18th June 2009: Miss Boiler Room finals, at Boiler Room, below Breakers, in Desa Sri Hartamas. Unfortunately the iconic Hartamas Square, Breakers, Boiler Room, Coffee Bean and that club at the end which always changed, have been demolished.
The introductory stage.
Too many dudes getting in my way argh.
Casual wear, apparently.
In line.
The girl in focus does have a way of standing out of the crowd.
From the main stage to take another group picture.
Somehow, I do not find 1-piecers pretending to be 2-piecers appealing.
That is more like it.
Confidence is sexy.
Ah, how I wished I had a dSLR with Live View back then.
So I tried the Sony Alpha DSLR-A580 – the less famous cousin of the Sony Alpha SLT-A55V. Its sibling, the A560, was delayed to 2011. It has a real nice grip to it, with a nice embossed mode dial.
The firmware is interestingly, Version 1.11.
In the menu you can choose Contrast Detect AF or Phase Detect AF to be used in Focus Check Live View.
In the A550, it was called Manual Focus Check Live View. Now that the camera can focus in main-sensor Live View (which is what Manual Focus Check Live View is, really) it had to change its name.
Phase Detect requires that the mirror drop back down so it can direct light to the Phase Detect AF sensors in the bottom of the camera.
Contrast Detect just uses the main sensor Live View to focus, albeit a lot, lot slower. At least the mirror does not move.
I recorded a video to show this.
Yes, there is no autofocus in video! You cannot manually focus and get a focus confirmation either! (The A55 and its sibling, the A33, show focus confirmation because its phase detect AF sensors are still seeing the view.)
A lot has been improved or brought back, but in essence it’s still an old concept, based on the SLR idea. Translucent mirrors like on the SLT-A33 and SLT-A55, however, are an interesting way to tackle the limitations of the SLR focusing/viewing design!
After updating my NEX-5 to firmware v3, and my LA-EA1 A-mount to E-mount lens adapter to firmware v2, it could focus with SAM and SSM lenses, even when recording video!
I have to say, there were many things people were all waiting for with the firmware update; the customizable keys were one such great improvement. Here is what is different:
1) you can customize Soft Key B (bottom button)
2) you can customize Soft Key C (middle button) with 3 slots; you choose between slots by pressing the left and right keys
3) when you move the MF Assist position, and you enter MF Assist mode again, it remembers the position
4) you can choose to jump to the last item you accessed in the menu
5) you can scroll through the front and back of the menu list
6) you can now autofocus SAM, SSM and other in-lens-motor lenses (Sigma HSM, Tamron USD for example.)
7) you can set the aperture before recording a video (with E-mount and A-mount lenses) though you cannot change aperture while recording video
There were limits though – some options can be in Soft Key B but don’t show up in Soft Key C and vice versa. I’d like to have ISO for Soft Key B and MF Assist for Soft Key C – MF Assist in Soft Key B cannot be used with E-mount lenses. However, the firmware came with the best options out of the box, exactly how I would have planned it:
Soft Key B = MF Assist
Soft Key C Slot 1 = ISO
Soft Key C Slot 1 = White Balance
Soft Key C Slot 1 = DRO/Auto HDR
How the NEX-3/NEX-5 autofocuses with A-mount SAM/SSM lenses
And so after updating the firmware, I brought my A55 to compare it will all the Sony SAM and SSM lenses available in Sony Style KLCC. Unfortunately the Sony 300mm F2.8G SSM is not on display, and the Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM, Sony 35mm F1.8 DT SAM and Sony 85mm F2.8 SAM had not arrived in Malaysia as of time of recording this video.
NEX-5 v3 with LA-EA1 v2 with Sony SAM lenses
Contrast Detect Auto Focus test with the Sony Alpha NEX-5, firmware version 3, with the Sony LA-EA1 A-mount to E-mount lens adapter, firmware version 2, with Sony SAM lenses.
Tested with the following: Sony 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 DT SAM, Sony 28-75mm F2.8 SAM, Sony 30mm F2.8 DT SAM Macro, Sony 50mm F1.8 DT SAM, Sony 55-200mm F4-5.6 DT SAM (2).
NEX-5 v3 with LA-EA1 v2 with Sony SSM lenses
Contrast Detect Auto Focus test with the Sony Alpha NEX-5, firmware version 3, with the Sony LA-EA1 A-mount to E-mount lens adapter, firmware version 2, with Sony SSM lenses.
Tested with the following: Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM, Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM, Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM, Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6G SSM, Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6G SSM.
Sony SLT-A55 with Sony SAM lenses
Phase Detect Auto Focus test with the Sony Alpha SLT-A55, with Sony SAM lenses.
Tested with the following: Sony 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 DT SAM, Sony 28-75mm F2.8 SAM, Sony 30mm F2.8 DT SAM Macro, Sony 50mm F1.8 DT SAM, Sony 55-200mm F4-5.6 DT SAM (2).
Sony SLT-A55 autofocusing with Sony SSM lenses
Phase Detect Auto Focus test with the Sony Alpha SLT-A55, with Sony SSM lenses.
