Calling all Sony Alpha users! (Part 5)

btw anybody wanting to pre-order an A99 if you are happy to order from the Netherlands you can get it for £2025 delivered (RX1 is similarly a lot cheaper than here).
 
heidfirst said:
btw anybody wanting to pre-order an A99 if you are happy to order from the Netherlands you can get it for £2025 delivered (RX1 is similarly a lot cheaper than here).
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That's interesting. Do you know what the position is re: Sony warranties? As its in the EU, are we covered here?
 
I believe so but I'm not 100%.
In fact I wouldn't be at all surprised if the Dutch have a proper 2 year warranty but I doubt that you would be covered under the UK Distance Selling Regulations (although the Dutch probably have a similar scheme).

A99+500/4 looks like a nice combo (for £11k it should be!) http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/show-us-some-birds59_topic91662_page4.html (the swallow pics by Robbie A)
 
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I,m torn between the A57 & the a65 so can anybody tell me if the a65 is worth the extra £200 please?
 
Hi Sandiman.

I had a similar dilemma a few months ago. I bought an A65 and had a good play with it. I ended up returning it because to me there is quite a price difference between the A57 & A65. £499 & £698 according to a quick search on Jessops.

The main difference in reality is the jump from 16 to 24MP and of course the totally beautiful OLED viewfinder in the latter but LCD in the A57.

I wasn't fussed at all about 24MP if anything I prefer lower MP for smaller file sizes and the A57 has better ISO performance because of the 16MP sensor (allegedly).

So....the decision came down to whether or not the OLED EVF is worth £300. To me it's a no.

Plus the A57 has some features which the A65 does not like clear image zoom and that auto portrait framing thingy. Neither are must haves but hey...save money and more features. That's got to be a good thing right?

I was all set to get the A57 until I managed to get hold of a cheap A77 body. Now that IS worth the extra IMO.
 
eddiewood said:
I'd be comparing the A57 to a second-hand A77 for about £650. Makes choosing a lot easier. :)
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Thanks for the good advice but being well, well, past the first flush of youth (OK I'm an old git) 😀Besides that way I can part exchange the gear I have now.😜
 
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I spent ages (literally, 9 hours of in-hand trials) comparing the a57 to the a77.

If I'd been looking for my only camera, I'd have bought the a77. As it was I needed a backup for my a850 and I found the a57 slightly, but noticeably, better at higher ISOs. As I already had that 24mp loveliness in the a850, I went for the a57.

I can honestly say I hardly noticed the difference between the two EVFs. Side by side, the OLED looks better, but leave an hour between them and I never even thought about it.

Funnily enough, I find I'm using my a57 far more than the a850 these days. The SLT is much quicker to use than the older design of the a850.
 
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In my dim and distant past I had 3 or 4 Sony alpha cameras the last one was the a700 and I really loved it.

I only switched to another brand when I had a Nikon bought me one birthday. Since then I've dabbled with a few DSLRs though none of them came near the 700 to me.

I have to say though I am looking forward to getting back in the Sony fold. I just hope I feel about the a57 as I did the a700.
 
Sandiman said:
In my dim and distant past I had 3 or 4 Sony alpha cameras the last one was the a700 and I really loved it.

I only switched to another brand when I had a Nikon bought me one birthday. Since then I've dabbled with a few DSLRs though none of them came near the 700 to me.

I have to say though I am looking forward to getting back in the Sony fold. I just hope I feel about the a57 as I did the a700.
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You might miss the extra buttons that the A700 has, the main difference is that the A57 and A65 have one control wheel. The A700 and A77 have front and rear.

When handling the A65 as a replacement for my A700, the buttons and dial were the first thing I missed, it felt like I was going back to my A200.

There is no vertical grip for the A57 or A65. I have just bought one for my A77 after trying this year without it. Having one on my A700, and missing it, I caved in and it feels like my A700 again. :D

This is what I mean about a second-hand A77, there is a lot more to the ergonomics and handling compared to the A57/65 than a quick glance might reveal.
 
