A Sin to Confess

It must be an ancient curse which makes photographers prattle forever on the good and bad of every new camera emerging on the block, even though they are not going to buy it.  Interestingly at the same time, there are lots of photographers keeping on buying new lenses and cameras despite their camera cabinets are already short of space and their purse short of fund.  It must either be the same curse at effect; or could it be out of grudges against money?

This question should ring an "earlier" bell to me. 

Without selling the much loved Dynax 7 to cover the cost, here it is in my camera cabinet: Sony's adventurous a55:

Adventurous because it is full of exciting practical gimmicks in a reduced and lighter "big-boy" body.  Of course, through a55, my Minolta gear can finally be given a new lease of life, so to speak:

Fact is, embarrassingly, there is still one little brother to join'em – Minolta Dynax 5, the then world's lightest SLR (now I heard my inner self saying, "Shame on you, Nevin!"):

If there is a good reason for buying a new camera so soon (hmmm, okay, I got myself a P-n-S just two months ago – Samsung WB600),  it could be that the photographer has outgrown the cameras on his hand or has new photographic needs.  And the only reason I pick the a55 instead of the much smaller NEX5 is in the handling.  I'm not talking about the user's interface.  It is that working with a bigger lens mounted on the tiny NEX5 is a cumbersome task.

I'm still getting used to the fast focusing of the a55.  Sometimes it is simply too fast to handle.  It really gives a new definition to focus-hunting: it hunts and grabs the focus from one subject to another in a sensitive way before the photographer has figured out the composition of the image.  This is great performance, just that I have yet to put the focusing modes to the right use.  Since the camera is fitted with an APS-C sensor, don't expect the a55 to deliver extremely crispy image at 100% magnification.  For the general eye, the images are pretty awesome.

Some first shots were taken at a recent funfair, Red Bull Flugtag Hong Kong 2010.  It was great fun – both the photographing and the event.  The launching platform was elevated and the best shooting locations were full; so my chance to shoot the launches was nil.