a99, It's here

cosmonaut · Nov 3, 2012

I am not sure why I bother with pre order. Someone will always have one in stock long before I get a pre order camera in. Some popped up at the Sony Store and I canceled the pre order from Adorama and over nighted this one. I am off of work for a couple of weeks this month and wanted to go ahead and get one in my hands. It looks every much just like the a77 just a slight bigger and I mean slight. I am slowly turning into an EVF junkie and I never would have thought that would happen. The EVF on the a99 has better response than the a77.
The noise at high ISO is a good stop and a half better than the a850, maybe two. Very usable shots at 3200 ISO and 6400 very workable.

a99 by Cosmonaut's, on Flickr

ELS · Nov 3, 2012

Hi Greg:

That is one beautiful looking camera rig you got there Greg! :thumbup:

Oh my, I bet you are thinking of hundreds of potential photo opportunities with it.

Looking forward to your deeper "in-depth" comments / reviews and of course, your
great photos created using your new gear...

Thanks for sharing the photos of your newly acquired rig set-up... :camera:

Have a nice day,

Ed

jaomul · Nov 3, 2012

Very pro looking camera, enjoy it

DiskoJoe · Nov 6, 2012

I see they have a display on the top like nikon and canon.

fractionofasecond · Nov 6, 2012

It's beautiful. I want please. Donate?

jfrabat · Nov 9, 2012

cosmonaut said:
I am not sure why I bother with pre order. Someone will always have one in stock long before I get a pre order camera in. Some popped up at the Sony Store and I canceled the pre order from Adorama and over nighted this one. I am off of work for a couple of weeks this month and wanted to go ahead and get one in my hands. It looks every much just like the a77 just a slight bigger and I mean slight. I am slowly turning into an EVF junkie and I never would have thought that would happen. The EVF on the a99 has better response than the a77.
The noise at high ISO is a good stop and a half better than the a850, maybe two. Very usable shots at 3200 ISO and 6400 very workable.

a99 by Cosmonaut's, on Flickr

I agree with you; I have been plaing around with one of the prototypes, and like I mentioned, I found it VERY similar to the A77 with some improvements, namely:

1. ISO is GREATLY improved (you can see in my post the same shot with the A77 and the A99 for comparison at ISO16,000 and almost no light; the A99's shot is actually usefull (yeah, there is noise, but nowhere NEAR as much as the A77).
2. improved controles; they joystick thingy is MUUUCH smoother (and quieter; think video!), and the front dial that in the A77 is only used to select MF, S, A or C can be used for a VARIATY of functions in the A99. Also the Dial on top is beefier.
3. The selective range focusing function just plain rocks! Choose a range that you want the camera to focus within, and it will just ignore anything not in that range. This is good for pics, but GREAT for video!

I understand why they also went to a new hotshoe design (used for MUUUUCH more than just flash), but it kind of sucks for people like me that already have 2 flashes... I also missed the integrated flash (which I use on the A77 to trigger off camera flashes). but overall, this little camera is just SWEEEEET!