Cameracraft magazine – Taking your practical photography further
Peter Crouch cuts a striking figure on the football pitch at the best of times and when recently asked to train the UK Sony ‘Twilight Football’ team ahead of their big game on the 22nd September, the outcome was some simply stunning imagery. (Editor’s note – continue reading to see the ‘stunning imagery’… but have somewhere handy to put the hair you tear out)
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I don’t have an Alpha 500 or 550 here yet, even though Photoclubalpha has been second in the Google search results for ‘Sony Alpha 550’ for some time and remains so as I write (the New York Times is first). That’s not bad for a WordPress blog website which does NOT employ the services of the dozen or so ‘search engine optimisation’ experts who contact us each week! Hopefully we’ll have a review camera very soon, preferably the 550.
In the meantime, a few samples have been posted on various sites which show the raw conversion engine of the camera/s (not necessarily the JPEG compression stage, as always seems to be assumed) has been radically revised. Sony call this ‘enhanced BIONZ’ and I think there’s a clue to how it has been enhanced in the relationship of Sony Europe and DxO Labs, the French company which specialises in in-camera process analysis and development.
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ALL the current DSLRs made – whether by Canon, Nikon or even Sony with the A700 and A900 – state their maximum fps continuous shooting speed as being with NO autofocus, and NO exposure metering changes. There’s a lot of talk on forums about the 7fps of the new Alpha 550 – 14.3 megapixel CMOS APS-C with a good high ISO capacity – being in some way crippled because it has been made clear by Sony that this speed applies to a ‘lockdown’ of focus and exposure with the first frame. This is not surprising as it’s a quiet, mirror-up mode using the off-sensor live view to maintain contact.
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ACCORDING to specifications revealed on a German site, the new Sony Alpha 500 will have a 12.3 megapixel CMOS sensor capable of providing Live View to the rear 3 inch medium resolution screen – with Manual Focusing at 14X magnification. The in-prism based Quick AF Live View is retained, giving a choice between two entirely different systems of Live View, Sony’s innovative and easy solution scanning the focus screen, and a critically accurate alternative for tripod work. The camera may sell for just €50 more than the Alpha 380 – or break the £500 body only barrier in the UK right from the start.
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The Alpha 900 offers an unrivalled view through its 100% prism finder. The extra brightness, as well as the size and clarity, make most subjects far easier to photograph well. For some users, however, the full frame camera brings a disadvantage in terms of reach and resolution. You need lenses 50% longer (and thus twice the size, and four times the cost!) to fill the frame with the same distant sports and wildlife subjects. I don’t need to remind anyone how popular these two subjects are with amateurs, and sometimes, how important to professionals.
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Sony’s new Alpha 850 will be identical to the Alpha 900 in size, handling and external design – including the omission of onboard flash. The camera, expected to be launched before September, uses the same 24.6 megapixel CMOS sensor as the Alpha 900 but has – it is rumoured – only a single BIONZ processor, and a very slightly modified viewfinder. It is shipped without the Remote Commander (this becomes an optional extra) indicating that minimum retail price is Sony’s aim.
This is a screen grab from Fotobrenner.de in Germany who have the body only offered for €1999.00 and the kit with SAM 28-75mm f/2.8 new lens for €2699.00. As listed that makes the body about 10% more expensive than the current street price of the Alpha 900 – indicating either that the A850 prices are RRP and will rapidly fall, or that the A900 is about to get a price hike. They offer the A900 for €2499.00 and that would – pro rata – make the UK street price for the A850 about £1599. Please note: though the 28-75mm picture is authentic, the body shown has the AF switch set to C – just like the Sony shots of the A900 issued to dealers. Maybe they would do this for all packshots for some reason, maybe it was chance – more likely. It would be unlikely to happen again for the 850 shot so I reckon this is shopped.
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Sony’s September launch for 2009 looks set to include three new models – the Alpha 500, 550 and 850. The model numbers are confirmed by the usual backdoor leak, appearing in the registration database for SonyStyle USA in this case (Canada has been a past culprit, updating databases associated with their site before the product is officially released). However, only a few people know what these cameras will be, and they are limited by non-disclosure contracts.
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All of Icon’s professional Master Photo Digital magazines can be read free on line. The latest, June 2009, has just been published:
This magazines uses the same Flash Reader format as the 19 editions of Photoworld and – NEWLY ADDED! – five editions of Minolta Image from the 2002-4 period just before Konica moved in. We have been able to find complete, or very nearly complete, original archive files for these issues and create PDFs to convert for our subscription service.
Photoclub Alpha’s Photoworld quarterly magazine is now available as an on-line subscription without printed paper issues (you can print any pages you want from the Flash-viewable ‘book reader’ format editions, read on-line, or download to read when you like). The cost is just £10.00 per year and gets you the latest issue before it even reaches our susbcribers!
The five editions of MINOLTA IMAGE from 2002-2004 take the archive back to December 2002 with 23 past editions of the club magazine available to read. Your £10 now gets you over 800 pages right away.
You don’t even have to keep checking the site, you are sent an email anytime we add a new edition – or add to our archive of back issues. Already there are 19 issues of Photoworld covering from Spring 2004 to Spring 2009 – the entire history of the Alpha digital system from the Konica/Minolta merger onwards. That’s over 500 A4 pages of reviews, news, tests, portfolios, galleries, how-to-do-it and inspirational articles. To preview what’s on offer (see the covers, contents page and first couple of pages of each magazine free) click the link then click any cover thumbnail. You’ll get a preview of four pages, and the choice of a full subscription or the single issue price of £3. If you pay for the full digital subscription all the issues are unlocked including the next year’s new issues, and each archive edition as we add them.
PW Subscribe
You can also subscribe, worldwide, to both printed and digital editions – this subscription for £25 means you will get the next four printed magazine delivered to your door:
PW Digital + Printed
Here are two comments from readers:
“The current Photoworld copy I received yesterday again is of outstanding quality. It is easily the thinnest magazine I read in terms of mm width, yet content and printing quality are reason for great delight. The printing is so much better then any of the magazines for sale in Germany, it is breathtaking every time.” – Markus Spring
“The best ten quid of any Minolta/Sony owner’s money has to be on YUDU, right now. I have just paid (through PayPal) and have access to every copy (it seems) of Photoworld magazine from early 2004. That’s 19 editions and the on-screen presentation is fantastic, not to metion the opportunity to download and read offline. I love magazines, I especially love photography magazines, and to be able to read the back catalogue of Photoworld is an absolute steal for that price.” – Brian Young
Postal subscription only Paypal options
You can subscribe to the printed edition only (no digital edition access) using our online Paypal subscription service.
We have just published the latest edition of the MPA magazine, Master Photo Digital, on-line at YUDU. This format is the same as the Flash Reader format used for the subscriptions to Photoworld on-line (digital subscription).
MPA’s magazine is free. Only full-time professional photographers are eligible to become members, but you can all read the mag.
– DK
As the generation of Alpha 200, 300 and 350 reaches early retirement age it may be the time to grab bargains. The new Alpha 230, 330 and 380 have plenty of bonus points to win over new users despite the critical lack of video capture. But the older generation has some very tangible benefits.
The most obvious changes in the ‘Plus-30’ range are the use of a new smaller battery (NP-F50AM) shared with Cyber Shot consumer models, a dual MS ProHG Duo and SD card interface, substantial reduction in weight and size, improved rear LCD screen with auto brightness adjustment (only on the A330 and A380), and a radical overhaul of the graphical user interface to include sample picture tips (pioneered by Nikon).
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