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You can now find the brand new A99 for $2499 on [shoplink 18239 ebay]eBay US (Click here)[/shoplink]. It’s likely that this is a consequence of the great A99 superkit deals (here at Amazon) where you can get free vertical grip and flash.
37 Responses
Stupidity to buy this over the super deals. The flash alone one can easily sell for $500 if not more. And the grip can be gotten rid off for $250 at least.
Yep.
No thanks Andrea. I’m waiting for a Sony A78 mirrorless in 2014. 🙂
+1
No thanks. I’m waiting for higher resolution at least 54mp or grester.
If they’d just lower the price by the amount of what they’re giving away in accessories, they might have quite a few more sales. I considered the bundle, thinking I could unload the flash and grip on ebay, but it seems everybody else had the same idea. I’ll just stick to my a850 and perhaps spend that money on a backup.
Yup, lowering the price by the equivalent amount would have been nice.
No thanks. I’m waiting for “LENS”…
No thanks, still to expensive. 1800 Euro would be the price, that this camera is worth compared to Nikon & Canon.
Go ahead to buy your canon&nikon.
+1
unqualified comment… you are a not a high brow, right?
You think the 5d3 is worth 1000 euros more?
$2.499 is more than street price for 5D3! That is too much still?
Which one would you choose if you started from zero?
The quoted price was in euros, so I checked EU pricing. But BHphoto pricing for the 5d3 is 3300US, compared to 2800US for the A99. No idea where do you get your “street pricing”, but the A99 also has one.
I would definitely choose the A99 for my landscape shooting. I find the EVF and the swivel LCD extremely valuable.
Actually, €2000-2200 would be a a good price, compared to the competition. Right between the 5D3+D800 and D600+6D. I’m confident it will get there soon enough.
However, since I’m squabbling about the price of a body alone, I’m putting myself in the deepest shit category of photographers. Personal needs from a system are far more important than just the price of a single body. I can’t believe people are considering other systems or just not buying a camera because its a little too expensive to their liking.
Comparing cameras and prices is a good thing. But be reasonable. Sony ought to make money by selling A99s. It can’t if everyone is waiting for the lowest price possible. The 5D3, D800 and A99 all have a place in the photography world. They are all fantastic cameras. Pick which one you like, just don’t do silly about the price.
I think the pricing for this camera is STILL a bit ridiculous.
Sony has always kind of been a premium brand in electronics… unfortunatelly I must say that they are not seen that way in the photo industry… and should realize that, meaning that they have to lower their prices. “But it costs so much to produce.. bla bla”… then lower the production costs!
Premium and Pro are two far different things.
Sony photo equipment (I mean A77/99, Zeiss and G Lenses) are premium. Very high built quality and very good haptic.
First reason why they are not seen as pro is the basis of accredited professionals using their gear. And there is no need to argue that Canikon basis of such is much higher.
Second reason is the fact that many pro photographers are of older ages, so they cemented their knowledge on legacy technology that Sony surpassed with SLT and ML.
So many pro consider these new technologies as immature.
Third reason is the fact that many pro photographers working longer in the photo industry are using Canikon and wouldn’t get sufficient additional value if any from changing brand.
What’s your next invention, nuclear fueled cars?
Premium and Pro are two far different things.
Sony photo equipment (I mean A77/99, Zeiss and G Lenses) are premium. Very high built quality and very good haptic.
First reason why they are not seen as pro is the basis of accredited professionals using their gear. And there is no need to argue that Canikon basis of such is much higher.
Second reason is the fact that many pro photographers are of older ages, so they cemented their knowledge on legacy technology that Sony surpassed with SLT and ML.
So many pro consider these new technologies as immature.
Third reason is the fact that many pro photographers working longer in the photo industry are using Canikon and wouldn’t get sufficient additional value if any from changing brand.
No thanks. SLT is dead.
No thanks. I already have an A99.
Fortunately for us buyers Sony has competition.
Canon EOS 6D body can be bought on ebay for $1,500 including free shipping from Hong Kong:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Canon-EOS-6D-20-2-MP-Digital-SLR-Camera-Black-Body-Only-/221222338652?pt=AU_Digital_Cameras&hash=item3381e1005c
For a person without much investment in existing lenses guess which one provides a better value – 6D or A99. This leaves the 6D buyer a handy $1,000 to spend on lenses e.g. 24-104 f/4 USM L IS + filters, spare battery etc. There will be still some change left after careful buying.
