Ken Rockwell SLAMS the A55

[Greg Beetham]

You caused me to have to go dig out my X-700. You're right! I used it for two decades and never had a reason for an S mode so I didn't remember that it wasn't even there.

Ed

There you go, something good came from it after all, a chance to look at the X700 again.
Greg

[Greg Beetham]

The weight of the NPFH50AM is approximately 50g http://www.sony.com.au/product/np-fh50am
and the NPFM500H is approx 78g http://www.sony.com.au/product/np-fm500h
Greg

[twm47099]

He is right about this one. I don't understand why sony abandoned this feature... for those who shot in P, it was an handy feature, of course i can change to A or S and choose the aperture and velocity.

Serious question, why shoot in P if you are going to manually select A or SS anyway?

I found that a-mount camera since the xi series when using Minolta/KM/Sony lenses the P-mode is quite good at evaluating the scene and selecting the aperture for the best DOF, particularly when shooting people.

Its easy for me to use A-mode when I want a lot of DOF or when I want none, but when working in the intermediate range, its not as easy as it was when using manual focus cameras where the lenses had long focus throws, precise distance and DOF scales.

For example, the instructions for the Minolta Portrait Card for the i and xi series shows what the camera would set for different portrait types. The xi and later cameras didn't need this because the cameras' expert systems did the same thing automatically when in P-mode.

Some examples of the settings (for 35mm) using the 85 f/1.4 lens:

Tight Head Shot -- f/5.6 (notice, its not fully open)
Head and Shoulders -- f/2.8
Head to waist -- f/1.7
Head to knees of adult -- f/1.4 (finally you get to use the lens fully open)
Standing adult with space around them -- f/2

There's no way I could figure out those f/stops and set them without a table and a better lens distance / DOF scale (particularly with zoom lenses).

When I tried my 100mm f/2.8 and did a series like this, I got different values, but the same trend. Once I moved further back than the "standing adult with space around them" (in P-mode) the lens went from fully open to f/11 as the camera automatically assumed I was taking an environmental portrait where I wanted both Aunt Tilly and the Washington Monument (in the distant background) in the DOF.

So I use P-mode when I'm taking people shots. But when I don't want a standard "portrait" even though the camera thinks that's best, I just click the control wheel and shift my aperture.

Another example - I'm photographing a crafts fair. Most of the time I'm shooting people (visitors and craftsmen.) So I have the camera on P. But one of the craftsmen (a very old man with a time worn face) is doing some very intricate work and he has a great display of his works on a wall behind him. I want three shots. 1 - a head shot of him concentrating; 2 - A shot of him and his hands working; 3 - A wider shot of him and the board behind him. I may have to move back to increase the view, or just change FL with a zoom to get the different compositions. Very easy. I have my eye to the camera, when I like his expression I shoot in P, and the camera sets a fairly open aperture to isolate him, then I shift to f/11-13 and shoot him and his hands, and then him and the background display. Then I just shoot my next sequence in P-again. Sure I could switch back and forth between P and A or just shoot a bunch in A at different apertures and sort them out later. But they gave me the tool and I like how I do it.

tom

[twm47099]

Interesting how Sony, known for reducing costs by having designs that share components, etc., spends so much extra money redoing software. Maybe if they could come up with modular software for their firmware then they would save some money and not have strange deletions of functionality that sometimes require expensive software updates and that are then released as a new firmware version. It sounds like they might want to offer some lucrative employment packages to a few of the top Canon and Nikon software guys to lure them to Sony so Sony can learn the software side better.

Minolta was also known for removing basic and "trademark" features from their lower (5 level and lower) level cameras and took a lot of heat over it - I think that started the bad reputation that Minolta couldn't shake. (That changed when the 7 and 5 came out, but then it was too late.) My AF5000 only had P and M modes. The lowest level i camera only got S and A mode if you bought the cards. The lowest level xi camera couldn't use all the cards. The XTsi (505si Super) didn't have wireless flash in the US (it was added in later models of that camera due to the consumers screaming). That camera also didn't have MLU, DOF-P, rear sync, a metering scale, or P-shift. Although it took very nice shots, as I used it and found more things I couldn't do with it, I almost left Minolta (then they released the 7 and I stayed.)

tom

[bakubo]

So I use P-mode when I'm taking people shots. But when I don't want a standard "portrait" even though the camera thinks that's best, I just click the control wheel and shift my aperture.

I usually use A mode, occasionally M mode and P mode less often, but sometimes. P mode with shift is useful in situations when things happen fast and you don't have even a second to make adjustments. With shift there is the chance if there is that additional second or two to make a quick adjustment if you decide the aperture/shutter speed combo the camera chose is not ideal. Here are a couple of sites that talk about it a bit more:

http://ldavidlikes.com/is-p-program-mod ... fessional/

http://stphoto.wordpress.com/2010/08/06 ... sure-mode/

If you mostly do landscapes, flowers, architecture, studio portraits, etc. then P mode (with shift) and auto ISO are probably of no interest to you. For photographing stuff where things can happen quickly then both are useful sometimes.

