...and then there were three...

Bet I had you guessing for a second what the shrouded camera above was...I've had the opportunity to test out a Sony alpha 350 for the past week or so, and I've got to say, that this iteration of DSLR from Sony is the first that seems like they're really trying. I've used the alpha 100 and alpha 700 extensively, but they both felt sorta half-finished. They changed a lot with this new version, and if it feels like Sony had dipped their toe into deep end with the a350, then they decided to do a canon-ball dive with the new alpha 900 which will be in stores in a few weeks.

First thing you'd notice about the a350 thats new and improved over the a100 is the big LCD screen on the back that bulges out a bit. It seems a little odd at first, almost as if they couldn't fit the whole LCD inside the camera, but if you look closer there is a little grip on the side of the screen that allows you to pull it out and tilt it up about 140° or down about 45° (these are my estimates, I couldn't find exactly what degree of tilt Sony claims). The screen displays your basic information such as shutter speed, aperture, ISO, flash, white balance, focus, quality, and battery settings fairly simply, however I want to focus on a few things that make this model stand out a bit from the competition.

So why have a flip-out LCD? Well this DSLR was one of the very first to have a functional live-view mode, which allows the photographer to frame up his or her shot by using the LCD instead of the optical viewfinder. While I'm still very much of the mindset that a photo should be taken through the viewfinder for a number of reasons, this feature can be VERY helpful to first time DSLR owners who are very used to using an LCD on their compact cameras in this way. It also allows the photographer to get more interesting perspectives on many different subjects allowing the photographer to get an image they would previously have had to lay in the dirt or dangle off dangerous ledges to try and get the shot they wanted.

What makes the live-view on the Sony so special is that it actually autofocuses quickly, unlike the AF system on the Canons and even my flagship Nikon D3 can do when using live-view. Sony accomplishes this by directing a portion of the light that would normally be hitting your image sensor to a separate AF sensor that focuses the same way you camera does when it's not in live-view, phase detection (explanation of the differences will be saved for another time). That said, the a350 LCD is especially susceptible to glare and is not overly bright, therefore not entirely useful in the environments you'd think it would be the most beneficial in. I found it to be a little off in what appeared to be a proper exposure and even after adjusting the brightness and tone settings on the camera's screen, I was still not impressed with what it was able to produce out in broad daylight. The photos I took however came out fine, however unlike my Nikon gear or my older Canon gear, I couldn't trust the image the screen was showing me at all, I had to rely on my experience and the histograms I could view.

Ergonomics are far improved over the alpha 100, however are still not to my personal liking. The layout of the buttons and controls is a blend of the Olympus E-series DSLRs and the last generation of the Canon Rebels (XT/XTi). Slightly wider grip, which would be great for most guys looking for an SLR, however not very tailored for the average soccer mom looking to take great images of her kids. Of all the control placements, most felt positioned appropriately except for ISO, which was placed on the top of the camera in a place that was very awkward to adjust on the fly with my thumb. Had they moved that one control to the rear panel, I feel that the entire feel of the camera would have been changed for the better. Also I found my pinky curled up on the bottom of the camera frequently as it was shorter than I am used to. On the top left of the camera, you have access to what Sony calls "instant-expert" modes, which I call "don't know how to use my camera, so I'll try this icon" modes (I'm kidding, sometimes those can be useful for beginners). My experience with using these were just like any other DSLR brand, they work...sorta. These modes pick predetermined settings that would get you a great picture in ideal situations, but as any photographer will tell you, there are RARELY any ideal situations, never enough lighting, lighting is bad, lighting is changing too much, ect. I tried out several of those modes, got frustrated with under and over exposures and went back to using full  manual, and everything got better.

The two lenses I had access to during my tests were the kit lens which was an 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 and an 18-200 f/3.5-6.3, which were designed for consumer use, being rather slow for indoor use. Both were definitely acceptably sharp for the pricing, my copy of the 18-200 becoming a little mushy in fine details at around 140mm-180mm. Another interesting feature of the Sony while I'm at it, is that EVERY lens you put on the camera is stabilized, which is to say that every picture you take is stabilized. The reason for this, is that Sony has implemented sensor-shift stabilization, which works great, however you won't see the effect of the stabilization until you take the shot which is a little unnerving to me as when the viewfinder blacks out I expect to see exactly what I expect as the result of my picture. If the sensor is still moving around to stabilize itself after you click the shutter, it is possible that what you intended to be in your frame may longer be there. The benefit is obvious however as you do not need to spend more money on a lens that has image stabilization, although we all know higher end lenses have more than just stabilization going for them.

As a side-note, I also was able to test out one of their entry level flashes the F42-AM, which was surprisingly powerful for the price and I was able to fire off a shot outside at 1/2000" and still have the flash show up on my image which was rather impressive for an entry-level system without needing to change things like sync-speed settings.

Last week I was in San Antonio for about 36 hours (long story) and had a chance to go outside for a bit and give the camera a real world spin. Below are a couple of the images I took at around 2PM-4PM on a nice sunny Texas afternoon to show off the dynamic range and image quality out of this model.

