As you know many major US stores offer a 2% back in reward onc amera purchases. Today there is an additional 4% back in reward on FF cameras at Amazon (Click here to read the conditions). This means you will get $162 back on the A99 purchase (Click here).
Another deal to mention is the Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 A-mount lens for $364 at BuyDig (Click here). You have to enter the promo code “PhotoPro125” to get this price!
85 Responses
We now have a 24mp full frame.
Give as a 54mp version.
Scale it up grom the nex 7n sensor snd maintain the same quality. Please!
You´re kidding…right?
Barry, please tell me what you’re doing photographically. I need to know. I’m tired of arguing with you about these 54 mp without knowing further. You are persistent and I give you full credit for that!
I photograph animals which i then use as reference for my paintings. See http://www.animalsbybarry.com
My paintings are big and i require an extreme amount of detail.
I will currently piece together multiple pix or use them separately and combine the details in the paintings.
It is obviously extremely difficult for me to get what i need from any camera currently available.
For me resolution is clearly more important than anything else because i can change snything else when i paint.
80mp medium format.
Not portable enough for field use and i can’t afford it.
Thanks for your prompt reply, Barry. It’s purely my opinion, but having experience in the field of fine art, I’m not seeing anything in your works that can’t be painted from a simple 3mp camera. Sorry, Barry, but I think your dreams of 54mp are related to something other than your painting. Maybe I just don’t get it? Or, maybe your painting style is amateurish. Either way, now I know why you keep ranting on and on and on about 54mp. Sorry, and keep up the good work.
Oh, and your work (as noted on your website) is nowhere near a hyper-realistic state. You suck.
If my work is as bad as you say (which i do not acknowledge. ) then that clearly proves i need higher resolution reference photos.
I guess based on your other comments that this comment is exactly what i should have expected from you. Im glad i don’t see the world through your eyes.
Btw
The reference material for some of the paintings were taken quite a few years ago on a 3.3mp nikon coolpix. Im sure you didn’t know that part of what you were saying was true or you would have come up with a less complimentary comment.
No, no, no, Barry. It only proves that I know what I’m talking about. Keep working on your craft and improve. My comments are brutal, for sure, but they are the truth.
Animalsbabary, have checked your website, nice work, I love your paintings.
Thanx
Barry, your paintings looks great, however, why do you need to draw your picture from a photo? Thats called tracing, not drawing.
Yep.
If I were to copy crappy photos like Barry, I can guarantee that they would look 10 times better. Barry sucks and is what I call a poser.
I utilze many original pix. I change and combine them a lot then use then for initial pencil sketch to make sure anatomy is perfect.
After that it’s six layers of increasingly detailed paintings all done freehand. By the time im done very little remains of the original reference.
The original reference pix are of course also my original work.
I do require lots of detail in my reference photos so i can pick and choose the level of detail to paint.
So back on the original topic my top priority in a camera is high resolution.
“If I were to copy crappy photos like Barry, I can guarantee that they would look 10 times better. Barry sucks and is what I call a poser.” — So, do it. Put your money where your mouth is. Barry has his images up and linked for everyone to see. So, back up your statement. Put-up or shut-up. Until you do, you’re nothing but some entirely ineffectual, unimportant, wholly uninteresting ignoramus blowing around a lot of hot air on an internet forum from an anonymous account.
I admit to being confused. Your work doesn’t appear to need a high mpix camera.
It looks very low resolution to me.
The web pix are low res to discourage unauth.orized copying
2% more reward vs 6.7% more sale tax in my state. I’d better stay with B&H or Adorama.
My bad. It’s 4% extra but cannot beat the sale tax anyway.
yea crappy a99
a99 is not “crappy,” and if you think it is, then you are never going to be happy with a camera. It may be overpriced, it may not be. It definitely should have had dual processors like the a900, better battery life, etc., but it is better in many aspects as well. You calling it “crappy,” just shows how ignorant some people are, yes … that means you!
+1!
I just hope it wasn’t as expensive.
Agreed!
poor boy
a99 is actually a pretty awesome camera… I have yet to hear a Canon or Nikon Fanboy who took one into the field for a few days not really like 90% of the a99. That says a lot.
I found I 90% liked it, as well. Unfortunately for Sony, I 10% didn’t like it. Well, I spent the money I had saved on a 300/2.8 instead, so I guess it all works out for them in the end.
