Hold on guys….is this really Ken Rockwell using kind words on the new Sony A99? 🙂 After years of Nikon-Canon DSLR reviews he actually got the A99 and guess what…he really likes the camera! I am just copying and pasting a part of his conclusion. Feel free to read the full article on his blog:
As soon as you realize that this is a high-performance full-frame mirrorless camera that just happens to look like a DSLR and takes MAXXUM and Sony SLR lenses, it all makes sense. I really like the images I can make with the A99. White balance and color are very good for people shots under any light, and exposure and focus are always magically dead-on. Regular DSLRs like the Nikon D600 and Canon 6D aren’t as consistent; I get to the right shot faster with the A99 than I can with a real DSLR that requires more fiddling to get the first good shot.
So finally, even long time Nikon-Canon owners are starting to see some of the greatness of Sony cameras. And I really can’t wait to see their reaction when the new cameras will be out in 2014!
And the price of the A99 is getting a tiny bit more “Interesting” too. Thansk to the great A99 superkit offer (here at Amazon) you can find the body only for a lower price on eBay at [shoplink 18663 ebay]Camwatch ($2,348.00)[/shoplink], [shoplink 18664 ebay]Samys ($2,449.00)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 18665 ebay]Electro Electro ($2,449.00)[/shoplink]. Superkit offers are also available at BHphoto (Click here). Not bad!
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79 Responses
The world is coming to an end.
You do know that today is not April 1st don’t you
Of course he likes it: he just got another free mention and link to drive more traffic to his site. I don’t know if he knows something about photography but he sure knows how to live off a website by making others keep linking to his articles. Let me guess: when he stops milking this site he will make an article about how he has finally seen the light and has learned to love Micro Four Thirds, the greatest thing ever. And of course he will get more free links from sites like 43rumors. Until he finds another source or way to keep the links coming….
Thanks I got a browser extension to stop his site spamming my Google search results!
Would you kindly post a link to that? That is more interesting and useful. 🙂
just include “-site:[any dude site]” to your search term to exclude specific site from your search result. Example “alpha rumors -site:sonyalpharumors.com”. I’m using google if that matter.
Who cares about what he says anyways? If you are interested in something, read from the less opinionated sites. Reading Ken Rockwell is like reading the New York Post, or the Sun, or any tabloid for that matter.
Worthless literature meant to instigate a reaction on anyone. He was useful when I didn’t know better.
>a high-performance full-frame mirrorless camera
I see this guy (whoever this is) really took his time to familiarize himself with the SLT concept…
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:UfAcxEzFVngJ:www.kenrockwell.com/sony/a99.htm
Forgot Ken Rockwell, his reviews are full of mistakes and misinformation. There are much better blogs and reviews out there. Stop feeding him please. He only pops up on Google because he has so many camera names on his website.
+1
Just look at the “Full Frame Mirrorless Camera” point that he’s making. Its not mirrorless.
I wouldnt say its “mirror”. Its just there for AF to work. In dSLR you have mirror so you could actually see things. Here its just for AF and if you want, you can simply remove it and except loosing AF, you wont loose anything else (and you get FF mirrorless). You can gain a bit of exposure and maybe even sharper image by doing so.
When you’re reviewing a product, you have to be precise. Mirrorless camera refers to absolutely nothing in the light path. He could have said a static mirror design, DSLT, SLT, Pellicle, translucent and whatever else, but it is not mirrorless regardless of what the mirror in DSLTs is made to do.
No, it is a mirrored camera, you could say it is a non-reflex mirror, and this isn’t really true either since the mirror can reflex for cleaning purposes. This is why it has its name, pellicle membrane (thin transparent membrane) that reflects (mirrors) a third of the light to the focus system. It is certainly a mirror and totally incorrect to call it a mirrorless camera, it is worse than calling an SLR a mirrorless camera since the mirror isn’t in the light path for picture taking 🙂
I used to respect Ken Rockwell back when I was shooting film on a 4×5 press camera. He is pretty good at that. In his article about the A99 he stated no less than 8 times that the A99 was a “mirrorless” camera. Did he even change lenses on this camera for the review? If he had he would see his own reflection in the translucent MIRROR. How can a guy like this speak with any authority if he can’t even get the specs right in a product he himself reviewed? Open mouth, insert foot (at least 7 times)
If you are going to review a product, at least RTFM!!! (read the #&$%@ manual)
Well. By definition, that mirror can not be “translucent” so you’re wrong just like he is by calling it mirror less. I don’t particularly care much for the majority of his reviews and think he contradicts his main ethos “your camera doesn’t matter” by the way he jumps back and forth between saying crop sensors are toys but then will say the only reason to get full frame is for the viewfinder.
