Gadgets and Gizmos

Sony a700 DSLR

Sony picked up the pieces of Konica Minolta’s camera division almost exactly two years ago. The most obvious result of this combination of Konica Minolta digital photo smarts and Sony muscle is the Alpha DSLR range. The Sony DSLR-A700 is only the second model in this range - building on the success of the A100 launched in late 2006. It’s not just the presence of the long list of features, as much as the way in which they are cleverly placed across the Sony DSLR-A700’s body - allowing for some very intuitive, environmentally-sealed and well-placed controls.

Sony says that additional benefits include sharper images for pictures taken under low contrast conditions; reduced noise for pictures taken at ISO 3200; and improved flash control for objects closer than 1m with non ADI controlled lenses. The update only applies to the A700 DSLR and can be downloaded to any computer running Microsoft Windows 2000, Microsoft Windows XP, Microsoft Windows XP MCE, and Microsoft Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Basic, Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Microsoft Windows Vista Business, and Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate.

The DSLR-A700 features a 12.2-megapixel CMOS sensor paired to a newly developed auto focus system featuring 11 wide-area sensors. It also sports a 3-inch LCD view screen. It sports a maximum shutter speed of 1/8000th of a second and records images in digital raw or JPEG formats.

A newly developed, auto-focus system features 11 wide-area sensors, including a center dual cross sensor comprised of two horizontal and two vertical line sensors for exceptional AF precision. An F2.8 line sensor leverages the brightness of fast aperture lenses for even greater precision.

Some standout features on the A700

• 12.2 effective Mega pixel Sony “Exmor” CMOS sensor with on-chip noise reduction
• Support for Minolta and Sony lenses that use the Alpha mount
• Super Steady Shot image stabilization system
• Rugged, weather resistant body
• Dust reduction system
• Ultra high resolution 3-inch LCD display
• 5 frame/second continuous shooting
• Fully adjustable Dynamic Range Optimizer; user can bracket for DRO as well
• 11-point center dual cross autofocus system
• Dual memory card slots (CF + MS Duo), with the former supporting UDMA cards
• HDMI output

The A700’s battery life is just a hair above the average for this group. It’s numbers are actually 15% worse than the original DSLR-A100 – usually its the other way around. The new Sony Alpha A700 uses the same underlying sensor-shift image stabilization found in the A100, but with improvements.

While we don’t have specs at this point, one benefit of the more powerful BIONZ processor in the Sony A700 is improved performance in the anti-shake system. This should translate into better image stabilization performance, allowing slower shutter speeds than on the A100. The original Alpha A100 had a Compact Flash memory slot, and shipped with a CF to Memory Stick PRO Duo adapter, permitting use with Sony’s proprietary Memory Stick card format.

While the Sony A700 supports having cards in both slots simultaneously, you have to select between them manually: There’s no provision (as in some high-end pro digital SLR cameras from Canon and Nikon) to write to both cards sequentially, switching to the second as the first fills up. Nor is there any provision for splitting storage of RAW and JPEG files between the two cards.

Sony Alpha A700: New features

• 12.2MP CMOS sensor, Sony says sensor is “all-new for this camera”
• More rugged body, magnesium alloy and polycarbonate construction
• Environmental seals
• Continuous 5 fps shooting, no buffer limit in JPEG Fine/Normal mode with sufficiently fast memory card
• All-new shutter, vertical traverse, 1/8,000 max speed, 1/250 or 1/200 x-sync (slower when Super Steady Shot is turned on)
• Viewfinder is glass pent prism, 95% coverage, 0.9x magnification.
• DRO (Dynamic Range Optimization) has been revised to include five user-selectable levels in D-R+ mode
• 922K-pixel LCD, 267 ppi vs 160 ppi for typical 230K-pixel 2.5″ monitors
• Dual Compact Flash (type I/II) and Memory Stick Pro Duo card slots
• Lithium-ion battery good for 650 shots
• New lens for high-end kits: 16-105mm f/3.5-5.6
• Goes wider than any other kit lens, is equivalent of 24mm at wide end, vs 27mm equivalent for others. Doesn’t sound like much, but the difference is 83 degree coverage for 16mm vs 76 degrees for 18mm.
• Super Steady-Shot image stabilization enhanced
• Both Eye Start and Grip Start sensors for AF
• Predictive autofocus has been enhanced
• Direct HDMI output built-in
• New Sony Bravia televisions will have special Photo TV setting, optimized for still pictures. Higher resolution, more gradation, richer color. More natural contrast, not as pumped as standard TV mode
• New vertical grip with full controls, holds one or two batteries for extended runtime
• Sony’s goal: “Number One total picture quality among mid-class DLSRs”
• New sensor with on-chip A/D converters
• New image processor (entirely new BIONZ design)
• RAW noise reduction, fast & low-noise processing optimized for CMOS

Overall the Alpha A700 tested here was a final production model, running the latest version 2.0 firmware. Following our convention of testing cameras using their factory default settings unless otherwise stated, the A700 was set to Large Fine JPEG quality, Auto White Balance, Multi-segment metering and its Standard Colour mode.