So much for the "No Pros use Sony" argument :p

[gsgary]

The a900 is a nice motor. My buddies at the Houston Press all upgraded to the a99 for their concert work. So far they have said its pretty nice.

Pretty nice does not sound that good

 

[Kolia]

Pretty nice does not sound that good

Yeah, and if they had said "Absolutely awesome" you would have whole hearthedly agreed and ran out to buy one !

Lol

 

[unpopular]

I think a Sony is better than shooting a wedding with an iPhone. An Entire Wedding Shot On An iPhone And Processed Using Instagram | Fstoppers

Now THAT is the definition of a low budget wedding.

Not to mention it was processed with Instagram, jesus christ what is this world coming to?

I especially like #4. The groom's skepticism of his bride's photographer choice is so painfully obvious.

but come on, aside from the instagram, psuedo SX-70 hipsterness - they're not all that bad. Well. Unless you want prints larger than a Polaroid.

 

[fjrabon]

I think a Sony is better than shooting a wedding with an iPhone. An Entire Wedding Shot On An iPhone And Processed Using Instagram | Fstoppers

Now THAT is the definition of a low budget wedding.

Not to mention it was processed with Instagram, jesus christ what is this world coming to?

Sad part of it is that's better than about 50% of the wedding photography I see simply because the photographer has a sense of composition and lighting. Most wedding photography I see these days are a series of faux paint by numbers cliched photojournalistic poses imposed upon a scene regardless of whether or not the light or atmosphere fits.

 

[unpopular]

^^ and that is exactly why I don't care what he "pros" are using. The vast majority of them are hacks anyway.

This whole "pro worship" thing is just stupid. If it weren't for the great depression, even Ansel Adams would have been an amateur.

 

[jfrabat]

First, my disclaimer: I WORK FOR SONY!

I do have to say, I do not like to drink the coolaid; I rather make my own opinions, and if I do not think a product is any good, I do not buy it. Also, my brother is a big Nikon fan, so I have compared my camera to my brothers Nikon (D500 IIRC). And after trying the translucent cameras, I went ahead and dropped my coin in the A77 (and a bunch of accessories), so that points to the fact that I actually believe in the product...

OK, now that I got that out of the way, let me share some points here with you guys (AND PLEASE NOTE, THESE ARE ALL MY OWN OPINIONS, NOT SONY'S!).

2012 Nikon News and Comments by Thom Hogan[/URL]

Sony's compact camera sales last year slid terribly, down from 11.3 million units sold to only 8 million units sold...

"Nikon grew Coolpix sales from 7.86m units to 8.26m units when Sony's compact camera sales slid from 11.3m units to 8m units."

As Thom wrote, "As I've written before, Nikon is now a camera company. As goes the camera group, so goes Nikon. Nikon expects to sell almost 22% of all compact cameras this year, 37% of all interchangeable lens cameras (DSLRs and mirrorless), and 24% of all cameras. Nikon's current position can be summed up as this: for Nikon to continue to grow, it will have to take sales away from other camera makers. Indeed, for Nikon to continue to grow at the rate it has in the last two years, Nikon will have to aggressively take market share from other competitors."

Sony, as we all probably know, has not turned a profit in literally YEARS now. And is suffering through RECORD losses, almost every quarter...

Not to put too fine a point on it, but SONY is the electronics company that bought a bankrupt camera company, Minolta, err. I mean the bankrupt Minolta that was sold and became KONICA-Minolta, to get entry into the d-slr market...with visions of profit in their head....but...so far...SONY d-slr sales are dismal...

Canon and Nikon are killing SONY. But only in terms of sales, distribution, service, rental availability, professional services networks, and installed user base. And lens systems. I really do not think I am understimating SONY....in fact, I do not think that it's possible to under-estimate SONY (f you get my meaning...).

I have to comment here (and find a way of doing it without revealing inside information), but, truth be told, the poin and shoot MARKET is dropping as a direct result of phone cameras getting better and the fact that (1) you always have them with you, (2) you can post pictures directly onto whatever site you like the most, and (3) you do not need to make a separate investment, carry another gadget, or worry about ANOTHER battery to charge. And the reason for the loss last year was because of the Japan earthquake and the Playstation Network issue, not because of bad business (there was no way to foresee those; well, not the earthquake, anyway, which caused problems in 5 different factories, including the one that makes all the lithium batteries).

