Is the A99 the last Sony Alpha? And all of Sony's investment is on E Lens Cameras?

[Liberal Thinker]

I have an A850 and 12 lenses and lots of accessories. I bought the A99 but now I am not sure. I am thinking of returning it and buying the A7R. And selling my alpha lenses and stuff and start getting the Es. I love the Alpha body. If I knew the line will continue and Sony will release a new one with WiFi and 36Mpixels and continue to support this line Inwould keep it. But if not Inrather just cut my losses make the switch now.

 

Any thoughts? Or insight? Is it the end of the road w Alpha A99?

 

Thx

[Anadrol]

I believe that as there is money to make by making a A99 refresh, why wouldn't they do it ?

Sony knows that many people have invested in A mount, so they can still profit by milking the cow a bit more !

Sony also makes bodies faster than lenses

 

I think though that the A lens development is nearly stopped, they just did refresh some lenses recently,

as I guess it was not hard to do it and didn't involve many ressources.

 

To make a camera maybe you only need a standard electronic engineer,

but to make optics you need optical engineers and it's much harder to get good ones.

[Guest Peter Kelly]

Just decide what your needs are, but be brutally honest, and then look at your preferences.

In some respects that is easier if you are purely amateur, as you don't have any external requirements. However, that's not to say that many amateurs are not equally (if not more) demanding.

 

So, what are your subjects, in order of percentage shots? Sports/action, portraits, landscapes, street?

What do you do with your pictures? Prints, TV slideshows, online gallery? If prints, how big and how often?

How much processing in terms of cropping?

 

If all your subject matter is slow, loads of detail and you print big, then the A7r is ideal.

However, if you have a wide variety of needs, the A99 is much, much better.

 

In my case, however, detail is less of an issue, whereas low light is very important. Added to which I simply got tired of dragging round two A99s, with f2.8 lenses, so I changed completely to the A7s (with A7 for backup and certain occasions).

It is not an easy thing to do, selling such a fantastic camera, so if you are happy with the weight and bulk, I'd stick with what you have and be delighted!

[D700]

I have an A850 and 12 lenses and lots of accessories. I bought the A99 but now I am not sure. I am thinking of returning it and buying the A7R. ..

 

 

Is the A850 still o.k.?

If yes, I would wait how the A9 looks like in January.

Sony has to bring attractive (technical) solutions to migrate their A-Mount customers to E-Mount.

[Liberal Thinker]

Thank you for your inputs guys...

 

I do have the 850 on Ebay right now.  I do not shoot that much but when I do , detail is the most important as I grab sections and blow them up.  I shoot Motorcycle pictures mostly.  And not in the dark as much.

 

I do not mind the bulk of the A99.  If I knew they will come out with one that has WiFi and a 36M+ sensor, in other words they would continue to invest in the line I would keep it.  But if all the cool technology will now all go into the A7R and its likes, then I have to face reality and go with the new. 

 

The lens adapters for Alpha lenses from what I understand all lose the image stability functions I think.  I wonder how much of my lenses I can recover by selling them.  usually its $0.50 on the dollar. 

[Si1966]

Given Sony have just announced to refreshes of their 16-35mm and 24-70mm F2.8 ZA I think we will see a new A mount FF in 2015.  The question is why do you need a 36megapixe sensor, WIFI yes?  Not only that you do not need to get rid of your lenses as Sony have and E to A mount adapter which is pretty sweet.

 

Si

[Liberal Thinker]

Given Sony have just announced to refreshes of their 16-35mm and 24-70mm F2.8 ZA I think we will see a new A mount FF in 2015.  The question is why do you need a 36megapixe sensor, WIFI yes?  Not only that you do not need to get rid of your lenses as Sony have and E to A mount adapter which is pretty sweet.

 

Si

OK I hope we see a new body in 2015 with WiFi.

 

Well the larger pixels frankly would be to keep up with the latest.  I guess I will keep the A99 and see how it goes.  Is there anything that the A99 does better than the A7r?  Anything at all? 

[Marc Pecquet]

The one thing the A99 does way better than any A7 is that's in my bag right now and that after using it since Dec 2012 I can manipulate it eyes closed... What is really important is how well you can use your camera to get the shots you want/like within your existig budget. If you think your output is no good, think of changing the way you see things and use your camera differently. If you really think smaller size, pixels and technology will make you a better photographer - and have the budget - go for the change in system. If its simply a desire to have a newer toy, think again. BUT, take pictures and enjoy the moment !

