You can see a list of APPS for the new NEX cameras at Playmemoriescameraapps.com. All are free with the only exception of the Multiframe Noise Reduction App.
Mini-Test: Zeiss E 24/1.8 50/1.8 vs. Sony E OSS vs 50/1.7 Zeiss Planar T at KlubKm.
Sony NEX-F3 test at Wired.
RX100 ISO test at Alpha Numerique.
SLRmagic Photokina report at ThePhoBlogrpaher.
An anonymous reader testedt the A99 and wrote this: “I have done some photography with a pre production A99 the results are stunning the images are sharp and clean ISO 3200 is perfectly usable as is 6400. The colour is great the noise is not an issue. The RAW files look stunning from LR4, the in camera JPEGs are more filmic in their look grainy not as smooth as the RAW conversions from LR4 but very beautiful. Few people have had a chance to use this camera and as one who has it is very very good. I have not used it enough to offer in depth feedback but simple things like the implementation of a new quick navi screen is very welcome. the new hotshoe wireless flash (works great)That itt is great to hold eay to shoot with and takes great images, way way better than the A900 and 850. Cameras are to take pictures with and should not to get in the way of the ! user this camera is a photographers camera. It is such a pity that comments about this camera bere relationship to its ability which like most digital cameras is beyond what most of us are capable of imagining. Park your pixel peeping and let this camera drive possibilty, cameas are as rarely dissapointing as our predjudice, it is a cool machine and I look foward to owning one and letting its possibility help make me a better photographer”
Link to a SAR reader that wantedt to shows some of his Alpha pictures: www.flickr.com/photos/rossocuore.
31 Responses
Hurry! Somebody needs to comment on how Sony sucks with the a99 because it doesn’t have an OVF and how they’re never going to catch up…. And how it’s an epic fail …. And the person in the article must be a fanboy because any REAL photographer would dis the a99 because of the horrible mirror that ROBS OVER 90% of the incoming light….
Sorry…. Figured I get it all out up front.
So when someone says “the A99 takes pictures way way better than A900” you believe that? For me, the report sounds overly optimistic.
Yes, the A99 may shoot great pictures at high ISO compared to A900, but this report is so superficial that I am not convinced at all by it.
Here’s one:
A99 consistently lacks sharpness… in every sameple I so far found floating online… and at every ISO.
Now, compare that to A900.
Remember you said this. I have seen many recent samples that are razor sharp.
That one certainly had me scratching my head a bit. Now it’s not like I’ve had a chance to look at every single sample taken with the preproduction A99s that’s available, so if I’m wrong here feel free to point me in the direction of the good ones, but from what I’ve seen so far, the image quality difference between the 900 and the 99 is pretty incremental. Unless of course noise is the only thing that matters.
Yeah, I use an OVF camera and take shots in groups of 24 or 36, then don’t look at them for 2-3 days. Proper photography like how it used to be!
🙂
You talked me into it. I am getting one.
hm… i wonder what’s so special about that app which costs 5 dollar. looks like anti-motion blur on the previous nex cameras?
It’s not anti-motion…it’s anti-noise. It basically takes a handful of pictures at a higher ISO setting, superimposes them, then takes the least noisy spots of each one and creates a stand-alone image that would be comparable to a lower ISO.
Actually seems pretty cool, if the real-world application of the software closely matches the example they give in the promo video. Doing it for something like a building is easy…but if it can get close to that with moving subjects (ie can’t slow down the shutter, which is why the ISO would be higher), then that could definitely be worth the 5 bucks.
I might be being dense, but isn’t that just multi-frame noise reduction? If anyone still wants to know whether previously included features will be pulled and sold as apps, I think we’ve got an answer. Nex-G3 apps will include one that lets you manually set your desired shutter speed ( a must-have for action photographers at only $5) and an innovative app that lets you artistically blur the background (supported lenses only, $10).
It is. But it is not offered in NEX cameras. NEX Only has handheld twilight mode which works the same way but doesn’t allow you to choose the ISO setting that you want.
Sure it is but my impression is that this would have been released with the camera, but was intentionally withheld to sell it later as an ‘add-on’ app.
Granted it’s better to have the feature for $5 than to never have it available at all. But if it’s already available on A-mount cameras it’s not a new cost for Sony to develop, so it seems like it should be given away.
Something similar is happening with the games industry, where products are released with some features withheld, only to sell them later. To the consumer, the total cost will be higher in the end if you buy all the add-ons, and the manufacturer gets to hide the true cost by not having people pay for it all at once. Sony is trying to get people used to this idea so they can make more money (of course).
I don’t know how this is different to the ‘handheld twilight’ option on previous NEX cameras and how it justifies the $5 cost? Do these new NEX cameras still have the handheld twilight option?
