DSLR Video Capture: David McLain shares why a99 is his main camera
I have to catch up with some non A7-A7r related news. So here is what have been posted in these busy days:
I’m glad that to see that in the last time the 2 riflessifotografici-guys Max and Donato are writing more and more reviews about Sony gear. They definitely know their work! Street photographer Donato wrote a review about the Sony E-Mount Lenses, with plenty of beautiful images shot in the streets of Milan, Rome and Cottanello here (English version). On the other hand Max just posted his RX100II review. He tested the camera on an Italian island and compared it with also with the RX100. Enjoy also this review and the great shots here (English version).
image courtesy: riflessifotografici
Sony NEX-5T review at Photographyblog.
QX100 anlaysis by Quesabesde
Hasselblad Lunar y Steallar at Quesabesde.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX100 review at Digitalversus.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX10 review at Digitalversus.
Sony E-Mount Lenses Field Test (Riflessifotografici).
Sony Alpha 3000 review at Pcmag and Photographyblog.
27 Responses
I read the Lens Review, by Danto about the SONY E-Mount lenses a very good and well focused review. The photos in the review work very well to show the quality. Thanks for sharing.
At 0:58, Mr. McLain states the a99 has an “amazing adapter” that allows dual XLR inputs.
Actually, Mr. McLain, that’s not an adapter. That’s a native plug for the new hot shoe. The adapter facilitates the use of mounting the 25 year iISO standard flashes. And it causes flash delay for wireless TTL, along with loose fit without a locking pin, which has been reported to fall off camera by many users. That adapter is not so amazing. It’s more of an insult to legacy strobist loyalists.
Mr. McLain, you may be the only Sony user who considers loosing flash functionality for the sake of XLR mics as an advancement designed for the benefit of photographers. It didn’t need to be that way. We could have retained all flash function, and XLR could have been accommodated with a side port.
Have fun with your “picture effects” (0:40) Mr. McLain.
It’s an adapter because XLR ports are not in camera itself – so you need adapter connected through hotshoe. (FIY pro camcoders often got XLR build-in)
Loads of B.S. I sold a99 along with all my Sony kit worth 15 thousand dollars, because it was too much pain to work professionally with. It’s an expensive amateur camera the most.
@admin : a few Werks ago you poster about a major firmware update for A77 & A99 . Die you hear anything about a firmware update for A77 to geht closer in functionality to the most recent camera bodies? Plesse can you ASK around your contacts, if something is coming soon? Thank you.
+1
I use the a99 professionally and absolutely love it.
Saying the a99 is good because it has “cool picture effects” is a little sad though.
I absolutely agree. I use A99 professionally too, and never used “picure effects” nor “sweep panorama” in my life (except for testing purposes), mainly because they give inferior quality pictures when compared to the same effects achieved “traditional” way. It’s disheartening that Mr. McLain talks about such useless features, which I don’t believe him to be actually using. This video, which seems to be targetted at rich amateurs, makes idiots from actual professional A99 users. What I DO care about is great image quality, great Zeiss lenses and overall comfort of use.
+1 I use the a99 professionally too and love it for the features it has over the competition, which I use on every event. Tilt screen and EVF are indispensable for me! Could be a little quicker though. And a bigger buffer would have been nice…
He’s a shill and he’s proud of it.
There is some great shots in those riflessifotografici links.
Riflessi:Nice pics of Milano. Good review. Helped me to finally decide The zeiss 24 is mit for me, at least of results turn out like shown: in almost all shots there is soemething essential partially cutoff, on The other hand too mich shown. A honest 18mm possibly a 35 ans then The cheap but great 50 (except vor af speed
Count me in the numbers of those that don’t trust this shill. At least he got to travel around the world on Sony’s dime, and the video does look good considering the camera. Just imagine how great it would look had he used a better video camera.
