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Sony will no more be able to repair a broken [shoplink 3028 ebay]Sony A850 camera[/shoplink]. The parts necessary to fix the A850 are no more in production. SrapDsign reports on SonyAlphaForum:
I got 2 a850 and had use it almost 4 years since i bought it. I was very disappointed when i send my a850 to sony service to replace it with a new shutter box because my shutter count already reach the limits. They told me that the parts are no longer been produce because sony decided to stop it.
So if you still own the A850…take care of it!
120 Responses
Nothing lasts forever.
NOOOO~!!! What should I do now?
Upgrade to A99 and subscribe to PRO service?
if the mirror is broken, it’s broken…
It’s not the mirror. It’s the shutter mechanism that needs to get repaired. As a previous poster stated, buy a used A850. It may be cheaper than getting the shutter mechanism replaced.
This must surely apply to the A900 as well as they must share the vast majority of parts.
Buying used working one is already just slightly more expensive than fixing shutter failure here in europe. Last spring aperture control mechanics and electronics on mine died and the repair was around 350eur. I asked how much would shutter change cost and they said that it would be around same amount. At that time there were used ones with low shutter counts for less than 600eur on ebay.
With the end of service used prices will probably drop even more, so just buy another one rather than repair broken.
I wonder how this works in europe, however, there is legislation that regulates for how long manufacturer has to provide service…
Amount is death?
This sounds creepy…
The shutter has nothing to do with a specific mount, stop the stupidity.
Valar morghulis
Sony you are kidding right? This is suppose to be your more “professional” range of camera that you could still purchase new just under 4 years ago…
If this is true I’m finding this rather shocking of Sony’s dissension to discontinue spare parts, I still use my A850 in the studio (along with my A77 and A99) and it’s a fantastic camera but this is really starting to plant doubt in my head about Sony and if they are ‘serious’ about the A mount system, I’m getting the feeling Sony is giving up on us A mount users, even basic firmware updates and tweaks that should have been done have not been for years! The old excuse from all what they are releasing so many other camera’s they don’t have time now that has slowed down I was hoping for a little more after sales support espesially on the A77 range and above!
Shame on you Sony!
If I were you I’d go for nikon D800 / D4s and never look back
How can we check total number of shutter cycles in our A900/A850?
Remember they blew up mirrors yesterday? Lol lol jkkk
lol yeah its all gone now people, they blew up the mirrors yesterday! haha your comment made me laugh lol
That excuse doesn’t make sense, generally at the end of a production run a number of spare parts are built and stored in inventory. The shutter being a ware item, should have sufficient stock to service cameras for at least 10 years. The shutter mechanism is likely sourced from a third party anyway, perhaps some investigation may reveal the OEM manufacturer.
The end of production was 4 years ago. And where did you get that “10 years” number?
In the US, the implied standard for meeting all state and federal warranty/merchantability claims is 7 years from discontinuation of production, IIRC.
Interesting. What about the rest of the world? And is there a legislation relevant to this?
it is well known that Sony uses COPAL shutters, as most manufacturers do.
At sel the part is listed and not marked as “no longer available”:
https://www.servicesplus.sel.sony.com/sony-part-number-178873911.aspx
In Europe there is a legislation which specifies the duration during which equipment must remain serviceable. It should be between 5 and 10 years. The issue is that the cost of the repairs can easily exceed the cost of a replacement equipment… The consumption society, planned obsolescence, plethora of offers and the fast technological progresses lead to shorter products life cycles. It seems there is little which can be done about that. In fact I believe that we are very much heading towards a use and dispose mode of consumption where repairs may not even be contemplated anymore because of the cost of the service departments.
The poster has only one post on that forum, take this story with a grain of salt. It may be bogus.
Am I the only one who misses this “Minolta design” look?
Yes
So sad :'(
Yes.
No.
This is true.
