I sure hope this guy is joking about the new Alpha's!

[bfitzgerald]

I don't for one moment think that is serious, nobody uses a thumb to operate the shutter release.

Well maybe on my kid's Vtech, but that can use the back button as well as the top one. I cannot wait to get a hands on with one, and to see just how bad it really is
But changing the grip was never on my A200 improvement wish list..change for the sake of it, is sometimes a risky thing.

[UrsaMajor]

I have not yet held one of these new Alpha's but I must say they sure are getting hammered in the forums.

"Funny you should just post this. Tonight at about 5:30 pm I was in Adorama since I wanted to pick up a teleconverter. There were two guys looking at the entry/mid level cameras. One guy kept going back and forth between the Nikon D90 and some Canon (I don't know them well enough to know what compares to the D90) and he kept talking to the other guy who he just met. So the guy holding the D90 says, "Yeah, I've been carrying this but I'm not happy at all" and he reaches into his knapsack and pulls out some P&S. So the other guy says to the guy with the P&S holding the D90 - "You want to feel a real disaster? Check out the Sony!" and the guy holding the D90 puts it down and picks up the A330 (I'm not sure if I got the model number right but it was the one with the faux carbon fiber looking grip) and says, "Oh yeah - that's awful. There's nothing to hold on to!" So the first guy says, 'Maybe this would be nice for my kid!" and they both burst out in laughter. So the guy puts down the Alpha and goes back to the D90 and picks it up and says, "Oh yeah - I can see myself getting real comfortable with this grip". Then the salesman walks over and asks him, "So what are you leaning on?" and the guy says, "I'm gonna take the D90 - it feels great". "

-Sonolta

Hi Don,

Thank you very much for posting this. I had been planning on giving my daughter-in-law an A330 for her birthday, but had not even looked at one in person. After reading your note earlier today, I tracked down an A330 at a local store and handled it as if I were planning to take a picture. Those guys who were shopping at Adorama were absolutely right !

For me - a 6 ft 0 inch male with hands that are average to slightly large for my height - the feel of the A330 in my hands is atrocious ! There is absolutely no way that I would buy this camera for my own use. If it is not the worst shape I have ever handled, it is definitely among the 3 worst I have ever seen in my own experience ! What idiot approved this design?

There is still a chance that I may buy the A330 for my daughter-in-law - but only after she has handled it herself, and only if she finds it acceptable. She is less than 5 ft tall, slender, and with hands in proportion to her size. That may make the A330 comfortable for her, and I'm going to hold off on a purchasing decision until she has a chance to sample the A330 in person. If she finds it uncomfortable to hold and use, I may hunt for a dealer that still has an A300 in stock, or I may get her one of the Canikon DSLR cameras. I would prefer to give her a Sony so she can take advantage of my duplicate copies of my favorite Minolta lenses, but I am not about to give her an A330 if it feels anywhere near as bad to her as it does to me.

Thanks again for posting that quote. It may have saved me from a big mistake.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[PhotoTraveler]

Guys, you may think it's a joke, but I can definitely see this.

The A230/330/380 don't have the grip. The shutter button is placed in a very different spot than it is on a body like the A700. It would fall someplace between the exposure comp, and WB button on an A700. Drive, WB, and ISO are already done with thumb, so just holding my A700, it's say I'd probably use a thumb on the shutter. Also considering how the front control dial is placed, and it relative to the shutter button, and the fact the shutter button has the horrible on/off switch co-located with it.

Depending on which way I go vertical with the A700, I use my thumb for shutter as is. When I have the shutter on the bottom in a vertical shot, I use the thumb for shutter.

[KevinBarrett]

The a230-a380 grips are designed after the old Maxxum 3 & 5 grips, with very similar contours and button placements. The trouble with the grip is that, while it worked well enough on the light and tidy Maxxum 5, the digital bodies are much thicker and heavier than the film ones. The Maxxum 5's shutter was not intended to be activated by the thumb, and neither is a230's.

The new grip certainly does lend itself to a much different grip than the outgoing entry-level models, though; the hand rotates up and back compared to the old, the index finger actuates the shutter, the middle finger hooks over the top of the little grip contour, the ring finger crowds in beneath it, and the pinky is orphaned and useless. Much more effort is spent cantilevering the weight of the camera against all these angular surfaces, and fewer fingers able to participate.

[Greg Beetham]

Wow PT, how do you manipulate the shutter button and forward control wheel with your thumb? I just tried it on my KM5D and failed, also what if you want to adjust the rear control wheel and or press the AEL button? I'm talking about the A700 here tho, not these new ones, they don't have an AEL button or rear control wheel so that's not an issue with them, but it is actually an issue that they don't have an AEL button, come to think of it.
Greg

[bakubo]

I don't for one moment think that is serious, nobody uses a thumb to operate the shutter release.

Probably he was just thinking that since Sony says use your thumb for the A700 top buttons that they decided to go all the way and use the thumb for the shutter button too. I guess you are supposed to stick your other thumb up your a$$.

