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Of all the cameras I've used from Sony (a850, a77, a57, A7ii, A7rii, RX10, RX10iii, Nex-7, etc.) the one that always stands out by a wide margin from all the rest as an all-around winner has got to be the a99. It was a full framer, with the semi-transparent non-moving mirror, a super nice 24 megapixel sensor and a selection of really stellar glass. It also had a color science to it that ended with that model.
I always thought of it as the last brilliant thrust of Minolta engineering before the photography department of Sony was totally overthrown by a new staff of boring camera engineers and equally lackluster marketing teams.
The color out of that specific camera was beautiful and the lenses were amazing. The 70-200mm f2.8 was especially good.
I was sad to let the system go but it was becoming quickly apparent that this would be an orphaned construct that would cease to be supported at all in very short order.
This was a working shot from a video course I did back in 2013 for Craftsy.com. A fresh face. A nice lens and some playful lighting.
Sad when new owners of technology homogenize out the secret sauce and move on.
R.I.P. Sony a99. (Or should I say: Minolta a99?)
3 comments:
The a99 and its successor, the a99ii, were both in the running for my next camera for a few years, at least until Sony decided to pull the plug on A-mount. What’s interesting is how affordable the original a99 has become on the used market (ballpark $600) while the a99ii still commands a premium (around $2K). And the lenses can be had for a song!
I'd say Minolta more than Sony. The Sony 70-200 f2.8 was a Minolta and the white Sony G is a white Minolta G lens. I still have a couple White G lenses sitting around.
It's funny you should mention that Roger. When I looked at the exif information with the file it listed the Sony 70-200mm lens as "MINOLTA." The a99ii was the last flicker of great Minolta engineering before the plummeting design of the later Sony junk. Only now in 2021 and 2022 is Sony starting to find their footing when it comes to handling, etc.
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