Sony Japan (Translation here) posted an interview with the Sony A99 engineers. There isn’t really interesting stuff to read. They just repeat how the goal was ultimately to have a high image quality and a “three-dimensional sense of resolution”
And you remember Paul Genge from Sony UK? He doens’t work for Sony anymore and started a new website called CameraDiner.com. I wish him good luck!!!
Some more Sony news:
Sony A99 ISO test by ThePictureDesk. On Picasaweb you can find a new A99 versus A900 image comparison. Many testing videos on Mobile01. RX1 at Quesabesde. Sony Declines to Comment on Report of Tie-Up Talks With Olympus (Bloomberg). Sony NEX-6 vs Olympus OM-D E-M5 Comparison (ePhotozine).
48 Responses
Paul, my man, what are you doing you thick idiot?!
While I do wish him the best of luck with his new project, I couldn’t refrain from laughing reading that. It is by all means a quite odd move.
Thanks for your comment, I hope I neither thick, or an idiot. But I was made redundant by Sony within the 10,000 people reduction of people globally that was reported recently by Alpha Rumors and others.
This is why I am launching my own venture. Its small today but I have ambitions to grow the website to a new alternative using live new media. The first livestream TV show will be on the website tonight at 7pm (UK) / 8pm (CET) / 2pm (DET)
Typical bean counters. It’s just the latest example of how incompetent Sony are at marketing their products, they simply fail to understand that people are the best marketing strategy.
Sorry to hear about the redundancy as you call it, hope your current and future projects will pay off. Good luck!
He “leaved” Sony?
sony leaved him! the bigmouf
what’s wrong with that?
“Left” not ‘leaved’.
hehe. Good point. Either way – people change jobs all the time. No idea why so much of a generic surprise and disappointment/anger/whatever.
Thanks for your comment, I was made redundant by Sony within the 10,000 people reduction of people globally that was reported recently by Alpha Rumors and others.
This is why I am launching my own venture. Its small today but I have ambitions to grow the website to a new alternative using live new media. The first livestream TV show will be on the website tonight at 7pm (UK) / 8pm (CET) / 2pm (DET)
What a surprise. The ISO3200 result of A99 looks no worse than ISO400 of A900.
Yep. Looks stunning 🙂
It looks like I will have no problems with this camera shooting in less than adequate lighting. Time will tell but the images were good through 12.8k for me. I cannot wait for this camera. May have to overnight it.
The files from the A99 look very clean up to and including 6400 ISO and comparable to the canon 5dmkiii as the ISO rises. If the jpegs look this promising, I cannot wait to see properly tweaked raw images. Sony knew that they needed to step up the game this time or risk losing a large number of customers. I think it’s funny to see comments that say the files do not look impressive at high ISO values. If people researched Canon and Nikon files of equivalent values and similar lighting conditions, they would know that Sony has truly upped their game.
People who sit in their parents basements and take pictures of their cats in the dark will never be satisfied.
I have been shooting for 20 years using various camera from Nikon, Canon and Minolta. I am currently shooting the Nikon D700. I was not impressed with the A900 except for the viewfinder, so I never really went with Sony for anything full frame. I have used both the Nikon D800 and the Canon 5DMkII and both are very impressive in less than adequate light, but focusing is good, not great on those cameras. I have to say based on the image samples that have been shown this A99 camera is stellar in ISO performance. We’ll have to wait and see how good it is in controlled test and if the focus system is truly as quick as advertised, but so far so good.
Trying not to get too excited over the comparison shots between the A900 and A99 but dang, the A99 looks super clean. Really impressive.
Yes,
Does look clean, however it would be nice to see how this stacks up against the Mark 3 and D800.
F*ck me! I’ve never considered myself as a high-ISO-phile, being quite happy with the performance of the A900, but this was quite jawdropping. I was planning to get the A99 for the AF performance alone but this was a very welcome surprise. It looks fantastic to me.
For dance shows, I’m always using Topaz Denoise anyway and rarely shoots above 1600. With this kind of performance, things will look clean right of the camera. Cool.
Hope DPreview will prove most folks’ impression of the A99’s clean high ISO.
Sony, please work on both A77 and NEX-7 high ISO noise via firmware updates. You’ve created a 24.3mp APS-C beast please unleash its full potential.
@The Picture Desk
If you are going to review a camera, please FFS clean the lens and sensor before taking any shots.
I don’t know about you guys, but shutter speed and apature would have been nice to add as well. I just prefer to see what the setting were.
Just install an EXIF reader in your browser and you can get all the data you want.
all the pictures are shot at f11
iso 50 – 6s
6400 – 1/15
12800 – 1/30
When will be next cycle of apsc and full frame camera update from sony?
do you seriously think anyone here would know that? The new camera has not even come out yet and you are asking about the next gen….
I think that a news on the next generation is possibly one of the last things we’d like to hear now.
How about… firmware updates!?
