We just got that screenshot that describes a new feature of the upcoming A35 (to be announced on June 3). The text is pretty clear and I don’t have to add naything to that 🙂
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42 Responses
crapy digital zoom
seems more like crop as it says ~8mp recording..
cropped image is digital zoom
It’s the same concept as FF is “cropped” to APS-C – and that ain’t crappy.
digital zoom involves upscaling..this is usually the crappy part, which is not happening here.
Cropped image is cropped image.
Digital zoom is upscaling. Hardly the same thing.
Awesome! 😀
I have problem with my A55. AF speed and 10Fps is good, but electronic viewfinder is slow and lag.
Hope to see a firmware upgrade for the Sony slt a55.
Sorry, neevr use a33/55, can you share more detail how the EVF slow and lag… 🙁
It’s not crappy at all. Saves hell lot of my time to crop. I wonder why they removed it after the a300 models.
ala A350
ala carte a350?
😛 “in the style of the A350, where it was first shown”.
How does the Tele-Zoom work? Does the camera simply turn off some pixels on the outside edges of the sensor?
Does it apply to video? That would be nice. Pana and canon already have it.
Before everyone loses their cool and begins to bash the in-camera jpg processing zoom option, take a deep breath and think which crowd might this function be great for?
Answer: The Soccer mom/entry level user that won’t post-edit, will vaguely understand the meaning of the word “crop” and simply wants great, easy to upload to Facebook images pronto. Note that this option is for 8 MP (I’ll assume Jpg) images only. Look at the added perk to your average big-box shopping consumer who will likely buy a kit and at least at first (until the upgrade/lens bug bites them), they’ll marvel at the 1.5X zoom (extra reach) option they optically get.
Of course all of the pro Joe’s will know its just in-body processing/crop, but if the feature makes the target buyer for this product happy, then I say great on Sony! Now that we KNOW the A77 release is imminent, everyone needs to quit bashing Sony for only “focusing on the low-end users” and embrace the advances made in full spectrum of Sony Alpha products! Just my .02 cents…
Thank you Nwolf,
It’s nice to have someone bring focus back to what these devices are designed to do and that several different consumer types are part of Sony’s market mix.
I know that this is a rumor sites but once in a while it’s good to ask how well is this product suited to the customer’s needs…………. And the new A35 just might be the perfect camera for 85% of all picture takers (notice I didn’t say photographers, I said picture takers).
As I carry around one or two FF cameras, with heavy Zeiss lenses, a camera bag or backpack, tripod and or monopod, and external flash ……………I dream of a camera with some magical space-age lens that’s f1.4 fast with a reach between 16mm to 400mm that’s as sharp as any pro lens and weighs in at 32 ounces or less.
New cameras like the A35-A77 and new digital zooms hopefully will get us there before my back goes out.
I don’t understand this feature. Fps I understand. Why the tele zoom? Why is the fps higher in this mode? What is a real world application for this feature.
Necessity is the mother of all invention! For the average picture taker looking to step up from a P&S, these 8MP “zoomed” crops will look marvelous. Something tells me that folks utilizing this feature aren’t lugging around a couple “G”/CZ lenses and shooting in Raw. If its a user friendly interface that boosts sales and develops a Sony following, then I support (but won’t use) it!
I am sorry but where…in that article did they mention DIGITAL zoom….? All i see is TELEPhoto zoom. If it’s like the zoom you get in a300/350 then it’s definitely NOT digital zoom.
Or maybe my understanding of digital zoom is different.
Well, digital zoom is exactly that.
I’m also confused… Doe this mean that you can only achieve 7 FPS while using this cropped 8 megapixel format? Or is it always 7 FPS, and the 8-MP crop is just another feature?
Perhaps the smaller image size (8mp) allows the camera to shoot at a faster shutter speed
It seems to be rather clear, the pictures taken in the “zoom” mode are cropped to 8 Mpixels. The gag is that by switching into this mode you will see the same frame as if having a 1.5-teleconverter – the crop is filling out the total EVF. This can help in composing the frame without the “disturbing” 6 Mpixels around. The de facto quality however will be the same as cropping the total picture on the PC.
