Photography

The birth and death of my cameras.

Last year, in Korakuen Gardens, Okayama Japan, on October 12 at 3:15 pm, my Sony Alpha 55 died.

I was always hopeful that the condition wasn’t terminal and I would be able to get it repaired once we returned home.

This wasn’t to be the case.

After several weeks in the workshop, I was told that it would cost as much to repair it as it would to replace it.

I had replaced the old Sony with a new Alpha 65 when we were in Kyoto, as I couldn’t do without an SLR. I was really just hoping to be like those ‘real photographers’ and have a second body.

The new Alpha 65 has 23.3MP, compared to 16.2MP with the old one and is slightly larger. Apart from a few features, that I will never use, there isn’t a lot of difference.

Except for the exposure.

I had become very accustomed to using the old Alpha 55 and had learnt to compensate for a slightly over exposed image by shooting everything manually.

I continued to do this with the new camera, only to discover that the exposure is much more accurate.

That’s a plus.

I am sad about the demise of the Alpha 55 as it has travelled with us throughout Indochina, been across the Nullabor and back and was on the road with us for 12 months in 2012.

It took 25,000 snaps in that time.

A small proportion of those shots are published here.

That’s its legacy.

 

A niche market camera.

My camera bag, when it’s fully packed with the Sony a55 digital SLR camera, 3 lenses, spare battery and assorted other items, that I can’t seem to do without, weighs about 9kg.

By the end of a long day, climbing over old rocks or walking the streets of a new city, that 9kg feels like 20kg.

In the evenings the camera bag usually stays in the hotel. I don’t miss carrying it but I sometimes do miss a good photo opportunity.

I therefore decided that what I wanted, more than anything else for my birthday, was a second camera, something small that would easily fit into a coat pocket.

All miniature digital cameras fit the ‘small’ criteria but there’s a compromise with the picture quality and the ability to adjust the settings.

With an SLR you get used to using the manual functions to achieve a desired effect.

I eventually found a camera that seemed to suit my needs.

I went onto the internet to get some professional feedback and reviews.

Here is what one site said:

“If you’re an enthusiast photographer who has been looking for a pocketable, yet highly capable camera for a while then the RX100 will be a Godsend. It has a 20-megapixel sensor, a 29-105mm zoom lens and it can perform virtually all of the functions of a digital SLR (even its depth of field can be attractively shallow), albeit without an eye-piece and swappable lenses.”*

It’s a Sony, so that meant there’s a lot of compatibility with my much bulkier SLR.

There are obviously many people like me, who were looking for a hybrid miniature camera.

Sony have certainly done their research well to come up with a camera that resonates with the consumer as much as this one.

That’s the essence of niche marketing.

*PC World 2/08/12

 

Photography with my ‘Old’ camera

In the marketing business any product that is over 6 months old can no longer be regarded as ‘New’

As my Sony a55 Digital SLR is now over 12 months old it’s legally defined as ‘Old’

Apart from some spots on the sensor, it has performed faultlessly.

I will continue to publish my travel shots on this page.

You can read some brief notes about the locations in my blog or skip the blurb and go straight to the snaps.

 

To view all the snaps just click on the links below:

One Response to “Photography”

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