NEW Sony DSLR's

[eravedesigns]

Hey everybody check out the sneak peak sony gave at PMA:

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/digital-cameras/pma-07-breaking-sony-alpha-flagship-first-pics-242663.php

http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/digital-...e-first-pics-of-high-amateur-model-242688.php

 

[oCyrus55]

I think it looks weird ha

By the way, I check gizmodo out all the time. I think its a great website

 

[ArmyOfNone]

Man, I just want anykind of DSLR:[.

Lol, but those do look nice, I wonder how much they'll cost.

 

[Ramesses]

Hi:

Personally, I would not touch anything that says Sony with a 10-foot pole. My experience with that brand has been horrid. Everything that I owned with a Sony name on it had to be thrown away. I know that it has a very good reputation but the following is a list of Sony products that went bad on me:

Sony Camcorder ($900.00!) It was the first small camcorder compared to the massive ones at the time and with super-8 tape. It went bad after 3 years and the repairs were incredibly high.

Sony Super-8 VCR – It stopped working after 3 years.

Sony 19” TV: It stopped working after 4 – 5 years. It cost me $100.00 to repair it and then packed up 6 months afterwards.

Sony 13” Stereo TV: It stopped working after 3 years. It replaced the 19” in my study.

Sony portable CD Player – Walkman. It lasted about a year.

The two little speakers that I purchased in Honk Kong also stopped working.

Sony cassette player – Walkman: I did not use it for a long time. That was it! It never worked again.

Sony alarm clock – CD player – Radio: I just threw it away because the CD stopped working. It was massive anyway.

The only thing that I owned from Sony that I still have is the portable radio, which is very good. What are the probabilities that one individual has a 90% (9 out of 10) failure rate with a product brand and just be bad luck or happenstance. I believe that I have better probabilities getting hit by lighting, in the middle of a hurricane, while I was chased by tornados during an earthquake.

Best regards,

Ramesses

 

[shorty6049]

wow , that is a bad experience.... i had a sony digital camera (cybershot somethin) and it worked well the whole time i had it. I had a sony H1 camera, and it worked well, except the shutter button stopped focusing when i pushed it half-way down, i sent it to be fixed (they make you pay to ship it to them) and about a week and a half later it came back, still broken) so i had to re-send it in . Now i have the alpha and it works good except for occasional card errors and the shutter button sticks down sometimes, so now i have to send it in to be repaired and be without a camera for a week or two. Overall, i suppose i like sony, but i wish they had better support for their products. and just to throw in my opinon, i think those cameras are mighty ugly... whats the deal with the big one with the huge pentaprism?? no built in fill flash?

 

[Don Simon]

Yikes that really is a bad experience... I've always had pretty good experiences when it comes to the actual design and build of thmir products; my 'issues' with them are more to do with the proprietary software they used for various products... which was sometimes atrocious. Personally I still have hopes for their SLR system, if they retained a lot of Konica-Minolta rather than just keeping the lens mount.

P.s. Shorty you are correct, no built in flash on the higher-end model. Some would actually consider this a good thing, IMO it's definitely not a bad thing. Built-in flashes are horrible, horrible things and most professional-grade cameras have tended not to include them (though oddly enough one exception was the Minolta Dynax 9). Personally I'm encouraged by this as it suggests Sony might be developing a really serious camera without gimmicks... just on an aesthetic level though I don't really like the 'angular-ness' of the pentaprism. Of course these are just initial models and the final products should be a lot more refined... if Sony can come up with a digital SLR as impressive as the Dynax 7D was (or even better the 7 and 9 film models) then a lot of people should be won over and I will be very tempted to consider them... if not then myself and many others will be wondering where all the money went.

If nothing else, some really high-end bodies might make it a little easier to understand why their lenses are so expensive...

 

[fmw]

I like the retro look of the prism housings. It reminds me of the original Nikon F and Nikkormat. I'll bet that 85mm f1.4 lens attached to it is a sweetie.

