Calling all Sony Alpha users! (Part 5)

Any of you guys still using an A700? I'm looking to pickup a DSLR again to use alongside my M4/3 Kit and while I'm not averse to spending a decent wad of cash (lusting after the A77 ) I'd rather spend not a lot just now and upgrade later.
Seen a few A700's come up and having had one (2 actually) before I loved it but I just wondered if anyone here still uses theirs and is it still "up to it"
 
still got one. 12Mp is still fine unless you are doing humongous prints.
ISO performance isn't as good as the latest models but it's not really that far behind either - same with AF.
Still a great handling body & as long as you stick within it's limits & you don't need/want LiveView or AF it'll get the job done.
 
Still using the A700 here, still a great camera.

Although not too sure where to go from here with Sony, not a fan of A77
 
jonesy_ni said:
Still using the A700 here, still a great camera.

Although not too sure where to go from here with Sony, not a fan of A77
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I am still using an A200 that I am looking to upgrade from, I looked at the A55/65 and I'm not terribly fond of them either. I looked online at the A77 and for the same price you can get a canon 7D. I'd rather sell up all my gear and move to that than get a 77 also. I am in 2 minds to do that with my 200 and maybe go for 600D.

If I amy ask what didn't you like about the 77 ? for me its the EVF, I simply can't get used to those things, every time I tested the 55 I was always looking up to double check as the EVF just seemed overly bright leading me to beleive I was going to over cook the shot I was just about to take
 
The A77 evf is supposed to be very good.

My main reason for not liking the A77 is I want good low light ISO performance, the A77 unfortunately seems quite poor at that. Apart from that it seems to be a brilliant camera.

A900/A850 are quite behind now, and no replacement due until next year. Have invested quite a bit with sony/minolta lenses, flashes etc, although I am seriously considering selling up and moving over to Nikon or Canon
 
jonesy_ni said:
The A77 evf is supposed to be very good.

My main reason for not liking the A77 is I want good low light ISO performance, the A77 unfortunately seems quite poor at that.
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Funnily enough when i went into my local camera shop looking at the 55 and 65 I asked the same question. I asked the sales dude what the ISO range was on the 55, he said it goes from 100 - 12800. To which I thought nice up to at least 6400 will probably be workable with the nose at 12800 probably being not good. Then he topped it off by saying ...... but its not recomended to use above 800.

So i left the store mightily confused thinking whats the point of having a massive ISO spread if most of it is not useable ?
 
I have to say I'm not over keen on the EVF either, I don't doubt that its really good but I prefer the OVF and a quick play with an A65/77 in a shop isn't likely to convince me otherwise.

I did really love my A700 before but I do half wonder like you Wildman if I might be better to pickup a similarly specced Canon or Nikon (40-50D or D90) rather than investing back into Sony, as it looks like we're not going to see anything but EVF again.

I didn't realise that the low light performance wasn't meant to be good on the A77, I thought the newer Sony sensors had improved a lot?
 
I'll be honest I was worried about the evf, but just plain love it now. I don't think the noise handling is as bad as a lot of people make out, OK it could be a lot better but an example this was taken at ISO4000
375323_10150349650287477_722067476_8662039_1045539424_n.jpg


ISO3200
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Another happy A700 user (though having used an A900 for a day last summer would really like to switch to FF :D ).

Tried the A77/A65 EVF in Jessops.

It was a LOT better than I thought it would be, bright and clear, lots of additional info.
BUT when I mimicked tracking something / medium pan the display in the EVF was 'odd'.
The nearest I can think of was that it appeared to be made up of of a number of smaller panels (in something like a 4x5 grid) which all refreshed at the same time.
It might be better outside with more usable light (rather than in a shop, where the lighting wasn't great, so the EVF was probably upping the gain to compensate as I didn't switch ISO, etc).
 
Faldrax said:
Another happy A700 user (though having used an A900 for a day last summer would really like to switch to FF :D ).

Tried the A77/A65 EVF in Jessops.