10% is 10%. Sorry for you, but it’s not that bad. You could be, cough, shooting Canon.
If I was better off, I’d probably be shooting something like a Pentax 645D or Mamiya 645DF. 135 format cameras only proliferate because medium format companies seem to have this strange aversion to actually having customers.
does anyone know what % of our purchase amazon pays for a referral?
And let the discount begin, the A-mount is dieing and sony knows it. 2015 there will be no a mount just some crappy nex with a mount adapters.
Well if you release a FF body that’s more expensive by far v it’s direct rivals what exactly do you expect? Nobody in their right mind is going to buy an A99 for the current price it’s trying to get.
Sales flop and all because Sony just don’t listen.
The only way the A99 would have worked is priced below the D600/6d. People ain’t gonna pay £500 more for an EVF camera.
I did.
Yes the a99 is too expensive but it has a unique set of features that met my needs when the competition/cheaper cameras did not. So I bought it.
The Vampire is right. Sony needs to build its reputation before it can even think of trouncing CaNikon.
Sony has built a reputation. A reputation for developing a novel way of doing things, releasing it before all the bugs are ironed out, slowly fixing things until they’re on the verge of having a really solid product, then flushing the whole thing down the toilet so they can develop a completely different way of doing things.
I think there were a number of people here who would have loved a A580 with a bright pentaprism, two scroll wheels, a better AF module and micro focus adjustment.
Yeah. Except that, the D600 is a pile of junk – without out a doubt one of the WORST lemons Nikon has ever produced. If you want to cheap-out in order to save $400.00-$500.00 and buy a camera that has an actual worth of at least $1,000.00 less than the A99. Go for it. Enjoy your crappy camera.
Can anyone give me sales reports and projected sales
From Sony saying sales of this camera is a failure my local camera shop had 6 they were gone in no time stop saying it cost too much just because you can’t afford it if you say cannon or Nikon have this and that then buy it
If you can afford it and have a nice day
+1000. I purchased the a99 and kept my a900 and NEX 5N (although I will probably sell the 5N and lenses to help fund the 50mm Zeiss and 35mm Sigma), and with Nikon D600’s having all of the sensor dust or oil problems right out of the box, anyone who calls the a99 “crappy” or states the A-mount is dead, etc., or that Sony cannot compete with Nikon or Canon is just plain jealous, ignorant or both. Sony certainly isn’t pushing the issue and may be floundering with all of the choices right now, but they could compete if they had the right management. The a900 and a99 with any of the Zeiss lenses or Sony G lenses can compete with any system.
+1
I would say that A900 and A99 are a lot better than many other system if paired with G lenses or Zeiss. I have them both and the RX1 and they’re absolutely great.
+2
a900 and a99 here. The EVF of the a99 is great!
+3 love the evf
-6
Sony can’t compete with CaNikon. Sorry, but that’s just the truth. Most think Minolta just died. Fewer know that Sony bought out Minota. Add to that the fact that Minolta was pretty much a second to everyone else from the start, through the middle, and moreover, in the very end.
Sony will get there… with some luck and hard work. Just not today.
Minolta had the highest market share of all camera companies for a time in the late 80s. The manner with which the squandered their market position and wasted their financial resources on pet projects and foolish lawsuits is worthy of an entire business management book.
Through all that, they had an engineering team that was the equals of anything Canon and Nikon had. All Sony had to do was pair the former Minolta engineers with a management and advertising team who had a clue and they had what it takes to go head to head with Canikon, but alas Sony has pretty much repeated the same mistake, great engineers paired with flailing management and a $20 advertising budget.
This
Your (-6)+(+12) so we go back to (+6) 😀
There’s a lot of people aware of the fact that Minolta got bought by Sony; problem is that Sony needs to invest a lot more in advertising his products: Nikon has ads on tv and on papers (for example) while unluckily Sony looks like is waiting for “a nice word about his products’ quality” to spread around among the people, for free.
I don’t think Minolta was (until it died) way below CaNikon; as a matter of fact when I decided to update my Sigma lenses bought in the 90s (this happened one and a half year ago) I went to a really big shop close to my place and the guys there were still talking really good about my Minolta 7D (one of them is a Nikon D800 shooter now, comes from that family, another Canon and a third one Nikon/Sony). I think Minolta had some cutting edge stuff back in the days: some lenses are superb even nowadays and the “in body stabilization” was a Minolta add with a 7D, add that impressed everybody back then.
