A99 discussion

I did some more testing at high ISO and I have to say I give this camera the thumbs down. The noise is intolerable at anything over ISO 1000, maybe 1250 in a pinch. Compared to a 5Diii, which is IMHO a disappointment for it's lack of overall functionality, this camera is a looser. Yes. it's easier to focus and it has some auto functionality, but the drawbacks are too many. Yet another "miss" in the DSLR film camera world.
 
I found the a99 to be too soft and doesn't sharpen well in post.

A99 = low resolution, blows out highlights. Pretty bad for detail; almost looks like standard definition on wide shots.

AF-D = does not work in video mode.
AF range limiter = not in video
You cannot zoom / focus magnify in video mode; have to from stills mode
You cannot set custom WB in video mode; have to toggle back to stills mode
Strange pulsing with AF enabled video
Cannot "push" autofocus like 5D Mark III / AF100. It's continuous AF @ F/3.5 or nothing else
1.2x crop with IS enabled, and IS seems dodgy (electronic).
Low bitrate (24 mbit for 24p max; 28 mbit for 60p)

At the end of the day the IQ is fantastic for stills but very poor for video work.
Be weary of Sony sponsored videos in exotic locations with very shallow DOF dominant in the video. Among other tricks.
 
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Oh yeah - the in camera sharpness setting does nothing in video mode. -3 up to +3 looks identical, and I tested this several times on patterns that usually show moire.

The a99 has crazy amounts of moire also. It's pretty bad.
 
I have had the A99 for about a month. I have done some testing, but unfortunately I have not done any "real" project shooting. I also have a FS100, NEX7, and in the past have had 3 Canon 5DmkII, 7D, as well as Panasonic DVX/HVX and Sony SxS cameras. Earlier this year I took a lead and sold all my canon gear (which was a difficult thing) to buy the FS100, 3 Zeiss ZA lenses, and converted to the Sony ecosystem. This was hard and I am still hoping it pays off. When I first bought the Canon 5D MKII, I bought it on a "gut" feeling that it was going to be the perfect thing for my style. I did this while it still shot only 30P. Thankfully Canon followed through and I shot for four years on Canon DSLR's.

So it was a hard thing to switch to Sony. The lenses made it easier. The Zeiss lenses, are amazing. No, they are not cinema lenses in form, but the image just has that "look" and they all match. Something I did not have with the Canon L (50mm 1.2, 100mm macro, 70-200 2.8 II, 24mm 1.4)

Now back to the A99.

1. Form and Usability - Sony nailed the usability. The screen is perfect. I cannot imagine going back to a stationary screen for video. I can shoot top. bottom, sides, etc. So for things like dolly, jib, and steadicam, it is perfect. The usability is high. The focus peaking is amazing, best I have seen. And even though I practically always shoot manual for projects, the autofocus is really good and maybe usable in some situations. So in terms of functionality, they hit a home run.

2. Photo Quality - the photos are great. I will not pend much time here, since this is a video forum, and mostly what I do. But it does well with photos.

3. Video Quality - I am very mixed. They definitely did not hit a home run here. Now, it is good. Probably on par with 5D mkII. But not up to 5D MkIII. The moire is there, although not too bad, but once again I have not done enough testing. The jello is OK, but still there. It looks good, maybe even great, but not what I had hoped for with a four year behind DSLR from Sony with so much experience in video. The US model does not do PAL video. Something I use. (I have my FS100 when I need this - so I thought it worth the risk)

Now. Like I said with Canon, I took a risk that they would expand the technology - which they did. But Canon let me down when they took what they learned with the 5D mkII and made... the C300 series. Now that camera is amazing, but priced out of the range I am willing to spend for the projects I do in places around the world. The Canon 5D mkIII is great with video quality (but no 60P 1080). But the form and usability is lacking.

I am hoping and praying that Sony comes through and does a "magical" update for the A99 to enable and awaken some improvements. If they do, I may buy a few more. Some of these are:

1. World frame rates - come on this is 2013 almost. We are a global family here. definately a firmware update.
2. Enable sensor shift steadishot - OK I know some are saying it was disabled due to heat. Maybe so. Set me a time limit for this mode. I can still shoot most dramas this way with short takes. Give me the option.
3. More customizable settings - Let me do picture styles and other setting more detailed for video.
4. Remove the 3.5 setting for autofocus.
5. Give me AF range setting in video.
6. Improve the video IQ.

I have high hopes. Right now, this is a B cam to my FS100. Each have a niche.

Would I trade all the Sony stuff back for the Canon 5D mkIII? Tempting. I do not think so. With the Sony ecosystem, I have more flexibility. I have a real video camera FS100 when projects need it. I have a DSLR when I need to go small and stealth (quite often in my work) They use the same lenses. I even have the NEX 7 which although limited, can do some decent C cam for the rare multicam shoots I do, and it uses the same lenses (with adapter).

Overall - I do not regret the transition - but the verdict is still out. I struggle because if Sony is a pain and does not do the possible updates it could, and I have all this investment in Sony glass - I may get mad. The BMC camera is tempting. Not a perfect fit for what I do - but image is great. As always, I perfectly exciting time on the bleeding edge. Sometimes you win, other times you lose.
 
Thanks for your honest feedback. At the end of the day the IQ for wide detailed shots was so bad on the a99 I unloaded it. I tried correcting it in post, but any increase in sharpness just made it very "digital" looking and introduced even more moire.
The max 28 M/bit bitrate isn't helping. If you have access to an external recorder, would love to hear how it holds up.
 