Yes
It’d be a sad thing to happen. In any case if Sony decides to drop the a-mount that’d be a gigantic mistake. As long as there are camera’s available on the 2nd hand market… Prices for broken A550/a580/a700/a850/a900 may even rise (for a short amount of time)…
Just send it to other companies like KEH
Yup. I dropped a Sony/Zeiss 24-70mm F2.8 lens and when I sent it to Sony for a repair estimate they told me it’d be $2100 to repair it (and the lens only cost $1998 to buy new at that time!) so I told Sony to mail it back to me. I then sent it to KEH and they repaired it for $300.
I now always get a quote from KEH and from Sony before I pay Sony’s price for a repair.
That’s good to know, thanks for the tip.
Yes , they have great customer service .. Great prices too
I sent 2 legacy lenses for repair , they repaired them and cleaned inner optics for $200
It simply means that Sony does not want to be bothered dealing with repairs so they outprice the service.
Sony promises to continue to support A mount…
But they are producing no new A mount camera models…
Now they are no longer willing to repair some of the old models…
But Sony will continue to support A mount.
And I have come to praise Sony, not bury A mount!
Barry, you should devote more time to page pagination and spelling instead of immediately jumping to conclusions on every unsubstantiated rumor.
Its my celphone..it changes everything I type, plus my fingers are much fatter than the touchscreen keys.
As for IMMEADIATLY jumping to conclusions, there is nothing immediate about it..I have have LOTS OF TIME SINCE THE LAST A MOUNT CAMERA to jump to conclusions.
As for page pagination…I dont care about page pagination. Its hard enough just to unchange everything my smartphone changes.
another person living out parent issues with their camera maker. Sony makes new bodies, but looks like about one every calendar year. With a 3 year life span. Which is very economical vs upgrade bait every year or 3 units each missing something so you have to buy three. Again.. same song for 9 years now and wrong every year.
The a77II is less than a year old and we still have 7 more months for an a99II announcement. Time changes perspective.
I ised to think Sony was an inovative industry leader and Sony A mount would be on the leading edge of technology…but you are correct, Time changes perspective.
I will not make those same false assumptions about E mount.
Maybe I am wrong, but it seems you equate innovation with frequent releases?
Sony said they focus on E mount atm because they don’t have the resources to work on 2 mounts at the same time and E mount is seriously in need of development/improvements (and lenses).
Admin should put that in 50pt bold red blinking letters at the top of the blog. But even with that, there will always be whiners… 🙁
A mount still does not have a 36mp sensor, or a half million iso sensor , or any of the new technology that has been around so long its not new any more.
Sony can say anything they want but thier actions speak louder than anything they say.
Very little of what Sony publicly say matches the documents leaked.
So there is very little reason to believe any claims made by Sony…especially those claims about supporting A mount.
Sony…show us a new A mount camera with the very latest state of the art technology before it is seen elsewhere.
Your words will not convince people, only your actions will.
This however will not happen as Sony only intends to phase out A mount.
A leaked document recently surfaced saying that…Sony vehemently denied it and indeed the DOCUMENT WAS FAKE, but what the fake document said appears to be the truth.
Sony …If I am wrong prove it!
The A77II (you know, the one you don’t want to try or touch with a 10ft pole) with the new AF module is not a new A mount camera with latest technology?
The a77ii, which I have, is still a 24 mp apsc just likeu the a77, even though 36mp sensor has been around quite a while.
Ahh, The A850 and A900, The last Great (Not just good) cameras Sony made!
The last REAL cameras from Sony!
I sent in a Canon 16-35mm L lens for repair to CPS (problem with the mount/contacts – TTL not functioning). I received it back, unrepaired, that same week with the same explanation from Canon. They no longer have and produce the parts. Sucks.
let’s see the A850 was released in 2010.
your 16-35 2.8L was replaced by the 16-35L II in 2007, and was originally released in 2001.
I’m thinking there’s a bit of a difference here.
The A850 released in 2009
What is the planned lifecycle for these cameras these days ? I’d be curious to know really.
