Trying out the Minolta 50mm f/1.7 on the Alpha 700

Christmas day was a balmy 50 degrees Fahrenheit in the the DC area…with lots of sunshine. A far cry from the bitter cold of the mid-west, I must say. We miss the snow on the ground, but a body (especially me) could get used to this milder winter weather.

Sunayana and I headed out to Germantown park so she could work off the excess energy, and I took the Alpha 700 along with my Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 prime lens. On the Sony Alpha 700, the 50mm is equivalent to a mild telephoto 75mm (the 1.5x crop factor), and makes an excellent portrait lens. Even better, it is an excellent lens for natural light photography, even at very low light levels.

The light was failing by the time we got to Germantown park, and over the course of the time we were there, it got quite dark. The Minolta 50mm lens handled the failing light very well. I left the Alpha in ISO auto select (ISO 800) and opened up the lens to f/2. The almost dark condition was no sweat at all at those settings, and if I wasn’t there, I would swear that the pictures were taken much earlier in the evening.

By the way, if some of the pictures seem slightly blurry, it’s because she moves at lightning speed. NO camera’s AF can possibly keep up with a 5 year old with pent up energy!

Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700	Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700
Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700	Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700
Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700	Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700

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Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700

Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700

Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700

Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700

Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700

Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 on A700

Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700 and Minolta AF 50mm f/1.7 Lens. Camera was set to AUTO mode and ISO 800.

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Alphamagic by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.text and images © 2007-2008 ajoy muralidhar. all product names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting alphamagic, have a great day!

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Sunayana

These 2 pictures were of Sunny on the steps holding her striped tiger. I was still figuring out the camera – still on AUTO mode, with Flash turned on.

Alpha 700 – Sunny

Alpha 700 – Sunny

Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700 and Sony 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 Lens. Camera was set to AUTO mode and ISO 800 with Image Stabilization ON, Flash ON.

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Alphamagic by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.text and images © 2007-2008 ajoy muralidhar. all product names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting alphamagic, have a great day!

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First pictures – Alpha 700 on Auto setting

These were the first batch of pictures taken with the Alpha 700 – my wife took the camera to my daughter’s school for the obligatory Santa visit. She just used it on the full Auto setting, letting the camera do it’s thing. This is pretty much right out of the box, and she did not even have the chance to even go through the “quick” version of the manual. We’re both familiar with the operation of our Minolta Dynax 800si, and that was enough.

The lighting in the building was Fluorescent, but she did not compensate for that in the White Balance – this is just the Alpha 700 doing its thing. The lens was the Sony 18-200mm. The Auto setting used ISO 800. As can be seen, it’ll take a while to get to learn and use all the menus and features, but the camera can be used pretty much right out of the box (allowing for a little time to at least partially charge the battery, of course!)

Santa’s Visit

Santa’s Visit

Santa’s Visit

Photographed with a Sony Alpha 700 and Sony 18-200 f/3.5-6.3 Lens. Camera was set to AUTO mode (ISO 800) with Image Stabilization ON.

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Alphamagic by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.text and images © 2007-2008 ajoy muralidhar. all product names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting alphamagic, have a great day!

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Note on Alpha 700 upgrade to Firmware version 3.0

I thought I’d share my experience regarding the Alpha 700 firmware update.. I was updating from Version 1.0 to 3.0, and I was a little nervous (naturally), but I need not have worried. It went smooth as silk. I took the precaution of using a new CF card though, formatted ‘in camera’. I transferred the APP file to the formatted CF card using my computer and card reader device.

The update procedure is very simple – just put in the Card in the camera CF slot, close it, and turn the camera on while holding the menu button down. The camera reads the card, and opens the upgrade dialog. Select OK and the upgrade starts. It takes a couple of minutes, and then the camera reboots. That’s it. Its upgraded to Version 3. Happy shooting!

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Alphamagic by Ajoy Muralidhar is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.text and images © 2007-2008 ajoy muralidhar. all product names, websites, brands and technical data referenced are the copyright or trademark of their respective owners. thank you for visiting alphamagic, have a great day!

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