One new feature that works only 50% as advertised (but that 50% works great) is DRO+, or Dynamic Range Optimizer. What this mode is designed to do is automatically adjust your over and under exposed parts of your image to compress the dynamic range to bring out details in the shadows and control blown out highlights. In my experience with this, the a350 was able to hold its own against highlights, but it didn't seem to bring out any additional detail in shadows at all. This mode however if great for using in all sorts of outdoor environments, especially for getting better detail in bright white clouds (and there were some great ones last week in TX).

An example of some mushy details at around 180mm, not the sharpest feathers in the bunch, but still good for an entry-level lens

Apparently there was some sort of "chemical scare" at the courthouse...HAZMAT suits are never a good sign...

Had to throw this image in the mix. I used a timer and the F42-AM Sony flash bounced off the ceiling which remotely fired two SB-800's set in SU-4 mode. I was getting a lot of looks at the conference I was at because I was the only nut who would haul around 3 flashes for 1 camera (even more crazy since two of the flashes were from a different brand).

In conclusion:

Sony has built this camera from the ground up to appeal to NEW DSLR users. If you're currently a Nikon or Canon user, there is NO incentive for you to switch over or consider getting a Sony as a second system [you folks know who you are :) ]. However for a first time buyer, there are some great benefits to this system and Sony is showing no signs of slowing down the innovations they put out there. I doubt that Nikon or Canon would have EVER put live-view into their cameras if it wasn't for Sony or Olympus to do it first. This competition is good for us as photographers...it's what is giving us HD video in cameras like the D90 and 5D MrkII. If a friend or family member is looking into buying a camera and doesn't need/want a bunch of expensive and heavy f/2.8 glass, I wouldn't hesitate telling them to play around with a Sony and see how they like it. I'm not saying it's going to be the best for them, but it certainly is a viable alternative now and looks like Sony will just be pushing more and more to take more marketshare from Nikon and Canon.

Nikon SB-900 Review

Well I've been playing around with Nikon's latest Speedlite for the past few days, and it's definately got some great features and updates over it's predecessor the SB-800. I have two SB-800's that I've used fairly extensively on and off the camera, and originally thought there would be no reason for me to upgrade to the new flashes as I usually set my flashes manually and don't use the CLS system (more on that a little further down) as I prefer the capabilities of my Pocketwizards (more on that later too).

Some of the obvious changes with the new model is the size and the removal of the side carriage for a 5th AA battery as well as a new interface for controlling the flash on the back. The SB-800 had the 5th battery carriage as a way to keep the flash refreshing faster (meaning allowing you to use the flash again more quickly) and it really was necessary for anyone who needed to take more than 1 picture every 1-2 seconds (which is just about everyone, except maybe...no everyone needs that). The new SB-900 has completely new electronics inside which allowed Nikon to eliminate the 5th battery and still increase refresh time between flashes. This is great for me as I hated having to have so many extra batterys with me all the time and have three leftovers from a pack of eight instead of being able to use a pack of eight to power two whole flashes. The Nikon flashes also have always been a step above the Canon flash system in being able to quickly change settings and setting up a wireless link between the flashes for off-camera lighting. This new model puts a quantum leap between the two, usually very comparable brands. (Also: the SB-900 is still compatible with external battery packs, although I don't use them, and therefore can't comment if there have been any significant changes to the way this works...looks like the same port though)

The wireless system from Nikon is called CLS for: Creative Lighting System. The two primary reasons why off-camera lighting is important: 1) On camera flashes can cause red-eye in photos and 2) On-camera lighting usually looks very bland, and creates very flat shadows with no dimension to your images. The way CLS works is by having a "Master Unit", which can be a SB-800 or SB-900 or even a DSLR's built-in flash in the D80,D200, D300, or D700 and using several "slave units" which can be a SB-600,SB-800, or SB-900. The master unit sends out a pulse of light that tells the slave units how powerful they need to flash and when, which can be set manually from the master unit or can be set to TTL (through-the-lens) which means that the camera will automatically adjust each flash to what the camera thinks will give it a good exposure.

CLS is a great system for using off-camera flash, however has some severe limitations, such as requiring line of sight and having a somewhat limited range due to it being a infared system. Because of this limitation, I've always used a device called a Pocketwizard to remotely fire my flashes as this device is a RF (radio-frequency) triggering system than doesn't have the limitations of CLS. The downside of Pocketwizards however is that each flash must be set manually on the flash itself, so if after looking at my photo I decided I want a particular flash to be a bit more powerful and light up a little more of what I have it pointing at, I need to walk over to that flash and adjust it. I don't have to tell you that this could be a non-optional thing when shooting an important event that is underway, you can't just say "Hold on everybody! I need to adjust my flash!" While this would be fine in a studio type environment or a commercial shoot, a wedding or corporate event would not be the time to experiment and be running back and forth. The product that is out there as the 'best of both worlds' would be a product called a RadioPopper, although I have not actually tested one of those out personally.

