The Archives

March 2009

• Funny Stuff, Videos

  Uxbridge North Face

  March 8, 2009 | Permalink | Post a Comment

• Colorado

  A Sunset

  March 5, 2009 | Permalink | 2 Comments

  

  

  This evening I had my first real photo shoot with the Sony A900. What was almost an amazing sunset over the entire Sneffels Range turned out to be nothing too exciting. But nevertheless I put my new camera through the paces, and I must say it was frustrating!

  My first impression is that the user interface sucks. Of course every camera takes some getting used to, and I probably will get comfortable with it eventually, but still I think it’s safe to say that the Olympus interface is WAY more intuitive. When I first started shooting the Oly E-420, it immediately “clicked” with me, and I loved it. Not so with this Sony, which I find has dials all over the place and strange series of button presses to make it do what I want, like a Simon Says interface. I can only hope to get better at it.

  On the positive side, the viewfinder is amazing – so large and clear and bright that you can see every little thing in the composition, and manually focus by sight. It also makes it really easy to use graduated neutral density filters.

• Funny Stuff, Gear, Videos

  FlexTrek 37000000000000

  March 5, 2009 | Permalink | 3 Comments

  Dominate the landscape! Neutralize the elements! Humiliate your surroundings!

  This is what it’s like to go backpacking with large format camera gear. Ha! (Thanks for the tip, Wally).

• Colorado, Gear

  New A900 and Ouray Ice

  March 3, 2009 | Permalink | 5 Comments

  
  Climbing in the Ouray Ice Park.

  Yesterday a sparkling new Sony A900 24mp SLR camera arrived via Fedex, with a few lenses, so today I figured I’d go take it for a spin. What better place to go on a cloudy day than the Ouray Ice Park, just a few blocks from my house? See a few more photos below.

  I spent a fortune on this digital setup, and I have high hopes. During the last year I’ve lost my enthusiasm for lugging around 20+ pounds of large format 4×5 gear and film, and I’ve been spoiled by the light weight and ease-of-use of the little Olympus E-420 digital SLR setup. With the recent generation of high megapixel SLRs, like the Sony A900, a new option emerges that could possibly be the ideal compromise of weight and image quality. Combined with the ultra-sharp 24-70mm Zeiss lens, the 24mp images are very impressive indeed, and in fact from what I’ve seen so far, I’d say that detailed 50″ prints are certainly in the realm of possibilities. Though this is a hefty camera compared to the Oly, requiring a heavier tripod also, the whole setup is still less than half the weight and bulk of the 4×5 system. I plan on adding a more in depth review of the camera here after I’ve had more experience with it.

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