Con: You loose the freedom of adjusting the crop to the left/right up/down
Pro: You will not see how poor the lens is in the corners 🙂
What I find a bit strange is the comparison of FPS, in fact they shall be compared at full resolution (5,5 FPS) – but this is marketing.
BTW. I owned a Minolta 5D and was happy with 6 MP a long time
Thanks, OTTO, but my question was: Would I have to use the crop mode if I want to shoot 7 FPS, or are the two features separate and independent of each other?
(Not like it really matters, since I’m waiting for the 77!)
😀
This is interesting and I’d like to know more about this feature and whether something like it will be in the A77. For instance I own the 70300G and find it’s not quite long enough for birding so would this x 1.5 telezoom boost the lens to 450mm and allow me to take decent 8mp wildlife images without having to spend £1,000 on a lens? After all, 5 years ago I was taking wildlife images with a 6mp Minolta 5D and Sigma 170-500mm and they weren’t too shabby.
Sony inovate, and nothing should be discounted that may make our photographic experience cheaper and more useful until it’s seen in camera.
I don’t see why an additional feature like this is such a bad thing. It’s the A35, which is the low end of the SLT range. It could be a useless feature for most, but who cares?
It could be used for those looking for a convenient extra zoom without having to change lenses. I think that’s a good thing.
+1 Ted!
As long as they don’t dedicate a button for it again as on the A300/350… It was a waste.
I seriously hope this is a hint towards an a55 firmware update. Someone needs to hack the crap out of it. It has so much power and potential.
I don’t care about A35, but one feature, what I was already expected from A900 was possibility shot cropped image at higher frame rate and for longer series of images. Sony didn’t put such a feature.
For future, I would be happy if A77 will be 24 Mpix and could take series of 40 RAWs at 10 fps. In addition to that it would be nice to take 40-60 croped 12Mpix RAW images at 15fps. They could be center croped or average of 2 pixel images.
For people who is newer happy I want to say that around forum writers are many photographers who are enough creative to use any of features implemented by manufacturers and enough creative to use cameras without digital features et all (e.g. film cameras).
+1 Edgars
I’m curious too. I never used the a350.
I use all of my old ff minolta lenses.
Does this mean that if I was to shoot with (for the sake of making it simple) a 100mm lens, I would be shooting at a 225mm equivalent?
100mm*1.5 (for the aps-c) crop factor = 150mm.
150mm*1.5 (for this “telezoom” feature) crop = 225mm…
Can someone please help?
If that logic is correct, then this is bloody brilliant!
My 70-200 can now reach to 450 on the-fly (without mentally thinking about post-process croppin) when shooting, and the files wouldn’t be as overwhelming as the full 24mp. (I’m already talking as if I own the a77, haha!).
Technically yes.
But I think the calculation will be (150*1.5)*1.5.
In simple words(if this is the similar feature in a300), it’s simply a full time in body auto crop mode BUT you get INCREASED fps! As opposed to the a300 where your fps still sticks at 3fps.
Adding on to that, this feature only worked on Live view. Hence another advantage of an EVF.
One of the cons for this mode is that you cannot set your AF points accurately after you zoom. You have to set it before hand. Hope they managed to fix it this time round.
Is that still the same AF points layout?
There is a picture above where the chooseable AF-Points are shown…
So in normal mode they degraded from A33 7fps to A35 5.5fps??
And advertised value is 7fps with a little appendix that its only in crop mode…for marketing purposes:D
But most SAR readers welcomes it so it works 🙂
would this feature also available in A77?
Looks like this is similar to the ETC mode on the GH2 except the Sony version seems to only be for pics and is 1.5x while the Panny ETC is for 2x for pics and 2.6x for video. It is a really sweet and useful feature that I tried out at a baseball game. With the 14-140mm lens (28-280mm 35mm equivalent), I was able to get to 560mm at reduced mp. Prints came out great.
If you pair the a35 with the new Tamron 18-270 PZD, you could get 607.5mm reach with the 1.5x boost. That is pretty amazing. While the ETC was a great feature for the GH2, I did end up selling it because the photo IQ was not doing it for me. I’m now very much looking forward to the a35 official reveal.