I am yet not sure if the A99 will discontinued this summer as I go now a report from another source that the A99 will remain for sale for a longer time even after an eventual A99II announcement. But in the meantime the A99 superkit version got marked as “discontinued” at BHphoto (Click here).
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And thats the problem with rumors… most of the time their either wrong or their timeframes are way way off.
We all love rumors despite their uncertainties 🙂
Oh I wish, I wish, I wish you would give us some juice on the new A99II. I’m holding off going full frame until this baby comes out.
Pick up an A900- you won’t regret it. Waiting on the half baked A99II with a mirror blocking all that awesome light isn’t worth it. They’ll charge a premium for a camera that won’t outdue it’s e-mount counterparts.
So you recommend buying an out of date paper weight??
Depends on what you define as out of date- context being everything. OVF’s never get old. A ridiculously long battery life never gets old either. The IQ is ridiculous. I’ve shot the A7 and A99 and find any differences to be barely discernible at lower ISO’s (which is all I care about). Out of date it certainly is not. That’s not to say for the right price I wouldn’t pick up an A99. But I think it’s a crippled product in too many ways at its price point.
The mirror doesn’t block “all that awesome light” it uses about a third of a stop. The boost in gain makes high ISO slightly noisier than comparable cameras like the canon 5d3 or a7 (with the same sensor).
For low ISO (“which is all” you care about), the SLT has a favorable effect akin to a little bit of ND filtration – higher dynamic range and contrast.
Maybe, just maybe the good news in this is that Sony is finally running low on inventory of the highly flawed F60 flash, after all the various “free” giveaways (with the A99, with the A7 cameras, etc.), and is getting ready to come out with a reliable replacement. The F60 flash is a disaster (just look at any reviews of the flash by photographers who regularly use it – it overheats in normal usage), and Sony has never even acknowledged, let alone come up with a fix, for the overheating problem. While an updated A99II would hopefully be a really nice upgrade, Sony is in more desperate need of having a reliable flash system for the A99, which it currently does not have (the adapter to use older flashes is also flawed as it does not securely lock in the camera’s hot shoe).
Well, the Metz flashes just got announced for the new shoe and there’s also the Nissin d40. I doubt anyone would buy a Sony flash even if they get their flaws fixed. In the end it will be more expensive than alternatives (that are at least as good in terms of functionality).
I’m definitely thinking about a metz 44… It’s half the price of the f43m for similar features (I can live without the rotating head).
Problem is the Metz flashes with the new shoe do not take an auxiliary battery pack for event shooting. That eliminates them as a viable option for me, and likely other event shooters.
Take ANY flash and fire it 20 times consecutively in FULL POWER and tell me if it slows down or overheats.
Yep agreed.. Nikon flashes do exactly the same….welcome to reality…
Sorry, but you have no idea what you are talking about with respect to the F60 overheating issue. It takes far less than 20, or any number of full power flashes. I have been photographing events for over 20 years. Prior to the F60, I have used the Minolta 5400 and 5600 flashes (among others), and the Sony 56, 58 and 60 flashes. Only the F60 overheats in normal shooting situations (and actually easier situations as when shooting with the A99 I am routinely using ISO 1600, rather than 400 or 800 as I used to do with earlier cameras, which means the flash does not even have to work as hard as the older flashes that have no problems). The internet is full of reviews by folks who experienced no overheating issues with their previous flash until they got the F60. It has nothing to do with 20 full power flashes consecutively, or frankly any full power flashes. Before being so quick to comment you might want to better understand what the facts are.
Personally I’ve gone back to using the F58. It doesn’t overheat. It’s more reliable, and a better overall flash.
I fire a canon 580ex2 and a 600ex at full power every business day. They slow down a bit but they will continue to truck along. They have never, not once, shutdown on me ever.
The Sony f60 will shut down with mild usage over a 5 to 10 minute period and then cease working for 10 minutes. If you use the bounce adapter, it shuts down even faster. There is a flaw with in the very top of the flash – lack of cooling, heat sink or ventilation.
Well, kinda makes sense to discontinue those if they are planning to bring out the A99II anytime soon. Someone who’s just bought the A99 isn’t likely to upgrade. Better sell the successor at early adopter prices than selling the old one at discount prices.
