The DSLR-A700 features a 12.24 APS Exmor CMOS Sensor, Super SteadyShot Image Stabilization technology, Sony’s Bionz Processor, and up to 5 frames per second at 12.24 MP. It also includes Sony’s anti-dust technology, which physically shakes the CCD to dislodge dust.

Like the Alpha 100 the 700 can be used with all the Sony lenses as well as Minolta’s a-mount lenses.

The LCD screen is 3.0″ and contains 921k pixels. For comparison the DSLR-A100’s LCD is 2.5″, containing only 230k pixels. Those of us comfortable using the Alpha 100 should notice a big difference.

For the Alpha 100, Sony opted for a built-in Compact Flash media slot on the camera and included a Memory Stick PRO adaptor. For the Alpha 700, Sony decided to install a built-in slot for both Compact Flash and Memory Stick PRO Duo Media.

It also includes a wireless remote control for HDTV photo viewing and shutter release.

Taking photographs of fireworks displays is quite easy and produces great looking photographs.

What You Will Need
You will need your camera and a tripod.

Setting Up
Of course, first find a great vantage point to view the fireworks. Then set the camera on the tripod and generally frame the scene that you will want to take. You will probably have to wait for the first fireworks to go off to determine the height of the fireworks, but you will probably have a good idea of what to expect, by how far back from the fireworks they keep the crowds.

Reducing The Blur
If you have a shutter release cable for your camera use it, otherwise, if your camera has a 2 second timer use that instead. This is to reduce any shaking of the camera which might be caused by your pressing the shutter release button. If you don’t have a cable release or your camera doesn’t have a 2 second timer, you could try the timer anyway, but that usually is 10 seconds, and that seems like a really long time while fireworks are popping overhead. Otherwise, you could be extremely gentle and try to coincide your hitting the shutter release with a a lull in the fireworks, so that any shake will subside by the time the next fireworks takes off. The final method will likely result in blurring of any background that is in the scene. If that is what you decide to resort to, try also taking pictures above any features on the ground, so that only the sky is captured, any blurred effect will greatly reduced on the night the sky.

Focus on infinity.

Aperture And Shutter Speed
You should be shooting in manual mode. Take a light reading with your camera, when there are fireworks in the air, this will tell you the proper exposure you must make for the fireworks. 1) Meter for the area where the fireworks are, without the fireworks. 2) Once first fireworks discharge, meter the fireworks, noting how many more stops the fireworks are than the dark. 3) adjust exposure for the fireworks.

Now, when adjusting for the fireworks, keep in mind what type of shot you want. Since you can compensate for shutter speed by adjusting the aperture and vice versa, you can control how the fireworks will look. The longer the shutter speed you take, the more fireworks you may capture in your image. If your shutter speed is too fast, than you will not capture even one fireworks discharge.

If you want to keep the shutter open for a long time, you should keep know that if fireworks repeatedly fire off in the same spot in your image that area will be overexposed, i.e., white.

I would recommend an exposure of ten seconds to start off with.

If the length of exposure is what you want, but the fireworks are not bright enough then open your aperture, or if the fireworks are too dark, close your aperture.

ISO
Since you are propping your camera on a tripod, even though it is dark outside, you can still shoot with your camera set to ISO 100.

Recommended Settings
The settings for shooting fireworks can vary greatly, subject to many variables, but a good starting point is to set your ISO to 100, shutter speed to around 5 seconds, and aperture to f/10. After your first shot, check your image and make sure you readjust as necessary. Check out the photos below, the settings are listed for each one.

Saturation and Contrast
Whether you are shooting with a digital SLR or digital point and shoot, most cameras will give you some control over the saturation. This is a good opportunity to boost the saturation one to two levels and bring out the colors in the scenery. If you use this setting, check quickly after each shot to see how it looks. If you overdo it the colors can start to look exaggerated, fake. Properly applied the vibrant colors against the black night sky can really give your images a dramatic look.

Another setting that can add a little drama to the scene is the contrast setting. Again, like saturation, many digital cameras today allow you to adjust the contrast in your photos in the camera. And again, like saturation, this feature can be overused so check your images after you make adjustments to the contrast. Turning up the contrast on your photo will make the dark sky even darker against the light from the fireworks.

Click here to see how to adjust the contrast on a digital point and shoot.

Keep Shooting
Taking photographs of fireworks, by its nature, is a random endeavor. You cannot predict what you will be taking a picture of, since the fireworks haven’t gone off by the time you hit the shutter release; you don’t know what fireworks you will capture, or where they will go off. Since that is the case it is important that you don’t stop shooting pictures, until the fireworks display is over; otherwise you might end up with some dark smoky shots.

Examples
The photo at the top of the article was taken at ISO 100, F/25 for 13 seconds.

This photo was taken at ISO 100, F/11 for 4 seconds.

This photo was the finale of the show. The settings were ISO 100, F/9 for 5 seconds.

The settings above can be used as a rough guide. The first photo was taken for 13 seconds, while the last two photos were for 4 and 5 seconds. However, the last photo represents more of what you should expect with longer exposure shots. Even though it was only for 5 seconds, it was the finale and they were shooting of a lot more fireworks simultaneously than previously. Thus, more fireworks were shot off in those 5 seconds than in the 13 seconds of the first photo at the top of the article. Notice that in the bottom photo, the larger amount of fireworks resulted in an overexposed center, i.e., although the fireworks were colored the center of the plume turned out all white. Also, not as many fireworks were discharged at the top of the scene, so the green and red explosions came out nicely exposed.

