Sony A99 used my NG photographer Yamashita.
Focus Numerique (translation here) tested the sport-photography skills of the new Sony A99.In very short they found they where positively surprised by the AF and Video performance while the JPG quality above 3200 ISO may be a bit disappointing. They also didn’t not find an improvement on the A)9 EVF over the A77 although some readers do say quite the opposite like here at dpreview forum.
For the record, the A99 battery grip is now in Stock in Asia (here on Slidoo eBay). I guess it will arrive soon in EU and US too!
A99 in Stock status check at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
16 Responses
digitalrev review the A99: http://youtu.be/B-EYWr40gZM
I received my A99 on Friday and I disagree a little on the AF accuracy … using my Zeiss 24-70 and AF-D sometimes, especially in lower light (e.g. blue hour), the AF starts pumping and loses focus.
Furtheron I hate the fact that all AF points are located at the center area-box … thats a big disappointment for me…
BUT the images are awesome … with the right light the AF-D is brilliant … I am happy with my A99 I just hope for some Software Fixes on the AF… hope lasts till the end.
I am one of those people who use spot focussing exclusively so i guess the focus points all in the centre will be a huge advantage for me.
seems like a great cam.
I’ve had mine close to a week too and agree with you completely about the AF-D. It’s great when it works (with a compatible lens), but annoying otherwise. Also the tracking focus is a bit rough and slow. I shot a bike race, and it was really hard to get them in focus fast enough to shoot, so I went home and shot my kids riding their bikes much slower as an experiment (also with better light and contrast and different directions of movement) — same problem. So getting that perfectly in-focus shot of the running cheetah, as in the Sony promotional video, might be a tad aspirational. One of the problems with the tracking focus is that all the focus points are concentrated in the center of the frame. If the subject moves outside . . . no focus.
Also just the general slowness of the camera is disturbing. There’s a fraction of a second of shutter lag, even with in-focus subjects, unlike the a77. Also, to review the just-taken picture, the delay is annoyingly longer than the a77. We’re talking less than a second, but you notice.
I’ve noticed a few bugs in the firmware, and have let Sony know. One of them: MF doesn’t work with the full lineup of Sony lenses. The 85 2.8 and 35 1.8 that I tested could not be set to MF in the a99’s focus mode selector. Granted, those aren’t the top-of-the-line lenses, but it’s surprising MF isn’t supported for them. Other lenses don’t work with all features, namely depth-mapping using the 102 sensors, and the AF-Range limiter, which is a nice feature, even though the values displayed for distance don’t match reality. Surprising that the DMF, which is an auto-focus-assisted manual focus mode, which ideally sounds great for macro shooting, doesn’t work with the 100mm 2.8 Sony macro lens.
Some, if not most, of the problems should be solved by new firmware. The only thing I’m afraid we’ll have to live with forever is the narrow complement of AF points.
Regular readers of this site know all too well about firmware and how important it is not to purchase a camera body with the hope and expectation that Sony will fix a problem or add a feature through a later firmware release. Bugs that show-up after the camera is released is one thing but hopes that Sony through firmware will make a camera faster or better in some way has proven in the past to be a mistake and cause disappointment.
Most likely it will stay like it is reagrding Sony cameras and FW upgrades.
However I don’t agree concerning the A99.
Sony already comitted to release FW in early 2013 in order to support AF-D for the other prime lenses including Zeiss 85 and 135, the 70-200G and the 100 Macro.
Taking also into account Sony’s intention to convince pro’s that Sony is a good choice for them; then they need to stick to their roadmap.
Secondly they plan to release the highend model A1 (or what name ever).
If they fail with support for the A99 this may have effect on the A1.
With the 85/2.8, you have to use the switch on the lens to switch to MF.
I can confirm this partially.
I took my A99 with me to a cats exhibition yesterday.
Their was no good light except for the stage, so I have choosen f2.8 and ISO 1600 (some photos taken at 3200 and some at 6400).
I had my Zeisses 24-70 and 85 with me.
