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A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:13 pm
by douglasf13
Michael Reichmann has a new post up about how different cameras held up in Antarctica. Apparently, six of the 26 5Dii's on the trip failed. I found this statement from the article particularly interesting:
"I should note that the 5D MKII's are not rated as weather resistant, but then neither are the Sony A900's. I deliberately allowed both of my A900 bodies be exposed to the rain for two days ashore to see how they would stand up. There were no operational difficulties. I also have used the Sonys back here in Toronto in snow storms, (unprotected), both before and after the Antarctic trip, with no ill effects. Though also not claimed as weather sealed, they appear to be as well protected as any other camera I've ever used."
http://www.luminous-landscape.com/essay ... rked.shtml
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Sat Feb 07, 2009 8:54 pm
by Dr. Harout
Thanks for the link.
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Mon Feb 09, 2009 9:34 pm
by fastson
Thats very interesting. My A700 was out in the rain and survived, nothing compared to this though.
By the way, it has always been a dream of mine to go to either the north or the south pole. The exploreres who first went there are a great interest of mine.
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 12:16 am
by pakodominguez
I can't tell about rain/snow with the A900, but the last time I got it from the adorama rentals Department we had 13 Fahrenheit/ -11 Celsius and the camera just didn't noticed it.
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 6:17 pm
by Javelin
this isn't the first time LL noted a lot of canon failures and no nikon failures the 1DS2's had a high failure rate on the same trip last year. the only nikon failure this time was a lens "that came apart" ? .. maybe it was dropped but was troublesome with this trip is MR said some of the failures were on cameras that were babied where the last time the photographers were right out in the wet with them.
My take is that you can't trust weather sealing anyway. doesn't matter how good the seals are they could be fine one second then taking in water the next.
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2009 8:32 pm
by caporip
Sonolta wrote:What a joke! 26-2 is NO statistical comparison. It's a brand bashing joke at best! If 24 more a900's were on the trip one could argue that they may have all failed! Geesh! Only one photographer was brave enough to even carry the Alpha's on the trip in the first place.
-Sonolta
Actually the article as far as i could tell was making no comparison but simply reporting what had happened. Its obviously no way of comparing the two brands nor was it pretending to be but neither was the original article brand bashing. Its unfortunate that other sony users on other forums have used it to wind canon users up.
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Wed Feb 11, 2009 10:14 pm
by caporip
Well the thing is I have an A900 and i am more than pleased with it, as it meets all my requirements. I can never understand the need for people (and this includes you Don to some extent) to knock cameras they have no experience of. (Yes all the reports and articles have their place, I was aware of the A900 noise issues for instance before I bought it but decided it was not an issue in terms of what i wanted it for.) For instance I would not dream of critising Nikon or Canon because an article confirms that camera X is inferior to camera Y - because I've not used them (at least digitally - i did have a fantastic Nikon F2a) and without hands on experience in my view the reports are as good as a movie critique - you may take note of it but until youve seen it yourself you are not qualified to comment. I was pleased the A900 peformed well in antartica etc but like others i suspect that may be just as much to do with the owner being used to taking equipment in those sort of conditions as to the A900 reliability, just as i suspect the failure rate of the Canons may be down to user inexperience.
Bottom line is all the article proves is that if looked after properly the A900 performs well in those conditions and has produced some stunning results.
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 3:21 pm
by douglasf13
If live view, movies, and high ISO is what you want, then you are silly to be shooting Sony, and you should buy a 5dii.
It's obvious that one can't make a direct comparison between the 5dii and a900's sealing with such a difference in sample size, but MR's comments about the A900's sealing are still interesting.
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 4:46 pm
by pakodominguez
Don,
It is probably the most pleasant post I read from you.
In other hand, I think you blame Sony for not bringing the camera you need. The only way to get Sony making such a camera is if you infiltrating into their marketing department and.... well, you get the idea. Until now, this is what we have. A firmware upgrade will bring us better noise handling, a la A700 V4. But not Live View or Video. And I'm not seen video on a FF Sony camera any soon (alas, because I love the idea) but let me tell you one thing: the implementation of the Video mode on the 5DII and the D90 aren't that good, you don't have real control -no way to set ASA or F-stop, and AF is useless. Of course, if the A900 came with the same "video limitations" and the Nikon or Canon, I'll take it anyway :-p
Regards
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:43 pm
by bossel
Sonolta wrote:Obviously Pako must have missed the almost 100 video links I have posted to this forum.
videoclubalpha.com ?