According to Bloomberg, the 2011 (2012 data is still not available, as far as I know, as the year is yet to be closed; there may be some predictions out there, though) total camera sales, Sony continued to be the second largest camera maker (after Canon), with Nikon in 3rd place. And an interesting quote is this:

"In the market for cameras with interchangeable lens, or single lens reflex cameras, Canon controlled 44.5 percent of the market, followed by Nikon with 29.8 percent and Sony with 11.9 percent, according to the data."

12% is not a bad job by a newcomer to the ILC segment...

That's why I'm switching to Pentax.

And check out that high ISO performance, basically no noise! Brilliant! I think we should all ditch the SLR's and just use iPhones!

Both Pentax (well, at least on the K30, K10, K100, K110, and K200) and Apple (iPhone 5) are now using Sony sensors... So maybe they are not ALL that bad, are they... Oh, and don't forget the Nikon D800 that everyone is now talking about, of course...

Notice that the very first FF SLT just came out this month (or last month)?

The A900 is the only Sony i would have

The a900 is a nice motor. My buddies at the Houston Press all upgraded to the a99 for their concert work. So far they have said its pretty nice.

Well I have the D800 and a99. Where the Nikon wins is in features and firmware. No matter what kind of pro shooter you are sports, fashion, landscape ect the D800 and it's advanced features will get the job done. Plus Nikon isn't going anywhere. A pro can invest thousands of dollars on lenses and it is a matter of when will the next upgrade be and not if. There are many Olympus 4/3rd shooters out there now without any idea what they are going to do with all of their high end lenses if Olympus drops the 4/3rd line. The E5 may be the end of the line. Nikon and Canon users need not fear.
Personally for what I do, mostly landscapes, the a99 is a better choice. The EVF and focus peaking takes the guess work out of fine focusing in low light. SLT means no flopping mirror so I need not worry as much about camera shake. The shutter is smooth and very quiet Plus the articulating screen keeps me up out of the mud trying to peep though a low mounted camera. I have some investment into the Sony lens line. The Carl Zeiss lenses are super sharp. I never have to sharpen an image in post. I honestly don't think Sony have plans to beat out Canon or Nikon in sales. It will just never happen. But I like the fact Sony pushes the limits and step out of the box and try new things. Something you won't see from the big two they don't have that luxury as they have dedicated traditional shooters they must keep happy.
I love my a99 and the image quality is mind blowing. I would put the dynamic range up there with the D800. You would be hard pressed to find a better landscape combo better than the a99 and CZ 24-70mm lens.

I had a chance to fool around with the A99 for a couple of weeks (prototype, not final product) a week or so ago, and I have to say I am impressed with the camera. High ISO noise is VERY MUCH controlled, and the camera controls are A LOT smoother to the touch. If not because switching would mean I have to ditch my 2 flashes and my Zeiss lens (APC-S only) on top of the additional investment, I would not think twice about switching my A77 for the A99.

Anyway, and I know most of you have mentioned this, at this time, you get the most features/bells and whistles for your buck from Sony, as the cameras tend to have a more competitive pricing than Canikon and are loaded with almost the same or more features, which is why people are starting to switch. Living in Costa Rica, I have noticed a lot of Europeans come here for vacation (bird watching and such) with Sony cameras.

Again, it was nice to see a single shooter using a big, white SONY super-telephoto lens. In over 40 years, I have never seen a single SONY-branded super-tele in real life. This photo let's me know that they really do exist. I am hoping for a Unicorn shot, or a photo of Sasquatch AKA "Bigfoot" next!

I have personally used the 300 f/2.8 and the 70-200 f/2.8 lenses, and both are VERY CRISP lenses. They are not CHEAP lenses, but then again, neither are Canon's or Ninkon's versions... But optically, they are up to par. Most critics of Sony ussually focus on the fact that Sony does not have good optics, but I think Sony was smart enough to reconize this many years ago (that they did not have the know-how in optics) and have Zeiss jump on board as a supplier for lenses; and I think none of us here can honestly say that Zeiss is not one of the best producers of high quality lenses. Obviously, these lenses are more expensive, but so are the good lenses from Canikon!

Anyway, that's my 2 cents. i think only time will tell if Sony will become a major player in ILC or not, so I guess we will just have to wait and see...

 

[fjrabon]

^^ and that is exactly why I don't care what he "pros" are using. The vast majority of them are hacks anyway.

This whole "pro worship" thing is just stupid. If it weren't for the great depression, even Ansel Adams would have been an amateur.

