{"id":1370,"date":"2010-01-06T02:29:25","date_gmt":"2010-01-06T02:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1370"},"modified":"2010-01-06T02:29:25","modified_gmt":"2010-01-06T02:29:25","slug":"on-the-45","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/?p=1370","title":{"rendered":"On the 45"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nSurprise, or not, the Sony Alpha 450!<\/p>\n

It’s quite like the A550, but:<\/p>\n

– No Quick AF Live View.
\n– viewfinder has improved from 0.8x 95% to 0.83x 95%.
\n– LCD screen has shrunk from 3″ 640×480 LCD to 2.7″ 320×240 LCD.
\n– No Smart Teleconverter function (because there is no Quick AF Live View… but I honestly like the Smart Teleconverter function.)
\n– Eye-Start AF sensor has been moved above the viewfinder (a first for any Alpha.)<\/p>\n


\n(Obvious where this picture comes from. I could not find it on http:\/\/presscentre.sony.eu\/content\/detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=5395<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

If you check the EXIF on the pictures on that site, the A450 has existed at least since 13th October 2009!<\/p>\n

Notice that it is now called “MF CHECK LIVEVIEW” because there is space; on the A500\/A550 it is spelled “MF CHECK LV”.<\/p>\n


\nAs comparison here’s the A550 top.<\/p>\n


\nI’m not quite sure why they needed to move the Eye-Start AF sensor above. However, it does decrease the distance from eye level to lens level, which does cause a minor parallax between what you see and what you see when you look through the viewfinder. The benefit is a slightly higher viewpoint in normal position… but a downside if using the camera upside-down to gain a boost in viewpoint.<\/p>\n

It looks like it will use the same VG-B50AM as the A500\/A550, which is good news.<\/p>\n

On the plus side, all the great new additions of the A550 are in – the fantastic AutoHDR, 7 FPS Speed Priority, Dynamic Range Optimizer up to Level 5, MF Check Live View.<\/p>\n

This is indeed, the upgrade for the A200, as the A550 was to the A350 and the A500 to the A300. (The A230\/A330\/A380 can be seen as retooled deviants.)<\/p>\n

However, I am not in the market for an A450; the A550 is far more appealing as a fun, freehand dSLR which I can use in Quick AF Live View all the time. Having only MF Check LV is not great for over-the-head shots when you still need to manually focus! The A550 appeals as a backup to my A900 because it also gives me 7 FPS and a swivel screen.<\/p>\n

Now that it is obvious that Sony does things in threes, could there be an A800? What could a possible A800 take out from the A850? Could it remove Intelligent Preview from the DOF button and add MF Check LV?<\/p>\n

In other news, Canon has released the Canon 70-200mm F2.8L II IS USM; the major change being that the minimum focus distance is 1.2 meters instead of 1.4 meters. Finally! 7 years after the Minolta 70-200mm F2.8G SSM did 1.2 meters! (And the new Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm F2.8 VR II still does 1.4 meters.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Surprise, or not, the Sony Alpha 450! It’s quite like the A550, but: – No Quick AF Live View. – viewfinder has improved from 0.8x 95% to 0.83x 95%. – LCD screen has shrunk from 3″ 640×480 LCD to 2.7″ 320×240 LCD. – No Smart Teleconverter function (because there is no Quick AF Live View… […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1370","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-geek","category-pictures"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1370"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1370\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1370"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1370"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glaringnotebook.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1370"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}