The fine people at Lensbaby were kind enough to loan some of their new line to us during the months of September and October. I know I walked around with the 4/3 Composer for a few weeks and if you trundle over to our YouTube channel, you’ll see me fumbling with Derek’s E3, a Composer, and swappable optics.
More about the babies, and some pics, after the jump…
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Sony Alpha A850
Word just came up that Sony’s new full-frame shooter, the A850, has hit the store.
To review, it’s got the same sensor and dual-processor set-up of the A900, but cuts costs down a bit with a smaller viewfinder and slower continuous shooting. It uses the same grip as its bigger bro, though, and last I heard we had those too.
Sony has shown a real commitment to their DSLR line, and it’s growing every day. And, whatever reservations I may have about the other divisions of Sony, I find their larger DSLRs (the A700, A900, and now this one) to be quite excellent machines, and I like the very honest, no-nonsense tool aesthetic and feel they’ve built into their full-frame shooters. And, with a growing collection of constant-aperture zooms and Carl Zeiss lenses, it’s a system heavily worth considering if you need depth of field, low light, and studio resolution in one budget-friendly body.
DPReview’s pretty stellar lens review team hit up Canon’s not-so-long-ago revamped 24mm tilt-shift recently while I wasn’t looking. Backing up to glance over everything today, I have to say, it’s certainly worth that “L” in its name. Up there in the post header graphic you can see it’s sharpness stopped down about a half stop, two-thirds stop from wide open, and you can see that 2/3 of the frame are sharp-sharp-FRIGGIN’-SHARP, well exceeding the theoretical resolution limit of the rather demanding 5D Mark II,and the corners only dip down to about as soft as the kit lenses from Canon perform on a good day. For a full-frame lens, that’s stellar.
Fall-off (vigenetting) is soemwhat pronounced, but I think that’s what gives full frame that “oomph” in so many wide-open shots, so I have no complaints there, and either way it’s not so bad a moment in Lightroom couldn’t raise them back up admirably.
Read the whole thing, if you haven’t already, here, and then email us at info -at- robertsimaging.com to get on our backorder list, or hey! Just hit us up the comments, and we’ll get you added.
2008 is working its way to a close, and in the end-of-the-year fervor over Canon’s long-anticipated 5D Mark II and Nikon’s rather controversial (or so it seems on the forums, anyway) D3x, I’d like to take a moment to go over some cameras that, to my mind, didn’t get quite the recognition they really did earn out there on the market.
One is Nikon’s D700, the po’ man’s D3. Attacked on several fronts, mostly the decision to stick to “low rez” 12 MP and not to include video, somewhere in the shuffle I think the market lost sight of the fact that this is among the absolute best low-light cameras ever made (consistently getting the promised 2-stop ISO advantage over my own beloved E-3, in my own findings and comparisons). In addition, reputation has the weather-sealing on this up to snuff for pro use (even if the shutter is “only” rated at 150,000). All this for comfortably under 3 grand.
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Well I was off all last week so if you missed I’m sorry. I spent a week in sunny, warm and wonderful Florida. My parents live on the gulf side right on the Suawnee River, and my daughter lives on the Atlantic side in Port St. Lucie (about 40 miles north of Ft. Lauderdale) and I divided my time between them (and in the car) all the while clicking away with my trusty Stylus 1030SW Olympus digital camera. The 1030SW is a 10.1 megapixel camera, and shock and waterproof, plus it will operate down to 14 degrees. Thankfully I didn’t have to test the low tempeture capibility.
Before we headed home we went up the coast with our daughter to New Smyrna Beach just south of Daytona.
While I was on New Smyrna Beach I clicked off a few shots using my camera tripod, one of the little Bogen Manfrotto Tripods to be exact, and did a lot of hand held shootiong as well. I even got the camera in the salty water a few times with full confidence that it would continue to produce wonderful images. I have a few shot I think I’ll let the lab guys put on some Epson wide format paper after they pull them off my Sandisk Cards (yes they sell xD memory cards too). Below is a full frame and zoomed in close up I shot with that little Olympus digital camera.
The full frame (corrected for horizon a little).
Hand held and zoomed in, otherwise not modified. I like my Stylus 1030SW Olympus digital camera. A lot! It was perfect for this vacation.
This year we are in a very heated race, with many worthy candidates. If you are looking for change it is here now. You have a chance for a better system, more efficient use of available resources and still place less demand on your pocketbook.