I've always found the SB-800 interface to be great, really fast to change settings, and very intuitive (except when making the flash a master or slave...you have to hold down a button for a couple seconds...BUT WAIT! There's an instruction chart built right into the bounce card! AWESOME!). The crazy thing is that Nikon, when designing the SB-900 completely changed the entire layout and design of their old model and came up with a whole new way of accessing and changing those often needed settings. The cool part is that what they changed made a great system even better. Instead of having to hold down the center button for 2-3 seconds, all you have to do now if flip the power switch to the "master" or "slave" setting, and presto...you're on your way. Also they now have a much quicker "Canon-esque (see the SX-100/SX110 series)" click-wheel for going between power settings and adjustments on the fly as well as having individual buttons for each different component of the changes you need to make. One button dedicated for power adjustments, another button to adjust modes, another button to adjust wht your intended aperture will be and another button for the zoom on your flash.

For those of you who haven't used a Speedlite extensively, flashes can zoom just (well sorta) like a lens can. The new SB-900 has a range from 24mm-200mm, which means you can have a very wide spread on your beam to illuminate a whole group of people or create a great fill-light, or you can have a very narrow beam that's great for isolating a small portion of your image with a little splash of light to make that person or object jump right out of the picture. This increased range, when used with lighting modifiers such as snoots, umbrellas, softboxes and gridspots will allow you you keep light as loose and soft or as tight and hard as you want, which just opens up creative control all the more.

Also improved on the SB-900 is the filter holder. Anyone who has used a SB-800, knows how big of a pain it is to fit the included gels into the little hole to hold the gel in place when running around with the flash. The new gel holder actually is a separate piece which goes between the plastic over the flash tube and the diffusion dome, which allows it to be held in place much more securely and not hamper ease of use. I usually set most of my gear manually, so I have no hands-on experience with this, but according to what I've read, the code printed on the gel itself will tell your camera what to change your white balance to, however the second you want to get creative with color, I could imagine that become a big pain to go through and change everytime you change a gel.

Overall the SB-900 is a massive evolution of the SB-800 that is improved in every way except portability, as the SB-900 is quite a bit larger than its predecessor. The only problem I have had with it at all in the few weeks I've been using it, is during a wedding, it stopped firing as it became overheated because we were firing about 15 full-power shots in a row with virtually no wait between shots.

This caused a rapid build up of heat from the flash tube and the flash actually started beeping at me and wouldn't fire for a few minutes until it cooled down a bit. I discovered later I can turn off this built-in safety although it will still beep at you, it will allow you to continue burning the bulb out until you destroy your flash and need to drop another $500 for a new one...but I'd recommend listening when it starts complaining to you about the heat...

Get out there and start flashing! Photography wise I mean...

iPhone Firmware 2.1

This will be a very short post, as I have to get to sleep soon, so I can wake up in time for my flight tomorrow to San Antonio (I'll be there a whopping 36 hours). I downloaded the new iPhone firmware two Fridays ago (the day it was released...what can I say, I'm an early adopter...gotta have the latest) and it has fixed nearly all my little complaints about the new 3G iPhone (I have the first iPhone too, but I waited a full 24 hours after it came out to buy it).

Before:

You could watch you battery life drain down as you used GPS on the road

With 3G turned on, the phone could barely last a full day in my pocket with frequent mail updates and txt messages constantly streaming data (not to mention twitter)

Txting was painfully slow for the first few seconds (I discovered I could type three-four sentences before the phone would input the text I typed)

Safari crashed on a regular basis if I put the phone to sleep and tried to resume reading the webpage at a later time.

Now:

I can drive for over 3 hours using the GPS AND 3G with the phone using less than 25% of the battery life on my phone. Texting is rapid and speedy just like the 1st gen hardware and software. Improved signal strength at my house (the only place I didn't have 4-5 bars before). Safari has yet to crash since the past weekend and I've only had one app crash so far.

The long and short of this all is: If you have an iPhone or iPod Touch: DOWNLOAD IT NOW, your life will be better for it. (There have been a few people online who claim this update has caused problems for them, however this is a miniscule minority and are most likely just upset the iPhone still doesn't have cut and paste)

9/11

Today was the 7th anniversary of one of the most infamous days in recent US history, 9/11. It's hard to believe that it has been so long, when it seems it happened just last year. I was in Alexandria on 9/11/08 and took some photos of the ceremony they were having that day:

I promise to start working on things to blog about...

Wow, so I keep neglecting to update this page, but I'm going to start working on that. I'm going to try to have an update at least once a week from now on (fortunately I've got something cool going on at least once of a week for the next month or so, I'll just need to find time to write stuff here). I've been really busy with work lately and the only time I've had to type up anything recently has been for another project I'm working on.

UPDATE!!!

Well I have about 4 blog posts I'm working on right now, and hope to post 1-2 by this weekend and the the other 2 next week. I'm writing a review on my first two weeks of experience with the SB-900, a review on the Sony a350 (Sony's first real shot at a mainstream DSLR). Anyone interested in other product/equipment reviews? I've still yet to do any real reviews on most of the gear I own, probably should work on that I guess. Check back this weekend for the update!