Sony Alpha DSLR-A900

Review Date
December 22, 2009

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
Paul , Professional

Price Paid
$2500.00

Photography Experience
21+ years , Other

Summary
I am a studio mainly photographer with a good deal of personal and art photography outside. Being more a casual photographer in the last few years and returning to a nore serious workload. After waiting quite a time to buy since using the minolta 7D and sony taking over minolta. I eventually went down to Sony style to try the a900. I have been a Minolta user for 20 years and when I bought the 7d the 9d was supposed to be close behind. I didn't get a complete feel for it but at least the knowlege that it was worth buying. I got a great deal on one with the 70-400 g lens as I am moving towards doing some aviation photography to coincide with a warbird hobby.
This is the Minolta digital I have been waiting for. A direct descendant to the world beating professional 9xi and Maxxum 9 film cameras. The 100% viewfinder is so clear and large it makes framing and focussing a joy. Truly a perfect studio camera for any kind of product or people photography. The intelligent preview is superb for setting up a studio strobe setup, making it so easy to balance your lighting. the super smooth images in the iso 200 range is like shooting slide film with the best in the world dynamic range and color rendition. I imagine it is a perfect landscape camera too.
I have been shooting some model aviation lately and though I am learning the cameras have been having good results. Using wide area continuous focussing has eventuslly returned the images I was hoping for. I ove this camera and it has brought me back to the place I was years ago shooting film. Thoughtful shooting with a completely professional camera.
I try to stay below the 800 ASA range for my shooting and really manage to stay around 200 asa for even the highspeed aviation with the 400 lens. having said that we come to the cameras only minor issue. To get the superb colour and dynamic range that the camera provides it had to surrender some high iso quality. High iso (low light photography ) in the a900 has a reasonable noise issue, mostly when using jpeg and the sony Raw converter. Using raw is the only solution and also a high class raw converter. Nevertheless if you shoot above 1600 iso all the time it may not be the camera for you.
To be honest, the fastest film I ever used for any amount was 400asa. I shot with 25 iso black and white and 50 asa slide film to get images that this camera matches at iso 200 so it is reallly a non issue to me but if you have become used to 3200 asa it may be worth checking. Live view is not a requirement for me as the viewfinder provides a better preview than a thousand live view screens, intelligent preview is far more useful to me than any live view i have ever used so what can i say.
No matter how Sony deprecate themselves by their false modesty, this is a professional camera in any sense of the word that I have ever known and I have a box of Mamiya, nikon f and minolta film cameras that have given stirling performance to give me the history to justify that biew.
Go for it, not for the price but for the most beautiful images you can get with a dynamic range better than any canon or Nikon except one with the same sony sensor in it.

Strengths
smooth and creamy high resolution images. better than many medium format digital backs.
Solid build and most comforting feel , like the old film pro models.
Metal body and environmental sealing.
Intelligent preview ( how come no one gets this, are no one photographers). Ansell Adams would have cut an ear off for this.
Superb matched flash gun (hvl-58am) a world beater.
Fast 5 frames per second continuous.
Huge bright 100% viewfinder ( this should be repeated ten or twenty times)
what you see is what you get.
Zeiss lenses and superb Sony minolt G lense range.
built in steady shot, You can even get anti shake with old shift lenses or any lense you may still own,

Weaknesses
Sony cameras are rarely sold in local camera shops so pro models and lenses are hard to check out.
High iso noise is less than perfect. ( I use it though at night to simulate old film shots so I dont mind) but it is definitely a weakness.)

