Sony A900 spotted in the wild?

[steve_c.5]

http://gizmodo.com/5020753/sony-a900-25+megapixel-dslr-spotted-in-the-wild

 

What do you guys think?

[douglas_ferling]

Yep. Where do I sign? I've been waiting for this thing for a year.

[robert_paul1]

This doesn't surprise me, as Sony needs to go out and take sample pictures for brochures, and for display purposes. However, based on Sony's reluctance to use pictures taken with their DSLRs in their print ads, I question if Sony will use the pictures in future print ads.

[ricardovaste]

Yer, the person that took that shot posted it on dyxum first. <a href=http://www.dyxum.com/dforum/forum_posts.asp?TID=32905&PN=1>See this thread</a><p>It's interesting. But I dont really need any more pixels and can't afford the glass that will take full advantage of all those pixels. I'll probably be sticking with APS-C for a while yet.<p>What interests me most, as I've been delving further into wildlife photography recently, is the new 70-400/4.5-5.6 G SSM that is supposed to be out next month. A perfect compliment to a long fast prime! Especially on APS-C :P

[steven_moseley1]

Sony have a pitifully small array of good full frame lenses..so how on earth can it sell well?

[peterblaise]

Earlier: "... Sony have a pitifully small array of good full frame lenses ...so how on earth can it sell

well? ..."

 

Two answers.

 

1 - Minolta Alpha/Dynax/Maxxum has been making AF auto focus full frame prime lenses longer than Canon or Nikon

or Pentax have. The Alpha full frame DSLR user based is primed, so to speak.

 

2 - Sony Zeiss. The professional base is hungry for another Zeiss SLR now that Contax retired. And, since the

full frame Sony Alpha DSLR is NOT out yet, there's time for more full frame Zeiss Alpha lenses to be groomed for

release. You'll notice existing Zeiss Alpha lenses are selling out of stock. Sony apparently is selling just

fine compared to their marketing and production expectations.<div></div>

[ablyth]

I picked up a second hand Minolta 100 2.8 Macro which works just fine on my KM Alpha Sweet, and will be fine with any AF Minolta and Sony camera (including A900). I think the second hand lens market will heat up a bit from now on.

[peterblaise]

Earlier: "... Sony have a pitifully small array of good full frame lenses ... so how on earth can it sell

well? ..." <br/>

<br/>

I'll probably slap my "good" ol' award-winning Tamron 28-300mm, used by published pros world wide since it's

inception, on that Sony Alpha full frame baby, and that'll be the end of it.<br/>

<br/>

On the other hand, every lens maker has something to learn. Take a look at Sony's "Advizia" (by http://www.mcs-

corp.com/ and Sony web clerks) which thinks we choose our lenses by the following criteria:<br/>

<br/>

Main Features:<br/>

What do you intend to shoot with the lens? <b>(select one)</b> <br/>

Small objects from extremely close distances <br/>

Wide, panoramic scenes, such as landscapes <br/>

General photography, including portraits <br/>

Subjects that might be far away, such as school plays <br/>

Distant subjects, such as wildlife or pro sport events <br/>

<br/>

Price: <br/>

$100 - $200 <br/>

$200 - $500 <br/>

$500 - $1000 <br/>

$1000 - $1500 <br/>

More than $1500 <br/>

<br/>

Optics/Lens <br/>

What is your required Focal Length (APS)? (select one)<br/>

Under 53mm <br/>

53 ﾖ 105mm <br/>

106 ﾖ 127.5mm <br/>

128 ﾖ 157.5mm <br/>

158 ﾖ 202.5mm <br/>

203 ﾖ 300mm <br/>

301 ﾖ 450mm <br/>

More than 450mm <br/>

<br/>

What is your required maximum aperture? (select one) * depending on focal length<br/>

f/1.4 <br/>

f/1.8 <br/>

f/2.8 <br/>

f/3.5 - 4.5* <br/>

f/3.5 - 5.6* <br/>

f/3.5 - 6.3* <br/>

f/4.5 - 5.6* <br/>

f/8 <br/>

<br/>

Select a lens magnification factor: (select one)<br/>

Under 0.2x <br/>

0.21x ﾖ 0.3x <br/>

0.76x ﾖ 1x <br/>

1x ﾖ 2x <br/>

<br/>

Measurements, Weight: <br/>

Less than 1 lb <br/>

1 to 2 lbs <br/>

Over 2 lbs <br/>

<br/>

==<br/>

<br/>

Gee ... I'll take ... <b>under 1 lb, 1x - 2x, f/1.4, More than 450mm, $100 - $200, and General photography,

including portraits</b> ... do we have a winner?<br/>

<br/>

Does ANYONE know of a savvy lens maker who simply lays out their range and helps us compare any two? At least

Sony has a catalog at:<br/>

<br/>

http://www.sonystyle.com/wcsstore/SonyStyleStorefrontAssetStore/pdf/DILensGuide.pdf <br/>

