Sony releases its first DSLR
Sony has officially released specs on it's new Digital SLR. Having purchased the rights to the Konica-Minolta system last year, Sony's entry into the market has been highly anticipated.
http://lnk.nu/sonystyle.com/9sh
As suspected, Sony is not going after the professional market, at least not right off the bat. Their first camera, the Alpha ( α ) A100, is directed right at the consumer market. The same space currently occupied by the Canon 350D and 30D, the Nikon D50 and D70s, the Pentax K100 and K110, and the Olympus E-330 and E-500. At $1000 for the body plus a kit lens, it is more expensive than the low-end from other manufacturers, but then again, when have you ever seen a Sony product at or below market prices?
While this may seem like a crowded market already, I'm pretty sure that Sony will make decent money with their camera. First, because Konica-Minolta lens owners will have an upgrade path from either their film SLRs or their KM DSLRs. Second, because Sony went with a 10MP sensor they are playing the MegaPixel game for digital point and shoot owners wanting to move into the world of the SLR. Nikon and Pentax offer 6MP models where Olympus and Canon offer 8MP models. By offering a camera with a 10MP sensor the "bigger number must be better" crowd will certainly be satisfied.
But really, the neat stuff is this:
1) Sony is using the "anti-shake" or image stabilization technology it purchased from KM. This involves moving the sensor inside the body to compensate for camera movements. It also means that every lens you own or buy, from the oldest to the newest, "becomes" an image stabilized lens. And while not as effective as floating lens elements within the lens itself, it's certainly a wonderful option.
2) Prior to this Sony DSLR, no other camera company offered what Olympus has offered for keeping the sensor clean. Dust is a problem with the DSLR. Dust sitting on top of the sensor (or really, on top of the glass layer that's bonded to the top of the sensor) can cause dark spots on your images. Image sensors need to be cleaned and only Olympus was able to patent a solution: vibrate the sensor at very high frequency and shake the dust off. A very neat idea and one that seems to work very well. Now, I don't know if Sony licensed this technology from Olympus (I don't see Olympus doing this for fear of losing market share) or if they've developed something that skirts the existing patents on sensor cleaning. Regardless, this is something that /every/ camera manufacturer should offer. Manually cleaning the sensor, as I've found out, is a pain and is fraught with potential disaster.
So, Sony's now in the market and hopefully with long-term goals in mind. While I'm certainly not going to be switching away from Canon, I'm glad to see more competition which will hopefully mean more innovation on the part of other manufacturers.
edit/update: http://www.dpreview.com/articles/sonydslra100/ dpreview.com has a hands-on preview of the camera.
In a digital world, there’s little room for the toy camera
Since first learning about the Holga I knew I wanted one. A sub-$20 camera that took 120 roll film was too good to pass up. David Burnett, noted freelance photojournalist won an award for an image of Al Gore on the campaign trail made with a Holga.
It's a camera with a cult-like following. Some hate it, others love it. I fall more into the later category, but I don't obsess over it. It's a fun toy and if I break it, I'm not out a whole heck of a lot.
When I discovered that Polaroid made a instant-film (peel-apart) back for the Holga, I knew I had died and gone to Holga-heaven. 120 film is increasingly difficult to get processed and scanning can only be done at either great expense or here at work. Instant access to images (as the shift to digital photography has shown) is a powerful draw.
And so for a little more than a year I've been using my Holga + Polaroid back (dubbed a "Holgaroid"). It's a great little camera, weighing very little, and producing images that are sometimes odd, sometimes interesting, and sometimes fascinating.
I found out today that, sadly, Polaroid is no longer producing the back for the Holga and, in fact, almost every online retailer I know of has stopped selling them. This puts the future of Type-80 peel-apart film into question as well. On the plus-side, ending bid values for the backs on ebay have shot up 200%. On the down-side, of course, the Holgaroid will begin to fade away into oblivion. When Polaroid stops selling Type-80 films (and they will eventually, of course), there will be no more film for these cameras. They'll become an odd footnote in the history of photography, like so many cameras before them.
