2012 Feb 04
Continuing my love affair with messenger bags, I spotted this Manfrotto Unica VII in the local Best Buy. It was $99, but I found it on Amazon.com for $79, and then later on at Costco.com for only $39! I sold my REI Transit bag to a friend and moved all my stuff into this one.
First off, the new bag is big. It’s has a top zipper for quick access to the main compartment and also has a regular flip-open type flap, which is secured by a large metal buckle and also velcro. The main compartment is pretty roomy, but I was disappointed that there are velcro strips only on one half of the compartment. What this means is that you cannot put dividers all along the whole compartment. Right now I just put my dSLRr with lens, and an extra lens in the camera side. This side is lined with some nice soft fabric, and the velcro actually grabs on to this securely. The other side is a more durable nylon-type material. I put my camera battery charger, Kindle, and have space to throw my keys and wallet in. I did try an alternate configuration so that the main compartment is totally dedicated to camera gear, and fit in the dslr with lens, two extra lenses, and my flash gun. It would have been better if I could have used more velcro dividers, but oh well.
On the side of the main compartment, there is a slot that can hold a pretty big laptop. My Dell is 11” so it fits with plenty of room to spare. I can even put my Kindle in that pocket with the laptop if I wanted. On the outside back, there’s another slim compartment that is good for holding papers or a magazine.
On the other side, underneath the main flap is a zippered area for pens, wallet, laptop mouse, and other small items. It’s nice that it is zippered for security, but you can also leave it unzippered and the flap hangs open.
The last compartment is really cool. It’s on the bottom of the bag, and it’s big enough for a compact tripod. I have my trusty Velbon Ultra MAXi SF tripod in there, plus I have space for the laptop charger and miscellaneous cables. It’s pretty cool to have this compartment on the bottom, but it does add a lot of heft to the bag.
There are a few things that I don’t like about the bag. Besides the aforementioned lack of velcro in the main compartment, the strap seems really stiff. Plus there are no swivels on the straps so that it’s kind of easy to get it all twisted. I wish I could switch the strap easily. As it is now, I’d have to cut the current strap to get it off. If I find another nice strap, I might just do that. Also, there should have been a couple outside pockets for cellphone and small water bottle. The REI Transit bag is definitely a better-quality bag in this respect. Also, the Manfrotto bag seems bigger than it should be. I guess it’s the extra protection (it really is well-padded), but the Transit bag seemed a lot smaller. When carrying using the shoulder-strap, the bag feels really stiff and awkward. It’s very box-like, and not very comfortable to carry. The transit bag, in comparison, was curved so that it fit to your hip and was super-comfy. I’m hoping that this bag will “break-in” but I’m not counting on it. Like I mentioned before, there is a lot of padding on it, and it does in fact hold a lot more than other bags so it should be expected. Lastly, the big metal buckle is really not needed. It’s really nice and strong and adds a bit of class to the bag, but a couple times when flipping the cover back, the buckly hits the table top and rings like a bell. Way too conspicuous.
Overall, I’m happy with this bag and for only $40 it’s a great deal. I definitely wouldn’t spend $99 for it though. While the Transit bag had some advantages, the Manfrotto bag holds the camera gear snugly, but without being cramped like the Transit was. And the bottom compartment for tripod is really excellent.
Check out the Flickr Set with notes on most of the photos.
2012 Feb 03
I bought the Sony DT 35mm lens a few weeks ago and it has become my favorite lens. It’s regarded in the Sony/Minolta circles as a no-brainer lens because of the great image quality and excellent value. The lens can be had brand new for $179! The first impression after picking it up is that it feels really light and cheap. It’s very plasticky. Even the lens-mount is polycarbonate, not metal. But just mount it to the camera and the good qualities of this lens make themselves known. First, on the dSLR with a crop factor of 1.5x, the 35mm is roughly equivalent of a normal 50mm on a full-frame or film SLR. This make the images seem very life-like since it is very similar to how the human eye sees things. The old standard 50mm is good, but on the dslr is a bit too long. The 35mm is pretty much the perfect replacement. Like the nifty-fifty, it’s a pretty fast lens, with a max aperture of f/1.8. It’s fairly sharp wide-open, but stop it down to f/2.8 and it is really sharp!
The one minus about the lens is that it is a little loud. I guess it’s just the SAM motor as compared to the silent SSM focusing in the higher-end lenses. But if this had an SSM motor in it, it wouldn’t be so cheap and I most likely wouldn’t have bought it. Actually compared to my old Minolta lenses, it’s fairly quiet!
The best things about the lens in my opinion are the excellent colors and smooth bokeh. I guilty of going overboard on the bokeh in a lot of my shots, and this lens just adds to that. Because it’s a fast lens, you can shoot in pretty poor lighting and still get good results. The color reproduction is very good, and when I switched to my 24-85mm zoom (which has a good reputation in the color department), the colors and contrast seemed so blah and bland. I really am getting spoiled by the 35mm lens!