Lenses last far longer than bodies though…
There is a difference between a lens and a camera and the dates, but the greater point is that eventually these companies (even the market photography leader) stop offering repairs.
http://www.sony.com.au/microsite/movetomirrorless/img/mirrorless/mirrorless001a.jpg
lol
Is there metadata on that photo somewhere? It’d be very ironic if shot with an a-mount.
I guess it’s an actual frame from the film (it’s cropped but still you can notice that anamorphic lens distortion). some high speed movie camera did it, see behind the scenes videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VltJG4jm7I
You’re kidding, right?
The A-mount is dead. Why doesn’t Sony just admit it?
Read about Elop effect.
Well as long as Sony keeps producing a-mount lenses and camera’s you can’t really declare it dead just yet. Does it look bleak? It could. But dead means dead and a-mount camera’s and lenses are still in production…so not quite.
Maybe not dead, but dying. This is probably the second (or third) step of them ‘shutting off life support’.
I feel that. In my mind if they don’t release an a99 successor they’ve basically said it’s mirrorless from now on.
That’s what I (and I’m sure many, many others) am waiting for, the a99II. But considering Sony’s focus seems to be e-mount or bust, I’m not going to hold my breath.
That would be a shame… A mount lenses are so much better.
The A850 is an old DSLR model (the first technology used by Sony BTW) whose production ended in August 2011. Now the A-mount is exclusivity of the SLT technology – which is still in use – in A58, A77II, A99 bodies and in the LA-EA4 adapter. When Sony ceases production of spare parts for A77II (the newest A-mount body until now) you can say that A-mount is dead.
Perhaps you are right, but it seems that Sony is focusing everything towards e-mount and a-mount users will be feeding off scraps until they starve us off completely.
Sony took almost 3 years to revamp the A77. The A99 is not even 3 years old, and it’s the A-mount FF flagship body. My guess it’s that when Sony launch the A99II (or whatever they might call it) they will fit all the A77II and A7II/R/S important features in the new body AND more. If they want to compete with Canonikon professional line (as it seems) you can bet that this will be Sony’s move. The new E-mount bodies and lenses are really good stuff but we all know that it ain’t professional grade. Would you go out in a rainy day with an A7R mounted with a LA-EA4 and a SAL500F4? I wouldn’t, but I would certainly do that with the A99, a 7D markII or a D810.
I definitely see your point. I am of the mind that Sony could have made some small tweaks to the a900/850 for us middle of the range, so-called semi-pro/hobbyist shooters. I would have been more than happy with live view on mine, for example, before the first a99 came around. Then they can take the time to roll out the new flagship with all the features you mention in the interim. It’s hard to see all this focus on the e-mount and not wonder if the a-mount is slowly being phased out or forgotten. Or perhaps the e-mount and a77II are the testing models for these features and the a99II will be packed with them. Nothing to do but wait and see.
Who lives out will see the outcome of this. Until this day, we wait.
The poster stated that he had two A850’s and that he sent in an A850 to replace the shutter mechanism (because it reached its limit). He didn’t say the camera was not functional. He didn’t say where he sent the camera to be repaired. It is entirely possible that the repair shop cannot get replacement units from Sony. I don’t know why people don’t follow up and ask other repair places if they can do the repair.
He then states that he no longer has any cameras to use – but he said that he had two A850s. From his post, it appears that he only sent one camera in for repair. I don’t think we have the whole story, but it would not surprise me if Sony has terminated production of that part (they don’t produce the camera any more). I am not sure that there is no part to be had anywhere in the world (maybe just where the poster is from). In any case, I wish him luck.
Sort of like the 1965 Mustang was the last great Ford. really a deathtrap and repair bait.. but emotionally some are just not ready to move on.
No offense Americans, but all of US cars are potential death trap. QC is nonexistent in comparison to EU or Japan cars. Not that i do not adore Corvette and Mustang though.
