A900 versus A99. Image courtesy: Photoclubalpha

Long time Sony blogger David KIlpatrick posted the full A99 review at Photoclubalpha (Click here). And he is heavily criticizing Sony for releasing a camera like that: “In my British Journal review, I concluded that the Alpha 99 was between 30 and 50% over-priced and combined with the cost and limited range of Sony lenses there would be little good reason for any new full-frame entrant to prefer Sony over Nikon or Canon.”

and “Despite this, I would be very happy if Sony revived the highest end optical prism DSLR in future. An Alpha 900 quality version of the D600 would have been perfect. And I do not think I am alone in showing some regret for the apparent end of the single-lens reflex Alpha.”

Read the full article and comment his very detailed analysis. I have to say I found it honest and also a clear description of Sony’s current limitations. I hope Sony will take notice of it for the sake of the future FF camera development!

Meantime price is slowly falling down. You cna get a new A99 for 2499 Euro at [shoplink 16220 ebay]eBay Germany (Click here)[/shoplink] and 2430 Euro at [shoplink 16221 ebay]eBay UK (Click here)[/shoplink]. To get notified on more price drops save this search on Slidoo eBay (login to save it or change root country).

Image courtesy: Techradar.

The latest RX1 test made by Techradar (Click here) shows an unexpected result. The JPG quality of the RX1 is worse than the one delivered by the A99. While RAW files for Dynamic Range and Noise are very similar (with the A99 having the edge on mid ISO). I am surprised to see that the JPG quality shows that huge(!) difference. I actually was expecting a better result!

The only real image quality of the advantage of the RX1 can be seen at Low ISO when shooting RAW. Than you will get the best results (and better than the A99).

Click these links to check price and in Stock status: Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals. Save $170 by simply purchasing the $7 cheap chinese metal hood ([shoplink 15410 ebay]there is one here on eBay[/shoplink]) instead of the original expensive Sony hood.

You still have no price drop on the Sony RX1 but at leats you can get the camera in a superkit version at Adorama (Click here) for the same price of the camera only. The optical and electornic viewfinder are still available in Asia only (via Slidoo ebay).

And keep in mind that you have still one week left on the SLT rebate in US:
$300 off A77 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$300 off A77 with 18-135mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$300 off A77 with 16-50mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$200 off A65 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$200 off A65 with 18-135mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$200 off A65 with 18-55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$150 off A57 body only at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$150 off A57 with 18-135mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
$150 off A57 with 18-55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.

Let me catch up with some NEX related news:

Developing NEX-6 RAW files in Adobe Lightroom 4 (SonyAlphaLab).
Full review at Cnet US.
Prolongation des promotions Sony sur les reflex Alpha et les NEX (AlphaNumerique).
SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 35mm T0.95 on the NEX-7 at 3Dkraft.
First Time Lapse App trial on youtube.

The Big guys over at Dpreview posted the full Sigma 35mm f/1.4 lens test. And the lens got a “Gold Award” with a very high score of 89%: “The Sigma 35mm F1.4 DG HSM is a truly excellent lens, that performs as well in the field as its superb lab test results suggest. With fast silent focusing and solid build, its lower price makes it a compelling alternative to the camera manufacturers’ equivalents if you don’t need weather-sealing.”

The A-mount lens is availble for preorder at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and BHphoto (click here). To get notified when this lens is on eBay login and save this search at Slidoo.