Sony Alpha SLT-A55. Image via Wikipedia

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?

The first thing to mention is that the A57 loses the built-in GPS. Is that a big deal? I still don’t think so. As I mentioned in previous commentary, I’ve never had an SLR with a GPS, so I wouldn’t miss it. I have a workflow for dealing with location marking when I need it. As mentioned before, the A57 gets the larger battery used in the A65 and A77, so the battery life is improved.

The viewfinder optics have been redesigned to effectively increase the usable area and make for a larger viewfinder. There’s also a mode that increases the eyepoint relief, making for easier use by people with glasses. So, while not the expensive OLED viewfinder used in the A65 and A77, it’s still reported to be much improved over the previous model.

The sensor is the 16MP sensor used in the  NEX-5N, coupled with Sony’s newest BIONZ processor, which delivers phenomenal image quality at a very wide ISO range — up to ISO 12,800 before “expansion.” Of course, as ISO increases, so does noise. However, the new processor does a superb job of cleaning things up. Yes, there’s still noise, but it’s possible to get a very usable image at 12,800. The new processor also allows for true 1080p60p video, as well as shooting at 1080p24p, if that sort of thing is important to you.

What I find more interesting is the new 1.4X and 2.0X digital zoom, which Sony calls Clear View Zoom. It’s real-time, in-camera smart interpolation that still yields a 16MP image when using either 1.4X or 2.0X modes. In the sample images, the result is quite amazing. These two images from dpreview.com show how impressive the 2.0X can be: image at native resolution, image with 2.0X zoom. The A57 also has a smart portrait mode, which is kind of interesting. When enabled, it first determines that you’ve taken a portrait, and then makes a second image that is a “corrected” composition (based on all the “classic” rules of portrait composition). Nifty, but something I would probably never use. The point, though, is that the image quality is still stunning, and the mode will allow beginners to get really nice portrait.

For those who need high-speed-shooting, the A57 will manage 10fps at 16MP, or, in a special lower-resolution mode, 12fps. This is similar to a trick Nikon used several years ago in one of their high-end pro models.

It also appears that most, if not all, of the features (auto-panorama, dynamic range optimization, etc.) from earlier SLT-series cameras are included, making this one hot little mid-level DLSR, especially given it’s entry-level price tag.

Related articles

• Sony a57 DSLR Camera revealed and detailed(slashgear.com)

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• Sony Alpha A57 Focuses on the DSLR Sweet Spot(pcworld.com)

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• Sony A57 announced: 16-megapixel translucent mirror camera(theverge.com)

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• Sony Brings Pro-level Performance to Mainstream SLR Users with New High-Speed ?57 Camera Featuring Translucent Mirror Technology (prnewswire.com)
• Sony announces the Alpha a57, the first SLR-like camera with digital zoom (news.consumerreports.org)
• Meet the Sony Alpha A57. We Have Specs and Pics (sonyrumors.net)
• Sony outs Alpha A57 translucent mirror camera with 12fps shooting, improved autofocus system (engadget.com)

That was about as simple as it gets!

Casio XW-P1 Performance Synth (image courtesy Sweetwater Sound and Casio Corporation)

That’s right, I said 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.

Related articles

• Casio Music Gear (casiomusicgear.com)
• On The Hunt: Keyboard Amps (gerenm.net)
• A Thought on Music (gerenm.net)
• When One of You Just Isn’t Enough (gerenm.net)
• Casio’s New Synth Keyboards: Workstation Keyboards for Synth Rockers, DJs, Organists? (createdigitalmusic.com)
• Casio WK-6500 Workstation Keyboard (coolest-gadgets.com)
• Casio Returns with the New XW-P1 and XW-G1 Synthesizers (bhphotovideo.com)

Of course, I found some more info on the new Casio XW-P1 after I posted and shared. Here’s a video from Casio:

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.

Thanks.

Sunrise on 70

A quick snapshot on my ride to work this morning.

A number of these are in-camera HDR images, made with the Sony Alpha SLT-A35. The panorama was also made in-camera using the pano mode. I also experimented with other picture styles, and did a little of my typical post production.

