Right before Photokina there has been another $50 price drop on the A77II body which now sells for $1,048 only at Amazon, Adorama (has free extras), BHphoto and Sony Store. The kit version got $150 off at Amazon, Adorama (has free extras), BHphoto and Sony Store.
Reminder: These are the current great new refurbished deals:
Sony FE 70-200mm for $1.199,99 at [shoplink 29380 ebay]eBay US[/shoplink].
RX100m2 with bag and SD card for $474 at [shoplink 29381 ebay]eBay US[/shoplink].
Sony A77 for $618 at SonyStore.
Sony A77 with kit lens for $787 at SonyStore and on [shoplink 29383 ebay]eBay US[/shoplink].
SonyA77m2 for $899 at [shoplink 29384 ebay]eBay US[/shoplink].
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3rd day shooting the A77II- rented it from Lensrentals.com. Nice overall improvements and you can tell the processor has been upgraded. If you don’t own the A77 I suggest giving it a look. If not, unless you do sports photography or want useful features like Zebra I’d say skip. However, I’m very pleased with the camera and for 900 or less I do believe it is a great deal.
I’m probably going to upgrade to the A77II, and A99II when the A99II is launched. I’ve used the A77, A99 combo for the last two years, alongside an older A850, and its worked out pretty well.
I acually used the A77II for a wedding this past friday on the beach. It went pretty well I have to say and the performance was quite good. I still wouldn’t bring it above 800 ISO, but knowing it would be outside it wasn’t an issue. I shot at 100 ISO the whole time. With longer lenses I appreciate the A77II’s size. Not to heavy, not to small. I’ll probably pick one up when the price drops a bit because overall- it’s just a solid camera.
Sony’s seriously needs to consider coming up with an 50-135mm f/2.8 SSM, and a 11-18 f/2.8 SSM for the A77, A77II users. They’d compliment the outstanding 16-50 f/2.8.
Yeah, I completely agree. I sold the 16-50 and I regret it. I bought a fantastic M43 set up, but something about the A77 and 16-50 just felt right. It’s just a good set up, perfect size, solid build and great quality. You really can’t complain.
Good, A-mount is dead.
I’ll take two corpses please.
Makes it still £150 (or $225) cheaper than the UK, even allowing for UK taxes.
We in the UK/Europe are sick to death of hearing about all the never ending discounts being given to the USA when we are just being continuously ripped off in fine style.
On another note…is this the forerunner of new ‘A’ mount bodies coming our way or are Sony just not selling them because of their lack of ‘A’ mount marketing, total lack of interest/enthusiasm in ‘A’ mount or total lack of support (new lenses/firmware etc) for ‘A’ mount. Probably all three, I’d guess.
My understanding is the UK is one of Sony’s strongest markets for alpha mount gear and those still using Minolta lenses. I guess they have to squeeze every dime they can out of it since it virtually has no presence over here.
Actually, Europe is, and the A-Mount is very popular in Canada as well. I’m not sure why Canon, and Nikon are so entrenched in the US, but I’m thinking cameras like the A7 and A77II are going to start reversing that.
Your dreaming, Sony cameras are not popular anywhere. A-mount is dead, dead, dead.
Dan
A77II can be found for 850€ in France with discount 😀
Well, it’s not likely due to a lack of enthusiasm, or at least so far as I can tell. Actually, I don’t think it would take much to keep the A-Mount folks happy. An updated A99 and perhaps a new ZA lens i.e ZA35, and maybe an updated ZA85 and/or ZA135 w/SSM would do the trick.
Sure, it would be nice to see more but they recently gave us the 50 f1.4 and the new 70-200, 300 and 500 so I’m ‘guessing’ Sony isn’t dropping out.
The FE/E is clearly their focus (sorry, couldn’t resist) but I’m hopeful they intend to expand the semi-pro segment of some sort.
I wouldn’t even buy it for black Fridays price of $599.00
Then go away you PoS troll.
Great time to trade in your oily D600, that should take at least $100 of the price.
Yeah, they’re clearing all the A-mount stock out to make room for E-mount.
A-mount is DEAD!
Yup! Get rid of that Sh1t, says Sony! Sell it to poor saps who dont know any better!
