Mathematical Certainty

Test de l'AF du Sony Alpha 55 from Alpha numérique on Vimeo.

Take a break from the Australia trip because there is one thing more exciting to think about: Sony's launch of the a55. The camera has received excellent reviews, surprisingly even from the C-brand friendly site and the connoisseur-grade Luminous Landscape.

It is a camera in a body weighted and measured (except for the depth) similarly as a Samsung NX10. But Sony solves the one important issue that has remained to be improved for such smaller serious cameras– the focusing speed, as far as my experience with them goes.

There are just too many great features in the a55 to talk about apart from the focusing speed. (By the way, the beauty rocks, doesn't she?) The ability to swing its body to do the panoramic shots is too good to be true. The gob-smacking dynamic range capability is fantastic. The LCD viewfinder plus the fully articulated screen combine to give a smarter solution than an optical tilting viewfinder as in GF-1's case, for example, or a fixed screen plus a fixed EVF as in NX10's case. The price is surprisingly low too.

In a nutshell, Sony has managed to produce a camera 'small', advanced and affordable enough to tickle the fancy of many. So who will be surprised if they end up buying one next month when it is available? Or is it rather a mathematical certainty?

My Minolta lenses are kicking in the coffins from afar, I heard them.

This is 'Son'day. Have fun!

Comments

A Real Hero

(Grip On Reality: This photo was taken on my way to work. I was walking past trucks parking on a cul-de-sac when the ropes caught my attention. The light was right, the colour was right and the criss-crossing pattern was perfect and I held up my GX200. People passing by checked me out and wondered what could be made out of such a boring scene. To me, the fun in photography is that the photographer makes something interesting out of what is not obvious to most at the scene. The ropes tied in knots somehow reminded people I know who are in the grip of the recession) You must have also known a friend or two, or even yourself, being baffled by the spiral downturn of the economy. Bank went bankrupt and the rich was faced with a shrinking wealth. A friend of mine has just had his salary cut by over 10% and some of his colleagues started to be shed. But, wait. Was this done really for the sake of continuing the business? Or is there a factor or greed in it? I wonder whether the

New Low Prices

The window shopping some hours ago has almost provoked my AgIDS illness. Just in case you’re in Hong Kong or are coming here, and have the money to burn (All in HK$/ body only): GX200 = $3,280 GRD2 = $3,380 LX3 = $3,180 G10 = $3,280 Prices are available form a gear shop on the 1st floor of the Mongkok Computer Centre. Besides these new low prices, I found that Wing Shing Photo (55-57Sai Yeung Choi St., MK Tel: 2396 6886/ 91-95 Fa Yuen St., MK Tel: 2396 6885) is offering a Sony A700 + Carl Zeiss Lens package for HK$9,980 (hopefully, a bargain will make it some hundreds cheaper).

Eye Contact

(Leica D-lux 5) The digital era may make it easier to end up with fave shots. Even lousy photos may be turned likable after a few clicks in the post-processing workflow. But if digital advancement or amendments have any bearing on the cultivation of personal style, no photographers will need to discover his or her own photographer’s eye. Undoutedly, this is out of the question. Only with a trained photographer’s eye can we give a thinking gaze and capture an eternal moment, in our unique style. Style is the soul of a great photo. A few posts have been written in GXG to touch on the topic of photographer’s eye. Instead of finding an answer, which would require academic discussions, the posts are intended to give my general reflections and spark interests in moving towards further exploration of the topic. The posts can be viewed after the links: 1) Photographer's Eye: Storytelling 2) Photographer's Eye: Little Show of Observing 3) Photographer's Eye: Sight-Worthy 4

GX GARNERINGS

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