B&H Lists the A99ii Discontinued

LAbernethy wrote: Wētāpunga wrote: I don’t imagine that the first a7 generation persuaded many of us to sell all our A-mount gear and get into the E-mount, but I suspect it started the transition for some. For a while I regarded the two mounts as complementary but this year I got an a7riii, and this seemed to be a mirrorless camera that was a genuine replacement to the DSLR/SLT A mount cameras I’ve used. Too true. On a side by side specification comparison the e-mount seemed to catch up to or begin to surpass (depending on spec) to a-mount with the a6600 (2019) vs a77II (2014) / a7II, a7III (2014, 2018) vs a99 (2012). The a7II with an a-mount adapter looks like an a99 chassis without the injection molded body.

Ehm, what about the A99m2? The A7II is not that hot anyway, it is the same sensor as the A99, but the AF is not that good. Also, some would argue the A6500 already surpassed the A77m2.

E-mount caught up with A-mount somewhere around the A7r3 / A7III - and surpassed it with the A9II and A7r4. In my experience anyway.

The A99m2 still is a great camera btw. Just a bit bulky when you're used to E-mount cameras.

addy landzaat wrote: LAbernethy wrote: Wētāpunga wrote: I don’t imagine that the first a7 generation persuaded many of us to sell all our A-mount gear and get into the E-mount, but I suspect it started the transition for some. For a while I regarded the two mounts as complementary but this year I got an a7riii, and this seemed to be a mirrorless camera that was a genuine replacement to the DSLR/SLT A mount cameras I’ve used. Too true. On a side by side specification comparison the e-mount seemed to catch up to or begin to surpass (depending on spec) to a-mount with the a6600 (2019) vs a77II (2014) / a7II, a7III (2014, 2018) vs a99 (2012). The a7II with an a-mount adapter looks like an a99 chassis without the injection molded body. Ehm, what about the A99m2? The A7II is not that hot anyway, it is the same sensor as the A99, but the AF is not that good. Also, some would argue the A6500 already surpassed the A77m2. E-mount caught up with A-mount somewhere around the A7r3 / A7III - and surpassed it with the A9II and A7r4. In my experience anyway. The A99m2 still is a great camera btw. Just a bit bulky when you're used to E-mount cameras.

Good point. I don't have an a99II, never even held one. The local camera stores never stocked it, it was a special order. The story goes it out sold expectations in Japan and Sony was always playing catchup to demand.
But the point is depending on your spec requirements E-Mount was at least 3-7 years behind A-Mount and you can still buy a new a7II or a6000 which has the same sensor as the a77. Add in the cost of native E-Mount glass ... I guess I will just never see the point.

LAbernethy wrote: ... But the point is depending on your spec requirements E-Mount was at least 3-7 years behind A-Mount and you can still buy a new a7II or a6000 which has the same sensor as the a77. Add in the cost of native E-Mount glass ... I guess I will just never see the point.

I guess the point of keeping these older cameras in production, is to have a cheaper entry point for people to buy into the E-mount. It's entirely possible that in a market of declining camera sales, profit margins depend more on selling lenses. Cheaper (older) bodies may mean they sell more lenses. (Classic complementary goods situation in Econ 101).

And while I concede that many new E-mount lenses are expensive, there are also many more options. Do you want a superb ultrawide angle? Voigtlander makes 12mm and 15mm primes unmatched by A-mount options. Do you want a 100-400mm? There's two for the E-mount. A telephoto zoom that stretched out to 600mm at a reasonable price? The 200-600mm is available. When I was shooting wildlife with the A-mount in my early days I would have sold a kidney to have that option (but its cheap enough I wouldn't have to). There was no A-mount collection of prime lenses that matched the Loxias I now have.

Plus you can still use your A-mount lenses and even if you wanted, some Canon EF lenses, with appropriate adapters. I actually prefer using my 135mm STF lens with an LA-EA3 adapter on my a7Riii to using it on my a77ii. No translucent mirror knocking out a bit more light, and the a7Riii has superb manual focus tools.





Edited by Wētāpunga - 23 December 2020 at 03:33

Wētāpunga wrote: addy landzaat wrote: E-mount caught up with A-mount somewhere around the A7r3 / A7III - and surpassed it with the A9II and A7r4. In my experience anyway. The A99m2 still is a great camera btw. Just a bit bulky when you're used to E-mount cameras. I'd say that the a7Riii (2017) is better than my a77ii (2014) at practically every application I have. The new battery goes a long way to making me happier.

I can think there is one thing where these α77 and α99 models beat α7/9 series (maybe α7S III excepted): back screen swivel movements.

Wētāpunga wrote: It might be different if you're using the penultimate a99ii, but for people upgrading from an older A-mount cameras, E-mount options are more appealing to consider as an option.

I mostly agree, although if you have extensive collection of A mount glass and limited budget, it might be still better to stick with your existing A mount camera. Although, presumably the new LA-EA5 apparently offers very good performance on adapted lenses (at least on α6600 and α7R IV) and now there is even trade offers where you get that adapter for free if you swap your A mount camera for a E mount camera.

Hezu wrote: ... I mostly agree, although if you have extensive collection of A mount glass and limited budget, it might be still better to stick with your existing A mount camera. Although, presumably the new LA-EA5 apparently offers very good performance on adapted lenses (at least on α6600 and α7R IV) and now there is even trade offers where you get that adapter for free if you swap your A mount camera for a E mount camera.

Quite. I had a largish collection of decent Sony/Minolta G and classic lenses. It took me a few years to steel my resolve- and have enough spare money- to sell most of them off and get into the E-mount.

addy landzaat wrote: LAbernethy wrote: Wētāpunga wrote: I don’t imagine that the first a7 generation persuaded many of us to sell all our A-mount gear and get into the E-mount, but I suspect it started the transition for some. For a while I regarded the two mounts as complementary but this year I got an a7riii, and this seemed to be a mirrorless camera that was a genuine replacement to the DSLR/SLT A mount cameras I’ve used. Too true. On a side by side specification comparison the e-mount seemed to catch up to or begin to surpass (depending on spec) to a-mount with the a6600 (2019) vs a77II (2014) / a7II, a7III (2014, 2018) vs a99 (2012). The a7II with an a-mount adapter looks like an a99 chassis without the injection molded body. Ehm, what about the A99m2? The A7II is not that hot anyway, it is the same sensor as the A99, but the AF is not that good. Also, some would argue the A6500 already surpassed the A77m2. E-mount caught up with A-mount somewhere around the A7r3 / A7III - and surpassed it with the A9II and A7r4. In my experience anyway. The A99m2 still is a great camera btw. Just a bit bulky when you're used to E-mount cameras.

On the flip side, ALL E-mount cameras lack bulk, when you’re used to A-mount (especially FF A.) as we have discussed numerous times, some people prefer the DSLR form factor.

Hi Macronut

Just because lenses may share focal lengths doesn’t make them equivalent, in the sense I mean. I don’t think older 3rd party that only reached 500mm or even older Minolta 100-400mm lenses can be treated as equivalent to say, the Sony E-mount 100-400 or 200-600mm.

Possibly the Tamron 150-600 could be assumed as comparable to the Sony 200-600, but it suffers the defect of being discontinued. It’s also a 4x zoom, not 3.

If you survey what is available for the E-mount, across manufacturers including Sony, Sigma, Tamron, Zeiss, Voigtlander, Laowa et al., you do find a lot more varied lenses, often with no “equivalent” in the A-mount.