I'm combining a couple of threads here.
To the gentleman wondering why the fuss over digital. I'd
suggest that you have to consider the "output". If your
preference is projecter viewing, there is no substitute for
high-quality slide film. If your output is computer/website
viewing, I'd lean heavily towards digital capture. If your
output is publications--digital. If your output is high-quality
prints for weddings and portraiture, well, why are you using
35mm anyway?
Always consider the output/usage.
>Hmmmmph. I wish the EVFs had higher resolution -- that way,
>reviewing the image really could help you decide whether you
>got the shot. I'd hate to go someplace I'd never go again,
>take pics like crazy, and then return home to find they're all
>junk...
This is why so many haul laptops around with them. Another
thing is that with digital you are free to shoot dozens of dupes
in every imaginable setting to make sure you've got it.
>... Image stabilization *may* be a deciding factor if all else
>is equal.
Ok, I'm responding to my own line here, but I've got a story.
Sunday, I took my daughters to the Botanical Center and spent
about 90 minutes there. During those 90 minutes I shot 209
pictures. Unfortunately, they now enforce the "no-tripods" rule
so I was forced to handhold all of my pictures. (I left the
monopod in the car). The shutter speed was a bit low so I
turned on the "Anti Shake" feature. Nearly all of my pictures
were used with A/S. I took a few comparision shots
without--just to see if it really mattered. Whenever I tried
the "without" the review showed noticable motion blurring. So
back on it went. A tripod would have been very helpful had I
not had the A/S. Mind you, I always used the ISO 100 setting.
Ok, so I'm cranking away, churning out picture after picture.
They had very pretty flowerbeds that absorbed my attention. I
experimented around with various settings and exposure options.
Here are some observations:
1. Anti-Shake saved the day. The only other alternative would
have been to increase ISO to greater than 400.
2. The Minolta's "Natural Color" setting is a dead-ringer for
K64 in color. "Vivid Color", with +2 Saturation was close to
Velvia, but a bit more like the old Provia. Greens don't go
nuclear like real Fuji. There really is something about Velvia
that I haven't been able to reproduce in digital yet.
3. Live preview on the monitor is extremely advantageous when
doing macro work. I got picture angles never before possible.
4. DOF of macro in wide-angle is astonishing. I'm able to
finally do things I couldn't before. Just watch that defraction
limit. (F7.1 is the outer limit at 28mm)
5. Setting White-Balance is an artform.
6. The camera body got warm in the grip area. This thing does
generate a bit of heat. It does help keep my hands warm when
shooting winter outdoor scenes.
7. In the 90 minutes time, the sensor got warm. The noise-level
increase is very apparent between the pictures taken at the
beginning of the session and at the end of the session. I'll
probably end up using the auto-sleep function to turn it off in
a minute. The noise was still easily taken care of through
curve adjustments in post-processing.
8. The exposure-mode selector dial needs much firmer detents.
It's too easy to bump it out of the chosen mode.
9. Neck-strap gets in the way when trying to use the vertical
shutter-release.
10. Bokeh/DOF make flower-macros tough. Even at 200mm, you've
got to really watch your backgrounds. Let me make an Olympus
comparison: Take a 1:2 macro picture with a 50mm lens, 2x
doubler and extension tube (camera-extension-doubler-lens). Now
take the same macro picture with a 50mm lens with the extension
tube behind the lens and a 2x doubler attached to the camera.
(camera-doubler-extension-lens). What is happening is that the
doubler, when attached to the lens, has created a 100mm lens
which is then extended to allow close focusing. However, when
the doubler is attached to the body and the extension tube is
attached to the lens, the doubler is magnifying the image
created by an extended 50mm lens. The bokeh/DOF characteristics
are completely different. In the same way, the bokeh/DOF
characteristics of the Minolta are very similar (if not
identical) to a magnified 50mm image.
11. Lightweight is good. The A1 is a very comfortable camera to
use.
12. Live preview histogram really helped with determining the
proper amount of exposure compensation. For flower/macro work,
I ended up with a +7 most of the time.
13. 1GB of storage ain't enough.
14. The autofocus works extremely well. Just watch where the red
box lands. Anything blurry was my fault.
I got about a dozen stock-photo keepers out of the bunch (and a
dozen family pictures). So, in reality, my keeper/toss ratio is
actually a lot higher than it is with film. >10%
I'm really learning what I like and dislike in a new digital
camera system. This experiment is worth every dime I spent on
it. I know I'm getting spoiled by a few features that aren't
found on DSLRs.
So, I'm now over 1200 pictures with the camera, with dozens of
hours in the studio benchmarking the camera and I haven't even
touched on certain aspects of the camera yet. White-balance is
still relatively foreign to me, color characteristics needs
further interpretation and I'm not comfortable with the various
saturation and contrast settings yet. Haven't even gotten into
manual exposures except for studio/flash work.
Oh. Sold two more stock photos. One taken on Sunday, another
yesterday (within hours of taking it). Digital is growing on me
in a hurry. In just over a week, I've sold three stock photos
and an art-print from the camera. Not too shabby. At this rate
I can *almost* justify getting a real DSLR. I'll have to,
eventually, since I really am pushing the optical limits of the
2/3" format. Size does matter. I think an 8MP sensor in a larger
sensor (4/3 or APS) will be quite decent.
AG-Schnozz
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