Only very little pool waiting for firmware update, in fact everyone know sony not really focus on fw update stuff. and never ever the fw will do like what canon did on 7D final fw release to maximum the entire dslr capabilites. furthermore, SAR have long quite about fw rumor 🙁
I would rather waiting for Someone.001 and Vitaly.K on the fw hack. Not much can sony do on fw update. Sony enigneering team’s knowledge are very poor to figure out what exactly fw that users need 😀 Same goes to Sony sale and marketing team, I had no idea what are they doing, choosen RX1 but not NexFF in priority term. They are not understand time to market is real impact to business!
hope someone.001 and Vitaly.K can wreck the fw!
This Paul Genge was a useless tool so good riddance. No if only Steve Huff and Kai would leave too and join Paul’s new dotcom venture.
Thanks very much for taking time to post such a kind comment. I am glad my work in the past has impressed you to such a high degree.
I hope you find somebody else at Sony who meets your expectations for your future requirements…………..
Why was he a “useless tool”?
You clearly have no idea how difficult it is dealing with a foreign parent company that doesn’t listen to what you and your users want…it may even be part of the reason he left Sony.
Paul left Sony? Is Sony sinking or what? LOL =P
Just kidding, wish him good luck.. anyways, Andrea should replace him and hope we can get a direct link with the inner circle of the “creative” team at Sony Imaging and finally get what the majority want for upcoming releases =P
A99’s performance so far so good, much exceeded my expectations, more than what I ask for. Will get one once it is available in my local store.
Hi, I don’t think Sony is sinking. But it is in choppy waters, with crew falling over board.
I hope I can float to the surface and swim to a tropical island.
My new website has launched today, in its basic infancy at the moment. The first live webcast TV show will be today at 7pm (UK) / 8pm (CET) / 2pm (DET)
Check us out!
Watch out Sony.
Canon just unveiled a new EOS 6D full frame for just $2,099.
http://www.engadget.com/2012/09/17/canon-eos-6d-dslr/
LOL I guess price wise THREE yr old A850 is still king.
😉
Paul Genge seemed to be one of the few people who understands (and has a love for) both cameras AND how to market them via social media. It is good for all camera users that he can be both impartial and has free rein to write about what he wants.
Good luck to him (and hope he shows that Rockwell guy how it should be done!).
^^This^^ I have no doubt that Paul couldn’t really tell it how it is, maybe now he can.
In a short translation from the Spanish website, a typical failing from Sony: “What is more irritating than waiting to see whales in a boat in the cold climate, is to be shown a camera as intriguing as the RX1 but not being able to touch it or even see samples made with it”
This has to change. People dont go for the a99 because there is NOTHING so far that says: “This camera is for you and here are the results, which are amazing”
How many full res samples are around? How many people have been able to play with the AF? or report on the video?
Paul Genge is the person who said that Sony was going SLT only (while Sony Japan always carefully avoided to commit to anything):
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/genge-we-are-working-on-a-full-frame-dslt-camera-and-sounds-like-there-will-be-no-more-dslr/
I wonder what that means.
I’ll miss paul as my favorite spokesman for Sony…. He was always frank and honest to the best of his abilities.
Looks like Sony is doing almost everything wrong this year… hmm.
Just registered at the camera diner. I look forward to see what Paul and crew has to offer. Thanks Andrea for passing on the information. I love the English, it’s the accent. Long live the Queen and Paul.
The A99/A900 comparison is quite interesting. According to DXOMark, the A900 is about 1 stop worse than D800. Judging by the new A900/A99 comparison, I´d say that the A99 is a lot better than just 1 stop compared to the A900.
What do you think?
Jpegs were much easier to improve since the engine in the A900 really shows its age.
In RAW I’d expect about half a stop improvement in the highlights and midtones (the 24MP sensor in the D600 appears to perform pretty much identical to the D800 sensor in RAW according to the first measurements, substract half a stop from the mirror and you’re probably close to A99 performance). Maybe up to a stop in deeper shadows thanks to much lower read noise (and thus also much more DR).
A900 and A99 samples are from in camera jpegs, it’s well known how Sony has recently improved the jpeg engine…
I think that raw comparison from the latest ACR will be less dramatic
Good luck to Paul!
A900 and A99 samples are from jpegs, it’s well known how Sony has recently improved the jpeg engine…
I think that raw comparison from the latest ACR will be less dramatic
Good luck to Paul!
Paul Genge you were great when you were in sony, don’t know why they decided to let you go
What exactly is meant by “three-dimensional sense of resolution”?
If this means their ultimate goal is to have full colour sensing at each pixel (like Foveon), then this is fantastic. Full colour sensing at all pixels would be a significant improvement in IQ. If they could do it with significant less issues than Sigma, then this would be my ideal camera:
Full Frame
Full Colour Sensing
Excellent ISO performance
High Resolution (35+)
High Colour Depth: 16 bits+ (32 bits please 😉
Waiting patiently Sony(hopefully not for ever)….
Finally they laid him off.
Those comments above which are dissing Genge have obviously never met the guy. I have known Paul for around 15 years and I have seen nobody as enthusiastic and knowledgable about the brands he works with. Paul helped me get where I am today professionally and I would count him as one of my closest friends. I am not defending him on the basis of being my friend, I am defending him because he deserves it for all he has done for Sony and Minolta.
I am sure http://www.cameradiner.com will be a huge success and wish Paul all the luck in the world with the new venture.