Sony A700 - first outing. - DPChallenge Forums

09/26/2007 10:33:00 AM · #1

:-D Yep, it came FedEx yesterday. HOORAY!

Gave it a spin last night at one of our kid's soccer game. Overall I was very pleased (good thing, eh?). The words that kept coming to me last night..."Fast!" It's night and day from my KM 5D. The 11 point autofocus really tracked well. The first time I shot a burst, it made me jump, literally! 5 shots per second at full RAW is nice.

I found the shutter button to have a much lighter touch than I expected. Actually fired the shutter a couple of times accidentally getting some nice ground shots while fiddling around. :P Much quieter too.

On the down side, shooting in full RAW mode, the file size is around 18MB. More than double my old camera.

Learning the new Sony software is going to take some time as well. Previously I used RSE 2006 for sorting (rating) my RAW files, making any tweeks, and converting to TIFF. RSE 2006 doesn't recognize the Sony .ARW file extension (at least as far as I can tell). With the Sony software it's a two-step process. One app to sort/rate, then send to the second app for tweeking and converting. I may have missed something obvious, it was getting late...

Ok. Here's a handful of shots from last night. The parents/spectators side was facing the sun, and the field was very dry and dusty (actually kind of an interesting effect in some shots because of the dust).

These are pretty much straight from the camera, nothing other than resize (border on some). I'm pleased with how sharp these came out.

, [thumb]591751[/thumb], [thumb]591752[/thumb], [thumb]591762[/thumb], [thumb]591771[/thumb], [thumb]591775[/thumb], [thumb]591778[/thumb]

09/26/2007 10:37:58 AM · #2

What! No ISO3200???

Those are great Barry, new toys are good ;)

Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM

09/26/2007 10:43:19 AM · #3

Originally posted by wavelength:

What! No ISO3200???

Those are great Barry, new toys are good ;)

Thanks Steve. Just wait, I'll get that ISO6400 working soon. :)

Photologist

Apple iPhone 16 Pro Max

09/26/2007 11:07:55 AM · #4

Great captures, Barry. Is the lens new, as well?

Apple iPhone 5

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

09/26/2007 11:15:50 AM · #5

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Learning the new Sony software is going to take some time as well. Previously I used RSE 2006 for sorting (rating) my RAW files, making any tweeks, and converting to TIFF. RSE 2006 doesn't recognize the Sony .ARW file extension (at least as far as I can tell).

Give ACDSee Pro 2 a try, it supports the ARW format. (I'm still trying it out myself)

09/26/2007 11:24:14 AM · #6

Originally posted by AperturePriority:

Great captures, Barry. Is the lens new, as well?

He-he. Nope, quite the opposite. I've been giving an old Minolta 70-210 F4 a workout. The infamous "beercan". This lens is over 20 years old (and still actively sought after).

09/26/2007 11:27:16 AM · #7

Originally posted by jhonan:

Give ACDSee Pro 2 a try, it supports the ARW format. (I'm still trying it out myself)

Thanks for the link. I may just try that soon. :)

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

09/26/2007 03:55:00 PM · #8

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Originally posted by jhonan:
Give ACDSee Pro 2 a try, it supports the ARW format. (I'm still trying it out myself)

Thanks for the link. I may just try that soon. :)

Remember not to import with ACDsee, as it alters your EXIF, a no-no on DPC.

Apple iPhone 5

09/26/2007 04:30:37 PM · #9

Originally posted by wavelength:

Remember not to import with ACDsee, as it alters your EXIF, a no-no on DPC.

Could you clarify this please? - I just loaded a NEF file into ACDSee Pro 2 and saved it off as a TIFF. I then opened the TIFF in Photoshop and the EXIF data is intact as per the original.

Ahhh.... or are you talking about not using the ACDSee 'import' utility to read files directly off your camera? - In this case it's fine as I drag/drop the files from the card reader.

