Sony DSLR-A700

Reviewed November 2007

Interface & Software

Interface

There is no small settings panel on top of the A700, and therefore the camera-user interface depends on the 3-inch monitor. The monitor offers an excellent resolution and definition — the first on the market of this type LCD monitor to be used on a dSLR — and as a direct result, the interface is remarkably legible and easy to read, whatever the ambient light conditions.

Current camera settings are displayed either of 2 formats, one that is quite detailed but, by the same token, has a busy screen, another that is less detailed but uses larger fonts. Moreover, these displays can be set to rotate so as to follow the position of the camera, and get turned off the moment the photographer has his or her eye at the viewfinder.

The Quick Navi screen, similar to the information screens, is accessed by default by pressing the Fn button. It allows accessing the settings shown on the Information screens, either the detailed or enlarged views, and changing the settings. Its only drawback, in our opinion, is that only one setting can be changed at a time, the Fn button having to be pressed again should another setting need adjustment.

Menus are similarly well-conceived, the menu system occupying 4 sections, each containing a number of screens. The menu is designed to flow from one section to the next, and one page to the next, forwards and backwards, which makes it easy to navigate. The fourth section of the menu, Setup, contains the most basic settings for the camera:

• LCD Brightness: serves to adjust the brightness of the monitor using either the 4-direction Controller, or the Control Dials.
• Info. Disp. Time: allows adjusting the on-screen time of the Information Display (5, 10, 30 seconds, or 1 minute).
• Power Save: serves to select the time delay until the camera goes into power saving mode when it is unused (1, 3, 5, 10, or 30 minutes).
• Video Output: decides the video signal produced by the camera, NTSC or PAL.
• HDMI Output serves to select the HDMI output to match the TV: HD(1080i) prior., HD(720p) prior., SD priority (Standard signal output).
• Language selects the interface language: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Simplified Chinese or Japanese.

• Date/Time Set: serves to set the time and date on the camera.
• Memory Card decides the card to use: Memory Stick or CompactFlash.
• File Number: Series or Reset. Serves to decide whether image file names are continuously incremented or return to 1 when a new memory card is used or the card is formatted.
• Folder Name: controls how folders are named. The default is the standard form (100MSDCF), but the folder name can instead be based on the date instead.

• Select Folder: serves to select the folder into which images will be saved.
  • New Folder: serves to create a new folder.
• USB Connection serves to select the USB mode:
  • Mass Storage allows the camera to be recognized as a mass storage device.
  • PTP allows connecting to a PictBridge printer, or automatically transferring images to a PTP compliant device.
  • Remote PC: allows controlling some of the functions of the camera remotely (such as shooting) from a computer, and saving the images on the computer.
• MassStrg. Card has two settings: Both Cards, or Selected Card. When both card slots are used on the camera and it is connected to a PC running Windows 2000 SP3 or a later version of the OS, both cards can be seen.
• Menu Start: decides whether the menu opens at the top of the Recording section, or at the last used section.
• Delete Confirmation: Delete or Cancel. Decides whether the Delete Option or the Cancel option is pre-selected when the Delete screen is shown.
• Audio Signals: On or Off. Controls the sounds produced by the camera when it is used.
• Cleaning Mode: engages a mode that vibrates the CCD for a while then lifts the mirror and opens the shutter so that dust can be blown out of the area.
• Reset Default: returns all main camera settings to the factory defaults.

While Sony's manuals still enjoin readers to activities such as "enjoying your computer" when trying to explain how to install the software and use it, it carries on with the same odd style when detailing the functions of the camera. When using the Bulb mode, for example, the manual recommends "attaching a tripod to the camera"!

The idiosyncrasies of Sony's manuals can be overlooked when the camera is a simple point and shoot. But, with a camera as complex as the Alpha 700, photographers should have the benefit of a more in-depth, and better elaborated and written instruction manual.

Software

A single CD is included with the A700 in North America. It contains a number of interesting programs:

• Picture Motion Browser,
• Image Data Converter SR,
• Image Data Lightbox SR,
• Remote Camera Control.

The oddly named Picture Motion Browser is an image browser that can present images in a variety of imaginative ways, allowing both a fluid and adjustable thumbnail view, and a detailed view of the contents of folders.

Image folders must be imported into the program's database, appearing in a column on the left of the program's window, while the contents of the selected folder appears on the right. Basic image tools are available in this view: rotation, printing, burning to CD, slide show, transferring to other programs and even basic editing, which opens the image in another window.

Image Data Converter SR (version 2) is supplied to open RAW and cRAW format images captured with the A700. The program handles only RAW images, and offers powerful — and complex — tools to adjust images for a multitude of things. The tools provided are regrouped into 3 windows that can be moved around freely, making it possible to have most opened at once.

These tools allow precise adjustments to white balance, exposure, sharpness, noise reduction, contrast, hue, saturation, tone curves and dynamic range. Filters can also be applied, allowing, for instance, to change the image to black and white. Images can be saved in as RAW, JPEG or TIFF, at either 8 or 16 bit, using a selectable colour space (sRGB, Adobe RGB, Wide Gamut RGB), and either the entire image can be saved, or a 16:9 portion of it. Expect to spend a fair amount of time exploring this program.

The third program is Image Data Lightbox SR. The name is appropriate, as the program — basically another image browser — presents images like slides on a light box, one of number of views possible, including the one shown below which places the currently selected image in a large view above a lightbox view of the other images around it.

The last program is Remote Camera Control, which allows shooting the A700 while it is connected to a computer via USB — when the USB connection on the A700 has been configured to Remote PC in the Setup menu.

Image Data Lightbox SR is able to pass along images to other programs, and for instance it communicates easily with Image Data Converter SR, making it possible to switch quickly to RAW editing.

The Remote Camera Control window replicates most of the A700's settings, and these can be changed using the computer's mouse.

Once captured, the image is not saved in the camera's memory card, but instead passed along to the computer, and to Image Data Lightbox SR. While this remote shooting program is not as thorough as some others, it still allows remote shooting the A700, which is very practical with some types of studio work.