The two major candidates are both offering change, breaking with the past and the old ways is inevitable. Even though the goals of the the major parties are similar, there are differences and you have to decide which direction you want to go. Nobody can anticipate everyone needs, there may be sacrifices required to get an overall system that best suits you best and incorporates your plans for the future.
It is important to remember that there are more than two parties in this race, that you still have many choices to consider. With the economy being a major factor as well, it is incumbent upon you to make the right choices for your needs. In the next few weeks and months remaining there will be many deals to stimulate the economy and to bail you out of your usual last minute crazy holiday race.
We all know who the two main candidates are for your SLR dollars. Canon and Nikon are perennially favorites and are once again neck and neck. Between them they have brought out (or are soon bringing out) no less that 7 new platforms in the past three or four months. Recent Nikon Digital SLR offerings include the D90 with video worthy of a High Definition Camcorder, the high mega-pixel high end Nikon Digital Camera for more performance the D300, and the two new full size sensors models in the Executive branch, the D3 and the D700.
Canon digital SLR cameras you ask? They too have been bolstering their ranks. The Canon Digital Rebel camera lined has two recent additions the Rebel XS, and the higer mega-pixel Rebel XSi, but the most anticipated Canon Digital SLR camera news is the Canon 5D Mark II! We are takin advanced orders for the new Canon. Like the new Nikon D90 the Mark II will also have High definition Camcorder quality video recording capabilities, a massive 21.1 mega-pixel image sensor and the new digic 4 processor.
Inspirational Poster ala Chuck
The true independent in this race is Sony. Sony manufactures every component of their DSLR cameras and lenses, so they control their own means of production. The new Sony Digital SLR that is getting rave reviews has the largest resolution full frame sensor to date in a “35mm” style camera body at 24.6 mega-pixels. The Alpha 900 is here now and is remarkable, add a comfortable grip and it is the equal of most any camera on the market, and at a price that is sure to put pressure on the other contenders.
Remember that Pentax and Olympus are also in the DSLR business, and there are many worthy offers and offerings to consider before you veto them from your agenda. This season we have killer Olympus Digital Camera deals. You be can walk out with a 10 mega-pixel E-410 with a 14-42 lens for under $400.00. The same Olympus digital camera with an additional 40-150 zoom, case with 3 year extended warranty, spare battery and 2 gb compact flash card, can be yours for 549.94. Talk about your stimulus package! Can we beat the competition for deals this season! Yes We Can!
Bokeh the Fifth
Let me get this out of the way right off the bat: to the best of my knowledge bokeh isn’t directly affected by sensor size. I say “to the best of my knowledge” because, despite popular opinion, I’m not all crazy omniscient (crazy, yes, omniscient, no).
“But,” you say, “Derek! You told us way back when that sensor size affects bokeh!”
Why, so I did, good job paying attention. Here’s the thing: remember our lesson on Depth of Field? And I told you sensor size was a part of it? Aha, now we’re getting to the point.
We just got out of a training on the new Sony Alpha A900 camera. Wow! This little gem is amazing. Built like a tank. 24.6MP full frame CMOS. 5 frames/sec burst. Wow. Dual flash memory card slots. It takes regular compact flash cards for storage and memory stick as well. The steady shot in camera works VERY well. The lighting was pretty bad in the room we were in and when I shot with it, things were razor sharp. The A900 weighs in at only 850g. Not bad for a rugged body like this one. It’s a winner, folks!
The new flash was also available to play with. Model HVL-F58AM. It can pivot 90 degrees left or right on a horizontal axis, keeping the flash head in the optimum position when the camera is rotated from landscape to portrait position. Priced at $499.99
Roberts Imaging should see these close to the end of October at $2999.99.
Also coming soon from Sony, the Carl Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T* 16-35mm F2.8 ZA SSM priced at $1799.99 available January 2009. 70-400 F4-5.6 G SSM available January 2009 priced at $1499.99.
Tamron, long a leader in lens design and technologies announced an astounding 15x range zoom 18-270mm lens in development on July 30th. Yesterday our Tamron lens rep was here at Roberts Imaging with a little more news. The first 18-270 lenses shipping will be for the Nikon DSLR bodies, including the D40 and D60 series bodies. That’s right the AF 18-270mm Di II VC lens will also carry the BIM designation, so it will mount on all Nikon Digital Cameras. (Note: the full frame sensor cameras will not reduce the file size and coverage area as they do Nikon’s DX lenses, and Tamron does not recommend their use. If used the resulting image will have to be cropped to eliminate vignetting).
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