Today we have the two new FF cameras in Stock. The A99 at Amazon (Click here) and now even the new VG900 at BHphoto (Click here).
And there is a new A99 review at Whatdigitalcamera. And although the camera earns a relatively high overall score of 89% they have some complaints: “All of these issues mean the A99 ends up being a camera likely to be as embraced as it is disliked. Should the camera’s operational speed be remedied by a firmware update it will no doubt hold more appeal. As it is, it stands as a camera which delivers in some areas with aplomb, but falls down elsewhere where it matters.”
At that point I have to say some kind words in favour of the A99. It really all depends from what you need. Pro Photographer Frank Doorhof wrote a very nice article about the A99 that really brings it to the point. The A99 has features that clearly differentiates it from the Nikon and Canon FF models. If those features are important for you than the A99 is absolutely the way to go! There is no camera that will help you to become a better photographer. There are only cameras that will suite you better for the needs you have.
More A99 bits: Rodkar is having a lot of fun with his new A99 and tested it a long list of A-mount lenses. Some more tests on vimeo, A99 vs A900 on dp forum.
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Sony preorder list:
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.
RX1 Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Wex Germany Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 with kit lens Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex Uk ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG900 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, Wex Uk and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG30 Adorama, Amazon, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 16-50mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals .
Sony E-mount 35mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 10-18mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony A-mount 300mm f/2.8 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH.
19 Responses
That’s funny, the one thing that does annoy me isn’t even listed: I can’t zoom check on images in raw format. I guess they want you to emphasize on the tethering, but it’s hard to double check image quality out on the field if you can’t zoom.
I didn’t have the stagger, but I do agree it’s a slow startup compared to my other DSLRs.
Seriously? On the a850 there’s the little magnifying glass button you have to push before you can use the scroll wheel to zoom. Are you saying you can’t use that on RAW files?
Dunno if it ate my comment or not, but I’ll try again.
It won’t let me zoom on my image, no. Every time I do, it says “Can not use this function in this mode” while pointing out RAW & RAW+JPEG. Hopefully this will get fixed in a firmware update. That aside, the focus mechanism is pretty nifty and I honestly can live with the focus points being clustered instead of scattered, but the zoom issue is going to annoy me if it doesn’t get fixed.
Ugh, I am an idiot.
I just wanted to throw in a correction: I found the image zoom button. What I confused it with was the digital zoom button (aka “smart teleconverter”), which apparently does not work with RAW for some reason. Since I crop via Camera Raw, it’s obviously a nonissue.
Cannot believe – even my A55 does it (in RAW modus, no JPGs)
Did not test that when I could test two near final prototypes (final hardware but preliminary firmware) at my local store 3 weeks ago. Focused on autofocus, handling during shooting and so on.
I found out that I don’t like the optional vertical grip: with a 70…200 zoom and holding the camera horizontally I’ve my left hand under the zoom lens operating zoom and sometimes focus. And with the grip there’s kind of “collision” between hand and grip… And the switch between horizontally and vertically takes me a second longer with the grip…
But that’s a quite personal view – that will save my some hundreds of Euros…
I’ve had my a99 for a couple of days now, and I haven’t noticed any obvious lag or focus freezing. It does take a second to start up, but seriously, I struggle to thing of a situation where this is likely to be a problem.
And as for chroma noise??? I’m staggered by the suggestion that its problematic at ISO 200. The noise performance of this camera is at least 1.5 stops better than any previous Sony sensor (and that’s a conservative estimate).
im set raw only and i am int eh middle of a model shoot and can view/zoom into my pics on teh camera no problem?
Wow, no fanboy’s trashing the a99 reviews?
Not yet.
I was about ready to order this camera, but looking at all the image samples, high iso performance, and the other reviews bout its overall performance, I now hesitate.
There is no camera that will help you to become a better photographer, but there is a camera that’s simply better.
check dpreview tomorrow ill upload some model pics i took today
pic quality is amazing imho, ive changed some menu settings and it works fast as ive not got a problem with the camera i think its fantastic and i liked it more than my mates d800 i played witha few weks ago
ive been firing off nat light and strobed pics
here is link to a image from today
image quality looks outstanding to me and is good as the d800 it tried a cpl of weeks prior
ive also done some nice higher iso nat light images and its up there in terms of quality.
