CameraDork

Review: Ownuser DX-FBH Vertical Grip for Sony A100

camera — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 21:59:23 +0000

I picked up this grip on ebay for roughly $100. The grip provides two useful functions:

Shooting in portrait mode (sideways) — the unit contains shutter release buttons for each direction

Extended battery capacity. The unit connects to the AC input of the A100. With the unit turned off (it has its own dedicated on/off switch and power light indicator) your camera is powered by its own Sony battery. Turn the unit on, and your camera is now powered by two more Sony batteries which you insert into compartments in the grip. This means you can take an extended outing with just the camera (grip attached) around your neck, and have three batteries worth of power without having to physically change them.

Installation

The grip is simple to install. Line up the screw with your tripod mount port, and turn the knob. Connect the power and shutter release cables to the AC input port and remote shutter port, respectively, on your A100.

Operation

Equally simple. Just by nature of being attached, you can use the shutter release buttons. It also has its own cable release port and tripod mount, so you don’t need to detach it to use those accessories. You also don’t need to turn it on unless you wish to use the extended battery capacity.

Fit, Finish and Feel

The grip feels ergonomically correct for my (large) hands. The shutter release buttons are in the correct location, it feels natural to use it. It’s mostly plastic, with sticky rubber for the grip portion which fairly closely matches the A100 grip area.

The rubber grip cover portion was not attached perfectly, and seems to want to peel at the edges. So far I’ve been able to push it back into place with my fingertips, but I wonder if at some point I will need to use some sort of glue to keep it in place.

At various points on the grip, there are small rubber seals — four which seal screws in the grip plastic itself, and one which covers the DC in port. Oh, by the way, this unit does have a DC in port. It’s not Sony-standard, and the power supply does not come with the unit, you have to order it separately. I decided I don’t need it that bad. Anyway, the seals at these five points are not attached anywhere in the way that the seals on the A100 are attached (meaning that when you open them, they’re still connected somewhere on the A100). On this grip, if you take off the seal, and you don’t want to lose it, you better damn well put it somewhere safe, because it’s not staying on the grip. I found that to be annoying, but as I stated, I don’t plan on using the DC in port, so I don’t plan on removing the seal.

The battery compartments themselves are designed to be modular. Mine came with a pair of Sony-proprietary battery compartments, and a pair of compartments for some other sort of Li-ion battery that I don’t recognize. You can also buy, as an accessory, compartments for standard AA batteries. I could see that being useful if you’re too cheap to buy Sony’s NP batteries.

Compatibility: Nope. This works on the A100 period. There’s a remote possibility that it will work on the A700 which will be released later this month, but I have my doubts, as we’re told the A700 has a slightly different footprint, and this is designed to fit snugly against the bottom of the A100.

I don’t recommend using this in connection with long lenses if you tend to be like me and set your camera down on tables. The lens weighs the camera down in a way that I would worry about stressing the mount.

Overall, I like it and use it regularly. I would recommend it despite its fit and finish flaws. Especially for the price.

David Kilpatrick’s take on A700 Jpeg Quality - and it’s positive

camera — Wed, 12 Sep 2007 00:59:24 +0000

Those of you considering the A700 might want to check out David Kilpatrick’s latest excited post on jpeg quality at http://photoclubalpha.com/2007/09/11/alpha-700-jpeg-quality-revealed/.

A700 Reviews… I’ll try to keep this up to date:

camera — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:22:15 +0000

Phil’s preview on DPreview.com

Doug Brown’s hands-on preview

CameraLabs’ video preview

Photoclub Alpha First Impressions

A700 available for preorder

camera — Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:12:41 +0000

So the A700, one of the rumored upgrade paths for the A100, is final, and is now available for preorder. Some of the improvements to the A100 include:

* ISO now goes up to 6400 (a100 maxed at 1600, 800 and 1600 were generally unusuable in many cases due to excessive noise)
* Improved noise reduction on sensor itself
* Faster continuous shooting (5fps vs a100 3fps)
* 12.2 megapixels (vs a100’s 10)
* bigger view screen, excellent resolution on view screen
* remote camera control by wireless remote or USB attached to PC
* HDMI port for viewing in higher def on HD screens
* Integrated vertical grip out in a few months, with all critical camera controls on the grip itself

Sensor is still APS-C sized (1.5 crop factor) but rumors continue that a flagship model is coming which will support full frame sensor at 20mp.

The initial reviews are quite impressive, and I’m looking forward to getting my hands on one.

The Holy Grail for Alpha Owners

camera — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 01:44:25 +0000

So now you’ve got an Alpha. Maybe you’ve got some new lenses. I know I did. I started with the standard lens and the 75-300mm, and then later I picked up the Beercan (Minolta 70-210mm F/4.0) which really creates delicious portraits and other narrow-depth-of-field photos, and the 50mm F/1.4, which is great for low light, and then the Lensbaby model for the Sony/Minolta, which is a really neat toy to play with. But what I want now is real power. I want to shoot my kids’ soccer games at dusk without losing focus. I want to be right out there in midfield without worrying about light. I want…

The SAL-300F28G. 300mm at F/2.8. Supersonic wave motor for fast autofocus. The Big Glass. Buy me one and I’m yours forever.

What I Miss About My F828

camera — Sun, 27 May 2007 20:37:21 +0000

There are two things I missed dearly about my F828 after switching to the A100. Don’t get me wrong, the A100 is a world-class camera, especially for its price range. I was just spoiled, and I miss these features.

1) Night-shot. I really enjoyed shooting infrared. The combination of on-screen real-time viewing and night-shot made it really easy to do with the F828, even in daylight.

2) Stealth mode. Since the F828 didn’t have a real “shutter” per se, its shutter noise was completely faked, and there was an option to turn it off entirely. I had this idea brewing of starting a collection of photos of sleeping train riders, and that would be entirely inappropriate with the A100. The shutter is loud, and they would hear it. It would be completely intrusive.

Welcome to my world of Sony imaging.

camera — Wed, 23 Nov 2005 14:39:25 +0000

Before you get the wrong idea, I’m not being compensated by Sony in any way for this blog. I’ve just been a Sony fan since my first Sony camera. I’m now on my third, or fourth if you count the one I borrowed before I owned one.

My first Sony camera, and my first owned digital, was the Sony DSC-S85. It was a small 4 megapixel unit, and had a retracting lens, and over time, that’s what I came to hate about the camera — the time it took to focus and take a picture.

My second Sony camera was the DSC-F828. It has been characterized as a $1,000 lens with a free 8MP camera on the end of it. It was a fixed-lens camera, but it really was a nice lens. Big glass for a point-and-shoot, great optical magnification. Plus it had night-shot mode, so it was really simple to do infrared photography with an R72 filter.

My third and current Sony camera was the new Alpha A100. I had mine before the stores had theirs. The A100 is a DSLR, sporting 10.2 megapixels and, of course, interchangeable lenses. I’m up to five lenses at this point. More on that later… This is just an introductory message, to set the tone for the site.