Look back in anger; Perfecting Equilibrium Digest, Aug 1-12; review of the Sony Xperia Pro-I
Chris Feola
Author, Perfecting Equilibrium: For a brief, shining moment Web1 democratized data. Then Web2 came along and made George Orwell look like an optimist. Now Web3 is Perfecting John Nash’s Information Equilibrium.
The Week in Review, August 15-19
Plus: Off-Topic - A review of the Sony Xperia Pro-I
Editor’s Note: Last week we announced that monthly digests are too long, so we were switching to weekly digests. Those are pretty short, though, so we’re going to try adding some short somewhat tangential, like the tools we use for Perfecting Equilibrium. Here’s the kick-off: a review of the Sony Xperia Pro-I
A camera that happens to have a phone attached
Every dog has its day, and every interest has its nerds. This leads to some interesting cross-fire; perhaps we could call it When Nerds Collide!
The Sony Xperia Pro-I is a victim of just that sort of cross-fire. The fallout is all over YouTube; every smartphone reviewer has followed pretty much this exact script:
The problem here is that reviewers are Gadget Nerds – More megapixels!! More New Features!!! – reviewing a camera designed for photography nerds, whose Ur Camera is the Leica M.
The Leica M costs about $9,000. Without a lens. (Lenses start in the low four figures and run well up into 5 figures. Each.) You cannot see through the lens. It doesn’t have auto focus. If you’re willing to pay extra, you can get one without a back screen. Or color. (The Leica Monochrom is an M with the color part of the sensor removed.)
Why? Because photography nerds are all about control, about having a camera that reliably captures the image in their mind’s eye.
That’s the story of the Sony Pro-I. It doesn’t have any automation.
It has you.
The Xperia Pro-I is basically a Sony Alpha camera with a smartphone attached. (The smartphone is perfectly fine, and does all the smartphoney things quite competently.) It has incredibly fast autofocus, excellent eye autofocus, and shoots up to 20 frames per second. If you’re used to using any of the modes on any of the Sony Alphas, you’ll be right at home.
The video setup is perhaps even more impressive. The Pro-I shoots 4k at up to 120 frames per second. More important than any gizmo specs, however, is that the Pro-I supports professional color such as Sony’s Venice CS.
The Pro-I also has a dedicated shutter button that takes you right into the camera even if the phone was asleep, and a lanyard attachment, which is surprisingly useful.
So, in summary: If you want a camera you can control completely that happens to have a phone attached, check out the Sony Xperia Pro-I.
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Easter Eggs
So I guess I should explain these Easter Eggs. My brain is a peculiar place, especially so when I’m writing. My brain likes to play word association, and then plays back songs with those words. So these are the songs that were playing in my mind as I wrote these articles.
Styx-Mr. Roboto. Just because it's obvious doesn't mean it isn't right.
Kamikaze Cappa (Dedicated to Robert Cappa Who Died in Indochina 1954)
Coming Next:
Tuesday, August 23: Web3 news roundup
Thursday, Aug. 25:?How Web3’s transparency restores what’s been broken by click-through agreements and their abuse.
Friday, Aug. 26:??The Week in Review
Feola.Foto
Detail, Temple Roof, Korea. Pentax LX, Pentax SMC 200 f/4, Kodak Ektachrome, 1985.