[D700]

The one thing the A99 does way better than any A7 is that's in my bag right now and that after using it since Dec 2012 I can manipulate it eyes closed...

 

You're a lucky man

 

But: I was in the same situation and switched to E-Mount - Now I know, what I missed several years - never go back ...

[Cheatah]

For me, it makes no sense, to keep going much further with the A-system! I've sold my bulky CANON 5Dii, and I am very pleased, with my SONY A7!

[Liberal Thinker]

Thanks for the input everyone.  OK here is what I ended up doing.  I went to Sony to see what lenses are there now for the A7R.  Seems the best ones are coming early next year and some of the ones I need most are not available.  So I will keep the A99.  I think I also found without any doubts that Sony definitely will invest hugely in the E mount lenses and all the rave in the press about Sony beating Cannon and Nikon, are about the smaller body mirror less cameras.   

 

I will keep the A99 so I can enjoy my lenses for another year and then see what the choices are.  If my wallet permits, I Will probably just get a A7R with one 2.8/20-75mm or as close to it as possible E Mount.  Then maybe see what Dec 2015 has in store.  My favorite camera for simple shooting is still the HX400.  For what it does, its really practical.  And for $400 its probably the best point and shoot camera Sony has. 

 

I want to thank each and every one here for taking the time to share information and opinion.     

[DavidCartagena]

 

 

If you really think smaller size, pixels and technology will make you a better photographer - and have the budget - go for the change in system. If its simply a desire to have a newer toy, think again. BUT, take pictures and enjoy the moment !

Some of the wisest words ever said in a photo forum.

 

Greetings David

[Gemini-51]

I hope an A99 II next year, too.

It's better that the new body is eqipped with WIFI, NFC, GPS, 5-axis steadyshot and a 36MP or higher sensor.

[Liberal Thinker]

So does anyone have any solid rumors on this?  Yah I know Solid rumor is a dumb terminology

[PGMHeuts]

I hope there will be a A99 II early next year. I really don't care about WiFi, would rather keep (have) the GPS. The A99 II should have a faster autofocus and - even more important for me - many more focus points spread over the whole area (and not mainly around the center). Even though I consider the A99's high ISO performance as "not bad at all", an improvement in that would be very much appreciated. To keep up with the competition (like the 810), the camera should have at least 36MP I think. Probably it will have more as the rumours talk about 45/50. Well, as long as the high ISO performance is good, I don't mind...

[Golem]

Seems sensible to get rid of the SLT mirror and its

associated obsolete AF mechanism. The A-mount

bodies at the moment are mirrorless/live-view tech

with an old optical SLR AF grafted into them. Dump

the SLT for the 99MkII and use the very successful

AF technology such as found in the A-6000.

  

Acoarst, once you do the above, the 99MkII is just

basically an A-7II with a built-in A-mount "adapter",

and an SLR body shape. Sooooo, seems pretty

obvious that the immediate future of the A-mount

is most likely an A-mount/E-mount combination

camera ... very possibly the upcoming A-9.  

  

IOW, A-mount has no substantial future but there

will very likely be a verrry soft landing for A-mount

users when it's time to switch over. 

[Liberal Thinker]

In terms of priority from my point of view (and this is just my personal taste, so please do not take this as a professional recommendation by any measure), I think the priority in 99II should be:

 

1) >45M pixels

2) get rid of the mirror indeed

3) faster focus (but is this limited by the lenses?)

4) same stability control axis combination as the A7R

5) WiFi (It can benefit from new APPs in shooting, etc.)

6) NFC

 

The A7R lacks full frame lenses with low F.   There is no 2.8 telephoto and the newest coming in March is still F4.   Once you have big lenses that can go to 2.8, then the A series size advantage is not so much as the larger lenses will dominate the size factor.  

 

IMHO, the A7R will be a better traveler camera if you want to take one lens (the new one is 28-118mm I hear).  Then you can argue its far more practical than the A99 which is like Rhino compared to the A7R.   Until there is ample lens supply that are not compromised to be small, then the A99 can have a role to play.