Re: Ha ha! Told you! New Sony = $3000!

David Kilpatrick wrote:
Alan Browne wrote:
David Kilpatrick wrote:
RichA wrote:
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/SonyDSLRA900/page2.asp

But the body is....plastic!

The body is solid magnesium alloy all round. I know, I've seen the inside shells and held it.

Whatever the shortcomings of the camera may prove to be, it's firmly aimed at the wealthy amateur who in the past bought Contax RTS or Leica R4 etc - expensive excellent lenses, comfortable feel (not a pro lump), amazing viewfinder and very fast response, plus of course the biggest image around right now.

I tried a bunch of my own vintage lenses on it, to compare with the new 16-35, 70-400mm etc and the results are interesting. My 28-75mm KM seems to be really excellent with it. 17-35mm less so. 24-105mm D - exceptionally sharp but bendy geometry.

I also tried some vintage-type Sony lenses - 20mm f2.8, 28mm f2.8 - don't bother - they don't cut it - CA and softness all round. 50mm f1.4 - amazing. Very good indeed.

How was the wide angle corner performance? Vignetting?

No rela vignetting problem and no colour shifts.

Well, that is good news.

They have microlenses and shading correction -

I don't like that... I assume you mean a f/w or s/w reduction of center of sensor sensitivity?

the actual pixel wells at 5.9µm which makes them relatively smaller for the area, indicating that microlenses may be taking more space than usual.


The camera has the AA filter placed much higher off the sensor, and a dual-level mirror which sort of lifts and rises in limited space, despite being the biggest mirror of any DSLR. I know that placing the AA filter forward will not change its impact on BF (the thickness of the glass in an AA filter always produced BF in short focal length or wide aperture lenses - work out the ray trace compared to a long lens) but it will greatly reduce the visibility of dust.

BF?


[do you happen to know if they do a microlens correction for this?]

I'm sorry to hear that about the 20mm f/2.8 ... it is somehting I want to use on the a900.

Perhaps the 16-35 f/2.8 CZ will be better?

Yes, it is

Damn. I'm having a hard time completing my lense collection as it is; this will threaten my 85 f/1.4 purchase.

I'm wondering if the 28-70 f/2.8 will be up to it as well. It's pretty sharp but not amazingly so.


I did not have one to try. My tests were a) very crude and quick, ducking out of the window to shoot the street with different lenses, no time to adjust or check many settings b) on mainly prototype gear.

I am still hoping to get a review camera with time for proper tests. I am not very happy with being the only one of the press party who, becaue I live local to the event, could be dropped out of the shooting activities to reduce pressure on the limited bodies available!

Now, now. Next time put down your address as Glasgow.

Thanks!
Alan.

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