usher99@xxxxxxx wrote:
> Well, so much for being intentionally vague.? Since you asked directly, I
> will fess up.? Marnie's horse-cam for the trip in March will almost
> undoubtedly??be a G9.?
Time to admit it. I've fallen in love. The A650 IS arrived just before
lunch last Wed. <http://galleries.moosemystic.net/MooseEats/>
Thursday, I went to the Blake House gardens and took about 175 shots.
I've always wanted to have a twist and tilt LCD, and boy was I right.
The added flexibility is amazing, allowing angles that would at best
require strange operator body locations and/or contortions. In some
cases it will take shots I couldn't otherwise take.
Also, although the LCD is bright, with good AR coating, it's even better
to be able to angle it out of the direct sun.
I was particularly taken with a short plant with blossoms that lean over
to face the ground. That would be a guesswork shot while lying on the
ground with any other camera I have, but a snap with the A650. Set the
LCD facing forward, lean down to hold the camera against the ground
under the plant, frame and fire.
Build quality isn't as apparently solid as the G9, but certainly not
poor. Perhaps the slightly larger size and the heft of two more AA
batteries helps, but it feels quite solid to me. It's a bit thicker than
the G9 and A710/720, but that's for the flexible LCD and more than worth
it to me.
One of my concerns when I ordered it was when the CHDK add-on software
would be ported to it. Since it was already working on the A720, which
has the same OS and feature set and was released at the same time, I was
pretty sure it wouldn't be too long. As it turns out, it was only a few
hours, so I now have live histogram, RAW, etc., everything it was
missing relative to the G9 (other than the black finish)
The next search was for a RAW converter. Most (all?) of the independent
GUI converters that support the CHDK RAW files rely underneath on dcraw.
I sent it's developer, Dave Coffin, sample files and he sent me a patch.
Oh goody, a patch to c, a programming language I've managed to avoid all
these years. I managed to download a open source compiler. With a little
more help from Dave, I have a working version of dcraw for the A650.
As with the A710, RAW doesn't offer as much advantage as on a DSLR.
DOTue, I'm sure, to the lesser bit depth A/D converter in the camera.
Still, it will be worth it for special images. Better control of
sharpening, finer NR control and a bit of added DR.
> Even considered an E410, but just a bit too large with the kit lens to be
> practical.? The build appears sturdy enough and the IQ OK at least at lower
> ISO's and probably 400, if processed well.???
Yes, looking good so far.
> Would prefer the quick feedback of "zebra mode" with CHDK, but alas no hack
> as of yet......
> Given the links, I trust the 4 or 8gb extreme 111 is the way to go.
The A650 CHDK doesn't yet support auto load on FAT32, although it's
working on some other versions. But formatting in FAT16, with an odd,
64k cluster size, works fine and that doesn't seem to cause any problems
with camera, card readers, etc. so far.
You may well see some of this material on zone-10.com, but with at least
two list members seriously considering the G9, I thought I'd offer my
alternate slant here sooner than that. Same lens and sensor system with
different options.
Moose
==============================================
List usage info: http://www.zuikoholic.com
List nannies: olympusadmin@xxxxxxxxxx
==============================================
|