Is there a future for SLT?

[prodigy2k7]

I prefer glass. A real optical viewfinder. I have perfect vision and until LCD Look REAL I won't e getting one.

 

[unpopular]

This thread was supposed to be about Sony and the SLT, not EVFs

 

[prodigy2k7]

Doesn't the slt have an evf? Maybe I'm wrong.

 

[unpopular]

yes. but what does that have to do with anything?

oh never mind.

 

[JoshuaSimPhotography]

I mean, hey, they ARE making money. And people will continue to buy this not even knowing it IS not an actual DSLR. And this has also boosted Sony's reputation. So my verdict is yes IMO

 

[cosmonaut]

I think the Sony hot shoe is a lame excuse it's not like I could enter change my Sony and Nikon flashes even if they did fit. As is it keeps me from putting one on the other by mistake. The memory card thing is another lame excuse as my a850 takes CF cards and any I put in it. The a77 takes a standard SD. But my Nikon D800 will not work with some of my older slow CF cards.
As far as tha SLT I am not sure how interested I would be in a full frame with a EVF. Unless there are lots of improvements. The EVF will show you the shot as it will be exposed but fails this with long exposures or when using a flash. If I were a fashion, portrait or sports shooter and shot 1000s of pictures I would find the EVF and it flickering between shots very annoying. As time goes on I find the EVF kind of gimmicky. I know my cameras well enough to expose a shot without a viewfinder preview. I still prefer a SLR but really like articulating screens. To bad the D800s does swivel. I know it off subject but the N1 thing to for price paid for image quality is the thing with me. Anything out there will beat it. But I read the CF was unreal.

 

[unpopular]

The minolta shoe argument isn't here nor there, and wasn't that big of an issue until people were out looking for some reason to dislike Sony.

OTOH, aside from being easier and faster to mount and unmount (which has never been a real world issue) the Minolta shoe I don't think is a good thing, and neither does Sony. The a99 is said to have a standard ISO shoe, as does it appear the NEX-6.

 

[TCampbell]

I think the Sony hot shoe is a lame excuse it's not like I could enter change my Sony and Nikon flashes even if they did fit.

Actually... you could. You can, for example, mount a Canon flash on a Nikon, or a Pentax, etc. but the catch is you'd have to use the flash in "manual" mode (no E-TTL or iTTL, etc.) That's because the industry-standard for the hot-shoe design is that the electrical contacts that matter are the ground plate of the foot (sometime the foot is plastic in which case they usually put a metal contact on it so that it conducts the signal into the metal "shoe" on the camera body) and the center pen. When you close the circuit between the center pen and the ground plate, the flash will fire manually.

The rest of the pins control the added features of the flash. For example... the original "automatic" modes merely told the camera to set a specific f-stop and that was it. Internal to the flash was a sensor that measured the reflected light and killed the light as soon as enough reflection had been received. It worked, it was automatic, but it was also easy to fool. The industry went through several iterations that improved automatic flash to arrive at the systems we have today. BUT... most studio flashes are still manual.

So if you want to use a wireless radio flash trigger (Pocket Wizard, etc.) you can get these for Canon & Nikon... but as far as I know, you can't get one for Sony.
[/QUOTE]

 

[unpopular]

Pocket Wizard is a pretty limited market. You can use Sony/Minolta compatible Wireless TTL speed lights. Every Sony DSLR has wireless TTL. This Minolta feature seems to be something people forget.

That pretty much leaves TTL-compatable monos, which seems kind of silly to me, honestly.

 

[kassad]

I think the Sony hot shoe is a lame excuse it's not like I could enter change my Sony and Nikon flashes even if they did fit.

Actually... you could. You can, for example, mount a Canon flash on a Nikon, or a Pentax, etc. but the catch is you'd have to use the flash in "manual" mode (no E-TTL or iTTL, etc.) That's because the industry-standard for the hot-shoe design is that the electrical contacts that matter are the ground plate of the foot (sometime the foot is plastic in which case they usually put a metal contact on it so that it conducts the signal into the metal "shoe" on the camera body) and the center pen. When you close the circuit between the center pen and the ground plate, the flash will fire manually.