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eddiewood said:
This is what I mean about a second-hand A77, there is a lot more to the ergonomics and handling compared to the A57/65 than a quick glance might reveal.
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To be perfectly honest if I was a few years no make that quite a few😜 years younger but I now feel that the a57 will suit me a bit better.

If I find I'm wrong then I can always upgrade.

If it was a bit lighter I would look for an a700 in good nick. That was a belter of a camera IMVHO and very much underrated by those who never had the joy of using it.
 
Happy Snapper said:
Does anybody have a sigma 10-20mm? Looking at getting one wanted to know how good they are?
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There are two.

Sigma 10-20 f4-5.6 EX DC
http://www.dyxum.com/reviews/lenses/Sigma-10-20-F4-5.6-EX-DC_review225.html

Sigma 10-20 f3.5 EX DC HSM
http://www.dyxum.com/reviews/lenses/Sigma-10-20-F3.5-EX-DC-HSM_review539.html

While having HSM is nice, if you can get the f4-5.6 for a lot less, do it. I had it and it was great shooting at 10mm. Recently sold it to get the Sigma 8-16mm which is even more fun at 8mm. :D
 
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Thanks for your help I can get the f4-5.6 for £399 that's the most I will have spent on a lens but well worth it I think!
 
Happy Snapper said:
Thanks for your help I can get the f4-5.6 for £399 that's the most I will have spent on a lens but well worth it I think!
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It's cheaper on Amazon and even cheaper second-hand. ;)

If you aren't concerned about buying from Hong Kong, you can get it from One Stop Digital for £312. You can even get the 8-16mm for £430.

OSD Sigma 8-16mm

I have used OSD and they are well known to be safe and reliable sellers. Of course there is no Sigma UK warranty, so you have to ship it back to OSD. If you get stung for customs/VAT you pay it (so have the spare cash ready) and they refund it to you, I know they actually do it. (y)

So you could have the 8-16mm for not much more than what you were getting the 10-20mm for. You'll be very happy with the 10-20mm bought from the UK but the 8-16mm for very little more is a cracker of a lens.
 
eddiewood said:
It's cheaper on Amazon and even cheaper second-hand. ;)

If you aren't concerned about buying from Hong Kong, you can get it from One Stop Digital for £312. You can even get the 8-16mm for £430.

OSD Sigma 8-16mm

I have used OSD and they are well known to be safe and reliable sellers. Of course there is no Sigma UK warranty, so you have to ship it back to OSD. If you get stung for customs/VAT you pay it (so have the spare cash ready) and they refund it to you, I know they actually do it. (y)

So you could have the 8-16mm for not much more than what you were getting the 10-20mm for. You'll be very happy with the 10-20mm bought from the UK but the 8-16mm for very little more is a cracker of a lens.
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Just having a browse on the net the tamron 10-24 f3.5-4.5 for £350 and the reviews look good. It's never simple shopping for a lens :-(
 
I pulled the plug and picked up my A57 today.

After charging the battery I had a bit of a play with the camera it does have a nice feel in the hand.

The 18-55mm kit lens isn't bad but I will have to get something better.

So can anybody recommend a decent general purpose lens but one that hopefully won't brake the bank?
 
Sandiman said:
I pulled the plug and picked up my A57 today.

After charging the battery I had a bit of a play with the camera it does have a nice feel in the hand.

The 18-55mm kit lens isn't bad but I will have to get something better.

So can anybody recommend a decent general purpose lens but one that hopefully won't brake the bank?
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Tamron 17-50mm f2.8. Great lens, I had one before swapping to the Sony 16-50mm f2.8.
 
The Tamron 17-50mm is my most used lens on my A77.

None of the Sony lenses will actually have VC on it since it's built into the Sony bodies. i just had a quick nosey and only see one in Sony A mount at £234.95.
 
