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in US and Canada the A99 can now be bought for less than $2,400 at [shoplink 18364 ebay]Electro Electro store on eBay (New York)[/shoplink] and at [shoplink 18365 ebay]CamWatch store on eBay (Toronto)[/shoplink]. Theses are likely bodies sold from the original $2799 superkit offer (here at Amazon).
But the price is still a couple of hundreds higher than the cheapest Nikon and Canon FF models. I hope that the next FF model coming in early 2014 may be a super cheap FF DSLR 🙂
33 Responses
any word on E mount zoom lenses ?
Look the shipping fee…it’s the same price than before for the body+shipping.
They can make it 2000$ with 400$ shipping !!
😉
NY store has “FREE Standard Shipping”. Canadian Store has $95 USPS Priority Mail International. So where do you see the $400?
I do not want a ‘super cheap’ Sony FF DSLR. I want a quality affordable Full Frame still camera from Sony that’s competitively priced. Doesn’t even need to offer video IMHO.
The problem is that anything released today without video gets criticized for that. It has pretty much become a standard feature. But I don’t see it as a problem – if I don’t feel like taking video, I can ignore that function completely.
Wait a little longer, and the a99 might drop down to the $2000 mark. That’s as close as you’ll get to a quality affordable FF still camera from Sony. (or go for the older a850 – still very good IQ, but high ISOs aren’t as good, and there’s no live view)
“if I don’t feel like taking video, I can ignore that function completely” is not quite true. A99 for example introduced some “video-optimized features” that actually hinder photo taking IMO. I’m talking about the “silent wheel” that replaced the focus mode selector of A77. It takes a click and look at display/VF to switch focusing modes on A99 vs. grab the knob, turn and count clicks on A77. No need to look at the display…
A77 I agree that some video-optimized features have hindered the photo side of the A99, and I mean extremely minorly, but your qualm with the silent wheel doesn’t make sense- When adjusting a setting you are either looking through the VF or the Live view screen. Both show what is being adjusted with the controller…
I have 2 A99s and 1 A850 that are used professionally for weddings and commercial work in and out of the studio. What I miss most honestly is the steady shot button- I don’t like going into a menu for this, as it must be disabled for tripod shooting, or helps to turn off when not needed to save battery life. The camera in general feels a tiny less solid compared to the A900.
The IQ and DR of the A99 more than make up for this however, and the advantages offered by EVF are fantastic. I am overall very satisfied with these cameras (and I paid full price for one, the free bg and flash on the other).
Like New Sony A99’s are selling on Amazon for less than $2200 but yet still noone is buying and I see the prices dropping every couple of days. Is the Sony A99 pretty much dead (I have one myself and it takes great pictures when paired with a sharp len but maybe people are holding out until next year when new models are released…it is a shame as I can see my camera depreciate by 50% or more)…
No one is waiting …Alpha is dead face it. A99 should have been cheaper than D600 or owrse n par with it. End of the day it is slightly worse camera than D600…Sony are far behind Nikon. Sony had some chance wiht this model last year and they blew it big time. I was really upset at the time and parted with about 20 lenses and now have only one lens and Nikon body and feel happier with it.
And how is the A99 worse than the D600?
Vlad, it is more noisy, has slightly worse AF.
So, these two things make the A99 a worse camera? What about the IBIS, swivel LCD, GPS, 1/8000 shutter, the rather amazing live view, having a live histogram, focus peaking and whatnot?
But the A99 offers IS on all primes, better colour separation and quite a bit faster initial AF lock. And let’s not list all the other features setting the A99 apart, much better and faster LV being the most prominent one. Also, if you’re using one of the 26 lenses that work with AF-D, the A99 has a similar horizontal AF coverage and a considerably larger vertical coverage.
Wow you guys are kidding me! The AF of my A99 is keeping right up with my partner’s D4s – we shoot a lot of weddings and mitzvahs where the intros consist of some insane child running into a dimly-lit room and I get just as many keepers, if not more than he does! Maybe I just know what AF mode to use and how to pan? Who knows…
If you can’t afford the A99, that’s too bad… it is a premium item and you get what you pay for. If as pointed out above, you define a camera by noise performance, then you seriously have absolutely no idea what goes into making a picture. In this day and age noise is a rather moot point. I shoot weddings in “dim churches” and such, if you have to go above 3200iso (or even 1600iso for that matter), your technique and especially your comprehension of lighting needs some attention more than your camera’s DXO score.
I just got done editing a 3800 image catalog from a recent bat mitzvah- mixture of files from the A99, D4, D800, and 5DmkIII (we all shoot our own systems)- The A99 and D4/D800 were indistinguishable once the catalog was complete and shuffled. One thing I couldn’t believe was how terrible the DR was on the 5DmkIII! If any images were 1 or 2 stops underexposed, I couldn’t recover any information from the shadows in comparison to the A99 (and obviously the D4)!
