Like the A99 also the Nikon D600 is using the new Sony 24 Megapixel FF sensor. Dpreview now posted the Nikon D600 studio samples (Click here to see them). I hope the Sony A99 samples will follow soon. Can’t wait to see if Sony catched up with the Nikon and Canon Jpeg engine (RAW quality should be about the same).
P.S.: For now the D600 outsells (in terms of preorders) the A99 according to Amazon rankings. Maybe Sony has to make to make a cheaper A95 FF model…
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A99 preorders at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
86 Responses
FIRSTTTTTT!!!
me so thirsty for firsty
SAR is #1
Cock
You so thirsty for cock
Andrea, Are you receiving any rumors / specs for the A95 / A88 yet? We can’t wait for these.
If you don’t like Sony, why are you even on this forum??
Mitsu, stop asking the same questions to everybody, retarded.
Wtf mitsu? Again with this??? Hejust asked if there was another FF coming soon..
Oops, sorry, I think I’m reading these posts wrong 😛
Maybe Sony just need to price the A99 camera competitively taking into account the cost of their lenses and the fact that CaNikon has a much bigger user base (DSLR that is).
Commercially, the A99 is an utter failure. It is not in the top 100 anymore and is outsold by A77, A65, A57, and others.
Nikon has 2 FF cameras in the top 10, Canon 1.
Sony needs to lower the price by at least $500.
It’s a commercial failure before it’s out?
Ever heard of something called “pre-order”?
D’uh. Nikon’s market share of the DSLR market is what exactly? And Sony’s is what exactly? and folks are still expressing surprise and disppointment that Sony’s new FF is selling less than Nikon’s? My 2-year old daughter can understand that. I repeat – d’uh.
Well, if Sony’s goal of releasing the A99 was to not increase their market share, you could probably call it a success.
Mike, you clearly have zero understanding of business. Only Sony know if a product is a commercial failure.
While YOU may like to think it is, you don’t have access to their profit/loss on a particular product.
Saying a product has a small market share does not make that product a commercial failure. By your measure, any luxury item with small market share is also a commercial failure. That is just being naive.
Hopefully, not everyone pre-orders from Amazon.
Some of you are making rash judgements before even one camera is sold IN NOVEMBER.
Check the last positions in the top 100 to see by what items the A99, Sony’s latest FF camera due to be shipped in a little over a month and pre-orderable today, is being outsold.
I therefore stick to my prediction.
Examples:
95. Canon Digital Rebel XTi 10.1MP Digital SLR Camera with EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 Lens (Black)
2038 days in the top 100
98.
Sony Alpha A900 24.6MP Digital SLR Camera (Black)
605 days in the top 100
…
631. Sony A99
1. Mike, do you really trust a list where the camera at position number 98 cannot even be bought any more?
2. (not to Mike) Where is all the evidence that shows Sony lenses are more expensive than Canikon?
3. As if FF users are going to change systems based on pre-orders and a few jpeg’s on the Internet. The A99 pre-orders will be 99% existing Sony users. If and when the camera reaches dxomark and customers is when any Canikon users MIGHT change over. People expecting the A99 to be top of sales charts are living in some parallel universe!
Once the camera is properly reviewed the sales ranking will change. Sony has done nothing in the FF realm for 4 years and is totally dwarfed by CaNikon, its going to take time for the A99 to get traction.
BTW, I pre-ordered from B&H through the links on this site, free shipping and no sales tax.
I wouldn’t say it is rash, I bought the a65 then an A77 ie I like Sony products and I was a strong potential customer of the A99, as I could do with better ISO noise levels. However I feel as a compleat package (ie with lenses) it is over priced compared to CaNikon offerings.
I think they got the A77 price spot on ie roughly £1000 (Body) however the A99 is £1500 more and I don’t believe it brings £1500 worth of benefits to the table. Personally I think it should be priced about £1800-£2000 i.e. roughly what it costs in the USA).
