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Although not the first digital shot of the year, it surely is the first organic shot of 2009.

Whats the New Year without a dance?

Ah, the Sony flash, the HVL-F58AM flash…what a nice tool to work with. The above picture was shot at sunset with the Alpha 900 with flash set to normal, 800 ISO and the EXIF reports 1/60th at F 5.6. If I recall, I had the camera set to Auto and let the fun happen. There is noise in the image which, like I stated in my previous post, should not exist in a 08/09 camera model but the flash really did a nice job. There is slight detail in the black, the white cards dangling from the lanyards are not blown out, and the skin tones are just about right. The image could have been a bit brighter but overall, the image is great. This is the image straight out of the camera. And at fine jpg setting at that! I wonder how a raw file would have done? The Alpha 900 metered, in my opinion, perfectly. Canon! Take note of the flash unit and metering Sony seems to have gotten right.

The Sony flash

is awesome with its rotating/pivoting ability. The shadows were always under the chin where they belong.

Everything about the flash and camera combo do speak of a (do I dare say!?!?) a glorified Cybershot. Yes, the 900 with the flash became a big point and shoot that leaves little to think about.

And why not? Why should I have to think about a mindless picture and create something fancy when I am just “doing a job.” In my opinon, there really wasn’t much to think about when using this camera and flash together. The Canon flash unit leave so much to wish for…after years of trying to understand its matrix metering, ETTL, and whatnot, it is a hit and miss game with the Canon.

I didn’t spend anytime having to fuss with my Sony images after the shoot. No levels adjustment, no color correction, or any type of photoshopping. THIS IS WHAT PHOTOGRAPHY SHOULD BE LIKE (at times, mind you) where you don’t have to do anything but shoot, download, burn a disc, and handover to a client.

Don’t get me wrong, I constantly use the Canon flash for lots of work but compared to the Sony, the Canon can’t hold its weight. Most Canon shooters would probably agree. Its never an issue of plug and play. Its lets dial down/up the flash, or the cameras get thrown off by a white dress shirt and black dress combo. It never seems consistent. The Sony flash got it right just about 90% of the time, and thats a wonderful ratio!

I mean with the Canon, I’d have a good exposure but a black background, or a nice background and blurry players cause of the slow shutter. The Sony flash took all the guess out.

The flash alone would make me jump over to Sony if there were more assets within the Sony system.

With this said, I will get to my conclusions on the Alpha system…

I like it. If all my Canon gear fell into the depths of the Pacific, I still wouldn’t invest it all in Sony but I like the system. There is so much Sony needs to improve on and before long it probably will be a major player.

My buddy Hugh just purchased the Canon 5D Mark II with 1080 HD video capabilities. He finally told me all about the video capacity and he said it good for certain things but will never replace a real video camera. He also mentioned some of the bad things about it and what the 5D can and cannot do. With photography, there is not just one tool that will work for everything.

Sony does have the capability to create a “bi-user” system with great video and still capability. A Red system without the headaches. I could be wrong because Canon also has a video equipment company as well and they are on their way to creating a future video/still system. Until then, Sony will have to keep making their system stronger and better.

Improvements should include faster handling, easier user accessibility, a much more durable body and many other things I cannot really elaborate on. I can go on and on and complain about Canon, Sony or Nikon as nothing is perfect. If I could take all the systems and make a frankenstein type body with the Nikon glass look, the Canon handling, and the Sony flash…we’d have the perfect tool. Add near perfect web/tv video capabilities, and jacks for sound, and voila! Time will only tell.

If you haven’t tried a Sony, please do. They are very very nice systems and make great images. Like I said, I don’t know if its ready to roll around the beach waiting for a celeb to pop out, a journalist sitting in the back of a humvee, or jumping from the pool van to quickly catch a President eating shaved ice. A photojournalist needs a camera that can take it all, not a camera that is only good (rather, great) at a few things. If you keep it in a studio, you can’t go wrong.

It’s price point at $3000 for 24.6 megapixels, and market value lenses make it a contender for people who are starting out in the business. For me, I might wait to see what the 3rd and 4th versions will create.

But do we really need a camera that can shoot 21 frames a sec at 98 megapixels?

Sony 700, 24-70mm F2.8, Hawaiian sunset light.

GOT THE COVER OF THE NEW YORK TIMES SPORTS SECTION!!!

Actually, I wasn’t sure what they were going to put on whether it was the front page or just sports. The bw shot was from the series. They chose the color digital image.

Always good to have a good subject to shoot.

Sony Alpha 900 with 24-70 F2.8 at 200 ISO

SO after a week of using a Sony Alpha 900 and 700 bodies, a 24-70mm F 2.8 lens, a 70-200mm F2.8, and a 300mm F 2.8. Two HVL-F58AM flashes, batteries, etc., I think I can formulate a good yet limited opinion of the camera system.

Mind you, this review is not based any science, charts, direct comparisons, etc but based on straight use. Use based on real world experience shooting a mix of sports, events, and reportage. A use based on various lighting environments, lens use, and flash output.

If most of you reading this haven’t figured this out, I am a professional photographer shooting just about everything you can imagine. See my website at http://marcpix.com to understand where I come from. I shoot pro Canon bodies but used to be a straight Nikon shooter so I am very familiar with all types of SLRs, medium format, and large format equipment.