Image via Wikipedia

Second, Kodak is also filing for bankruptcy. In my opinion, this has been a long time coming, and taking our Kodachrome away was the nail in the coffin. Not that I ever liked Kodachrome. I always thought Fujichrome was a much better film.

Sony Alpha NEX-7 with 18-55mm lens

Meanwhile, Trey Ratcliff has posted an interesting article on his blog announcing the death of the DSLR. Instead, Trey imagines a future of 3rd generation digital cameras, most without mirrors, and many without even any kind of viewfinder except for the big screen on the back. Indeed, new mirrorless cameras like Sony‘s new NEX-7 offer all of the image quality of today’s APS-C DSLRs in an amazingly compact package. With adapters available allowing a wide ranges of lenses to fit on the NEX cameras, they’re sure to be a hit. The NEX-7 is poised to be a very capable, professional quality camera once some serious lenses are available.

Full circle?

Years ago, professionals relied heavily on superb-quality 35mm rangefinder cameras with interchangeable lenses from Lieca, Nikon, Canon, and others. They loved them for their small size and weight and excellent image quality. A glance at the pages of any new photography magazine shows some of those same players are back at it today, introducing high-end “digital rangefinders” aimed squarely at professional or semi-pro markets.

Image via Wikipedia

I turned on the TV in my office this morning, and the first thing I saw was an advertisement placed by CTIA.org advocating expanding telecommunications further into the UHF bands, further reducing the UHF frequencies available to TV broadcasters, film and video producers, event production companies and convention centers, hotels, theaters and performers for wireless microphones, instrument systems and in-ear monitoring. This is becoming a very real threat. Yet the big players in the industry (Shure, Sennheiser, Audio Technica, etc.) are still steadfastly maintaining that UHF is their future.

CTIA’s latest ad touts “wireless freedom” for users of cell phones, etc., and promises reduction in the national debt. They sign off with “It’s simple. More spectrum means more freedom — for everyone.”

What it really means is that wireless microphone and monitoring users are going to have to spend millions of dollars to replace equipment that will be made useless. And, since the equipment can’t be legally resold (yeah, it’s a federal offense to resell the stuff!) or easily recycled, it will end up in landfills across America. CTIA has previously run ads about how “green” their initiatives are. If this kind of outcome is their idea of green, all I can see is red!

Folks, now is the time to contact your representatives in Congress. If we’re not heard, we won’t be heard!

The Photographic Adventures of Theaterwiz

When the government-mandated transition from analog to digital television occurred here in the US, a couple of other things happened, at least one of which directly affected musicians using wireless microphones, instruments and in-ear monitoring systems. Specifically a large chunk of the UHF radio band, which was previously used for our wireless gear was declared off-limits. I don’t have to tell you that decent wireless gear is expensive. The best price I’ve found so far on a decent-quality UHF personal monitor is around $350 for the Carvin EM900 system. UHF spectrum is like gold to the wireless communications industry (cell phones, two-way radios, etc.) who benefited most from the UHF frequencies made vacant by the DTV transition, and it’s only a matter of time before they lobby the government and win the rest of “our” airspace.

So, I began looking at what’s going on in other wireless market segments. The answer is that there is a large allocation in the 2.4GHz range for digital spread-spectrum systems. The technology is mature, and you’re already familiar with some of — cordless phones, wireless networking and even baby monitors are operating using this technology now, along with radio controlled model airplanes, cars and boats. Because so many consumer industries are using this technology, that also means that the it’s relatively cheap!

Digital spread spectrum is a great technology for our use as musicians because, once a transmitter and receiver are “paired” (just like a Bluetooth earpiece gets paired to your cell phone), they always “know” each other. When they first get turned on in a new location, they negotiate with other 2.4GHz devices so that many, many systems can operate together without any interference whatsoever. And, a single transmitter can be “paired” to several different receivers, just as easily as pairing that Bluetooth gizmo to your phone.

Jangus Music

Knowing all this, you’d think that there would be a ton of inexpensive 2.4GHz wireless systems for musicians out there. There are already amazing 2.4GHz radio control systems out there for under $100! But, as near as I can tell, there are only two companies using this technology. Line6 has products for wireless guitar/bass and vocals, but no in-ear monitors. The other company I’ve found is Jangus Music. Yeah, I’ve never heard of them either.

