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Author Topic: A99 II  (Read 23589 times)

BernardLanguillier

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A99 II
« on: September 19, 2016, 09:45:31 am »

https://www.dpreview.com/news/5855300360/sony-announces-alpha-99-mark-ii

Wow! Killer specs if I have ever seen some... it combines in one body the resolution and speed of the best bodies from Canon/Nikon. If only Sony had the range of super tele lenses and if they had done that in FE mount...

Cheers,
Bernard
« Last Edit: September 19, 2016, 08:03:59 pm by BernardLanguillier »
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Huib

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2016, 09:48:31 am »

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[url=http://www.huibnederhof.

pegelli

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2016, 11:20:39 am »

Great news, means I probably did the right thing not selling off my A-mount lenses and second hand A99's will become affordable (so time to think about an upgrade to my A850)

"The premature announcements of the A-mount death have been greatly exaggerated"
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pieter, aka pegelli

Kirk_C

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2016, 03:16:18 pm »

"Sony has announced....to mark the tenth anniversary of the Alpha series. "

THAT's what they were waiting for. Good to know ???

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Rand47

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #4 on: September 19, 2016, 07:53:35 pm »

"Sony has announced....to mark the tenth anniversary of the Alpha series. "

THAT's what they were waiting for. Good to know ???

My thoughts exactly... is "anyone" shooting A-mount, who doesn't have to for some odd reason?  Another reminder that Sony is a consumer electronics company, not a camera company.  Hey, maybe in another 10 years they will get rid of the plastic fixed mirror that robs 1/3rd stop!

Rand
« Last Edit: September 19, 2016, 07:56:40 pm by Rand47 »
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Rand Scott Adams

scooby70

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #5 on: September 19, 2016, 08:36:00 pm »

I spend a few months fixing Canon photocopiers. They weren't very good. Is that relevant? Is it relevant what other stuff Sony make?
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Rand47

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #6 on: September 20, 2016, 01:16:38 am »

I spend a few months fixing Canon photocopiers. They weren't very good. Is that relevant? Is it relevant what other stuff Sony make?

Hi!,

My comment isn't about what else Sony makes, it is about their business model.  They are not a camera company, that's all.  If it becomes more profitable to make toasters, they will drop cameras and make toasters.  The A-mount languished for well over five years.  I pretty much figured it was dead.  Nice that I'm wrong, but I'll wager the a99 ii is a collosal flop in sales, even if it is a killer camera.  Most folk have "moved on" is my impression. 

Rand
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Rand Scott Adams

urbanpicasso

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #7 on: September 20, 2016, 04:11:12 am »

Hi!,

My comment isn't about what else Sony makes, it is about their business model.  They are not a camera company, that's all.  If it becomes more profitable to make toasters, they will drop cameras and make toasters.  The A-mount languished for well over five years.  I pretty much figured it was dead.  Nice that I'm wrong, but I'll wager the a99 ii is a collosal flop in sales, even if it is a killer camera.  Most folk have "moved on" is my impression. 

Rand
Are you sure about that?
http://www.digicamhistory.com
http://www.digicamhistory.com/1980_1983.html

Back in about 2000-2001, when these digital camera sites where in their infancy,  an unpopular member  made a statement that brought a lot of criticism. The mans name was Rodger Carter.  Canikon fanfoys used to give him hell. I was following a thread, in the Nikon Forum, on Phil Askeys site "DPreview" when  Rodger stated  that in 10 years time,  Sony would be a force to be reckoned with . Many called for a lynching and others laughed out-loud. You know what, Its been about 16 years and I don't find his prediction to be that far off base.

davidbogdan
« Last Edit: September 20, 2016, 05:02:00 pm by urbanpicasso »
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shadowblade

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #8 on: September 20, 2016, 05:47:56 am »

Not all that interesting, given the limited lens selection.

I get the feeling that this is largely a bridging product, designed to keep existing A-mount users in an up-to-date body while they continue to develop and refine E-mount into a fully action-capable system capable of completely supplanting the SLR mechanism. It's a bit of a test bed for new technologies (processors, improved on-sensor PDAF, etc.) which would also be useful in future E-mount designs, while utilising many off-the-shelf components from existing cameras and not featuring a lot of SLR-specific developments that wouldn't also be useful in a full-sized mirrorless camera. In other words, a solid product that will keep current users happy and let them get a few more years of use out of their A-mount gear, but nothing that would compel someone to switch from Canon/Nikon/E-mount to A-mount.
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Zorki5

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2016, 04:34:48 am »

They are not a camera company, that's all.

You say that as if it's a bad thing  ;)

Any "camera" company that's not a software company will be relegated to a niche status in not-so-far future. And Nikon is probably leading the pack there.
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shadowblade

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #10 on: September 21, 2016, 05:34:02 am »

You say that as if it's a bad thing  ;)

Any "camera" company that's not a software company will be relegated to a niche status in not-so-far future. And Nikon is probably leading the pack there.

Software is easy to outsource. Hardware design and manufacturing is the expensive part.

Sony's biggest strength (other than its size) is the fact that it is an electronics company. A digital camera is, first and foremost, a complex piece of electronics (imaging sensor, support sensors plus attached computers) with a few pieces of glass in front of it. It has much more in common with a digital photocopier or scanner, or any number of pieces of laboratory equipment, than with a film camera. The only real commonalities between film and digital cameras are in the lenses, casing, pentaprisms, etc. - the 'dumb' parts of the machine that just sit there and don't talk much to the rest of the system. Not that these aren't important, but they're the easiest parts to outsource, since they require far less integration into the rest of the electronic, firmware and software setup than, say, a sensor or a CPU.

