cplow1 : Whoa! Chill dude! Don't get so worked up. Modern cameras now are all very capable devices and can take good pics.

Your A200 is still a good camera. So what can the A550 do that can cripple your A200?

7 fps? Ask yourself how often do you even use your A200's 3 fps?
Cleaner high ISO? Ask yourself how often do you really need to use ISO 800 and above.

If you're not into machine-gunning your subject and don't use high ISO all that much, how much better is the A550's IQ compared to the A200's? If I post 2 great pics, one taken by the A200 and another by the A550, can you tell which cam took which pic?

zstan : No lar.. now the A300 will become a rare collector's item in another few years time... Just like my A100... LOL!

zstan : We probably won't hear much more than what we know now. The NDA will clamp any news from getting out. Unless someone knows someone inside and drop lots of hints.

Ooohhh... The 85mm f2.8 price is promising... less than USD300 might probably means less than RM 1k here.

The A33 and A55 cams have all the bells and whistles to attract the common consumers out there in the market. Things like HD video, sweep pano and etc.

It's designed to be glitzy and show off-ish and great in attracting attention but it's not quite the professional device.

It's not that I'm not excited about the innovation Sony is showing but I'm more interested in how Sony will implement these feature into a semi-pro and pro body.

EVF is fine for the entry level class but I do not think an EVF can beat an OVF in terms of practicality. We're staring at a miniscule screen with an EVF. Can we determine focus as well as we can compared to using an OVF? Can it give us a level of detail that is acceptable for pro macro work? If we sweep the cam around the room can the EVF keep up with it and not show us a smeared blur when the cam is in motion?

A translucent mirror can provide continuous phase detect AF for video but it decreases the amount of light that can reach the sensor when taking pictures. It also makes an OVF darker as it does not refect as much light. Is there a way to incorporate a flexing transluscent mirror in a practical way so that we can get the best of both?

I am still waiting for the A7xx before I get all excited but you guys go ahead and celebrate.



P.S. At this point I am more excited about the price of the 85mm f2.8 lens than anything.

This post has been edited by shootkk: Aug 25 2010, 02:09 PM

This is a job for ....... Sifu Albnok!! The ultimate techie sifu!

albnok : I'm not so much concerned about the viewfinder's brightness. I'm more concerned about the light that actually gets to the sensor. With the one third light loss, will it mean that a F3.5 lens will now give a F4 exposure on the sensor? Doesn't that mean the images will be underexposed by one third of a stop for every lens? How to compensate for that? Boost the exposure after the pic has been recorded? What about noise?

If you can wait for a little then get the A580. It should be in your budget and it's an intermediate level DSLR that will be able to meet your needs.


The A200 has been discontinued for quite some time so you probably can only get it second hand. It's a great little cam to start your journey into the realm of DSLR with.

Pros:

- Feature packed including wireless flash.
- Cheap. Second hand prices are dirt cheap now but you gotta find a seller first.
- Nice comfy grip.

Cons:

- No more warranty as most second hand units will be out of warranty.
- High ISO noise is nothing to shout about.

If you're looking to get a new cam then perhaps you can check out the A290.

The older alphas, specifically the A100, A200, A300, A350 have a high ISO noise profile that's a little behind as compared to similarly classed DSLR from either Canon or Nikon. The A700, A850/A900 fares better but is still a little behind. As of the A550, I can safely say that these new cams are on par with all the others in terms of high ISO noise.

ngenjen : Chronologically, this is how the alphas line up, oldest one first:

1. A100 (The very first!)
2. A700
3. A200, A300, A350
4. A900
5. A850
6. A230, A330, A380
7. A500, A550
8. A290, A390
10. A33, A55, A560, A580 (to be released)

ngenjen : The A700 is going around for RM 2k for a second hand unit so that is a little higher than the A290 which is around RM 16xx for a brand new kit.

Problem is if you get your hands on the A700 you will most probably not want to go back to a lower end model.

cplow1 : You can always counter with one argument that works:

It's cheap mah!