You can buy mine on ebay ( EU wide ) until tomorrow 18:00 (GMT +1) look for “sony a850 super set” includes grip and hvl f56! Cheerio
http://tools.science.si/index.php
Not good…
In the US, manufacturers are required by law to provide spare parts for their products up to 7 years after the end of manufacturing.
I bought my Sony 500 f4 G lens wishing there will be a new A99 mark ii in the way .. Instead they are coming with new E-mount camera models .. Why would u make a $13000 lens if u
wont back it up with new A-mount cameras!
Sony will tell you to buy an adapter. You surly want be riding on train called future!
Seriously that is what I’m afraid about. They sell big lenses and no decent Flagship cam. They launch proService for plastic mounts…
Let’s hope they are working on something that is worth of the name flagship.
Btw is this 500 f4 lense at least worth the money?
The questions are…
– Does Sony take photography serious?
-Is this the way Sony pro service will work in future?
– Is a camera which costs $+2k a disposable camera for Sony like a kodak film cams?
-Is this the Pro-vision of Sony how to deal with their customers?
it MAY SEEM that Sony does not care.
You won’t get any answer, you’ll have to decide for yourself, based on what is happening. And that is valid for any company; things are hardly that much better with others.
But at least they have a history in supporting serious photographers.
Sony started their Service months ago and only to hook Canikons.
I think Sony’s mindset is to commercially oriented (disposable gedgets) and hardly worth investing in.
It depends. Canon not updating its sensors and repackaging its Rebel can also be seen as very commercial. Or, Nikon’s crippled, yet pricey Df. I wouldn’t disagree with you though; one should simply invest in what exists and not expect anything with Sony (and this is becoming the case for many other products and companies nowadays). On the other hand they do have some amazing gear that simply doesn’t have an equivalent in other brands. There’s always a caveat 🙂
The gear may be nice but when it fails on you after only few years with no support and they tell you to spend 3k$ for the replacement that’s tough. Hope the car manufactures won’t pic up this way to sell new cars
I’m guessing the same goes for A900
the a900 will barely work for 6 years. sony junk….
States ‘back ordered’.
Seems like the days where things last for 25+ years are over. With mirrorless, cameras are more consumer electronics. Update cycles are shorter. Depreciation kicks in faster and greater. Cameras are more technologically dependent, firmwares, EVF, PDAF hybrid. Our phones took the same road down and so will our future watches. Is it good or bad?
I suppose if they make them recyclable it’s ok. But I won’t be dropping 3k on a camera to only replace it in 2 years. Instead I’ll spend a grand on a really decent middle range camera, and then if it needs replacing in 2 years I will do so. I still don’t think you can beat a classic watch though! I’m yet to see the advantage or reason why you need a smart watch…just another thing to charge every night if you ask me…
A new poster with a single post makes an unsubstantiated claim with no specifics or geographic information, and you take it as the truth?
I understand you make things up to get traffic on this site, but this is a new low.
Hold on while i create an account there to make a claim about E mount going away due to some sales rep saying so.
Its an excellent piece of glass, focus is super fast with my A77 ii .. You wont miss any wildlife action especially with the new a77 ii tracking system, i used to shot with my 70-400 f4-5.6 G ii .. Since i bought the 500 lens, the 70-400 in the drawer. But i do need a full fram camera because in low light situations, i cant go above 1600 iso and get a usable images
I used the Sony 500 lens on both A7 ii & A7r using an adopter, its just too slow and i loose focus points.
Again, why did they made this 500 lens if they wont continue to back it up with cameras! With the lens worth of money i could buy a new canon 1dx + canon 500 f4 lens!
Now im conceding to switch to canon just because im a wildlife photographer who was naive enough to trust sony and buy their gear! Even if i wanna sell my gear who would buy it known that there is no full frame new camera for the lens “a-mount”
While I fully understand You, and have around $8000 (F2.8 zoom trio, Zeiss primes) invested into Sony A-mount glass myself, buying into Sony for serious wildlife or sports photography probably was not the best choice… C or N are obvious choice for those types of photography with their established fast long tele line-ups, fast pro bodies and commitment to continue these systems.