Based on a common transmitter/receiver pair, Jangus systems start at around $190. If you’re a guitarist, it comes with everything you need. For in-ear monitors, you’ll need to add a pair of ear-buds. If you’re looking for a head-worn mic, they have a “kit” or sell their very nice headset mic system separately (along with adapters to use their mic system with any wireless or wired PA).

If you’re a keyboardist, each system can support a single stereo keyboard, or two keyboards, if you run mono like I do! Guitarists might like their integrated strap/transmitter setup. There are no pictures of it on their web site, but they do mention it in all of their literature. The Jangus system also looks to be a great solution for videographers or digital film-makers using an HDSLR rig.

Related articles, courtesy of Zemanta:

• Musicians Find Remedy for Expense and Aggravation of Moisture-Related In-Ear Monitor Failures
• In Ear Monitor Help!
• IEM Suggestions for Live Use

The thing is nothing short of amazing, not so much because of what it does, but for how easily it does it! I’ve tried to use other vocal harmonizers in the past, and found them complicated to set up, and hard to sing with. The latter is, of course, my problem. Or rather, it was. And, it may have been in part to my being worried about tech, or maybe more about worrying about my singing ability. In any event, I’m really finding the box a joy to work with, and Friday night, we used it live for the first time:

TC-Helicon VoiceTone C1 HardTune and Correction

I have identified one more of these devices that I would like to have for myself — the VoiceTone C1 Hardtune and Correction box — my vocals are definitely better than they used to be, but I am not perfect!

The olloclip is an attachement that provides three different lens attachments — wide angle, fisheye and macro for about U$70. Coupled with the iPhone 4S 8MP camera, the results look to be amazingly good.

As the night went on, I got to thinking about using something similar to fill out the backups in my band. As I looked at the various products on the market, and at my budget, I realized that our needs were much simpler at this point. I really just needed the ability to have one or two additional voices. And so, I settled in on a TC-Helicon Voicetone H-1 harmonizer. Yesterday, I picked on up at a local music emporium.

The H-1 aims to be super-simple to setup and use, and it succeeds. I’ve tried other harmony boxes in the past, and they were very difficult to use, requiring specific programming to work right. When I unleashed the H-1 on my unsuspecting band-mates yesterday at rehearsal, less than a half-hour after leaving the music store, I was making useful harmonies almost from the minute I turned it on!

The H-1 has basically three knobs and a switch to work all the magic. The first knob selects the key the box will base the harmonies on, and can also switch to a mode that allows the H-1 to track chords being played on a guitar or keyboard to automatically determine the key. The second knob selects the accompaniment voices, while the third determines how the singers voice will be blended with the backing tracks. The switch kicks the effect on or off.

For the first few songs we did with the H-1, I chose to select the key manually. I simply turned the knob to the correct key, chose a voice arrangement, and sang my usual backup parts. When I wanted more “mes”, I simply hit the switch, and wow! Instant backups. I had all the Pips in my pocket.

After our lead singer got over his surprise, we did a couple more tunes with this setup, and then I decided to try the automatic tracking function. I routed a signal from our guitarist’s channel into the instrument input, spun the key knob around to the “guitar” position, and we were off. When I held a note over chord changes, my harmonies automatically tracked the right chords! The backing tracks on our cover of Aerosmith’s Remember were particularly impressive.

Of course, we didn’t record anything at practice, though we probably will at our next gig (and probably should start recording rehearsals). But if you want to see what this thing’s like in action, check out these videos:

This guy uses it a lot for his live gigs, and has a pretty good command of the box. He’s a little bit spastic, though, but seems a good sort…

There are a couple other Voicetone Singles boxes that will eventually join the H1 in our rig, specifically the T1 and the D1 (voice tone and compression and also a chorus/detune).

Related articles, courtesy of Zemanta:

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creativeLIVE

About creativeLIVE (from creativelive.com):

creativeLIVE is about providing the best free, live creative education on the web. From our studio in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood, we offer free online workshops in photography, video, web and graphic design, app development and a wide array of other creative topics.

