This is my friend, Ein. He is prone to uh, thrashing his camera equipment.

The cause? Crocs. Crocs on muddy ground, at the National Zoo. Don’t wear Crocs on unstable surfaces no matter how comfy they may seem!

The damage? His Sony A100 had its mount ripped off…

…while the lens on it, the Minolta 70-210mm F4 beercan, survived.

Bad dents everywhere.

The other time I hung out with him, his car got a flat tire.

Nevertheless, he’s got a cool car with an NGV tank. Forget the increasing petrol prices, fight the blues by going for natural gas!

More camera geeking time! Here’s the Canon 24-105mm F4L IS USM (with a filter thread size of 77mm) next to the Minolta 24-105mm F3.5-4.5 (D) (with a filter thread size of 62mm). The Minolta then got rebadged as a Sony while retaining the same size.

As you can see, in-lens image stabilization, an ultrasonic motor and a constant brightest aperture take its toll on the size of the lens.

A rare 100mm F1.5 lens.

The output. Not quite optimized yet.

The Canon Speedlite 270EX next to the Sony HVL-F20AM.

It’s a fair bit primitive compared to the Sony – there’s an On/Off switch where on the Sony, just flipping it up turns it on. It’s also bigger. At least both do bounce.

What happens when you put an opaque plastic sheet behind a lens?

You get… an image!

This is the same concept that Khai used to make his SLR-depth-of-field-wielding video camera. Back before video-recording dSLRs were the rage.

The Lomography Spinner 360°.

KLCC, through my Peleng 8mm F3.5 M42 circular fisheye.

Rosly, through my Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA.

This same lens had a rattling sound in the back, so I sent it in and got the rear part changed for free under warranty. The logo was also replaced – its paint was easily chipped!

Me, through a Sigma 30mm F1.4 EX DC, with an F-mount to E-mount adapter on my Sony NEX-5. Thanks Ijan for this shot!

Zoey through the same setup.

I don’t remember how to get to this secret menu in the HVL-F58AM.

This is why I am not a fan of the Tamron 90mm F2.8 Macro optically.

Too much brightline bokeh and sharp donuts.

People have always complained about the Sony A100 being noisy at ISO1600. Well it really is because the A100 (like all Alphas) are prone to underexposing when there are bright lights in the picture, like so.

When I spot metered on his face, everything was correctly exposed. This is an unedited JPG from the camera, also at ISO1600!

Left column: KJ’s A700’s mirror dropped out when its mirror retainer clip broke.
Right column: My A900’s mirror dropped out when its glue gave way.

Both incidents happened after more than a year of heavy usage. I am glad that mine was still under warranty though!

Left to right: Sony HVL-F58AM, Sony HVL-F56AM, Sony HVL-F43AM, Sony HVL-F42AM, Sony HVL-F20AM. Only flash missing was the Sony HVL-F36AM!

My mirrorless, interchangeable lens, interchangeable mount, infrared-modded Fujifilm Q1 Digital!

The Opteka 85mm F1.4 is sometimes a hassle when it can only focus to 1 meter close. Reversing the lens however fixes this!

Two Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG lenses!

This is how I usually judge the viewfinder size, by putting them to one eye each.

Speaking of viewfinders, here is a beautiful viewfinder, from the Nikon F6! Note that the viewfinder is a custom one, as the regular F6 is an AF camera and thus does not come with a split prism viewfinder.

This is the only Nikon film SLR still made by Nikon. It has a very clean back!

Another rarity – a Contax G1, an auto-focusing film rangefinder camera!

The Sony Survival Kit did not survive one day with my heavy gear in it. Here, the hand strap broke. 🙁

Who says professional cameras do not have pop-up flashes? Here’s the Hasselblad H4D-50! This picture was also taken with a pop-up flash.

This camera was used to take some shots from here: Hair Hair

This is why I like the Sony 50mm F1.8 DT SAM – optically, it is more contrasty wide open and has much cleaner bokeh than the…

…Sony 50mm F1.4. Note how the Sony (as well as its predecessor the Minolta 50mm F1.4) draws the out-of-focus highlights – with a harsh border. This is known as brightline bokeh.

The only benefit then that the Sony/Minolta 50mm F1.4 offers, is that it allows a full-frame angle of view while the Sony 50mm F1.8 DT SAM does not. Both shots were taken at the same distance on the A900.

Random geeking time again! Here’s the Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4.0 EX at 17mm F16 on the A900.

smashpOp and Rames behind, from left to right:
Minolta 50mm F1.7 Original, Sony 11-18mm F4.5-5.6 DT, Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4.0 EX, Sony 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DT, Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA, Nikkor AF-S 24-70mm F2.8G.

