Mladen Sever; 6th September 2007
Sony Alpha 700 preview
We are finally here … the long awaited "advanced amateur" model, a natural replacement for the 7D, a camera that should answer so many questions about Sony’s plans and commitment to their alpha line. Ladies and gentlemen, let me present …
Sony alpha 700
After months of guesses, rumours and even desperation, we are finally able to see what Sony has been working on, and to what extent does the a700 satisfy our needs and desires. While the a100 was a solid product with significant sales numbers; it was mainly a KM product and only now, a year and a half since Sony took over the KM imaging division is it coming out with the real thing; a camera that is supposed to satisfy not only casual photographers but also advanced amateur and "pro" demands.
By looking at the specification and having in mind what 7D was at the time it was presented, the a700 seems like a natural evolution (nothing revolutionary here folks!) and as such should interest more or less the same target users. There is still a lot of Minolta know how in this camera; some things have been dropped (the top plate design for example .. something many of us have loved on 7D is now not that "Minolta minded" anymore) while some things found on Minolta film cameras have returned (double cross AF sensors, grip sensor..)
It's no secret that we lost a lot of Minoltians in the past few years; the wait was too frustrating and competition was just too much ahead. At the same time, however, Sony gained significant numbers of new customers with the a100 and the a700 will with no doubt continue this market share increase with the help of both solid product and strong marketing power.
The Sony Alpha 700 features a whole new, 12.2MP CMOS sensor that is most likely derived from the recently presented IMX021 CMOS sensor (it is also very likely that Nikon has used a variant of the same sensor design in their newly announced D300). The "Exmor" sensor is a big step in sensor development for Sony and with an on chip column A/D conversion and dual noise cancelling processing, final results are supposed to be of very high quality. There should be a clean signal from the sensor to the newly developed Bioniz engine (noise is removed BEFORE the signal reaches imaging processor which means RAW data is affected by noise correction). This of course shouldn't be confused with the user selectable noise reduction menu option which of the a700 available only from ISO 1600 and up). The new sensor and processor should result in at least half the noise of the A100. ISO sensitivity range goes from ISO 100 up to ISO 3200 with an additional "extended" sensitivity up to ISO 6400.
A new shutter unit provides more competitive performance with 5 FPS (with an HI=5FPS and LOW=3FPS menu option) while not compromising durability (estimated at 100.000 cycles) too much. Shutter speed range is also improved and goes up to 1/8000s with FlashSync speed up to 1/250s (1/200 with SSS enabled). Compared to the 7D/5D/a100, shutter sound should be quieter and more pleasant for my taste.
A700 body is a bit smaller (and lighter) than 7D was. Top and front cover are made of strong but light magnesium alloy while light but durable aluminum is used for internal chassis. The body is dust/moisture resistant with buttons, dials and slots protected as is the viewfinder closed in a silicone seal.
The body however isn't considered as a splash proof.
A very common reason why so many Minoltians have loved their cameras is a unique "Minolta minded", photographer to photographer approach to ergonomics and handling. The a700 contains a lot of Minolta ideas here while unfortunately missing some of the most recognizable Minolta solutions. Front plate has suffered most changes compared to 7D with the secondary, exposure correction dial excluded and main control dial placed on the left. Since there are websites that will cover every button and dials in details I'm leaving you without extensive description here with only my personal opinion that 7D in overall is in many way still my preferred DSLR body when it comes to ergonomics.
We all loved the Minolta viewfinder – didn’t we?
KM 7D came with the best viewfinder ever found on APS-C cameras and just recently Pentax and Nikon provided equal quality. As far I can tell the a700 viewfinder is very much like the one in 7D with the same 95% frame coverage and 0.9x magnification .. thus no longer the best anymore, considering d300 brings 100% coverage with 0.94x magnification (21mm eye point) but still pretty good.
Sony has announced interchangeable super spherical acute matte and L screens just as KM did with 7D (interchangeable only by service centers).
Info displayed in the viewfinder is big and clear .. very much like we expected.
LCD screen is gorgeous; the best one I have seen so far (Nikon d300 may be very alike). Sony use the large 3" (with 922.000 dots) screen very cleverly with the "quick navigation" feature that is just great!
We now have RGB histogram display as well.
One of the most interesting aspects for many users of any DSLR camera is certainly AF system. Naturally, Sony did bring improvements in this area as well.
Nikon, with the d300 announcement, has challenged all competitors with a very powerful camera that is very hard to compete with. The biggest argument for buying the new Sony (aside their powerful marketing and sales capabilities) is still Minolta’s patented antishake system; super steady shot. Sony has made further improvements in the SSS which is now supposed to gain 2.5-4 steps compared to 2-3.5 on a100. With improved electronic shutter mechanism Sony has especially improved SSS effectiveness for lenses in the 200-300 range where on older cameras the first curtain vibrations have interfered with SSS.