And it's true too. There's no other brand out there that will offer you as much bang for your buck as Sony. More feature packed with a lower price tag. If they don't believe, pull out an entry level body and start doing wireless flash... Gets them every time!!

Well, you can't have your cake and eat it too, I guess. Something has got to give somehow. It's a know fact that when we put another piece of glass in front of the sensor, it's going to degrade the IQ. The question is by how much and what can be done to make the degradation less apparent.

That's why I am still waiting for future models that may have a way of incorporating the best of both world. It's a start and it's exciting of course but can it become a revolution or will it become just a fad? Will the 'transparent' mirror (for the want of being technically correct both in language and scientific terms) fade away from still cameras while the mirrorless becomes mainstream? Will it ultimately be implemented in video cams rather than still cams? Only time will tell.

porkchop : Congrats! Late to the party but hey, better late than never right?

eddybeh : I would rather go without the cheap filter. I have never put any filters on my 50mm lenses.

A300 price 2 years ago = RM23xx

A33 price today = RM23xx

Having 2 years of DSLR experience in your hands = Priceless

Why are you struggling? The 2 lenses are on opposite ends of the focal range. The 24mm will give a view which some like and others don't. The 135mm is telephoto and it will have you standing across the room to get in a half body shot of someone.

So focal range do you use more of? Wide or tele? Don't just get a lens because other people say it's a great lens. The most important thing is whether you will use that lens often or not. Getting a 135mm Zeiss and letting it stay in the drybox most of the time is not a very wise way to spend RM5k.



** Edit **
Whoops! Just noticed that you're on FF..

This post has been edited by shootkk: Sep 7 2010, 03:45 PM

kevinwcw : Then your choice is clear. Get the 24mm first and Sony does release the 135mm with SSM you can get it later lor...

Alrighty then.. this reply is gonna be long, philosophical and OT but if you want an answer to your question, this is it:

Scenarios like this will become more and more common because we as the consumers indirectly caused it to be so. When we look at nothing else but price (i.e. only interested in getting the lowest price) this will continue to happen.

Competitors are staging price wars to offer the lowest price to attract us consumers. This practice cuts into their margins and ultimately profits. Businesses needs profits to survive so how do they do that when the profit margins keep diminishing? They resort to tactics like the one quoted above.

That's why we have shady practices and sales persons who have zero knowledge about what they are selling. The business owners want to keep the costs down to compensate for the diminishing margins. When you pay peanuts, you'll get monkeys.

We only have ourselves to blame when we don't consider any other factor apart from price. We don't appreciate knowledgeable sales persons. We don't appreciate good customer service. We don't want to pay for value-added stuff like that so we end up with 'Ah Bengs' and 'Ah Lians' manning the counters and merchants resorting to shady deals because it's how they survive.

If it were only that simple.

If we only look at price, we will choose place B but what if:

1. Place B gives you lower price but you have a sales person that knows nuts about what you want to buy and even feeds you misinformation about the products. There's no customer service at all. You will have to holler to even get any of the sales person to even look your way plus you have to ring up your own purchases on the register and if you make a mistake you'll have to pay to rectify it. After sales service? What the heck is that?

2. Place A has knowledgeable staff and they are courteous and helpful. They even help you to identify the most suitable product and offers phone support for any product you purchase with competent staff manning the phone lines.

Which one would you buy from now?

ahpingko : We can't be knowledgeable in all areas. There's bound to be some areas where we are unfamiliar with, for example diamonds. Can you really tell one grade of diamonds from another?

ieR : Man... this is getting waay OT but...

In no way did I ever say that what they did was right. It's morally wrong of course but what I'm getting at is that because of our preference to choose only the one with the lowest price without any consideration to other factors, we are indirectly encouraging this kind of practice.

What you say is true. That's the ideal scenario. Merchants should employ knowledgeable and ethical employees but these employees don't come cheap and they don't get appreciated. Consumers run next door to buy where the price is RM10 cheaper and have cheap, rude and 'don't know nuts' employees which are a dime a dozen. To survive, the first merchant will have to cut cost and ultimately we all end up with cheap, rude and 'don't know nuts' sales persons.