Mike, in its review of Photokina as a whole, the DPReview editors said, “Meanwhile Sony, which offered the first sub-$2000 full frame DSLR with the A850, created a rather more high-end affair with the SLT-A99. Bristling with features both for stills and video shooters and making the most of its full-time live-view SLT design, the A99 is a camera I think none of us will fully appreciate until we’ve had time to try it.”
I believe that the A99 is the ONLY camera they described that way. Certainly the D600 is very well-known commodity, except for its IQ (which looks like it’s going to be very good indeed). Its AF system, for example, appears to be a system already known to owners of the D7000
In other words, no one knows quite what to make of the A99 just yet, but DPR’s implication is that it just may be a really great camera. In any case, the camera has so much that appears to be very new to offer, it will take time to digest. And, as WF has indicated, the camera hasn’t been released yet, even for review, whereas the D600 is already in the hands of a lot of people. If the A99 reviews as well as I believe it will, the market will love the camera.
Moreover, if in fact the D600 is using the same sensor as the A99, minus the on-sensor PDAF sensels (I guess they would be called), then the evidence from the DXO Mark Sensor rating (which is already posted, placing the the D600 sensor as the third-best sensor implementation in a specific camera ever, behind the two versions of the D800), seems to indicate that the A99 will also achieve a sensational rating, perhaps as good as the D4. On top of this, if the focusing system is as good as advertised, and the new hotshoe and video system pan out as advertised, I think Sony will have a real success on its hands.
Of course, the D600 will sell better, anyway.
Btw, I know that Andrea has a habit of posting Amazon sales comparisons, but they are notoriously flawed, so we shouldn’t be putting very much faith in them.
lol you must be a funny guy
Why shouldn’t Sony make few different full frame cameras for themselves just like Nikon did (D700, D3, D3x, D3s, D4, D800, D600)?
I wonder about one another thing: if you can couple WU-1b Wireless Transmitter with iPad3 then You can get great combo for filmmaking (even without focus peaking when using such a big screen)!
That would be wicked. Why doesnt sony have a wireless adapter. such a key element in the future… instead i get gps! So If I get lost in the himalayans and they find my corpse they will be able to tell exactly where i took my pictures. Course it wont help me one iota.
Check this out:
http://youtu.be/od5fqlRba_g
And imagine using iPad3!!! Pure pleasure.
There is a smart guy who produces wireless video transmitters (for Canon 5D for example):
http://youtu.be/NTQgvaS2z7E
I think it would work with Alpha 99 as well.
How did you com to the conclusion that RAW should be about the same? 😀
So far it has never been the same, Sony’s RAWs are always worse than Nikon or Pentax, just look at the A580.
And now there’s the SLT mirror in the way, so no, I don’t expect RAW to be “about the same”.
Because RAW means that only the sensor’s capabilities are shown, not any post processing. If both use the same sensor, their RAW capabilities should be similar, except for whatever the camera body does (like SLT).
Wrong.
After the sensor and before what you call “RAW” signal still has to go through a nice bunch of electronics (amps and stuff) and those things are not shared between manufacturers
Nikon D7000, Pentax K-5 and Sony A580 all share the same sensor, but have quite a bit different results. 😉
I can’t find the article but I thought it was SAR where I saw an article about Sony doing some (software) image processing before writing a “RAW”. Maybe they dropped this now with the new 14-bit RAWs but I can’t say anything about it.
But I’m not wondering that the A99 doesn’t have so much preorders like Canikon are selling their FFs. They have much more marketshare and most people will stay in a system they started with an entry level camera unless they are really having an issue with it I think. This is the point why I will most likely switch away from Sony with the next camera. I like the stuff I have (A850, A100, had the A700 some time) but I’m disappointed by the EVF. Worked a lot with my fathers A77 and tried to get a feel for it but – for me – the longer you work with the EVF the more you dislike it. At Photokina I didn’t had the chance to try the A99 intensively but as far as I tested it it seems to share some issues with the A77. Yes, it is improved much in some points but for example you can’t shoot continous like you can with an DSLR. With the A850/A700 you press the shutter release and have some short black times in the OVF when the mirror is flipped. With the EVF you only see the previews of the photos shot until the next preview is ready. You can’t follow something in this way cause you have no live image.
