Hands on! My thoughts having played with the A700

[mtiller]

On Tuesday I went to Dublin and attended the Photovision show at Croke Park.

This was the first public outing of the A700 following the announcement last week. I'm going to put down my thoughts regarding the camera in no particular order looking at the things that were of interest to me. If I have left out anything interests you, ask questions and I'll do my best to answer them.


Shutter/Mirror.

I can't comment on the technical quality of the shutter, but it sounds and feels much smoother and there was noticeably less vibration transmitted to my fingers when it fired compared to the A100. Also, this might sound silly, but it now sounds more like a camera should sound and less like a screen door slamming


Focusing.

I took along my Dynax 7 as a comparison since that is the standard that Sony said they were working too. I compared the focusing speed in a wide a variety of conditions as possible (not a huge variety in the hall!) The focusing was fast and positive. I even pointed it up at a hole in the false ceiling at an area that was almost black and it locked on using the focus assist. It equaled the Dynax 7 in every test I gave it.

It was absolutely superb for grab shots, I would have the camera down, bring it to my eye and press the shutter as soon as I could see it was pointing where I wanted. From bringing it to my eye (eye start on) to pressing the button was less than a second and it was focused and I got the shot every time.


Ergonomics.

I guess this is probably the most subjective part of all.

I have small hands and the grip where you hold the camera in your right hand initially felt almost too large. However I found once I positioned my hand slightly differently to how I would hold the A100 it was fine. I think it's simply that I have been used to the A100. After a while, I no longer noticed it.

I know it doesn't have the second dial. but I liked the layout of the controls. The three weather-sealed buttons on the top of the body give quick access to the common functions and I REALLY liked the Quick-navi. To use this, you press the function button and the screen displays all the camera settings. You can then use the joystick to navigate around the screen and select the setting you want to change. You press the joystick down (into the camera) and it acts as a button bringing up the options of whatever setting you had highlighted. I find this quick and easy to use but that may simply reflect my background as a computer programmer.

I liked the Vertical grip and it definitely improved the balance of the camera with large lenses. It's similar to the VC-7D.


LCD.

The rear LCD is clear, bright and noticeably sharper and easier to read. The extra resolution made a difference when reviewing shots.


Image quality.

This is hard for me to judge without the opportunity to examine them closely on a computer monitor. I can say the shots did look good when they connected the camera to a large LCD TV they had there. The images did look over sharpened on the large TV, but apparently that's a problem common to all large displays. Sony said they have a new range coming out which are specially designed to display still photos and have extra circuitry to improve the image quality. We will have to wait and see on that.


Overall.

I really liked the camera and I will definitely be buying one. I felt the same way about the A700 as I did when I first started using the film 7. Both were (and are) an absolute joy to use that made me just want to go out and take pictures. To quote Ferris Bueller "If you have the means I recommend you pick one up"

From what I was told the camera should be available in the UK second week of October so not too long to wait, I imagine it will be about the same worldwide.

Cheers

Mark

[rOnGrEn]

Thanx for the mini-review~

How's the viewfinder? Compared to the Dynax 7 or the earlier 5d/7d/a100 ?
also.. Any new lenses there?

[mtiller]

The viewfinder is excellent, clear and bright. They had the the 16-105 , the shots I took with it looked good.

Cheers

Mark

[yokechye]

thanks for the review! it tempted me even more to get one too!

[tankm]

Thanks for the review, great to hear from someone who had actually used one and do use a A100 as well.

Hope you can answers a few questions I have.
1. Shutter sound.... compare to the A100, is it much quieter ?
2. AF Speed....did you manage to use AF-C and how well does it track moving subject ?
3. AF.... did you manage to try without the Eye start AF, is it still as responsive ?

[jusri]

Thanks Mark for the hands on review...

now making hands itchy to get one!

[Galdor]

Thanks for the review Mark. It sure sounds good. Can't wait to lay my hands on one.

[boombox]

Aragh! *hair pull*

I want one!

[mtiller]

Originally Posted by tankm Thanks for the review, great to hear from someone who had actually used one and do use a A100 as well. Hope you can answers a few questions I have. 1. Shutter sound.... compare to the A100, is it much quieter ? 2. AF Speed....did you manage to use AF-C and how well does it track moving subject ? 3. AF.... did you manage to try without the Eye start AF, is it still as responsive ?

Tank,

1. Yes it's much quieter and sounds much more what I think a camera should sound like.
2 & 3. Sorry, didn't think to try AF-C
3. I didn't turn-off eye-start. However, I think that it would be fine. Only difference is that it wouldn't start focusing as soon. Eyestart now only works if you are holding the camera grip as well

[tankm]

Thanks

Originally Posted by mtiller Tank, 1. Yes it's much quieter and sounds much more what I think a camera should sound like. 2 & 3. Sorry, didn't think to try AF-C 3. I didn't turn-off eye-start. However, I think that it would be fine. Only difference is that it wouldn't start focusing as soon. Eyestart now only works if you are holding the camera grip as well

[TME]

Sounds good...