tanjq87: Yes, the A900 doesn't have a grip sensor (darn nickel-allergic Europeans!), and it does not have Eye Start AF either. There is an eye sensor though to turn off the screen when you are looking through the viewfinder.

Grip sensor sense that if your are holding the camera with your hand, a small current will pass through your palm to tell the camera that you are actually holding it, to prevent eye-start focus activates when you hang the camera around your neck.

MemorableStudios: You got it backwards LOL.

The A700 came first, with grip sensor and eye-sensor. Both these sensors make Eye-Start AF a lot more usable.

Because the grip sensor uses nickel, which is banned in the EU, Sony made the A900 without the grip sensor.

Because there was no grip sensor, Eye-Start AF becomes less usable, because it can be triggered when hanging around your neck like the A100-A380. So Sony just removed that feature from the A900 totally.

Yea and it takes time ( well for me ) to interpret what's he saying sometimes. HAHA! Meaning too deep dy. Thats why TT with albnok is the best. 

MemorableStudios: Er, I've got a Minolta Dynax 7 which has a grip sensor and eye start sensor (it started with Minolta film bodies.) The Minolta Dynax 9 also had a grip sensor.

The Konica Minolta 7 Digital lost the grip sensor. The Konica Minolta 5 Digital after that also didn't have it.

The Sony A100 still didn't have the grip sensor but the A700 brought it back.

The Dynax 9 was Minolta's last professional-level SLR with a 100% 0.74x viewfinder (same as the A900).

The Dynax 9 also had a grip sensor, so there was no reason for Sony to purposely remove it on the A900. Unless the EU buat kacau.

Funny thing is, the Dynax 9 was the first professional-level SLR to have a pop-up flash and could control wireless flashes and people laughed at it*, saying it's not a pro camera because it has a pop-up flash.

It is likely because of that, that the A900 doesn't have a pop-up flash... but Nikon got the idea and put a pop-up flash on the D700... which is now, the only full-frame dSLR with a pop-up flash. (The Canon 5D/MkII/1D/1Ds do not have it.)

I've been following the Alpha series (had the A100, A700 and then A900) and anybody who has been around that long would know about the grip sensor issue. It's quite uh... common knowledge.

* People also laughed at the invention of auto-focus and multi-segment metering, but now every camera has it!

eye start without the handgrip sensor is quite annoying though, especially if you have the camera hanging on your neck and the sensor is resting on your chest... keep having the cam trying to focus on whatever it's pointing at.

yup, despite insulting me, he was puzzled why on numerous time my pictures are better than his despite him using the nd80 brand.

yes...
just i dont like them insulting us without any stronger evidence.....
they are engaged in personalities but not a fair and square comparison....
btw, when we alpharian insulting their camera?? we dint speak a single word to insult them...

lol..thats exactly what im going to do... =D

MemorableStudios: Are you sure you're doing it right? I don't have to post-process much or anything on the A900. At most it's clone stamping/healing brush (if the makeup artist didn't do a good job). Use Intelligent Preview to make sure you get exposure/WB/DRO right. Make sure you scan the borders of the 100% viewfinder to make sure there are no unwanted elements in the picture. Finally, if you shoot RAW, learn how to use the workflow to make your life easier.

If you want a soft effect without PP, get a soft filter.

MemorableStudios: I do take thousands of pictures with the A900.

My question is, what do you need to PP a lot? If you want to HDR every image, or give it some funky color effect, then that is the time cost. I like my pictures with no extra post-processing for example here - the color was nice already there was nothing to add to it. Some people like to change to sepia, black-and-white, overdo HDR, add vignetting etc. but I find such effects quite cheesy sometimes. Also we get natural optical vignetting for free with full-frame!

From what I can see from your Flickr, you only need to increase ISO and/or choose a slower shutter speed to get more ambient light for a brighter exposure. Everything else nice already.

As for white subjects I just set my rear dial to change EV in Aperture Priority. You have to either know to overexpose a white subject slightly, or use Spot Meter AEL Toggle on the subject's face.

Kul | Mo0: Get well soon!

MemorableStudios: Unfortunately, no RAW converter is straight-forward when freshly installed.

I suppose a much quicker way is to roll +0.7 EV on the back dial. Spot Meter AEL Toggle actually becomes Slow Sync mode so you can also tap Spot Meter AEL Toggle on the white and it might work better (with flash).

Tried to install DxO Optics Pro, but it couldn't install properly.

ilikehandphones: No, Sony flashes do not have optical slave trigger mode. However they can be triggered by Sony Alphas with the pop-up flash raised and the flash mode set to WL (or the F42 or F58 triggered by the F58 on the A700, or the F20/F58 on the A700/A900.)

Congratulations MechaHerc!

MemorableStudios: Yeah I've heard good stuff about DxO... when I have the time I'll try installing it again!

soulfly: Er, that is not right.

- KM5D/KM7D/A100-A700 pop-up flash can trigger F36/F56/F42/F58
- A700-A900 with F58 on camera (in CTRL1/CTRL+ ratio mode) can trigger F42/F58
- A850-A900 with F58 on camera (in CTRL2/CTRL mode) or F20 on camera can trigger F36/F56/F42/F58

There is no other combination that works. The F20 cannot be triggered off-camera.

bro how much u price for the 70200 2.8?

anyone know where can I print Coffee Table Album for good price?
30 pages & 22 pages with leather album inclusive...

Eh, I ad tried. I think it uses both batteries la, because when the battery percentage low for battery 1, i change to 2nd one, but the 2nd battery is low as well.

---

Added on August 26, 2009, 11:49 am

rm 270

I am a student    ... not much money lorrr

I shouldn't have involved in this kind of expensive hobby, but what to do ?? Too late hahaha... More money shall be spent in near time. Photography is highly addictive 

Suggestion : Sony must have special price  for students like me, to encourage them to buy original