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Review Date
June 15, 2009

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
3 Months to 1 year

Visitors rate this review
5.00 of 5, 1 votes

Reviewed by
DennisT , Casual

Price Paid
$3250.00 at Orms Photo Warehouse

Photography Experience
11-20 years , Outdoor

Summary
This is a short follow up on the comments by cgarrard. That was a great review and technically there is not much more to add. I will review the a900 in respect of how it works for me.
I have owned the A900 since late 2008 and use it for outdor and wildlife amateur photography, mainly birds and, when feasible, birds in flight. Coupled with a Sigma 50-500 f4.5-6.3 lens I have achieved some pretty good results (my opinon plus a few others).
Bracketing range, 5fps speed and in-camera stabiliser are the most desirable features and have made all the difference when in a tight situation at full 500mm zoom and hand held. I seldom use a tri-pod (wildlife dont pose) and with this combination am able to get properly close and stable even when breathing hard after a chase or a long climb or suffering excitement jitters.
The full size viewfinder is excellant and the LCD viewing screen is awesome - no guessing about focus and sharpness when reviewing on the fly.
I shoot only in RAW. During harsh lighting conditions I always apply exposure compensation of at least -.3EV. This most often ensures that there are little or no burned out features - without it overexposure is problem. In softer conditions (morning and evening) I do not use Exposure Compensation as a rule.
My personal preferance is for a softer image. The A900 does tend to give this effect but the lens choice is a major factor here. I find with my shorter lenses the images are more contrasty and tight (not sharper or more detailed) with the colour detail more seperately defined.
Using a Sony 50mm and 100mm macro has yielded some great results for botanical and insect shots.
The Alpha 700 is a great camera - I migrated from it to the 900. However the a 900 offers, in my opinion, the best value for money high reolution results on the market. Its enhanced noise handling (suppressing) capacity and full frame sensor were the motivating factors for changing.
The Sony in camera stabiliser really works and obviates the need for stabilised lenses that cost an arm and a leg.
The quick navi system is sensible, intuitive and consequently, formidable.
When attempting to focus on a subject deep in a bush or surrounded by confusing cover the instant change from wide to spot focus by pressing the navi button is a boon. Thus no time wasting waiting for confused auto focus to settle down.
The build is robust and the camera has taken a number of knocks and drops without any ill effect. Weight is not an issue although when coupled with the Sigma 50-500 any camera would be somewhat burdensome after being hefted about for a few hours.
The lack of a pop up flash does not concern me - this is certainly not a "point and shoot". Coupled with the 58 flash unit it is versatile and powerful. More than one flash unit can be activated simultaneously. It supports radio controlled flash and is also excellent for time exposure having a built in viefinder screen / shutter to prevent ingress of extraneous light.
I see no reason why the alpha 900 would not provide a cost efeective option for the professional but as an active amateur (app 500 frames per week) and avid outdoor picture taker I have had excellant experience with the 900 - it satisfies the requirement for an intuitive location of controls, timely processing of bracketed and continuous shots, excellant stabilisation and quick autofocus. The inside viewfinder information is very good (allowing more time to keep an eye on the business at hand.)

Strengths
All necessary features required of modern DSLR
100% viewfinder
Resolution
Dual memory card slots
Excellant ergonomics
In camera stabiliser that really works
Robust

Weaknesses
Paucity of available lenses
Auto focus a bit noisy
Shutter a bit noisy

Similar Products Used
Sony Alpha 100
Sony Alpha 700
Previously Pentax Spotmatic, Minolta Maxxum

Customer Service
No issues yet requiring after sales service

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Review Date
June 2, 2009

Overall Rating
 5 of 5

Value Rating
 5 of 5

Used product for
1 to 3 months

Visitors rate this review
4.33 of 5, 6 votes

Reviewed by
cgarrard , Professional

Price Paid
$2699.00 at Adorama

Photography Experience
11-20 years , Fine Art

Summary
Ultimately the Sony A900 was built for Minoltan's who wanted an upgrade path to the discontinued KM 7D. In a sense, this camera is a confluence of that camera, the Sony A700, and the Minolta Maxxum 9 film camera that never saw a digital equivalent come to life.

Sony's Alpha A900 represents value. It is a high performance DSLR with a rather conservative feature set when compared to its peers on the market. It does not offer live view or video, instead it offers arguably the best 100% coverage viewfinder in a DSLR to date, excellent 24.6mp resolution, the worlds only image stabilized full frame sensor, excellent Quick-Navi gui interface, top notch build quality, and large easy to use external controls.

Handling is excellent and intuitive. The A900 is built to handle an extreme range of weather conditions with an excellently sealed body. The external buttons are designed to be larger on purpose, and spaced out so that it can be used with gloves on in cold weather situations (it definitely passed my test in the Sierras).

Build quality on the A900 is top notch, all external panels and framework are made from an advanced Magnesium Alloy, giving an overall excellent strength to weight ratio. The grip is large and comfortable with recesses for the fingertips on the right hand that aid in portrait shooting and overall ease of grip, reassuring less hand fatigue for all day shooting for all hand sizes.