I for 1 am pretty happy
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/50188724
I think that is one of the best reviews I have seen yet.
I can only accept reviews that point out the flaws with camera’s. I have yet to see a camera that is perfect. No matter how much a company may try you can not make something that fits everyone.
I am still going to buy one though. I have gotten used to the little delays with my A77 and love the EVF and its advantages.
I cant wait to shoot with my Zeiss 135 f1.8 on this thing.
I got my A99 today and took it out for a test run. It felt good to hold and very easy to use. A lot of thought has gone into this camera and it became second nature to work within minutes. I wanted to test the ISO performance so I shot a lot indoors.
The only processing I did on this photograph was to export it from RAW to JPEG, no other processing has been done.
I think I am going to enjoy owning this camera a lot if this is how well it performs
It feels very comfortable in the hands, a lot better than the A850 or A77. A lot of thought has gone into the camera, the program dial is locked to a chosen setting until you press the button in the middle, excellent. It is very easy to get to the controls and options and in use it is very quiet. The AF is very fast and bullet proof in hitting the target, no hunting or misses so far. I have the vertical grip to and its design and ease of use mirrors the camera. Having three battery capacity will mean I can shot all day without chaning and the dual memory cards will be very useful too with 618 images from two 8GB cards shooting RAW.
It is an expensive camera, I spend £2,500 for the body and VG but if it continues to produce results out of the box like the above photograph it was worth every penny.
The link below leads you to a A99 capture unprocessed at ISO 4000!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/slawrencephotography/8151259617/
Si
expertreviews wrote!
“but focusing wasn’t silent with the 24-70mm f/2.8 lens we used.”
Great miss because that and other! I don’t believe in this guys 🙂
I need to buy and see 🙂
Great SLT
Still getting the feel for the A99 and I only have the 70-400 so no photo walks just yet. I don’t find it slow in any way and maybe its just the DSLR form factor, but I like the EVF better than the Nex7 I briefly owned. The A99 also fires noticeably faster than the 5d2, both in burst or single shot mode – but the 5d2 isn’t exactly a burner. In some cases it locks focus faster than my EM5, sometimes the little OMD locks faster. I’m going to put together a video and do some comparisons in a few weeks after I get more time with the A99. It’ll be my A99/EM5/Nex5n shootout since that’s my current lineup. The detail and tonality of the A99 files is amazing. So far I really like this camera.
VG900 proved that they can do full frame for E-mount! NEX FF is possible!
NEX FF is possible only with lens adapters.
Probably someone else noticed before I did, but the VG900 comes with an LA-EA3 E-Mount adapter, to most likely to cover the Fullframe Sensor. However it would be interesting to know whether or not any other changes have been made.
I received my A99 last Monday and used it a few days before contacting B&H for an RMA.
Before the bashing starts, some background – I own an A900 and am a huge proponent of the NEX system. I actually switched from Canon in advance of the A99 release because I wanted the EVF for manual focusing of C/Y Zeiss lenses and better high ISO performance. The A99 delivers on both (Peaking is excellent – even better than on the NEX). Unfortunately, the rest of the package fell short for me. Specifically, the interface is not ready for primetime and in need of a firmware update.
– focus confirmation beep and highlight of focus point are not synchronized. The highlight occurs a fraction of a second after the beep, meaning that you have an artificial delay if you turn off the system sounds.
– random lock-ups. I’ve had exposure compensation stop working, requiring a battery removal and restart.
– shutter feels/sounds odd. This one is difficult to explain but basically the shutter feels spongy compared to the more exact mechanism on the A900 and even the electronic shutter on the 5N feels more exact and precise. Also, make sure you have a fast SD card or be prepared for shutter delays as the system writes to the card.
I’ve often defended the NEX from detractors who say the system is too “electronic” or is a “gadget”, because compared with a camera like the X100, the NEX cameras are incredibly well sorted with few quirks and oddities. But the A99 breaks that mold and not in a positive way. For me, the camera diverts too far off the path of a traditional camera, (I’m not being critical of the new technologies here as I really want the EVF). If the camera had the build quality and mechanical precision of the A900 but with the EVF, all would be good. Unfortunately, it does not.