Another advantage to this lens is the extreme light weight. My A77 is a fairly heavy body, but with the 35mm on it, it feels almost perfect. I really love this lens and I’m so glad I bought it. If you shoot Sony/Minolta, you have to get one!
View more of my photos shot with the 35mm SAL F/1.8 Lens
2012 Jan 18
Last night Koa told me, “I don’t want my dreams to come true because in my dreams, I am at school and my pants fall down and my arms are so short that I can’t pull them back up. I’d rather have my wishes come true.” That made me laugh.
2012 Jan 11
A couple months ago, I lost my Sandisk Clip mp3 player. The last time I saw it, it was plugged into our stereo upstairs. We had some people over including a bunch of kids so I am pretty sure I put it away somewhere for safekeeping, but I haven’t been able to find it. I also lost the center post to my compact tripod. Bay had removed it so that he could adjust the tripod really low to the floor for one of his stop-motion animation projects. I found the post once, and put it back on the tripod, but a few days later Bay worked on another project and removed it again. I vaguely remember taking the post and putting it somewhere safe. Well, you know how that goes!
So last night I decided to go room-by-room and search every inch for these two items. Unfortunately, my search came up empty. However, I did find a few other things that I had lost or forgot that I even owned! Firstly, I found my two “hanko” or signature stamps. My grandfather gave me one of them when I started painting back in my teens, and I picked up the other one during a visit to Hong Kong. I’ve been thinking of creating a watermark for photos using these, but didn’t know where they were. Secondly, I found a nice 72mm circular polarizing filter. I bought this around 1989 for an old zoom lens. My new 16-50mm lens uses this same filter size so that was a bit of a score.
I’m happy that I found these two things, but still kind of perplexed about where the mp3 player and tripod post could be. I checked all my pockets of all my clothes for the mp3 player, and then all the places that I would think I would put the tripod post for safe-keeping but no dice. A mystery!
2012 Jan 04
I’ve been using my new camera for the past couple months, and have learned that there’s one thing that I really love most about it. Sure the performance is excellent and light-years beyond my old Konica-Minolta 7D, but what I like best about the A77 is the articulating rear screen. It makes it so easy to take shots from a variety of angles, especially low-angle photos. When I have the camera around my neck, I can quickly flip the screen down (I usually have the screen facing inwards for protection) and have a waist-level camera. It’s almost like a modern-day TLR but without the reversed image. I think that it’s a more interesting (or at least less-common) view angle for photos than the standard eye-level.
And if I want to take a shot even closer to the ground, I can just bend over and lower the camera; no need to get down on my stomach to look thru the viewfinder! In fact, these are the kinds of shots that I would never take before because they were just such a hassle that I wouldn’t even think of doing it. Not only can I take kids-level photos, but now even dog-level photos!
Here’s a shot where I flipped the viewfinder out and then sideways. I should have leveled it a bit, but still, I like the angle.
2012 Jan 03
We went to watch ”The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn” the other night at the Flix Brewhouse. I hadn’t heard of this movie until pretty recently and when I saw the trailer, I thought that I had to go see it. It’s set in a time period that I really like (maybe the 30’s or early 40’s) and is full of adventure in exotic places. It really reminded me of the Indy movies, which isn’t surprising since this is also a Spielberg movie. When they were on the ship, I thought I heard a little bit of Indy music (John Williams!)!
I really enjoyed the animation (it looked amazing!) and the action, but I felt that there was maybe a little too much action. The chase scene where Tintin goes after Sakharine’s bird went on for way too long. I felt that the entire continuous scene was tiresome. There were some cool little puzzles like how the bulletproof glass was shattered, but I wish there were more of those. Instead, there was just more action. I thought the crane duel was actually pretty silly. But I was blown away by the pirate battle. That was really well-done! So for next time, I’m hoping for more evenly-spaced action sequences with a decent amount of “downtime” and clever puzzles.
2011 Nov 08
I’ve been using my second pair of Sony MDR-V6 headphones for a couple years now, and the fake leather on the earpads started deteriorating. My first pair of V6s had the same problem and I ended up throwing them away. I remember finding little black pieces of fabric around my ear and on my shoulder and wondering what they were! That was way back in the early 90’s before the Internet became popular. This time, however, I did some research online and found out that not only is this a widespread problem, but there is a widespread solution as well. Basically, ditch the Sony earpads and buy some new ones (even before the Sony ones go bad). The most popular pads are Beyerdynamic DT250/DT280 Replacement Earpads. They are made for a different brand/model, but they fit the Sonys perfectly. I bought mine from Sweetwater for about $19. Installing them was very easy — just pull off the old Sony pads and you will see how the new ones fit. Next, place the foam cover over the speaker and then carefully stretch the new pads over the rim. The pads came with another plastic part which is not needed and can go in the trash. The velour pads feel so good compared to the old pleather (although they do get a little hotter than the stock pads) and the sound really improves! This improved sound quality is why people recommend getting rid of the Sony pads immediately. At any rate, I’m very happy with the new pads and the headphones are now better than new!
