Sony Alpha DSLR-A700 Essentials
Since December 2007 I’m an owner of 12Mpix digital SLR Sony Alpha A700. As I’m an explorer of every product I’m using and I always want to get the best from it, I will publish and add my experiences with this nice piece of photo hardware.
Article content:
- RAW convertors for Sony A700
- Reviews and information sources for Sony A700
- Known issues of Sony A700
- Tips for Sony A700
RAW convertors
List of most used convertors with feedback of their users and my experiences. I highly recommend to every owner of A700 to do colour calibration with X-rite Colour Checker.
Sony Image Data Converter SR v.2
- Good colour conversion, still not possible to get JPEG colours.
- Not user friendly interface, requires big LCD.
- Weak at extraction of details in shadows/lights, using exposition and level sliders damaging photo.
Adobe Camera Raw 4.3.x (Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Lightroom)
- Weak at details extractions at higher ISO’s.
- Highly recommended camera calibration with X-rite Colour Checker.
- Recommended by some users.
- Is incompatible with cRAW, resulting in underexposed photos, not correct default Color Temperature.
- Recommended for high ISO photos.
- Only for Apple Macintosh.
- Apple Aperture 2 seems to be better choice than Adobe Camera Raw 4.3.1.
- Only for Apple Macintosh.
Reviews and information sources
- www.dpreview.com – A700 in-depth review
- www.imaging-resource.com – A700 in-depth review
- alphatrack.com – A700 Battery life analyzed
- Sony A700 FAQ at Dyxum.com
- Sony A700 FAQ at Sony Europe Customer Support website
Known issues
- Adobe Camera Raw 4.3.1 and low details of RAW in higher ISO’s
- Not correct colours? Sony Alpha A700 Adobe Camera Raw Calibration results
- Sandisk 8Gb Extreme IV is not working, reported by users (see official FAQ for supported memory cards).
- Turn off Eye Start AF, if you have no sensor for holding a camera in hands (otherwise camera will start focusing each time the LCD will be close to anything and it is leading to draining battery)
- Super SteadyShot works better with lenses reporting focal point distance (some of them marked as D)
From official FAQ: “The Sony α700 realizes highly-sensitive Super SteadyShot function based on various types of data, including the focal point distance from the lens. Lenses from other manufacturers may not be able to obtain sufficient data, thus reducing the effectiveness of the Super SteadyShot function. (The Super SteadyShot function is performed, but the results may not be the same as when using SONY or KONICA MINOLTA lenses) - From official FAQ: “When Dynamic Range Optimization (DRO) is used with RAW mode, RAW data does not change, but will be optimized when developed using the specified RAW application. On the other hand, when viewing enlarged photographs shot in RAW mode on the camera’s screen, the DRO effect will not be applied to the photographs due to system restrictions.”
- From official FAQ: “There are no differences between RAW and cRAW. Quality is not a problem even when compressed, but for those users who like uncompressed data, we left the uncompressed raw data support.”
- From official FAQ: “With ISO200 or higher, the dynamic range of recordable subjects becomes wider by 2/3EV. Nevertheless, it is recommended that you use ISO100, a lower sensitivity, when shooting subjects with nearly full-open aperture, or using a large external flash with which is difficult to turn the amount of light down.”