That said, the guy makes a living off a photography blog or website whatever you call it. So what, I like seeing people make a living doing what they enjoy. And I do like that he isn’t constantly pushing people to buy newer and more expensive gear all the time. In a way that aspect is refreshing.
He has a long history of bad mouthing sony still cameras for some reason though.
Then, by definition, no AF DSLRs have a mirror, since all AF DSLR mirrors are translucent.
Just like an SLT, they have to split the incoming light.
DSLR:
Reflected light goes to the viewfinder.
Passing through light goes to the AF sensors.
SLT:
Reflected light goes to the AF sensors.
Passing through light goes to the main sensor.
Not really. The reflex mirror in an SLR is not translucent. Nothing passes “through” it. It has to flip out of the way, its opaque. Translucent means that something will allow light to pass through but the image is not recognizable. Think of a frosted glass window or a flash diffuser. Those are translucent. There isn’t anything in an slr or SLT that is translucent.
An slr mirror reflects the image to the af module and viewfinder and then flips up to take the picture. Nothing about any of that is translucent.
Both of you should try to think a little:
The AF sensors are placed in the bottom of a DSLR camera. The viewfinder is placed in the top of the camera. How do you think that light ends up at both the AF sensors and the viewfinder at the same time?
Edit: Not “both of you”. I didn’t see that it was two replies written by the same person.
You are partly right, according to the dictionary definition of transluscent it means diffusing the light like frosted glass does, however you are incorrect in saying nothing passes through. Both SLR mirrors and SLT mirrors are semi-transparent in portions. SLR mirrors pass light through to the autofocus sensors. The sensors are at the bottom, not up in the viewfinder, and the only way to get light to them is to pass it through the mirror. In the SLT case, the entire mirror is semi-transparent and passes 70% of the light and directs 30% up to the autofocus sensors (and maybe other sensors).
Eric, that definition of translucent clearly does not cover the mirror in the SLTs either. So no, even with that definition he is not partly correct.
Also slr cameras do not split the light. It all goes to the viewfinder and then it all goes to the sensor that is why you can’t use the viewfinder for video or live view–no light splitting. It’s all or nothing in an slr
That is not entirely true; how would the camera focus then while viewing the image through the viewfinder? The traditional reflex mirror system uses a beam splitter (implemented as a small semi-transparent area of the main reflex mirror, coupled with a small secondary mirror) to direct light to an AF sensor at the bottom of the camera (Wikipedia).
The difference between SLT and SLR is that in the former the mirror is a whole lot more transparent and not moving while taking a picture. Accordingly, it doesn’t let light through for PDAF, but it reflects light to the PDAF module.
TJ, since it seems that you need to learn SLR concepts a little, here’s the breakdown in a single picture for you:
http://www.claudesadik.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/DSLR-Schema3.jpg
And… here’s one more. This one actually says that ‘most’ of the light goes through to ViewFinder and some to AF module:
http://www.reikan.co.uk/focalweb/index.php/why/how-autofocus-works/
Lol, people point out that A99 isn’t mirrorless but don’t know that every DSLR mirror is partially translucent? Oh come on… these are the basics!
Has anyone given the camera a bad review? It’s the price, really that is keeping people away.
For the most part, the reviews have been very positive (aside from the pricing aspect) but I’ve seen some complaints about the video being mushy. I don’t have the camera (still use A900) so I don’t agree or disagree with the video reviews. However, I am interested in picking this camera up in the future.
And he compares it with Canon 6D and Nikon d600. That’s a sad comparison.
Who is Ken Rockell?
+1 on who the hell Ken, sounds like a journey man who likes the sweetest pay master to me.
Si
I was wondering the same.