Ive mentioned this before, but if you simply connect a sony alpha to an android tablet (attach a USB to micro USB converter on the end of the cable that comes with the sony, and you’re all set with a cable that goes from the camera to the tablet), all the jpegs from the camera appear in the android gallery (and this happens very quickly), and you can then use *any android app* (Photoshop express, Pixlr-o-matic, etc) directly on the images, saving the result on the android, or uploading them to social media/cloud/whatever via the android. You can’t use the tablet as a second monitor (the camera goes into mass storage mode so can’t take pictures), but you can use the tablet to review images on-site, using touch controls (finger-scroll and pinch zoom). Its all very fast on my A77, surprising given that these are 24MP images!
All sony alphas are pretty much app-friendly already if you have a tablet.
Interesting information. Thanks for the heads up on this process.
I think yet again you’ve misunderstood the Apps situation.
It has nothing to do with a tablet. What you’re talking about is the tablet using your A77 as a big card reader as every other computer would as it’s set to Mass Storage. It has nothing at all to do with what they’re talking about in this thread however, they are talking about Apps being built-in to the NEX cameras and allowing other functions/features etc.
True, but the funcionality of about half the Sony apps released so far can be done on current Sony cameras via a connected Android tablet, and the usability on the tablet is much better (you have a large touch screen), running on a ui that is faster than the camera ui.
For example, I doubt Sony picture effect+ is better than Adobe Photoshop Express. You also get apps that benefit from being off-camera (such as ‘Camera backup’).
Best thing of course is that this works for all current cameras,
Isn’t multiframe NR a standard feature in previous NEX and Alpha cameras? At least I’ve got it on my A37. Did Sony remove a standard feature from NEX 5R/6 to offer it for $5 in their app store?
I like this app approach as it allows Sony to continue to develop features that we can continually add to the camera and not have to wait for firmware updates. I bet there’s a wider range exposure bracketing app that also will sell for $4.99 coming, along with some of the other features people keep asking for and Sony doesn’t deliver. I bet Sony is hoping that soon most features will be downloadable apps and the cameras will just include a basic featureset – lowering development costs for the basic camera interface.
Admin, or anyone, how is this $5 app different from multi-frame noise reduction on most (all?) recent Sony cameras??
The difference is that it now costs $5
Seriously!!?? Is Sony actually trying to pull this? Is it really the exact same feature?
I have no idea if it is exactly the same. But I think the plan is quite obvious. Additional $$$. You may get better features than before they had apps, but you have to pay. If you don’t pay, you get less than before.
What a rip off! The so called multi-frame app aka twilight mode is already being used on the current SLT, NEX and RX100. It’s doesnt make sense why Sony is now charging for this…
yeah that’s kind of lame they charge for that, because handheld twilight is basically the same thing you just can’t set parameters…
Who knows, maybe they’ll have updates of this app with more functionality in the future.
That being said, I do agree that removing a software feature that’s available on all their $100 P&S and forcing you to buy it at $5 is a little annoying. If anything I would have done the other way around: making users pay for new functionality, like the Direct Upload or remote control, and giving the currently available ones like Multi-Frame NR for free.
More A99 sample image from Dpreivew.
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/10/10/Just-posted-full-size-Sony-Alpha-SLT-A99-image-samples-gallery
Thanks for the link AM. I feel very comfortable with the images from low to high iso. I had some reservations with the high iso performance but these appeared more than adequate for me. I upgraded my shipping to overnight. I cannot wait. I hope that Steve Huff adds a bit more info on the 99. He is enamored with the RX!, so he cannot stop going on about that camera and I can understand why. The photos are beautiful out of that camera.
Did Minolta not already do this, but with little cards.
Most of you guys that don’t understand this app must be in two groups.
1) Don’t have an NEX camera so you don’t realize this function doesn’t come built in on any NEX camera (apparently it does on Sony Alpha DSLR’s)
2) Have an NEX but think it is the same as HHT, it is not.
The key difference is that with HHT, it usually goes all the way to 3200 to take the shots. With this one, it looks like you can use any ISO you want. For instance ISO 800 with less noise.
I’d pay $5 for this even though I don’t shoot JPG. I’d also pay $5 for the bracket app they are coming out with as long as it works with RAW( 6ev bracket comes built in Sony DSLR). I’d prefer not to pay for it, but it’s a pretty low price compared to everything else. And there are a lot of people that don’t need every app. I don’t need and intervalometer, but there are a lot of people that are interested in that. Yeah, once they come out with all the apps, to buy them all will suck. But 2-3 won’t be a big deal since most of the users won’t need more than that.
For $5 it’s not something worth bitching about.
When are the apps Cinematic Photo and Time Lapse going to be available???