related - a Sony CCD astrophotography camera capable of one-hour exposures and programmed sequences. Resolution seems a bit basic though.

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.

Epson has today launched an innovative new print plug-in for the Adobe Photoshop family of products that provides users with enhanced functionality and flexibility, making colour-managed printing quicker and easier.

This is the latest press release from Sony UK - filling the streets of Miami with club-style foam for their new digital photography ad campaign:

News tonight from Sony UK - great news for UK buyers…

As of the 1st of April 2008 the UK Sony Style business will transfer from a Belgian to a UK based company.* This will not affect your statutory rights or data protection in any way. This change will create a range of benefits for any future purchases that you may make.

Adobe has released updates to Photoshop Lightroom and the Photoshop Camera Raw plug-in, both available immediately as free upgrades for existing users. The releases provide added raw file support for nine additional digital cameras, including the Sony Alpha 200 (already supported by 4.3.2 whether they knew it or not), Alpha 300 and Alpha 350. Lightroom 1.4 also provides updated printer driver compatibility for Apple Leopard Mac OS X 10.5.

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.

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.

OUR local dealer, Hector Innes in Kelso, used to be a totally Minolta-dedicated retail shop. Hector and his son Alastair have always been Minolta photographers, and Alastair currently uses the Dynax 7D as weapon of choice for weddings. Their shop is one of those few remaining which combines a professional studio (ABIPP, in Hector’s case) with processing and printing, and retail. On the wall there’s a Minolta clock from two or three changes of logo ago, and on the counter, I found a well-used and yellowed Minolta lens chart mat.

October 16, 2007, Burlingame, CA — FotoNation (www.fotonation.com), a leading provider of embedded imaging solutions for the imaging industry, announced today “FastTrack IPC” (IP-Core) hardware acceleration technology that improves Face-Tracking quality and performance up to 400% in digital cameras and camera phones.

HARMAN technology Limited, the company behind ILFORD PHOTO and HARMAN PHOTO, has announced the addition of Kentmere Photographic Limited to its business. The move, which comes following a period of extensive negotiations, is being welcomed as a good thing for the brands involved as well as for the wider photographic community.

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.

Burlingame, CA, September 12, 2007 — FotoNation, Inc. (www.fotonation.com), a world-leading imaging solutions company for the digital photography industry, announced today that it has been selected by Sony’s Professional Printer Group to provide its award winning digital Red-Eye Correction technology for new professional Sony photo printers, Picture Station Kiosks, and photo application products.

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.

BRANCHES of Currys, the large UK electronic box-shifter, have been displaying notices saying ‘Discontinued’ under their remaining Alpha 100 kits. This needed some explanation, so we contacted Sony UK to ask whether the camera was genuinely discontinued.

INSIDE sources - mainly people who have been invited to press launch events - confirm that Sony is to show its new Advanced Amateur camera, thought to be called the Alpha 300, on Thursday September 6th. A press conference is being held in Italy on the 5th/6th, and journalists from European mainland countries have been invited to attend. Nigel Atherton, editor of What Digital Camera magazine, wrote on the Amateur Photographer public website forums that the product/s would be unveiled on the 5th. (I have now seen a programme for the event, and the main launch conference is on the 6th).

This article has been edited on January 28th 2008 - the Alpha 700 was known shortly after it appeared, but I left the original title with ‘A300′. Since there is to be an Alpha 300 (probably the cause of the confusion originally as this model number was identified in Sony website databases) I am changing the title and references to the body to avoid search engines finding the wrong information.

Poway, CA. August 22, 2007 -Delkin Devices, Inc. today announced its new UDMA enabled line of CompactFlash PRO cards is now shipping to camera stores, distributors and international channels. These new memory cards deliver industry-leading read/write speeds with a minimum sustained transfer speed capability of a blazing 305x (45MB/sec) in all capacities of 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, and 8GB.

NEW YORK, Aug. 16, 2007: Sony Electronics has launched its largest integrated marketing campaign in the USA, centreing on its high definition DNA known as “HDNA.” The campaign, featuring Super Bowl MVP Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and NASCAR’s Dale Earnhardt, Jr., focuses on how Sony’s high-definition technology in a variety of product categories comes together to bring consumers unparalleled HD entertainment experiences.

Weybridge, 15 August 2007 - Sony technological innovation has once again been recognised by the European Imaging and Sound Association (EISA). This year the EISA judging panel has made no less than four awards to Sony Europe in categories spanning home entertainment, digital imaging and in-car navigation. A fifth award was made to Sony Computer Entertainment Europe for PLAYSTATION®3.

EISA Awards 2007-2008 have been made to Sony Europe for these products: European Green Television (Sony BRAVIA KDL-40D3000); European Video Projector (Sony BRAVIA VPL-VW60); European HD Camcorder (Sony Handycam® HDR-SR8E); and European Portable Navigation (Sony NV-U92T). PLAYSTATION®3 was winner of the European Media Center category.

“It’s immensely gratifying to have the skill and passion of our designers and engineers recognised by the world’s largest and most prestigious multimedia magazines association”, commented Fujio Nishida, President, Sony Europe. “At Sony we take pride in creating products that transcend their basic function to create an emotional connection with the user. This year’s award‑winning innovations are a perfect demonstration of this ‘Sony Spirit’ in action.”

EISA is the largest editorial multimedia organisation in Europe, with a membership of nearly 50 Audio, Mobile Electronics, Video and Photo magazines drawn from 19 European countries. This year’s award winners were selected after the deliberations of a judging panel comprising journalists and independent technical experts.

The 2007-2008 EISA Awards will be presented at a special Gala Event on September 1st, 2007.

Berlin, 9th August 2007 - As a result of Sony’s commitment to energy efficiency, Sony reduced power consumption within 90% of its product categories during the FY06. With energy efficiency as one of its core commitments towards the creation of a sustainable society, Sony is continuously striving to make products that use less energy in homes and offices.

This review from the Summer 2007 edition of Photoworld has been expanded here, and covers the Remote Release IR-1n kit along with third party remote triggers and flash synchronisation options for the Alpha system.

9 July, 2007 - As take up of High Definition (HD) gains momentum in Europe, Sony is to launch a major Pan-European marketing campaign to demonstrate the breadth and depth of the company’s HD proposition and to educate consumers about the intricacies of HD.

IN 1998 Minolta published, for their 70th anniversary, a large poster featuring all the landmark cameras from their own museum and employee collections. Many of the cameras shown - all fairly small on the poster - were well used and worn examples. The original image-files for the poster, which we have archived, are of poor quality. They are Japanese inkset CMYK sharpened for pre-press, with very dark gamma. This page re-creates all the information from the original poster, complete with the photographs.

THE appearance of press-release resolution (14Mb) images of the new Alpha - un-named but thought to be the Alpha 200 or 300 because of the product code earlier assigned to shots of prototypes at PMA - combines with reports on various forums from European Sony executives visiting Japan to suggest that the launch announcement for the new model and a range of full-frame lenses is imminent.

Press release from Sigma 1.30pm today - their phone lines have just been restored after a day out of operation, were cut via hatch in road by the gang: