Happy New Year Folks [for those on the southside of the world]

Its gonna be a new year for all of us here, and though there are many things brewing that I want to post, I can't post all of them at the same time. Tomorrow [After Midnight]I should be able to follow up on some miscellaneous information regarding the A77, my possible review of the Nex-7! And a lot of useful info :D

AF in manual video movie mode workaround Sony SLT A77

Not so practical when Vari-Filters are pretty much expensive but this is a good option to have more control on your video mode. C'mon Sony, make life easier for us. We know its possible to control at least the shutter speed on the cam while auto-focusing and at least give us the option of going BELOW 3.5, some of us actually have lenses that go down to 1.4 y'know ^_^ [Video is not mine, its from another fellow A77 user]

Samples from before and after the 1.04 update for the A77

Before I updated the camera I decided to take one last full spectrum ISO test on JPEG and RAW. NR is off for High ISO and Low for NR, Standard profile with 0 across the board, DRO Off, no PP noise reduction. I mirrored the RAW for easier comparison. Am gonna start with the highest down to well, till I feel like it [I have down to ISO100]. Generally speaking, the update is MINOR [thats why its only .01 in difference] but the changes are good enough: faster response for EVF/Live View switching, faster start-up time [but still a long shut down time], faster response to moving the dials and the info reflecting, on the top lcd and a tiny improvement on IQ for images at around 3200 up making ISO 3200 as usable as 1600 on 1.03.

ISO 100: V1.03 - 1.04

ISO 200: V1.03 - 1.04

ISO 400: V1.03 - 1.04

ISO 800: V1.03 - 1.04

ISO 1600: V1.03 - 1.04

ISO 3200: V1.03 - 1.04

ISO 6400: V1.03 - 1.04

ISO 12800: V1.03 - 1.04

ISO 16000: V1.03 - 1.04

One thing I noted that's still slow is the changes to the main dial reflecting on the display, like change it from A to S or M or whatever option via dial and the changes don't register till around 1/2 a second and you won't be able to shoot till it registers.

Overall, the update did make it a bit nicer to use but I am left somewhat wishing for 1.03, where the 'cheat' below works to auto focus on video while on shutter priority.

A77 FULL AF on video/movie mode while on Shutter Priority! [ONLY on v1.03]

I wish I was the one that discovered this but to give credit where credit is due, I only discovered this through youtube:

Edited a bit but the following was lifted from the above post: [Note the firmware as of this post and testing was on v1.03 and is unknown if v1.04 'fixed' the issue - leave a comment if this works for you on the new firmware]

Someone managed to get the auto-focus to work on video shutter priority mode for the SONY A77.

Just follow the steps below:
1. Go into menu and switch the AF/MF button function to toggle.
2. Turn the dial into your dedicated video icon.
3. Go to P mode.
4. Press the AF/MF button and switch to MF.
5. Press the Fn button and navigate to the top left.
6. Switch into S mode for video.
7. By now you should be in S mode video with MF on.
8. Turn off your A77
9. Turn it back on.
10. You should see the camera in S mode video with continuos AF.

Side Note: not sure if this affects the results but my physical AF/MF dial below the lens is on A (not S, C of MF)

I can confirm that this works and its such a wonderful discovery, which basically means, The Sony A77 CAN provide full Phase Detect AF with some control/input from the user. Also, if you choose to say use Aperture priority or Manual mode instead of Shutter priority, the trick will still work, BUT you cant change the aperture no matter what. Now I wonder if this also works with the A33/55/65?

Unfortunately, since the update to 1.04 this trick doesnt work anymore, aw :(

The Sony A77 Review! [Part 5]

Nearing the end of the review, I'll be rearranging the blog once its finished so it'll look more sensible, I never really planned to take this long but it was enjoyable to try out the camera.

As I mentioned, there are things I may have forgotten to mention, like how the memory card compartment only takes one card [either MS or SD] and though I would have loved two slots I'd have to say the build quality is pretty good for the slot, the A33 made me feel something may break if I inserted the MS, with the A77, it felt that it could take it.

Here are RAW samples at full 24MP, imported into PS CS5 at whatever settings the program took it in, I didn't apply any noise reduction using any external program, I just Auto Toned and Contrast the images to make them a bit uniform [was shooting under warm florescent lighting]. The images you see was saved in PNG [lossless]. But due to file size limitation, I had to lower the file size to at most 20mb using an image resizer, cubic at best option, half sized.

ISO 800 [Click to view larger image]

ISO 1600 [Click to view larger image]

ISO 3200 [Click to view larger image]

ISO 6400 [Click to view larger image]

ISO 10000 [Click to view larger image]

And since Blogger doesn't show the full image resolution, here are crops of the image at [what I felt] the point where there was a lot of detail and gradient. Crops are at 600x400 of the original 6000x4000 24mp files and also saved as PND for lossless quality.

ISO 800 Crop [Click to view larger image]

ISO 1600 [Click to view larger image]

ISO 3200 [Click to view larger image]

ISO 6400 [Click to view larger image]

ISO 10000 [Click to view larger image]

The images get decidedly noisier the higher the ISO [naturally] but they are [for me] still quite usable, and being shot in RAW allows greater leeway in terms of noise reduction. I'll let you guys decide on the verdict on this one.

Here's a sample video I was able to manage using the A77, using just different modes [no scenes yet] to show how the quality works in real low light, no professional  assistance or settings/controls.

Following the thought that the Nex improved with the sunset setting, I made a short video on it. ISO 1600, f2.8 and sunset first then standard next. Shot in manual to be able to make do with the darkness so forgive the lack of focus.

Tomorrow, the final segment, the verdict! and a rearrangement of the blog to better suit order in the universe :D

The Sony A77 Review! [Part 4]

Okay, in part four, I felt it was about time I tackled some of the pro's and cons of the A77, now I and [probably] you all know or at least heard about the about the noise issues surrounding the A77. Almost every forum has said their piece on the jpeg engine, that it was not at its best [could always get better with a firmware upgrade] above 1600. Below are three shots in ISO 1600, 3200 and 6400, downsized to 1080 pixels wide with Baseline-Standard [using PS to say, simulate its upload on Flickr and the relative size of most sharing/social networking sites] and shot with High ISO Noise Reduction: On/Low, Control: Manual, WB: Florescent [Warm White], DR: Off, Scene: Neutral, Focus: Spot. Fstop 4.0 [Using Minolta 35-70], Exposure Value was balanced by shutter speed with the changing ISO: 1600 1/6, 3200 1/13 and 6400 1/25. No noise reduction was made BY ME and they were saved at quality compression [100%].

Click to see larger image

Click to see larger image

Click to see larger image

I bet you don't see much difference in noise between the three. To set a point that most people use, when they 'pixel peep', they basically look at 100% of the image size. And the image size of a 24MP file is pretty big. Here's 10% crops of the original images [basically 10% of the image size taken from the same position].

Click to see larger image

As you can see [if you made the image larger] the noise IS apparent the higher the ISO goes, but even at 6400, its still usable and as long as you don't go larger than say, a 32inch TV screen [non wide screen if you go 3:2 aspect ratio], I believe it would still look good in my opinion. Ok one last sample, at ISO 10000, the original file was used for the upload and the crop after it, the original isn't edited but the crop was of course copied from the original file and saved on PS at 100% quality.

ISO 1000 @ 24MP baby! [6000x4000] Click me!

ISO 10000 @ 600x400 [10% crop of original] Click to enlarge!

Now one more of the other features that people wanted in the A77 is of course it's video capabilities. Specwise it's impressive, you can take high quality video and quite easily at that with various settings to [almost] please everyone like 1920 x 1080 (60, 24 fps), 1440 x 1080 (30fps), 640 x 424 (29.97 fps) shooting, 4 "Dial" modes [P,A,S,M] and [on P mode] full Phase Detect continuous AF.

Since everyone has practically heard the good points on the A77's video capabilities [search youtube, I'm not so Steven Spielbergish at the moment], I wont be posting some [serious] video samples. But for me, with all it's capabilities, it's when you want to be more creative or controlling that it becomes a little harder to achieve what you want. For example, you have full [Phase Detect] AF when you are in P mode but once you want to go to the other modes [Aperture, Shutter or Manual] that you lose the AF and have to manually focus [There is the focus indicator that shows green when something is in focus is active and helps in focusing]. Try adjusting aperture and/or shutter when focusing at the same time as you're trying to catch a scene and you'll get my drift.

Now I'm not an engineer or video person, so forgive me for wondering why did Sony not allow/make some kind of contrast detect auto focusing when in the non P modes of video? I mean I feel it shouldn't be hard to change the say, aperture while on slow contrast detect or shutter speed? I mean you can change the ISO in all modes [oh and by the way, the maximum ISO you can select with video is ISO 1600], AWB, AF Area [Wide, Zone, Spot and Local] but it cant compensate if the aperture or the shutter changes.

Now one other concern that a friend of mine raised is that the A77 crops video, due supposedly for compensating the Super Steady Shot image stabilization. Makes me wonder though how come you can't turn off SSS and get the full image resolution? Also, though you don't see the focus points, overlay's etc in the final video created within the cam, when you attach the A77 to an external display [or one of them video gadgets that saves the stream of video to a hard drive] you get to see EVERYTHING you would normally see on the live view screen/EVF. And this means [according to my friend who runs Sony Alpha & Nex] that the A77 output isn't clean. Check the sample video below I got when I connected the A77 to an LCD tv via HDMI [and took a video of the output at 24fps].

Psychidellic huh? I did say I won't be posting a serious video sample ^__^ but it does illustrate what would show up in case the video is streamed from the camera. This basically means you wont be able to get clean video output to say a large jumbotron screen for your event or concert, bummer. maybe in the next firmware update they'll include that [Here's hoping].

One last video that IS serious, it's about the reported lag when using the camera and changing the settings. Aside from the lag involved when the camera is sleeping and you wake it up, the A77 system is alright, not as snappy as the previous Alpha's but no slouch either. Forgive the quality of the video, it was taken with a Samsung Galaxy Tab.

Tomorrow, I'll post the last part, it'll have some round ups [like things I forgot to mention] and my conclusions.

Thanks for reading this far ^^

The Sony A77 Review! [Part 3]

Hello again for the 3rd installment of the A77 review
[yes I dont get paid for this so I still have to go to a 9-5 job ^_^]

Now being THE premiere SLT cam on the market, it has a LOT of other bells and whistles [some taken from other bodies like NEX], some of the more notable and fun ones are:

Miniature, "creates a vivid and blurred image, as if the scene was a miniature model. The blurred section is determined by the AF and the way you hold the camera", this basically means you can make [almost] any real world object look like a scale model.

Real world car, pretty cute effect.

HDR Painting is another pretty nifty effect [take note this takes 3 shots]

Three shots and instant pretty painting

Soft Focus is another effect that might be useful, this makes the image seem a bit out of focus [even when it is] and makes the whole scene looks dreamy.

There are others that have been around for awhile that you might useful and that other sites have emphasized [like built in HDR, Selective Color etc] so I'll only mention them in passing.

Toy Camera: Makes your image look like it was taken by a toy camera. Has Normal, Cool [bluish tint], Warm [sepia tint], Green [uhh...], Magenta [err...] settings, like applying filters to your toy cam.

Pop Color: Pastel wonderland of vivid colors.

Posterize: Has Black and White and Color modes

Retro: Makes the scene look like it was taken in the 60-70's.

Soft High-Key: "Creates the look of an old photo with soft colors and reduced contrast", yeah 80's photo's

Partial Color: Red, Green, Blue & Yellow. Turns everything except the selected color into black and white.

High Contrast Mono: Ever thought what it would look like with Life in Mono?