Tamron only do the non-VC version for Sony & actually that's an advantage as it's sharper than the VC version & it's stabilised by the body anyway.
 
Hi Happy Snapper

Firstly, I must declare an interest, should the people here convince you that the A700 is a great camera/worthy upgrade from the A350, I could point out that I have a really nice example of this body for sale here on TP !

It is costing me about 8x the price I'm selling at to get a (hopefully) worthy upgrade from the A700, I might add. The A700 is THAT good.

Secondly though, I honestly think the A700 is the best value camera available at any price right now.

It does not have the bells-and-whistles of the A77, but then many prefer OVF over EVF and the A700 does give great user control with lots of buttons rather than menu options. I ran the A700 alongside a couple of Canon bodies for six months and ended up keeping the A700. I do though need a dedicated wildlife setup now so it reluctantly has to go.

I have not used an A350 but doubt you will be disapointed with the quality and the fact the A700 is just a great photographic tool.

Finally, good luck with your decision either way. I am sure many here will advise you wiselly.

Regards

Gary
 
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Also one massive problem the a77 has compared to the good ole a700 is that they have for some reason not added the tether ability (now this can be fixed by a firmware update) I know people say about the ey-fi card, but that's not tethering... Don't get me wrong, the a77 is a cracking camera and I'm well happy with mine, but for product shots and promo work I feel this is a major ball drop by Sony. I have been kinda on a crusade about tethering lately and finally got a reply from Sony about it:

"Thank you for contacting Sony Support.

I understand that you are inquiring about the addition of the tethering function on the SLT-A77 camera. As of this moment we do not have information if and when a firmware update will be released to add this feature to the camera.

It is appreciated you've taken the time to share your comments with us. It is important to receive feedback so we may consider the needs of our customers. Moreover, I have taken the initiative to forward your concern to Sony engineering for consideration and future reference.

You may regularly check http://esupport.sony.com for product news and update releases.

Thank you for understanding."

If everyone can email them regarding adding tethering to a future firmware update, it will make it more Likely to happen. Their email is: support@info.sel.sony.com

Come on people, let's make this happen!!
 
Happy Snapper said:
Hello all would it be with upgrading from an a350 to an a700 they are pretty cheap now days?
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The advantage of the A700 is ergonomics and the brighter penta-prism view finder. Have a look at images of the rear of the A350 vs. A700 and note the number of dedicated buttons. The A700 also has a rear dial, a feature I couldn't do without.

The A700 has a higher flash sync and shutter speed, something that you may not care about though.

There is a "but". It doesn't have live-view and you may be used to using it. I also doubt you'll notice any difference in IQ, in fact at lower ISO the A350 is a great camera. At higher ISO you might get away with pushing the ISO a bit more, but the A700 isn't exactly a stellar performer these days.

While I loved my A700, if I had the A350 now I'd be looking to get the A580/A55 for the better sensor.
 
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Thank you all for you comments I went to my local camera shop today and ended up walking out with a sigma 10-20mm haha so a camera upgrade might be off the cards for a while. I should of known better then to step foot anywhere near the camera shop but I've wanted that lens for a while now :-D
 
Can anyone recommend a good but cheap set of wireless flash triggers I can purchase for use with a A77?
 
Sneeks said:
Can anyone recommend a good but cheap set of wireless flash triggers I can purchase for use with a A77?
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I have just started using the Pixel Soldiers (£40 for an RX/TX pair) they do a proper Sony specific fit.

I was going to go with the RF602's though, I just prefer not to use an adapter, it looks a bit ungainly (I borrowed a pair of Canon RF602's, they worked fine with all my adapters)..

Being honest, apart from aesthetics, and the tiny convenience of it being Sony fit without an adapter, they both seem to work identically..
 
Where did you purchase the Pixel Soldiers? I've been looking at Pixel Pawn TF363 for £40, these are supplied from UK Highland Photography who I've never heard of.
 
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