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!

raist86: Oh man, I hope you're not sensitive to nickel.

MemorableStudios: A lot of it can be read online - dyxum.com, mhohner.de, photoclubalpha.com, wikipedia.org etc.

raist86: The A700 has a F2.8 sensor in the middle, for more accurate focusing and the ability to detect focus faster.

nabelon: That aquarium video isn't a good example of dSLR video (the main reason people like it is for shallow depth of field.) That video could've been shot with a point-and-shoot with HD video capability!

However, I still strongly dislike the rolling shutter effect (seen on every video dSLR to date.) When subjects move quickly across the frame, they flicker!

The A700 non-EU version is the only Alpha with a grip sensor.

I used to press the Drive button on the A100 to disable Eye-Start AF. Otherwise, I love Eye-Start AF; it's like AF-C but it doesn't hunt. Use Eye-Start AF to aim near a subject to get it in focus... then half-press and shoot then.

Seng_Kiat: The VG-C70AM has a grip sensor. Make sure it's the non-EU version.

hokc77: Nice effect!

#2 could use some midtone dodging on the right, though...

raist86: The A700 still has a nice 3" 640x480 screen and a decent ISO1600. It's up to you!

nickilala: A lot of smashpOp's pictures are not edited. You can get that kind of color out of the A700 or any Alpha. He's my colleague and I know we both edit a lot less than before (from the A100 days.)

Any Alpha can give you that kind of color. Set to Vivid if it's not enough, and learn how to set your White Balance specifically.

How to shoot a blue sky? Look for a blue sky!

SpOOkY: Interesting crop!

cjlai: Whoa yellow rings from the owl! I thought it was the 500mm.

ryzan76: Wow, I like how the fly is on a different background, a very interesting one, whatever it is!

Killerz622: Unfortunately, Sony picked up on those accidental AF-point movers and made the A230/A330/A380.

Killerz622: As I said earlier, you want a blue sky, you have to wait for one! A CPL can only boost a blue sky, but it cannot make a dull grey sky into a blue one.

nickilala: That depends on the shot.

For example, when you shoot a scene under a tree (shaded) it will look blue-ish. This is correct as the color IS actually slightly blue.

However, if you want it to look like it was under sunlight, set the WB to Daylight and your leaves will appear a rich green color.

Also, if you shoot under tungsten light, it will look orangey (which is the true color of the light, just that your brain 'removes' it) but you can set to Tungsten WB to remove the orange tone.

9900K, of course, to add warmth!

The Blue GND also works on buildings and trees that are in the sky view, unfortunately...

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.)

lildaredevil906: No, the F42 cannot control ANY Alpha flash. The F20 cannot be triggered by any Alpha flash.

The F20 can trigger the F42, if the F20 is on the A850/A900, though. The F58 can trigger the F42 on the A700/A850/A900.

Your pop-up flash however, can trigger the F42, when the A300 flash mode is set to WL, and the F42 WL mode is on.

This post has been edited by albnok: Aug 25 2009, 06:06 PM

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.

clivengu: The toilet bowl diffuser is universal as it comes with a strap to tighten around the flash head.

Also, the Stofen for the Canon 580EX II is the same size as the F58.

Seng_Kiat: The A700 screen is a bit warm when viewed straight on, but accurate when viewed at a slight angle.

Yes, orange gel for tungsten, green gel for flourescent.

Aiyaaa no wonder lah. If you use flouro WB (4500K M6) with neutral 5500K flash you get a blue-ish, magenta-ish flash!

ALL of http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/afham07/DSC00957.jpg is lit by the flash, and none by the flourescent light because you have underexposed your ambient light. (F8 1/30s ISO200). If you went the other way, say F2.8 1/30s ISO1600, you will get more flourescent light (and you'd get a more neutral white.) So your flash should've used a green gel.

Also, remember that flourescent light flickers according to your house AC (Alternating Current, 50 Hz) so you'll want to use a slower shutter speed if you are shooting without flash.

Try shooting 10 frames at 5FPS F2.8 ISO1600 1/1000s while aiming at a flourescent tube (at night) - you'll see how it varies. Either you totally kill ambient light by shooting F8 1/30s ISO200, or you maximize ambient light at F2.8 1/30s ISO1600 (depending on how bright your flouros are lah.) However it is obvious due to the flicker, that is why studios do not use flourescent tubes!

* Flourescent tubes come in different color temperatures. They are not always 4500K M6. Some are daylight-balanced flourescents (great!) and some are tungsten-balanced flourescents (2800K or 2800K M3). Some mamaks mix flourescent and tungsten light so I pick 2800K M6 for that.

millenia3000: Nice bokeh on the handle!

SpOOkY: In theory, anything slower than 1/50s (to catch at least one full flourescent cycle) is good.

raist86: There are, till today, 3 dSLR sensors from Sony:

A500/A700 sensor - 12.3 megapixel CMOS
A550 sensor - 14.2 megapixel CMOS
A850/A900 sensor - 24.6 megapixel CMOS

hkhk: More like the A200/A300/A350 lah if you notice the grip is the traditional one.

hanafinoor: I was gonna say, call me when you're near ASTRO but then again I'm not in the same building anymore. Nice moments! (Also, notice how small the auditorium is?)

neo_lam: A supposed A700 replacement won't be so soon, but rumors say April 2010.

I am very excited!

Phase-detect autofocus Face Detect! (How this works, I don't know.)

Smile Shutter!

Two-exposure HDR mode with auto-align!

100% magnification Live View!

7 FPS!

DRO Level 5!

Even if I am not getting the A550, I can't imagine what the A700 replacement will have!

(The A550 has 0.8x magnification with 95% viewfinder coverage, while the A700 has 0.9x magnification with 95% viewfinder coverage.)

nickilala: Welcome, and congratulations on your A700! It looks like you used DRO. You might want to add a bit of +EV to enhance the shadows a bit (it will be cleaner that way also.)

This post has been edited by albnok: Aug 27 2009, 11:32 PM

raist86: Supposedly the circuits that block the typical CMOS cover a lot of the sensel on a tiny sensor... but the APS-C sensors gain little since the circuit is a very small percentage of the sensel size. So the gain of being backlit on bigger sensors is not enough to justify it.

Kul | Mo0: Selfishly I'd say to wait for the A550 so we can all play with it!

Some people just want an A200 with a better sensor - here it is. Of course, if you need the controls of the A700, sure, the A700 is good.

hkhk: There are supposed noise performance increases;



Killerz622: Very well done!

lildaredevil906: You need to choose Pre-flash TTL instead of ADI for bounced flash using the pop-up flash + reflector method.

Pre-flash TTL will fire one flash first (called the pre-flash) and see if it's bright enough (or too bright) and then the actual flash will be at the correct power.

ADI uses the distance meter built into the lens (if it has 8 pins, it has a distance meter.)

However, if you use a Sony flash, it will automatically detect that the flash head has turned up and change to Pre-flash TTL automatically even if the camera was in ADI mode.

SpOOkY: A base ISO200 doesn't mean you can't set ISO100 - you can, on the A700, A850 and A900. It just means you get less dynamic range as it is compressed from an overexposed ISO200 shot.

RRP999 = RM3600 with say 80% discount for dealers - RM2900? Wow, this reminds me of how much I bought my A100 for!