It was a LOT better than I thought it would be, bright and clear, lots of additional info.
BUT when I mimicked tracking something / medium pan the display in the EVF was 'odd'.
The nearest I can think of was that it appeared to be made up of of a number of smaller panels (in something like a 4x5 grid) which all refreshed at the same time.
It might be better outside with more usable light (rather than in a shop, where the lighting wasn't great, so the EVF was probably upping the gain to compensate as I didn't switch ISO, etc).
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I've got an EVF add-on for my Olympus Pen and its decent enough but its just not "the same" as the OVF model, I'm going to go into Jessops for a play tommorrow and play with a few models and see what I think.
I do like the compact size of my Pen but I find the low light performance very poor and new lenses are even dearer than equivalent Canon/Nikon/Sony ones!
 
chrism_scotland said:
I didn't realise that the low light performance wasn't meant to be good on the A77, I thought the newer Sony sensors had improved a lot?
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imo high ISO is similar to a Canon 7D but it's got more DR at lower ISOs than the Canon.
If you normalise it down to 16Mp & compare it against the 16Mp it's very similar - many people make the mistake of zooming in to 100% & saying it's noisier but you've zoomed into a smaller area thereby magnifying it more.
It does lose 1/2 a stop of the sensor's potential due to the translucent mirror but if you really need low light performance buy a D3s.

jonesy_ni said:
A900/A850 are quite behind now, and no replacement due until next year.
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depending upon who you listen to there is supposed to be a 24MP FF this year with the 36MP put off until next.
 
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stan the man said:
hey guys..any of you got a sony off camera flash cable?

looked at the sony FA-CC1AM model,but £40+ :eek:

any cheaper alternatives out there,or can someone tell me where i could get the sony version a bit cheaper ;)
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I got a 5m TTL cable from Mad Mike's (eBay) for about £15 IIRC.
 
Hi i have a sony a55 with a sigma 150-500 lens. I use it for wildlife shots but not happy with the results.Has any one got the same set up if so what do you think.
 
Seems like a lot of people seem a little unhappy with their Sony products.... I run a Sony a450 with an a200 as a spare and I have to say I find the sony very easy to use. I started off with a Canon 450D and if Im honest, hated it. Perhaps I am exceptant that my glass is cheap and know that my photographys wont be brilliant, but having seen some photographys taken with sony and through good glass, I know IQ is on par with other systems people want to change to. Still, horses for courses........:clap:
 
I am happy with my A700, was happy with my A100 too, I am just personally not happy with what currently is available for upgrade.

But holding out hope that there are more cameras to come from Sony, as I do have a lot of Sony lenses etc.
 
101kingdom said:
Hi i have a sony a55 with a sigma 150-500 lens. I use it for wildlife shots but not happy with the results.Has any one got the same set up if so what do you think.
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Which version of the lens do you have (there are 4)? Some of the older ones were known to be soft at the long end of the zoom range. Also Sigma are a bit lax with their quality control which results in some significant sample variability.
 
jonesy_ni said:
I am happy with my A700, was happy with my A100 too, I am just personally not happy with what currently is available for upgrade.

But holding out hope that there are more cameras to come from Sony, as I do have a lot of Sony lenses etc.
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Same here, they seem to have abandoned dSLR's in favour of SLT's... I have an A580 at the moment which I'm happy with, but when it comes to upgrading... we can only hope!
 
jonesy_ni said:
I am happy with my A700, was happy with my A100 too, I am just personally not happy with what currently is available for upgrade.

But holding out hope that there are more cameras to come from Sony, as I do have a lot of Sony lenses etc.
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I was thinking the same last night, if my A700 brakes or gets stolen etc.. (touches wood that it doesnt) im not sure what i would do. A900 or A850 full frame cameras would be the natural option but theyve been around for a few years.

Do you think sony will release a full frame SLT this year? Im not that sold on the EVF either.
 
Within a couple of years time I'd expect the noise handling on the SLTs to be back up to where it is with the A580.

The A77 is a reasonable replacement for the A700 though as they are about as noisy as each other but you gain massively in resolution with the A77.

I'm assuming at some point the SLTs will become mirrorless like the NEX but in an SLR body and with stabilisation. That's when I'd switch from the a580.
 
PDub said:
Do you think sony will release a full frame SLT this year? Im not that sold on the EVF either.
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the rumour site says that there will ba a 24MP FF this year & a 36Mp FF next year.
Whether OVF or SLT?:shrug:
 
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