Decision time on A99

Edward Sargent · Feb 11, 2013

I have been instructed by my wife to get a A99 for vacation, woe is me

There are two things about the A99 that bother me.

First, all my lenses except 1 are FF. But I lack anything below 70mm other than an old Minolta 35-70 F4 and a 50mm 1.7. I am unsure what to get and keep the cost < $1,000. I had been planning on the new Sigma 35 1.4. My shooting pattern with the A77 has been:

* 27,000 <= 33mm 95% with 18-250

* 22,478 > 33mm and <= 66mm 95% with 18-250

* 19,272 > 66mm

I am aware that my 18-280 can be used but I don't want to take 60% of my photos at 12 MP

The second item is the lack of on board flash, I do a lot of wireless flash with the A77 using both the HVLF42AM and HVLF42AM. I'm concerned because the control flash is the 43 forcing me to get a third unit to get the same effects I get now with the A77.

Bart7D · Feb 11, 2013

Sony or (cheaper) Tamron 28-75 f/2.8. Very good all-rounders, not far behind CZ 24-70 image-quality-wise..

Bart

Edward Sargent · Feb 11, 2013

Yup, went through Dyxum's DB and those two were among the 8 or so that I culled out.

saschamagus · Feb 11, 2013

Edward Sargent said:
Edward Sargent wrote:

I have been instructed by my wife to get a A99 for vacation, woe is me

There are two things about the A99 that bother me.

First, all my lenses except 1 are FF. But I lack anything below 70mm other than an old Minolta 35-70 F4 and a 50mm 1.7. I am unsure what to get and keep the cost < $1,000. I had been planning on the new Sigma 35 1.4. My shooting pattern with the A77 has been:

* 27,000 <= 33mm 95% with 18-250

* 22,478 > 33mm and <= 66mm 95% with 18-250

* 19,272 > 66mm

I am aware that my 18-280 can be used but I don't want to take 60% of my photos at 12 MP

The second item is the lack of on board flash, I do a lot of wireless flash with the A77 using both the HVLF42AM and HVLF42AM. I'm concerned because the control flash is the 43 forcing me to get a third unit to get the same effects I get now with the A77.

William Porter · Feb 11, 2013

Congrats on the (forthcoming?) purchase.

I purchased the Tamron 28-75 and gave it the ol' college try. I'd used it (or an earlier version of the same lens) back in my Pentax days, when I liked it a lot. But it just didn't click with me on the A99. Image quality is okay. Maybe it felt too much like a (very good) kit lens. Not really sure. Anyway, I sent it back. Your mileage may vary, of course. It seems to be a good lens.

What I have now is a small set of primes:

Sony 28 (purchased used via Amazon)
Rokinon 35 (the manual-aperture, manual-focus non-cine model)
Sony 50 f/1.4
Sony 85 f/2.8

Which suits me quite well. My next purchase may be something in the 100-105 range, either the Sony or Sigma lenses.

The Rokinon 35 is quite good. I'm forcing myself to focus manually for everything now, which is a bit of a challenge, but I'm enjoying it. I like the 28 a lot, too. I would really like to get the Sigma 35 but I got the Rokinon on sale through BuyDig and paid less than half price. My only serious complaint about the Rokinon is not with the fact that I have to adjust the aperture manually or focus manually, but simply that the aperture choice doesn't get written to the EXIF data.

Again these are just the choices I've made for myself and I don't offer them really as recommendations for you or anybody else.

Will

RJH1981 · Feb 11, 2013

I recently just got my A99 and I got the Sigma 24-70 mm and I am beyond well pleased with it. When it came down to the Tamron and Sigma, I chose the Sigma as I have other lens that I am quite pleased with.

Edward Sargent · Feb 11, 2013

saschamagus said:
saschamagus wrote:

saschamagus said:

Edward Sargent wrote:

I have been instructed by my wife to get a A99 for vacation, woe is me

There are two things about the A99 that bother me.