But I think things are slowly changing, maybe too slowly to be noticed: I went to London for vacation and I saw a lot of NEX and Alpha around, many more that I could ever imagined….
You start with “Sony cant compete…” and end with “Sony will get there with hard work”
Which is it? You’re just full of hot air.
By by SONY, i’ve been using a a65 for one year and just switched to a 5d mark iii, i shoot mainly in low light situation and i have to say i have been following sonyhalpharumors for almost 3 years now and i am tired to hear about upcoming camera. I just want something that works out of the box with any update every 3 other months….
Cheers
The only update the A99 has had is to add a few lens distortion profiles and AF-D matrixes that weren’t ready for release day. I’m confident the 5Dmk3 will get far more firmware tweaks.
A99 works absolutely just fine in low light and since I got it (3 months ago now) I didn’t find any firmware glitches or what ever: it works out of the box, believe it or not! I used it for a time-lapse project covering from 1 one before sunset to 2 hours after sunset on auto ISO 100-6400 and the results are just great. I dare to say more: colors are a lot better than CaNikon on base ISO (that’s a fact) AND high ISO. I have a friend who’s using a 5DMKII and he said “I’m gonna keep my MKII because the MKIII sucks!”, he said that after he tested the MKIII for some time. I think you should test the A99 before saying “by by” (which is actually “bye bye” :D), or maybe is too late for you…
For low light you’ve just wasted your money on a Canon instead of a Nikon.
I’ll be completely happy to wait and buy some new end stock A99 to use my A-mount lenses on if it IS the last A-mount, which I do not feel it will be.
These people talking about failure of A99 over here are people who DO NOT really own ONE or cant afford one. 9 out of 10 of alpha shooters i know already upgraded to A99 including me, and ISO and image quaility is top notch!
I completely agree, everyone is complaining about the a99 being a terrible camera and such a failure. I do not see this at all, shoot one and you will see why they are getting the asking price. I own two for my job, as well as an a77 and a65. a99 is the best by a far shot, and I wouldn’t compare it to the D600, I’d compare it more to the D800. Which is practically the same price.
Most Alpha shooters use A3x/A5x level bodies, not $2xxx full frame ones. The same is true with Canon and Nikon, of course.
You must be a in fairly unique position knowing so many Sony users, I know NONE. Me thinks you are talking out of your arse. 😉
Unless you own an A99, you would not know how nice it is! Truly a beast of a machine and awesome to use. Build quality is top notch. High ISO reports are misleading. I have taken pictures where the shots came out cleaner than my Nikon D800. EVF is a joy to use. Overall, gotta have one to appreciate one.
The reason for the bad press is that no matter how you slice it its still just another 24mp24mp camera. Everyone has one and there is no reason to buy the sony as opposed to someone elses.
Sony sold thier best 36mp sensor to nikon.
The a77 also has 24mp.
Sony has a chance to size up thier a77sensor to ff54mp.
This is not an arbitrary number. Current technology will allow them to do this and still maintain a high level of quality. It can go in a similar body to this without major redesigning.
The window of opportunity is NOW.
Remember the new standard video format will soon be 8k.
Some people still think we dont need more resolution.
My answer is mayby not yet but soon.
I want mine now.
I will not buy another 24mp camera no matter what they put on it or how they price it.
Full HD video isn’t even widespread in most of the world, 4k is barely starting, and you’re saying 8K will “soon” be standard? I myself don’t mind a 54 MP photo here and there (once in a life-time shots), but I don’t think the world’s hard drives, memory cards, and internet connections are ready for the info overload.
Are you ready to reshoot your entire library of photos and buy all new cameras when it does or would you rather be ready ahead of time?
Ummm … if you have a-mount lenses then there is a reason to buy the a99. Just saying.
my a99 is amazing, its the reason i no longer have 5d mk3
My Sony NEX 7 is amazing… it’s the reason I sold off $15,000 worth of Canon crap.
Exactly. I dont wanna deal with soft and plain color images produced from canon craps. Sony has built in body IS. Great color and dynamic range!