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:45 pm
by douglasf13
I think we've all seen those charts a thousand times. You said you wanted video, which the 5dii has along with good noise handlng. Plus, you realize that 3ev only means one stop in those charts, right? Please stop calling me names or demeaning my posts whenever I have a rebuttal, or I'll take it upon myself to refer to you as everyone sees you here. A taradiddling pointy stick. Darn, there goes my membership, which stinks, because everyone else in this forum seems to be polite.
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 5:52 pm
by pakodominguez
Sonolta wrote:Obviously Pako must have missed the almost 100 video links I have posted to this forum.
-Sonolta
My friend/assistant has the 5DII (yeah, my assistant has a "better" camera than me...) so I had the chance to shoot video myself with the 5DII, that's why I'm telling you that it is a limited Video mode -but it is better than nothing
, I'm thinking on buying a Webbie
http://www.adorama.com/SOMHSCM1V.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;: HD for 200 US$hiccup! for the trip to Peru this spring (
http://www.phototeka.net/qosqo.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;)
But, talking stills, I prefer what I got from the A900 than the pics I took with the 5DII -this is just a matter of taste, I'm not comparing performance or so. Canon handle better noise, but everything looks soft and unpleasent colors for what I like -I'm digging on my events' archives for a proyect and I got back to 7D's images: that's the color I like.
BTW, PopPhoto complains about 5DII AF performace, they said Canon didn't upgrded the 3 years old 5D module, that was already slow.
Regards
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 6:07 pm
by Dusty
douglasf13 wrote:I think we've all seen those charts a thousand times. You said you wanted video, which the 5dii has along with good noise handlng. Plus, you realize that 3ev only means one stop in those charts, right? Please stop calling me names or demeaning my posts whenever I have a rebuttal, or I'll take it upon myself to refer to you as everyone sees you here. A taradiddling pointy stick. Darn, there goes my membership, which stinks, because everyone else in this forum seems to be polite.
Don't take it to heart, Douglas, that's just the way he is. He keeps calling me a drunk and an idiot (among other things), neither of which I am. His attacks show that he can't debate with logic, a sure sign of a weak intellect.
Dusty
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:03 pm
by David Kilpatrick
Dan Chung is a Canon UK evangelist and was probably either asked or paid to shoot some video with the 5D MkII. We will see some showcase work from the camera (have done already) and no doubt some circumstances where news photographers do use the video function, but it's never going to be truly practical. It will always be a special case solution demanding a non-standard approach, and producing distinctive results. At the best it will astounding but for 98% of everyday potential video subjects, it will not do the job as well as a decent HD camcorder. One of the exceptional conditions is very low light video using faster SLR lenses and high sensitivity, I think it will make some inroads there. The big problem is refocusing with such shallow depth of field.
David
Re: A900 in Antarctica
Posted: Thu Feb 12, 2009 7:43 pm
by Dusty
Sonolta wrote:Dusty wrote:
Don't take it to heart, Douglas, that's just the way he is. He keeps calling me a drunk and an idiot (among other things), neither of which I am. His attacks show that he can't debate with logic, a sure sign of a weak intellect.
Dusty
You don't use logic, Dusty. You tell LIE after LIE after LIE! 
Dusty is a clueless (banned term), I have proved it in this forum over and over again!
BTW...I have attended Nuclear Power School, the toughest or second toughest school in all the land. I have 3000 hours of instructed electronics technician training in RF, Crypto, and Theory. I owned my own satellite tv sales and service company for many years, and was one of the first Dishnetwork dealers in the country way back in 1996. I own my own web hosting and domain sales company, I have built over 150 websites, I operate two web servers, 70 websites, and a stock image and fine art agency/company. FTR I have shot and edited images for a living since 2002.
Dusty is a (banned term) that posts FALSEHOODS and MISINFORMATION on a DAILY BASIS.
Gee Don, all that and you still manage to be the Village Idiot. How DO you do it all?
Dusty
-Sonolta