Sony removes remaining DSLTs from its website suggesting the A-mount is all but dead

Next....?? The DX line has been rather "dead" for the past few years in general. I mean we only have what, 2 DX lenses after 18 months of the Z50 being on the market? There's supposedly an 18-140 and (I think) a telephoto zoom but so far, no word. But I think honestly Nikon wants to phase out the DX line.

SLT cameras had many cool features that DSLRs never had: dual AF(PDAF+on-sensor CDAF(A99-2)), EVF, video through EVF, exposure imitation, no difference in AF between EVF and display(fast AF in live-view mode), no mirror shock, no mirror mechanism...

@hippo84:

Exactly. All these are characteristics of a mirrorless camera of today.

@EXX

That's why I loved my SLTs(A77/77-2/99/99-2) so much. They were like mirrorless but with great ergonomics) My last SLT(A99-2) makes 498k shots and still alive) Amazing camera!

i have handled slts in yodobashi few times. They felt very good in hands.

Sony had faked a try of this.... In a way Sony doesn't want to bring E-mount with A-mount ergos and form factor.

They designed a frankenstein ugly and useless camera-joke, the A3000, and used the sales numbers of this non-proposition to conclude that clients don't want E-mount with A -mount form factors.
I'm moving on my 2 legs, kangurus are moving on their 2 legs. Sony Conclusion ? Naturally I'm a kanguru.

Obviously clients want cameras with correct to good specs, not this fake atempt of a camera-joke that is A3000.
If Sony had put A6xxx sensor and tech into an A77m2 body, that would have sold like hot cakes.

Well, as for EF mount cameras, thankfully there's a lot of excellent EF mount lenses to be had in the used lens market because some of us, no matter how much we might desire them, just can't afford almost any of the RF mount lenses being offered.

To each their own. I find Rockwell's article patronizing and mostly clickbait. If you can't figure it out yourself, then you have a bigger problem than not being able to afford photographic gear :) Set your (personal) priorities and goals and go with it. I would love to have the latest RF glass and R bodies - I can afford it, but choose not to buy them (or the Nikon or Sony equivalent), as there is a ton of other stuff I want to spend my money on. In any case, there is a lot of excellent EF glass out there - up until a couple of years ago it was the best available for Canon, including pro grade. Of course RF lenses offer improved optical performance (as is the case with all new MILC mount lenses), but that does not diminish the performance of EF mount lenses. In any case, there is always the next best/new lens that you don't have and want to buy :)

@chev3100 meds !

chev3100, you are one rude dude.

Martii52 wrote: “Noise is a big factor with the a7riv I have the riii at 42mp it's hard to control at 60mp it's harder still”.

IIRC the α99 II uses the same 42MPix sensor as the a7R II, and the α7R III uses again the same 42MPix sensor, but with improved read-out technique resulting in a lower noise level.

Therefore, BRWAT, if you belong to the people who dislike noise very very much, you might consider moving to the α7R III (instead of IV) which gives you the same resolution as the α99 II but probably with a bit better noise control.

If you are not that fearful against noise, and can make benefit from the increased resolution, the α7R IV is the right move. I have switched recently from the a7R II to the α7R IV, and while it is right that there is more noise to be seen when pixel peeping, the overall image quality is better (and the handling is *far* better).

(And the α7R IV is not a „4 year old A7“, it is a camery very different from the original α7 and was released in 2019.)

The adapters work well. You do have to figure out what Tammy or Sigmas work with it, but hey. Some A glass is great. I still use my macros.

They make the LA-EA5 adapter. It works really well, but only on two cameras. Once again, Sony proves themselves to be nothing more than another corporate profit monger. A-mount users must buy the latest expensive cameras just to get started.

@Kirk Bruner

There are plenty of SAM and SSM lenses that works well on almost every E-mount camera. I shoot with A7-3 and 50/1.4Z, 300/2.8G, 24-70Z, 16-35Z, everything is great. Even my 24-70/2.8 that has strong back-focus on my SLT/DSLR cameras is tack sharp on 7-3. I have only two A-mount lenses(16/2.8 fisheye and 135/1.8) that works with AF only at my A7R4

Uh....a class action suit based on...what? Sony discontinued a product. No manufacturer ever offers a guarantee that any product will be sold forever.

