Singapore F1 Grand Prix & Sony A77 DSLR Review – Part 2

November 9, 2011 1 By admin

After Part 1 yesterday, today I present Part 2 of my Review & Report from my recent Singapore Trip.

F1 Paddock Entrance at Singapore GP

After we finished testing the camera’s at Sentosa Island, we headed back to the track to check out the famous Singapore Flyer

Looking back down from the Singapore Flyer

Looking out to capsules on the Singapore Flyer

Looking out at Marina Bay Sands Hotel & Casino

Looking down at Pit Area using Miniature Mode

Looking back down at Main Straight using Miniature mode

Next subject up for camera testing on, was the famous 80’s Pop Star Rick Astley.
He was one of many artists performing free concerts at the track each day.

Rick Astley performing on stage

This was a great way to try out the flexible articulating screen which uses a swivel-and-tilt joint, that is itself affixed to an arm that folds out from the back of the camera.
As you can hold the camera easily above your head and the crowd to capture the action.
The other great feature which I found useful when shooting Mr Astley was the smart teleconverter button, which activates a 1.4x or 2x digital zoom.

Rick Astley Performing – shot at 200mm – no converter

Rick Astley Performing – shot at 200mm – with 2x digital converter

So as you can see it does a great job of being able to extend the reach of the lens you are using.
The only downside with using it is that it drops the resolution down by about half, but considering the size of the sensor you still end up with a useable sized file to work with.
For the F1 action we headed to Turn 5, which again was a popular spot with the amateur photographers.