As I didn’t have had much time spent on playing with my A99 it was not much customized in the way I’m usually doing so (NR is set to off, capture mode was set to raw&jpeg).
Pictures from the stage were very nice right away. In the poorly lit areas the AF had certain difficulties to work accuratly. Changed settings from AF-A to AF-S and AF helplight to off, which improved a lot, but still something left to be desired. Oddly the 85/1.4 did face much fewer AF problems (chose same aperture 2.8).
The AF-D (worked only on the 24-70) faced the same performance prob, but on the well lit stage area it was a pleasure too use.
Picture quality was overall very good. Also high ISO was convincing.
Noise was acceptable up to 6400 on a monitor, 6×4″ prints on the selphy800 looked perfect. Personally I found very visible loss of detail a bigger issue starting already at 1600. The above relates to the jpegs out of the camera.
Processing raw shows a significant different outcome. Already standard improvment with DFine and SharpenerPro led to a much better results.
That’s basically ok, but for me personally it leaves something to be desired reagrding an upcoming FW upgrade – improvment on the in-camera processing.
I wonder who decided where to put the AF sensor… and who decided how big/fast the buffer should be for A99 …
After this ‘numerique’ review I would wait for a real-life situation camera
It is rather disappointing, frustrating: are these centered focus points arranged in such way so they are in the margins when taking pictures at a lower resolution?
If that is the case, should anyone be able to modify where the focus points are via firmware?
That could be a deal-breaker for me
Lenses – Lenses – Lenses
Every morning as I’m walking to the shower, I’m pulling up this site on my phone hoping to see a big fat SR1 about some big plan from Sony to re-engineer its current full-frame lens catalog with something as new and technically revolutionary as its recent bodies and sensors. Learning as I have by reading posts here about how few of the current lens line-up takes full advantage of the new a99 gives me pause and makes me believe even more that ether the a99 is the last of the line and Sony feels no need to repair the A-Mount or something is going to happen soon that will make all of this clear and show that Sony has method to its madness.
Dear Admin, which is it?
^^This doesn’t make any sense. Which lens that you’re so desperate in need? The 16-35 and 24-70 are pretty much class-leading. Even the 70-200 is still pretty good. Sony Alpha line-up does have all of the core offerings in zooms. As for support, you will have to be patient. Sony shows that they are listening to the customers, but the imaging division is not as competent as others. They move at slow pace, but they will get there. That doesn’t mean they will abandon the Alpha mount as you said. What is up with all the doom and gloom talk…
need 400mm F2,8 !!!
or at least 400 mm F4!!!
The key lenses (at least that I use) are currently supported by the full feature complement of the A99. That’s the 2470Z and the 70400G, plus the 5014. Sony has already said more lenses are coming in the next firmware update for early 2013, and why not believe them? I read the other Zeiss lenses, including the 85 and 135 will be in that update, which is welcome news.
The problem with the spacing on the sensor array and the regular contrast sensors is not going to change with any firmware. That’s a definite minus to the camera in my mind, and if it’s a deal-breaker for some, so be it. As I mentioned before, however, I’ve had the camera less than a week, so I’m hoping my shooting will adapt and I’ll come to love it.
As for your comment on Sony glass, I agree and disagree. The Zeiss glass is awesome. The 70400G is great. The Zeiss primes lack SSM, which is a shame. They lack a high-quality zoom in the super-wide range, no tilt-shifts at all, and no weather-proofing. So they need to start incorporating SSM and weather-sealing into some updated Zeiss and G lenses, and expand the line just slightly. But optically, there are still plenty of great options.
I think I, and maybe a few others, are a little disappointed that the a99 isn’t living up to our over-hyped hopes. Just having a full-frame is a huge upgrade in still image quality, and the feature set is really good. The problems, well, either Sony fixes them (which I’m confident they will), or I’ll learn to live with them.
then where are the new lenses А-mount ?
Battery grips are in stock in the UK at http://www.wexphotographic.com, mine arrived Saturday with a shiny A99.
Si