To Buy or Not To Buy

[jerome_smith]

<p>I have not followed the Sony line-up since I bought my a700 several years ago. Imagine my surprise last week when, after deciding to upgrade, I found the a850 to be discontinued and unavailabe (at least from a reliable sourse.) So, my question is, do I invest in an a900 now, or wait. And, if the concensus is wait, what am I waiting for?</p>

<p>Thanks<br>

Jerome Smith</p>

[craig_gillette]

<p>Rumors abound on the timing and features of the next Sony FF camera. Maybe this year, maybe next. It might not be a dslr. Rumors suggest higher pixel count and better high iso performance, etc. If you want an A850/A900, I'm not sure waiting is a great idea. If the successor comes out and it's not a dslr, the demand for A900s may skyrocket. Or it may be so good the A900 demand crashes (yeah, right). I kind of think of you really want an A900, this is the time to bite the bullet and go for it. If you aren't sure the A900 is the last great camera ever, then waiting might be reasonable.</p>

<p>OTOH, the announcements on the A7x or A7xx sort of successor is apparently imminent as are some Nikon rumors - which might also suggest the direction Sony is going, at lest in sensors. The Sony aps-c announcements (or some of them) are expected this month.</p>

[ilkka]

<p>I did not understand the introduction of A850 in the first place. Too similar to the A900. The fact that they have now ditched the A850 while keeping the 900 seems to confirm my doubts, but also suggests that they may come up with a 'replacement' for the A850. This could well be the full frame fixed mirror camera that has been rumoured about. It could be very good. As a traditional user of SLRs for some 30 years, I doubt I would want to replace my A900 with it, but it might be a good second body. It is interesting that they are keeping the 900 while removing/replacing the 850. If they had done the other way, it could have indicated a really serious new model coming, aimed to be clearly better than the 900. But since they kept the 900, I think this is not happening, and instead we get a good spec fixed mirror body but not a serious contender for the A900, even in Sony's own thinking. To buy or to wait? I think you should buy what you need, when you need it, and that's it.</p>

[paul_de_ley]

<p>Well it all depends on your reasons for upgrading. If you're definitely going full frame then you might as well get an a850 or a900 now. If on the other hand you might potentially be interested in an APS-C sensor with 20+ Mpx and/or significantly improved AF speed & accuracy, then you're probably better off waiting two or three more months just to see whether the long-awaited a77 does finally materialize & how good (or not) it turns out to be. It might or might not interest you directly as a potential purchase, or if it doesn't strike a chord with you but does seduce others, then just perhaps it might cause an increase in discounted a850/a900 on the market, if/when enough owners of either FF body would decide to trade in for an a77.</p>

[ricardovaste]

<p>Jerome, depends what kind of shooter you are. If you haven't upgraded for years, I'm guessing you're more traditional and don't jump about on the trends and treat photo gear more like a new gadget/toy... I'm making assumptions hear of course... and well the next round of Sony cameras look to all have electronic viewfinders and different ergonomics to your A700. The A900 is very traditional, near-identical ergonomics, and a clear step up in almost every area over the A700. I wouldn't hesitate myself if I had the choice, but your shooting style might be different.</p>

[gregory_king1]

<p>All good points, but they seem moot. The A900 is still available, new. Unless they discontinue it as well, the price is quite unlikely to increase. And until the next FF camera is announced, I wouldn't be too worried about it being pulled instantly off the shelves.</p>

<p>My biggest issues AGAINST getting the 850 or 900 are two....lack of on-board flash and reportedly poor JPG compression. Both features mean it couldn't "replace" my A700 for the bulk of my shooting, and would be a hanger queen used only for portraits and other non-snapshot work.</p>

<p>So, instead I spent the $1800 on a 24x36 22mp digital back for my Mamiya. It has all the disadvantages of the A850...tripled. ;-) It'll hold me over until I find a good FF Sony to use my Minolta glass on...or run out of film.</p>

[dave_redmann]

<p>IMOPO, the key questions are: (1) are you okay with giving up the optical viewfinder and getting with an electronic one, and (2) how heavily invested are you in your Sony-compatible lenses, flashes, etc.? Because if you're a big fan of the OVF and not too heavily invested, now appears to be a good time to switch to another brand (personally, I'd suggest Nikon). But if you don't mind OVF's and/or can't afford to trade out your lenses, then reasonable options for an A700 owner appear to be A900 (assuming your lenses are mostly full-frame), A580 (some upgrades and some downgrades from A700, but new), or wait for the expected-soon A77.</p>

 

[ricardovaste]

<blockquote>

<p>I spent the $1800 on a 24x36 22mp digital back for my Mamiya. It has all the disadvantages of the A850...tripled. ;-)</p>

</blockquote>

<p>LOL, yeah, kinda ;-)</p>

[jerome_smith]

<p>I response to several questions, my real motivation for looking at the a850/900 is the improved resolution. I do birds mostly, and crop quite a bit, so the 24mp is a substantial upgrade. My a700's are getting old from lots of use and will need replacing. I prefer a more tradional DLSr, and was hoping that there would be a revelation here about a traditional replacement for the a700, 850 or even 900. It appears that the only thing imminent is the A77. I guess I could wait a few months to see what it looks like, and go either way then.<br>

Dave, in answer to your question, I've been buying Minolta/Konica/Sony lenses since 1988 including a 600f4, 300f2.8, Sony zoom400 and several other smaller zooms and FF lenses. As much as I would like to, switching systems is not practical.<br>

Thanks for your responses.</p>

<p>Jerome</p>

[ricardovaste]

<p>Jerome, if you've already got the long glass I can't see yourself being disappointed with the a900. Just remember that you'll have to be getting in a touch closer for the extra megapixels to really make a different, otherwise you'll just be cropping them all out.</p>

[dave_redmann]

<p><em>[M]y real motivation for looking at the a850/900 is the improved resolution. I do birds mostly, and crop quite a bit, so the 24mp is a substantial upgrade.</em></p>

<p>Not likely. Insofar as you already crop quite a bit with the A700's "APS-C"-size sensor, you'll need to crop even that much <em>more</em> with a full-frame camera. Just to crop the A900 down to the size of the A700's sensor, you'll be down to a little over 10 MP--<em>less</em> resolution than with your A700. The use of / need for the lonest lenses is one area where smaller-sensor cameras have a clear advantage. If you really want to upgrade the resolution, with significant crops, from your A700, then the A900 is a step backward, and the A580 is a much better answer.</p>

 

[scottelly]

<p>Definitely wait! That is, if you don't absolutely LOVE the A900 and need one now. What do you think of the A77? Some people think full-frame is absolutely the cat's meow, but I had a Canon 5 D, and while I liked it, the 7 D is a better camera . . . by far. My guess is the A77 is a better camera than the A900, with almost the same image quality. I'm sure that a new full-frame camera is around the corner. Of course, I thought there would be a D700 replacement by now too.</p>

[jerome_smith]

<p>In the end I decided to wait and buy the A77. While it was never available on the Sony website, I did see it at Amazon and B&H (et al). I was traveling at the time and did not get a chance to order, thinking there was no rush. I was wrong. By the time I was ready to order, it disappeared--"unavailable", "not in stock", "back ordered", etc. at all of my usual purchase places.<br /> What happened? Did they stop production due to defects? Manufacturing problems? Unexpected demand? When will it be available?<br /> Thanks<br /> Jerome Smith</p>