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Today, Sony introduced two new interchangeable lens cameras—with a twist. Unlike the usual DSLRs, with mirrors that flip up during shooting to allow light to strike the sensor, the A55 and A33 use "Translucent Mirror Technology." In place of a mirror, there's a fixed film that's reflective enough to direct light to the autofocus sensor while simultaneously transmitting light to the image sensor behind it. That means that phase detection autofocus can be in effect the entire time you're shooting, with no interruptions when you click the shutter. This includes video—these two cameras are the first cameras on the market to use continuous phase detection AF while shooting HD footage. Another unique quality of these two cameras? Instead of the usual pentaprism viewfinder, there's an electronic viewfinder, which shows you exactly what the sensor sees.
For the past week I've been shooting with a pre-production version of the A55. Here are my impressions.
The Camera Body
Because there's no pentaprism, the body of the A55 is more compact than a normal midrange DSLR, which means there's a bit less real estate for control buttons. The Function button allows you to access most of the controls you'll need while shooting, though you can't change compression or go from JPEG to RAW from there. Instead, you'll need to hit the Menu button to scroll through the camera's main menus (this can be frustrating because the camera's automatic HDR feature can only be accessed while shooting JPEG).
This is a midrange body, so there's only a single control dial. That's never a wonderful thing, but it gets more awkward than usual with this camera because the exposure compensation button (also the button which allows you to toggle between adjusting f/stop and shutter speed while shooting Manual) is on a plane of the camera that's angled forward. Trying to hold it down while moving the control wheel often gave me the feeling that I would lose my grip on the camera, particularly when I was shooting with a heavier lens.
In a move that we will hope is the norm in the future, Sony's added a tilting and swiveling LCD, which is really useful for live view shooting from any angle.
Goodbye Canon, going back to Sony. I am selling my 7D & getting this - for me, it's that good!
what about video duration ?
29 mins...
I wonder if this EVF system be incorporated into the 850-900 cameras?
This is certainly not "translucent" image technology! Translucent material lets light through, but like frosted glass, you cannot see images through it. What Sony is using is a "pellicle mirror," a meter which is semi-transparent, reflecting some light to the viewfinder and allowing the rest to go through to the sensor behind.
Pop's editor is almost certainly too young to remember that almost the very same system was used by Canon for its "Pellix" SLRs built in the late 1960s. But I'm old enough to have tried one and been amazed that it worked, but sorry that the viewfinder was too dark.
What was new 40 years ago circled around and is new today.
That was 40 yrs...now we have the internet, emails, iphone and I am pretty sure, what was too dark 40 yrs ago has been corrected with a new kind of "Pellix" SLRs!
Proof? Look at the glowing HANDS ON reviews all over the web by experts. I haven't heard any of them saying "viewfinder was too dark."
@1960s was old school
The Pellix didn't fail because of the 'dark viewfinder', but because of dust and whatever ending up on the semitransparent mirror at every lens change.....
A fixed beam splitter rather than a flipping mirror will certainly dim both the viewfinder and the image sensor; but I think that's where EVF comes in to save the day; It does not need much light and acts as a amplifier, so the fixed beam splitter only needs to take away a very small amount of light from the path to imaging sensor. This is what you dont have 40 years ago.
New technologies do make dreams come true, often in a way not what was imagined years ago, but the end result is what matters.
A friend told me that he had a dream of making a compass without using magnet when he was a child, now 40 years later he realized that the GPS is in a way, a compass without magnet.
lol, chimping
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Goodbye Canon, going back to Sony. I am selling my 7D & getting this - for me, it's that good!
what about video duration ?
29 mins...
I wonder if this EVF system be incorporated into the 850-900 cameras?
This is certainly not "translucent" image technology! Translucent material lets light through, but like frosted glass, you cannot see images through it. What Sony is using is a "pellicle mirror," a meter which is semi-transparent, reflecting some light to the viewfinder and allowing the rest to go through to the sensor behind.
Pop's editor is almost certainly too young to remember that almost the very same system was used by Canon for its "Pellix" SLRs built in the late 1960s. But I'm old enough to have tried one and been amazed that it worked, but sorry that the viewfinder was too dark.
What was new 40 years ago circled around and is new today.
That was 40 yrs...now we have the internet, emails, iphone and I am pretty sure, what was too dark 40 yrs ago has been corrected with a new kind of "Pellix" SLRs!
Proof? Look at the glowing HANDS ON reviews all over the web by experts. I haven't heard any of them saying "viewfinder was too dark."
@1960s was old school
The Pellix didn't fail because of the 'dark viewfinder', but because of dust and whatever ending up on the semitransparent mirror at every lens change.....
A fixed beam splitter rather than a flipping mirror will certainly dim both the viewfinder and the image sensor; but I think that's where EVF comes in to save the day; It does not need much light and acts as a amplifier, so the fixed beam splitter only needs to take away a very small amount of light from the path to imaging sensor. This is what you dont have 40 years ago.
New technologies do make dreams come true, often in a way not what was imagined years ago, but the end result is what matters.
A friend told me that he had a dream of making a compass without using magnet when he was a child, now 40 years later he realized that the GPS is in a way, a compass without magnet.
lol, chimping