We just added another feature to our website: the Free Stock Photo of the Week page! Check it out and download the image, free of charge!

This could also be titled: Why I’m looking forward to Sony’s A900 DSLR.

Here is a professional camera resolution comparison chart for those interested in upgrading their camera body this fall.

A few interesting points:

• The new Sony A900 and *speculative* Nikon D3X will hopefully shake things up a bit. Right now, the 21MP Canon 1Ds III is quite overpriced. Some believe the Sony 24MP body will be priced at $3000 (USD) which would make it a very attractive studio camera that could rival the MF backs.
• The 60.5MP digital back from Phase One is simply overkill. I can’t imagine many small firms having the infrastructure to support the data, let alone be able to afford the hefty price tag.
• The 31MP digital backs appear to be the best image size to price value. The 39MP image doesn’t seem to justify another $10,000.

Lets say a Sony A900 kit, including a Tamron 28-75mm f/2,8 and a Tamron 90mm macro lens cost $4,000, and a Phase One kit consisting of the digital back, the body, lens, and an additional macro lens (for studio work) will cost around $25,000 (CAD). That’s over six times the cost for better image quality but a heck of a lot less versatility. You would have a much smaller package (good for travel), a wide angle lens, in body stabilization, hopefully clean ISO up to 1600, about 3-4 frames per second, among other things.

If the Sony A900 doesn’t compare to the Canon and Nikon image quality, which we are spoiled with, then again, it’s a studio camera. We shouldn’t be so emotional about image quality. In a studio, you rarely shoot over ISO 100 anyways.

Thanks to my bro Pete for noticing an ad campaign used throughout Yaletown:

It’s a scan, so it looks a little washed out. It’s nice to come across these things in your home town. Well,  I wouldn’t exactly call Yaletown my hometown, maybe the greater Vancouver area

Here is the original stock photo.