# Any Sony DSLR guys - Help



## Mani (Mar 14, 2010)

Hi guys,

After being a so called ' Nikon fanboy' for the last few years. I have finally converted over to the sony A77. Yes some may call me mad but the reason was it just felt better. I still have a secret love for nikon but the sony was so much easy to use. And i felt more creative with the sony when i looked at the images i had taken.

Anyway to the question !!! Currently i have the "kit lens" on the camera at the moment. Which is one of the best kit lens i have ever used !

So could anyone recommend me any lens. i'm in the market for a nifty fifty and zoom lens. 

thanks Mani


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## Brigham1806 (Apr 1, 2011)

Mani said:


> Hi guys,
> 
> After being a so called ' Nikon fanboy' for the last few years. I have finally converted over to the sony A77. Yes some may call me mad but the reason was it just felt better. I still have a secret love for nikon but the sony was so much easy to use. And i felt more creative with the sony when i looked at the images i had taken.
> 
> ...


Hi,

Im no expert but have had sony cameras for years. i now have a A65 with twin lens kit, however i also have a tamron 18mm-200mm lens and a sigma 150mm-500mm lens.

I find these adequate enough for the landscape and wildlife photography i do. Might be worth a look on the talk photography forum. Its full of useful advice.

My friend is a canon man, and he always comments on my photos as being true colour, where his are always dull. (this isn't camera setup either)


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## nichol4s (Jun 16, 2012)

I have the 50mm f1.8 and its a great lens for the money bought it through kerso http://www.flashcamera.co.uk/sony-1/ was the cheapest at the time. :thumb: zoom wise tamron 18-250


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## lobotomy (Jun 23, 2006)

I have the Sony SAL35F18 - It's very highly regarded, super sharp (@ F5.6) but even sharp enough wide open.

I'm planning on getting the A77 with the 15-50 "_Kit Lens!_" in a month or so, upgrading from my trusty old A200 that I've had for 7years! How's the A77? I've read a few owners reviews and looked for as many "negative" reviews as possible so I'm aware of any problems before buying... my only concern is that there was a rumoured "A78" due to be announce this year... don't know whether to hold out for it?!


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## Mani (Mar 14, 2010)

lobotomy said:


> I have the Sony SAL35F18 - It's very highly regarded, super sharp (@ F5.6) but even sharp enough wide open.
> 
> I'm planning on getting the A77 with the 15-50 "_Kit Lens!_" in a month or so, upgrading from my trusty old A200 that I've had for 7years! How's the A77? I've read a few owners reviews and looked for as many "negative" reviews as possible so I'm aware of any problems before buying... my only concern is that there was a rumoured "A78" due to be announce this year... don't know whether to hold out for it?!


I've heard nothing of a a78 yet, but the a77 is just over a year old. The a77 is a very good dslr. It holds it's own against my mates nikon d600 !!!  If you've got the money i'd go up and get the a99. It's amazing


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## Mani (Mar 14, 2010)

Brigham1806 said:


> Hi,
> 
> Im no expert but have had sony cameras for years. i now have a A65 with twin lens kit, however i also have a tamron 18mm-200mm lens and a sigma 150mm-500mm lens.
> 
> ...


I was looking in the range of a 24-70 mm but do really want a sigma of that range.


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## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

If you have the 16-50 f2.8 its not a typical kit lens as its £500! 

Zoom wise I have the Carl zeiss/sony 16-80 which is great. 

There will be no a78 ever. Sony will not make another SLT camera. Their future is in mirrorless cameras and they will start launching mirrorless A mount cameras in 2014.


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## ZetecEmma (May 20, 2013)

I work for Sony and can safely say the a78 isn't in the pipeline YET but will be by 2014.
As for lenses the 50mm 1.8 is pretty good for the money but as stated above the 35mm is better for sharpness.
Zoom wise range theres a few on the market my personal preference is sigma and their 18-250 is a fantastic lens, what budget are you working with as the A77 performs best with quality lenses, I say to everyone that the camera is only as good as the glass you put on front of it.


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## lobotomy (Jun 23, 2006)

ZetecEmma said:


> I work for Sony and can safely say the a78 isn't in the pipeline YET but will be by 2014.


I'm glad you confirmed this for me Emma  I follow SAR (Sony Alpha Rumours) and they're generally quite good. They said an A77 replacement (_A78 given the A57 > A58 nomenclature_) would probably be anounced mid-2013 for a likely release date of mid 2014.

