Mirror Lockup Returns

This is a historic moment, ladies and gentlemen, for the same marketing team that brought us the lack of a popup flash on the A900 has also brought back the feature that camera engineers have insisted was no longer necessary: The Mirror Lockup Function.

A Mime is a Terrible Thing to Waste

Reader Zulia Arbon, a Tajikistan citizen who's been living in China for 7 years, writes in with this question:  "You took quite a few photos of people in China. How did you get around this? Did your translator help you to ask those people for permission to take pictures? Has anyone minded? Were there any times when you weren't allowed to take photos? I quite often see some really peculiar moments here in China, and I took some lovely photos. But sometimes I just don't have enough courage to ask people if I can take photos of them."

Read on for my response.

Sony's New Wireless Flash Protocol

With the introduction of the HVL-F58AM flash, Sony has completely revamped the wireless flash protocols -- the time between pre-flash and exposure has been shortened, and more addressing capabilities have been added.  The result?  Automatic Ratio mode has returned (this feature worked with film cameras brilliantly, but was disabled in digital bodies for technical reasons), and now you can control up to 3 banks of flashes (well, sort of) from the rear of the 58.

Okay, but how does it work, and how much of it is backwards-compatible with the Minolta / Sony 56 and 36 flashes?  Can you mix and match the 56/36 and 58/42 flashes?  Read on to find out!