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Sony Announces 28-75mm f2.8 and 30mm f2.8 Macro

alpha-30mm-macroKicking off a veritable slew of Sony announcements today we have two new lenses. The first is their consumer-grade, and it specs out as a 30mm macro with a maximum aperture of f2.8. It’s “SAM”, which means it has the ‘smooth action motor’. In real-people terms, it means it uses a built-in ring-type motor for faster and quiet auto-focus over the older SAL designated lenses. I’m pretty sure the “DT” designation on this means that it’s for crop-frame sensors (A100, A200, A230, A300, A330, A350, A380, A500, A550, A700).

alpha-28-75

The other, and arguably more exciting, lens is the new 28-75mm f2.8 constant full-frame lens, adding to their full-frame line-up (as well as the other item announced today that I’ll be covering). This lens is also a SAM, so there we go. Things are indicating it will be available in November, should you desire to pre-order one just give us a call at 1-800-726-5544 and you can be right up there on our waitlist.



Sony Announces New DSLRS, Tries to Find Bottom of Market

Sony, Sony, Sony. I gotta say, whatever animosity I hold against Sony after their RIAA-inspired DRM nonsense and their dissolution of Aiwa right before the sexiest executive bookshelf stereo ever was going to come out, well, it’s mostly all forgiven with their DSLR line.

A330

A330

While I was lounging around my apartment this weekend with the girlfriend they were busy announcing three new consumer DSLRs, doing an across-the-board upgrade to their consumer line (kinda the opposite of the ‘last-years-top-is-this-year’s-bottom approach Canon has traditionally taken in this segment). So, out go the A200, A300, and A350. In come the A230, A330, and A380. All three seem to slot in the same way as their predecessors” The A230 is lower rez and lacks live view, the A330 is similar but adds live view, and the A380 takes all that and jacks the rez up to boot. The upgrades are pretty benign, almost painfully incremental, and you can read about them best over at DCResource, so I’ll skip them for now and talk about the truly exciting bits.

One: Sony’s recent announcement about regretting a closed system in their music market seems to be splashing over to other divisions as well, as these new Sony’s embrace the increasingly ubiquitous SD format. OK, they still take their proprietary MemoryStick format, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. But, SD is a good move. Good for them! Hey Oly, I love you, but nudge nudge already.

Two: Sony appears to be on a mission to find the bottom of the market. The new A230? Reportedly MSRP will be about $550 with a lens. Now that’s cheap. Real cheap. Like the budgie cheap. And, all three are available with a second lens for a clean 200 buck upgrade. Not bad.

Three: In a refreshing move, Sony hasn’t complied with the “Black! Make it black! It must be black all other colors are cheap!” chant you hear on the forums, and these cameras have a nice, techy two-tone look, like that gunmetal and carbon-fiber look of the A330 there. And I’ve seen pictures of it in eye-rending bronze, too. But, they aren’t your norm, and I applaud that. Go on, buck the system, Sony. And keep doing it, I’m behind you if nothing else.

Oh yeah, there some lenses and a flashannounced to. One of them is a 50mm f1.8 prime, for you prime fanatics out there (and there do seem to be more and more of you these days). More on those as I get it myself, but they look to be all in the lower-end of the line-up.



Roberts Photo Learning Updates

OK, so, we’ve got some local classes and events here in the Indianapolis area coming up that I need to let you all know about so you can come out here for them:

First off, those of you looking to get into working with compact strobes and who happen also to be Canonistas are in luck, we have Mary Mannix coming out to Carmel on May 8th to give a lecture on Canon Speedlites. Actually, since a lot of the modern flash technology is similar for every system, even you Nikonians and weirdos like Nick and I could walk away with some useful info that’s readily applied to our systems. Sony people, I’m sorry, I’m not familiar enough with your flash system to know if this also holds true for you. I’ll brush up on that today, I don’t like slighting any system like that. (Cost for this class is 10 bucks a person)

Speak of you Sony people, if any of you have recently purchased an Alpha 200, 300, or 350 (like this sweet bundle here), or intend to before May 16, then you get to come to our introductory class for that series of cameras free. If you didn’t get your Alpha from us, come on out anyway, $25 reserves you a seat and we’ll be covering the basics of how to set the camera up and what the controls are for. This is just a gear class, though, so we won’t be priming you any on exposure and what-not.

Learn more about all our classes and upcoming events at the links below:

Photo Classes

Upcoming Events



Sony Innovation

So if you are new to higher end Cameras, or have old incompatible manual SLR camera equipment you might be ready to step up to your first DSLR system. If you are ready but confused by all the choices, you might just buy what your neighbor bought, most likely a Nikon or Canon Digital SLR Camera. They are great cameras that’s why they trade the #1 and #2 spot all the time. Still I might suggest that you look at Olympus and Sony Digital Cameras before you “Just keep up with the Jones’”.   Olympus and Sony  are doing some amazing innovative stuff to get your attention, maybe you should look their way. I’m going to focus (no pun intended) on Sony for now.

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New and exciting.

As a soon to be proud owner of my third Olympus digital camera, I would say I am a fan of their products (I’m no Derek Martin, but who is).  I have on order an Olympus E-420, the updated version of the E-410′s which we still have in stock.  Here is what’s next.
Olympus E-30
Yesterday David Linsell our regional Olympus digital camera representative was in the store with one of the newest Olympus offerings. The E30 is a really cool camera, far more advanced than my soon to be model.  The E-30 has some very cool Art mode settings, and still features one of the most comprehensive LCD information screens in the industry. Of the many other advances and upgrades the E-30 offers are some cool ones that are fairly unique. The E-30 will allow in camera multiple exposures of at least 4 images that you can compose right on the LCD in the Live View Mode!