The flash system was most probably one of the biggest issues with KM and Alpha digital cameras. Built upon the film flash system it is far from reliable and has caused many former Minolta owners to change the system. Unfortunately, nothing revolutionary here with the a700 .. some improvements are made, but the whole flash system is still in need of a major upgrade.
We still have pop-up on board flash with same capabilities as found on earlier models. The only new feature is the manual flash option for the on-board flash which is in fact at least something good since in this mode the flash doesn't emit a preflash light.
Like 7D and unlike a100, a700 comes with sync terminal for use with external light sources.
The metering system hasn’t changed compared to a100 which means the a700 contains 40 Segment honeycomb pattern metering with a supposedly 2.2% spot area.
Sony has put much effort into providing various imaging parameters to suit many tastes. The already seen D range optimizer is improved with the addition of D-R+ (Advanced level) and DRO Advanced Bracketing mode.
Following current trends of providing (too) many image processing parameters, the A700 brings the all new Creative Style feature. There are many (customizable) image finish options and explaining them would require a lot more space than this preview can. Provided are 14 styles (Standard, Vivid, Neutral, Adobe RGB, Clear, Deep, Light, Portrait, Landscape, Sunset, Night, Autumn, B/W, Sepia.) and 5 parameters (Contrast, Saturation, Sharpness, Brightness, Zone settings). Zone matching (quite an underrated feature that can be a real image saver) has been further expanded with customised settings and a new option; brightness has been added.
A700 brings expanded file format options; we now have raw, raw-c (compressed raw file with estimated 60-70% of the uncompressed raw file size) and raw+jpg option (would be great to have DNG format as well).
A new feature is a 16:9 aspect ratio, suited for monitor display (and backed up with HDMI support). If selected, 16:9 aspect ratio is applied to both raw and JPG file. For easier framing when using 16:9 ratio, the viewfinder displays frame crop lines.
Sony Alpha 700 takes NP-FM500H batteries. These can be used on a100 as well (note that a100 NP-FM55H batteries can't be used on a700) and are supposed to last for at least 650 frames. Sony has done an excellent job in adding battery status with percentage indicator all down to 1%. When using optional vertical grip, graphical battery status of both batteries is displayed with the percentage indicator of the battery used.
Dual memory slots accept CF or Memory stick cards. This will certainly provide more flexibility for end users but I'm sad to report that the camera isn't capable of automatic slot selection in case one of the cards is full (while having the other media card inserted and empty)
USB connection provides USB2.0 Full Speed transfer rates. Like 7D, Sony Alpha 700 does support computer controlled shooting. Like 7D, Sony Alpha 700 does support computer controlled shooting and image transfer back to computer.
It's easy to assume that there will be some disappointment. It's more about expectations that are too high rather than the real capabilities of the new Alpha.
I do recall when Sony took over KM, many speculated that we will finally see live preview on a DSLR. Ironically, live preview is becoming a mainstream feature these days but the a700 doesn’t have it. Finding reason for this (especially considering that the new Nikon D300 brings "Live view") will result in speculation only. My own opinion is that Sony wanted to have a competitive priced camera in the first place, forgoing some features while providing others (don't under-estimate image stabilisation .. it is still a huge advantage over the Canikon range and if I am honest, Live Preview isn't really that useful compared to SSS).
What I'm missing the most is some real improvements in the flash system. We can only hope that Sony is aware of this problem and that we can expect flash system upgrade relatively soon.
What does annoy me are some "small" issues, present on older models that aren't "fixed" in the a700. Exposure bracketing options are (again) poorly designed. We have maximum 0.7EV steps which is an absolutely ridiculous limitation. We still can't set the timer AND bracketing at the same time ... again, I see no valid reason for this limitation.
Top plate controls are inferior to the 7D. I can understand that dedicated exposure dial correction (with the option to easily set both exposure and flash compensation) is not interesting for new generation of photographers, but the drive dial that was present on the right on 7D was far better solution than a700 is provides (press the button, turn the wheel while checking LCD). Since a700 lacks a top LCD info panel, there was more than enough space to keep the main control dial where it was on 7D.
Sony is obviously lacked some quality feedback during the pre-production period. They didn't do anything to help photographers with more than one camera to handle and organise images. Without the option to use the camera serial number, or setting the camera name or Exif author’s field it is a real pain knowing which camera has taken which shot. Canon users have had this option for "ages" and it's a great help for those of us who are shooting with more than one body!
We still lack an illuminated AF area in manual focus mode. Just as before, the AF OK signal does work when properly focused in manual focusing mode but we don't have the feedback of which AF sensor is in focus. It’s a trivial thing to implement and there are no excuses for not providing it.
However, all in all, my initial impressions are very positive, and I have no doubts that a700 is a very competitive product. But, there is far more about the camera than what I was capable to notice at a "first sight". So stay tuned for more impressions once I get a bit more familiar with the new toy.
>>> Dyxum alpha 700 forum !! <<<
