Instead of canons or nikons,can i go for a sony?

[lordshakti]

A 77 or the upcoming a99... I have heard them saying they are not meant for photographers,Specs wise they look wayy better and nicely priced than nikons and canons..

I am planing ti go for a dslr after using a fckd up fujifilm hs20exr

I dont wanna compromise on picture quality at all,
I do macro and portraits mainly


Help me make up my mind,thanks

 

[MLeeK]

Sure you can! They are really up and coming with their technology. I am not sure that I would want to push it for weddings and higher end professional work, but they are excellent, capable cameras that will be outstanding for portraiture and macro work.
They tend to be chosen last for a few reasons. My biggest one is the availability of used equipment options. You can pick up nearly anything used for Canon and Nikon at a great savings. You have to hunt like hell for used sony gear. THere just isn't much out there. Surf craigslist or ebay for sony stuff... it's not much when compared to the others.

 

[skieur]

Some advantages of the A77 or A99 are:

1. no flipping mirror therefore quieter shutter with less vibration and sharper photos.
2. real time view of the effects of camera adjustments
3. OLED viewfinder is bright, 100% accurate and can display adjustment info. on top bottom and sides.
4. In-camera panorama shooting ie. press the button and pan....camera stitches the shots together.
5. In camera HDR with adjustments for strength and detail.
6. 12 frames per second stills and 60 fps video
7. Full HD video with stereo sound
8. Depth of field preview
9. Automatic fill flash
10. Multi-shot noise reduction
11. Wifi
12. GPS
13. off camera remote flash
14. face recognition
15. object tracking

Other cameras have some but not all of these features too, but at a much higher price.

skieur

 

[lordshakti]

Thanks guys for the info..
I wud like to know about lens compatibility for these bodies..the later one is full frame as i have heard..
Price /quality /availibility wise,how do you compare lenses for nikon/canon and sony,n ya,if anyone kno..do they have macro converter lens for a sony?
Tel in detail.

Thanks

 

[MLeeK]

Well, you can use minolta lenses on a sony, so that opens up a whole lot of older lenses.
As for direct comparisons I believe Sony's professional lenses had tended to be more expensive until the latest round of newest, biggest and best-which sony hasn't updated to yet. As for comparing to the older versions that are available the sony's are a bit higher. I can't answer for how they compare in quality, but I'd expect it to be close. All of the off brands make copies of their lenses for Sony. There are some excellent ones and there are some pretty crappy ones.
Yes, there are macro lenses for Sony as well as extension tubes.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Sure you can! They are really up and coming with their technology. I am not sure that I would want to push it for weddings and higher end professional work, but they are excellent, capable cameras that will be outstanding for portraiture and macro work.
They tend to be chosen last for a few reasons. My biggest one is the availability of used equipment options. You can pick up nearly anything used for Canon and Nikon at a great savings. You have to hunt like hell for used sony gear. THere just isn't much out there. Surf craigslist or ebay for sony stuff... it's not much when compared to the others.

LOL, no used stuff. Youre funny dude. Obviously you dont troll ebay much.

Get the sony dude. Its cheaper and just a good.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Thanks guys for the info..
I wud like to know about lens compatibility for these bodies..the later one is full frame as i have heard..
Price /quality /availibility wise,how do you compare lenses for nikon/canon and sony,n ya,if anyone kno..do they have macro converter lens for a sony?
Tel in detail.

Thanks

If you have the cash go FF and get the Zeiss lenses or minolta g series.

 

[Sw1tchFX]

If I was just now getting into photography and didn't readily have a rental house in my area that I could use anything Nikon/Canon from...




...I'd shoot with an A99. 24mm f/2, (soon) 50mm f/1.4, and 135mm f/1.8 all Zeiss primes? If my Contax 645 is any indication, YES PLZ.

 

[unpopular]

Sure you can! They are really up and coming with their technology. I am not sure that I would want to push it for weddings and higher end professional work, but they are excellent, capable cameras that will be outstanding for portraiture and macro work.
They tend to be chosen last for a few reasons. My biggest one is the availability of used equipment options. You can pick up nearly anything used for Canon and Nikon at a great savings. You have to hunt like hell for used sony gear. THere just isn't much out there. Surf craigslist or ebay for sony stuff... it's not much when compared to the others.

LOL, no used stuff. Youre funny dude. Obviously you dont troll ebay much.

Get the sony dude. Its cheaper and just a good.