It is true that people tend to stay with the system they already have.
However the A99 or the D600 are meant for people who migrate from APS to FF, which in many cases imply that you have to buy again a set of lenses, in order to take full advantage of your sensor. It is more or less like starting a new system.
I, for instance, have a Nikon D7000, and am thinking about going FF. The main point of going Sony, by now, is the EVF, either you like it or not. I personally don’t hate it, but I don’t worship it either. And the selling point of the Sony is a big minus, as it is very close to the Nikon D800. Had I to choose now (I don’t, and I think I will wait some more time before committing to any FF system) Sony would be third in my list of FF systems (1. Nikon, 2. Canon, 3. Sony).
They need an entry level FF camera priced lower than CaNikon. They cannot afford to have the same prices as the Big Two, even if the product is as nice as the other’s products (which is to be demonstrated btw). Sony is attempting to create a Sony FF market that at the moment is non-existent, with a lens system which is not on par with the others, and a pro-support system that is to be created yet. The camera body, at least, needs to be much cheaper, to compensate all this.
Remember the boom of the Nex-5? Excellent IQ in innovative bodies (an relatively low prices). Nex-7? Best APS IQ, in top bodies (and decent prices). A99? Average FF IQ, in an interesting (but not disruptive, nor top) body (and quite high price). Mmhhh…
Lorenzino, I don’t believe that the A99 will prove to have “average IQ” for a FF camera. The IQ, I believe, will be superb.
Hi Dulaney,
probably I choose the wrong words. But the idea is that the IQ of the A99 will probably not be better than the D800, the D600 and the Canons. All these cameras (at least the Nikons, AFAIK) have incredibly high IQ. If you remember the Nex-7 in the mirrorless market was the best IQ camera, bar none, when announced. I don’t see the A99 as a camera that could stand out over the crowd as much as the Nex-7 did in its times (and still does, in a way). A99 is not sub par, but not better than the others, either…
hm… I for one am quite sure that I’ll beat Canon 5D Mk 3.
It got identical DxO score to Sony’s NEX7 which is using APS-C sensor with much higher pixel density. So my guess goes towards DxO score close to Nikon D3X/D4.
I don’t see it being better then D600, but one thing is sure – this sensor won’t be identical to NEX7 as essentially it’d mean a step back for Sony’s sensors.
So I think that if anything – Canon should be really worried.
Well, I have never seen all this from a Canon’s perspective. After so many years of “affordable” FF dominion from Canon, it’s Nikon on the roll. I guess Canon’s board will have to think again about future strategies, to get back their momentum. Even so, I am not sure Sony will sell more than the equivalent Canon, if not only for a matter of brand name. We’ll see how it goes. I would be certainly glad to see an innovative camera maker as Sony is showing to be to have the success it deserves. But on the FF DSLR I see it quite difficult, especially if prices are not more competitive.
In the compact and mirrorless world, it’s a different story. Now, if only they could match m43’s lens offerings…
Sholky – it’s roughly identical. Nikon got more sharpening, Sony got better colors, Pentax got least noise of all. That’s how it roughly looks like – basically all start with little different lightroom settings 😉
I think you make too much pressure on pixel-peeping and looking for a things that are on the edge of perception.
Yea, but they barely make difference compare to the quality of the sensor. That is why no matter how good the electronics you put in the a700, it will never touch the a580. And why you talk like a580 result look bad compare to the d7000? As a matter of fact the a580 has better dynamic range and can distinguish more color depth. It’s just a hair worse in noise. But something to keep in mind, d7000 is using a 14 bit while the a580 is 12-bit. Less data but as good as d7000 image quality wise
I don’t know what comparisons you are reading, but DXO Mark Sensor rates the cameras just a hair apart, with the K5 getting a score of 82, the D7000 a score of 80, and the A580, a score of 80, overall. The D7000 gets the best score for noise, the A580 the best score for color depth, and the K5 the best score for dynamic range. But all are so close that it would simply not be noticeable, even to discriminating critics, According the DXO. (It takes an overall score difference of at least six or seven points to begin noticing a difference–says DPR.)