I think that A99 would start to be price competitive with D6 and 600D, if the price dropped to about $1,500. Before that, no chance. Hardly any sales at $2,500. If Sony wants to sell A99 in any non-trivial volume they have to match prices of competing competition gear. But I am not sure that they want to compete at the moment. Perhaps they don’t have production capacity or their manufacturing costs are too high, so it will remain overpriced to perform the marketing function of the so called “ambit” model.
There is an exact analog with Sony OLED TVs. Sony released an 11″ (27cm) OLED TV in 2009 at $7,000. Ask them how many have they sold since.
Makes sense. I will buy the A99 if its price is around $2000.
Nothing like penalizing early buyers by offering a huge price drop a few months later. Keep rocking, Sony. You’ve lost another customer for life. I KNEW I was making a mistake!!!
Exactly, this is where Nikon and Canon do much better by keeping their prices steady after introduction. Oh wait. The 5DmkIII dropped about $700 within weeks. I know because a friend bought one at $3500 and felt ripped off when I showed him the $2800 pricetag a few weeks later. Same goes for the D600.
This is not worth it IMO. Buy the deal for 2799$ and you can definitely e-bay lens+grip for 330$ (10% go to eBay), but most likely you will get WAY more than that. I had no issues selling my grip for 299$ (but lets’s say it is so saturated that you have to sell it for 200$), I am sure that you can easily sell the flash for 400$, but even worst-case 300$ will be still saving you more than this 2499$ “deal”.
As for the price, when I was choosing a FF camera, I was choosing between D600 and A99. Given that I needed flash and I was expecting to sell the grip easily, I had no issues choosing A99 as it is the better camera for the same money.
A99’s only advantage over D600 and 6D is EVF, swivel screen and movie mode if you need it. If purely for photography, D600 and 6D are far superior especially with the light gathering and lens selection advantage.
A99 at $2000 new and $1500 used is the correct price.
Well… A99 video mode can not be better than D600 in fact it is one of the worst in Sony line. It even can’t stand against Sony NEX-5n video.
In my opinion A99 is camera that killed A system. It is:
– too expensive (especially in Europe)
– it is the only one FF A camera in production
– it was too late, with months of FF gap in Sony offer
– it has terrible video, SLT was said to be superior video and it sucks so much (A77 has 720 like quality, and A99 compression effects in mobile phone quality)
– it is obsolete technology that doesn’t solve video and AF issues with premium price
The main problem is Sony dreaming about future technologies again. Instead of focus on details and accessories they destroy SLT line and postpone products for “next big technology change”. So far it never worked in A line, and such delays and system holes kill A mount.
I would consider A99 if it was priced below D600. Here D600 is 40% cheaper or in other words A99 is 66% more.
Agreed!
I’d say that your view about superiority of A99 EVF over D600 or 6D OVFs is far from universal. The following broad categories of users often prefer OVF:
– landscape photographers
– glass wearers
– former users of semi-pro and pro SLRs and FF DSLRs that are accustomed to large 100% OVF based on pentaprism design and not the cheap, small and dark pentairror OVFs of many APS-c DSLRs.
EVF vs OVF is very much an individual preference, I believe.
You seem to forget:
– weather sealing
– better AF incl. AF-D and AF range for all lenses
– stabiliser for all lenses
– lenses: quality is more important than quantity (relevant focal lengths are covered by HQ Zeiss glass, some special lenses like the STF are something that CaNikon users are envious about, add Minolta lenses and the number of lenses is higher than for Canon)
– GPS
– higher FPS
– pro-grade shutter (1/8000s)
etc.
The A99 is as good as 6D in low-light and destroys it with respect to dynamic range.
The only advantage you could possibly claim for the D600 is low-light ability.
No thanks, still way too expensive for a camera without a good OVF. Sony should just have a look at the competition to realize this cannot sell well.
$1599.00 – $1799.00 would make more sense.. Especially now that SLT is dead but more because the d600 is $1799.00ish…
It does not help that all the recent negatives re cameras from this buyer involved the Sony brand.
I meant seller not buyer.