Fellow STF'ers,
I've been a long-time Sony loyalist, starting with the S70 (my
first digital camera, which I still own and use) and moving on
through the F707 and the F717. When the 828 was announced, I
started preparing to purchase it. I was scouring German web sites,
printing them to PDF out of fear that they would disappear by the
next morning. In my heart and mind, I was 100% committed to buying
the next Sony even before there was an 828...that is embarassing to
admit, because I feel foolish for having already made my mind with
no objective information to go on. All I knew was that the 828 was
going to be amazing and that it would be mine. And with all of the
Sony accessories I already own, the 828 would have been a natural
and affordable fit.
Then the DRebel got announced. My first reaction was to defend the
STF against these Canon trolls who started calling it the "828
killer." I wanted the 828 to be so good, and those Canon fanboys
made me so mad, I really was almost angry about it. Then when the
DRebel pictures started getting posted, I found myself reluctantly
realizing that they were indeed very nice. In fact, I would never
have admitted it, but I was becoming quite jealous of the Canon's
incredibly-shallow DOF and the creative possibilities that opens
up. But I still was sold on the 828, and that was it, case closed.
So I waited patiently for 828 pictures to show up. The early ones
were awful...and everyone said "it's preproduction, wait and see,"
so I kept on waiting. Then more pics showed up, but they weren't
much better. Finally, all of the excuses became void when real
pictures started showing up in reviews and from early owners.
Unfortunately, no matter how much I tried to make it not so by
wishing, it slowly became obvious that the 828 is severely flawed.
I took thousands of pics with my F7x7 cameras, and obviously
processing can improve most pics, but processing wasn't REQUIRED to
make a simple 4"x6" print for family and friends. I don't have time
to post-process every picture I take. And I shouldn't really have
to. But the problems with the 828 practically REQUIRE that you
post-process just to get rid of all of the problems people are
talking about in this forum.
Ultimately, it was a conclusion I didn't want to believe, but I
finally couldn't deny it any longer. The Canon forum is full of
stunning pictures that just can't be taken by the Sony, and I had
to admit that Sony had lost me.
In making that decision, I asked myself a couple of basic
questions. First, it is hard enough to find yourself in that moment
when everything aligns to create a great scene worth photographing.
Why wouldn't I want the best tool in my hand when that happens?
Yes, we will see good pictures coming from the Sony, but the Canon
pics...there's just something special about them that I can't even
fully describe. They just have "the look" I've always hoped for in
my digital photographs.
Second, I don't have the time to post-process the majority of my
pics. With a wife, a two-year-old, a six-month-old and a busy job,
I need to simplify my life, not make things harder than they have
to be. The Canon pics are beautiful straight out of the camera, and
if I process them, it's because I want to tweak or play with
them...not FIX them.
And I am aware that some folks have created Photoshop actions that
will batch-process all of your pictures. Sometimes they work
pretty well, but they never completely fix anything. They just
desaturate or play with the brightness in an attempt to minimize
the 828's issues. Personally, I put too much effort into taking my
pictures to just blindly batch-process them all without any input
from me. And I don't have the time to "fix" them all individually,
either. I'm just not going to do it.
If you search back through my old posts, you'll find many where I
fiercely defended the Sony F7x7 pictures and capabilities in this
forum. And I still think the F717 is a fantastic camera...I
actually plan to buy one again when the price bottoms out someday.
But the 828 is not the same animal, and it just isn't worth the
frustration of dealing with it's flaws. Nothing disappoints like
loading up a folder full of newly-taken pics and realizing that
most of them have glaring technical flaws--flaws that prevent you
from being able to enjoy them even as simple snapshots without
having to try and "save" them with post-processing. Photography
should be fun and enjoyable, not frustrating.
I hope that makes some sense to you guys. I'm not trying to dump on
the Sony 828, but a lot of you are in the same spot I was in
recently, and I wanted to share my experiences. Some of you guys
may get the 828 and never regret it, and you may enjoy staying up
late at night removing purple fringing from all your pictures. But
to me, having to do that is a heck of a lot more inconvenient than
changing lenses. And I have to say, once you get used to the DSLR,
you'll change your way of thinking. Being able to change lenses
isn't a burden, it's an opportunity.
Believe me, it took a lot--a LOT--for me to leave my Sony-first
mentality behind, but now that I've been using the Canon DRebel,
I'm taking the best photographs of my life. And I don't regret my
decision for a single moment.
Good luck,
Todd
.