First, all my lenses except 1 are FF. But I lack anything below 70mm other than an old Minolta 35-70 F4 and a 50mm 1.7. I am unsure what to get and keep the cost < $1,000. I had been planning on the new Sigma 35 1.4. My shooting pattern with the A77 has been:

* 27,000 <= 33mm 95% with 18-250

* 22,478 > 33mm and <= 66mm 95% with 18-250

* 19,272 > 66mm

I am aware that my 18-280 can be used but I don't want to take 60% of my photos at 12 MP

The second item is the lack of on board flash, I do a lot of wireless flash with the A77 using both the HVLF42AM and HVLF42AM. I'm concerned because the control flash is the 43 forcing me to get a third unit to get the same effects I get now with the A77.

Click to expand...

Edward Sargent · Feb 11, 2013

So far I leaning toward either

Minolta AF 28-70 F2.8 G
Sigma - 28-70 F2.8 EX DG

Has anyone tried the following:

Tamron - AF 35-135 F3.5-4.5 AF tele-macro
Tokina - AT-X 287 AF PRO SV 28-70 F2.8

ellaandjames · Feb 12, 2013

Edward Sargent said:
Edward Sargent wrote:

I have been instructed by my wife to get a A99 for vacation, woe is me

There are two things about the A99 that bother me.

First, all my lenses except 1 are FF. But I lack anything below 70mm other than an old Minolta 35-70 F4 and a 50mm 1.7. I am unsure what to get and keep the cost < $1,000. I had been planning on the new Sigma 35 1.4. My shooting pattern with the A77 has been:

* 27,000 <= 33mm 95% with 18-250

* 22,478 > 33mm and <= 66mm 95% with 18-250

* 19,272 > 66mm

I am aware that my 18-280 can be used but I don't want to take 60% of my photos at 12 MP

The second item is the lack of on board flash, I do a lot of wireless flash with the A77 using both the HVLF42AM and HVLF42AM. I'm concerned because the control flash is the 43 forcing me to get a third unit to get the same effects I get now with the A77.

Alphabart · Feb 12, 2013

I have the A99 for almost a week and I got the very cheap Tamron 28-70 F2.8 XR Di.
Read the good stories of other users and ofcourse Kurt Mungers reviews...

Kurt Mungers conclusion:

I'm very impressed with the Tamron 28-75mm F/2.8 lens. In fact, I'd prefer this lens to the Sony version. Why you might ask? Because not only is the Tamron slightly sharper wide open at the long end, it's almost half the money of the Sony! Aside from the sharpness differences, (really minor except at F/2.8-4 at 75mm) this lens is pretty much the same as the Sony 28-75mm F/2.8 SAM. See that review and the comparison review to see what I'm talking about.

For APS-C users; although this lens works fine on an APS-C camera, the equivalent focal length of 42-112.5mm is a little long for me. You may be better served with the Tamron 17-50mm F/2.8, Sony DT 16-50mm F/2.8 SSM, or the one stop slower CZ 16-80mm.
Full frame users; This lens performs quite nicely, and seems to have the quality optics needed to handle the 24+ megapixels of Sony full frame cameras. The Tamron would be a great less-expensive alternative to the Sony CZ 24-70mm F/2.8 as indicated by my comparison review. See my comparison review here.

http://kurtmunger.com/tamron_af_28_75mm_f_2_8id144.html

But check out the Zeiss comparison with the tammy too

http://kurtmunger.com/tamron_sony_28_75mmid141.html

Karl Scharf · Feb 12, 2013

ellaandjames said:
ellaandjames wrote:

ellaandjames said:

Edward Sargent wrote:

I have been instructed by my wife to get a A99 for vacation, woe is me

There are two things about the A99 that bother me.

First, all my lenses except 1 are FF. But I lack anything below 70mm other than an old Minolta 35-70 F4 and a 50mm 1.7. I am unsure what to get and keep the cost < $1,000. I had been planning on the new Sigma 35 1.4. My shooting pattern with the A77 has been:

* 27,000 <= 33mm 95% with 18-250

* 22,478 > 33mm and <= 66mm 95% with 18-250

* 19,272 > 66mm

I am aware that my 18-280 can be used but I don't want to take 60% of my photos at 12 MP

The second item is the lack of on board flash, I do a lot of wireless flash with the A77 using both the HVLF42AM and HVLF42AM. I'm concerned because the control flash is the 43 forcing me to get a third unit to get the same effects I get now with the A77.