@dmanthree: A class action suit based on activating an undisclosed kill-switch embedded in hundreds of thousands (millions?) of otherwise useable Sony A-mount cameras. That would violate consumer protection laws in many countries.

But of course Sony did no such thing, and DPReview is wrong to use such loaded language as "all but dead" in its headline just to stir the pot.

@pocketpixels: Honestly, the "all but dead" expression was not out of line. They were clearly referring to the entire line, and did not in any way say or imply that the camera would ever stop working. However, a statement from Sony clarifying their stance on the DSLR line, and how long they intend to support would to a long way.

1/3 light loss is hardly visible for the eye. The difference is like base ISO 125 instead of ISO 100.

Those using auto exposure will often miss with more than 1/3 stop, and still judge the exposure for their files to be just fine.

If it were up to me I'd eliminate the mirror all together.

;-)

@ dmanthree: They did. E.

Nikon isn't lying though. They are simply being honest about how far behind they are compared to Sony.

@Aaron Yang Can you keep comments that anyone with 2 brain cells can figure out are fanboyism and speculation to yourself? Thank you.

Or do you prefer me to say "Nikon could definitely make a variation of the FTZ which support AF-D lenses, but Nikon simply couldn't care less about Nikon photographer's previous investments!"
By the way, I don't think the above statement is true

@ KevinStarr: What about Contax, Rollei, Petri, Miranda, Konica, Exacta, Topcon, Zeiss, Voigtländer, Bronica, Yashica, Mamiya, and many others? That's how production and marked works.

Kamera Express in the Netherlands still sells the A99ii.

@BrianK2 - "Loyalty is a one way street with Sony, and it isn’t moving in your direction"

That is not correct, Sony for instance supported Betamax for 40 years, before they finally stopped making tapes.

Sony has made 5 different adapters for a-mount lens to e-mount body, which is far more support for old formats than any other camera company has ever done.

The reality of this age is that many companies have had to make changes.

Nikon for instance set the standard when they totally abandoned the Nikon 1 series cameras, abandoned their rifle scope business, and cut back a lot of user support: https://www.dpreview.com/news/5564430488/nikon-is-killing-off-its-authorized-repair-program-in-march-2020

https://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/nikon-is-exiting-the-rifle-scope-business/

Canon permanently shut down their main service facility, and laid off a bunch of employees:
https://fstoppers.com/business/do-canons-layoffs-and-service-center-closure-signal-retreat-photography-354140

Please don't hold back. Tell us how you really feel about Sony!

Nikon offers zero AF support for their screw-driven lenses on adapters. How is that better? Does Canon support their early EF lenses on their adapters? There are a lot of asterisks for both.

With the LAEA5 there is as you say, "zero AF support for their screw-driven lenses" for almost of their latest cameras, Sony α9, α9II, α7 III, α7R III, α7S III, α6100, α6400, and all older models. As well as zero AF support with video for all lenses with motors on all models.
Are the Canon and Nikon adapters better, except for 2 Sony cameras, they are.

But Sony has given the BEST support ever to Minolta glass owners by actually producing cameras all the way into 2021 ;-)

Because Nikon will make new DSLRs or make new F mount lenses?

FYI Sony is on their 3rd generation of full frame adapters and some cameras are compatible with screw-driven AF lenses.

So naive...

Nikon? Compatibility? So AF-P and E-type lenses work on every F-mount body? So every Nikon D3x00 and D5x00 is able to focus their current screw-driven AF lenses? And Nikon has an AF adapter to focus those same lenses on Z-mount?

The latest Sony A-mount lenses completely work on Minolta Alpha 7, 5, and 3 film cameras. The cheapest Sony A-mount bodies autofocus the entire lineup of Minolta AF lenses back to 1985.

Agree that Nikon has had its moments, but if you're a full frame user, overall, comparability has been pretty good, and - my opinion - a lot better than most.

My Sony A7RIV will autofocus a $140 original MSRP 1985 Minolta 28 F2.8 using on-sensor phase-detect over most of the frame with Eye AF and Real-time tracking at 10 FPS and correct the distortion, lateral CA, and corner shading.