Still, I believe they will release A99II, even if it’s last of it’s kind, with better sensor and better AF, so You will be good for a while. And they might release a better SLT adapter for their E-mount cameras. And as the on-sensor phase detect AF advances, using an adapter without the SLT might become viable.
By the way, back when 500/4 was released, they were still fully focused on full frame A-mount. It is only recently their focus has permanently or temporarily shifted. You cannot really blame them for doing this, they are just a company, with a purpose to make money, so they change their priorities and strategies accordingly.
Well, im not trying to compare a $1000 camera with a $6000 canon 1dx here, but trust me when i tell u that the a77 ii can catch up with the 1dx fast focusing system .. I traveled with a friend of mine who own the 1dx, the only issue was the ISO and the quality of the picture .. The sony a77 ii is a beast when its come to lock-on focus .. And im not showing off here, just to proven my point, i already won lots of contests and right now one of my pics is on National Geo front page of their website .. But with low light! Cant get that much of a photo.
And yes, you might be right .. But I thought im doing alright with sony till now.
I sure hope there is an a99 ii camera even if its their last one! I dont mind if its matches the 1dx price! If it can deliver the same or even better image quality with high ISO!
I mean why would i make a 500mm lens for sport/wildlife photographers if im not going to back it up with a wildlife/sport FF with fast AF camera! Right?
As for the 500mm was still fully focused on a full frame A-mount .. It should be! They made it so it can work .. But again with my boring yet important question .. Why would a company make a super fast sport car designed for racing and install a 4 cylinder engine into it! Big expensive lens need a big full frame camera!
Anyway, i have a trip to Alaska at the end of this year for a wildlife photography workshop .. If sony dont release a FF A-mount camera then i really have to switch .. Lets hope they do
I hope sony can make a 1dx/D4s competitor.
and make Sigma change their mind to release 120-300 F2.8 in a-mount.
If you look at Sony’s business as a whole, the alpha range is considered a consumer product, not a professional product. Just because some people can use it to make money doesn’t mean Sony supports it like a professional product. Look at how the broadcast cameras are sold and supported. It’s a completely separate system.
Rather they should renew production with new sensor etc.
WTF! Makes me very concerned for my A900 (a camera I rather like)
So much for ‘Pro Support’, eh?
Moral of this story – don’t buy expensive Sony cameras if you want to use them for any period of time 🙁
In Europe there is. But even with the regulations and legislation, only way to enforce it would be through the court, which would be too expensive for individual and might take years.
Dont know what there is to complain about. The camera is 4 to 6 years old, depending on when you bought it. Its been 4 years since the production ceased. Does Canon/Nikon keep producing specialty parts for old cameras for more than 4 years, that are not being used anymore? I dont know, but it would sound strange.
Actually yeah, Nikon and Canon still repair cameras that are 4-6 years old.
i can send in my 10 year old canon and hav it repaired… that´s why canon service rules and pros use canon not sony.
Someone can still send in a Canon 5D, and get it repaired.
I have an FM2N from 1989 and I can still get it repaired at Nikon service.
As requested.
Ive been dealing this
problem for couple of months, dealing it
with Sony Malaysia . i send an email to them and need them to explain to me why
they sending back my camera without been repaired. i sent it to Sony Service
Centre.
The Sony Service Centre told me that they cannot repair my camera because Sony
already stop producing the spare parts for it.
Ya i have 2 a850 but i only send 1 because that camera cannot functiont shoot, meaning
the shutter box must be replace with a new one. My other a850 camera didnt have that problem yet and still can
function to shoot. 1 week after i sent
it the first camera, then the 2nd camera
cannot function already.
i could try repair it at other places but the choice is limited . there is not many
camera shop here (in Sabah Malaysia)
that does a repair for camera. But that is impossible because Sony had decided
not to sell their spare parts to outsider( people, retail shop, etc) That means
whatever kind of repairing and
replacement of spare parts camera must
be done by Sony only. I remember theres one time back a few years that we can
buy spare parts camera from Sony directly and fix it ourselves. But now its
diffrrent.