So where is your big difference? There effectively is none.
A580 RAW looks pretty much the same as the D7000/D5100 in terms of noise. A hair less DR at base ISO, but better colour response in return.
But that won’t stop this meme from repeating itself of course.
Exactly. The raws won’t be the same simply because they use the same sensor. All you’re getting off that sensor is a bit stream that still needs to be processed before being stored in the cameras native format. Have a look at the a580 versus D700 raws for instance and see how much difference is there.
It’s nowhere near, RAW at ISO3200+ is insanely good, visibly better than even the mighty D800. The D600 is arguably even better than the D3S, aka Prince of Darkness. So D600 = King of Darkness.
Fucking hell. The a99 is much sexier, but that d600 is going to be hard to resist once it drops to $1999.
I would like a no video FF, some type of successor to the A900. How about the 36mp sensor and faster fps!
if i want a filmcamera i buy a filmcamera. don’t gimme that crapfunction just because the others have it. Get me a decent 24 Mpix box with mindblowing low noise, high detail and good weathersealing instead of 36 Mpix and still that videothing that i am not asking for and will hardly ever use if at all…
And about the selling numbers… what do i care about the flock. i care about my purchase.
This is the current trend. If you don’t want it, just spend more money to get a custom made one to your liking since you think you don’t want to go with the flock.
Here’s an idea for you. Don’t press the button marked “video” and you’ll never see it…
Am I the only one notice this: when you compare RAW files (up to ISO3200), D600, D800, 5D3 offer no meaningful improvement over the aging A900? There might be one or two spot showing A900 with more colour noise but for the majority area A900 has no problem keeping up with new generation sensors. After so many years the sensor improvement is in the video, jpeg, not in hard core RAW performance, it seems.
And think that people constantly throw mud on A900 ISO performance…
So what happened after 3200? You said there is no tangible improvement after so many years, and yet you compared only up to 3200.
up to& including 1600 ISO there is no meaningfull difference to the NEX7 either, if at all the NEX seems sharper 😉
I upgraded from the a850 to the d800 and there is a HUGE difference. About two stops in ISO performance. i.e. iso6400 on the d800 looks like 1600 from the a850. There’s just no comparison.
I miss the steadyshot, and I preferred the handling and ergonomics of the a850, but don’t kid yourself that the image quality is anywhere close.
Current Full Frame offerings are ridiculously close to each other in performance sensor wise. I brought my a850+ CZ 24-70 to BH and an extra CF card to test along side D4, D600, D800, 5DMk3. All cameras deliver the goods up to iso 4000 in RAW and are perfectly usable past up to and past 6400 , The real world difference is close to invisible in print. A850 is only one stop behind. Newer cameras produce cleaner looking jpeg and have more sophisticated AF modules. Do I want a99? Yes, I’d love to have 1 stop better performance, cleaner jpeg and tilt screen. I like the EVF tech
The camera isnt even out yet and if you pre order you are paying very top price. I bet that price will come down and best ordered 6 months after it comes out with all the fixes lol.
Sony should make NEX-9 FF the primary focus. And make it their affordable FF solution.
High end FF A-mount? Sure, make it to compete with Canon’s 1D Mk IV AF and 70-200 2.8 glass combination. Affordable FF A-mount? Sure, after you release NEX-9 FF!
at some point its really mundane comparing all these sensors. they are pretty much all great and they are pretty much all sony. lenses and other camera features make the difference.
That is true, I always wait 6 months for stuff like this unless I get some killer deal from someone strapped for cash.
Can anyone point to a camera which is not yet available and has no release date which is doing better on the Amazon list than the A99?