No, it’s not. But the A6000 is cheaper but quite a bit, smaller and has very fast AF. It’s hard to argue for the A77 II (although I’m a fan) unless your already an A77 user or have a bit of A mount glass.
Try using the A6000 outside for more than a week. It’s not rugged enough for full time use. The build quality just isn’t there. Plus using the larger lenses with it is just a royal pain in the butt.
They should have used the A7’s body for the A6000. An APS-C version of the A7 would have been a hit. Call it an A6, and sell it for the less Fuji is selling the XT-1 for.
Sony must be blind, dumb or both, cause they could have squeezed another $400.00 out of the NEX crowd trying to move up to something a little less amateurish.
The cheaper the better! Who cares if it’s dead or not…
I agree and so long as my T-Rex keeps working I’m not giving up hope.
You are a complete fuc*ing idiot. They’re called sales. The A7r is also on sale.
You should wait until you graduate from middle school to post here.
I agree, A-mount is dead, dead, dead!
Dan
Just share A99M2’s news please
I doubt Admin has anything new.
Admin: What have you learned from your sources about the lack of a-mount activity at Photokina and the status of a99 II? I wanted to upgrade to a full-frame from my a77 and was really looking forward to an a99 II update. If I do not hear anything by Dec when I am traveling, I will jump to Nikon and get a D750 or D810. I really hate having to sell my lenses to get Nikon equivalent ones but I will bite the bullet, if necessary.
Hopefully you have heard something from your sources or will soon regarding a-mount FF cameras.
I feel your pain but I also felt the same thing’ back when many folks thought that Leica was closing shop in 2008. I sold my Leica super primes that have since doubled in price! Won’t make that mistake with my ZA primes so even if A-Mount folds I’m keeping my system.
Caveat: I’ve said it here and elsewhere that I’m not crazy about the A7 series with respect to ergonomics, but I’m now reconsidering after seeing the Loxia 35 and 50.
I don’t see where the problem is. Sony is pulling 2 billion in A-mount sales annually. And you know there making some serious dollars off of it or they wouldn’t have upped the prices of the latest G-Series lenses.
I have no doubt, an overpriced under-performing A99II is coming (just kidding) , and if the rumours are correct its gonna be a sweet piece of kit.
If Antony sells his camera, and a 46mp camera arrives we should send him a years worth of Paxil. Cause he’s gonna need it.
Most of those screaming the A-Mount is dead can be prosecuted. Especially some of the utter lies I’ve seen on the forum. Spreading false rumours is illegal, its called Defamation, and it is a chargeable offence.
“Defamation—also calumny, vilification, and traducement—is the communication of a false statement that harms the reputation of an individual, business, product, group, government, religion, or nation”
If Sony lawyers wanted to the, they could easily track down the (probably paid) trolls, because all of their IP addresses are all recorded. I bet some of the obvious (possibly paid) trolls could easily have a very bad day.
I like what China is doing these days. The fine or jail the idiots.
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2014-08/14/content_18308229.htm
Please. It’s not THAT serious.
Great, then we know A-mount is dead, dead, dead!
Dan
That’s an interesting number you have there. Considering 2 billion would be the majority of their imaging sales. But for some reason they decide to show off the RX1 in the financials and pretty much they say they want to make more smaller cameras.
“We aim to build upon this success and continue to introduce models that leverage our cutting-edge image sensor technologies in smaller and lighter forms.”
That doesn’t sound like somebody wanting to emphasize the sales of dslrs.
Learn math it’ll help you in life. Sony’s A-Mount represents 31% of 710 Billion Yen, which is 2.012803459 Billion USD annually.
I rounded down troll, to keep it simple, for simpletons like you.
I was going to give you the benefit of the doubt but you really are as dumb as you sound. If you actually read the financials, you would have realized that the imaging solutions is composed of two groups…which dslrs only are part of the consumer section. Assuming your 31% number isn’t just a number you read off a blog or made up, which is highly doubtful.. That 2 billion number gets cut by quite a bit. Lets assume your number is correct…so now you’re down to a whopping ~1 billion in sales. Which for a large electronics company, is in the noise. This doesn’t even factor in the more important number, how much profit are they making out of it. So now you’re looking at something that barely registers a blip and is most likely losing money… oh no…your type of analysis just showed why A mount isn’t being updated! haha have a good day.
