It is finally official, the Sony Alpha A700 has a replacement in the A77. This new Translucent Mirror camera has a whopping 24.3mp APS-C sensor, offers 12fps shooting, durable dust and moisture resistant body construction, an OLED viewfinder, the list goes on and on. The A65 is a cut back version with the same sensor but less durable build claims and 10fps. There is also a new 16-50mm f/2.8 lens to accompany these cameras.
Recently we have shared a few iPhone adapters lenses etc for enhancing your iPhone photography. On one of those post we got a comment that sparked our interest and we though we could share with you the story of Jaco Hoffmann and how his cellphone camera adapter won him a trip to see the Northern Lights. Here is his story.
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Here is the second podcast of Alpha Tutorials. There is a look at the new Sony Alpha A35, a tutorial on how to update firmware on the Sony Alpha A33 / 55 and NEX-3 / 5 plus answering a question on partial colour black and white photography.
This is some exciting news to share. Our mother company Comment Media, has launched a new website and podcast. Its called Alpha Tutorials and while its designed to teach people more about the Sony Alpha system, the lessons on basic principles of photography are applicable to all cameras. I’ll be hosting the show, I apologize for that up front. Hope you enjoy it despite that 
The last couple of weeks have been terrible since we got samples of both the NEX-C3 and Alpha A35 but were sworn to secrecy as – at the time – there was no official release date for either camera. Now the news is official and we can share our first thoughts and begin our reviews a little more publicly.
With the June issue having just gone to print I realized that we did not post what was in the May issue. We reviewed the Sony Cyber-shot WX-1, Nissin DI-622 Mk II. There were reviews galore and a report on the local HTC launch event from a photographic point of view. Below are summaries of some the articles or you can click straight through to the issue.
There seems to be a great deal of talk today about 2011 being the year in which PMA (which was rebranded as Cliq) wont happen. Word out today is that the annual event which usually happens in January or February each year – and which was scheduled for September following the Cliq rebranding – will now be tied in to the much bigger CES (Consumer Electronics Show) in 2012. This is a very interesting development. From an attention point of view, I have wondered over the last few years why they did not combine CES and PMA before. They were always a few weeks apart and camera manufactures were kind of expected to be at both and have something different to announce at each as well. But is there more to this story than meets the eye?
Now For A Question For You
How many of you are doing a 365 day project? You know, where you are shooting a picture a day? If so let us know in the comments or via the contact form. If not but you are keen on the idea let us know as well… I can feel an idea brewing.
Picture shot on Sony NEX-5 with 18-55mm imported to iPad and edited with Photogene
Canon Rumors website have posted this bit of news on a new patent for what they are speculating is a Canon EF adapter for some future mirrorless camera. While I don’t doubt that as a possibility I cannot help but make a wild imaginative shot in the dark and say with Sony having released the specifications of the NEX mount rdcently, wouldn’t it be crazy if this was a Canon EF to Sony E-mount adapter that would offer full electronic compatibility with autofocus, apeture control and even image stabilization? Check the link for more.
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/canonrumors/rss/~3/Za0ZKbMfq0s/
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It is only a rumour at this stage but the thought of Sony developing a Cyber-shot camera with 3G data connection built in is rather interesting. Note the rumour is for a full on Cyber-shot not a Sony Ericsson camera phone. Would something like this be of real interest though? Perhaps if it had Instagrm or PicPlz photo sharing built in? Check the link on Engadget for more.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/03/10/sony-working-on-a-cyber-shot-camera-with-3g-cellular-connectivit/
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On Thursday I got an NEX-5 from Sony to play with. It has taken some nagging as we have had one before but then it was still running the old firmware. In checking back though I have realised that while we had the NEX-5 at launch, we never published the review. So, over the next few days – remembering my post last week on “Stop Making Excuses” – I will be giving the NEX-5 with the new firmware a run through and sharing my thoughts (and photos, GULP) with you. Just my first impression on the cosmetics of the black body with those greyish silver lenses… its the first camera I have played with in a while that I don’t like in black.
So we have spotted this on a few websites including Crunch Gear and PetaPixel that Sony have indicated that all of their DSLR cameras will become SLT (Single Lens Translucent) like the recent A33 and A55 which where the first in the range to make the big change. It does offer a world of potential but I still have doubts as to whether it is all good news yet. We will have to see how its implemented in the more pro A77 (as rumoured) out in September.
Its the CP+ Expo in Japan and with that comes a lot of new camera announcements. There is a whole Coolpix range revamp from Nikon, some more cameras from Olympus, lenses from Sigma and all in all too much to try and share it all here. If you want more in depth content I would suggest checking out 1001 Noisy Cameras and their CP+ 2011 Situation Room.
Read on for some of the highlights that have caught our interest the most.
I spotted this story yesterday on PetaPixel (great site by the way) of Sony filing for a patent on a folding grip for compact cameras. The concept loots great. What i hope is that they apply this to their Sony Ericsson phones as well. Get the story here.
A few days ago we posted word that Sony had two news Cyber-shots up their sleeves waiting for release, Now its official, the HX100v (replaces the long serving HX1) and the HX9V which will sit above our trusty HX5v or rather its replacement the HX7v that was announced at CES a few weeks back. A quick break down of the specs.
DSC-HX100v
16.2MP Exmor R CMOS sensor (backlit CMOS in other words) with a 3 inch 921k LCD screen. 30x optical Carl Zeiss zoom (interesting that it is not a G series as found on the HX1) which gives a range from 27-810mm. As with many of the new Sony Cybershots this camera shoots 3D images and also has a GPS plus AVCHD video
DSC-HX9v
All in all this camera has many of the same features, in fact the only major fact that sets them apart is that the HX9v is the 16x Optical Zoom (G-series lens here) which makes the camera pocket size almost.
Cannot wait to get our hands on these for review.
Sony have got their Bloggie Touch software running on Mac making life that little bit easier for people. We hoping that it won’t be long before this guy graces our shores. Get the full story here.
As much as I like the Sony Cyber-shot HX1 it is rather past its sell by date and I have actually been rather puzzled by Sony’s lack of action on the big zoom scrum. The HX1 set the bar high back in its day. It was the first Cyber-shot to use an Exmor CMOS sensor, 1080 HD Video and Sweep Pano mode. Now its been surpased by all its smaller zoom siblings. We will have to wait for an official announcement but it seems logical enough. See the full story at the link below.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/01/28/sony-cyber-shot-hx100v-and-hx9v-models-leaked-superzoomers-in-l/
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