talk about a major upset

[Sam11755]

While I'm here...how about telling me why Sony's new digicam doesn't have a hotshoe for an external flash? This feature seems to be a pretty standard thing these days...as lot's of people like to have their options open for the future.
Thanks for listening peeps!

Sam

 

[Ulysses]

Sam -

The answer is actually more obvious than you might imagine.

The hot shoe is not really as "standard" as you thought — at least not for digital cameras. This is a relatively new feature for the newer consumer-level cameras, though the professional digicams have had the hot shoe for some time now.

Take a look at the current consumer market. Which cameras offer a hot shoe? One of the popular ones that available right now is the Fuji 2900, and another yet to be released is the Epson 850Z.

Notice that other very good cameras in the same class as the Sony DSC-F505 such as the Nikon 950, Olympus C-2000Z, Toshiba PDR-M5, and Casio QV-2000UX do NOT have a hot shoe.

It simply was not put into the design specs, perhaps because of expense or perhaps so that these companies could have an option for differentiation between current and future models. What the consumer wants for the future is often presented by the company a year or two behind our expectations.

So when we see models like the Epson or the Fuji mentioned above, some users go ape over the possibilities, pending of course the results in the images.

While I'm here...how about telling me why Sony's new digicam doesn't have
a hotshoe for an external flash? This feature seems to be a pretty
standard thing these days...as lot's of people like to have their options
open for the future.

 

[Ulysses]

Didn't mean to imply that NO other cameras have a hot shoe. There are a few others that do, some out now and others to come.

Canon Powershot Pro 70
Olympus C-2500L (to be released)
Sony DSC-700 and DSC-770 (older model and newer one to replace it)
... just to mention a few.

And you have cameras of the caliber of the Nikon D1, but I don't think there are many very consumers that will be turning out their pockets to get THAT one.

I'm sure that now that some cameras are offering it, that others will follow as more and more become acquainted with this digital hobby.

Take a look at the current consumer market. Which cameras offer a hot
shoe? One of the popular ones that available right now is the Fuji 2900,
and another yet to be released is the Epson 850Z.

Notice that other very good cameras in the same class as the Sony
DSC-F505 such as the Nikon 950, Olympus C-2000Z, Toshiba PDR-M5, and
Casio QV-2000UX do NOT have a hot shoe.

 

[Don Lashier]

You don't necessarily need a hot shoe, just an external flash connector. The Nikon 950 does have this as does the CZ2000. The Sony does not. This is a major oversight IMO.

Don

The answer is actually more obvious than you might imagine.

The hot shoe is not really as "standard" as you thought — at least
not for digital cameras. This is a relatively new feature for the newer
consumer-level cameras, though the professional digicams have had the hot
shoe for some time now.

Take a look at the current consumer market. Which cameras offer a hot
shoe? One of the popular ones that available right now is the Fuji 2900,
and another yet to be released is the Epson 850Z.

Notice that other very good cameras in the same class as the Sony
DSC-F505 such as the Nikon 950, Olympus C-2000Z, Toshiba PDR-M5, and
Casio QV-2000UX do NOT have a hot shoe.

It simply was not put into the design specs, perhaps because of expense
or perhaps so that these companies could have an option for
differentiation between current and future models. What the consumer
wants for the future is often presented by the company a year or two
behind our expectations.

So when we see models like the Epson or the Fuji mentioned above, some
users go ape over the possibilities, pending of course the results in the
images.

While I'm here...how about telling me why Sony's new digicam doesn't have
a hotshoe for an external flash? This feature seems to be a pretty
standard thing these days...as lot's of people like to have their options
open for the future.

 

[Dan Morris]

I agree, a hotshoe would be good. However, I ask why the other 2 megapixel cameras do not have a 5x zoom (or more). That is worth much more than a hotshoe. I can use a slave flash with the F550, but if you need more zoom, you are out of luck with 3x.

Dan

While I'm here...how about telling me why Sony's new digicam doesn't have
a hotshoe for an external flash? This feature seems to be a pretty
standard thing these days...as lot's of people like to have their options
open for the future.
Thanks for listening peeps!