This isn't an anti-digital rant, this is more a "difficult to accept change" lament. In the world of the film camera, the market had been saturated with choices for many years. Hundreds of point and shoot and SLR models to choose from with dozens of film types and styles. When the digital revolution began, it was clear that film would remain but as more and more a niche market. Fewer cameras, fewer films, but available. The Holgaroid, on the other hand, was completely unique in its style and (especially) price. Cameras using peel-apart films have generally been very expensive medium format and large format systems, requiring many thousands of dollars to buy into. The Holgaroid was an inexpensive way to indulge in instant film photography.
So, I must face the fact that the lifespan of my Holgaroid is far shorter than I had hoped. When I run out of my current supply of Type-80 film I doubt I'll order any more.
Anyway, for anyone interested in the types of images the Holga can produce, I have some Holgaroid photos online at flickr:
learning to see, all over again
Two years ago, it was difficult to find a point and shoot digital camera that had an equivalent focal length wider than 35mm. Most were between 35 and 40mm at the wide end. This is not very wide, especially for things like landscapes. But it was (and still is, to some extent) difficult to make wide-angle lenses for these cameras due to the extreme focal lengths already needed for the very small sensors inside. A few manufactures offered 28mm wide (equivalent) options, but the cameras were expensive and the image-edge results were of questionable quality.
Today, there are a number of digital point and shoot cameras that offer 24-28mm equivalent focal lengths at lower prices with better edge performance. But still, the majority of the cameras being released are within that 35-40mm range.
When I first started using our Canon A80, I was annoyed by its 38mm limit. I had been working on using my 24mm and 28mm wide lenses effectively and felt like I was making progress. The 38mm limit on the digital point and shoot felt like I was constantly bumping up against a wall. However, over time, I became more proficient at using the A80, and subsequently, began to use this camera effectively. I can, in a way, pre-visualize what in the scene the camera will capture at 38mm and move to that position. It's not exact, of course, but it gets me into the ballpark.
With over 20,000 exposures on the A80, my brain has been re-wired. I now find it very difficult to compose photos wider than what I normally "see" at 38mm. Any time I use a camera with a wide-angle field of view (like what is visible at 28mm or 24mm) I feel lost, or out of my element. To me, the world is defined, photographically, by the A80.
And so, I need to retrain my brain to see a scene with a wider field of view, and to effectively use lenses that provide that field of view. It's the second part that's the most difficult.
Waiting no more
Canon has, at last, released the replacement for the 20D. It's the Canon 30D. A rather odd name choice, given that 6 years ago they released a D30.
The 30D is geared almost directly to new customers and not to existing 20D owners. It will be $1400 with the kit lens when released. The strangest part of this new camera is that it does not include a sensor upgrade. It was expected that, because the 10D was 6MP, the 20D 8MP, the 30D would be 10MP. Instead it's still 8MP using the exact same sensor as the 20D. In that respect, the 30D is really just a 20D Mark II.
But the 30D offers some intriguing updates: 1) Faster auto focus (using the same AF system found in the $3000 Canon 5D), 2) larger buffer: 5 frames per second for a total of 30JPG files or 11 RAW files, 3) 3.5% spot meter, 4) ISO value /in/ the viewfinder, (a big gripe from Canon owners now fixed!) 5) ISO value options in 1/3 EV step increments and 6) taller on-board flash.
Current 20D price is $1,190 with kit lens. So, are the changes worth $210? That's a very tough call, one that my bank account is anxious to resolve 
Some links:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0602/06022114canoneos30d.asp
http://www.photo.net/equipment/canon/30D/
Also to note, Canon released 2 new lenses, the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS and the EF 85 f/1.2L Mark II. Both are priced for the professional market and are only pipe-dreams for me.
Lastly, a number of new digital point and shoots were released, including Canon's first small point and shoot with Image Stabilization, the SD700 (aka IXUS 800 for the European market).