Yeah. Sony used stuff is CHEAP AS HELL too. I just got an a700 for less than $350, shipped. The more modern but less beefy a500 series will cost slight more and have better noise performance.

Just don't think of any Sony as a resale investment.

 

[gsgary]

Some advantages of the A77 or A99 are:

1. no flipping mirror therefore quieter shutter with less vibration and sharper photos.
2. real time view of the effects of camera adjustments
3. OLED viewfinder is bright, 100% accurate and can display adjustment info. on top bottom and sides.
4. In-camera panorama shooting ie. press the button and pan....camera stitches the shots together.
5. In camera HDR with adjustments for strength and detail.
6. 12 frames per second stills and 60 fps video
7. Full HD video with stereo sound
8. Depth of field preview
9. Automatic fill flash
10. Multi-shot noise reduction
11. Wifi
12. GPS
13. off camera remote flash
14. face recognition
15. object tracking

Other cameras have some but not all of these features too, but at a much higher price.

skieur

Why do people keep going on about 12 FPS it will only do it in auto

 

[skieur]

Some advantages of the A77 or A99 are:

1. no flipping mirror therefore quieter shutter with less vibration and sharper photos.
2. real time view of the effects of camera adjustments
3. OLED viewfinder is bright, 100% accurate and can display adjustment info. on top bottom and sides.
4. In-camera panorama shooting ie. press the button and pan....camera stitches the shots together.
5. In camera HDR with adjustments for strength and detail.
6. 12 frames per second stills and 60 fps video
7. Full HD video with stereo sound
8. Depth of field preview
9. Automatic fill flash
10. Multi-shot noise reduction
11. Wifi
12. GPS
13. off camera remote flash
14. face recognition
15. object tracking

Other cameras have some but not all of these features too, but at a much higher price.

skieur

Why do people keep going on about 12 FPS it will only do it in auto

That is auto in quotation marks since you can pre-set what you want manually and then shoot in auto+ mode.

skieur

 

[Derrel]

Read the absolute pan (as in negative review) of the Sony A99 from The Luminous landscape web site...and see what MULTIPLE, experienced shooters think of its sub-par viewfinder....they comment that while the SLT non-moving mirror was fine when compared against APS-C cameras, most of which have small, faraway, poor viewfinders, the a99's full-frame finder...basically, SUCKS, compared against quality full-frame pentaprism viewfinders from Canon and Nikon. To some people, a sucky viewfinder image is not that big of a deal; to other people, people who might not have the best vision, or who actually know how to shoot tight and shoot right, the sub-par viewfinder is a MAJOR let-down and a real shortcoming of any camera that happens to have a sucky finder image...

Sony A99 Field Report

an excerpt from Michael Reichmann: "When I first picked up the A99 my very first impression (I'd been using my Nikon D800e the day before) was that there was something wrong. What it turned out to be was the outcome of virtually a lifetime of using full-frame film and digital cameras with their large and bright viewfinders. Holding up the A99 side by side with a camera like the D800, or new Nikon D600 or Canon 6D, brings the matter to light – so to speak. As good as it is, the Sony EVF just can't compete in terms of realistic contrast, brightness and overall clarity to a full frame glass prism viewfinder."

And from Nick Devlin: "My view is that there is nothing inherently good about EVFs. They are at best a necessary evil, chosen for the form-factor advantages they bring and the cameras they make possible. Sony clearly does not share this view, since they built this camera around an EVF simply for the sake of doing so. It offers no notable advantage of any sort, most notably not in price. I can see no reason to chose an EVF in any context where it does not significantly reduce the size, weight or price of the camera, or substantially enhance its usability. The case is simply not made out beyond, "It's cool new technology".

To me, the experience of viewing the natural world through an EVF is like crashing at a cheap motel, closing the blinds, and turning on the small, fuzzy old cathode-ray tube TV on the dresser. It's a shame, because this is otherwise a cracker of a camera, really nice to hold and behold. – Nick"

 

[unpopular]

no matter how great everything else is, no matter how fast and responsive or how high quality the output, a poor viewfinder ruins everything.

 

[KmH]

3. OLED viewfinder is bright, 100% accurate......

skieur

Huh? 100% accurate? Does that mean it displays the full dynamic range of the scene, and does so in 3D?

Does the OLED display the full range of colors humans can see?

 

[unpopular]

while I am not totally convinced by EVF, OVF's don't display in 3D, and having teh OLED calibrated to the camera's gamut would be useful - though I don't think this is even the case.