A99 Poor backlight AF performance :(

holyfan wrote:

yes, I just had a photo session indoors with strong backlight situation (model standing in front of window with bright daylight outside)

and my A99 would not lock focus since the auto exposure would turn the face into complete darkness to expose for the backlight. Though I corrected this by turning the EV dial to plus 1-2 stops so the camera sees the face a little, then it had no problem locking on focus. Though after you lock on focus you would have to turn the EV back to original position and shoot. It's kind of a bummer because I was using my flash as a fill light so I did not have to adjust the Exposure for model's backlit face.

I'm some what disappointed in the A99's ability to lock focus in low-lit situations. I've owned A77/A65 X100, even my NEX-F3 they all focus better than A99 in low-light situation. For the X100 all I have to do is switch to AF-C and it would lock focus pretty well in low-light. So I am hoping that Sony would come out with another firmware to improve the A99 lowlight focus ability, and even better jpeg engine.