RTOFL……………….
OMG, I must have hit a nerve. I’m well aware of the facts, moron. The PPT slide is Sony’s from the A77II launch, and is newer than any other source a troll like you could ever find.
The A-Mount is Sony’s single largest source of revenue for the Imaging Products, and Solutions, which doesn’t include their sensors sales.
1 billion is noise, are you serious? You’re absolutely deluded. Sony just posted a 2 billion loss, and the their stock has taken a massive hit. 10,000 layoffs is noise. Get FN real.
Like I said, “You’re a troll/Moron”
If you want to watch the presentation, “Fill your boots”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_bXfU_–fc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1FyVoSOpo6Q
As they say..ignorance is bliss. Use your own chart and do some of that fancy math to see how much 1 billion is out of total sales. It’s ok, i’ll do that math for you since you don’t seem too bright. It’s 1.4%. You probably don’t work for a very large company.. but products that bring in that small of a % get cut like it’s nothing. A better number would be how much are they losing per year to keep it alive. I could care less if a mount goes on or dies..but it should be entertaining to watch die hard fanboys finally accept reality.
Wow you are a huge moron. Two actual real world photographers, just called you out, and yet you persist. No one is listening any more, your credibility have just taken two massive blows.
The A-Mount earns 2 billion, and it’s growing in an era of shrinking DSLR sales. If you weren’t a troll you’d be happy, but you’re a junk troll.
The A-Mount grows because it’s the only SLR with a EVF, and built in stabilization, plus some can even shoot 12fps.
It’s the only mount with AF Zeiss f/2.8 zoom, and f/1.4 prime lenses, and they look cool.
Now do us all a favour, and take your amateurish butt somewhere else, no one wants to hear from you any-longer.
I’ll respond to you since the others basically just resort to troll when they have nothing else. Being a photographer has no relevance on this topic other than they might not understand financials all that well. To be honest, I’m not a troll. Im just correcting some blatantly misleading numbers. here’s a graph all these “photographers” might be able to understand. Only two colors they need to focus on. 10.7% is your 700 billion yen. See only part of that 10% pie is consumer products? Those are ALL your compact cameras, dslrs, etc. The other part are the movie cams, security, etc. Now you can do your own math, since none of you seem to able to comprehend actual numbers.
http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/ar/2013/highlight/p1.html
You do care, cause you twisting fact, which is considered lying in most countries.
The A-Mount is growing, and you’re upset because of this. I doubt you can afford one.
Grow up. Within the next 18 months Sony will dominate mirror-less. The A-Mount sales are returning to post-minolta levels.
Sony is already driving Nikon out of second place.
And there is nothing a baby troll can say or do to prevent it.
LOL………….You really found a winner this time.
Did that troll actually call into question the Sony’s A77II launch presentation credibility, after self identifying himself as “Sony”? That is probably the funniest thing I’ve heard all day.
“Imaging solutions is composed of two groups”. There are seven divisions count them. They are even colour coded, something even the thickest troll normal can understand.
Or maybe look at the big red bar on the graph. The one that’s bigger than all others, its called the alpha.
I honestly do not need 46mp camera and would be perfectly content with a 24mp version comparable to D750. If they come out with a 46+mp a-mount, I am thinking it will be in the mold of the a7r and will have low fps, average high iso performance, slow AF, etc.
Buy the A99 while its discounted with the grip, and two batteries, while you have the chance, cause once the new model is in Sony’s gonna jack the price.
I rented an a99 earlier this year for a week to test before purchasing it. I was honestly very disappointed with it. I tested it with my 24-70ZA along with the lenses that I rented (50 1.4ZA, 85 1.4ZA, and Sigma 35mm 1.4 art). The AF coverage was horrible and the camera was a bit sluggish compared to my a77. Hence the reason for me to wait till Mark II to see what Sony does with it.
Dan: The a7 is tempting considering that they are practically giving them away. I played with one the other day and I can appreciate the portability considering I have a 18 month old child. However, I am going to wait till they release the second round of a7 series cameras and hope for improved AF, low light, fps, etc. By then there is hopefully better selection of native lenses and 3rd party support for the system.