The folks saying he didn’t understand that the A99 has a fixed translucent mirror didn’t read the review:
“the A99 is not a DSLR: it has no reflex mirror, it has no optical viewfinder and it has no reflex viewing screen. It is not a DSLR; it is a big mirrorless camera with only an electronic viewfinder. (It has a fixed beamsplitter to help the AF system; that’s not a reflex viewing mirror.)”
Indeed it is just a matter of definitions. Many people call the SLT cameras mirrorless since there is no reflex mirror, but just a beam splitter or semi transparent mirror, not mirroring an image but an AF beam. Whatever the correct definition may be according your preference, the A99 is a totally different beast compared to all other FF cameras. And it just happens to be that Ken likes it, and now the anti-Ken brigade suits up. I don’t understand, since most Sony fanboys like me also like the A99!?
it’s not a mirrorless either as clearly: there is a mirror. You can even see your own reflection in it if you take it out.
Ken Rockwell went crazy a long time ago. That guy is a major joke.
He could change his site into Swahili Pig Latin and it would not lose any value.
What’s new? Canon and Nikon did not pay him well, so Ken started trolling them again. 🙂
Ken, can you tell us the truth? how much money did you get from Sony? 😉
Sony paid me 2.7 million dollars! It says “Monopoly” on it…not sure what’s up with that!
Ken rocks, well.
Not suprising he likes it. For photographer, there really isnt much downsides. And suprisingly he is photographer and pretty decent one.
Sure hes bit oversimplifying facts, but most of the time hes right. I like his site, cause when you use that bit of brain you have, then there is plenty of good stuff.
is great! Many people is seeing up to Ken Rockwell! All the great reviews we got to the A99 help Sony to get closer to Nikon and Canon. Maybe is giving Sony a powerboost to produce more cameras, and a hope to the future.
I own an A99, and I have tried the D600, D800 and Mark III. I can find so many things Sony did better! Like Mark III can’t analyzing the light when you changing the ISO in manual, and there is many buttons on left side (with a hard to reach if you having attached a heavy lens on) . The D600 and D800 have same problem with the buttons. The A99 digital finder, makes so many things a lots easier as Ken Rockwell says beautifully.
And so we have the Carl Zeiss lenses… Nothing beat them, and with stabilization on all of them makes is just better 🙂
Canikon, you’re stuck in 1990.
lol indeed between them Nikon and Canon had 90% plus of the pro market in the 1990s and what do you know they still have 90%+ of the pro market in 2013.
Sony are a treacherous abandon all company who will push every gadget under the sun while having zero appeal to the huge majority of camera buyers ( hence their terrible financial results) .They are a company with a very low trust factor . Have you considered looking through the EVF and actually composing a few shots , then you will perhaps not need to take 5600 shots , you should be ashamed to admit that , try it its amazing how far a little skill will take you even if you are t the wedding for 12 hours you are taking 466 shots an hour or roughly one every 7 secs
That’s nice and all, but if he thinks “getting the exposure right” is a major advantage, he’s still not even USING IT CORRECTLY.
I shot 5600 images at a wedding on Saturday with an a99…..total number of shots that weren’t exposed exactly the way I wanted? ZERO. Total number of white balance mistakes? ZERO. Total number of times I REVIEWED a shot to see if I got it right? ZERO.
Because the one thing he doesn’t understand, and that 90% of industry still doesn’t get, is LIVE VIEW IS WHAT MAKES THE SLTs KINGS!~ I use full manual, and decide exposure for every shot, and never…………..EVER…….get one wrong. That’s especially valuable when I like to shoot TOWARDS light sources and shoot silhouettes or other creative exposures…
…no “shoot and review,” no “chimping.” Just make the decision, take the shot, get it EXACTLY right, and move on.
Good luck Canikon, you’re stuck in 1990.
You shot 5600 images at a wedding. You didn’t shoot a wedding, you made a frickin movie. I don’t understand, wedding photography is about capturing the moment. There aren’t 5600 moments in a wedding. Did you provide the couple with a proof album with 5600 prints? They will be divorced by the time they go through that album with the family. I’m an old school film photographer and it would take me several wedding seasons to shoot 5600 images. 6FPS isn’t wedding mode. What do you do with 5600 images of a couple?