So Sony Malaysia replied my email and told me that they
cannot do anything because no spare parts of that camera had been produce
anymore. i was shocked, i ask them it is
impossible for not have even 1 stock of
spare parts at their HQ .
And ya , i send them again email and email and they replied
it. that is going on for a couple of
months untill i get fed up with it. They had offer me discount for any camera
that i want. But still the choices for
fullframe is so limited. Even the
discount is not giving much effect to me. because the price is still expensive
. Im not rich person that can just buy
like that. even If i get a99 , what is
the possibility for that camera for not having the same problem as the a850. ?:
maybe in 1 or 2 years they gonna stop produce spare parts for a99, hmmm who
knows. They done it once….
So , i really really appreciate it if u guys know where i can get this spare parts. maybe online shop like that?Ive heard many times already people saying that u can get the spare parts at retail camera shop or etc. if thats true, please show me ya haha.n Thank u.
Try post this on Dyxym forum or Sony ALPHA -talk on forum much better support there. And sorry I don’t know how to help you directly, in fact I would love to know the answer too.
Good luck!
Is it worth spending the money for a “High end”-camera with such a poor support ?
Does Sony know that with a such a price tag there is also a certain service involved?
People complain because they dont want SLT. I still have my two A900 but havent bought any Sony kit since then. Nikon has got my money since 2009. Havent sold the Sony stuff because I have a Minolta collection and because I love the CZ85/1.4 + CZ135/1.8.
Don’t forget it is $ony,
They think of every way to get money from your pocket.
I am sure $ony still have stock of the shutter, they just don’t want to repair it and force everyone to buy new camera.
That is the way how they make money.
Thanks bro for the suggestion. I try to post this there. Hope can find solution haha. This should not happen to a high level camera.
maybe you can try your luck in singapore then.
At least in Europe there are still A850/A900 mirror box assemblies and shutters available as spare parts. A mirror box replacement will set you back around 600-700€, a shutter replacement was half of that in the past but price of the spare part rised lately. It may be cheaper to get a used body with low shutter count than repair your broken one.
Pls remember that a body is a consumable part of the system, and not meant to last forever.
Thats why , i still could not understand why Sony decided to do like that. They told me that now they only wanna focus on the mirrorless. Very dissapointed ., shame Sony. Hmm
Nice job Sony. Way to go kill the only OVF full frame camera you needed to support. It might be “justified”…but come on. Farm the parts out to someone else and reference customers to a third party vendor. That’ll at least show a modicum of respect for those who’ve been loyal to you for so long.
Sony literally does not understand about customer loyalty… it is an alien concept to them
This is an electronics company which made their mark in the consumer sector by selling transistor-based products like radios and televisions and then walkmans, (Betamax) videos and (rather more successfully) CDs and DVD players between the late 1950’s and the late 1990’s… all are one-time purchases and in such a market people buy mainly on specs, price and ‘perceived quality’, not ‘repeat buyers’. Their professional market is different, but we are talking about the consumer market here (the A-mount and FE-mount Zeiss and expensive G lenses are all listed as ‘consumer products’)
The needs of Interchangeable-lens camera customers buying into a System do not fit into this model and so the company does not recognise these people in their product management or (more importantly) management reward strategies. Customer retention is not important to them, only chasing new customers
Result… Sony customers lose out in this sector. A-mount and APS-C E-mount (former NEX) users are feeling it at the moment but FE-Mount buyers will feel it soon enough ‘it’s the nature of the beast’
I’ve had mine since it came out and it still works… your comment is junk
Thanks for the info bro
Thanks bro, i will try