Sony Alpha European launch, Edinburgh, 9th September 2008
Sony's first full frame DSLR, the Alpha 900
Last week Sony delivered on its promise to launch a full-frame DSLR. A prototype of the mysterious new camera was first shown at the PMA trade show at the beginning of last year. At last, the Sony Alpha 900 is here and Sony can proudly claim membership of the full frame DSLR elite alongside Canon and Nikon. Not only does the new Sony Alpha 900 boast a full-frame CMOS sensor, but it packs an industry-leading 24.6 megapixels, roughly double the full frame pixel count offered by Nikon with its D3 and D700 models and comfortably more than Canon's 21.1 megapixel offering provided by the the EOS-1Ds Mark III and the EOS-5D which was launched yesterday. And the Alpha 900 is priced keenly at a similar level to Nikon's D700 and Canon's new EOS-5D Mark II, and well under half the price of the Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III.
Launch day
We were at the European launch of the Alpha 900, held in picturesque Edinbirgh, and in this article we have a close look at the Alpha 900 from a hands-on perspective, plus we have a couple of dozen original camera sample images for you to download that we took using a pre-production sample of the camera provided by Sony on the big day in Scotland.
Sony Europe boss Fujio Nishida started the launch event of with some enthusiastic
comments about the state of the European DSLR market
Launch day proceedings were lead by Sony VIPs, including Fujio Nishida, president of Sony Europe, whose enthusiasm for the rapidly growing Sony Alpha DSLR system was revealed by his description of the DSLR market in Europe as being 'on fire' at the moment.
Toru Katsumoto shows the Alpha 900 to the press for the first time
It was left to
Toru Katsumoto, senior general manager of Sony's Alpha DSLR division, to physically reveal the Alpha 900 and to list its key features and specifications. At the heart of the Alpha 900 lies the new 24.6 megapixel Exmor CMOS sensor, coupled to a pair of Bionz image processors working in parallel to deliver a continuous shooting performance as high as 5 frames per second, the same performance as the previous flagship of the Alpha range, the Alpha 700, but crunching twice the volume of image data in the process.
3300 lines resolving power
Like the Alpha 700, which has a smaller APS-C version of the Sony Exmor CMOS sensor, on-chip dual noise reduction (at both analogue and digital stages of the imaging pipeline) are carried out. Co-incidentally, neither the Alpha 700 or 900 offer a live view mode, which requires frame streaming at rates of over 20 frames per second. In essence, the Alpha 900's sensor and image processing is roughly the same as that of the Alpha 700, but doubled up in terms of pixels and image processing power, delivering similar overall performance but with twice as many pixels. Even the pixel pitch of the new sensor, at 5.9 micrometres, is similar to the Alpha 700's sensor, at 5.5 micrometres.
Mr.Katsumoto explained that the Alpha 900's 24.6 megapixel sensor can resolve at least 3300 lines compared to the Alpha 700 at 2300 lines. Being larger than the Alpha 700 sensor, and greater in mass, the Alpha 900's SteadyShot Inside moving sensor, or sensor-shift, image stabiliising system has had to be beefed up, but the final result is similar overall performance to the Alpha 700. As image stabilisation is integrated into the body, Sony can technically claim to have the widest range of full frame lenses that benefit from image stabilisation. That said, the range is fairly limited at the moment, especially at the telephoto end, with the longest Sony- produced fast prime being a 300mm f/2.8. However, a long list of lenses, some of which will be branded Carl Zeiss T* and feature SSM sonic autofocus, are under development and will be introduced over the next year or so. In fact two new full frame lenses accompanied the Alpha 900 launch, a 70-400mm f4-5.6 and a
16-35mm f/2.8 CZ Vario Sonnar SSM.
11 megapixel images from DT lenses
You can, however, use 'DT' lenses designed for use on APS-C sensor Alpha and Konica Minolta bodies. The viewfinder view is peculiar when using these lenses as the image circle is plain to see. However, press the shutter release and the image review on the LCD shows an automatically cropped 11 megapixel image. AF and image stabilisation is supported for these lenses but there is an issue with consistency of exposure due to vignetting and it’s recommended that these lenses are used in manual exposure mode only.
Of course, you can use legacy Minolta lenses and Sony has thoughtfully included a feature that enables a micro-adjustment of the focus to compensate fro front or back focus misalignment issues. The system can memorise and automatically apply the preset adjustment for up to 30 lenses. One further improvement over the Alpha 700 that has been provided in the Alpha 900 is a more directly accessible mirror lock up mode.
No live view mode but a super large and bright optical finder is the compensation
Although the Alpha 900 doesn't offer a live view mode, some compensation for this has been provided in the form of an instant enhanced image preview mode, where a still image is taken and displayed on the sharp 3 inch VGA resolution LCD and the user can then quickly choose from a number of adjustment options and then fire the shutter again to actually record an image.