I don't necessarily care about 'pros' in the broadest sense. I tend to care about what a few very gifted working professionals think, because they simply have worked through most of the issues those with less experience still hash out on a daily basis. Being paid to do photography doesn't mean a whole lot, I'm a hack and I get paid every day to take pictures.

However, a big difference between pros and amateurs is often an understanding of what is the most efficient solution for a certain problem. If, for instance I ask an amateur how to solve X problem, I will often get certain very technical explanations of the problem, and all these incredibly complicated ways you could go about solving it, which are useful in one sense, but usually a lot of their ideas are wildly impractical in a day to day, on the scene, under time pressure setting. A pro will tend to say something like "oh, yeah, that, two cuts of CTO, up your kicker a full stop."

A few very certain pros are gifted in both ways, and know what level to exactly distill things, how much theory is useful, and how to explain things at just the right level needed. Michael Freeman comes to mind.

 

[argieramos]

Notice he's using an a900, and not an slt.

Notice that the very first FF SLT just came out this month (or last month)?

The A900 is the only Sony i would have

And why is that my friend? If the EVF is still your reason, I don't know what to say to you

 

[argieramos]

You did a great job editing the picture. Use the 5DMKIII so less hassle

This shot has had slight levels and sharpening only

But with the 5DMKIII, you probably don't have to touch the sliding

 

[argieramos]

I think a Sony is better than shooting a wedding with an iPhone. An Entire Wedding Shot On An iPhone And Processed Using Instagram | Fstoppers

Now THAT is the definition of a low budget wedding.

Not to mention it was processed with Instagram, jesus christ what is this world coming to?

Just like when snapsort did the studio photoshoot with an iPhone 4s and MF Hassselblad and people couldn't see the IQ different on print.

 

[cosmonaut]

Well I wouldn't let something like if pros use it or not be a factor in if I shoot with Sony or not. I have a D800 and it's certainly a nice camera but I am going to have to buy a how to book to learn everything it can do. If you like fooling with endless menu options and turning dials an switches the D800 is for you. If you want a more simple setup and just shoot with great image quality then the a99 might be the better choice. Not that I don't like the D800, i love it, but someone that is not more of a gear guru might struggle with the D800. I left Olympus because I thought the 4/3rd line is pretty much dead and I wanted a super wide lens but I wasn't about to invest that money in a system that was going out and at the least taking to long for upgrades without much more to offer.
i love the Sony line of cameras. It really all works out to what style shooter you are. If you like lots of features or more of just a shooter.
The a99 is light years beyond the a850/900. It was past time for an upgrade. Plus I think you would find Sony popularity might be a lot higher in Japan and other countries. I understand all to well about investments in lenses and future upgrades as I am deep into Sony. I hated to leave Olympus but felt they abandoned me and not the other way around.

 

[argieramos]

Pretty nice does not sound that good

Yeah, and if they had said "Absolutely awesome" you would have whole hearthedly agreed and ran out to buy one !


Lol

Frank Doorhof, a 5DMKIII user Pro did ran out to buy the whole a99 set.

 

[rexbobcat]

Just like when snapsort did the studio photoshoot with an iPhone 4s and MF Hassselblad and people couldn't see the IQ different on print.

But at what size did they print? Lol.

The camera in the 4S is awesome, but the absolute resolution (not the amount of MP) is not really all that incredible when it comes to fine details.

 

[usayit]

Not sure what the point is... with over six billion people on the planet, you can find almost anything you can imagine; I'm sure somewhere there's a pro using an old Olympus PEN half-frame. Not many professionals use Sony because Sony doesn't have a professional body in their line-up.

What ^^^ said...

Magnum photographer, Alex Majoli, published an entire portfolios using a cheap Olympus P&S... he carried several in fact.

One of the reasons why Canon and Nikon dominate in the professional/commercial imaging is their international support for those professionals. Their supply chain is so large that they can get replacement equipment into the hands of a professional working major media outlet within hours. $*(# happens and occasionally hear of some Canon photographer simply walking into any Canon retailer for help. Now that most of the professional world works in digital, this is ever so important.

Olympus, Sony, Leica, Panasonic, Pentax etc... all make products all capable of being used in some sort of professional capacity but just like in the commercial computing realm, the differentiator often is the service behind the product.

 

[skieur]

Not sure what the point is... with over six billion people on the planet, you can find almost anything you can imagine; I'm sure somewhere there's a pro using an old Olympus PEN half-frame. Not many professionals use Sony because Sony doesn't have a professional body in their line-up.

Sure they do. The full frame A99.

skieur