Thank you Dave for pointing out the painfully obvious that no one seems to get. I totally agree with you. I shoot with an a65 and have split access to a D800, and it’s painful to go back to a DSLR for exactly the reasons you mention. I made the purchase decision on the D800 based on two things: the DXO labs ISO score on the a99 (which I now know is a totally flawed test, and will never visit that site again) and the video quality out of the a99, which, sadly, is lacking. But were I to make that purchase decision again, I’d probably go with the a99.
Also, I shot a wedding with my a65 and the CZ2470 (plus other lenses) and ended up with over 5,000 exposures. To people who shot on film or who are top tier professionals- usually the same crowd at this point- 5,000 exposures sounds insane. But things work differently in the minds of those who never had to pay for film and see every shot as a potential candidate in post. IMO.
Ken Rockwell reminds me of David Hughes at soundimageplus.blogspot.com
Who gave the biggest crap on the NikonV1 when it was announced and caused some damage for the guys at Nikon, but then half a year later changed his mind completely when he bought one. Now he is a fanboy calling v1 as the best mirrorless system in his blog titles while keep making his usual over saturated pictures with it.
Why do you keep giving this guy free publicity?
Would you please let us know if you get anything from him in return? If so, then ok, but if not, why do you keep mentioning this guy at all? Who cares what he thinks, you just drive traffic to his site and keep publishing what he thinks. Of course, it is your site, but c’mon, he is really not that important in photo world.
testing if comment is going to be published
Popular Photography gave the A99 a great review! I won’t post the link, but the article is easy to find on their site.
I’ve been squawking about wanting a high mp cam – but I really have no beefs with the colour and rendition of my 850 with either the CZ 24-70 or 70-200G, realizing I use these in all sorts of light in the great outdoors.
e.g.s below:
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/27428244
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/26263413
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/30402130
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/26974119
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/31847253
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/28958610
yeah…its time for Sony to use some knowledge gained on the F65 and F55 …and put it in these new cams ..! 😀
I always feel like somebody’s watching me.
Who’s Ken Rockwell and who cares!
I’m all too convinced that A99 is a great camera and all… but Ken Rockwell is making the same exact mistake (among many others) as many of the people on here make time and time again…
He’s comparing the camera with the D600/6D. -_-
And why not? I do not think that A99 is in the same class as 1Dx or even 5D Mk III. The AF is much better in these two Canon FF bodies. For people who shoot action this is vital. On the other hand the 6D is a nice FF travel camera with simplified AF in the centre of the frame and A99 has a set of capabilities that are very similar.
if anything – it got a very similar set of features to 5D mkIII / D800.
+1000
a99 should be competing with 5D mkIII and D800
Well, objectively looking at it, A99 does not have the sophisticated, state of the art, large field AF system of 5D MK III. On the other hand, it does not have the 36 Mp sensor that is the D800 main differentiator. In fact 5D MK III and D800 are very different cameras optimised for different things. 5D MK III is optimised for action, and D800 for landscape.
And A99 for exposure control / video. Each on it’s own, but still – roughly the same segment of a market.
Isn’t this the same guy who didn’t like the RX1 because the colors where off? Don’t the A99 and RX1 have the same sensor?
A Sony dealer finally got to Ken Rockwell and gave him some stuff.
Read his A100 review, it is hilarious. He complains about a lack of buttons and then gushes that he only shoots with the D40…yeah because that had loads of buttons Ken…what an idiot.
Everytime someone quotes Ken Rockwell a kitten dies.
Admin, please do a poll to see how many of your readers are interested in what k.rockwell has to say.
I am trying to understand why he makes a really big deal about grouping it with mirrorless cameras. Not one time does he mention “SLT” except where model numbers are listed. He does talk about the translucent mirror, but he makes a big point of calling the a99 a mirrorless camera. I can only think this is some kind of condescension, but I am trying to understand why. Clearly, SLT is distinct from mirorrless cameras, but maybe because Sony is the only company making them, they don’t exist since Sony isn’t a real camera company making real DSLR’s. I thought it was interesting getting his perspective, but I got bit annoyed with his intentional and overly descriptive references to the a99 as a mirrorless that clearly ignore what it is. Its not even that he wants to call it a mirrorless, its that he wants to make sure you believe his intentional ignorance too. Nice to see the rest of the world is slowly recognizing the great features of the Sony system.
