alwang wrote:
I guess I'm not really sure what you are saying then.
I was just joining cputec in lightly bashing Phillip's VR complaint Nice review of the A99, but to complain about VR (or IS or OIS) "swimming" just seems incredibly pointless. If you don't want it, turn it off. If you need it, turn it on. The difference between VR and SSS in use (in situations where they are comparable) is just so diminishingly small compared to, say, the difference between an OVF and EVF, or moving vs. stationary mirror.
douglasf13 wrote:
With the Nex-7, there is a relatively unknown option that allows you to switch between stills and movie playback a little easier. If you go to the thumbnail image review mode, where there is more than one image displayed at a time, there is an area at the far left that you can select, and it lets you toggle between stills and movie playback. I don't know if the A99 has this, but you might try it.
The A99 will do that, but you're still pressing the review button, hit the joystick left a couple times, hit the button to select, then the folder menu comes up and you hit the stick up or down, finally press enter to select your folder - instead of just hitting review and scrolling through the last few images and the video. Its just not very efficient in run-and-gun situations as it seems like half the time I hit the review button I'm also wasting time switching from stills to video or vice versa. I know this is just the Sony way as its the case on others I own and have owned. I have similar gripes about the file structure on the card, where image folders are buried in sub menu after sub menu instead of just one stinkin' folder.
AhamB wrote:
I don't really see the use of a VF shutter for the A99. The metering is done off the sensor, so light entering the VF wouldn't affect the readings, would it? Maybe I misunderstand...
I think you're correct - there is no optical path (at least that I've ever heard of) from the EVF back into the sensor, but purely electronic.
Of course, I've been known to be wrong once or twice in my life
'going to another 24MP based sensor after the a900 and even NEX-7 probably would see no gain in resolution/ IQ at low ISO.'
Apart from the big gain in dynamic range, colour/contrast, and even usable low ISO range (the a900's Achilles' heel in my view, witness all the debates over 200/320 and shadow 'red spots') you might be right.
Of course the camera itself also adds to *realised IQ* with its speed of operation, focus/exposure tools and setting adjustment controls' coherence and affordance, starting with the EVF, quiet shutter, better grip/handle ability and lack of mirror slap. Try one. It has seriously reduced my tripod use and shot prep = more images shot per given period of time. LCDs are frankly near to useless in strong light conditions, for image mag or even to show pretty girls the shot you just took of them.
The RX1 images show a lot of this excellence on the new image thread, take a look, it's not all the CZ 35/2 Sonnar doing the heavy lifting.
And of course low ISO is quite a limit case to even getting a workable image, as many need to shoot in darker conditions where an OVF is a large fail mark, even the a900.
'I don't really see the use of a VF shutter for the A99.'
I meant having the physical shutter to protect the EVF in storage/down time rather than to prevent light entering the VF and affecting the exposure, a hand/hat can do that job for tripod use for non-EVF cams.
You can turn the LCD panel to face the body when not in use and a VF shutter would simply protect the camera in tough conditions more, in my usage - rugged conditions - from dust and crud like Juniper ash and Indian festival powders at Diwali etc. I dislike cleaning any optical surface.
I add that other minor complaints are the rather lightweight battery door hinge and lack of resistance to the card door opening unintentionally. The CR door is nicely rubberised. And it is the lightest high end DSLR at 730 grams dry.
'Does anyone actually takes pictures with the A99?'
Plenty on the web - see one of my posts above.
Bash me any time, carsten, I have broad shoulders and disagreements are a good thing, information sharing is good for us ;-)
VR works very well of course, and you get feedback, a good thing; but it is disconcerting to some nonetheless. SSS you never know if it turned on, a disadvantage.
I am of course not saying that you shouldn't have this opinion. In the ideal world, VR would move just a tiny bit so you know it is working, and not more. However, I don't really think it is a valid criticism of any magnitude, and listed with the other very valid things you wrote, it just looked like it was filling up space
Not to belabor the point, Philip, but isn't the viewfinder shutter on the A900 behind the glass, so you'd have to clean the glass, anyways? I can't remember off hand.
Douglas, yes that is so, and if you flip the VF shutter down after use at eye level, it collects no *external* dust, pretty much.
carsten, I was replying to a question by cputeq, re the VR issue. I'll be more careful in future. ;-)
I see people are having trials with the RX1 focusing - the arm's length LCD method...I now think Sony must redo the camera with an EVF *built-in*, as it works so very well in the a99. I doubt even the add-on EVF can get near the trad eye level (E)VF. At least Charles has posted a good infinity shot now, take a look at that thread.