I'd love the A99 but the body is £2'000, and I don't have any FF specific lenses. Bit above budget for me as an enthuiastic amateur!


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## ZetecEmma (May 20, 2013)

lobotomy said:


> I'm glad you confirmed this for me Emma  I follow SAR (Sony Alpha Rumours) and they're generally quite good. They said an A77 replacement (_A78 given the A57 > A58 nomenclature_) would probably be anounced mid-2013 for a likely release date of mid 2014.
> 
> I'd love the A99 but the body is £2'000, and I don't have any FF specific lenses. Bit above budget for me as an enthuiastic amateur!


No problem mate, the A58 doesn't replace the A57 believe it or not it replaces the A37 Sony have completely shaken the line up this year.

The A99 is a stunning bit of kit but in all honesty for everyday use the A77 isn't far behind it for me even though it is an apsc sensor.

If you ever want to know or need anything give me a shout and I'll see what I can do for you.


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## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

ZetecEmma said:


> I work for Sony and can safely say the a78 isn't in the pipeline YET but will be by 2014.
> As for lenses the 50mm 1.8 is pretty good for the money but as stated above the 35mm is better for sharpness.
> Zoom wise range theres a few on the market my personal preference is sigma and their 18-250 is a fantastic lens, what budget are you working with as the A77 performs best with quality lenses, I say to everyone that the camera is only as good as the glass you put on front of it.


Hi mate

I also follow SAR and the rumours are that the A78 won't be an SLt but will be a mirrorless A mount camera, is this correct?


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## ZetecEmma (May 20, 2013)

No it will be slt I 98% promise that, reason being is that we currently make more slt lenses than mirror less and therefor earn more from that market, also if we went mirror less you'd lose that all important viewfinder, I think we would lose a massive following and make to much of a risk in the current climate. If we went mirror less we would pretty much have to change our entire line up, maybe in the next 5-10 years we may start seeing this but certainly not yet as it's still a developing technology


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## lobotomy (Jun 23, 2006)

Oh well... regardless I'll be buying the A77 soon'ish (_anyone wanna buy some xxxxxxxxxxx lol?!_) I've been waiting long enough for a relpacement and with 2 young babies funds haven't alowed until now  I'm sure it'll be night and day from my A200.


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## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

ZetecEmma said:


> No it will be slt I 98% promise that, reason being is that we currently make more slt lenses than mirror less and therefor earn more from that market, also if we went mirror less you'd lose that all important viewfinder, I think we would lose a massive following and make to much of a risk in the current climate. If we went mirror less we would pretty much have to change our entire line up, maybe in the next 5-10 years we may start seeing this but certainly not yet as it's still a developing technology


I understand you work for Sony but even the Sony CEO has said the new market is going to be mirrorless as thats the only way they can compete with Canikon.

I don't mean NEX e mount but a new 'odd' hybrid A mount camera that looks like a DSLR has on sensor PDAF but NOT an SLT. I know we are only dealing in rumours at the moment but the A78 hasn't been forthcoming, no new models this year and the statement from the CEO and its all looking likely that SLT is dead in the water but A mount will continue in a newer 'better' form.

You wouldn't lose the viewfinder in mirrorless as you have an electronic one. You may not be aware but SLT don't have an optical viewfinder either, only an electronic one so the viewfinder has been long since lost.


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## lobotomy (Jun 23, 2006)

Brazo said:


> You wouldn't lose the viewfinder in mirrorless as you have an electronic one. You may not be aware but SLT don't have an optical viewfinder either, only an electronic one so the viewfinder has been long since lost.


This is my one annoyance - People claim the EVF is almost as good as any other OVF, but when I had a look through the shop model in Jessops, it didn't appear very good, found it hard to define what was focussed. Didn't try the peaking though...

Brazo, now you mention the "hybrid" route, it does ring bells, but I thought they went back on some of those rumours?


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## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

Again its difficult when we are only dealing in rumours. There was an A/E mount hybrid rumour but thats not what I am referring to, its kind of like an A mount 'panasonic GH3' shape but without a mirror and using PDAF instead of Contrast Detection autofocus.

click here http://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3491521#forum-post-51499283

Click on flat view (top right) if the forum looks a little odd as this will 'normalise' it.