Sam

 

[Sam11755]

I agree, a hotshoe would be good. However, I ask why the other 2
megapixel cameras do not have a 5x zoom (or more). That is worth much
more than a hotshoe. I can use a slave flash with the F550, but if you
need more zoom, you are out of luck with 3x.

Dan

Dan, Very true! However...there is a couple of quirks of the cam worth addressing. One is the aperature range, another is the 1/750sec exposure being the fastest, as I personally like taking sport shots. And then there is a major concern of no uncompressed file format, and no rapid fire. It seems to be a great cam...just not for everyone, including me.

Thanks,

sam

 

[Steven Dong]

I agree. I can bet Epson 850z's image quality will not exceed F505( maybe worse ). and a fixed zoom barrel will be tight and precision( look F505 and CP950)

Hot-shoe is needed for indoors work. but I believe all consumer digital camera have hot-shoe will not do a excellent job except dedicate flash(SB28 or 380ex).

Dan

While I'm here...how about telling me why Sony's new digicam doesn't have
a hotshoe for an external flash? This feature seems to be a pretty
standard thing these days...as lot's of people like to have their options
open for the future.
Thanks for listening peeps!

Sam

 

[John11804]

The internal flash and (needed for slave flash) might just TOO SLOW to be usaful.

I just bought a Fuji 2900 and
tried to use the built-in flash to shoot some photos of my 8 months
old son. It turns out that after I press the shutter release, the flash
does not fire until 1.5 second later. I missed the moment of EVERY
10 photos I've taken ;-

I've not tried the external flash yet. It might be helpful.

JZ

You don't necessarily need a hot shoe, just an external flash connector.
The Nikon 950 does have this as does the CZ2000. The Sony does not.
This is a major oversight IMO.

Don

 

[Affair Photo]

Another guess - the mount is on the lens barrel, while the cpu in probably in the body. This would require another set of contacts passing between the articulated lens hinge. I'll bet this camera is quite crowded inside, tho they managed to route the lines to the usb port out to the lens barrel...

 

[Ulysses]

Hmm... I doubt that this has as much to do with it as that Sony is just into selling their own gear at a nice markup. With their technical know-how at miniaturization and component communications, they could do pretty much what they want.

As to being crowded inside, yes it is. See Shay's interior shots at:
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1009&message=1664036

Another guess - the mount is on the lens barrel, while the cpu in
probably in the body. This would require another set of contacts
passing between the articulated lens hinge. I'll bet this camera
is quite crowded inside, tho they managed to route the lines to the
usb port out to the lens barrel...

-- Ulysses

 

[Tom Ferguson]

Perhaps, but I suspect there are two major reasons.

1) Sony wants to sell us their own proprietary flash (similar to their using MS memory).

2) The flash/white balance system of this camera is set to one speed and f stop combo (1/40 second at F2). It isn't realy made for studio flash use. This is the dreaded "LEVBFS" you have read so much about here. Giving people an easy connection would result in a lot of blue pictures! You can read my page:

http://www.pipeline.com/~tomf2468/temp1.html

Another guess - the mount is on the lens barrel, while the cpu in
probably in the body. This would require another set of contacts
passing between the articulated lens hinge. I'll bet this camera
is quite crowded inside, tho they managed to route the lines to the
usb port out to the lens barrel...

---------------------------------Tom Ferguson http://www.ferguson-photo-design.com

 

[Rodger Carter]

I’m a bit confused here. Aren’t we talking about the Sony DSC-F707? True, it doesn’t have a hot shoe, but it does have a flash shoe and a port for the Sony dedicated HVL-F1000 flash unit. Further, almost any non-Sony flash can be used on the 707 if provided with a slave. The shutter speed of the 707 goes to 1/1000 second and the aperture range is f/2.0 to f/8.0, quite excellent for a digicam. It also has a 3-burst photo mode and can record TIFF images. These and other features are upgrades to the discontinued F505 and F505V models.

Rodger