Surprised no one has considered (even if tongue in cheek) that this is a setup by him. Why praise the a99 now…after the decision to no longer develop SLTs? He can now say that Sony finally got it right and are such idiots that they killed the technology that worked. He can blast the next offering with renewed vigor.
This is in line with what Photoclubalpha said in their review. The A99 delivers very consistent results in any situation.
http://www.photoclubalpha.com/2012/12/27/sonys-alpha-99-mastery-wrapped-in-dilemma/
I don’t believe that the Sony EVF/SLT is much of a boost for wedding photographers or portrait photographers despite what you say.
The accurate exposure control on SLT EVFs only works if you’re not using flash or studio strobes. Once you are using flash then the EVF can never show you exactly what your shot will look like because it can’t fully take the flash contribution into account especially if you’re shooting bounced or with a non-system flash like studio strobes.
If you’re a wedding photographer you will definitely use flash a lot of the time and thus the EVF monitoring does not make any difference and you will need to be good at setting proper flash exposure just as if you were using a traditional DSLR except that SONY’s flash system is very inaccurate and not as configurable/powerful as that on the higher end Nikons.
I have seen many wedding photographers at work, but I never saw them using flash. Ever heard of trying to capture the atmosphere? If a photographer takes his flash equipment out of his bag on my wedding, I would surely ask him to leave.
On and off camera flash have been in the wedding photographers bag since before you were born. Capturing the atmosphere is one thing, capturing the moment is what you get paid for. Spray and pray without flash isn’t going to cut it.
Flash like all tools can be used very well or very poorly .As a wedding photographer I use flash quite extensively though mainly for fill lights outside indoors flash is often not allowed.Hence why so many wedding shooter jumped on the D3/s when they came a long. Flash is like make up the idea is to use it so cleverly that you wouldn’t know it was used lol. I use mainly Nikon gear for work though I am a Nex 7 user for most personal stuff , honestly the combination of good high ISO and really excellent CLS flash is pretty hard to beat in this arena.
Rockwell makes many good points that pixel-peeping tech trolls feel an incessant need to debate and refute. Give it a rest.
Canon 6D, Nikon D600 and Sony A99 are all amazing cameras that are light years ahead of any top-tier pro SLR two or even one decade ago. And 20 years ago, pictures looked great. Kids and amateurs on flickr and instagram are capturing more “decisive moments” and making more art than the entire pro population. Quitchabitchin and just take some damn pictures. Rockwell would rank all of us as photographer “Level 0: Online Expert”. http://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/7.htm
I was a Minolta user starting in 1970. The cameras were great and truly dependable. The only downside that I encountered was the result of sitting on it with the flash attached. I was truly downtrodden when Minolta was unable to make the transition to digital because of the APS cameras and had to move to Nikon. The Nikon has never felt or handled the same as the Minolta and I have never been as pleased as I was with the Minolta line. I do believe Sony can take the line of cameras back to its glory days when it delivered as Minolta and now far into the future of photography as Sony.
I work on A99 in two weeks, i shoot many photos, DR and AF is fine, but NOISE over ISO 1600 = no comments, really, this is no comparison to 6D or D600, verdict = A99 to BIN…
KR is KR, i like him in some strange kind of way.. still use my ancient a200 though.. make money with it, so no need yet for a sony a99, mine still works and i haven’t got a problem with that..
Well, no doubt the A99 is a great camera so not too strange that KR likes it after having tried one. Especially if it’s better designed than the lesser models (the position of the exposure compensation button, which I use regularly, was quite problematic for me last time I checked a couple of SLT models out)
I’ve been skeptical to the NEX line for a long time but, to tell the truth, I managed to sneak a few seconds and hold a nex-5r and just see how it feels and I actually liked it. Not the same as a full size camera but as an alternative to a compact camera it felt nice with the supplied lens. Definitely something I could consider to carry around or bring with me on a daily basis. Just not for when I’m shooting models. I want a good viewfinder for that.
Can one rely on Sony’s flash system?I know Pentx is crap. Forget Nikon, does it compare well to Canon’s flash system in terms of exposure accuracy and consistency?
Built-in GPS seals it for me.