Preview of Sony A77

Why did they announce this while I was on vacation? The review in the link below is on a pre-production camera, but a few days later it was announced officially: the Sony A77 SLT.

This Sony A77 promises to be veeerrry attractive to the likes of me who still think of Sony as 'the new Minolta', yet want state-of-the-art technology. The idea of replacing the good old mechanical mirror flipflopping up and down with a fixed, semitransparent construction has great potential, I think. And I'm glad that after the A55 mid-range camera with which this "SLT" technology was introduced, they are now moving up. There was already an A65 and now the A77.

Another strong point is said to be its electronic viewfinder. I was of the conservative opinion that an optical viewfinder has better resolution and less electronic colour distortion/interpretation, but this one promises to be real good, with 2.3 M pixels (there were times when 2M pixels made a decent camera!).

One of the package options, moreover, is the camera body with a "kit lens" of truly interesting specs: 2.8/16-50mm. That is not a kit lens, but could be a really good one! I have grown very fond of my 2.8 telezoom, and am already looking forward to a standard zoom with the same large opening.

Only two questions remain. First, can I afford it? Sub-question: any reader making an offer on my Sony A700 (used but good-looking!)?
And second, should I go for it, or wait for the full-frame A99?

Sony SLT-A77 Preview: 1. Introduction: Digital Photography Review

Eagle Owl Attacking Camera at 1000fps

I alsways thought that it was video was never going to be my thing, but this footage almost convinces me... Amazing detail and sharpness, and you would be extremely hard-pressed to capture an owl "attacking" your phot camrea at exactly the right moment. With a slomo video like this, you can have your choice of "right moments"!

From the same website as the dog portraits.

Eagle Owl Attacking Camera at 1000fps

Portraits of Dogs as They Shake Off Water

Great dog portraits in the link! Funny pictures. But there's no dignity left for a dog. Well, they'd better become cats anyway when it comes to maintaining dignity.

Portraits of Dogs as They Shake Off Water

Picasa back in favour

Picasa is back on my list of popular (and free!) photo web services, now that I (finally?) discovered that they have done away with the 5-pictures-at-a-time limit for uploading. My pictures of the archery 3D-tournament of last weekend found a happy home there.

Traces of thirst

The picture is not great at all, but I find the story irresistible: a carrier pigeon crash landed on our terrace. Hearing its wings thump and scrape on the stones was the first thing I noticed. The pigeon got on it's feet and tried to drink from the pond that borders the terrace. But with the drought, the water level was too low and try as it might, the pigeon could not bend deep enough to get it's beak into the water. After a few tries it made a desperate decision and dived right into the pond. Its head was drowned completely, wings spread out made sure it swam. After five long seconds of gulping water to quench its thirst, the pigeon got its head out of the water, flapped it's wings a few times and flew off again, on its way--no doubt--to race home. Only the traces of the dust of its feathers was left on the water. And that's when I finally got my phone's camera out to document this story of a dry spring.

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