Tested with the following: Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM, Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM, Sony 70-200mm F2.8G SSM, Sony 70-300mm F4.5-5.6G SSM, Sony 70-400mm F4-5.6G SSM.
Sony SLT-A55 with ECM-CG50 shotgun mike comparison
Compared the Sony SLT-A55 with Minolta 24-50mm F4 (a screw-drive lens, sure to make a sound when focusing) and the ECM-CG50 shotgun mike in three situations;
1) using on-board mike
2) using ECM-CG50 shotgun mike
3) using ECM-CG50 shotgun mike with low cut filter on
The holder itself has rubber to form an isolation mount – this prevents vibrations from pressing the camera buttons, from reaching the mike. The iISO to ISO coldshoe adapter (it cannot work for flashes) is included in the package.
VERDICT?
We can observe certain things – for one, the average video length with the NEX-5/LA-EA1 combo with SAM lenses was 30 seconds (minus the introduction.)
The average video length with the NEX-5/LA-EA1 combo with SSM lenses was 20 seconds (minus the introduction.)
Meanwhile, the A55 videos clocked in at an average of 4 seconds (minus the introduction.)
These were all for 3 cycles, focusing close, then further, then close again. I had to adjust my shooting location to accomodate lenses that could not focus so close, like the telephoto lenses.
Contrast Detect AF, especially on the NEX-5/LA-EA1 with Sony 30mm F2.8 DT SAM Macro, was particularly loud! This was probably because the NEX-5/LA-EA1 decided to go all the way to minimum focus distance (MFD), then to infinity, then back, then to the focus point.
The camera tells the lens motor to go at full speed from MFD to infinity which causes that loud sound.
Compare this to Phase Detect AF, where the camera just tells the lens motor to go to the focus point (quite simply, because it only needs to look once to get it in approximate location.)
Contrast Detect AF also seems to be a lot faster with shorter focal lengths. The Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 ZA SSM in particular proved to be the fastest in both contrast detect and phase detect situations.
Contrast Detect AF also does much, much better with brighter lenses.
The NEX-3/NEX-5 has another handicap – you cannot set the AF point to be fixed on the center; it will always go into Wide Area AF whenever it records video. The A33/A55 lets you change AF points even when recording video!
10th June 2010 was Moonshine: A Homemade Music Show, down at Laundry Bar.
This is Slowjaxx!
His wife and son! (This was a focus-stacked shot.)
Into the void.
This is the happy jazzy Bedroom Sanctuary.
Funky happy bandmates! They did a cover of Nirvana – Lithium and a most excellent cover of Daft Punk – Something About Us (if there is one song I could ask them to cover this would be it.)
The return of singer-songwriter Ariff Akhir!
Among the originals they also did a cover of Rolling Stones – Spider And The Fly and Pink Floyd – Wish You Were Here.
135mm F1.8 1/6s ISO3200 – only because I don’t have a better caption.
Left: White Sony NEX-3 with Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake lens and Sony VCL-ECF1 diagonal fisheye converter; right: Sony SLT-A33 with Sony 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 DT SAM.
The A33 is decently small enough that if you were to use the NEX-3 or NEX-5 with LA-EA1 lens adapter (to mount A-mount lenses on the NEX-3/NEX-5/NEX-VG10) you’d probably not gain much in compactness!
Left: Sony Handycam NEX-VG10 with Sony E 16mm F2.8 pancake lens; right: I think this is the Sony Handycam CX-550.
You can change aperture, shutter speed etc. while recording video… though I am not sure how often I would quickly rack through (Aperture Priority or Shutter Priority would be far more convenient, as when you’re recording video, you don’t want to see your exposure suddenly dip while you change aperture and then shutter speed.)
The VG10 is obviously missing a button on its handlebar to activate recording.
Nice to see other brands being mentioned and acknowledged in a Sony Style shop!
So I tried the A33 in more detail, and found that:
If you want to record video with AF, the aperture stays at F3.5 (even if you have a F1.4 lens on – of course if you put a F5.6 lens, it will go to F5.6) but if you switch to manual focus, you can change aperture before recording.
However, manual focus is not that bad, as I just discovered – when in manual focus with a lens that has a chip (any standard AF lens) you get focus confirm during video recording! That means the green dot in the bottom-left corner, and the AF point selected lights up with a green box.
Thankfully, the focus confirm does not come with a beep when recording video!
This works until an aperture of F6.3 (thanks Clive Ngu for checking with his unit, after I forgot to test this.) That means if you set it to F8 and manual focus, you won’t get the focus confirm dot and AF point light up.
Manual focus with unchipped lenses unfortunately, do not get focus confirmation.
You can magnify your view when focusing with an unchipped lens using the Delete button (but the option must be enabled in menu.)
Focusing with the traditionally problematic Minolta 50mm F1.4 was great even at long distances. Thank goodness for that since nobody knows how to fix backfocus if it happens on these new A33/A55 cameras!
And here’s a video of the A33 with a Sony Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 24-70mm F2.8 SSM ZA, following a salesman around Sony Style at what I would call ‘rapid walkthrough’ speed. It is faster than what normal documentary work and proper videography would allow, but also a simulation of how an entry-level customer would shoot video. SteadyShot was turned on for this.