Click to expand...

stan_pustylnik · Feb 12, 2013

Get Minolta Maxxum 20mm f/2.8 prime and Minolta Maxxum 24mm f/2.8 primes in good condition.

Both lenses are compact, sharp, reliable, not too expensive. Both lenses have infinity limiter - easy to use in dark or manual mode.

Sigma f/1.8 analogs should be tested, mine was soft up to f/4; probably because of particular lens copy was bad.

stan_pustylnik · Feb 12, 2013

Ed,

Can I ask where are you going for vacation?

Rovers · Feb 12, 2013

Ed, that Minolta 35-70 isn't half bad.

We use it on the A900 and the A99.

But you may want a bit wider.

Mike

Edward Sargent · Feb 12, 2013

stan_pustylnik said:
stan_pustylnik wrote:

Ed,

Can I ask where are you going for vacation?

Edward Sargent · Feb 12, 2013

Karl Scharf said:
Karl Scharf wrote:

Karl Scharf said:

ellaandjames wrote:

Karl Scharf said:

Edward Sargent wrote:

I have been instructed by my wife to get a A99 for vacation, woe is me

There are two things about the A99 that bother me.

First, all my lenses except 1 are FF. But I lack anything below 70mm other than an old Minolta 35-70 F4 and a 50mm 1.7. I am unsure what to get and keep the cost < $1,000. I had been planning on the new Sigma 35 1.4. My shooting pattern with the A77 has been:

* 27,000 <= 33mm 95% with 18-250

* 22,478 > 33mm and <= 66mm 95% with 18-250

* 19,272 > 66mm

I am aware that my 18-280 can be used but I don't want to take 60% of my photos at 12 MP

The second item is the lack of on board flash, I do a lot of wireless flash with the A77 using both the HVLF42AM and HVLF42AM. I'm concerned because the control flash is the 43 forcing me to get a third unit to get the same effects I get now with the A77.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

stan_pustylnik · Feb 12, 2013

Edward Sargent said:
Edward Sargent wrote:

Edward Sargent said:

stan_pustylnik wrote:

Ed,

Can I ask where are you going for vacation?

Click to expand...

Edward Sargent · Feb 12, 2013

Rovers said:
Rovers wrote:

Ed, that Minolta 35-70 isn't half bad.

We use it on the A900 and the A99.

But you may want a bit wider.

Mike

stan_pustylnik · Feb 12, 2013

With A850

I have 20mm f/2.8 Maxxum (small, reliable, sharp from f/2.8 till f/22)) (Sigma 20mm f/1.8 was soft wide open, infinity focus wasn't calibrated)

Sigma 24mm f/2.8 Super II - very sharp, compact, good bokeh (does see little use after I got 20mm lens

Minolta 17-35mm f/2.8 - 4 does see little use after FF camera purchase (corners are soft up to f/8, heavy vignette), it was good on APSc camera...

Minolta Maxxum 28mm f/2.8 - compact beauty, very sharp and reliable through aperture range, inexpensive.

-- Person is taking photos, not camera. When photograph is bad, it's because photographer doesn't know how to choose settings optimal to "own preferences". Then blames camera for bad IQ.
This is same as blaming car about arriving to wrong destination.

stan-pustylnik

Save yourself $5 on a SmugMug subscription by using this coupon: SLVSteKWdxMFG For high resolution version files for printing or publishing - Please contact me Note, that all photos posted on this website are made by me and are copyrighted.

stan-pustylnik.smugmug.com

alphacam · Feb 12, 2013

ooooh ... you're in the Diamonds for Camera|Lens program!! (Hey, just get the 24-70z.) Congrats on the 40th!

Decision time on A99

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