I won’t buy a camera if I can’t connect with it. I know some will say that is rediculous and it’s all about IQ- no, sorry- not for this guy. I’ll consider an A7 when it’s as well put together as my Olympus EP5. Better build quality, better focusing and touch screen are important. The Loxia are getting my attention though and they make the most sense for FE IMO. If you want small, well there you go.
In terms of A mount, I’ve decided I don’t care if Sony ditches it anymore. I’m keeping my glass until the day comes. It’s not worth a switch, and after using the A77II I’m quite pleased with that camera and I’ve owned the A900. I prefer the A77 series over the A900. Personal preference, but the size just may be quite perfect for a camera and the features are actually useful. I guess I won’t get my A99II right now but I’ll go with that until I do or the A7 gets refined.
I am having the same problem with you. I wanna upgrade to full frame from a55, and I really don’t care if Sony will close down their A-mount product line in the near future or not ( says 2 years ), as long as they can offer me a nice and decent A-99M2 which is comparable to D810-D750 grade, then I am happy to give away my money. I am travelling with my family on December, but I decided not to get a D750 and wait for A-mount full frame and I hope it is worth to wait,
Anyone have thoughts on this vs. the a6000 for sports and tele options? I have no a mount lenses currently. Is the af faster on one vs. the other?
I would take this as a serious question, assuming that you genuinely need info on comparing these. Otherwise I would have wondered if anyone is really asking this.
The simple answer: I’ve used both and the difference is night and day. A77II is simply superior to such an extent that once you shoot with it you’ll never go back to a6000. I am talking specifically about tele and sports photography here.
In fact, if you are looking for tele/sports options you should not even consider the a6000 since there are no lenses to use with it for those purposes (70-200/4 is so-so). If you use an adapter to mount a-mount lenses, all focusing is done by the adapter, so the “fast” auto-focusing of a6000 does not even come into play. If you use canon/nikon lenses on the a6000 the focusing speed will be pathetic, compared to a77II with the 70-200GII or 70-400GII.
Low-light photog. might be a bit better with the a6000, but nothing else.
Thanks that is helpful. I haven’t shot with either and didn’t think of how limited tele lenses were in e mount.
Review about A6000 AF:
http://www.verybiglobo.com/sony-alpha-a6000-worlds-fastest-af/
http://www.verybiglobo.com/sony-alpha-a6000-worlds-fastest-af-part-2/
I agree with Max, a77 II over a6000. Majority of reviews and user feedback is extremely positive for a77 II while it is mixed for a6000.
Nikon D4s.
Yeah, tiny body and buttons + not well balanced with large lenses of the A6000 make it an excellent sport camera.
A77II is a purpose built camera with a dedicated AF module. While in general photography both might be the same in AF performance, in difficult AF situations however you can be sure that A77II will run circles around A6000
I have been tossing up an A77 II, seems like a really solid camera and looking for better AF than I get with the LA-EA4. Honestly my idea scenario would be a better adapter but I don’t think one is coming for a while. A99 doesn’t interest me as it isn’t enough of an improvement in AF over the adapter especially in terms of spread.
I currently have an A7 and A7S both with LA-EA4’s. Lenses I have Alpha mount 20/24/28mm f2.8’s, 35mm f1.4 Art, 50mm f1.4 Sony, 85mm ZA f1.4, Minolta 70-210mm f4 and Minolta 80-200mm f2.8 HS. On the E specific lenses I have the 28-70mm, FE55, 16mm (floating around as it isn’t worth anything) as well as M-Mount 12mm and 40mm f1.4 plus Samyang 14mm f2.8 (and a half dozen other manual lenses).
I’m tossing up getting the FE 70-200mm and maybe an A6000 or getting the A77 II. My 80-200mm is literally falling apart as well and not sure how well it will go on the A77 II with regards to focus speed.
My A7S focusses nicely for what I need and the FE 70-200mm performs fine on it, I do mostly event shooting and my ZA works perfectly fine for AF for portrait, so my main concern is whether the 80-200mm will work well enough on the A77 II or I should just go the FE 70-200mm.