Finale
So, next time I am taking pictures of fireworks I have to remember to anticipate the finale and turn down the speed and open up the aperture. Maybe 2 seconds at F/6.3. Alternatively, I could try to capture the finale and the amount of fireworks by keeping it open for just as long and maybe just closing the aperture up to 1 f/stop to turn down the brilliance of the center.

However, you can still capture a starburst effect by closing your aperture as small as it can go. To produce the best effect you should stop down to around f/20 and beyond. The lower you go, the more exaggerated the effect. Unfortunately, some point and shoot cameras will not stop down that low, even on a manual setting. If shooting with a SLR, for the best effect, use a wide-angle lens at its smallest aperture.

The smaller the aperture, the more the incoming light is diffracted, thus producing the starburst effect. Try it out with your night time photography for a really cool effect. Remember when taking night time photography you will want a tripod to keep the camera steady. Exposure times typically will last seconds, rather than the usually fraction of a second. Additionally, since you will be closing your aperture for the starburst effect, to counteract the diminished amount of incoming light, you will want even longer exposure times. Notice in the examples below, the first photo is underexposed at 5 seconds. The second photo was taken at 10 seconds and was closer to a better exposure.

The following photos were both taken with my Sony Alpha 100 DSLR at ISO-100 and at F/22, without a filter. Exposure times were 5, 10, and 20 seconds in order (you can see the images getting brighter).

The knocker was in the shade on a very bright day, thus the glare on this guy’s head.

I used my Sony Alpha 100 DSLR at 50mm. Aperture was f/4.5, exposed for 1/40 second, set on ISO 100.

I am pleased with how the ceiling and the statue were exposed. However, I am unhappy with the distracting glare on the signs. I probably could have avoided that if I was paying more attention.

I used my Sony Alpha 100 DSLR with an 18-700mm lens. The focal length was 75mm, the shutter speed was 1/40 and the aperture was at f/5.6. I left the ISO at 100. Of course the camera’s SuperSteady Shot feature was on, particularly because the shutter speed was so slow.

From a practical standpoint, I found the Alpha 100 to be a little heavy. I used only one lens, which was the Sony SAL18200 18-200mm lens. With that lens attached, the camera was a little to awkward to carry around my neck and I found myself supporting the lens with one hand often. Typically, I hold my camera in my hand rather than around my neck, but after several days of holding the camera in my hand, my arm began to feel weary. However, I recently had the opportunity to fiddle with a Nikon D40X with an 18-200mm lens mounted, and that too was of a similar heft.

I have always felt that the controls on the Sony Alpha 100 were well placed and easy to use, and after three weeks of continuous use I feel the same way.

I particularly like the function dial on the left topside of the camera. The function dial lets you quickly change different settings, such as contrast, saturation, flash compensation, ISO, among other things. It was really useful and allowed me to change a lot of functions quickly, without having to navigate through complicated menus.

The LCD screen has all the information that you need. The screen displays all the different adjustments that have been made to the settings, so you can quickly tell, without pushing any buttons, all the settings for the current shot. Viewing and deleting images is easy and intuitive. However, I found that it was difficult to accurately predict how the picture in the LCD screen would actually appear on a full size computer monitor. This was a problem particularly when I tried to view the LCD in bright sunlight, even when shaded by my hand or body. The problem was greatly alleviated when I viewed the LCD in full shade. The pictures turned out darker than they appeared on the LCD in sunlight. This is not a terrible problem, since I can now anticipate the problem and hopefully properly bracket in the future.

The SuperSteady Shot came in real useful. There were quite a few times when there was low light and the SuperSteady Shot gave me a satisfactory alternative to increasing the ISO. The shots generally came out clear and focused.

The battery life was quite satisfactory. Some days I captured hundreds of images, used the flash repeatedly, and took long exposure shots; the battery never failed to last an entire day. By the end of a long day of shooting, the battery meter would sometimes be showing only the final bar, but whether or not it would have lasted another day, I can only speculate, since I charged my battery every night. I think that in the future I will invest in a spare battery, just in case.

I intend to print some photos out with a professional printer, but I couldn’t wait, so I just starting printing some of the photos on my inkjet printer. I generally like how the images came out. The colors seem pretty accurate and the detail is pretty impressive.

One thing I do not like about the camera is that the shutter is loud. You can hear the shutter clicking away from quite a distance.

The Sony Alpha 100 met all my expectations on this past trip. I am pretty satisfied with its overall performance and the images it produced. I found that the Sony 18-200mm lens that I used was a great all around lens. I can’t wait to take the camera out again!

The exposure was for 1.6 seconds at F/5.6. ISO was set at 100 and the focal length was 18mm. The picture was taken with a Sony Alpha 100 Digital SLR; DSLR-A100 and a Sony 18-200mm lens. A tripod was necessary, due to the long exposure.

This photograph was taken the second night I stayed in Shanghai. Apparently, The Bund lights up at night time and the lights of the city all go off at the same time. I don’t remember exactly when that is, but it is sometime between 11:00pm and 12:00am. The last photo was taken after midnite the night before (technically, early in the morning on the same day I took this photo). For some reason there was a fireworks display, which I was fortunate enough to capture.

I set the aperture to f/25 and exposed for 30 seconds at ISO 100 and this is the best shot I was able to get.