My broken Sigma 70-210mm F4.0-5.6 “defocus uncontrolled” at 120mm F4.5 on the A900.

Suanie‘s finger becomes bokeh through my Zeiss 135mm F1.8 on the A900. 😀

Through the Sigma 12-24mm F4.5-5.6 EX DG on my A900, the widest rectilinear lens there is.

Sniping through the Sony 70-400mm F4.0-5.6G SSM and a 1.5x and 2.0x teleconverter.

What 400mm looks like on the A900.

Another very compressed perspective from the same setup.

70mm F4.0. 70mm on full-frame is very handy for shots that are just too close to you.

A rare classic – the Tamron 28-105mm F2.8, on my Minolta Dynax 7.

Speaking of which, a lens adapter mishap caused my Dynax 7’s pins to short, with the plastic melting – so it was sunken. I now have to tape over the 3 left-most SSM/ADI pins in order to use 8 pin lenses (albeit, as 5-pin lenses.)

The Minolta MC Rokkor-PG 58mm F1.2 on the A200 makes out to be a very sweet 85mm-equivalent portrait lens.

The owner, through said lens at F1.2 on the A900.

The Industar 61 L/Z 50mm F2.8 M42 lens that I once had, on the A700.

This is what happens when you aren’t careful when swapping lenses. Fortunately there was a filter!

This is what was shot.

The beautiful Minolta 35mm F1.4 Original, before it had the G designation. I had to saw off the filter ring so it would loosen.

Left: Sigma 17-35mm F2.8-4.0 EX, flare-ful.
Right: Sony 18-70mm F3.5-5.6 DT, amazing with flare!

Carl Zeiss Flektogon 35mm F2.4 MC DDR, an M42 lens, on my A700, provided great closeup capability and a natural angle of view.

Jason through the Zeiss 135mm F1.8 and A900 combo, from one floor above.

Or was it two?

I discovered a bit late that the Soligor 70-220mm F3.5 OM-mount lens that I had, could focus very, very close for a telephoto. Here it is in the hands of its buyer.

Though there is nothing like the Sigma 17-70mm F2.8-4.5 EX DC Macro. Here’s Iqbal focusing on Mike.

Here’s the Minolta 70-210mm F4 “beercan” at 210mm, with a 50mm lens reversed, on the A700. This gives a magnification of 210:50 or 4.2:1x!

This image is 5.5mm wide. The A700 sensor is 23.5mm wide, so the magnification is around 23.5:5.5 or 4.2x.

Iwan’s infrared and visible light-modded Sony A200. Its infrared-blocking filter had been removed.

One good use of an Apple Power Mac wrapping – a softbox that you can fold and carry anywhere! Here it is taped to a Nikon SB-900.

I then used my Canon Powershot A520 to trigger it in SU-4 mode.

The Sigma 24mm F1.8 EX DG through the A900. Sharp and detailed wide open, I’d say!

I was at the Sony Alpha SLT-A77, SLT-A65 and NEX-5N launch in Malaysia on the 24th of August 2011. This entry covers the Sony Alpha NEX E-mount system.

The lens on the left is the Sony E 30mm F3.5 Macro 1:1.

I did not get to test it in better lighting. Here it is, a JPG from the new Sony Alpha NEX-5N, brightened in Photoshop.

The NEX-7 was under a glass chamber so we could not try it. 🙁

Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA, at F1.8.

Why is it called a ZA lens anyway, when it is not an A-mount lens?

Sony E 50mm F1.8 OSS, at F1.8.

Also with the 50mm. Interestingly it is the shortest F1.8 in-lens stabilized prime (the Canon 200mm F1.8 L IS USM is on the other end.)

Left to right: HVL-F7S, HVL-F20S, HVL-F20AM. Pardon the flash gel on the F20AM!

This is what it looks like on the camera. It has a wide/tele switch on one end and a bounce/forward switch on the other. The wide-angle panel does not get in position when in bounce mode, a clever design brought from the HVL-F20AM.

The lens is the Sony E Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 24mm F1.8. It is smaller than pictures say and quite pocketable! It has this nice rangefinder lens look.

Shot with the HVL-F20S. It can brighten half a hall!

Shot at 210mm so you get the idea how far away the flash works. The HVL-F20S gives a guide number of 20 meters at ISO100, telephoto position (50mm). Best of all, it is already compatible with my NEX-5!