I am not interested in opinions on the body feel etc, I love the A7 series bodies and have no problem whatsoever with the way they handle with big glass. I have previously owned A77 I and A900 as well.
So what would people do? Buy the FE 70-200mm for the A7S or continue to use a falling apart 80-200mm HS and get an A77 II?
TL;DR
Yes thank you for the wonderful contribution.
The speed of the A77II might be too much for your Minolta lens if it’s as I assume that the focus system is not in good shape. I got the FE 70-200 today as I was holding out for a better deal but got it just before the cash back ends tomorrow.
Thanks, I think you might be right about the HS, it’s AF is going a bit funky but it’s such a nice lens I kind of hate to part with it. And yes o e of the main reasons I am tossing this up is that the CB deal ends tomorrow.
You have an impressive array of gear already! I’d say wait for the A77II price to drop, then grab it. If you can’t wait I’d still choose that over the 70-200mm FE.
Thanks, still contemplating what I should do. Tempted even for ~130mm with my ZA which should actually be plenty. I am partly looking at the A77 II as a replacement to my RX10 which has been such an awesome B-cam and has been put to work ever since I got it, but kind of needing something a bit more still oriented for the coming months and A77 II seems to have decently improved video over the A77.
cannot believe after so many years that the low light iso in this mid-pro camera still far behind to 5dmk2.
Ahhh one is a crop sensor and the other a full frame…
look at Imagine Resource comparometer the 5DMKii is way behind the A77ii
I wish Sony would finally introduce the mirror lockup feature for A-Mount. Its is long overdue.
3 modes would solve quite a few issues.
1) DSLT – where the mirror is always down
2) DSLR – where the mirror is flippy flappy
3) DSLM – where the mirror is always locked up.
This feature automatically pleases quite a few that were holding off from SLT’s. It also solves the ISO problem, where Sony is always behind the competition (Canon doesn’t count, they’re always at the back of the pack). And it also solves the problem of fast AF with good ISO at the same time, but at the expense of the mirror flap speed. Say 10FPS in DSLT and DSLM mode and 4-6 fps in DSLR mode.
This doesn’t solve any problems. SLT mirror is too fragile to work as a typical “flippy flappy” mirror, the mechanical stress would make it break very fast. In current implementations it is also to big to be locked up – it’s impossible to flip the mirror up without removing lens. It doesn’t solve the fast AF problem either – SLT mirror reflects less light than normal mirror to the AF sensors so the AF is less sensitive then the competitors’. You can’t eat cake and have cake.
SLT mirror is too weak, it is not possible to flip at that speed.
To solve the ISO problem, the only way Sony can do is to switch to mirrorless.
Once they can tune up the mirrorless AF as fast as normal DSLR,
no camera will need any kind of mirror.
Doomed to fail even though it’s a good body and a fair price for what you get.
If this camera had been sold as the 7DII, it would have been a hit. Instead, Canon sells the 7DII with yesteryears sensor having a hard time vs the D750. Who would have thought.
D750 is a full frame camera, 7DII is APSc. Completely different segments. D7100 would be a more fair comparison.
Yes, the comparison is skewed in favor the 7DII as the APS market is much bigger AND the 7D has a fairly large user base that has been waiting for 5 years. And yet it loses in terms of preorders vs a 2200$ FF camera (inherently smaller market) that no one even anticipated (it’s obviously not a D700 successor).
The comparison is unfair and the 7DII still loses. By the way, the D7100 is also ahead of the 7DII if you insist on doing that comparison.
http://www.amazon.com/Best-Sellers-Electronics-DSLR-Cameras/zgbs/electronics/3017941
Complete BS.
It’s out of stock at multiple locations including http://www.amazon.com, because it’s selling out. The real non SAR troll world has a huge thirst for the A77II.
The A77II will never outsell the Canon, but neither will the K3, and they’re both outstanding cameras. Maybe you should put more effort in your photography, as opposed to writing.
Waiting for the A77III to see if it has GPS… I’ll also upgrade my A99 to A99II IF it continues to ship with GPS… Sony lost my order on the A77II purely due to the lack of GPS… I hope they include the cheap component with future camera’s again and have it disabled for the people that don’t want to use it and allow us that do to ‘turn it on’…
Looking forward to good news on the A99II 😀