The rest of the pins control the added features of the flash. For example... the original "automatic" modes merely told the camera to set a specific f-stop and that was it. Internal to the flash was a sensor that measured the reflected light and killed the light as soon as enough reflection had been received. It worked, it was automatic, but it was also easy to fool. The industry went through several iterations that improved automatic flash to arrive at the systems we have today. BUT... most studio flashes are still manual.

So if you want to use a wireless radio flash trigger (Pocket Wizard, etc.) you can get these for Canon & Nikon... but as far as I know, you can't get one for Sony.

[/QUOTE]

You can get wireless radio triggers for the sony mount. Not the TTL pocket wizards but many of the other triggers are available in the Minolta mount. As far as the pin configuration your absolutely right. Every manufacturer has uniques falsh mounts. Sure you can mount a Canon flash on a Nikon camera, but why would you want to? You can do the same thing with a sony with an inexpensive adapater. But again why would you want to? I can see using a different brand as an off camera flash in manual mode and this is easy to with the existing radio triggers for the Minolta mount.

Interestingly, it appears Sony is dropping the Minolta mount in favor for the ISO shoe.


As far as SLT I see know real advantage for it over a purely mirrorless design now that af sensors can be on the image sensor. I see the larger SLR form factor sticking around but I don't see any long term advantage of maintaining the SLT design.

 

[skieur]

EVF's still have a lag time and some other display issues. The lag prohibits the EVF from showing burst mode sequences in real time.

EVF technology has a ways to go yet, and cost may continue to be an issue. It is said Sony subsidizes the cost of it's SLT cameras.

All cameras including DSLRs have a lag time, but really how often does the average shooter need to use 12 frames per second?

skieur

 

[skieur]

I think the Sony hot shoe is a lame excuse it's not like I could enter change my Sony and Nikon flashes even if they did fit.

Actually... you could. You can, for example, mount a Canon flash on a Nikon, or a Pentax, etc. but the catch is you'd have to use the flash in "manual" mode (no E-TTL or iTTL, etc.) That's because the industry-standard for the hot-shoe design is that the electrical contacts that matter are the ground plate of the foot (sometime the foot is plastic in which case they usually put a metal contact on it so that it conducts the signal into the metal "shoe" on the camera body) and the center pen. When you close the circuit between the center pen and the ground plate, the flash will fire manually.

The rest of the pins control the added features of the flash. For example... the original "automatic" modes merely told the camera to set a specific f-stop and that was it. Internal to the flash was a sensor that measured the reflected light and killed the light as soon as enough reflection had been received. It worked, it was automatic, but it was also easy to fool. The industry went through several iterations that improved automatic flash to arrive at the systems we have today. BUT... most studio flashes are still manual.

So if you want to use a wireless radio flash trigger (Pocket Wizard, etc.) you can get these for Canon & Nikon... but as far as I know, you can't get one for Sony.

[/QUOTE]

Why would you need a wireless radio flash trigger, since the SLTs seem to operate a wireless flash anywhere off the camera?

skieur

 

[ConradM]

I think if other Sony Alpha users are as happy with the product as I am it will have a future. I can't ever see myself switching brands because I'm just won over by the tech in the Alpha line. Sony needs to launch an aggressive marketing campaign showing the benefits of SLT for new or aspiring photogs.

I recently convinced an old friend of mine to try the Sony A57 after she broke her D3000. She was incredibly skeptical but now she's in love with Alphas just like I am.

 

[skieur]

From Sunpak or Metz? Wireless or not?

The minolta shoe is kinda annoying. But Sony is abandoning it for the ISO shoe.

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Why is it that anyone ever mentions "Sony" there is always this "Sony sucks because ..." argument? I don't care about what people think about Sony, what I am wondering is if the SLT and Alpha mount has a future.

Does it really matter? If the SLT gives you shooting advantages over those with an SLR such as quieter shutter, slower shutterspeeds, built in panorama and HDR modes, real time effects, 100% accuracy, etc., then use those advantages successfully for as long as possible.

skieur

 

[Kolia]

This thread was supposed to be about Sony and the SLT, not EVFs

It sounds more like what you're asking is "Is the DSLR like form format has a future ?"

SLR, SLT or Mirror Less, these don't matter as much as how you handle the camera and access it's functions. A NEX is nice but not as functional as a DSLR body.