Rich-tone Mono: Same as above except its HDR [rich tones and detail]. Takes 3 shots.

I'll add more content to the review [which is starting to sound like a guide] tomorrow. Sorry, had to rearrange parts of the review and make more content. Next Part 4!

The Sony A77 Review! [Part 2]

Since we started with the features, let me add something pretty important.

Those who came from the A33/55/35 line of cameras had difficulties with wireless flash or studio triggers since their EVF/Live View would always show the scene as the camera would interpret them according to the settings and not take into account external flashes/strobes. This was changed with the A77 when they added the feature to turn off Live View Display: Setting Effect at OFF.

This basically allows you to use the camera in a studio setup without much trouble. Just remember though, you EVF has basically become an OVF [that's even a bit brighter in really dark settings] that will not show how your pictures will come out.

An important feature I'd like to discuss is about one of the things that makes the A900 and A850 such good camera's, its called AF Micro Adjust. This basically adjusts the front or back focus of a particular lens by moving the focus forward or backward.

Now I know that you may think that this might only be good for one lens and that the settings would carry over on the next lens you attach but the neat thing about the camera and its feature is that it builds a database of the lens you attach and saves the information in camera about the adjustment you chose. When you attach a fresh lens its starts at 0 adjustment, you can then adjust the focus again, when you attach a lens that was previously adjusted, the camera will automatically load the previous settings!

When you adjust the focus by positives amounts [+1, +2, +3 etc], it pushes the focus forward from you [compensating for front focusing lenses] and with negatives [-1, -2 etc] it brings back the focus towards you, fixing back focus. To illustrate, here's a sample (I focused on the "G"):

CLICK TO ENLARGE!

Pretty useful eh? Take note though, there's one thing I'm not entirely sure of, is if the camera saves in the database, according to a specific lens or the lens model. The difference is that, if its a specific lens, the settings you adjust will affect ONLY that lens and load the settings only for that lens, even if the same model is attached. If its by specific model, that means any lens model will trigger the loading of your settings and possibly fling the lens out of focus [since it may not need adjustment at all].  Not much of an issue [unless you like to keep more than one copy of a particular lens], but it will be of importance if you like to have someone test their lens on your camera and they happen to have the same adjusted lens as yours.

[Continued on Part 3]

The Sony A77 Review! [Part 1]

After waiting a long 4 years, those who wanted a successor for the [still great but] aging A700 have been given what seems to be the answer to their prayers, even if it wasn't exactly as they would have wanted it to be.

If you’re reading this, you’re probably wondering if it’s worth buying into the A77 as a replacement for your current camera or quite possibly thinking of shifting to the Alpha system, hopefully this would help you make a decision.

As a short overview, the A77 is marketed as an enthusiast/semi-pro level camera but with its system geared towards making even novices appreciate and easily learn to fully utilize. It’s also probably the highest MP APS-C cam in the market now at 24 megapixels and pretty fast at 12 fps. It also has 1080p movie capture as well as a slew of other gadgetry and features that can get almost any photographer’s mouth watering.

I won’t go into the spec details as a lot of sites already have it and even if you go to the Sony site, you’ll be able to see almost all of them, what I’ll be tackling first is stuff from before the box and stuff out of the box.

Buying the unit wasn’t as hard as it used to be considering what could be considered a shortage of camera and gear from Sony Philippines back when we were starting. Thankfully things have changed for the better and Sony Philippines was able to bring the A77 [and other cams and gear] to us here [though there is no 16-50 kits available] with the body only and 18-55 kit. And the best part, with a price figure that’s pretty awesome with freebies to boot! The body kit was bought at Php 59,990 or roughly $1,363 USD which is a little bit cheaper than most places outside the country and packed with a nice bag, 8gig memory stick to start you off and an awesome 3 year warranty.