[PhotoTraveler]

That's only for the occasional vertical shot, I can do the shutter and front control dial just fine. If I had to go and fuss with other things I just rotate back to normal and adjust.

I don't do much vertical shots, so not much of an issue. But the fact remains I do use my thumb for shutter from time to time.

But certainly on the new entry levels, I can see using the thumb on the shutter, will need to stop in a store and play with one again.

I've adjusted very well to the A700 with the heavy thumb usage for the rear controls and top buttons, so this wouldn't surprise me much.

Wow PT, how do you manipulate the shutter button and forward control wheel with your thumb? I just tried it on my KM5D and failed, also what if you want to adjust the rear control wheel and or press the AEL button? I'm talking about the A700 here tho, not these new ones, they don't have an AEL button or rear control wheel so that's not an issue with them, but it is actually an issue that they don't have an AEL button, come to think of it.
Greg

[bfitzgerald]

Have to disagree a bit with Kevin, the film 5 has a completely different location for the control dial, it's not on the grip. The 5 film is a really nice camera, but it's amazing how much more comfortable KM made the 60, despite having a slimmer grip than newer bodies, it's more contoured and smoothed, bit longer. Both are small cameras, and I don't have small hands (I would say a bit larger than average), just a bit of a larger body can make all the difference to holding a camera.
I'll have to wait till I get a hands on the A230 A330 etc, but I can tell just by looking, I won't like it handling wise. I am ok with the 5, but the grip is not great..has to be said. Minolta made it a bit too small..

[KevinBarrett]

You're right about that control dial, but I don't think it makes much difference as to how the camera is held. I really liked the Film 5's dial, BTW... I wonder whether both kinds of control dials could be crowded onto the front of a camera!

[Greg Beetham]

I agree about the Dynax 60, lovely light little camera with an excellent grip and control layout, but I do have one gripe, well maybe two gripes (is that the plural of gripe?).
One is, there is no flash balance control.
And the other is I would have liked a rechargable lithium battery instead of those two rather expensive small lithiums, might have added a bit more weight though, but then the battery usage on a film SLR isn't as great as a digital SLR so maybe it wouldn't have needed one anywhere near as big.
Greg

[alphaomega]

bfitzgerald wrote:
I don't for one moment think that is serious, nobody uses a thumb to operate the shutter release.

I really have not looked seriously at these new Sony DSLRs as I have no intention of buying one, but I had a look at the pictures on http://www.sony.co.uk and was amazed at the grip (or lack of same) and the position of the shutter button. I am in wonderment over how this mixed Sony/Minolta team could come up with such a shutter placement. I totally agree that really the only way to depress that shutter is with the thumb and that is dumb. Do P&S shooters use their thumb on the shutter? I certainly do not when I use my LX2/3.
I tried my A350 and the grip is reasonable although not as good as that found on my A700. Also the shutter position is good for the index finger. What a retrograde step. I am beginning to think that Barry Fitzgerald is right when he is suggesting low sales for this combo.

[fastson]

Not a fan of the grip either.

Seems HX1 stole the grip all for himself.

While its small (has a very abrupt "turn" of the grip), I think something similar could have been fitted to the 2-3 series without consumers complaining of the cameras beeing too big (which they did according to a Sony rep I saw on Youtube).

[stevecim]

I stand around 5'11", the only way I could hold the A330/A230 was to use, the first finger for shutter, second finger on the control dial, then the last 2 fingers on the grip. this seemed fine for light lenses and after you get use to using 2 fingers to control shutter and control dial, you can adjust shutter speed/ap with out removing your finger from the shutter release. BUT it feels un-natural.

[UrsaMajor]

There is still a chance that I may buy the A330 for my daughter-in-law - but only after she has handled it herself, and only if she finds it acceptable. She is less than 5 ft tall, slender, and with hands in proportion to her size. That may make the A330 comfortable for her, and I'm going to hold off on a purchasing decision until she has a chance to sample the A330 in person. If she finds it uncomfortable to hold and use, I may hunt for a dealer that still has an A300 in stock, or I may get her one of the Canikon DSLR cameras. I would prefer to give her a Sony so she can take advantage of my duplicate copies of my favorite Minolta lenses, but I am not about to give her an A330 if it feels anywhere near as bad to her as it does to me.

It looks as if I will be giving my daughter-in-law a Sony A330 for her birthday after all. She and my son just looked at the camera and she handled it, having been warned in advance by me that the shape of the camera might be uncomfortable to hold. She found that it fit HER hands, and she commented that she liked the light weight. Staying with Sony will let me also give her some of my favorite Minolta lenses for which I bought duplicates and triplicates when the lenses were dirt cheap in the year before Minolta finally introduced a DSLR.

I still question the design of the new cameras. They may be an acceptable match for people such as my daughter-in-law, but only a small percentage of the market consists of people as tiny as she is, and it is a miserable design for people with larger hands.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[bakubo]

Popular Photography has a review of the A330 in the latest issue. I skimmed the magazine at the bookstore earlier today. They have it online too, but they left out the technical test result table (and maybe other stuff) that was in the magazine:

http://www.popphoto.com/Reviews/Cameras ... -Alpha-330