All of our live creative workshops are available to watch for free in realtime. Once a live workshop is over, we edit the best of this content into easily downloadable files available for purchase through our online store. It’s that simple.

At our core, we’re a dedicated group of creative-minded individuals. Our aim is to work with the very best instructors who want to share their knowledge and creative expertise with the world.

SLT-A35 and 18-55mm f:3.5-5.6 SAM lens:
I mentioned in my post, Quickie with the A35, that the camera and kit lens just plain feel good. With my own, I spent some time customizing the operation. A few things I did right off the bat:

• Enable the automatic LCD/Viewfinder switching
• Enable the “Eye-start Autofocus”
• Enable the focus assist magnifier
• Enable the “rule of thirds” finder grid
• Disable auto image review
• Set the LCD to an info display by default
• Enable info displays in the electronic viewfinder

I also made my “standard” changes to imaging settings:

• Punch up the sharpness in all modes except for “portrait”
• Punch up the contrast in B&W modes
• Punch up the saturation in most modes

This morning, I headed off across the countryside to take some pictures on a gorgeous fall day.

This image is straight from the camera. I’m letting the camera make all the decisions here, and selected the “Toy Camera” scene mode. The camera has done pretty much exactly what I would have done in post — slightly darkened the corners and punched up and warmed the colors. While you can’t tell a lot from even the enlarged image here, the overall sharpness is excellent, and there’s little evidence of the dreaded “purple fringing” in the edges and corners. Very nice.

DT55-200mm f:4-5.6 SAM v2:

Here, I’ve selected the 55-200mm lens, and chosen the auto HDR mode with a range of 6EV. In this mode, the camera makes three exposures — one at the “correct” exposure, and then one under and one over. The images are then combined in-camera for a true HDR effect. The camera then saves the correct single exposure as well as the HDR version. As expected, the HDR image requires a little “help” in post, and I’ve done the basics — correct the black point, the highlight limit and at the mid-point levels. The result is a nice, crisp, detailed image with good color and detail.

Like the 18-55mm lens I purchased, the 55-200 is also a “kit” lens. While the 18-55 was made in Thailand, the 55-200 was made in China, and you can definitely feel a difference in the lens. Where the zoom control on the 18-55 is very smooth, the 55-200 doesn’t feel quite as “luscious.” The zoom is tight and catches here and there. If I were to try to use this lens for video, and tried to zoom with it while recording, the zoom would not be smooth. But, the lens is sharp and lightweight, with only a little more evidence of chromatic aberration. For the money, not a bad lens to start with.

Sigma EF-610 DG SUPER Flash:
I don’t really have any images yet to show with the flash. I did shoot a few today, but I was working in really extreme conditions and talking too much about them wouldn’t be completely fair. However … I’m not as thrilled with the flash as I’d hoped to be. For now, I’m going to put it down to not being used to the new gear. I’ll post some images and a little review on that once I get better acquainted with the flash.

Gallery:
Here are a few selected images I made today:

I hope that I’ll have an opportunity to shoot some more tomorrow, and I’ll of course share my results.

We usually go a lot more, but various other commitments kept us away this year. Still, we had a great time and got to meet and see some great people. Can’t wait for next year!

I’ve got a workflow for geotagging images when it’s important that only adds about 30 seconds to my day — I take a picture with my iPhone and use the GPS coordinates from that image for all the images taken in the same place.

I also did go ahead and order the Sony lenses — both the 18-55 and the 55-200, a Sigma flash, a couple of batteries and a “Puffer”.

Everything should arrive tomorrow.

For this gallery, I went back to the original files, be they RAW or JPEG, and gave them some of the processing treatments I use today. I did, however, purposely limit myself to iPhoto for the image work. I was pleasantly surprised by how well many of my old image held up.

I’ve said that these cameras had the potential to be what the old Minolta DiMage A2 really wanted to be. Well, even more than the original SLT-A55, the A35 truly manages to live up to it. Like the old DiMage, it’s comfortable despite its diminutive size and also like the DiMage, it feels solid despite its feather weight.

