Equipment Reviews - Cameracraft

Sony Alpha 700 Review Part 1: the Interface

Posted on January 4, 2008 By David Kilpatrick

SINCE September 2007 I have had for test the Canon EOS 40D, Sony Alpha 700, Nikon D300, Olympus E-3 and Nikon D3 in that order. The reports have been published in the British Journal of Photography, and later on in Master Photo Digital and f2 magazines (some are yet to appear, in February, in these titles). My own system is Sony Alpha but I have to be as objective as possible when field testing all makes. I also have to seek out the unique selling points, the reasons for owning any given model, rather than just compare them on a tick-chart feature basis.

With the Alpha 200 about to appear, I guess it’s time to sum up what I think about the Sony Alpha 700 and how it compares to the competition. Continue reading »

Cameras (DSLR), Equipment Reviews, Uncategorized

Does the Alpha 700 really do ISO 12,800?

Posted on November 6, 2007 By David Kilpatrick

I HAVE set up a pBase gallery with a large number of comparison studio shots, all the way from ISO 100 to the maximum, using the A700 and Nikon D300. It has some minor discrepancies in shooting conditions which I need to explain to anyone visiting the gallery. Continue reading »

Cameras (DSLR), DK's ramblings, Equipment Reviews, Photo Techniques

Advanced DRO – the A700’s magic bullet

Posted on November 1, 2007 By David Kilpatrick

BEFORE we publish a fuller assessment of the Sony Alpha 700, here is a taster of just one improved function, the Dynamic Range Optimisation (DRO) system built into the camera. For social, wedding, sports, music, theatre, news and event photographers DRO Advanced Manual settings are a real magic bullet zapping the bugbears of excess contrast, poor lighting, and inadequate flash penetration. Continue reading »

Cameras (DSLR), DK's ramblings, Equipment Reviews, Photo Techniques

Alpha 700 – well up to the job!

Posted on October 11, 2007 By David Kilpatrick

ON OCTOBER 10th I left the UK London press launch complete with an Alpha 700 review camera. I’ll be covering the many aspects of the Alpha 700 performance in later reviews, but this camera is so good I wanted to get just something out to you right the next day. Continue reading »

Cameras (DSLR), DK's ramblings, Equipment Reviews, Photo Techniques, Software Reviews

Alpha 700 JPEG quality revealed

Posted on September 11, 2007 By David Kilpatrick

IT IS very difficult to find a good JPEG from the Alpha 700 pre-production model tests shot in Italy, because too few cameras were available for too short a time – and many of the journalists present were not photographers. But we have found one image you will love. Continue reading »

Cameras (DSLR), Equipment Reviews, Lenses - Alpha Mount, Photo Techniques, Software Reviews

KM’s unique 7D/5D colour vs. the rest

Posted on September 10, 2007 By David Kilpatrick

THE question is being asked, will the Alpha 700 match the rich colour rendering of the Konica Minolta 7D and 5D? These cameras had identical colour profiles, and were in turn very similar to the Dimage A1 and A2. The Sony Alpha 100 proved very different. Here’s my best attempt to explain why. Continue reading »

Cameras (DSLR), Equipment Reviews, Software Reviews

Alpha 700 first impressions

Posted on September 9, 2007 By David Kilpatrick

I know that many of you expect a full detailed report about new Alpha 700 (writes Damir Tiljak). Unfortunately we had limited time to spent with new camera, which left us with just a few impressions. Good news is that most of impressions are positive. Although Sony rates this camera as their ‘advanced amateur’ model, I am sure it will be suitable for semi-professional or even professional use in fields like wedding photography. Continue reading »

Cameras (DSLR), Equipment Reviews, News

Sony Alpha 700 high ISO pictures

Posted on September 8, 2007 By David Kilpatrick

THE high ISO image quality of the Alpha 700 is important if it is to appeal to news, sports and wildlife photographers. Sony claims the A700’s three-stage noise reduction process (on-chip, RAW file NR, and user controlled High ISO NR) will match the best results from competing Canon and Nikon models. These are excerpts from full resolution pictures, not resized pictures, you can find full pictures on the links stated under the pictures. Please be aware that entire picture is almost 6 MB. Continue reading »

Cameras (DSLR), Equipment Reviews

Remote possibilities

Posted on August 8, 2007 By David Kilpatrick

This review from the Summer 2007 edition of Photoworld has been expanded here, and covers the Remote Release IR-1n kit along with third party remote triggers and flash synchronisation options for the Alpha system.

Accessories - 3rd party, Accessories - Minolta/Sony, Equipment Reviews, Flash units

Colour modes and conversions (5D)

Posted on July 26, 2007 By David Kilpatrick

THE Konica Minolta Maxxum/Dynax 5D colour modes and conversions are like a whole box of film choices in one roll. This article was written using the 5D in 2005. The modes of the Sony Alpha 100 are similar, but the colour palettes will vary from these results. Continue reading »

Cameras (DSLR), Equipment Reviews, Photo Techniques, Software Reviews