The box itself is pretty big, bigger [taller] than the A33 box, and this was one without the lens but had ample space for any short to medium lens inside the box, kinda wasted space if you ask me. What came in the box was as expected but is was very considerate in my opinion, aside from the manuals, usb cable, strap, battery, charger and the body, they packaged in the sealed box an adapter for the plug [which was of the round variety] for local use.

For the most part, when you take the body out and start to play with the dials and buttons, you get the feeling of  comfort and can easily find buttons but there is a level of sponginess when you click buttons, its not like the sharp click you get with any of the previous Alphas which am attributing to the weather sealing and the mode dial has a semi-blunt/solid click when you turn it. The feelings of the buttons are not really disturbing or detrimental to its use but its one of those things that you’ll need to get used to as well as the single click that almost sounds like a ‘psst’ when the electronic first shutter is engaged [which is on by default]. Also the weight the camera even with the battery inside [without a lens] seems a lot lighter than the A700 [and very very light compared to the beefy Konica-Minolta 7D] though it isn’t as light as the A33. This doesn’t mean that it feels flimsy, on the contrary, it feels good in the hand, solid and the rubber grips help your confidence in handling the cam without fear of it slipping. Bigger hands than mine [and I consider my hands medium sized] might feel a little more comfortable with the optional vertical grip but even without it, the cam should fit their hands if a bit tight.

Turning it on for the first time would mean you’d have to set the location and time [like the newer Alphas A33/55/35] and it’s at almost fully auto all as the default setting. Diving into the menu system without the manual can be daunting but not all that difficult since it’s almost logically placed [and previous Alpha users would have a good learning curve to adapt] but there are a LOT of things to play around with.

You got 7 main menu options with 5 sub menus at the most and one that just to me eats up space. There are some options not available on all Alpha’s and I’d like to point that out here:

*Peaking Level which was initially available on the Nex series, this basically outlines the subject in a certain color [chosen with Peaking Color] when it’s in focus and how strong the influence it. The color doesn’t show in the pictures btw and it aids in manual focusing and selective focusing.

*Lens Compensation, something only the A77 has, which with right lens [apparently it’s not backward compatible, bummer] it’ll compensate for shading, chromatic aberration and distortion.

* Front Curtain Shutter which is by default turned ON, this engages the electronic [first] shutter and it’s the reason you just hear psst or fsst when you click the release button, turning it on allows the cam to use a physical first curtain and it goes back to the original two sliding sound. Incidentally, the manual states that when using a Minolta lens, set this to OFF otherwise exposure problems or uneven brightness may occur. This begs the question how would that happen? In using my old minolta lenses, it seems alright, but lets see how that goes along in the days to come.

*GPS Settings, Use GPS Assist Data was at first a mystery without reading the manual, but basically, this option becomes available if you connect the camera while the PMB software is active and it automatically updates the GPS assist data [valid for 30 days] you can also just do THIS so you can update this GPS Assist data without PMB.

Please note: In trying to update my GPS data I connected my cam to my laptop [I just normally pop the mem card directly into the laptop's reader] and got an error message "Check the connected  device". In case this happens to you, double check if the cable is ok, try different mini usb cables, mine worked after using an old mini usb. If that fails, uninstall and reinstall the PMB software and then try the cables again. It should work.

For those using PMB:

To import the GPS assist data, a computer connected to the internet and either of the supplied software (PMB or PMB Portable) is necessary.

For Windows(R) users:Connect the camera to the computer with the supplied USB cable, then GPS assist data update message appears and data will be imported automatically.

* If Device Stage for Windows(R) 7 starts, select PMB Portable. The GPS assist data can be saved on a memory card from PMB Launcher  GPS  GPS Support Tool. The GPS assist data can be updated automatically by inserting the memory card to the camera.

For Mac Users:The GPS assist data can be updated by selecting PMBP_Mac in the PMBPORTABLE folder to start PMB Portable.

Note:The GPS assist data is valid for approx. 30 days. If it is expired, the time for GPS acquiring position information may not be shortened. This part of the post was taken from the Sony.com.ph website HERE.

I'll be continuing the review in a coupla hours, see you then.