Friedman’s Alpha 99 e-book released

Well, we knew it would take some time – Gary Friedman has been working on his Alpha 99 e-book since the camera was pre-released to the press, and six months later, he’s got a huge volume as a result.

“This is my largest and most comprehensive work to date – 625 pages!”, Gary says.

It is available in triple-digital form: Buy a DRM-free, digital copy for USD $29.95 and you can download it ANY of the following formats:

* .pdf, (great for your computer or iPad)
* .mobi (ideal for your Kindle)
* .epub (ideal for your Nook and other e-readers).

(Printed books will be available from April 2013.)

Here’s the link.

Gary Friedman’s new Alpha 99 e-book

http://friedmanarchives.com/alpha99

Gary has just returned from Malaysia and Singapore, where he was running workshops including one for Sony themselves. He’s also just finished signing off the proofs for the latest Cameracraft quarterly magazine, published by Photoclubalpha’s owners Icon Publications Ltd, edited by David Kilpatrick with Gary as US Associate Editor.

Issue No 3, 2nd Quarter 2013, will be available from the first week of April and includes a great story on Gary’s period working in China, a portfolio proving that pinhole photography does not have be soft and murky, a look at viewpoints and the camera, the best ‘historical battle recreation’ set we’ve ever seen, and more.

http://www.iconpublications.com/cameracraft/

 

Paperback edition of Photoworld 2008-11

We have decided to make a Lulu print-on-demand digitally produced paperback edition covering the last three years of Photoworld magazine, covering the period from the launch of Alpha 900 and photokina 2008, through to the final edition of our quarterly magazine in Summer 2011, when the Alpha 77 was about to hit the streets.

This 312-page book includes the content of 12 editions of Photoworld, each with its cover and contents page, with some advertising and some regular content or ‘diary dates’ removed. A few items like this remain in place, notably Sigma advertisements, because the alternative would be to pay for a blank white page – or they are small ads and part of a larger page layout. We think even these are still of interest for the future.

Some typos and errors have been corrected so this book has more accurate versions of many articles. Some content has been changed, such as the A2 foldout print included in the Autumn 2008 edition to show the quality of the A900 24 megapixel file. As far as we know, Icon Publications Ltd remains the only photo magazine publisher to use the option of a ‘centerfold’. We’ve done it in our professional titles as well, to show medium format quality at its best. But in a digitally printed book, it’s not possible to staple in a 16.5 x 23.75 inch poster. Instead, we’ve used a different choice of a spread and two full page images.

Through this book-form edition, you can track the birth of the NEX system and the death of the optical viewfinder.

If you can not see the Flash preview above, use this link:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/david-kilpatrick/photoworld-2010-11/paperback/product-20477114.html?showPreview=true

The book costs £64.50 – the original three years of magazines would have cost £53.85 absolute minimum (UK annually renewing subscription) and a typical binder costs £10. However, for worldwide customers the overall cost of the magazines over three years plus a binder would have been £90. Digital printing is expensive and we don’t make much on these, but we’ve had Lulu print calendars in the past (2011) with super results and this should be a very good quality book, fairly matching the original litho magazines.

– David Kilpatrick

Gary Friedman publishes NEX-7 ‘beyond the guide’ book

As Gary says, his e-books do not replace the camera manual and also don’t replace Camera Controls 101 – he writes for the user who already knows which end of the lens fits a screw filter and which end goes on the camera body. His new NEX-7 book fast-tracks into many key features of the camera before backtracking into depth and detail, a great way to introduce owners to making better use of the advanced functions they have bought.

http://friedmanarchives.com/NEX-7

NEX-7 book cover

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The only downside to the book is the cover, which features a new addition to the long line of bald heads Gary has used for his cover shots (always in the same style) – a penalty for visiting Gary just before the book was going to e-press!

The $26.45 download (PDF, full colour, with additional resources for Kindle and other bw reader platforms) now strikes me as even better value after the last week of wandering through California by car in search of images. The USA is now fairly expensive compared to much of Europe, not affordable as it used to be – and this comes as a surprise, because things like the camera prices at B&H do not give much clue, they are still generally lower. In California at least things like motels (except the most basic), beer, coffee, snacks, entry or parking fees are maybe 50% more than UK costs – so to all our US readers, be assured, now is a very good time to use your NEX-7 skills and take a trip across the pond. You can find an award-winning b&b with one of the best full breakfasts in Scotland for under $75 (£=$1.60) in our home town with a pretty good photographer running it!

– David Kilpatrick

Win a Sony Alpha Lenses hardback book

London Camera Exchange Colchester manager David Jenner has two of these hardback books, which showcase the Alpha lens range as it was in 2007-8 and feature photography from round the world plus technical data and diagrams for both Sony G and Carl Zeiss designs.

He has agreed to give them away to two UK-based Photoclubalpha readers, and you can find the link and instructions hiding in our Forum now. Happy hunting! Just click the Forum link, register with the forum, and locate today’s new post about the lens book giveaway. It closes end of July 31st. By entering this draw you agree to allow LCE to email you with any appropriate news of Sony Alpha system offers in future.

Sorry, it is only open to UK addresses. Drawn winners will be asked for their postal address by email.

– David

Field Guide for Alpha 700

Alan Hess is the author of a new field guide to using the Sony Alpha 700, published by Wileys, with 281 pages and the usual contents covering basic photographic techniques as well as the camera’s operation.

The cost of the guide is 16 Euros by mail order from Research & Markets of Dublin website; the title is ‘Sony Alpha DSLR A700 Digital Field Guide‘.