Makes sense – if it’s like the a77ii, the grip will be compatible anyway so you can just swap in the a99ii. On a side note, I’ve noticed that Wex is out of stock on the a99 body again, which suggests they’re keeping levels low…
Drop that A99 price to 1600 please.
D610 is already in that price range. “Please drop it to 1200.00” would make more sense.
That’s what I’m saying. Its not even funny how overpriced it is anymore. The A99 lives in fantasy land.
You probably missed it, but the A99 was briefly marked down to about that at the Sony Outlet. I don’t believe it’s overpriced though. It’s Sony’s flagship FF body and it was priced lower than the A900. Considering it’s features I’d say it’s in-between the consumer FF’s (D610 and 6D) and the semi-pro FF’s (D810 and 5D Mark III), so it is priced well.
The A99 is a steal at $2149.99 to $2299.99. I really hope its replacement sells for the same.
Breaking News! Sony to go back to the “Old” flash mount on the a99II because the F60 is Garbage. Sony says, “Sorry to the people who sold their f58, Please buy whatever “Great idea” we market you next”.
Many accessories sre available that fit on sny normal hot shoe but do not fit the old Sony hot shoe.
The ONLY reason for keeping the old shoe is that Sony foolishly put it on in the first place and people now have old style flashes.
Change is always difficult but the old shoe is incompatable and its time for Sony to eliminate it.
The hot shoe has nothing to do with the overheating. Sony isn’t going backwards and re-introducing the crappy Minolta hotshoe. The MIS isn’t the just the future, it’s the present and it is much better than the old shoe.
Makes sense to keep the old A99 around if they are only introducing one new full frame model…
Especially if the new model is going to be 36mp…
Price the new 36mp A99ii at $2500+, and drop the 24mp A99 to under $2k
My preference would be to see 2 new FF models, A 24mp and a 36mp model, with the autofocus system upgraded on both models, and AF-D removed in favor of just a bigger regular AF system.
Removing AF-D mode will not expand the AF coverage. The AF coverage is so small because Sony recycled the a77 AF module, hence the tiny aps-c coverage area on a full frame sensor.
Hopefully Sony will jot repeat this with the a77-II when they release the a99-II.
Correct– but the AF-d pixels in theory hurt the ISO performance.
So use a large devoted AF module, making AF-d pointless. The ISO performance could probably improve by a solid half stop if you got the a77ii “20%” improvement plus got the AF-d pixels off the sensor.
While I would prefer lower noise vs AF-d mode if that is how works out in real world performance, a wider AF coverage area and AF-d mode would compliment one another for tracking a subject between points.
To be fair the a77ii’s af coverage is much better than the a77’s, so they could do worse than reuse it. That would let them release a fairly cost effective (from their perspective) upgrade, possibly at a much lower price point. A high end a-mount could then follow next year. I struggle to believe that the a99ii will be packing the Barry Sensor, simply because there’s been too little chat about it (much as I’d love to see Sony blindside the competition)
I hope Sony puts the new technology 54mp stacked sensor in the new a99.
Since this will shoot 18mp native resolution color files even low resolution fans should like this.
Sony will have increasingly difficult time selling bayer when cannon introduces stacked and tells everyone that bayer sensors are obsolete.
Nikon has had a 36mp slr camera for several years now so 36mp bayer is just not enough of an innovation.
Count me in but I don’t see Sony marketing departing from their determination that the e-mount leads with tech, the a-mount trails behind a year or more later.
If Sony plans to reserve A mount for more professional level stuff only then it would make sense to introduce the new stacked sensor to A mount first..plus E mount has had a lot of new introductions its A mounts turn.
Also Earl do you happen to know how the lenscoat cover..for the tammy 150-600 compares to the two british manufactured brands.
I’m guessing the exclusivity deal is what scuppered the a99 having the 36mp sensor (d800 was released in March 2012 and the a99 in September 2012). The a7r was released in October 2013, at which time it didn’t make any sense to retire the a99. The odds of the a7ii turning up in 2015 are fairly high IMHO (given the teething problems and odds of Canon releasing a next gen sensor), which means the cycles will be out of sync again…
Pity the f60 flash has not been discontinued. No one should miss it.
Hopefully the a99 grip will work with a future a99 as the a77 grip works with the II.