Konica-Minolta DiMage A2

In operation, the camera feels very responsive, and the EVF (electronic view finder) is bright and crisp — far better than the old DiMage, and I think even slightly improved over the A55. The large rear display is also quite impressive, even if it doesn’t have a tilting or swiveling capability — I haven’t had that since the A2, which also had an EVF that tilted.

Auto-focusing with the A35 was very fast and appeared quite accurate, as was the exposure. Navigating menus and contols was quite intuitive, just as they are on the WX9 point-and-shoot I already have. And, both the menus and controls are laid out very similarly to the Canons.

One complaint that I’ve read about the A55 and A33 pertains to the “burst” mode, and the appearance that the viewfinder displays the last image taken briefly, making it difficult to track a moving subject. I didn’t get that impression with the A35, in either burst mode, but I wasn’t able to try to track any really fast-moving subjects.

Another complaint that I’ve read is that the 18-55mm “kit” lens seems “cheap.” To me, it actually feels better than Canon’s kit lens. Again, relying on web images, it fairs at least as well as the Canon. I’m actually considering buying the kit lens with the camera — something I’ve shied away from since we switched from Nikon to Canon when we bought the XTi’s.

Since I was shooting in the store in the Mall, I wasn’t able to take away any images. There are many photos and videos posted on the internet, as well as a few well-written reviews. One of the more complete reviews can be found at Imaging Resource. Another review can be found at PopPhoto.com. Sony’s own page for the SLT-A35 is here.

I personally believe that it’s always best to get it right in camera, but for those times when things just didn’t work out as well as one would hope, this could be the tool that saves the day!

This little video was captured using a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9 at 1080i/60i. I “edited” the video using iMovie on a MacBook, adding Apple’s camera shake removal. When exporting, I made an NTSC 480i widescreen “print” with a medium level of compression to keep the file size reasonable. Of course, YouTube has compressed it further while transcoding it for playback on their site.

Of course, this video will never replace a full-fledged video camera for professional or broadcast use, but filmmakers are embracing mid-level D-SLRs like Canon’s 7D and 5D mkII for serious movie making. Even the Canon EOS Rebel T3i can produce truly professional-grade results in the right hands.

So, what do you think? Will dedicated consumer camcorders be replaced with these high-quality hybrid technologies?

Sony Cyber Shot DSC-WX9

Back in January, I wrote that I thought I had finally gotten that whole Sony thing out of my system. Boy, was I wrong.

I recently purchased a new little point-and-shoot digital camera, the Sony Cyber Shot DSC-WX9. I bought it primarily for one purpose — the sweep panorama mode, which automagically takes 15 image and stitches them together, producing an amazingly high-quality image. The idea was to be able to record panos to use as backgrounds for my model railroading efforts.

Amazingly, the image quality of the little WX9 can sometimes trump my Canons with their APS-C-sized sensors, and the feature set is nothing short of astounding.

Since then, I’ve found that I really, really like the “Sony way” — at least as much as I liked the “Minolta way” back when we had the DiMage A1 and A2 cameras.

Decision Made — I’m Making the Jump

Back in January, the object of my desire had been the then-new Sony A55, a D-SLR with a fixed, “pellicle” (semi-transparent) mirror. Since then, Sony have released a second-generation model, the A35, and “semi-pro” third generation models, the A65 and A77, are due to ship from Sony very soon.

For the vast majority of my use, the SLT-A35 looks to be a perfect choice — both for stills and the limited amount of video that I do these days. There are a couple of “missing” features that would be nice (built-in GPS and a tilting, swiveling display), but that I’ve never had before. And, since I’ve never had them before, I seriously doubt that I’ll actually miss them. (The alternative is the larger, heavier, traditional A580 D-SLR for about $200 more. I’ll have to spend a little time with both before making a final decision)

Over the next few days, I’ll be making an inventory of photo, video and audio gear that I’ve been holding on to, but have not used in the past six months or so. Those items will be listed for sale soon, and once the needed amount is raised (and a couple other things taken care of), I’ll see about making a purchase.