<br/>

I'm reminded of a bike shop owner who built a database of bikes and gears and asked customers to answer a series

of questions on screen to pre-select a bike on the computer. First question, "How many speeds?" Me: well, I

dunno, I'm a newbie, so I didn't enter a number, and I just hit [Enter] to move on. CRASH! The owner ran over

and said, "Wow! That happens all the time for customers, but never for me! What did you do?" I told

him. "Oh," he said, "I always enter a number. I never thought someone would leave a field blank!" He had no

error handling routine for no-answer since, as a knowledgeable expert, he always answered his own questions

during program testing. Doh! Well, I may want 10 speeds covering a range wider than other people who want 15

speeds for a narrow range because I have strong legs and don't mind changing leg speed. Others might want 5

speeds covering an even wider range because they hate shifting, or 20 speeds covering a narrower range because

they never want to work. Number of speeds is meaningless on it's own. Anyway, that's bikes.<br/>

<br/>

Dear Sony web clerks, lenses aren't limited to what we can do with them, such as "(select one)"! Hence the

Tamron super zooms being the world's most award winning and popular and best selling lenses ever - close

focusing,

wide to narrow angle of view, light weight, small, inexpensive, clear capture, reliable, compatible. But, of

course, someone else in Sony knows that, hence Sony's part ownership in Tamron. See the entire current line of

FULL FRAME Tamron Alpha-mount lenses at:<br/>

<br/>

http://www.tamron.co.jp/en/data/lenses/index.html<br/>

<br/>

Who wants to bring listings of the extensive lineups of Sigma and Tokina FULL FRAME Alpha-mount lenses into this

thread for all to refer to?<br/><div></div>

[peterblaise]

.. okay, so a few Tamron lenses above don't say [KM] for "Konica Minolta" or [so] for "Sony" - some are extra

price for built-in AF motor for Nikon, or with VC Vibration Compensation to permit Canon and Nikon cameras to

compete with Konica Minolta, Sony, and Pentax cameras that already have in-built anti shake, and so do not need

lenses with such features.

 

What's the story with the Tamron AF 300mm f/2.8? Do I HAVE to use a nice old (comparatively) inexpensive Tamron

MF 300mm f/2.8 Adaptall2? ;-)

 

And what's up with the listing on the Tamron AF 14mm f/2.8?

[ricardovaste]

Although Steve's comment may be quite assumptive, I dont think you can over look it. Indeed, he is correct to an extent.

 

How many (old) lenses are going to be good enough to meet the high demands of big 24MP sensor across the entire frame?

 

Well, the answer is of course, we are yet to see. We will not truely know untill we see the results, or experience them ourselves.

 

One thing is for sure though:

 

People will continue to pixel peep. Especially on a big FF sensor, where you are really buying into the "extra detail". You are going to notice edge/corner performance more so because we are obviously not using the sweet spot on the FF lens anymore (like we have on APS-C), we are using it right up to the edge.

 

Now, its not simply a matter of if a lens is slightly soft on film at the edges, it will be on digital. Film is a continuous surface, so the (film) lens design allows the light to "spray out" throughout the entire area. However, with a digital FF sensor, the surface is not continuous. You have to get equal amounts of light to the sensor throughout the entire surface. Which means we need a telecentrically designed lens, which has a higher resolving power than most of the film era lenses. This mostly applies to wide angle lenses AFAIK. But who knows, they may be excellent on FF... I doubt it though. A lens like the 135/1.8ZA will shine you would think... the sharpest lens in our mount? Maybe. But this is where Steve's comments are relevent. How many top class, modern designed telecentric lenses do we have? Eitherway, there will undoubtedly be more with the release of the flagship, or even before it.

 

But that of course only applies if you want to get all the 24+MP's out of the camera, and you pixel peep/print really big/look at the edges rather than the center of your photo ;-).

 

Afterall, no one lens wont makea good print with any camera.

[glyn r]

Richard a lot of the vignetting can be controlled in the firmware. All the existing DG lenses need this technique. Film of course does not have such a sensitivity to the angle of the light. Micro lens design is moving this way it is a big feature of the Samsung publicity. Many of the Canon lenses are still the original film designs.

[ricardovaste]

Hi Glyn,

 

I've seen a lot of reports about canon glass not being up to scratch with their FF MP beast. Could this be the

strength of the Alpha mount? The fact that we have class leading Zeiss lenses? Its going to be pretty important i

think. And the fact that because Sony are relatively new to the DSLR set up, they are having to naturally re-think

designs and bring new "digital era" things to the table. While some of the Canon glass was excellent on film, has a

great reputation, why should they change anything? Well, there clearly is a problem with some glass there.

 

My words on telecentric designs was looking towards edge/corner softness, not vignetting - though that is also

naturally a problem. I personally like a bit of vignetting, I'm not ashamed to admit i often add it, all be it quite crudely,

to quite a few of my photo :)

 

Rich

[elijah_free]

Hi Rich, I agree with you on a preference for vignetting at times. I too admit that I add it quite often. Is there a 10 step program for this?