I just took a set of images with the 100/3.5 on my tripod and using the 2nd level of magnification I could see people in the street over a km away on the EVF, nowhere near visible at normal view - so as you can appreciate, the EVF permits amazing focus accuracy used this way.
Some users complain about the shot image review impeding their view of a subsequent shot, but one just needs to tap the shutter lightly to return to live shoot mode. Easy done and gives the best of both worlds - a good review right in front of the eye and a fast reversion to shoot mode.
Despite my dislike of stealth shooting, many Tibetans are shy of cameras so I got to find out how good the flip screen is for this technique, the bonus being the steady hold one gets with the strap held tight out from the neck.
WB Auto looks to be dead on as shown by the LCD/EVF - but I'll not know for sure for a month or so, back home.
philip_pj wrote:
I see people are having trials with the RX1 focusing - the arm's length LCD method...I now think Sony must redo the camera with an EVF *built-in*, as it works so very well in the a99.
Yes, a built-in EVF and a flip-out screen would do so much for this camera!
I have been very happy with the flip-screen on my E-PL3. Very useful. Sure, you have to take a bit more care, one more moving piece, but very worth it IMO.
...and the Sony one lurches off into overkill, with a double hinge affair. I just use the first hinged piece and very carefully at that. esp since its main usage for me at least, is around people. The possibility to have it face the body is a big plus for me.
photo chris wrote:
The video still sucks. I've seen some claim to have sharp wide shots, but I've yet to see even one that has any detail. This is an audition for a travel camera that I'll take with me on a year-long trip around the world and something to do paid video work until my wife and I ship out, but unless my camera magically gets glasses or I decide to shoot exclusively shallow DOF video (blech) its likely heading back to Sony.
The review linked to above seems to say that the softness is a compression issue, and that it can be circumvented by recording video to an external device over HDMI. Isn't there also a compression setting somewhere in the menus?
carstenw wrote:
The review linked to above seems to say that the softness is a compression issue, and that it can be circumvented by recording video to an external device over HDMI. Isn't there also a compression setting somewhere in the menus?
Its basically the same as any of the recent Sony offerings, there are a few bitrate/framerate options, but the highest quality settings are still lacking detail. At first I thought it might be a compression issue, but plugged straight into my TV the clean HDMI still has the same mushy watercolor look I get recording to the card. External recorders add almost nothing in terms of detail, you just get a higher bitrate and more color space for broadcast applications, color correction and chroma key work, but there's no real bump in resolution. I've endlessly tinkered with footage in post, trying to get an acceptable level of sharpness, but even at the max bitrate there's not a lot of room to sharpen without adding artifacts.
chris, I read a long and interesting thread at dpr, it seems a problem to some extent with all FF so-called video-capable cameras, but the Sony is poorer than the 5DII as an example. Lots of comparisons with dedicated video cams and smaller sensor cams, some thought these preferable. General consensus was that none of this class of FF cameras was ideal, maybe to be expected. Every one likes the stills though.
That David Kilpatrick's tangent-obsessed effort makes it to 'real world performance' almost half way through the slew of wordy detail tells clued up readers all they need to know. He seems obsessed with market positioning and the 'competition', and things like shutter lag. You know, the really important stuff that delivers fine images - not.
AF gets a huge run, to be expected I suppose. It's always easy to criticise AF on any camera, it seems. The review is strong on listing detail rather than why and how they work in the real world.
Anyone thinking the a77 finder is not significantly improved in the a99 has vision problems. DK implies they are almost identical. Thrice tells us they are not. We use both, are thousands of frames in, and they are very different to work with.
What he seems to miss in these rather glib overall comments is that the EVF is a command centre, yet gives the incorrect impression the view in daylight is 'dim' when a simple tap on the magnifying button gives you everything you need, in 1-2 seconds. He omits even one mention of focus peaking, and its uses.
Later it is indeed revealed that he is another OVF holdout, longing for the simple life - the a900 experience. Yeah, I remember those days, of lost images from no focus verification and no image review, poor mid to high ISO without huge post effort, peering through a dark glass window desperately hoping to get focus right, using an exposed dim LCD - useless for reviews, no real time histo, endless image re-shoots, no two way horizon level, high audible noise levels, high vibration levels, and so on. It's over, thankfully. Battery life, give me a break - pony up the bucks for a second or third one. That is what a pro would do.
For manual focus lens users, the big difference is one FF camera provides fine controls enabling any user to nail focus and exposure every time no matter the light, and the 'competitors' do not, and cannot.
Sad really, but as the 'review' is free, it is worth the cost of reading.