Cameras which are no-longer sold do not count because Amazon seems to average some period of time and list cameras in the top 100 which they no longer sell.
RX1
NEX6
EOS 6D
DMC-GH3
…
OK. Fair enough. The RX1 and EOS 6D are outselling the A99. The NEX6 and DMC-GH3 are outselling the A99 but are in a different price class. The D600 can’t really be compared by means of Amazon sales rank right now because it has a delivery date.
Why does the d600 and the d800 images look so damn blurry? The a77 and d300s both look better. :/
It must be their thumbnail display thingie, cuz the you download the entire image and that disparity is not seen. hmm. The d600 looks great what you download the images then compare. Don’t trust the DPreview thumbnail thingie!
I think the a99 will be close to the 5d3.
The d600 is impressive, but if we look at the difference between a580 and a55 (i.e. identical sensors with SLT or SLR design), you see quite a difference.
If you take the d600 performance and reduce it by the same % decrease that happens with a580 to a55, you end up with a score which equals the 5d3. That’s not bad, but it won’t de-throne the d800 or d600.
The camera to watch is the RX1 – with that same excellent sensor AND a perfectly designed lens to match it.
Does anyone know what’s it cost for sony to make one a99 camera when it’s in mass production? They should price it a bit lower than canon and nikon analogues if they want to outsell competition. But i wouldn’t like to see them making cheap a95 with limited functionality compared to a99, cause a99 as it is already having hard time to look better than latest canon and nikon cameras
I think camera features has come down to AF speed and ISO performance essentially. I dont think AF speed is too different between the cameras but ISO performance has been dissapointing with Sony.
This has made me invest more on the A-Mount lenses and selling the old stuff is going to set me back by more than 1K easily.
I like the image stabilization in camera and good lenses cost the same no matter which camera system.
The D600 and A99 price difference is causing a lot of invested Sony consumers to panic.
Can take the loss in selling all the the zeiss lens and get the D600 and equivalent lens for almost the same price.
I am finding the decision to stick to Sony hard given my lack of interest in video 🙁
My order is in for the a99… I’m not really into video but I might become more so because it’s there!!!… I loved the a77 but sold it…
It’s actually kind of amusing to see people saying the a99 is a failure before it is even available. The only photos I’ve seen posted from the a99 all say they were done with pre-production firmware (I think I saw Rev 0.95)so we don’t know how good it really is!
When I see comparisions to the D600 I have to bear in mind that the D600 is a traditional DSLR so is a relatively known quantity. The a99 is breaking new ground… the 1st FF SLT…
I’m going to be very interested to see the tech reports and see the comments on here once the camera has started shipping with finished firmware (hopefully Sony learned from the a77).
The Romance of Three Kingdoms
in
Defence Of The Ancient
Starring: Nikon(Shu) Canon(Wu) Sony(Wei)
LOL: D600 — 6D — A850
HON: D800 — 5DMKII – A99
DOTA: D4 — 1DX — ??
LOL: D600 — 6D — A850 <<< A850 is already dead, executed by its maker so I don't think it's relevant anymore 😉
For Sony camp now, it's A99 alone fighting all those ff generals.
If they made less video more foto camera – I will purchase it. Even with SLT. If not – I will change my 77 to SLR camera. http://photo.qip.ru/users/ozerovpaparacci/4087643/ There is some samples of SLT dark side. And situation when 77 is slower and much more noisy then A580 is sad for me.
Sony A99 will have a worse RAW than Nikon D600 cause Sony is SLT.
Worse in terms of ISO. No doubt. But still got quite a huge chance to be better then Canon 5D MKIII – and people praise Canon a lot for picture quality 🙂
The title of this article is wrong: DPR doesn NOT review sensors. Their methodology is not in any way suitable for analyzing sensor performance.