This is shot with the Sony E 55-210mm F4.5-6.3 OSS, by the way, at 210mm. It’s 1/3rd of a stop darker at both ends compared to the Sony 55-200mm F4.0-5.6 DT, and focuses 5cm further at 100cm minimum focus distance (where the A-mount version does 95cm.)

The Sony 50mm F1.8 DT SAM focuses to 34cm close, while the Sony E 50mm F1.8 OSS focuses to 39cm close. Another loss there. Fortunately the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA focuses to 16cm close, better than the Sony Carl Zeiss Distagon T* 24mm F2.0 ZA SSM at 19cm close.

The 55-210mm is rather handsome. A nice touch is that all the lenses have 49mm filter threads, except the Sony E 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 Active OSS!

The FDA-EV1S is an electronic viewfinder that only fits on the NEX-5N. Why?

They blocked it off by adding a screw under the FDA-EV1S so it would not mount on my NEX-5! That said, even if it could, it would not be compatible as it uses the new Smart Accessory Terminal 2.

The NEX-5N has an extra hole for the screw.

The new LA-EA2 Translucent Mirror Technology SLT A-mount to E-mount adapter, also isn’t compatible with my NEX-5 (yet). On the left, it shows no aperture reading, and does not autofocus. A future firmware update will allow the NEX-5 (and probably the NEX-3) to use the LA-EA2 to autofocus.

I am very excited about this – the ability to use phase detect on a mirrorless camera is awesome! The ability to add a mirror to a mirrorless camera is even cooler.

Left: The Sony E 50mm F1.8 OSS and Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* E 24mm F1.8 ZA both have their apertures wide open when not mounted on a camera, which is the opposite from all other E-mount and A-mount lenses.
Right: The mirror is upside down. Why wasn’t it that way on the A55 to begin with? This would avoid dust from landing on the mirror!

Left to right, top to bottom:
– The NEX-5N loses out by not being able to customize the Left action of the D-pad. The NEX-C3 had such ability.
– Lens corrections are abundant even in the NEX-5N!
– Wow, AF Microadjust! I can only hope this is there because of the LA-EA2 adapter, and I also hope they’ll put this in the new NEX-5 firmware.
– Version 1.0 but is really not the final version.
– Live View Display “Setting Effect OFF” allows auto-gain when using the NEX-5N in a studio. Though I don’t see how it would trigger a studio light other than the pop-up flash!
– Front Curtain Shutter On allows for much smaller shutter lag.
– LCD Brightness can be set to Sunny Weather – strangely, it was missing from the unfinalized SLT-A77 unit I tried, though my SLT-A55 has it.
– Object Tracking is real cool.
– ISO25600, better than the SLT-A77. Presumably allowed because it’s mirrorless.

More reading here:
A77/A65/NEX-5N Launch, Part 1

I was at the Sony Alpha SLT-A77, SLT-A65 and NEX-5N launch in Malaysia on the 24th of August 2011. I will skip the obvious facts that you can get from any review, and answer more specific questions.

Bear in mind that the firmware on these cameras are not finalized and are subject to change. Also, for the same reason, I will not be showing any noise samples (besides, I didn’t bother to make noise samples.)

Top left: The A77’s pop-up flash doesn’t get in the way of a regular Sony HVL-F43AM flash. I forgot to see if it would fire both.
Top right: Proper camwhore tilt angle!
Bottom left: All white balance settings can now have an Amber-Blue and Green-Magenta bias dialled in. This is handy for Auto WB when you want it to be just a bit greener or colder!
Bottom right: Again they left out the magnification factor (since the A550 if I remember.)

Also, good news – there is no flash lag on the A77! I experienced horrible flash latency with the A55.

Even more good news – the A77 is able to use the HVL-F43AM (and therefore, the HVL-F58AM, but not tested) to trigger off-camera flashes!

Another niggle from the A55 was that it could not record long videos due to overheating – the A77 fixes this by using electronic stabilization when recording video, which means it crops the sensor and moves this crop about.

They fixed everything except the buffer, making it last less long.

The Sony 16-50mm F2.8 DT SSM on the Alpha 900, with the lens release button pressed, has vignetting at 16mm…

…as well as 50mm. The vignetting happens throughout.

Non-camera models.

Me and Meng Keat’s Minolta 300mm F4 G HS APO.

Left: The A77 has a top LCD. They really listened to every whiner there was! I don’t need one and it’s funny how this is supposed to be a modern camera with an electronic viewfinder – I would think that a fan of top LCDs would also prefer optical viewfinders…
Right: Top LCD with the light on. Here the white balance is set to Amber +7 Green +7, and that is as far as it will go.

