A550 quote on dPreview

[David Kilpatrick]

In this thread: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=33863413

Glenn wrote:

".....There’s a lot of talk on forums about the 7fps of the new Alpha 550 ..... as it’s a quiet, mirror-up mode using the off-sensor live view to maintain contact.
Huh? 7 FPS with mirror up? Quiet? EVF tracking mode as OVF would be dark with mirror up obviously...
Could A550 users confirm or correct this please?"

What has happened here is that someone has quoted an early pre-review forum post of mine before the A550 was actually released, when I (and others) thought that 7fps would be achieved with the mirror up and lens stopped down - not with the mirror flapping and lens stopped down. The proper description of operation is in the website review.

The Canon EOS 7D does have exactly the mode described by me for the A550 (when I wrote this no-one had seen, or at least written in detail about, either camera). The mirror locks up and in LV mode, the 7D runs at 8fps with just the shutter firing fairly quietly - it is an interesting shooting mode.

The Alpha 550 7fps mode operates in Optical Viewfinder configuration only. It can not be used with either type of live view, but takes over from the instant you press the shutter, blanking out the rear screen. In Quick AF Live View mode, you have no screen and no viewfinder left at all, just a 7fps burst with the mirror and shutter operating but the lens locked to the preset aperture. It might as well have the mirror locked up, but it doesn't. In MF Check LV mode, you get a delay of about 1/4 second between pressing the shutter, and the 7fps burst, while the LV switched off and the mirror resets. You can use the OVF if you were originally in OVF mode; if you were in Quick AF LV mode when you activated MF Check LV, of course you can't use the OVF.

Finally, in OVF mode, with no LV activated, you get 7fps very rapidly on pressing the shutter and the viewfinder continues to give you just enough of an idea of the shot to follow action or see what's happening.

David

[Javelin]

Sorry, that was in the middle of the quote and not relevent to the thread.