I will agree that with Nikon Z mirrorless, there are different levels of compatibility with their different types of F mount lenses from the past. With their more recent releases, there is pretty much seamless compatibility. With other older lenses there are some compromises.

But that being said, can we please stop bringing up the Nikon 1 product line as some sort of example regarding Nikon? That was a failed experiment and we all know it and it is not indicative of Nikon and their approach to their main camera system. The Nikon 1 was never meant to substitute for their F mount system or eventually replace it, as the Z system is.

Sony isn’t allowed failed experiments. (I’m talking SLT. Though many wouldn’t even say that was a failure.)
Only Nikon is allowed failed experiments.

All the talk about abandoned users in the context of the end of the a-Mount is ridiculousness.

One could say Canon R5 is a failed experiment in heat management.

Oh the irony.
Someone defending A mount by joking another camera overheats in 25-30 minutes.
Did we forget the A55 and A33 history? Did we forget they were unable for stills and video when they overheated in as little as 10 minutes (the Japanese manual said 7).

@Rand does the A* cameras that you pointed out shut down for an hour due to overheating ?

If no then not the same issue.

Besides sony was given tough time for overheating for years.

Rand that was almost a decade ago...

Yet another new member from Canon camp commenting Sony story.

If you owned an A55 already and I have you already knew this.
https://www.popphoto.com/app/uploads/2019/01/17/3NBR5OU75PQ26IYDRUBPBFW5LI.jpg
I don't have experience with E mount, but with A mount the camera would die. There was nothing you could do to take photo or video of any kind for a good 20 minutes. And then you'd be lucky to get another 5 minutes of video.

A mount cameras are the only cameras I've heard of that overheat and die shooting stills too. Also in a matter of only a few minutes.
https://www.dyxum.com/dforum/sony-a33-or-a55-overheating-when-shooting-stills_topic90880.html
So if you are defending A mount by saying other cameras overheat, the joke is on you. I've never hear of one that dies in 7 minutes or dies taking a few photos.

Rand i never heard sony camera overheating in 7 minutes too.

There are reports of canon r5 overheating and not able to shoot still too from multiple people.

Anway overheating is non issue on current sony cameras.

While r5 is current camera. So the joke is on people buying it for 4000$

Ps: the same thread you linked has users of sony cameras saying they never had overheating problems on their cameras. So even in year 2012 you could not find the issu es.

Let me quote you from the link (talk about clicking on the link):

"That's sad, i'm having an a55 too - never had this problem (never use it for video).

Do you have the latest firmware one the A55?

What kind of memory cards do you use? (it's due to the fact you where using fast burst that i'm asking myself why this happened) - and one of the things to check is the writing speed of the memory-cards."

Constantly overheats?? Really, same link.

"Those are from 2012, so you lied, right? You blatantly lied for all to see."

The thread shows user with A55 never had camera overheating.

You are the one claiming that all A55 overheats and it is a problem.

Here is another quote from the link:

"reality is it shouldn't happen, I had both and never had this problem.

Yes it maybe lens related and a process of elimination may prove this."

"The person who never used the camera for video never had it overheat during video. OK."

Here is what you claimed:

"A mount cameras are the only cameras I've heard of that overheat and die shooting stills too. Also in a matter of only a few minutes."

You were claiming stills.

Make up your mind.

You also dishonestly ignored the people in the thread who had their camera not overheated btw.

Ignore him. Registered last week. I’m shocked. He probably will be gone soon.

@Mike he is another one from train of users who come and vehemently start to dis sony brand. (interestingly all of them support canon).

The synonym for real commitment and backward compatibility in DSLR world is PENTAX.

Regards,

Tibor

It's funny seeing this discussion thread devolve into an argument about whether discontinued A-mount cameras had overheating problems about a decade ago.

It just shows you how easy it is to get off track with some debates and how once it does the combatants just dig in determined to make their point. (And I've been there too!)

Is that the reason Nikon killed DL series 4K capable lineups? They hyped the announcement and kill it before a single product is sold?

@ Cian3307: There is a major difference between the end of a brand, and a discontinued product line.

@ Cian3307: How would this be different from other discontinued camera models, or mounts, as long as the maker still is in the business? Also, there are brand-independent repair shops.