As for viewfinder I couldn't go back to optical after using the electronic on my A65 and now A77. Its the WYSIWYG that I would miss!!!


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## ZetecEmma (May 20, 2013)

The hybrid mount/camera your thinking of is a prototype but not a replacement for the A77, it's actually more like a bridge with interchangeable lenses.
I work specifically on digital imaging so have a little more info to go on and from what we are currently being told the new system won't be in the final prototype stages until very late 2014 atleast and even then I personally reckon it will be late 2015 before we even get a glance at it, obviously china,hong kong and Japan will be slightly ahead of us.
I've been told that we won't stop making slt cameras by the head of the Sony imaging department. 
Brazo- I am well aware that the slt's use an electronic viewfinder as I have used plenty of alpha cameras in the last 4 years, the A77's viewfinder is meant to be one of the best as it's oled, admittedly it's never going to be as good as an optical for the simple fact that optical is clearer for many people (myself included).
As for keeping up with canikon Nikon have been buying in Sony sensors and processors for the last 3 years and I think we can safely say canon have no reason to threat they will always be market leaders in this area and have some the best technology on the market.


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## lobotomy (Jun 23, 2006)

Brazo said:


> As for viewfinder I couldn't go back to optical after using the electronic on my A65 and now A77. Its the WYSIWYG that I would miss!!!


How do you find the liveview / EVF for WYSIWYG? I've heard a couple of complaints that there's been issues with it showing a totally different image right up until you hit the shutter? Been trying to confirm if the latest F/W clears this though?



ZetecEmma said:


> As for keeping up with canikon Nikon have been buying in Sony sensors and processors for the last 3 years and I think we can safely say canon have no reason to threat they will always be market leaders in this area and have some the best technology on the market.


I think the image processing has lots to do with it, but I keep reminding my CANIKON friends of this.


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## Brazo (Oct 27, 2005)

ZetecEmma said:


> The hybrid mount/camera your thinking of is a prototype but not a replacement for the A77, it's actually more like a bridge with interchangeable lenses.
> I work specifically on digital imaging so have a little more info to go on and from what we are currently being told the new system won't be in the final prototype stages until very late 2014 atleast and even then I personally reckon it will be late 2015 before we even get a glance at it, obviously china,hong kong and Japan will be slightly ahead of us.
> I've been told that we won't stop making slt cameras by the head of the Sony imaging department.
> Brazo- I am well aware that the slt's use an electronic viewfinder as I have used plenty of alpha cameras in the last 4 years, the A77's viewfinder is meant to be one of the best as it's oled, admittedly it's never going to be as good as an optical for the simple fact that optical is clearer for many people (myself included).
> As for keeping up with canikon Nikon have been buying in Sony sensors and processors for the last 3 years and I think we can safely say canon have no reason to threat they will always be market leaders in this area and have some the best technology on the market.


Thanks for the info, its not so much the hybrid mount I am thinking of but as I said a mirrorless DSLR shaped camera that takes 'A' mount lenses.

I know Sony supply sensors to Nikon, Pentax et al but the mirrorless market is one which Sony are strong in and Canon and Nikon barely have a foot hold.



lobotomy said:


> How do you find the liveview / EVF for WYSIWYG? I've heard a couple of complaints that there's been issues with it showing a totally different image right up until you hit the shutter? Been trying to confirm if the latest F/W clears this though?
> 
> Never had that problem I know there is an option to turn the WYSISWYG thing on/off in the menu systems.
> 
> I think the image processing has lots to do with it, but I keep reminding my CANIKON friends of this.


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## ZetecEmma (May 20, 2013)

Brazo said:


> Thanks for the info, its not so much the hybrid mount I am thinking of but as I said a mirrorless DSLR shaped camera that takes 'A' mount lenses.
> 
> I know Sony supply sensors to Nikon, Pentax et al but the mirrorless market is one which Sony are strong in and Canon and Nikon barely have a foot hold.


All I can say without getting told off is that its a new venture into CSC body shapes and sizes, the current nex range don't have a fantastic hand grip on them and with a bigger body we can achieve a much better grip and also include a decentish pop up flash and viewfinder  
As you say Brazo sony have possibly the best hold on the mirrorless market but we had a few complaints from our testers that the viewfinder should be included along with a flash so that you can use both at the same time and not just one of them as it can seriously limit the freedom that the user has.


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