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Author Topic: Alpha 900 review request  (Read 4532 times)

MatthewCromer

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Alpha 900 review request
« on: December 01, 2008, 01:39:05 am »

Michael,

I'm hoping you take a look at other RAW convertors than just Lightroom / ACR with the Alpha 900.  They just don't do such a hot job with the Sony dSLRs, particularly at high ISO.

The Aperture conversions I have seen have been a lot better.

Anyway, looking forward to reading your impressions. . .
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barryfitzgerald

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Alpha 900 review request
« Reply #1 on: December 03, 2008, 09:11:31 am »

The review is out on the front page right now.

Very interesting read.

I have no experience of this camera, but I am a Minolta/Sony user (yes there are a few of us!) I see a mostly positive review, and some quirks, which I think Michael has addressed pretty well, for example the non smart card selection, no MLU with remote, and a few other things. I too dislike memory stick cards!

Just a typo error on the review, it is "SSM" not "SST" for supersonic motor, aka the built in non screw driven lenses, of which there are not that many at present. Sony have some things to work out in general, and I have been very critical of them in some respects (I don't think many users love their jpeg engine, ok non issue for raw shooters, but still valid), however, they seem to have got a grip on things of late, and this is a pretty appealing buy, for those who demand a FF option.

Nice review overall, objective, and clear.
« Last Edit: December 03, 2008, 09:12:17 am by barryfitzgerald »
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michael

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Alpha 900 review request
« Reply #2 on: December 03, 2008, 09:55:42 am »

Barry,

Thanks for caching the typo.

Mathew,

I haven't tried Aperture with the A900. Now I will.

Thanks,

Michael

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Brammers

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Alpha 900 review request
« Reply #3 on: December 03, 2008, 10:03:29 am »

A couple of minor questions and FYIs regarding your article Micheal.

I'm suprised at your comments on the battery life - I get far more than that and it's pretty well freezing in Beijing at the moment.  Strange.

There are 3rd party versions of the Minolta -> standard hotshoe adapters available for about a fiver.  Here's an example:

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Flash-Hot-Shoe-Adapt...%3A1|240%3A1318

No batteries are required.

You're welcome to your own views as to their quality and reliability Vs that of an official product, but my take is that they're so simple that there's nothing to go wrong and so cheap that you can just toss 2 or 3 into your bag and forget about them.  They also allow the use of hotshoe levels etc.

A version for the flashguns themselves also exists at around the same price - this is called the fs-1200.

I'm also suprised that you missed the PC-Synch connector - it's on the front of the camera under the rubber flap.  

You didn't mention the viewfinder shutter?  Is this not something you use often?

You also found favour with the extreme corners of the 24-70 - a few people have been saying that performance drops off there a little.  Is this not something you noticed, or is it simply on a par with the Canon & Nikon equivalents so not worth mentioning?

I wonder what you have your custom and menu recall buttons set to?  With 2 customisable buttons are you not able to set one to permanently access the AF mode if that's a problem for you?  Mine are set to flash-mode and flash-exposure comp as I'm a flash user, but you don't strike me as one.

Finally, will it stay in the bag?  There's no T/S lens in the pipe-line, but there are CZ 16-35 2.8 and a Sony G 70-400 4.5-5.6 lenses to fill in a couple of gaps, and super teles can be delt with via the Minolta Gs at KEH, Adorama and Ebay.  I'm over the moon with mine - for me the killer feature is IS on lenses where Canon and Nikon cannot offer this, but do you like yours enough to compliment or even displace other kit?
« Last Edit: December 03, 2008, 10:14:08 am by Brammers »
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01af

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Alpha 900 review request
« Reply #4 on: December 03, 2008, 10:46:40 am »

Quote from: Brammers
I'm suprised at your comments on the battery life---I get far more than that and it's pretty well freezing in Beijing at the moment. Strange.
To fully exploit the Sony lithium battery's capacity, you must charge it until the LED on the charging unit goes off and then an additional two hours! when charging them first time after breaking the blister pack. When taking the battery out of the cradle just when the LED goes out then it won't be charged fully and won't unfold its full potential for future charges.


Quote from: Brammers
You didn't mention the viewfinder shutter?
He did.

-- Olaf
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DarkPenguin

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Alpha 900 review request
« Reply #5 on: December 03, 2008, 11:14:33 am »

Quote from: 01af
To fully exploit the Sony lithium battery's capacity, you must charge it until the LED on the charging unit goes off and then an additional two hours! when charging them first time after breaking the blister pack. When taking the battery out of the cradle just when the LED goes out then it won't be charged fully and won't unfold its full potential for future charges.

I'm not sure I'd be willing to do that with a sony battery without putting it in a live fire range first.  Are the days of burning sony (which, so far as I know, were never a problem with their cameras) batteries over?
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Brammers

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Alpha 900 review request
« Reply #6 on: December 03, 2008, 11:24:32 am »

He did indeed.  My bad.
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MatthewCromer

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Alpha 900 review request
« Reply #7 on: December 03, 2008, 11:44:08 am »

Nice review Michael.  Glad to hear you enjoyed the camera for the most part.

I hope you find the images from Aperture more pleasing in terms of image noise.  I don't have my Alpha 900 yet, am going to pick it up in January, so I can't verify for myself, but everyone I know with the A900 avoids the Sony convertor and ACR.  ACR seems to do very well with the Canon dSLRs, but not the Sonys.  I've heard good things about Aperture's conversions, as well as Raw Developer, Capture One, and many of the freeware versions on DP Review by Alpha 900 owners.

I've also heard from a lot of A900 owners that they are able to trigger the wireless remote from the back as long as they are shooting from the back - right instead of back-left.  Of course, since it doesn't use MLU with the wireless trigger (what a DUMB omission) I'll just pick up the wired remote instead.

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jani

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Alpha 900 review request
« Reply #8 on: December 03, 2008, 07:03:47 pm »

Quote from: DarkPenguin
I'm not sure I'd be willing to do that with a sony battery without putting it in a live fire range first.  Are the days of burning sony (which, so far as I know, were never a problem with their cameras) batteries over?
As far as I can tell, that was solved in 2006, and the problem stemmed from the eagerness of delivering more powerful laptop batteries to the market, and quickly.
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NLund

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Alpha 900 review request
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2008, 08:48:13 pm »

I found the review to be informative, a bit witty, to have the slight M.R. bias (we ALL have a personal bias), but to REALLY strive to be objective, to analyze the camera and how it functions for a specific photographer.

I found it to be a good solid review all around - analyzing many different aspects of the camera and their effects.

It could be that I just had a few strong beers on an empty stomach while reading the article, or that I've been an LL fan for a few years now, but that article held my attention very well.

Nice work!

-NL-
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