Delta_6

Canon EOS-7D

Canon EF 24-105mm f/4.0L IS

09/26/2007 06:35:44 PM · #10

Originally posted by wavelength:

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Originally posted by jhonan:
Give ACDSee Pro 2 a try, it supports the ARW format. (I'm still trying it out myself)

Thanks for the link. I may just try that soon. :)

Remember not to import with ACDsee, as it alters your EXIF, a no-no on DPC.

PS CS2 with it's highest version - 3.7 i think - of ACR read my ARW files easily from the A100.

09/26/2007 08:41:10 PM · #11

Originally posted by jhonan:

Originally posted by wavelength:
Remember not to import with ACDsee, as it alters your EXIF, a no-no on DPC.

Ahhh.... or are you talking about not using the ACDSee 'import' utility to read files directly off your camera? - In this case it's fine as I drag/drop the files from the card reader.

Yeah. I do the same thing...never use the import feature, just drag & drop.

Thanks for the heads-up tho Steve.

09/26/2007 08:43:06 PM · #12

Originally posted by Delta_6:

Originally posted by wavelength:

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Originally posted by jhonan:
Give ACDSee Pro 2 a try, it supports the ARW format. (I'm still trying it out myself)

Thanks for the link. I may just try that soon. :)

Remember not to import with ACDsee, as it alters your EXIF, a no-no on DPC.

PS CS2 with it's highest version - 3.7 i think - of ACR read my ARW files easily from the A100.

Hey. Thanks for the tip. I'm a PSP X2 user, which will open them, but I liked the sort/rating layout of RSE 2006 better. I'll just have to get used to something else (PSP X2, the new Sony apps, or ACDSeePro).

10/06/2007 02:49:04 PM · #13

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Originally posted by Delta_6:

Originally posted by wavelength:

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Originally posted by jhonan:
Give ACDSee Pro 2 a try, it supports the ARW format. (I'm still trying it out myself)

Thanks for the link. I may just try that soon. :)

Remember not to import with ACDsee, as it alters your EXIF, a no-no on DPC.

PS CS2 with it's highest version - 3.7 i think - of ACR read my ARW files easily from the A100.

Hey. Thanks for the tip. I'm a PSP X2 user, which will open them, but I liked the sort/rating layout of RSE 2006 better. I'll just have to get used to something else (PSP X2, the new Sony apps, or ACDSeePro).

Well, that didn't work. ACDSee Pro 2 isn't happy with Sony .ARW files - doesnt' recognize them, even more, it doesn't support Paint Ship Pro X2 files (if a .pspimage or .psp file is in the folder being opened ACDSee Pro 2 just closes entirely).

Link to info specific to PSP (& X2) at ACDSee Pro 2 forums ==> ACDSee Pro 2 crash with Paint Shop Pro X2 images

Looking thru their forums in general it seems like they have issues in many areas with this software. ??? Too bad, I like the GUI on it. :/

10/06/2007 02:58:29 PM · #14

Originally posted by glad2badad:

I think Sony made a bit of a misstep in releasing the camera before anyone was able to get RAW support built in. It appears that only Adobe Lightroom/ACR(CS3) and Apple Aperture have updated to include it. DXO, Bibble, and virtually everyone else have not.

10/06/2007 03:06:14 PM · #15

Originally posted by wavelength:

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Well, that didn't work. ACDSee Pro 2 isn't happy with Sony .ARW files - doesnt' recognize them, even more, it doesn't support Paint Ship Pro X2 files (if a .pspimage or .psp file is in the folder being opened ACDSee Pro 2 just closes entirely).

Link to info specific to PSP (& X2) at ACDSee Pro 2 forums ==> ACDSee Pro 2 crash with Paint Shop Pro X2 images

Looking thru their forums in general it seems like they have issues in many areas with this software. ??? Too bad, I like the GUI on it. :/

I think Sony made a bit of a misstep in releasing the camera before anyone was able to get RAW support built in. It appears that only Adobe Lightroom/ACR(CS3) and Apple Aperture have updated to include it. DXO, Bibble, and virtually everyone else have not.

Yeah. Now I'm seeing that. :/

I really hate to support Adobe by purchasing any of their products, but I'm heading over now to checkout 'Lightroom'.