I don’t think that the problem that people have with the A99 is necessarily related to their not being able to afford one, it not being worth the upgrade, etc…it’s that for someone OUTSIDE the A-Mount system, it doesn’t represent an appealing buy at all. Therefore plenty of internal adopters but few new customers, and potentially the quickened decline of the mount itself. If Sony really wanted to keep their SLT line going, they’d have undercut both Canon and Nikon with a simpler model priced LOWER than $2k.
Do you really think a pro/high enthusiast would switch a Canikon would leave just because the A99 was priced at 2k?
Both Canon and Nikon both have sub-2k bodies available already. The only way for Sony to gain users from others systems is to other something unique. That is exactly what Sony did and the A99 is being lauded by Canikon user reviewers
Only existing Sony users with low funds are complaining about the price.
Don’t be naive. Professionals aren’t going to swap to Sony, they don’t have the lenses, accessories or the pro backup. You can get CaNikon support ANYWHERE in the World.
The reason the A99 isn’t selling is due to it being too expensive compared to CaNikon full frames. Both Sony users and CaNikon APS-C users are buying the D600 and that is FLYING off the shelf.
The expense, lack of lens support and direction from Sony is killing A99 sales.
The price of the A99 has nothing to do with its sales. It’s priced we’ll for the class camera that it is. Seems that you think Sony should release another FF to compete with lower end D600 and 6D.
Maybe they should they’d probably make more money on hobbyist shooters who can’t justify anything more than $1500. Maybe a 12MP FF with world beating ISO, an OVF, in plastic fantastic body. I wouldn’t be interested but many of you complainers would love it.
But on the real why not sell your meager stake in Sony and invest in the system you envy the most. Why come and bitch about how wack Sony is on every post? Really if you don’t like the direction of the company why continue to use their products?
Not sure if this makes a difference. But in Florida, the biggest electronics store is BestBuy. When I go into one (any BestBuy) and check out the cameras, they have several full frame bodies, but not one full frame Sony, not one, not now, not ever. How can Sony sell what cannot be seen? The A99 might be a good camera, but I’d never know, since I’ve never seen one in real life. I live in the capital city of Florida and that camera cannot be found, so I’d say it is a failure with respect to sales, and a complete unknown in all other regards.
THIS
I haven’t seen a 1dx or a d4 at beat buy either. I bet you couldn’t find either of these cameras outside of a rental studio in Florida.
If you lived in Miami, Orlando, Boca, Tampa, or Fort Lauderdale you could see Sony’s complete A-Mount, E-Mount, and Cybershot lineup at a Sonystyle.
Marlon, I have seen IN MY HANDS a d800, d600, 5d II, and 5d III, and finally a 6d all at my BestBuy you ass. Sorry, we don’t have a SonyStyle store here at the capital, and if that is the only shopping places in Florida for a A99 your making my point quite clearly.
If you’re going to BestBuy to purchase a $3,000.00 camera, a $3,000.00 camera is probably too much camera for you.
Why is BestBuy too low a standard for you? I’m sure you can hang at the hasselblad store if you want, but Bestbuy is fine for me. Plus I can pick up my MacBook Pro and my 80″ t.v. At the same time. Just call me a cheapskate. Plus, I can really pinch pennies and buy a Nikon d600 at Costco if a really wanted too. How you like me now -snob.
Because, if you truly have a need for a $3,000.00, the nature of your usage from such a camera will benefit from knowledgeable sales and service people with specific experience in the field — the kind that reputable, dedicated camera shops tend to employ. The people who work at BestBuy tend to know nothing about cameras beyond a purely amateur level.
If you’re considering purchasing a $3,000.00 camera, go into BestBuy and start asking the sales people about options when it comes to tethering the certain makes of cameras, or what triggering systems are available for the cameras, and other questions like that. The sales people will look at you like you’re speaking an alien language.
And, it has been my experience that Bestbuy’s prices on such items are no better by any significant margin. Sure, I might be able to save $30.00 or so on a the advertised price of a $3,000.00 camera by going to best buy – big whoop. Practically all good, dedicated camera shops will match the price anyway. And, if they won’t, I’d rather spend the extra $30.00 and get my gear from people who know their business.
Sony NEX 7 + Sigma 19 f2.8 + Sigma 20 f2.8 = Photographic bliss.