At the moment, AFAIK, there is only one sensor performance lab publishing results to the public and it’s DxO…
almost the same? yeah with a pellicle you can put a meal on the sensor ant its the same… a99 vs 1dX <_< mm canon win always 😀
WELL FIRST OF ALL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
THE A99 IS A GREAT VIDEOCAM AT A VERY WELL PRICED BRACKET!!!!
VIDEOGRAPHERS AROUND THE WORLD WOULD BE REJOICING THAT THEY CAN USE THIS VIDEOCAM INSTEAD OF ALL THE OTHER VIDEOCAMS.
THE A99 HAS ALL THE VIDEOCAM FUNCTIONALITY EXPECTED FROM ANY PROFESSIONAL VIDEOGRAPHERS.
I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY SONY WOULDN’T GAIN ANY MARKET SHARE!!!!!!!
WHY WOULD ALL THE PHOTOGRAPHERS BE COMPLAINING!
IT TAKES VIDEO! AND VERY WELL AT IT TOO!
LOOK IF YOU PHOTOGRAPHERS HAVE AN ISSUE WITH THE FORM FACTOR, JUST GET THE NEX-VG900, IT’S EXACTLY THE SAME THING, JUST LOOKS DIFFERENT!
I’m getting D600.
Why would I exactly get A99?
EVF? Doesn’t make sense on FF or big OVFs are IMO better.
EVF is great for small format systems such as 43rds and APS due to the inherently small OVF, but I don’t need EVF for FF.
A99 battery life is also poor compared to DSLR.
Fixed mirror kills IQ too – what’s the point of as big and good sensor as possible if you’re going to take away almost half the light.
Sony’s autofocus has never been that good either and there are much more accessories available for CaNikon.
So, why exactly would I get A99 if my primary concern is photography (not video) over D600? I’d get worse image quality, much shorter batty life, less lens choice, worse autofocus, worse viewfinder and all of that for more money! Yay, I’m really surprised A99 is not selling all that well….
There are so many errors and misguided opinions in your comment! At least have the good grace to research your ‘facts’ before posting.
Enjoy your D600 on Auto anyway. And maybe one day you might find out that the kit lens is actually removable.
Mar is spot on as long as you are not a Sony fanboy.
Spot on in being troll? Sure.
Yea, some points are valid – shorter battery live, preference to use OVF, but telling that “”pellice mirror”” (lol, canons used Pellice mirror, SLT isn’t one of these) “kills IQ” is ridiculous. If it kills IQ then Canon sensor just vaporise it! lol.
Same with AF systems – obviously never used it, cause new generation Sony’s AF systems easily outmatch Canon or some of Nikon cameras – A99 most likely will easily beat his D600 AF. Plus: Sony doesn’t have any issues with 3rd party lenses unlike Canon and Nikon which intentionally cripple AF in non-branded lenses.
And so on, and so on…
Sony SLT models due to semi-transperent mirror loses 1/2 Ev of light. So SLT technology has an impact on image quality especially on higher ISO.
I dont think that amounts to half the light. Losing half a stop feels like a percentage that is much less then 50.
But i doubt the a99 af system is better then a d600. Good for cetnerweighted focusing but the d600 is all over.
COMPETITION: The A99 ($2800) competes with the 5Dmk3 ($3500) and D800 ($3000) for feature set, not the scaled down 6D and D600. That said, the A99 is, in fact, less expensive than both cameras in its comparable market–neither of which offer an articulated screen or IBIS, and only D800 offers clean HDMI out like A99. (Keep “apples with apples”. The A77 and A37 are as different as D7000 vs D3100 or 7D vs T2i, yet all 6 cams are APS-C.)
VIDEO: Those who don’t like video-enabled DSLRs and DSLTs should complain to Canon and Nikon for releasing the 5D2 and D90, not Sony. Sony is a long-time leader in pro video, and after the success of the 5d2, they would be foolish to release a stills-only FF. (Video adds little to no build cost, by the way–so why so grumpy?)