I'm now on my second A99 hoping the crappy video was from the earliest run, turns out that's not the case.

The A99 has the worst moire and aliasing I've ever seen in a DSLR. It gets soundly trounced by my Olympus EM5 with a cheap/slow 14-42 kit zoom. My Nex5n shoots better video.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3347335

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3346882

Here's my first test video, I racked focus since all the A-hole trolls started flaming me for trying to make the A99 look bad, which is stupid considering I spent more than $6,000 making the switch to Sony. Its video flat out sucks, no detail, just that watercolor look. Watch it 1080p and full screen, very disappointing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-Y6RScV1Vw&feature=youtu.be

At least the 5d3 can be sharpened in post to bring up the detail, the A99 is still a big pile of mush. I love almost everything about the camera, the design and control layout are fantastic, stills are amazing, but the video just blows.

I'm keeping my Nex5n for 60p (and its superior video!) and I'm thinking about a 5d3 and a metabones adapter so I can have cross-camera/lens compatibility as I also have access to a FS100. I'd really like to keep the Zeiss 24-70 and the 70-400g as they are just fantastic zooms, but with the mush the A99 puts out I just can't wait beyond my return window hoping Sony will fix whatever is causing the video to be so bad.

EDIT: I'll add I've had the A99 plugged into my TV and its showing a 1080p signal coming in - there is no detail added, it looks every bit as bad as the mush it writes to the card. I'm going to shoot a few more tests, but if I can't get a decent shot outside of shallow DOF shots, its going back and I'm going to reassess.
 
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photochris said:
A99 has the worst moire and aliasing I've ever seen in a DSLR. It gets soundly trounced by my Olympus EM5 with a cheap/slow 14-42 kit zoom. My Nex5n shoots better video.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3347335
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Wow, some of the commenters sure are harsh over there! But I now understand why I don't see what others do, it's because I'm shooting things totally differently. I'm using the VG-900 in my case although it's the same sensor as the A99 as I understand it. But I never shoot wide or deep dof, I live at f1.4 in the 50mm to 150mm range portrait shots, and even that doesn't give me shallow enough dof sometimes so I may get an f0.95 lens at some point. Basically ~70% of a frame on my video is typically defocused, and the subject in focus is usually just a few feet away. That's why I've been happy with my video results as the needs of my website are orthogonal to everyone else's, who judging from posts seem to be looking for wide landscape video with deep dof, with full detail of everything in the distance. It's a shame that the full frame sensor seems to be weak in wide shots with deep fov though, but looks like for my purpose it's actually a very good combination, although less aliasing would be nice. I should compare it to an FS-100 as some point though, I'm curious if I'd see any improvement.
 
The most amazing thing about all the comments, pretty much everyone has never shot with an A99, much less owns one. I've now had 2. And I will say it does do shallow DOF well, but for me there's always a need for building exteriors or a cityscape and they look bad on a computer monitor, and really bad on my 42" tv. My plan was to pair it with an external recorder for the higher (more broadcast friendly) bitrate, but with the clean 4:2:2 update coming to the 5d3, I may have to make a painful switch. I really, really, really love the tilt/swivel LCD, the silent adjustment knob/nipple on the front and the placement of the controls - but that's not enough to keep it.
 
stevedocmaker said:
I just received my A99 yesterday. First impressions are that the build is a bit light, less substantial than the 5Dii. I'm impressed with the functionality of the camera, in terms of video it's the best of any DSLR I've ever seen to date. The EVF is magical for video. Peaking works well, and it's easier than my FS100 to focus manually by far! Auto focus on the 24-75/2.8 is a bit slow, and a bit noisy (the mare expensive 24-70/2.8 may be quieter). I do not have the XLR adapter yet so I can not tell if motor noise would be picked up by an on camera shotgun as is the case with the 5D. OIS works well, almost as well as my FS100. There's nothing in the way of picture profiles, at least not compared with the FS100 or FS700. My main use for this camera will be as a B camera to my FS100. I shot a VERY quick test this morning to compare the IQ with my FS100. Keep in mind I'm by myself in my garage here. The A99 was set to standard image, -3 contrast, -1 color, and 0 sharpening. Both cameras were shot at 24p, f6.3.

The wide shot is the A99.

This is a quick grade, I can probably get them closer with a bit more work on the curves. I graded the FS100 image first to taste, then tried to match it with the A99 in PP. The only effects needed were levels, saturation adjustment, a luma curve and sharpening - there's no color balancing here at all. Out of the camera the images were pretty close. The A99 image is more saturated (I'll try a lower in-camera color value next), and a bit softer. Sharpening was doable on the A99 image to bring it in line with the FS100 image, which has light sharpening applied, it seems the A99 has more latitude here than the FS100 image. My pp on the FS100, for anyone interested, is the following:

Blk lev 0
Gamma ITU709
Blk Gamma Middle, -2
Knee 100%, -1
Col Mode C2, Level 8
Col Level -3
Col Phase -1
Col Depth R-2, G+3, B+4, C+7, M+2, Y+5
WB Shift LB-CC, -3, -3, -2, 0
Detail -5

One drawback to this camera, of course, is that there is no easy way to adapt Nikon lenses. So if you're willing to invest in Alpha glass, I give it a thumbs up so far.
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Thanks for posting! I do like the A99 as well. I got it to match fairly closely to my fs100 here. The one thing I'm having issues with is matching the sharpness/detail level.

https://vimeo.com/55912890

For others, here is a ski video filmed with the a99. I need to master the balancing of the a99 on the blackbird.

https://vimeo.com/55748019
 
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