Toronto Photography Meetup Group

ok.. almost there.. couple more hours before official released.

http://sonyalpharumors.com/continually- ... announced/

What do you think? special mount not good? APS-C sized sensor. cheaper than PEN etc...

Nice feature set but it sure is ugly. And why are the lenses so large?

I can't see where is the size reduction if it's supplied with the lens shown on DPreview.

Looking at it it seems nice except when you want to shoot manual mode. Everything is buried deep in menus. Not enough buttons.

For now it seems an advanced form of a point and shoot. Or at least a touch screen where you could make all the required changes on the fly.

I have the complete opposite reaction to the Sony as I did when I first saw the Olympus E-P1.

DO. NOT. WANT.

articulated screen for waist level shooting. I can see some people would want it for that feature alone.

Add the sensor size, it's not a bad piece of equipment. Form over functionality guys? Really?

As for the lenses, your zoom lenses for EP-1 is the same size, no? Just get the pancake prime like every other EVIL camera.

The only thing that concerns me how legacy glass would handle with adaptors on this thing. That and the craptastic menu systems.

I don't see why everyone is bitching?



and imho they've done a superb job for that market (apparently 10M potential buyers)

I'm personally considering a NEX5 for video purposes only and shooting an upcoming documentary with it, if the video holds up and if i can figure how to connect/use a decent mic.

Actually that is a good idea... The Mic is away from the lens. Could spur a whole group of uses for hot shoes...

The PEN E-P2 and E-PL1 can both take an electronic viewfinder or cables microphone on the hotshoe mount. Putting the mic on a half-metre wire gets it pretty far from the lens.

I think that the pictures mic would be more useful for video work though, especially if directional.

+1

Anyway, I love competitions -> price will go down more or more feature packed for money.

From what i understand if you want to use non E-mount lenses (i.e with the mount adapter) you'd have to say goodbye to autofocus, which is not an issue for video work, but for photography that could be a huge blow.
I'm guessing this will be eventually resolved through firmware updates or new mount adapters

I've already got an E-P1 so my interest in the Sony cameras is pretty much just academic. It just doesn't do anything for me, slim uber alles isn't a real selling point; the mockups from a few months back were much nicer

You'd be using legacy lenses anyway, that wouldn't likely be autofocus-capable.

Being the "Sony Alpha Expert" on tpmg, I waited to comment. Saw them in the flesh at the henrys show this weekend. I will probably buy one with the 16mm pancake and the alpha lens adapter. Mf with an A mount lens is easy, and more importantly I get auto aperture support. Officially the alpha adapter does not support af, but supposedly this is a work in progress. No af for sure on a screwdriver lens, but SSM and Micromotored lenses are a work in progress. If they get it to work, it'll be a firmware upgrade.

Looks interesting overall, but I'd like to see a more enthusiast oriented model (A NEX7 is strongly rumoured to arrive at Photokina). A better articulated screen like the G1/GH1/G2 would be nice and an EVF and a full set of controls would be needed for me to look at switching from the G1.

I suspect an EVF is coming quickly, Sony's probably just waiting on the availability of an internally sourced part as I don't see them using the Epson EVF display that Oly uses (Panasonic and Samsung both source their EVF displays internally).

OMG that looks aweful.

i'd take a dslr, how is that portable? with the large lens and mic protruding out. Looks like an afterthought in design.

pass

You do realize that even with the 'large' lens (still significantly smaller than a DSLR mount 18-55) and the mic, that package remains much smaller than the smallest equivalent DSLR setup (IE DSLR+ 18-55 IS, + external mic, and yes, the external mic is required if you want good audio when shooting video, onboard mics suck horribly)

You might want to reconsider that comment about onboard mics, after listening to the stuff shot by Doug Brown at http://www.Torontowide.com/ , using the E-PL1. Maybe not broadcast quality, but pretty damned good.

Having done a bit of Audio work in the past, I stand by the comment. You can get usable audio out of an onboard mic, but the primary use for them is providing a sync track so you can sync an external audio source to the video. Even a mediocre external mic is a good upgrade for anyone doing serious video work.

Not to dismiss your comment Rob, but from what I gather from film students, onboard mic. is similar to on-body flash. Sure it's handy when you don't have any other alternative, but almost any external flash would be considered an upgrade to on-body flash.

My point is that you don't have to weight yourself down with a bunch of audio equipment, in order to get usable video. Sure, the more equipment that you carry with you the better the results, but the point of this exercise is to REDUCE what you need to carry.

If you're looking for 'superior' audio and HD video, buy a HD video camera. The same arguments that you two make could just as easily be used to justify a different camera.

The specs on this camera is scary.

Nikon and Canon are either complacent or resigned to their doom. I don't see any other reason for their lack of urgency in joining the Micro camera trend.

I feel like someone, somewhere, is on the verge of inventing a really, really good 3/4 camera (with an array of really, really good lenses).

(I don't think it's happened just yet...)

Canon and Nikon are not stupid. It's not first to market that wins. My guess compact 1.5 crop then full frame that takes Leica mount lenses (with adaptor). Check patents for compact zooms.

Firmware upgrade announced today that allows, amongst other things, autofocus with SSM & SAM alpha lenses.

Still no AF with alpha screwdriver lenses, but this is not a surprise on account of the fact there is no screwdriver linkage on the Alpha lens adapter.

Firmware upgrade for the camera and the A mount lens adapter installed.

User interface improvements alone are worth the price of admission!

Print off the pdf file and you get in free. No need to buy the $20.00 admission ticket.

Maureen, I'm guessing you meant to post that in the Henry's show thread?

I am going to guess that was her intention!

Sony announced today that they will freely license the E-mount specification to other lens makers. So far, Zeiss, Cosina, Sigma, and Tamron have signed on.

This was rumored earlier this year.

http://www.imaging-resource.com/NEWS/1297132112.html