Sony A99 full frame SLT previewed

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

It is 24MP:

http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sony-alpha-slt-a99/

[sleepyhead]

I had some time to play with the a99 today at the Sony Store. It's really popular and busy, so I didn't have much play time. What I can tell you is that the auto-focus is stupidly quick. It picks up faces really well and focuses very well. It had a F2.8 zeiss zoom lens (the model name has slipped my mind right now) and the colour is good, without being too cool or too saturated. I'm sure with some adjustments you can have it punching out photos that you want. I liked the EVF and it was useful, however the pictures were relatively noisy compared to my 5N. ISO 640 and the noise was noticeable. Not distracting or horrible, but if you pixel peep it's there. Of course this could be a firmware issue. If the price is right, it'll be a very nice camera indeed.
I'll go back again soon and have more of a play. The RX1, however, was in a locked glass cabinet.

[sleepyhead]

OK, so I've hand a much longer play with the a99 and the D600 (in the same day, but at two different shops).

The a99 has a long way to go firmware wise if it's to be any competition in terms of AF speeds. The a99 was only equipped with the 24-70 F2.8 Zeiss glass and this should support the dual phase detect mode, but in use it felt slower than the D600. I couldn't try any other glass as the helpful guy at the Sony store wasn't there today. From the photos taken, the a99 gives a more neutral feel compared to the D600 BUT this was done in two different places. the a99 was in a brightly lit store, whereas the Nikon plaza uses a lot of natural light (so it can be quite darker). The D600 colours are more "punchy", so I attribute that to the JPG engine.

The EVF is really great if you want a WYSIWYG feel. I was a little confused at first when I moved to the D600! I actually like the EVF over the OVF, but that's a personal opinion.

I also had another look at the noise produced from the a99, and it handled noise much better than the a77.

A couple of things that might make the a99 great, is improved AF speed with finalised firmware and a more lenses that will utilise this system. As a personal note, the buttons are nicely placed as is the little joystick, but YMMV.

I've read that people complain about the AF area is small and clustered in the centre. This is true, but I didn't have much problem with that fact. I could compose the shot I wanted. Perhaps I'm not artistic enough to warrant a wide shot, but for anything I can imagine I want to use, the placements are a little tight, but workable. I can imagine why it's so small as there is an APS-C mode for APS-C lenses. Who knows.