A35 broken. What to buy?

Last week my a35 simply gave up, shutting off.
I'll try with another battery and then send it into repair, it's out of warranty.
How do you suggest I replace it?

If you have a significant investment in A mount glass, A77ii is clearly your best choice.

You could also send the a35 to Sanford Camera Arlington MA for repair estimate. They are excellent.

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Sony A77m2-RX1-RX100III
Sony 16-50 2.8, 70-400 f4-5.6 G2, 100 f2.8 Macro
Minolta 600 f4, 300 2.8, 70-210 f4, 28-135 f4-4.5
DFW

My investment is in my signature. Almost none. Also A77II is far more expensive and, especially, larger. I'd switch to E-Mount in a pinch if only they had a decent zoom and they could trigger my flash as easily as my A35. I seriously don't get why no e-mount camera can trigger an external flash with their built-in one.

va2k0r said:

Last week my a35 simply gave up, shutting off.
I'll try with another battery and then send it into repair, it's out of warranty.
How do you suggest I replace it?

Click to expand...

My A33 died 1 month ago just before flying on holidays, I replaced it with an A58 and I'm very pleased with it. I own a Sony 35mm F1.8, a Sig 50-150 F2.8 EX II and a Tam 70-300 USD.

The + I can see :

+ quite nothing to learn to use the new camera

+ very good battery life : twice more than the A33 (I did 600 photos in 5 days, I watched them a lot of time ... and had still 15% of battery).

+ 20Mp : in good light condition, the 20Mp is clearly a big imrovement in comparison with the 14.4Mp of the A33, IQ is far better

+ EFSC : Electronic Front shutter curtain, this option is a big improvement for the IQ, becasue there is no vibration at all. The only "clac" we can ear is the last curtain shutter. So no more "clac clac" but only a "clac".

+ Cost nothing : I got it for 325E

+ the EVF is better than the one of the A33

The - I can see :

- the back screen is not as good as the one of the A33

- it is full plastic : even the A mount is made of plastic !!!

For the moment I'm very pleased with this camera.

Example of photos :









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.

A6000 is a far better camera than the A58 : it has a better High ISO management, more MP, an impressive AF, a lot of impressive functionnalities, ... BUT I didnt switch to E mount for the moment because :

- E mount lens are SO expensive

- there is no lens over 200mm and even if with an LA-EA4 adapter we can use all the A mount lens, then you will miss the stabilisation.

- To put my current A mount lens on an A6000 I would have to buy the LA-EA4 adapter so the total cost would have been : 650 + 250 = 900E (far more than the 325E of the A58) and I would have lost the stabilisation.

- A6000 battery life is really short

- there is a lot of thing to learn with A6000 (fe the AF) and so it is not so easy to switch from a A mount camera (I had only 3 days before to go on holidays so ...)

- I wait for an A7000 with 2 wheels, A6000 has only one wheel (front wheel)

A few years ago Sony APS-C camera line up was broken into Entry/Intermediate/Advanced. The A33 was an Entry level camera

The A58 was the result of combining he Entry/Intermediate group, with more leanings toward the Intermediate.

The nice thing about the A58 is the compact size compared to the A77II.

Yes, it basically comes to that: a58 or switch system.

va2k0r said:

My investment is in my signature. Almost none. Also A77II is far more expensive and, especially, larger. I'd switch to E-Mount in a pinch if only they had a decent zoom and they could trigger my flash as easily as my A35. I seriously don't get why no e-mount camera can trigger an external flash with their built-in one.

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Understood. In terms of other affordable options, if the body is not repairable economically, you can easily pick up a used A55, or another A35 or modest money on eBay.

Or sell everything and get a d3300 + 18-140. Tempting.

But ouch: D3300 needs a very big flash on camera to trigger external flashes. Deal breaker for me.

I'd like to know if you're ruling anything out or if you're totally open minded? Simply put, are you looking for only SLT and only APS-C or will you consider full frame (FF) in either SLT or DSLR formats?

