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A Little A700 History

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StillWill

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Guys who shot the Maxxum 7 film body must be torn between excitement and disappointment as the A700 must feel like a flashback to the year 2000!

Here are a few features that Sony re-introduced in the A700 that were previously available 7 years and four bodies ago in the Maxxum 7:

· Eye start AF w/ Grip Sensor
· Built in AF Illuminator
· 1/8000 Shutter Speed
· 1/200 Sync Speed
· Glass Pentaprism

· Dual Center Cross Hair Sensors (Minolta marketing at the time: "The new AF module incorporates...Minolta’s unique Center Dual Cross-hair Sensors. The x type sensors overlapping the + type sensors in the center boasts pinpoint AF precision, taking full advantage of large-diameter lenses with the maximum aperture of f/2.8 or faster")

What the Maxxum 7 Had that the A700 does not offer:

· Wireless commander via hot shoe flash (I predict this will be available on the flagship model)
· Active Depth of Field Readout (would be nice to see on the Flagship)



· Active Scene Brightness Map on LCD (would be overwhelming when using 40 segment metering, but could be simplified into a 14 segment pattern as displayed below – next best thing to live histogram???)



--------------------------
Will - St. Louis, MO
5D

 
Didn't know about the DOF doogig. That's something I've been wishing for a while. Sounds like such a no brainer.
 
How about a setting for automatic Hyperfocus, in Aperture mode? With 'D' lenses, it shouldn't be that hard.
 
A simple button to hit that sets the lens to infinity based on the camera-lens communication would be great. So at night, you just hit the button and point to the stars.
 
Not really an issue. Almost all of the Sony lenses are D except for a couple of the old designs that only got a light facelift.
 
Hi there - do you know for sure that the 700 does not have hotshoe - wirless falsh control? Cheers
 
Ryan E Goble said:
Hi there - do you know for sure that the 700 does not have hotshoe -
wirless falsh control? Cheers
Click to expand...
After all, you can fire flashes wirelessly with the on board flash. It is one of the big advantages over Canon that you don't need the controller.
--
Shawn
 
Interesting, I saw that thread and thought they were taken with the STF lens, I've never even heard of this feature before.
--
Shawn
 
cyainparadise said:
How about a setting for automatic Hyperfocus, in Aperture mode? With
'D' lenses, it shouldn't be that hard.
Click to expand...
My 700si with travelcard do that. put the lense into hyperfocal/hyperfocus.

--
Past: 700si, Present: α100, Future: α700 - Equipment in profile
 
I really hope the the third version of 7 digital will match of what the film 7 did years ago.
StillWill said:
Guys who shot the Maxxum 7 film body must be torn between excitement
and disappointment as the A700 must feel like a flashback to the year
2000!

Here are a few features that Sony re-introduced in the A700 that were
previously available 7 years and four bodies ago in the Maxxum 7:

· Eye start AF w/ Grip Sensor
· Built in AF Illuminator
· 1/8000 Shutter Speed
· 1/200 Sync Speed
· Glass Pentaprism
· Dual Center Cross Hair Sensors (Minolta marketing at the time: "The
new AF module incorporates...Minolta’s unique Center Dual Cross-hair
Sensors. The x type sensors overlapping the + type sensors in the
center boasts pinpoint AF precision, taking full advantage of
large-diameter lenses with the maximum aperture of f/2.8 or faster")

What the Maxxum 7 Had that the A700 does not offer:

· Wireless commander via hot shoe flash (I predict this will be
available on the flagship model)
· Active Depth of Field Readout (would be nice to see on the Flagship)



· Active Scene Brightness Map on LCD (would be overwhelming when
using 40 segment metering, but could be simplified into a 14 segment
pattern as displayed below – next best thing to live histogram???)



