Douglas F Watt

Ok. None of that is a response or acknowledgement of any of the more important core feedback about the problems of hyped statements. But OK - just again on the technical issues, the one review you ...

Hah!  Great thoughts.  In a psychotherapeutic space, this would be called a paradoxical intervention. Brilliant.

I actually agree with that.  I see no evidence that Sony is truly duplicitous in any conscious or deliberate way about their intentions. Those intentions for sure may change through the trajectory ...

The notion that the differences are 'pronounced' as you move away from areas of central sharpness is an example of your making claims without a real factual basis.  Show us some images and BTW, ...

Don't even bother with the superzooms. Get a prime if you are serious about DP and long lens views. The only superzoom that is any good at the long end is the very fine Sony 70-400 G2, which is ...

Sometime this winter I'm gonna rent that Ferrari 500!!

It is a beast for sure, but optically superb and with such a great and useful range of WA views.  I have gotten used to the weight, as it is not that much heavier than the Sigma Art 24-105 that ...

True dat! :-)

On the one hand.  But on the other hand, Sony recently said that they thought an updated adapter (given that the current LAEA4 has a 10 year old AF system from the a65) was 'technically too ...

But he is a professional, so in a critical sense, he is exactly the audience they are trying to influence and capture.  Plus he actually knows more about the real functionality of the A99ii and ...

That's a really sweeping and IMO a really misleading generalization. Typically , there are rare instances of those issues, but all the third party lenses that I have (and I have quite a few) work ...

Did you MFA the lens on both bodies, or neither?

The SSM upgrade would be nice, and the 85 could stand a substantive refresh, esp. on CA issues, and moving a whole lot less glass during AF, so new optical formula. But in terms of a "noticeable ...

My feelings exactly Tom.  If there is an a99iii, it will have to be spectacular and truly better in material ways that I can see for me to spend what is likely to be upwards of $3.5k for it.  The ...

Do you write advertising copy?  This is an example of the kind of really hyped claims common on the blogosphere, without any existing data to support them (because there just isn't any data ...

Certainly true in my case!  Even with LA (lens addiction), don't see myself buying another lens at this point.  Famous last words?

Along the lines of what Tom says - the Sigma Art 35 1.4 and Art 50 1.4, and the walk around Sigma 24-105 f4 Art are among my favorite lenses on the A99ii, along with the Tamron 15-30 2.8 G1.  So ...

Ah yes, I had forgotten about that one!  It is light.  Like most of the Minolta legacy WA lenses.  I imagine that the vignetting is easy to remove with any number of PP programs . . . was that a G ...

Those options don't leap to mind.  Which ones are you talking about?

Yup, that's a pretty balanced and fair account, including admissions of ways in which the A99ii isn't the state of the art anymore.  But I just can't see the differences being worth dumping a ...