8/15/09
I decided on a few changes to the site, one of which is the elimination of the Camera specs page. There won’t be any more camera specs other than Sony DSLR’s, from the first A100 model, to the latest. They’ll all be listed on the Sony DSLR page, it’s on the Nav bar to the left. I managed to add to, and tweak the useful links page. I noticed a couple of sites either made a disclosure about corporate support, or failed to disclose support, and/or relationships.
I tested a couple of polarizers, trying to see if I noticed any loss of quality or sharpness with the A700, and Sony 100mm macro. I did notice a greenish blob centered in some of my product shots using a B&W MRC polarizer, which is no better than my cheap Hoya polarizer. I quit using it for that reason, plus the loss of light, the shutter speeds at F/22 got to be almost 10 seconds at ISO 200!! Sharpness differences were not noticeable in regular shots, but slight color variations did occur depending on polarizer rotation and light angle.
Thanks to a reader in Norway, Miguel, for scanning and sending the new Sony lens Brochure. It’s got all the new lenses, and lists features such as “ED” glass, aspherical elements, and other specs. I see by looking at the brochure that they now have “SUPER ED” glass, which is available only on the new Carl Zeiss 16-35mm F/2.8 lens. I’m going to review that lens soon, so we’ll see if the “SUPER” is any better than the plain old “ED” glass!! Funny, but one of the best Sony lenses at controlling color fringing is the CZ 16-80mm, which has no “ED” glass, but uses T * coatings. Is that better than “ED” glass? I smell marketing gimmicks here!
Next up will be a review of the Minolta AF 28-135mm F/4-4.5. I’m already working on it, and plan to have it posted before the end of the month.
Last, but not least, you’re not going to see the colorful ‘Native Crops” corn stamp macro shot that I’ve been using the past three years. I managed to ruin that particular stamp during the recent move. I had a few extras, but they were so much different when magnified, that I decided not to use them because people will try to directly compare the shots, and then come to the wrong conclusion. So instead of the corn stamp, get ready for three years of the new “Red-headed Woodpecker” 2¢ stamp. I don’t know, I may change it to something a little sharper, (and without the litho rosettes) in the future.