Haha, I laugth hard on this blog post “Is the new Zeiss 35/2.8 Z better than the RX1 ?” – before opening it my first thought was – what? No, obviously it’s not. How the heck did he test it? – I open the blog post and… no suprises here: it’s not better, not even close (yea, at f/8 both lenses are similar – so are all other 35s, including uber-cheap 1.8/35). LOL. Why making whole blog post about obvious?
Well, still, you’ve read it, haven’t you? Curiosity is the main factor for doing posts like that 🙂
Hello,
What will all regular visitors do when they will get their A7R or A7 camera?
Will they still come back on SAR even if they got the camera of their dreams?
Or will they care about their camera and nolonger keep in touch with us 😉 ?
there’s always the next perfect camera lurking somewhere in Sony’s labs, you are willing to know everything about 🙂
The a7r is a nex with an improved sensor.
It is not a groundbreaking camera in my opinion…just a small step ahead.
This is by no means my dream camera…in fact i will not be buying one.
I anxiosly await news about
New tech sensor
Ultra high resolution
5 axis ibis
Z shift sensor…sensor shift focus?
Hybred mount
Universal camera
The a7r is not even fully compatable with a mount or manual focus lenses( will not autofucus or image stabilze)
You ask what i will do when i get the camera i want?
Givd me that camera first tjen we can deal with that.
+10000
Hi, thanks for featuring our reviews @ riflessifotografici.com !
Btw, I saw just above, the video by David McLayn…. I knew him last June in Rome during the making of a video. He’s a very nice guy and a great photographer & videographer..!!
Nice to be together here too…. 😉
The A99 is an amazing stills camera with an amazing pro audio accessory for video that has abysmal image quality. Watch “The calling.” It’s an ego piece for the creator, whose images are all soft. Everything video shot in deep depth of field on an A99 will look nearly outbid focus. Expect moire. Expect high ISO noise. Expect a fantastic stills camera with abysmal video and amazing accessories to help you shoot abysmal video.
Sold mine.
GTFO
Hi Tom,
Not sure what you mean, but if by “GTFO” you mean stop posting here, I will have to say no. It is precisely on this forum that people need to hear about SONY’s claims and hype (AKA “lies”) versus what the product actually delivers or, in the case of the A99, fails to deliver in a “flagship” camera that costs $3k.
I’ve shot SONY video since Betacam SP. HDV at 4 mbps is a better picture than what the A99 delivers, in terms of video IQ. People need to know that before they buy a “video” DSLR/T that records VHS-quality video from a 24 megapixel sensor.
When SONY delivers a better product, I promise to praise it here. Maybe after that, I will feel more inclined to “GTFO” this forum.
Cheers.
Laser Blue is of course, exactly right. I wonder if McLain’s eyes still work? “The Calling” was a shallow DOF fluff piece – I don’t care how far around the globe and how large the crew, nothing will make the a99 shoot decent video. Shame too as the stills are so nice. On paper it’s amazing; it practice it barely resolves 650 lines in video mode and even less in APC-C mode. Hopefully the A7/r will be better.
I buy cameras for lenses. I don’t care about there size. Is a matter of obtaining pure unadulterated image quality. Therefore, by shear principle, I cannot invest in the expensive A7 or A7R. They are very worthy of the praise being heaped upon them. But I buy cameras based on their limitations not their size. Limitations allow me to determine how I must work around them in order to obtain that pure unadulterated IQ. A99 was and is a handicapped pro SLT.
I await a true alpha. No gimmicks either. Give us back the option of an OVF. Crazy buffer speed please. Amazing battery life. 36MP standard. I want it all with my Zeiss glass on the front.
I very briefly tried the A7/A7R in the NYC PhotoPlus Expo. The image quality was really great even at high iso indoors saved as JPG! The auto-focus however was terrible, even with the A7, especially with A7R, and the EOS Canon adapter had the hardest time focusing, and could not focus at all when pointed towards a light. Hopefully they’ll figure that out before the final release.
Does anybody know a way to open the A7/A7R raw ARW files, or is that totally not possible yet?
Sad SLT is dead.