2011 Nov 07
I uploaded a photo last week of my old Minolta camera straps and trying to decide which one to use on my new Sony A77. I ended up going with the smaller one because I wanted my camera rig to be more compact. Plus I like that the Sony (especially the 7-series) has Minolta DNA. To add to the brand confusion, I attached a folded piece of exposed 35mm film over the Sony logo using some gaffer’s tape and now the camera is really in “stealth mode”. It’s not that I intentionally want to hide the Sony logo — that piece of exposed film has a practical purpose! I’ll explain below.
This past weekend had a little photoshoot in which I could try the new camera out with studio lighting. I have an Alien Bees AB-800 strobe with a shoot thru umbrella. I use that as the key light (main light), and then use my Sony HVL-F56AM flash unit as a back light to blowout the background or as a fill light. To trigger the AB-800, I connect it directly to the camera with the PC Sync cord. To trigger the flash gun, I use the camera’s built-in wireless flash system which basically uses the onboard flash to send signals to trigger the flash unit. This signal is not itself supposed to be strong enough to affect the exposure, however if you are close to the subject I’ve seen that it can leave a little bit of shadow. This has been the case with the Minolta wireless system since it was introduced back in 1992.
To get around this, Minolta photographers have been using the ol’ “exposed film over the onboard flash trick”. The flash signal will still travel through the film to the external flash unit, but it blocks out any light that might affect the exposure. It’s an effective hack that has been used for a long time now and it really works! It makes the camera look a bit less pretty, and more of a workhorse, which I kind of prefer.
2011 Oct 28
I’ll soon be updating my camera collection with a replacement for my 6-year old Konica-Minolta 7D. The new Sony A77 camera actually shares the same lineage as the 7D, but I skipped a generation (the Sony A700). The 7-series of cameras is the higher end of the consumer models by Sony/Minolta. I still own my Minolta X-700 film camera, still want to buy the super Minolta Maxxum/Alpha 7 film camera, and seriously thought about getting the Sony A700 when it was released. But my 7D has kept chugging along, taking nice photographs so I decided to wait. It’s a very reliable camera. But within the past year, the body has started falling apart a bit. The little clip that holds the battery in place broke, but the door is strong enough to hold it securely. Just a couple months ago, the small sliding door that covers the USB cable connection busted. I still have the pieces, so a little glue should take care of it. But after 6+ years, I think the time is right to upgrade to the new Sony A77.
Six years is a long time in terms of camera technology. Not only has image quality improved, but Sony has invested in a new kind of system (SLT) which has some great advantages over the traditional SLR mechanics. The SLT system’s mirror does not flip up to let light hit the sensor. Instead, it is a semi-transparent mirror which reflects some light to an Electronic Viewfinder, and the rest to the main imaging sensor. Because the main sensor is always evaluating the scene (it has no traditional mirror blocking it), it can constantly autofocus, even while shooting video. Plus the FPS has been increased to 12 FPS even at full 24 Megapixels. The Electronic Viewfinder is OLED and is supposedly almost as good as a traditional optical viewfinder. The advantage of the EVF is that information can be overlaid onto the image and it shows you pretty much how the photo will turn out (white balance, aperture, exposure). Also, the viewfinder is as large as a full-frame camera’s and it shows 100% of the captured image.
Here’s a small list of the things I am looking forward to on the A77:
- GPS: It’s cool that the camera can geotag photos, but what’s really neat is that it can auto-adjust the date and time. I know, it’s silly, but so convenient!
- High ISO: With a range of 50-16,000 ISO low-light images will be much better than my 7D
- Peaking Mode: When you are manual focusing, the EVF will draw highlights around the parts of the image that are in focus. This is going to be a pleasure to use when I attach my old manual focus Minolta Rokkor lenses. I can’t wait to use my 135mm f/2!
- 3D Panorama: We recently got a 3D tv, and have looked at a few 3D images using it (and the PS3). It will be fun to make my own 3D images.
- Flash: My 7D never was able to get consistent exposures with my HVL-F56AM flash unit. I am anxious to be able to use it with confidence now.
- Weather Sealing: It’s not waterproof like my Panasonic Lumix, but it will be more resistant to rain and dirt than my 7D.
I’m sure everything about the A77 will be an improvement over the 7D, but I will miss a couple things about the ol Konica-Minolta; the beefy dials. These are so well-made and fun to use, that I don’t think anything can compare. It’s got a button on the top which you need to push in order to turn the dial. It’s so high-quality and I think it looks pro. It’s actually got two dials, one hidden below the main one which is turned by a lever. It’s so slick. I wish Sony would have kept them. I know the exposure compensation dial is probably unnecessary (I had re-programmed the rear control dial to adjust exposure anyways) but it looks so cool!
Thankfully Sony has kept many of the buttons in the same place from the 7D to the A700 and now to the A77, most importantly the AEL and AF/MF buttons. Of course most of these can be programmed to do most any function, but it will be great to not have to relearn them.
The new camera should be delivered soon and after I have some time playing around with it, I’ll write a follow up post with my impressions.
