Alien Meet Alpha

With the purchase of the Sony Alpha 100, I knew going in that it doesn’t have a PC sync terminal for studio flash connectivity like my Maxxum 7film camera. An adapter would be necessary to accomplish this. Trigger voltage is an issue with newer electronic cameras, but since I use AlienBees (B800 model specifically) which produce a sync / trigger voltage of less than 6V, these are safe to use with just a passive adapter. The Wein Safe-Sync adapter (around 50 bucks) just reduces all external flash trigger voltage from up to 400V down to 6V, so if you use strobes that already produce only 6V or less, you don’t need to spend that kind of coin for an adapter.

That being said, the official Minolta FS-1100 adapter is passive and doesn’t feature a PC sync connection; so I came across this generic passive hot shoe adapter on the ‘Bay and decided “Why Not?.” Actually I went online and did some research on this adapter before saying “Why Not?”. GadgetInfinity out of Hong Kong is the company I purchased this product from, although I have seen others supply it. I’ll give them a plug for having a reasonable price, quick shipping and good communication.

This adapter works fine with my Sony Alpha as long as the flash mode is set to ‘Fill-Flash’. It fires my AlienBees perfectly, and not that I will ever need to, but it does allow me to use the older Maxxum 2800AF flash with its standard shoe connection. Be careful what standard hot shoe flash you use. If it’s fairly old, it may have very high trigger voltage which could damage the camera using a passive adapter like this. Always discover the trigger voltage of any on-camera flash or studio strobe you intend to use with any newer electronic camera. Like sucks when a $20 EBay flash damages a new $1000 digital camera.

Steady As She Goes

Yes, my lack of patience got the better of me and I purchased the new Sony Alpha 100 DSLR. No buyer's remorse here however. I like the camera so far, great image quality, function control is better than I expected, anti-shake works very well; and even if Sony announces a 7D-like model tomorrow I won't regret it...much. I've got some youth sports event shooting to do this weekend so the Alpha will get its first field test.

So far the initial test shooting around the house has been positive. I was impressed with the level of detail the kit lens and CCD sensor capture. In the first posted image using the Macro mode setting, you can clearly see a small strand of spider web between the ear and head of this small action figure. I didn't even notice the web while shooting. Lighting was accomplished with an off-camera Promaster flash pointed up to bounce off of the ceiling. The highlights are blown out on this specific image, however the detail (including the web) is wonderful. The second image turned out much better overall. I was also able to handhold another non-flash shot at 1/6 of a second with acceptable sharpness at f3.5, amazing.

Alpha Test

I tend to reduce my shooting during the summer, 110 degrees will do that to you. Melted film can ruin anyone's day. With the mercury finally declining I decided to make the leap and acquire my first DSLR. In my camera bag, next to the Maxxum 7 body now sits a brand new Sony Alpha 100! So far I'm really enjoying this camera, although it is closer to a Maxxum 5D than the prosumer Maxxum 7D or 7 film camera, it is well constructed and has enough features to satisfy. The kit lens performs well and was given high marks by Popphoto.com. It is essentially a rebranded KM 18-70mm 3.5-5.6 lens (film equivalent 28-105mm). After familarizing myself with the buttons, knobs and menus, I attached a Promaster flash and started shooting around the house.

The kids are always the first victims and after rolling their eyes that daddy wants to take their picture yet again, they finally sat still long enough for me to fire off some test shots. The best part about digital is the instant feedback. There is nothing better than seeing the image right away and being able to immediately adjust settings to improve the picture.