 

[shorty6049]

i never use my flash, but i feel like it would sure would come in handy if i were somewhere without an external flash and a photo opportunity arose... a crappy flash is better than no flash right?

 

[Don Simon]

a crappy flash is better than no flash right?

That's a matter of opinion
If you simply wanted a photographic record of something, for evidence, or maybe a snapshot which you don't plan to put in an album, sure the pop-up flash might ensure you get the image. But Sony are (I would say correctly) assuming that the target market for a really high-end model is unlikely to be carrying it around in case of a photo opportunity; more likely they will be setting up shots, using dedicated flash and fast lenses and probably would consider it better to not have a shot than to have one with terrible lighting from a pop-up flash.

 

[shorty6049]

yeah, i suppose, but then i guess i feel bad for those people who think its better to not even have a photo than take one with pop-up flash lighting... lets say, for example, you go to the beach, and you take pictures all day, no need for a flash, so you dont bring it, you leave it in the hotel room. Then right after the sun sets (which of course you would photograph because you know how nice the sunset is in mexico....) you go to dinner with your parents who happen to be celebrating their oh, say 50th wedding anneversary . you're in the resteraunt (which is ALWAYS poorly lighted) what do you do? tell them to "hold real still while i take a half second photo" ? I know thats one situation where, 1. I dont really need it to be perfect becasue i'm not going to try and sell it, and 2. That pop-up flash just helped me capture a moment. and it looks fine. no, its not fine art, but i'm sure your parents appreciate it.... but yea, like you said, its a matter of opinon. I just think it would be better to have both, and just have that option as a backup, than to not have it when you're desperate

 

[fmw]

i never use my flash, but i feel like it would sure would come in handy if i were somewhere without an external flash and a photo opportunity arose... a crappy flash is better than no flash right?

Not for me. If I have a choice between using on-camera flash or not getting the shot, I'll opt for not getting the shot.

 

[Don Simon]

shorty... but presumably if you knew you were going to the restaurant later you would bring the flash and possibly if you wanted a camera to carry around all day for that sort of personal use you might not choose to take a big heavy pro-level one. If it was no trouble to carry such a bulky dSLR surely it wouldn't be too much extra effort to carry a proper flash too? IMO that particular camera is being designed for those people who will be trying to sell the images they capture with it.

 

[Efergoh]

You mean follks actually leave the house without a camera and flash?

Barbarians!
Heretics!

 

[shorty6049]

yea... apparently i'm talking to the wrong crowd here... is there ANYONE here that agrees with me on this? I'd never buy it anyway i guess

 

[Don Simon]

I don't think you're talking to the wrong crowd... maybe just looking for the wrong things from this particular camera

I'd never buy it anyway either, at least not until another decade or so when the price drops. I don't need what a really top-level dSLR offers, not enough to justify the price anyway. Even if I could somehow afford the body I couldn't afford a decent selection of lenses, flashes and other accessories good enough to do it justice. What's more, it is very unlikely to be small and light enough to be the sort of camera I'd carry around all day in case of random photo opportunities. If I could afford the camera and could carry it around, then I could also afford and carry a dedicated flash. The A100 has the pop-up flash and the new 'mid-range' model will, because one would be much more likely to use them in those more personal situations. In other words, how often do you see people bring out a D2X or 1Ds for a shot of their family/friends in a restaurant?

I guess it's a case of what one expects from cameras and what one is used to. I have little experience with professional-level SLRs but am used to using old film SLRs and other cameras on which there is no pop-up flash, and I've never considered it that useful - I do find the built-in flashes on point-&-shoots useful, but with an SLR I have the options of a fast lens or high ISO which for me are a lot better than the pop-up. I'm not going to try and persuade you that a pop-up is inherently not useful because obviously you think it would be... but I don't think you'll have much luck persuading Sony to include it at this point