Sony Alpha 100 - Manual (Page 6)

SNY_13156_ALPHA_A4_BRO SIZE: 210mm x 297mm ■ C ■ M ■ Y ■ K ■ PANTONE 1655
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SNY_13156_ALPHA_A4_BRO SIZE: 210mm x 297mm ■ C ■ M ■ Y ■ K ■ PANTONE 1655
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Naturally beautiful
BIONZ image processing engine ensures vivid, beautifully reproduced colours
The complete Sony 100 system represents a
harmonious, perfectly balanced blend of lens,
10.2 Megapixel CCD sensor and BIONZ image
processing engine.
It’s the job of any digital camera to retain every nuance
of detail entering the lens that’s captured by the
sensor... and translate it faithfully into stunning
pictures. The BIONZ image processing engine inside
the
100 ensures that what’s falling on the camera’s
10 Megapixel CCD sensor accurately represents the
full beauty of every moment without compromise.
You can think of the newly-developed BIONZ
processor as the camera’s brain that uses a powerful
image processing algorithm to reduce sensor noise
without lowering resolution. Tones are reproduced
accurately with vivid colouration and excellent
sharpness, creating images with astonishing natural
beauty and depth.
Photo data/ DT 18~70mm, F3.5-5.6, F11 auto, ISO 100, White balance: Daylight, Vivid image finishing
Raw data from the 10.2 Megapixel CCD sensor is processed by the BIONZ engine to create the highest quality image
✔ Clearer images with reduced noise
✔ Accurate reproduction of rich tones
✔ Realistic textures and vivid colours
Beautifully exposed, natural results even in difficult, high-contrast lighting conditions
The Dynamic Range Optimiser inside the 100
ensures evenly-balanced reproduction of the
brightest highlights and the deepest shadows...
even when you’re shooting high-contrast
scenes or against the sun. High-contrast or
strongly backlit scenes can lead to loss of
highlight and shadow detail. While normal
exposure compensation retrieves low-light
detail at the expense of burnt out highlights,
Dynamic Range Optimiser assures perfectly
exposed pictures by automatically adjusting
gamma curve and colour balance settings. In
Standard Mode brightness and contrast levels
for the whole image are automatically corrected
in real time. Advanced Mode offers a higher
degree of compensation by analysing and
adjusting tone and colour reproduction for each
area of the image separately – a process that
only takes around 0.5 seconds to achieve.
Fine-tune your image or create powerful, dramatic effects with
eight image finishing modes that select optimum white balance,
contrast, colour saturation and sharpness to suit any scene.
Whether you’re looking for an ultra-sharp look or highly
saturated colours, it’s easy to choose the right image finishing
mode to match the vision that’s inside your head. You can also
adjust individual parameters to suit your personal preference. 1) Standard
2) Vivid
3) Portrait
4) Landscape
5) Evening Scene
6) Night Scene
7) Monochrome
8) Adobe RGB
TECHNICAL POINT
Show your true colours with choice of white balance settings.
A choice of white balance setting modes ensures natural-looking
results under virtually any lighting conditions… or use it as a
creative tool to enhance or suggest a mood. Get the balance right
with a choice of six preset white balance modes – sunlight,
shadow, cloudy, tungsten, fluorescent and flash. There’s an auto
(AWB) mode approximating the human eye that ensures
dependable, fuss-free results with any scene under a wide range
of lighting conditions. You can also customise your own white
balance settings – and if you’re not sure which WB setting is
going to achieve the best results, white balance bracketing
captures the same scene with three different WB settings,
allowing you to select the best-looking result. Fine tuning an
image’s colour balance can turn a great picture into something
really special. Manual colour temperature adjustment features
19-step magenta/green compensation to emulate the effect of
professional colour correction filters.
Auto (AWB)
Shadow
Flash
Sunlight
Fluorescent Tungsten
Cloudy
From retina to brain:
Light entering the lens of the 100
falls on the CCD sensor the instant the
shutter opens, where it’s transformed
into an analogue electrical signal. This
signal is converted with high precision
into 12-bit digital data through the A/D
converter before being sent to the
BIONZ image processing engine.
The newly-developed BIONZ image
engine is a dedicated processor using
a specially developed algorithm that
performs noise reduction, sharpness
processing, dynamic range
optimisation, colour matrixing and
white balance adjustment before
digital data is compressed, encoded
and stored to memory. The result?
Faithful reproduction of vivid, natural
colours with rich tonal graduations and
the sharpest detail.
BIONZ image engine
processes signals from
the camera’s CCD ‘eye’
Great-looking against-the-sun shots with Dynamic Range Optimiser
Eight image finishing options allow image settings
to be adjusted according to your personal preference.
Image finishing feature
✔ Automatic analysis and optimisation of ‘difficult’ scenes shot against the sun or with strong contrast
✔ Balanced reproduction of areas of sky and shade in same image
✔ Exposure and tone control prevents shadow and highlight detail loss
Dynamic Range Optimiser
Standard
With the default Standard
setting, the contrast and
exposure of the complete
image are automatically
adjusted and the subject’s
expression is easier to see
compared to the OFF setting.
Dynamic Range Optimiser
Advance
If set to Advance, a higher
degree of compensation
occurs. The photograph
balances with high precision
the strength of the colour of
the background sky, the
brightness of the subject’s
face and the green of
vegetation.
Dynamic Range Optimiser OFF
If the Dynamic Range Optimiser is switched off,
the face of the subject will appear dark in
photographs taken directly against the sun.
Switching it off is appropriate if the intention is
to take a photograph with a silhouette.
Exposure
(CCD image sensor)
A/D conversion
Electronic
developing process
Data compression
Temporary memory
(Buffer memory)
Data recording
(Memory card)
SNY_13156_ALPHA_A4_BRO 24/7/06 10:38 AM Page 11