--------------------------
Will - St. Louis, MO
5D

Click to expand...
--
Mark K
http://forev.net/markk
 
the DOF scale is ment as a guidance for the photographer to calculate the DOF better beforce wasting Film... in the Digital world, you may shoot and delete untill you have a photo of satisfactory - so why do you need a DOF scale ?

the D7D and A700 have the DOF-button, showing you the DOF before shooting - aint it enought ??

the Active Scene Brightness Map as seen on 7, isn't needed on a digital camera, hence you have the big 2.5 to 3 inch LCD on its back, showing you if you have under/over exposed the shot. the Histogram is even better, it allows you to see the level of detail in the spectra of RGB...

why on earth, do you oldies miss those features of the 7, on new Digital Cameras ???

i am clueless !

and whats the deal of Soft focus.... havent you heard about Photoshop ?!?

--
My gallery: http://www.mdk-photo.com
Exif Utillity: http://www.mdk-photo.com/Exif
Exif Study: http://www.mdk-photo.com/ExifData

Dynax 4 ~ Dynax 7D ~ Sig 10-20 ~ M 28-75/2.8D ~ M 100-300 APO ~ 3600HS~ Pixma IP5000
 
Martin Daniel Kirk said:
i am clueless !

and whats the deal of Soft focus.... havent you heard about Photoshop
?!?
Click to expand...
in a darkroom trying to salvage a lost opportunity :-)

I can only recommend chromes in an almost manual fixed lens 70s japanese rangefinder, be it a Yashica Electro, a Canonet, a Konica or Ricoh or something.
 
Martin Daniel Kirk said:
the DOF scale is ment as a guidance for the photographer to calculate
the DOF better beforce wasting Film... in the Digital world, you may
shoot and delete untill you have a photo of satisfactory - so why do
you need a DOF scale ?
Click to expand...
I don't see why you would want to waste time shooting dozens of frames if you could get it right in one?
Martin Daniel Kirk said:
the D7D and A700 have the DOF-button, showing you the DOF before
shooting - aint it enought ??
Click to expand...
Not exactly the same thing as a graphical representation of the calculated DOF, though. Also it's only precise from a few stops down on large-aperture lenses.

A D-version of the 28/2 along with the DOF scale system would be very nice for streetshots using mostly hyperfocal focusing :) (Along with more detailed menu-set focus options a la the more advanced compact Ricohs it would be heaven..)
Martin Daniel Kirk said:
the Active Scene Brightness Map as seen on 7, isn't needed on a
digital camera, hence you have the big 2.5 to 3 inch LCD on its back,
showing you if you have under/over exposed the shot. the Histogram is
even better, it allows you to see the level of detail in the spectra
of RGB...

why on earth, do you oldies miss those features of the 7, on new
Digital Cameras ???
Click to expand...
I found it nice to study the measurements of 14 "spot readings" for learning about scene brightness and relative differences in brightness within a scene. This you can't easily see from a histogram or a playback thumbnail.
Martin Daniel Kirk said:
and whats the deal of Soft focus.... havent you heard about Photoshop
?!?
Click to expand...
Are you confusing STF with soft focus? There is a bit of a difference.. And having the multi-exposure STF on a dSLR would be even more helpful due to the instant feedback in situations where the subject might move..

PS: I am just trying to provide answers for you questions from my viewpoint and do not intend to be mean or overly picky :-)

--
Kind regards
Kjetil
 
StillWill said:
Here are a few features that Sony re-introduced in the A700 that were
previously available 7 years and four bodies ago in the Maxxum 7:

· Eye start AF w/ Grip Sensor
· Built in AF Illuminator
· 1/8000 Shutter Speed
· 1/200 Sync Speed

· Wireless commander via hot shoe flash (I predict this will be
available on the flagship model)
Click to expand...
Will,

According to the DPReview hands on preview, the A700 sync speed is 1/250 with SSS turned off and 1/200 with it turned on.

There is a built in wireless renote control as a standard feature, I do not know if that is thr same as the Wireless commander you are refering to.

Overall I think the A700 will be a much better camera than the A100.

Jerry
 
Fair enough - however I use a 3 flash setup and would love to be able to control them straight from the camera (ratio wise) instead of having to do it all manually.
 
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