As a further sign that the MP race may be slowing, the point and shoot cameras released by Canon are either 6MP or 4MP. New features are taking priority over simple sensor packing. Excellent news.
always, always check your settings…
Yesterday, with the weather in the mid-40's and the sun shining I walked (during my lunch hour) from downtown to the fabled Goose Island (well the south-east edge of it) for a total of 3.5 miles! It was great, I paralleled (as much as possible) the Union Pacific NW tracks (the ones I ride every day). The tracks are a story and a half above street level, and so it was interesting to see the buildings and sites from "down below." I managed to put 24 images on my 16MB card. (This self-limitation was started in order to focus on quality over quantity.)
Today it was a bit cooler (only 39 downtown), but I was able to get in a 3 mile walk. I walked with a coworker down Randolph to Ogden and then back on Washington. Shortly after starting the walk back on Washington, I realized I had left my camera on the 0.3MP setting. 15 photos were shot at 640x480. Damn, damn. When you have only 2MP to work with, cropping is already pretty limited. With 0.3MP, the images pretty much are what they are.
Konica Minolta to end its camera business
2006 is shaping up to be a year of tremendous change in the world of photography. First, Nikon announces they are going to abandon all film cameras except two and now this:
http://konicaminolta.com/releases/2006/0119_03_01.html
Konica Minolta is going to completely withdraw from all aspects of photography, both film /and/ digital. A large portion of their camera and photography related assets will be transfered to Sony.
This is quite shocking, given the length of time Minolta has been involved in the photography business. It's also a good sign of how tight the photography market really is today.
Sony, on the other hand, is going to be entering into the Digital SLR market. Since July 2005, KM and Sony were jointly developing a DSLR based around the Minolta lens mount found on their Maxxum line and now Sony is going to go it alone. I must wonder though, how likely it will be that Sony sticks with the KM mount. I can certainly see them abandoning it in favor of an in-house development, which would leave KM DSLR users hanging. But that's just speculation on my part. Sony will likely be a strong force in the DSLR market which will hopefully motivate Canon and Nikon to further innovation.
Strange times ahead for sure.
edit/update:
In other news, Canon has sold its 30 millionth EF lens.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0601/06011902canonef.asp
Canon Triple Rebate
Canon is again running their Triple Rebate program.
Buy one item, get the rebate for it.
Buy two from the list and each item's rebate is doubled.
Buy three from the list and each item's rebate is tripled.
Which means, with two other purchases, a 20D is $1000.
That's a rather nice deal, if (big if) you can find two other people looking to buy Canon gear at the same time as you.
So...anyone looking to buy anything off that list in the PDF?
photographic ramblings
On Friday, Heather and I managed to pass the 13,000-exposure mark with our Canon A80. With 533 days of ownership, that's an average of 24.48 photos a day, every single day. A roll of film a day; I'm quite amazed by that.
Of course, it's not actually a roll of film every single day. Our shooting tends to be more in fits and starts. Events and activities are saturated with shots (hundreds at a time) and then the camera sits idle for a week or so.
After returning home from babysitting on Friday, I was unloading the car and managed to drop the camera bag onto the concrete garage floor. The camera sits sideways in the bag and so one of the sides took the brunt of the impact.
I was (and still am) very pissed off at myself for doing this. There is damage to the side and to the top panel of the camera. There may also be some minor damage to the flash. I've honestly been afraid to shoot any test shots with it for fear of finding out the worst: the lens or sensor is now misaligned. If that were the case, we would have to buy a new camera; something I'm really not able to do right now.
There's another, more technical, concern to buying a new camera: media.
It's pretty clear that CompactFlash is no longer acceptable in the consumer point and shoot market. Almost every single new digital point and shoot in the past 6 months has been released with SD instead of CF. (The expections to this are MediaStick [Sony] and xD [Olympus and Fuji] card cameras).
If we had to buy a new digital camera, in all likelyhood we would have to buy new media and a new media reader to replace the CF storage we currently have. When one is talking about a $300-400 camera, another $150 (at least) in storage is very significant. Not only would there have to be a 1:1 storage replacement, in all likelyhood it would need to be 2:1. Most new cameras are above 4MP and thus each image takes up more space.
Still, I know, I should be very thankful that I'm able to even think about being worried about such things. There are far more pressing and important problems affecting others in this world. I'm very blessed to be able to afford photography at all.