Nikon AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 ED

10/06/2007 03:26:09 PM · #16

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Originally posted by wavelength:

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Well, that didn't work. ACDSee Pro 2 isn't happy with Sony .ARW files - doesnt' recognize them, even more, it doesn't support Paint Ship Pro X2 files (if a .pspimage or .psp file is in the folder being opened ACDSee Pro 2 just closes entirely).

Link to info specific to PSP (& X2) at ACDSee Pro 2 forums ==> ACDSee Pro 2 crash with Paint Shop Pro X2 images

Looking thru their forums in general it seems like they have issues in many areas with this software. ??? Too bad, I like the GUI on it. :/

I think Sony made a bit of a misstep in releasing the camera before anyone was able to get RAW support built in. It appears that only Adobe Lightroom/ACR(CS3) and Apple Aperture have updated to include it. DXO, Bibble, and virtually everyone else have not.

Yeah. Now I'm seeing that. :/

I really hate to support Adobe by purchasing any of their products, but I'm heading over now to checkout 'Lightroom'.

Make sure to bring a dual-core processor and at least 2 gigs of RAM with you :|

Apple iPhone 5

10/06/2007 04:45:34 PM · #17

Originally posted by glad2badad:

Link to info specific to PSP (& X2) at ACDSee Pro 2 forums ==> ACDSee Pro 2 crash with Paint Shop Pro X2 images

Looking thru their forums in general it seems like they have issues in many areas with this software. ??? Too bad, I like the GUI on it. :/

Sorry to hear you're having problems with ACDSee. I'm still using it for NEF (Nikon raw) and although there are a few glitches and it's crashed on me a couple of times, I really like the speed and the UI - I find it very easy to use, and there are some really nice editing tools in there. Plus the RAW conversion works really well. And I prefer it to Lightroom.

From what I've seen in the ACDSee forums, at least the developers take note of the feedback and try to get the changes into the next update.

violinist123

Canon EOS-6D

Canon EF 24-70mm f/2.8L USM

10/06/2007 05:58:07 PM · #18

Originally posted by wavelength:

Originally posted by glad2badad:

I really hate to support Adobe by purchasing any of their products, but I'm heading over now to checkout 'Lightroom'.

Make sure to bring a dual-core processor and at least 2 gigs of RAM with you :|

Nah it's not quite that bad. I run it on a old p4-2.4ghz with a gig of ram and do ok.

I agree, it was painful to actually pay for software...

fotomann_forever

10/06/2007 06:02:04 PM · #19

Originally posted by wavelength:

Make sure to bring a dual-core processor and at least 2 gigs of RAM with you :|

It's not that bad... I ran it on an old Celeron with 640MB of RAM. The extra RAM and processor certainly helps but it will respond with less.

10/06/2007 09:32:19 PM · #20

Originally posted by wavelength:

Make sure to bring a dual-core processor and at least
2 gigs of RAM with you :|

Running a PC with 2.8GHZ Pentium, 1.5GB RAM...doing "ok", could be faster. When I open PSP X2 at the same time I notice a substantial hit (PSP X2 seems to be more of a resource hog than PSP X).

Running the 30 day trial of Lightroom. I like it so far - except for the $300 price tag if I really decide I want to keep going with it.

10/06/2007 09:34:07 PM · #21

Originally posted by jhonan:

From what I've seen in the ACDSee forums, at least the developers take note of the feedback and try to get the changes into the next update.

Think they'll get up to speed in the next couple of weeks? I certainly wish they would. :-)

fotomann_forever

10/06/2007 09:35:07 PM · #22

Barry, if you process a lot of shots from RAW, like big batches, LR is well worth the price tag. If you only do one or two at a time, then maybe not so much of an asset.

10/06/2007 09:36:46 PM · #23

Originally posted by routerguy666:

I agree, it was painful to actually pay for software...

Well, I am an old-fashioned conservative when it comes to paying for what I use. I pay for my music and I've always used legit software, albeit the less expensive routes when possible. :P