seems like you got friends high up the sony chain to know all this...

MemorableStudios : Don't you know albnok is the super grandmaster of almost everything about photography? Big big big sifu ok! Learn from him if you can. Never fail to teach me something at every TT session. (:

haha, i agreed to Moo.
Albnok is the sifu for photography, ask him anything also can answer.

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.

im looking foward to the TT session.. i know there will be loads to learn from the TT session..

not questioning his knowledge on photography...

anyway, would love to join the TT one day, when the location & timing is more convenient...

Damn sad wei. Before my finals so many TT. And its almost the end of my 2 weeks break. No TT at all. AIYAK!

TT normally the location where one? PJ or KL area?.. i dunno once i saw a bunch of people with dslr TT-ing at Mosin at TTDI.. dunno if its u guys or not.. =P

Mosin I dont think we had TT there before. Well TT is all over Malaysia la. But the TT I will only ( only can) attend is TT around PJ la. DU Uptown/TTDI/Curve like that lo. (:

Aiya, we live around pj area.. can carpool ma.. hehe..

Eh... come TT this sunday at Bau, Kuching.... hehehe... me and some alphanians are going for photoshoot at a local cave aka "Fairy Cave" in bau... seriously can't wait... and also not forgetting to get my new gear... hehehehe...

Mo0! when ur getting beercan??

dei you know if far means i'll pick ya up kan!

got bonus question here for those using the Phottix Vertical Grip. does the VG automatically switches batteries when one of it runs out? Or we need to do it manually?

Hahaha ok la. Then TT anytime. (: Not tonight and tmr night la. =p

have to manual change the switch la bro

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!

I just wish sony would unveil their latest line-up of bodies soon... Would make my upgrade decision much easier...

Don't know whether to hold on to my money first or splurge it on an a700..

On another note, EU is well known for their tough health and safety regulations and manufacturers have to comply if they want to do business there. Sometimes, it's a little annoying, but most of the time, those regulations do make sense.. People DO get sick from Nickel poisoning and it's not just an european thing... Any metal which is capable of leeching and be absorbed into our body can cause heavy metal poisoning... it's just the matter of amount being absorbed...

you know your history well bro... anyway, the pop up flash would have been a great bonus for the a900.. now i need to get another cobra or f20... waste more bucks...
i can live without the eye-start AF though..

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.

yeah.. had that with my a350.. when its over my neck.. feels like its focusing on my crotch.. hahaha

potential battery sucker...