I have no experience at all with the SLT system so cannot comment on it, though I'm sure those that do will all be saying something like 'get an A77M2'. On the other hand, I would suggest you consider and look at going full frame with the A850/A900 which are very affordable now and you then release all of those Minolta back-catalogue lenses in addition to all other FF optics and with the big bright viewfinder, its quite a revelation, though if you're a technophobe, maybe OVF or FF isn't for you, though it may also be a good time to look elsewhere if you're not too heavily invested into the A-Mount.

Maybe I'm stating the obvious, but you have to make the decisions yourself whatever they are, but whatever you decide, can you keep us updated?

Happy hunting!

Basically I'd like to go SMALLER with at least the same IQ if not better.
Problem is, every mirrorless system makes it very difficult to shoot with flashes. As I discovered only Sony A-Mount makes it SO EASY to shoot wireless flashes with EVERY camera of their line up, I really don't understand why Canikon forces you to buy bulky and expensive camera to get this basic function.
Even A6000 smaller flash commander is HUUUGE.

va2k0r said:

My investment is in my signature. Almost none. Also A77II is far more expensive and, especially, larger. I'd switch to E-Mount in a pinch if only they had a decent zoom and they could trigger my flash as easily as my A35. I seriously don't get why no e-mount camera can trigger an external flash with their built-in one.

Click to expand...

Yes, your zoom is a good one.

If repairing is too much I think a used a35 or a37 is under $200.

va2k0r said:

My investment is in my signature. Almost none. Also A77II is far more expensive and, especially, larger. I'd switch to E-Mount in a pinch if only they had a decent zoom and they could trigger my flash as easily as my A35. I seriously don't get why no e-mount camera can trigger an external flash with their built-in one.

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An a57 would be a good choice - it is, in many respects, superior to the a58. A new one may be hard to find locally, but they available from Australia and Korea.

--
Ian

va2k0r said:

Last week my a35 simply gave up, shutting off.
I'll try with another battery and then send it into repair, it's out of warranty.
How do you suggest I replace it?

Click to expand...

Sounds like the well known issue of shutter mechanism breaking down for this camera.

Is the shutter closed when you look into the mount cavity? You might have to lift up the mirror to see.

I had the same problem. Decided it was not worth fixing, as it would cost around 200 - 300. Better to invest that money into a replacement.

Apparently you might get more life out of it by putting in a third party battery. I never bothered trying as I was always worried it would shut down in the middle of travelling. It happened the first time whilst on a trip to Paris.

The a37 is a good option if you can buy one lightly used, otherwise the a57, or a58.

If you like smaller size, then a6000 might be in your future.

va2k0r said:

Yes, it basically comes to that: a58 or switch system.

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I've jad the same issue looking at an upgrade to my A-37

You might be disappointed with the A-58. It is more a A-37 Mk II but it has some serious downgrades even compared with the A-35. Specifically the rear screen resolution is really poor, basically unusable. Also I hate the what they done with the user interface. On the other hand it is cheap and got good resolution.

Personally I would be looking at the A-6000 if portability is important or the A77 Mk II for everything else. The other alternative is a 2nd hand A-57 or A-65

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You can hunt down another used A35, A37, A55 (same form factor and sensor, better features), or an A57. None of these should be very expensive. All of these should give equal or better performance. I'd check KEH, B&H, and Adorama as well as ebay and maybe Amazon. I'm sure you'd find something.

A580, A77, A65, A57, A58...

Try them out if you can. I didn't prefer the A65 rear screen to the one on the A58. Both displays are fairly poor but certainly usable. I prefer the tilt mechanism on A58 to the bottom swivel hinge on the A65. I took 4,000 pictures outside on Sunday using the rear screen on the A58 for many of them.

It would be one thing if the older bodies were new. IMHO, the A65 and A57 are downgrades from the A58. The A65 is certainly not a better class of device. It is older with slightly different features. It might be a good choice for you.

QuietOC said:

...It would be one thing if the older bodies were new. IMHO, the A65 and A57 are downgrades from the A58. .

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Don't you mean that the a58 is the downgrade? I certainly think that, in most respects, it is.