The smaller, cheaper, less-highly-specced SLT-A65.

Yeah, the back is pretty much like the A55, but the ISO button moved to the top, near the shutter.

Left to right, top to bottom:
– AF Microadjustment!
– Live View Display Setting Effect OFF lets the A77 auto-gain when you are shooting in a studio and using a flash adapter, PC Sync cable or trigger that the camera does not recognize as a flash. This was notably missing from the A33/A55.
– Pressing the Smart Teleconverter when shooting RAW or RAW+JPG is still not allowed.
– The 3-zone autofocus mode is nifty!
– Auto ISO lets you choose exactly what the lowest and highest ISO will be. Too freakin’ sweet!
– When setting the Kelvin White Balance, you can press Down from 2500K to go to 9900K. It also wraps the other way around.
– Half-pressing when Auto ISO is on, shows you what sensitivity that Auto ISO has selected!
– Exposure goes up to +5 and -5, on screen.
– It shows, obviously, on the LCD as well.

Left to right, top to bottom:
– You can really tweak the ^%(*& out of your buttons. I honestly don’t use AEL since the EVF already tells you your exposure, so I could change it.
– Spot Meter AEL Toggle is back as expected on a 7-series camera!
– Maybe I’d bind it to Object Tracking, a cool new feature where you aim the center at the subject and it follows as you reframe.
– You can rebind the ISO button, the Preview button, and the Focus Hold button. If Auto ISO is good enough for you (and it is!) then you can rebind the ISO button as well!
– White Balance now includes a few flourescent options!
– Smart Teleconverter takes a crop but only if you shoot JPG – RAW shooters may prefer to bind it to Focus Magnifier.
– Front Curtain Shutter reduces shutter lag.
– I forgot to test what the Shot Result Preview means.
– Peaking Level! This was included in the NEX-5 firmware v4.0 but not in the A55 firmware v2.0.

Hmmm I forgot to try to set the rear dial to change EV, as how I set up my cameras in Aperture Priority.

And now, for a test of the A77’s 24.3 megapixel sensor. I used the pop-up flash to trigger 2 HVL-F43AM flashes from both sides in classic butterfly lighting. The Sony 16-50mm F2.8 DT SSM was used at the 50mm end, at F8 ISO100 1/200s.

Click here for the original JPG out-of-camera.

This is a 100% crop from the JPG. Yes that is 24 megapixels alright, just like I am used to, from my A900. The color is all there, too, and it’s not mushed into brown ala Nikon nor detuned in reds ala Canon.

Another 100% crop. Again, fantastic color separation – you can see the difference in the color tones of the upper and lower lip.

More tomorrow, specifically about the Alpha NEX line. 🙂

This is my colleague Calvin. This picture is one of many reasons why I love my Sony Alpha 900, and its 24 megapixels, and the Sony color.

Click here for the full-resolution, unedited, uncompressed JPG for pixel-peeping pleasure.

Oh heck I’ll just get to the pixel-peeping with 100% crops. Notice that the skin is not one color tone. It has many different colors, beige near the ear, slight orange below the cheek, pink near the nose and a faint red on old scars.

Or we could just look at fabric. The RAW conversion should look even more detailed, but since I’m on the topic of JPGs…

A 100% crop of the forehead. Not only do you see the hair, you see the pores! And around those pores you see red, with beige skin around it.

So yeah, Sony’s fantastic color separation lets you have different color tones all so closely apart. It doesn’t smudge the colors into a flat slab of brown like Nikon does (in order to get good noise performance) and it doesn’t desaturate the reds to hide all the color detail (like Canon does).

And of course, the lens used, my favorite Zeiss – the Sony Carl Zeiss Sonnar T* 135mm F1.8 ZA!

Random shots, from my Cokin P-series holder, P121 M 3-stop Graduated Neutral Density filter, and P113 +3 Split Field filter.

The Split Field is rarely understood, being a close-up filter sliced exactly in half, so you can focus on objects close to you in one half of the frame, and far-away objects in the other half.

Like so.

Unfortunately it works best with objects that go across the frame, or else you’d have unnatural bokeh nearby.

The 3-stop GND however is one of the most commonly-used filters, and a good reason alone to buy rectangular filters instead of circular, screw-on ones. Here, the GND is oriented with the ND part on the top.

Another one. You wouldn’t be able to get a even exposure otherwise.

The holder I bought holds 3 Cokin filters – so I could combine filters by putting them in different slots.

Finally, just the GND.