[KevinBarrett]

Who's Ken Rockwell?

[bakubo]

Who's Ken Rockwell?

You don't know? Here he is a TSA agent at the airport:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ejq--eIJkgE

And here he is teaching English:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ic53hhFllPM

[alphaomega]

Greg Beetham stated

The X700 does not have an [S] mode, they designed it so the [P] mode effectively does that function, as it's heavily biased towards shutter speeds and not apertures, it does have an exposure compensation dial +/- in 1/3'rd stops as well. I have to admit I haven't learnt to habitually use the [P]shift function yet, I guess it would be handy for those that have.

This comment referred to my post above re usefulness of P shift. Let me point out that I did NOT state that The Minolta X700 had an S setting. The XD7 had A, S and manual. Perfectly logical. Either depth of field or shutter speeds are most important. When the X700 came out Minolta sacrificed the S setting to provide a crude P. As I recall it they wanted to match Canon. I missed the S setting and only used A or M on the X700. I very much lamented the fact that my two XD7 gave out and could not be repaired.

[Greg Beetham]

My apologies alphaomaga, I misread that, I've misplaced my reading glasses somewhere.
Greg

[bfitzgerald]

Minolta was also known for removing basic and "trademark" features from their lower (5 level and lower) level cameras and took a lot of heat over it - I think that started the bad reputation that Minolta couldn't shake. (That changed when the 7 and 5 came out, but then it was too late.) My AF5000 only had P and M modes. The lowest level i camera only got S and A mode if you bought the cards. The lowest level xi camera couldn't use all the cards. The XTsi (505si Super) didn't have wireless flash in the US (it was added in later models of that camera due to the consumers screaming). That camera also didn't have MLU, DOF-P, rear sync, a metering scale, or P-shift. Although it took very nice shots, as I used it and found more things I couldn't do with it, I almost left Minolta (then they released the 7 and I stayed.)

tom

You are right of course but that was then and this is now. Minolta did sort themselves out mostly with the 5 series which were well featured (less so the 4 and the 3L was best forgotten) At least they had learnt their lesson by the time the digital bodies came along.

No reason for Sony to repeat this mistake I honestly do think their feature stripping has cost them some users even if they are reversing that now (to a point not all of it) Nikon are actually one of the worst of all there are a lot of bits missing on the D5000 and D3100 quite a list actually but then I guess Nikon might get away with it..it's one reason I did not buy into Nikon despite liking the system overall.

[Greg Beetham]

I guess they all periodically re-rationalize their linup so they don't give too much away in the lower strata models, otherwise there wouldn't be much incentive to go after the more advanced models, I remember the shockwave after Nikon went ballistic with their price structure, the D3x at around $10,000 for example, boy you'd want to be keen at that price, or well heeled. But Nikon obviously thought their camera was worth the price, or they wanted to 'protect' that market segment from the great unwashed, whatever, I guess the reasonably capable offerings from Sony are a bargain really looking at it from that angle, I'm still amazed at the amount of features we do get for the money we pay, by and large.
Greg

[pakodominguez]

I remember the shockwave after Nikon went ballistic with their price structure, the D3x at around $10,000 for example, boy you'd want to be keen at that price, or well heeled. But Nikon obviously thought their camera was worth the price, or they wanted to 'protect' that market segment from the great unwashed...

Nikon is a "small" company that is doing extremely well fighting the big multinationals like Sony, Panasonic, Canon, etc. Their prices reflect their production/demand reality. The D3x is a gem with a limited market, and the (high) price reflect that. In other hand, I don't think they can produce much more units of their high end models if by any chance the demand suddenly rise...

[Argonaut]

Re the Scott Thomas link - I use P mode and shift (a700), so I'm with him, right up until he said, "The slower shutter speed lightens up some of those deep Florida sun shadows, too." He's not changing the exposure, he's shifting to a smaller f-stop and longer shutter speed. Now, can anyone tell me how that lightens up shadows?

[alphaomega]

Argonaut said

Re the Scott Thomas link - I use P mode and shift (a700), so I'm with him, right up until he said, "The slower shutter speed lightens up some of those deep Florida sun shadows, too." He's not changing the exposure, he's shifting to a smaller f-stop and longer shutter speed. Now, can anyone tell me how that lightens up shadows?

Easy to explain. The lower part of the framed image was darker and he accidentally lowered the camera before he hit the shutter. The programme would compensate based on a different light reading. Done that many times. The smart thing would have been to half depress the shutter before he lowered the camera and the exposure would have been held. Or use the AEL button.

[Winkler Prins]

I wonder how much it costs to take out a feature?

Sony probably have to build every item new from scratch because with every camera, the hardware changes. It's different from programming for a Windows standard environment. Apart from that Sony have to test every part of the software and that costs a lot of time and money.