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!

File Systems for New Hard Drives

The Alpha 900's large files will eventually take its toll on every owner's data storage strategy.  (Really, it's a good problem to have).  Recently I went out and purchased not one but THREE 1 terabyte external drives for my desktop computer: one to act as my primary drive, one to act as a backup, and the third to act as an offsite backup, which I will swap with Drive number two on a weekly basis.  At $130 for each drive, it is probably the best dollar-per-megabyte deal in the history of the planet.  (Actually, so is the Alpha 900.)

But be sure to read the fine print before you actually hook up these drives and start to use them!  Read on for the reason...

The Greatest Gift for your Parents

I don't know about you, but in my experience as we get older the snapshots we take of our families become increasingly precious.  (Even the ones that are poorly framed and overexposed... that's the difference between a photograph and a snapshot.  A snapshot jogs a neuron associated with positive prior experience; whereas a photograph has to make people say "Wow!" without the benefit of that shared experience.)  Anyway, that's why photo-related gifts can be so valuable, and that's why so many people are thinking about gifting the new wave of digital photo frames now available.

BUT... if your giftee happens to have a computer (even if it's only to check email via the web), here's a gift idea that is inexpensive, easier, and more flexible than those expensive digital photo frames: Upload all of your digitized family photos throughout the ages onto their computer's hard drive and turn them into a screen saver!

"Isn't that essentially the same thing as what a digital photo frame offers?", I hear you ask?

Lighting for Wine Bottles and Glass

How did I take this shot of a wine bottle and glass (below) using no fancy equipment other than a single off-camera wireless flash?  Read more to find out!

Finding the Subject when Shooting Fall Foliage

A week before the Boston Seminar (which was a lot of fun, as always), Carol and I took a road trip to Vermont and New Hampshire, to "watch the leaves turn" (translation: Look at the fall colors, something this native Californian never got to experience growing up).  Yes, it's beautiful, and yes, I took a few pictures.  BUT I also did what I always do, which is to constantly ask myself, "How can I make this shot more interesting?"  "What is my subject and how is it being placed?"  "How can I improve the shot?"

Saving Lenin and the Historic Value of Throw-away Shots

I have a really hard time throwing away images after I've selected the "good ones".  Even though I know that I'll probably never need them, the older I get the more I realize that even the mundane shots can become more valuable over time.  Here's a good example: I took this shot of the iconic Goodyear Blimp in the 1970's...

Grandchild arrives - how these portraits were made

Please welcome our first grandchild, Mikah James Clark to the world.  And rather than acting like a doting grandfather, telling you how wonderful and angelic he is, I'll just share with you some pictures, taken when he was 1 week old:
 

How were these shots taken?  Read more after the break to find out!

Tweak to A700 Remote Control Behavior

Michael White, a reader of my Alpha 700 ebook, writes in with this tip:

"Dear Gary,

When you talk about the remote control in Chapter 2, you state: "Despite what Sony's user manual says, when you press either the "Shutter" or "2 sec." button, the camera WILL autofocus first before taking the shot!".  That is not quite true: it will only autofocus if you set the camera to AutoFocus Priority mode.  If it is in Release Priority mode... it will take the pic right when you press the button [without autofocusing first]."

Michael is right, and I'm extremely impressed at his attention to detail!  As soon as I get a spare minute I'll update the book, but in the meantime, now you know.  Thanks, Michael!

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Another Way to Use Dynamic Range Optimization

On this trip (see previous blog post) for the first time I experimented with combining DRO (Dynamic Range Optimization, which on the A700 you can actually invoke manually) with Sunset Mode during an actual sunset.  Wow!   (More info after the break...)