And poolaboo idk about you but why care about monetary depreciation? This doen’t affect the images that come out of your camera- and I personally use my cameras until they are DEAD. I don’t sell them every 6 months and switch brands to the newest low-noise plastic POS like apparently 90% of the posters here do. With the latest rumors about the new mirorless cameras coming out, I have faith that my 2 A99s and A850 (the A850 is still going 4 years strong, 1 A900 died) will keep me in business and keep my clients happy.
For some background I did start originally on canon, had a brief run with Nikon (D3X) and eventually moved back to Sony- for me I just prefer the color, ergonomics, and unique features the sony bodies offer me and my shooting style… but to each his own. I just get the impression many posters here are extremely short-sighted and inexperienced and focusing on the wrong issues here…
http://www.frankwithersphoto.com
this commenting system STINKS
FWP, one of the best rants I’v read 🙂
Higher IQ, better AF module.
I guess all the Canon users should just toss their 5d3’s and 1dx’s since according to DXO the d600 has significantly better IQ.
Let’s not play dumb we all know that these scores don’t tell the whole story of how good a camera is. Besides are the unique features of the A99 it also has a pro body build. Something that the less expensive D600 and 6D lack.
So if the A99 sucks what does that say about Canon? Those camera’s must be total POS’s I guess.
http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Cameras/Compare-Camera-Sensors/Compare-cameras-side-by-side/(appareil1)/834|0/(brand)/Nikon/(appareil2)/795|0/(brand2)/Canon/(appareil3)/753|0/(brand3)/Canon
do not know for US but in Europe anything aboe 1500 Euro is suicide for A99. To be honest I already switched gears to Nikon and am perfectly happy – much better cameras much costs less cache.
Sony need to prune heavily their products and native Alpha mount cameras have no place in the roadmap. They need ot make something nice, exciting and well priced like NEX-5 & NEX-3 were, like NEX-6 and NEX-5R and NEX-3N are. A bit cheaper (15-20%) than Nikon and Canon a bit better – faster, nicer, more modern lenses. Sony are not leader of the pack to afford 20-30% higher price than nikon for product that is slightly worse. It is Canon’s job to be doing this.
Yeah, if they could make it 90% cheaper than competing models and 3 times better, I guess it’d be good enough for you.
Sony asks too much for what they do.
There’s no reason for A99 to cost SO much, esp. in Europe: cheap AF module, less move parts than in D600. So it should cost the same or even slightly more than D600, not 1.5 times more (up to 2 times in Europe).
I wouldn’t argue the pricing in Europe, it is insane.
For me, the A99 is clearly competing with the D800/5D3 and shouldn’t be dragged to the entry-level FFs (though there are a few considerations here to take into account). The problem in that sense is SOny not having a cheaper FF, not the quality of the A99.
Absolutely correct, after the success of the 5DII with it’s video capabilities they clearly targeted the A99 as competition to it’s successor.That’s where it’s price point comes from.
With all those bashing the A99 for it’s price, one wonders how Canon is still managing to sell 5DIIIs after they have released the wonderfully cheap 6D. You really have to look at the whole package and then the A99 does not look all that bad.
That’s the problem, not so much the pricing.
Pretend different mounts didn’t exist for a second and your current lenses would work on any of them. Would you pick A99, D800 or 5DIII if you could choose any one of the three? For me, it wouldn’t be the 99.
If Sony wants to compete at that level, they need to make a camera that competes. The freefall pricing on the A99 is capitalism’s way of saying they haven’t.
Carl, I am not sure I am following. And, I would definitely pick the A99 between the three of those.
I’d pick the a99 if it had D800 sensor and 5D jpg engine… or the flash system of either.
Otherwise the a900 satisfies more each day.
The 5DmkIII jpg engine is nice at high ISO’s, minus red channel smearing and edge sharpening halos compared to Nikon. But at lower ISO’s it’s the worst. Same sharpening halos but what’s worse, even at base ISO it kills the most low contrast detail, especially in greens and earthy colours in general. Which makes it a horrible engine for landscape shooting.
Problem now is getting people to pay premium price for a dead system, not just an overpriced system. Dead is dead, and people know it, hence the lack of sales. But the inventory will collect dust, and that should be an interesting footnote in camera history.
What lack of sales?
You should get out while you still can and get a Nikon.
Sony got hit on the blind side. They would of made an a88 priced at 1600 if they knew about the d600. Canon probably found out just in time to squeeze out the unfinished d6.
And I would buy that A88, I bought my A900 for 1200 just recently. so honestly I would prefer the A88 for 1600 like a nikon D600 or Canon 6D
Interestingly, D600 can be gotten on ebay for $1,500 including shipping from Hong Kong. A99 is still $2,400 there. So, the price distance between the two actually increased. The price difference of $900 easily buys Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM, which is an excellent stabilised lens and still leaves money for SD card, spare battery and a polarising filter.
I would suggest that the SOny A99 had the same listpreis (27XX)
in Dollar and in € ??
That is the first bad Point !
I own the A77 and think about the A99 but with all the rumors (Alpha is dead bla bla) and the SOny rumors, ….FF with E-Mount, and especially of the acutell big Price difference to D800, ist hard to stay with SOny ?