I use the A900 in the studio and LOVE it!! I only use the 24-70 CZ and 135 CZ. The 135mm is incredible and is very much like my medium format equipment in terms of rendering an almost 3D-like effect because of the micro-contrast and colors. I am considering the 16-35mm for travels (land and cityscapes)
Don't get me wrong, the Canon/Nikon FF systems are great, but the quality of the Sony files are awesome. Coupled with the CZ glass, I don't think you would need anything else in the studio (strictly using ISO 100-200).
Check out my blog. It has some of my recent studio work with the Sony A900 system,
www.plovephotography.com (click on blog)
-Pat
I second that.
I have been enthusiastic about the a900 quite a few times in this forum, to the point of sounding like a fanboy.
But it is what it is..... and the system it is just that good.
I shoot fashion for some of the leading magazines around the world. I also work in advertising and beauty.
I have been using the a900 for 90% of my work (a lot in studio) and I also have a Phase One system that it is now accumulating dust on the shelf.
Prior that, i have been using the canon 1ds 1 and 2 for about 5 years and was happy with them, but always wanting for something different and I believe that the a900 gave me that extra.
Anyway here follow some of the good and the bad:
Good: the lenses, all of them, even the Sony one are very good. For studio and fashion works Sony has everything covered. i cannot think of a lens that is missing.
One great advantage is being able to shoot stabilized with primes like 50, 85, 135, 20 100, which is not possible elsewhere.
One significant advantage it has over canon is Af reliability and capability of focussing precisely in the dark or under modeling light inside a softbox, without the need of pulling out an halogen or an arri. that was never possible with my canons. I normally get a 90/95% of captures that are in focus even when I do 2000 a day.
The camera is very reliable and have not made one single time an error or a glitch.
Colors and skin tones are very nice. Skin tone especially are richer than with C, which are quite muted IMO.
it writes to cards very fast and clear the buffer very quickly. large buffer, by the way.
the files generally hold very well in post productions, almost as a Phase file. not quite, but pretty close.
85mm and 135mm Zeiss, focus faster and 1 stop darker than the equivalent Canon's I had. their AF is nosier though, and I had to service the 85mm twice for a small problem, where with the canon in several years i never had to do a repair.
menus and navigation are pretty cool and very intuitive. vertical grip is great.
it can sync up to 1/4000 of a sec if you use a Sony dedicated flash to trigger strobes. some studio strobes were able to keep up with that speed.
there are a few tricks for concealing the hot shoe flash light and still trigger the remote flashes using pocket wizards.
It is cheap, I bought 2 for the price of one 1ds3. if you get the a850 you can get 3.
the bad:shooting tethered it is a bit slow, unless I use the sony software. With sony soft, is as fast as direct tethering on C1 with a Canon, but the software is a sore to the eye and not practical.
therefore I use it with an hot folder on capture 1 (3 sec download per image) or lightroom (12 sec download). The advantage of LR3 is that process the files better, especially high iso.
it needs a small hot shoe adapter for radio slave. they are cheap, but I need of carrying 2 spares all the time.
it also has a very small USB port plug. it works fine as any other, but if you misplace the cable, are not likely to find it at the convenience store around the corner, unlike all the other USB cables.
it has more shutter lag than the 1ds. I got used to it and I do not pay attention anymore. for some can be annoying.
high iso files are not as noise free as Canon or Nikon, but with LR3 I have been able to use 1600/2000 iso files for fashion spreads on ELLE magazines, with barely visible grain. but the grain look very nice and if I shoot above 800 iso, is because i want grain, so for me is not a problem.
it is hard to find lenses for rental. I can rent a few lenses over the counter at Adorama in NY, but I think is the only place. there are other companies which ship the lenses to you and are cheap, though.
The camera is a bit ugly to look from the front....
