Putting my new camera to use: Sony SLT Alpha 57

I love my camera, Olympus e-620, and I invested quite a bit of money into excellent lenses. However, the camera is not fast enough for action photography. It is hard to get good shots of dogs in movement, especially in poor light. There are so many new cameras being released that to choose a right model for my 2nd (and backup) camera has been difficult. So many factors to consider.  I don't like cameras that are too small, but I don't like very large DSLRs either. I love how my Olympus handles, and have been looking for something of similar size. Luckily, the camera I decided on, Sony SLT Alpha57, was available through Citibank Thank You Rewards. I have collected enough points to get it basically for free.

So this weekend I have been working with this new camera, and I am not completely sure yet whether I like it. There is so much to learn to take full advantage of all the options. Actually some features are pretty amazing, and autofocus and speed that allow up 12 frames per second are really impressive.

Even though I am planning to use the camera for action photography, I took some portraits and was quite pleased with the ones of Sky:

Sky is going to be one year old in two weeks. I LOVE this dog. The combination of his tracking/hunting talent with the depth of character and biddability does not happen too often.

This picture shows Bella (yellow collar) and Sky. Bella likes to torture some males, mainly Sky and Tommy, by pulling their ears and nipping them. She does not do it to older females, but all the young dogs are a fair game for her. She can be very rough.

Another shot of Bella and Sky while they were running at a full speed.

This is another shot of Bella being "mean" to Sky.

It will take some time to get used to the new camera but it has a good potential. More info will be presented in the future.