SLR / SLT: Pros & Cons & tradeoffs to both, so just choose what fits. Yep, SLT gives a bit of light to AF, which is a drag. But there are two things gained. One is continuous AF in video mode that works far better than reflex mirror designs. The second is AF in Live View mode that works as fast as when using the view finder–very helpful for shooting stills at odd angles (and again, only A99 has articulated screen.) If I can’t get my eye to the VF at my preferred angle, with Sony, I’m more likely to get the shot, where SLR (especially with fixed screen) is more hit/miss guesswork.
WIN / FAIL: ANY product not yet released cannot be gauged as a success or a failure, and to make the argument only proves the arguer is an idiot.
UNITS SOLD: If number of units sold, i.e. “popularity”, is your metric for Best / Must Have, then go drive a Camry, drink only Folgers coffee, and shop only at Walmart.
My apologies for the rant, but damn…
Brad, I think nobody is criticizing the camera per se. On paper the A99 is an excellent camera, and for feature set it looks definitively better than the D600 or 6D, certainly going agains the MkIII or the D800.
But, even if it is true than from a photographic point of view these cams, at this point, are all excellent +, from a marketing point of view I don’t see the A99 being able to top any of the CaNikon FF offerings (at least not the four we mentioned).
Apart from brand name (which is an irrational but strong selling point), there are aspects of the FF systems that are estrinsecal from the camera (such as: some kind of pro support assistance, lens system, accessories etc.), where Sony is behind Canikon.
All in all: even if starting from scratch (not having legacy lenses that force you to buy again and again from the same producer) there are good reasons to favor other systems. This is why Sony’s offering does not have only to be a solid one, but far better price-wise.
Now, the problem of going against the D800, a modern classic in semipro cameras, is that some features of the A99 appear better (all the ones you mentioned, esp. about video), while others appear less interesting (e.g. IQ definition, or even the lack of OVF, which is still a standard for many photogs, especially in this market segment). And the price is almost the same. So, well, mhh, I don’t see how this camera could be succesful, despite the fact it is a magnificent camera.
As I said: I am not discussing how good this camera is, but how well it was marketed and (will be) sold.
And no, it is not about photography, and not about the quality of pics that many good photogs will manage to take with this wonderful camera.
It is about the future of Sony FF line. If the line is not succesful, then Sony will not keep on making new lenses or accessories, or new cameras. As it happened with the A900 / A850: excellent cameras, followed by nothing for three years. Now we see other excellent cameras, but what if they are not commercially succesful? A system is healthy if it has new lenses and accessories, so we have to hope that this camera (or next ones, at this point) will sell well (not necessarily more than Canikon’s, but well indeed), otherwise Sony may discontinue this line and invest all resources into a FF mirrorless system (where Sony could easily dominate the market).
Just my two cents
I can already predict this. The future mirrorless cameras will have ibs and WILL be able to control the alpha lens
well one theoretical reason is a that a person from sony leadership claimed they went with the 24 not 36 mp to accommodate 60p video.. not that I think its a bad idea. just saying
Heh! I didn’t expect that those sensors are the same. I don’t know why I thought that Nikon uses its own sensor. Guys, is Nikon ever produced sensors? Or Nikon always uses third-party sensors?
The only reason why I would buy a D600 or 6D instead of the A99 is the strange price chosen by Sony for their new flagship.
It is less than a D800 and cost the same or more, while the same type of camera from Canon and Nikon are less expensive (still very high price though).
Now, as there are no real professional serious reviews about any of these new FF camera (even though the sensor has been tested), I wouldn’t buy any of them.
Remember the problems with the D800, 30% of buyers had the autofocus issue. You can have the best sensor in the world and Sony definitely has, but if your cameras are made in Thailand by a cheap workforce who is very lax on quality control (Nikon), then you’d better buy sure values like older Sony, Canon and Nikon models.
Anyway, unless you belong to the 1% happy few, before buying like an idiot without thinking, check the user forums and photos samples now available for all new cameras, they speak real life experience with any of them.
An advice to Sony: drop the price to 1800 bucks and you’ll start to sell it well.