Let’s put it like this
Scenario 1: User thinking about FF with no major investment in any maker, I can’t think of any reason that you would look at the A99 over rivals, bar digging around for some s/h Minolta bargain, or wanting bad battery life! Yes it has some interesting but it can’t compete with it’s rivals. It has worse high ISO performance (by far v the 6d) and worse than the D600.
Scenario 2:
Current A mount user who has a decent bit of glass. Even there you are paying a premium for a product that’s a consumer FF camera (partial mag alloy not full mag alloy, scene modes, SD cards def consumer camera NOT pro) at a pro level price. Oh and your flashes won’t fit unless you use an adaptor that falls off your camera!
I’d wager Sony are losing more users to Canikon than they are gaining with the A99. EVF doesn’t sell on it’s own if it did Sony would have sales hits with the other SLT cameras (and they don’t)
This
OK, so Nikon D800 or Canon 5DMKIII are consumer? Just to mention two of the most used camera in this blog as example of how good a “pro” camera must be.
With a D600 you get oil for free included in the price as well; a colleague of mine just got one and he said “Nikon dealer said they’re gonna clean it for free”: nice bargain I would say.
Then, what’s all this big talking about “pro” and “not pro”: pictures comes out good if you know how to use a camera. Camera it’s just a mere tool!
Oh, by the way, A99 IS built out of magnesium alloy: all the panels of the body are made of that.
Scene mode? If you think that’s something one uses that to judge a camera “pro” or “consumer” than…. what ever… they’re there you if you wanna use them. They’re not gonna be spoiling your pictures!
Well, they’re consumer compared to a 20×24 technical camera, at least. Cameras fall along a continuum, it’s not like there’s a clear line in the sand separating what is worthy of professional use and what isn’t.
Nikon have QC problems no question.
The A99 is partial mag alloy, the A77 was full mag alloy (interestingly) D600 partial mag alloy. Both the D600 and A99 have dual cards, scene modes. Just because the Sony has no built in flash (a mistake IMO) doesn’t make it a pro camera (Canon 6d has no built in flash) Pro cameras don’t have dual SD and scene modes end of discussion!
Nobody is being fooled that the A99 is a pro camera, it def not it’s a consumer FF body priced at pro levels. Now Sony might hope and wish that people are willing to “pay more” for a camera with an EVF, reality is it’s a “pay less” scenario. If Sony are saving cash on production costs they’re sure as heck not passing it on.
Thus the A99 isn’t that appealing (at it’s current price) Nobody is saying the A99 sucks or is bad, but you have to face reality here. Thanks to the SLT mirror the A99’s worse in IQ than the D600, esp in low light. Why pay more for less?
The idea of was affordable FF, yet Sony released the A99 at a much higher price than the A900 was, that’s nuts. They just don’t get it
Sorry if I insist but the A99 is NOT made of some sort of “partial mag alloy” (what the hell is that anyway?). Look at the specs around the web: I haven’t see anything like that.
A99 does not have a lower IQ than the D600 at in low light: you’re wrong.
I’m talking after real life experience: IQ is better in low light together with better tones of colors.
This happens as well compared to the D800 at low ISO: Nikon have really poor color as Canon does.
Again: since D600 has “scenes” as well as A99 doesn’t make A99 a lower level camera.
The competitors of the A99 are the 5DMKII if you want, MKIII and D800: those are the cameras you have to look at if you wanna really make a serious comparison with the A99.
The fact the D600 has exactly the same sensor DO NOT make the A99 a “D600 level” camera, especially because the D600 (I’ve held one) is made of really cheap plastic, with cheap assembly done.
That’s what I think.
The A99 does not have a full mag alloy body as seen here:
http://reviews.photographyreview.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/SLT-A99_chassis.jpg
The front section is not mag alloy but plastic.
The A77 is fully mag alloy
http://assets.hardwarezone.com/images/Sony_A77_alloy.jpg
So the A99 is closer to the D600 in terms of “alloy used” both have a plastic front.
I like Sony colours too, but let’s get real here dudes the A99 is trying to be something it’s not. And it would do a lot better near to the D600 in price (or below)
Any who states price has no bearing on sales is surely asking for a hammering. Ridiculous comment to make. Nobody is talking about the A99; Canikon users don’t even give it a second glance it’s already dead in the water which is a real shame. Reality check time, people ain’t gonna pay the price for an EVF FF camera. They might pay less, few will pay more.
If Sony have any sense they’ll drop the price heavily