A great deal of emphasis was directed at the optical TTL reflex viewfinder of the Alpha 900. The finder offers a 100% frame view, which is a rarity in DSLRs because of manufacturing tolerances, and is exceptionally bright. Through the use of a high refractive index condenser lens, we’re told distortions and aberrations have been minimised greatly. In fact the finder is considerably better in optical terms than the previous full frame SLR ancestor of the Sony Alpha 900, the Minolta Dynax 9 film SLR. Sony believes the Alpha 900 has the ‘ultimate’ DSLR optical viewfinder. Also, a new and noticeably quieter dual-hinged mirror was developed for the Alpha 900, enabling more room at the rear of the mirror box to be occupied by filters in front of the sensor. The viewfinder design also acommodates user-interchangeable focus screens.
The Alpha 900 handles well
Although the Alpha 900 has to find room for the relatively huge sensor and scaled-up sensor stabilisation system, plus an over-size pentaprism for the extra large and bright reflex viewfinder, sony has managed to keep the body weight to a manageable 850g. Thanks to extensive use of lightweight alloy in the body chassis, as well as the optional battery grip, I found the Alpha 900 to handle well and to be carried for long periods without undue fatigue ensuing. The Alpha 900 body is extensively gasketed for safe poor weather use, however, I'm not sure how many, if any, Alpha lenses are weather-sealed; I'll try to clarify this question in due course.
Alpha 700 familiarity
If you are familiar with the Alpha 700, you will be instantly at home with the Alpha 900. The on-screen user interface and external control layout are very similar to the 700. The excellent stubby mini-joystick control has been retained, as have the pair of front and rear adjustment wheels, though I personally prefer the rear wheel not to be positioned at the relatively exposed right-most corner of the body where it is relatively easily moved accidentally. Some room on the right hand side (as viewed from the rear) top plate has been found to accommodate a small LCD status panel, the lack of which was a criticised by some reviewers with the Alpha 700.
Improved AF
Autofocus has been enhanced with the Alpha 900, with nine main dual aspect focus points, or dual cross sensors sensitive to detail recorded in two dimensions, plus ten additional helper points that operate in wide-AF mode only and are designed to improve focus tracking. The Alpha 700 has 11 AF points, but only the centre point is dual-aspect.
Again similar to the Alpha 700, the Alpha 900 provides you with an ISO range of between 100 and 6400, with the optimum setting being ISO 200. Surprisingly, only three steps can be selected in auto-bracketing mode, though these can be spaced as wide as 2EVs.
Because of the large size of the Alpha 900 pentaprism, a built-in flash has been sacrificed, but this is partly compensated for with the introduction of a pair of new Guide Number 58 and 42 flash units, with the former being particularly interesting as it has a verstaile head design that enables un-restricted angle orientation even in portrait mode. You can see how it works in our product exploration image gallery.
Glasgow-based landscape photographer, Duncam McEwan,
was on hand to endorse the Alpha 900
Finally, the well-known Scots landscape photographer, Duncan McEwan, gave us a taste of how the Alpha 900 was to use. He'd been given a pre production unit a couple of weeks before the launch and he presented a portfolio of shots taken with the camera. A long time Konica Minolta user, McEwan was perhaps unsurprisingly enthusiastic and full of praise for the new Alpha 900.
On the next page of this article you can browse a thumbnail gallery of pictures taken on the launch day in Edinburgh of the Alpha 900 and accessories. On page 3 we have a gallery of camera image samples for you to download and evaluate, including a sequence exploring the entire ISO range.
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A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
DPNow A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
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Here is our ini... (more)
Ian Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
Apologies - there is a technical problem with the gallery on page 2 - we hope to fix it shortly!
... (more)
Barr1e Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
...and page three Ian.
Regards. Barr1e... (more)
Julia Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
Hi,
All fixed - I hope :)... (more)
Barr1e Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
'Tis true - thanks so much.
I know I am used to the 4/3rds format but it seems the camera wi... (more)
Unregistered Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
By the way, in the gallery, clicking on the thumbnail there's this text:
"Here is our first lo... (more)
Ian Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
Fingers crossed - I think that's the last fault fixed! :eek:
Ian... (more)
Ian Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
My impression is that Sony has some work to do in developing the Alpha brand into something that can... (more)
devilgas Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
make the camera lens mount compatible with nikon / canon glass. when someone has invested heavily i... (more)
Ian Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
Haha! That's a highly personal point of view :)
But what made you go with Canon in the first pla... (more)
devilgas Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
price basically. tried a mates 10d at a rally, was highly impressed. decided i could do with a dSLR... (more)
Stephen Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
Whats happened to the image samples here Ian [url]http://dpnow.com/5166b.html there are only caption... (more)
Ian Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
OK - we've just moved our images server, looks like this bit has become disconnected - thanks for ... (more)
Ian Re: A hands-on look at the full frame Sony Alpha 900 DSLR
OK- all fixed now :)
Ian... (more)