What I can say right away about the Alpha system is this:

IT IS NOT A CANON AND IT IS NOT A NIKON.

And for many, that’s the problem. I can pick up a Nikon digital body and within minutes figure out most of the setting without reading the manual. It was the same for Canon as I understood Nikon. Its not like the Sony bodies were that different but things like controlling the flash output is based inside the camera body software as opposed to the Canon flash having its own individual controls separate from the body.

I talked to the other photographers who were issued the Sony systems and this seemed to be their problems as well. No similar physical work flow continuation. You more or less have to read a manual to understand what the Sony camera is capable of…and in many ways, it is capable of lots!

The camera system is impressive. The big 24.6 megapixel camera pushes aside the current Canon 1Ds Mark II at 21 megapixel. The Alpha system seems well suited to work well for the studio/commerical photographer or non-news gathering guys. The files are bright, clean, and nice to work with. At 100-200 ISO, you get very nice current standard files from the camera. From the point of view of a shooter and not a fine art printer or reviewer with too much time on their hands, the files are fine. There are no complaints about the images.

At higher ISO, you get noticeable pixelation and noise which is not acceptable for a 2008-2009 year camera. At 800 ISO the images were fine and completely usable. But an examination of the red and blue channels seemed to show similar noise patterns to a Canon Mark II at 1600 ISO. Of course the Sony file is better but to convince photographers who are invested into their systems to switch is a hard sell. With Nikon making nearly flawless and noiseless pictures at 1600 ISO and beyond, Sony has no excuse. I considering jumping over to Nikon for their wonderful high ISO handling but just can’t afford to start over.

This is a major issue for me using this camera as many times, I have to shoot in low light conditions. The Canon Mark II do wonders at 1600 for my purposes. A bit of what I would call grain never hurts. When its too perfect, like current Nikons, it might be a bit strange, kinda like seeing a false reality. Mind you, I wouldn’t mind having that ability but film never made perfection hence its hold and realism in photography and history. Sony just can’t compete with this fact now and the next versions of the camera should truly adjust to current market standards. Like I said, it is perfect for a studio/commercial environment where lighting is easier to control and situations don’t usually change much. However, jumping from a a sunny golf course to a sunset dinner, to a night time concert was tough.

Day time shots proved to be flawless though with the camera. A neat setting was the Auto ISO choice where the camera would adjust automatically to the lighting. I left it as such and noticed most of what I shot remained at roughly 200 ISO. Nice but always best to be in charge of this aspect to ensure total control.

In order to convince photographers to leave their old brands behind for the Alpha system, Sony has to really improve their system or add something so unique, the market will have to jump over because of this uniqueness. From the week of shooting with the Alpha, its a hard bet for me.

With that said, I can only guess how the digital market will continue to evolve but with the intro of the Canon 5D MII and the current Nikon body with similar video capabilities, Sony is going to have to add this feature to their next pro body. Sony holds a large portion of the video industry so once they add this feature to their next generation of pro cameras, to me, it is more than obvious they will strongly compete with Nikon and Canon…and quiet possibly surpass.

The build of the camera itself is quiet nice. Nothing different although it seemed to lack the build of a heavy duty Nikon or Canon. According to different websites, the camera is weatherproof. Nothing more to say. Its a camera with buttons and dials.

As far as the lenses:

Nothing really to say as they are exceptional. This element of the Sony lenses remains similar to other lenses in the market. The lenses mirror the same zoom and distances of other brand lenses and if you didn’t look closely, you’d be fooled into thinking the 300mm F2.8 is an exact copy of the Canon.

The Carl Zeiss glass is superb. Again, nothing more to say other than great, great optics. Truly the gem of the system along with their great flash units.

Alpha 900, 300mm 2.8m, 200 ISO

The above image is tact sharp. The camera did its job and the lens acted wonderfully.

Onto the bodies which I will not distinguish as I mostly used the 900 and found both the 700 and the 900 to be indistinguishable other than the file size.

The above golf picture was done on the 900 and if you notice the image is dead center. Years ago, Patrick Sison told me autofocus destroyed rule of thirds as the first few generations of autofocus pinpointed the focusing dead center, something classical composure strictly rules against. The focusing system for the Alpha seems to hark back to the days of old fashion autofocus systems. Don’t get me wrong, it focuses quick and accurate but seems to lack any ability to shift focusing points manually to compose an image away from dead center.

I asked the other photogs who were using the Alpha system and they also couldn’t figure out how to manual adjust the focusing points to get the system to focus outside of the dead center. Mind you, none of us read the manuals that came along with the cameras but this is what I mentioned earlier. The ignition for a car is always right of the steering column. If a car manufacturer were to shift it below the radio or inside the glove box, you’d be stumped for days.

Depending on what you’d point the camera at, the focus would shift and catch something to the left or right of center, above or below the center as well. I had this one situation where I had to shoot a guy at a podium and the camera default focus would pinpoint the podium and not the guy speaking. This proved to be a major drawback as I had to push the lens into manual and catch the subject that way. This is something Nikon and Canon would not have any problems with.

Another odd thing about the focus of the camera is that the autofocus would completely stop all together. I mean just absolutely stop, flash or no flash. Just completely stop. I’d have to turn off the camera and restart. Sometimes, more than once. I can’t explain why it would do this. It just did.

More to come about the flash output and final thoughts.