The design itself is rather compact for a full frame camera (without the vertical grip) when compared to its peers, yet is large enough to let you know that this is one serious camera for advanced enthusiasts and professionals (even though Sony is careful not to classify it strictly for professional use). Add a vertical grip to it, and it is actually larger than Canon or Nikon's largest professional cameras by a hair. The vertical grip is probably one of the best designs ever made, nearly perfectly mimicking the back panel of the A900 itself and is very comfortable.

Autofocusing is by way of a diamond arranged 9 AF points, with the center point being optimized for a f/2.8 aperture. The surrounding 8 points have been increased in sensitivity compared to the A700, for more reassuring AF performance. The speed of the in body focus motor is snappy, and the overall speed of the autofocus varies depending on the lens itself (due to different internal gearing and programming, etc.

The A900 has 3 custom presets built into the main menu dial that are quickly accessible, but the bread and butter of your adjustments will be made the way of the Quick Navi system which employs the LCD and use of thumb and front wheels and/or the multi controller joystick. Adjustments can be made to most functions without having to go one level into the menu system, which saves time and headache in moments you need to make quick decisions.

The Alpha A900 boasts an overall impressive feature list. It will shoot 5 frames per second at full 24.6mp resolution on Jpegs until the memory card is used up, ISO sensitivity ranges from 100-6400, has an excellent low light autofocusing illuminator, intelligent preview function for making changes to WB/exposure/DRO etc., lens micro AF adjustment (with memory up to 30 lenses), HDMI output, dual memory card slots, sensor based dust reduction, APS-C capture mode, 1/300th sec flash sync, built in viewfinder shutter (to black out light on long exposures), user changeable focus screens (with 3 total optional screens), 880 shot per charge battery life, 3" 920K dot LCD screen, a top deck illuminated LCD panel, comes with a wireless remote, and much more.

In use, the A900 is designed to be intuitive and is, it is simple enough so that it won't leave you perplexed but featured enough to handle most job situations. While the current trend is to add video and other such gizmos to DSLR designs, the A900 remains conservative. Film SLR users will feel right at home.

To me the A900 is more utilitarian in design, and less about a features war with competitors. Sometimes I wish it had more creative software features or live view, but I never miss video on it. Intelligent Preview is good enough to replace the live view feature for many applications although not all, such as zoom micro focus aid, but it gets most of the job done and helps to save storage space by not having to take several test frames.

In a way the Sony A900 is an old fashioned DSLR with just the right amount of modernization, which may throw some who expected the opposite from Sony for a loop. The A900 is reliable, right out of the box. It has not exhibited any focusing issues or firmware/hardware errors once. It is a well designed camera in this aspect, and reliability is first on my order checklist. It does all I need it to do for most circumstances.

Image Quality is simply fantastic. As long as your sensitivity needs aren't higher than ISO 3200 for nearly noise free images, the A900 will impress you with color gradation, excellent dynamic range, and mind boggling detail. Raw files are out of this world good and compare well to medium format rigs costing thousands and thousands of dollars more.

This camera is for the enthusiast with deep pockets, a budding professional, or a professional that wants a lot of camera for the buck. It is really hard to find any faults with this camera within its specification sheet, a real joy to use and own.

- Carl

Strengths
Build
Features for price
Viewfinder
Speed
Image Quality (ISO 3200 and under)
Resolution is extraordinary (close to medium format DSLR backs)
Noise reduction can be turned off
Lightest in class
Excellent LCD Panel
Well thought out controls
Built in Full Frame Image Stabilization (2-4 stops advantage)
A landscape shooters dream DSLR (weight, size, resolution)
Reassuring mechanical mirror/shutter cycle sound
Has character and some old fashioned heritage
AF Zeiss Lenses

Weaknesses
No live view
Image Quality above ISO 3200
Tends to underexpose .3-.7 EV (at least consistently)
Proprietary flash shoe
AF motor drive in camera can be a bit noisy
Mirror slap is also a bit loud
No pop up flash (debatable weakness)

Similar Products Used
Sony A700
Nikon D300
Canon 5D

Customer Service
Excellent for other service but the A900 has had no issues to date

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