philip_pj Offline Upload & Sell: On
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The a99 showed up the other day, so some early thoughts from this 98% MF user.
The EVF is better implemented than the a77, out of the box colour is better, and does not grain up so much in low light. As stated above, the combination of peaking and magnification is highly effective, especially since you never need to take your eye from the finder. There is a little shimmer stopped down on panning in a dark room but nothing particularly troublesome, just enough to tell you this is not a OVF, lol.
I tried my hardest-to-focus lens, the venerable 35-70/3.4 CY, which absolutely confounds the OVF on the a900 maybe 30% of the time, and is iffy a lot of the time in any light (deep DOF masks the focal plane). The new system laughed at the challenge, even at f8. Peaking is very effective in a dim room provided you have some moderate contrast edges, even at f8. In fact, the peaking pattern acts as a de facto DOF indicator - very useful. It is also very good at shooting people lit only by window light on a cloudy day.
Outside, the magpies I just fed chewed-up brazil nuts to, lit up like xmas trees - OK I cheated as they are black and white, a very high contrast bird! But the rhododendrons in the backyard did the same however, and you can observe the 'red tide' march across the lawn as you pull/push focus - at f11. It illuminates subjects in focus all over the frame, of course.
The mag has two settings I have found, not sure if this is adjustable - the first retains some peaking lighting but not the higher setting. In A mode, rooms are fine for focusing also, even at f8, as the meter adjusts to show good light. It's a shock when you look away from the finder, to see how dim the light is.
The other big win in the a99 for MF is being able to tailor the exposure using the excellent histogram, tucked away at the bottom right of the VF, with EC in A or SS in M mode. All other controls show up in the EVF - WB, ISO, a host of stuff, a lot of options, and a classy horizon level. Something I did not expect - the EVF shows OOF very nicely.
Bottom line - for MF RAW still shooters it does the two crucial things (focus and exp) fast and accurately, and most importantly - verifiably so, since the review shows up in the EVF, for instant magnification. Terrific menu, loads of adjustability for buttons (7 from memory), soft shutter release, no MLU needed, fine grip, a good handhold option, more so with chipped lenses (IBIS). Less important now, med-high ISO is pretty good on this sensor as is DR.
I will seldom use the (very good) LCD apart from some menu settings and tripod work, since the VF surround blocks bright light very well. Even for OVF holdouts they are getting close now. Only downside it apparently gets through batteries, lucky I have accumulated quite a few, and can get power now even in Ladakh and all of Tibet. So long as it does not explode like those electric cars in NY, I will be happy.
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