sony a99 video quality and moving from a77

[nouh]

Hi,

 

I've been using my sony alpha 77 since almost 2 years and I thought it's the time to move to ff photography.

 

Beside improved stills quality, low light performance, shallow DOF, my motivation is to make footages that have cinematic look and feel. Most of time I record video in manual mode.

 

At the moment there's a deal : a used a99 for less then 1350 euros body only with 1 year warranty.

I seems a good one, but when I read the reviews about a99 video quality they seem contradictory. In fact, some users say that the video quality is good and others state that the produced videos are too soft and doesn't have enough details. One thing to mention, most of those reviews were made shortly after the release date.

 

Personally, I saw some footages (short documentaries) made by the a99 and they seem quite good. The footages were edited (or color corrected) certainly in PP.

 

So what do you think about the a99 video quality ?

 

and what are your advices ? :

- sell my a77 with its 16-50 SSM, get this a99 and give it a try ?
- keep my current a77 and get better lenses ? (I have also Tamron 70-300 USD, Minolta 35-105)
- keep my current a77 and get a GHX (or other model) for videos ?
- move to canon for the 5d3 ? I am trying to avoid changing gear which is a pricey option
- get the a77 2 ?
- other option ?

 

Thank you for any suggestion.

 

[Austerror]

I've had no problems with my A99 videos.  Softness or sharpness of the video, I'm sure, would have a lot to do with which lens is being used and at what aperture.

 

Using manual video mode, however, is a bit of a pain.  From what I can tell, you need a lens that has a manual focus switch to be able to turn on full manual video mode.  It IS a bit weird. It can be done though. I just don't remember the menu options right now.  

 

Anyway I'm sure lots of people will say that you should not buy the A99 because its old and you should buy an A7S2 because it is better.  From their point of view they are correct. 

 

There are however, some great A99 deals happening.  It is a great FF camera. One could easily say that the A99 is a better camera than the A77.  Metering is the thing I noticed the most.  Exposure is excellent, well really almost everything on the A99 is excellent.  It is a few years old, but still an awesome camera.

[Laser Blue]

I owned, then sold my A99 because the video was very poorly down sampled from FF to 1080p. The video was mush. I LOVED the photos, the weight, the audio interface (XLR-K1M.) for a stills camera, it's amazing. The video was garbage. Better low light than the A77, but if video is what you want and 1080p is your format, then a Panasonic GH3 is far, far better for video and its $697! If you want Sony, investigate the A7SII, A7RII or the earlier A7s. At half their price for video and 4K INTERNAL, get a GH4 for $1297. You can adapt or Speed boost pretty much ANY lens. My opinion...

[JonathanStewart]

For that price you can probably find a like-new a7ii.  Why not switch to more modern technology?  The a99 is long in the tooth, and the focusing is quite cumbersome.