If I had to do some quick digital camera comparisons I would say that Olympus has the best live view, the Alpha line of Sony digital cameras are very close, and then everybody else falls a little short. The Nikon digital SLR cameras “that have live view” are slowed down considerably when it is in use as are the Pentax and Canon digital SLR cameras, and then there are focusing issues with the last three on my list. The Sony and Olympus cameras still focus quickly and accurately in live view, a real plus that makes live view fun and practical instead of just a “need to” option. A few models of Olympus and Sony digital SLR’s (Sony’s Alpha 300 and Alpha 350, Oly’s E-30) have pivoting  or even rotating and swiveling LCD screens.
Another Olympus plus is memory card versatility, Olympus digital SLR cameras, even the baby DSLR the 410-420 take both the Olympus style xD cards, and compact flash cards, and you can select between the cards at will.

Who knows maybe my next Olympus digital camera will be a E-30. Heck maybe that will be your next Olympus Digital Camera too.



Raw Footage

Alright, it’s Friday once again and this week we have not one but TWO installments of our Raw Footage video blog to share with you. In the first one I myself (regrowing my beard and with recently blond hair and all) walk you through the highlights of the newest and neatest of the Canon PowerShot digital cameras, the G10. The G10 is a 14.7 MP metal-clad beast of a compact designed to compliment Canon digital SLR cameras and includes RAW shooting, making it a great sidekick for you pros. But you all knew that, didn’t'cha?

The second clip is from our new guy, Nick, who wanted to briefly talk about what he’s come to like about the Sony digital camera, the Alpha 300 (A300) DSLR, he’s been using this week.

I’ve embedded the clips below for convenience, but you can also always find them on our YouTube channel here or on our Podcasts page in our Learning Center.



Welcome to the New Guy

Sony Alpha 300 Kit
Sony is the new guy in the DSLR scene. Sure, they’re running off Minolta’s legacy, but Sony is a company with its own plans and aims and it’s making a big push into the DSLR market. Nick (not pictured), is the new guy here at Roberts. Nick’s been shooting this week with a Sony digital camera, the Alpha 300, and a couple Sony lenses, learning the equipment.

We were looking over some shots he’s taken with it, coming in fresh to the world of SLRs and the challenges and oppurtunities they provide, and he had some pretty decent stuff. The Alpha 300 and the lenses he’s been using are what most review sites would probably call “entry level”, but that doesn’t rule out effortlessly turning out shots like this one:

courtesy of Nick Henry (aka New Guy)
Photo courtesy Nick Henry

That’s straight from camera, untouched. I have every confidence a few moments in an editor with some levels and that picture would pop right off the page.

Shot with an A300 and a DT 11-18mm lens, in what I’m guessing is Sony’s 16:9 aspect mode.



Things are Looking Up!

blue angels 07 shot
The Blue Angels do a high speed belly to belly pass. Chuck Pace 2007

Last year I worked Roberts Imaging’s first Indianapolis Air Show.  I’ve got to tell you it was one of the best and most memorable events I have been involved with. Well this weekend is the 12th Annual Indianapolis Air Show, and I am working it again. Roberts Distributors is supplying a lucky 5 and a half score of our customers with a chalet on the flight line, as well as a catered lunch, bottled water and sodas. Several of our vendors are going to be on hand to assist the attendees with professional and amateur camera gear. Manfrotto, Gitzo and Induro will be there loaning tripods and mono-pods to the onlookers (up lookers). There will be Pros from Nikon, Canon and Sony loaning bodies and lenses as well and Roberts will be supplying CF & SD memory cards form Lexar, Sandisk and Kingston for a meager charge too.
Last year I borrowed a D200 Nikon Professional DSLR and a Nikkor 70-200 2.8 VR and got dozens of rewarding shots including. If you have been visiting the Roberts Imaging web site in the past couple of months you have been seeing one of my shots, the B17 bomber with the smoke and bomb bay doors open is one of mine.
BA_Diamond image
Last year the Blue Angels were the “Headliners” this year the U.S. Air Force will be showing off the latest in avionics and engineering with the F-22A Raptor Demonstration Team. I can hardly wait to see the mastery in the air and the defiance of gravity itself.  My wife and I will both be carrying our Nikon Coolpix cameras all day and I hope to get may hands on a Sony A300 or 700 for some shots or one of the Canon DSLR’s or another Nikon, maybe a D300 this time.

Oracle_bi_plane imageIn addition to the Raptors there will be the historical ‘War Birds’ again, and Bi-Plane stunt flyers like last year.
The photo to the left is of Team Oracle’s Sean Tucker cutting a ribbon with his wings less than 20 feet from the tarmac. I’ve provided a link to the Team Oracle site and Sean Tucker bio. If you didn’t sign up to attend this year we will most likely be doing next years I recommend it highly.



Sony Alpha A300

Sometimes cameras come out that suprise you.  Canon and Nikon make amazing cameras and will probably always be “The Big 2″; but there is definitely some competition brewing in the SLR market these days.  Olympus has some fine cameras out there, especially their new E-520.  A great camera for not a lot of bank.  But a big name in the consumer electronics business is trying to make a name for itself in the consumer SLR market.  Here comes Sony.

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