Podcast Episode 12 – Back From a Long Break and Clear Image Zoom

PodCast – Alpha Tutorials

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Welcome back after an extensive break! We hope that you have missed us and that you have not lost hope. During the break we have been restructuring how to run the podcasts in the future; with shorter shows, looking at specific features and the occasional news and reviews editions. In this episode, we will just catch up on some of what we have been doing while we have been “off air”.

News

There have been a few new cameras announced while we were away. The A37 and NEX-F3 are the most recent additions. Both serve more as evolutions to their predecessors than as any form of revolution to the ranges.

Also announced was the A57 which has been getting a significant amount of ‘hands on’ time. The 16mp sensor and 12fps make for a fantastic mid-range camera. It is fast becoming my favourite Alpha.

Another new item I have been enjoying thoroughly more than I thought I would is the new 18-200 for the NEX. It is smaller than the first generation and feels fantastic to use. It does appear to be a lot like the Tamron version and that may be its downside. If there is a fair price difference, I think that most will opt for the practically identical Tamron.

Not quite Alpha related, but still of great interest is the new Cyber-shot RX100. This little compact camera uses a 20mp, 1-inch sensor which is 4 times the size of the average compact camera sensor. It is, infact, the same kind of sensor size used in Nikon’s mirrorless camera, but here there is no changeable lens. It is Sony’s professional compact and looks very appealing.

Tutorial

So… in the tutorial feature for this episode, we are going to talk about a new feature in some of the Sony Alpha cameras (think Alpha 57 and 37) called Clear Image Zoom.

In the early days of digital cameras (and on most smartphones today), many manufacturers kept prices down by offering a camera with no optical zoom; opting rather to promote digital zoom. Essentially, digital zoom crops your image to make it look like it has zoomed into the scene. The trouble with this was that it would reduce the resolution of the image and – with early cameras boasting a tiny 3.2 million pixel count – there was no room to throw away pixels.

Today, things have come a long way. Both the Alpha A57and 37 share a 16mp sensor. You can print really reasonable images from 6 or 8mp, so you can afford to crop into an image a little. Sony’s Clear Image Zoom does that, but then it goes a step further… Instead of leaving the resolution at 8mp, it takes that image and – with some very clever processing – increases the cropped image back up to 16mp again. It does so rather well, with minimal quality loss.
To use this feature is rather simple.

On the back of the A57 is a button near your thumb that says “Zoom”. Simply hit that button and then turn the control dial till you get the zoom you need – up to 2x the magnification you start off with from the lens.

Why is this such a cool feature? Well… among Sony’s recent announcements is the release of a new standard zoom lens: the 18-135mm. While I was away, I took the A57 and only this new 18-135mm lens. It was all I needed. For the odd occasions when I wanted a longer lens, I simply used the Clear Image Zoom feature.

Imagine travelling or being on a tight budget. You cannot take the weight (or the price) of the big 500mm lens. Instead, you opt for the fantastic 70-300G. When you come across some wildlife needing you to get in closer, the Clear Image Zoom can double the 300mm to 600mm whilst maintaining the aperture of f/5.6; something an optical teleconverter cannot do as it cuts down your light.

Thanks to Sony’s electronic viewfinder, all of this happens without any additional thinking on your part; something optical viewfinders could not do.

Conclusion

That brings us to the end of the first of our new series of shows. Be sure to check out our website at http://alphatutorials.co.za for more articles and information. Please also send us your questions. We enjoy hearing from you.

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