Sony has announced the replacement to the ground-breaking SLT-A55, the first of their translucent-mirror digital cameras. The A55 was rated camera-of-the-year by one of the major photo magazines when it was released, and Sony’s had a string of hits ever since. The new model, the SLT-A57, maintains or improves all the best bits of the original A55, adds a few features, and addresses a few consumer concerns.
The new camera has been built-in a larger body almost identical to the new SLT-A65, which removes the objection that many had to the older camera’s grip. That also made space for the bigger battery used in the A65 and A77. That means about 550 exposures per charge. The price has also been kept down at a price similar to the A55, about $700 for the body alone and about $800 with the 18-55mm kit lens.
So, other than the size and the model number what’s new?
I’m always happy to be able to report that something that I’ve complained about has changed. A couple of years ago, I complained loudly that there were very few good, affordable (under $750) keyboards. At that time, there were only a couple of decent-sounding instruments out there — Korg‘s X-50 and PS-60 (both of which I own), Roland’s Juno-D, and Yamaha‘s MM-6. I’m happy to report that the market is responding! There are now at least 15 sub-$750 professional-level keyboards available from a variety of manufacturers, with two new models on the way from Casio.
Casio brought out some of the first of the affordable synths and samplers (you can read an interesting history of Casio keyboards here and here), but with the exception of digital pianos, they’ve pretty much ignored the pro market until now. Casio will be releasing two exciting new instruments in the next couple of months — a pro-performance-level model called the XW-P1 (slated to ship in March) and a loop and groove oriented model called the XW-G1 (arriving in April). MSRPs on these models are right around $700, with one dealer listing prices of under $500! While I need yet another keyboard like I need a hole in my head, the XW-P1 is on my short list for purchase later this year — despite the fact that I just acquired a Casio CTK-6000 arranger keyboard.
I’m really excited by the resurgence of lower-cost instruments in the market. There are a lot of us weekend-warrior musicians who just don’t have the cash assets to plunk down a lot of money on equipment, but still need reasonable quality keyboards for our garage bands that only gig a couple times a month at best.
Something interesting happened last night. We were auditioning a drummer, and I had misplaced my notebook with the charts for the songs we’d be playing. I’m pretty terrible at memorizing things, for various reasons touched on some time ago, so I was rather distressed. And, for the most part, my playing and singing was lousy, with a couple of exceptions. We played one song that we had only briefly worked on some time ago (Stevie Wonder‘s I Wish), and an improv jazz jam. On those two songs, I played quite naturally and pretty well.
As I was walking out with Steve (our guitar player) we were talking, and I apologized (again) for such a bad night. Steve’s comment was interesting — that I should play more by feel, and less from my charts. I didn’t think much about it at the time, but in thinking it over, I got to thinking that maybe I ought to change my approach to music. While I’m not exactly sure what that means just yet — it may be some time before I really figure it out. But, I do know that it’s going to be on my mind now, every time I play.
Folks, it appears that my Apple account has been hacked. IF YOU RECEIVE ANY MESSAGES PURPORTING TO BE FROM ME USING MY .ME ADDRESS, PLEASE DO NOT RESPOND! Please let me know at my gmail address or by leaving a contact here.