Sure, Sony has a weakness in optics. But they outsourced this to Zeiss, who, being an optics company, could develop and produce superb lenses, and, not being an electronics or camera company in its own right, had everything to gain and nothing to lose by partnering with Sony to sell more lenses. They also benefited greatly from Metabones, who allowed them to take advantage of everyone else's lens lineups, and helped them along by supplying Metabones adapters with their cameras. And, of course, a takeover of Nikon would add greatly to their capacity to develop and manufacture top-tier lenses in their own right - provided, of course, they can manufacture the bodies to take advantage of them. Which is where they appear to be heading in leaps and bounds at the moment, with respect to mirrorless cameras.
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Gandalf

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #11 on: September 21, 2016, 01:13:51 pm »

Hooray, I can finally upgrade my A900! For reasons I can't fully rationalize I never felt the love for the A7 series, though I fully admit to its technical superiority in most every way. However, the problems with Sony and the A-mount cams remain - no real pro support, limited lens selection. With the FE you can use Canon glass seamlessly, but to me those are more like a DSLR version of a digital back.
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KirbyKrieger

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #12 on: September 21, 2016, 03:01:20 pm »

Meets my needs, which is the reason I spend money on cameras.  Ordered one this morning.  Very much looking forward to using it.

Gandalf

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #13 on: September 21, 2016, 10:23:57 pm »

I posted in another thread as well, but honest question: does Sony have lenses to support this body?
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scyth

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #14 on: September 21, 2016, 10:44:53 pm »

I posted in another thread as well, but honest question: does Sony have lenses to support this body?

why 'd you bother about this ? A-mount lenses are still made by Sigma and Tamron, including their new releases...
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KirbyKrieger

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #15 on: September 21, 2016, 11:13:40 pm »

I posted in another thread as well, but honest question: does Sony have lenses to support this body?

Honest question: lenses of what specs do you need to record the data you want?

shadowblade

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #16 on: September 21, 2016, 11:55:02 pm »

I posted in another thread as well, but honest question: does Sony have lenses to support this body?

No - all the best Sony lenses, and all the high-end Sony-developed lenses, are E-mount.

Sure, there are third-party lenses - Zeiss and Sigma provide a good mix of lenses - but that doesn't translate to ongoing long-term support for the mount. For one, there's no up-to-date A-mount answer to the 16-35/24-70/70-200 trio that forms the core of many photographers' arsenals - the existing Sony A-mount lenses are no match for the E-mount GM series (16-35 pending), the Canon set (the 16-35 III being recently announced, and the superb 11-24 also exists as an alternate wide-angle option) or even the relatively weaker Nikon lineup. And there's no sign of an update on the horizon either.

IMO Sony is letting A-mount die a slow death while all the work goes into bring E-mount AF performance up to par, with the eventual aim of abandoning mirrored designs altogether. The first-generation A7 bodies were little more than digital backs. The second generation are much better, at least matching entry-level SLR performance. The A9 will probably be suitable for general photography/event/wedding use - I'd imagine something like 5D3, D750 or D810-level AF performance - and I'd imagine they're probably aiming for a sports/action-capable version (likely with 8k video) in time for the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. They're still releasing a few A-mount bodies here and there, to allow current users to keep using their lenses for a decent amount of time until their eventual obsolescence, but they appear to be putting minimal work into high-end A-mount lenses. And these A-mount bodies appear to be mostly a mix of off-the-shelf components also used by other cameras, as well as dual-use technologies that would equally benefit mirrorless designs - there's very little that's new that appears geared towards SLR and wouldn't also benefit future E-mount designs.
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Bo_Dez

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #17 on: September 22, 2016, 04:59:59 am »

a99 II - 42MP @12fps - $3199
5D m4 - 30MP @7fps - $3499
1Dx m2 - 20MP @14fps - $5999
D5 - 20.8MP @ 13fps - $6496
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ErikKaffehr

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #18 on: September 22, 2016, 06:57:53 am »

Hi,

That is not so, some lenses are made by Sony, some by Konica Minolta and some by Tamron / Sigma.

The ZA-lenses are deigned and made by Sony, AFAIK.

Ultimate, it doesn't matter who makes the lens as far as it performs.

Best regards
Erik


why 'd you bother about this ? A-mount lenses are still made by Sigma and Tamron, including their new releases...
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Erik Kaffehr
 

scyth

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Re: A99 II
« Reply #19 on: September 22, 2016, 10:37:02 am »

That is not so

what is my text was "not so" ?

"...A-mount lenses are still made by Sigma and Tamron, including their new releases..." ->

did I say that A-mount lenses are not still being made by other vendors, Sony itself including ?

but Sigma & Tamron are important because they release (that is not only patent, etc - but you actually can buy them) __NEW__ lenses in A-mount (for example Sigma 50/1.4 Art) when they clearly see 40-50mp sensors being put in cameras... while Sony lenses for A-mount that you can actually buy are older designs (but I don't mean to say that 135/1.8 for example is bad though), some of them are still screw-driven and some "micro USM" types /while this is not optics, still a negative point/
« Last Edit: September 22, 2016, 10:42:26 am by scyth »
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