a850 feedback

[BuddhaPi]

Greetings,
I've been lurking around for a couple of weeks now, and have found lots of good advice and tips, so I figured after reading many reviews, I 'd throw this out to you folks.. I'm considering upgrading to the a850 ( currently using a100 which I am happy with for the most part) Are than any users out there that can give me some pros / cons, the 900 is a bit out of reach for em at the moment...

Thanx in advance!

[Dodge]

Hi buddha and welcome to DPS.

Seems a very big jump from the a100 to the a850. Not that I wouldn't have one myself if I could afford it of course. I do wonder though if your cash could be better spent by upgrading the body less severely and then investing in some nice 'G' lenses. I shoot with an a350 body and the noticeable difference since buying some 'G' glass has astounded me.

Of course, it's hard to comment without knowing your planned uses, experience level etc and what lenses you already have. With the new Sony bodies though, you can now pick up a previous generation body for a steal and still have a nice glass budget. I guess a lot depends on how much the a850 full frame sensor matters to you too though.

[DonSchap]

The move up to the a850 from the a100 is an excellent and brilliant choice. It eliminates wasting cash on the in between models, which you do not need for this kind of move. The a100 has no live-view, so that will not be missed. The a850 is effectively the a900, minus 2 fps. I doubt it will matter to you, either, so you are getting the true power change.

You will have to get used to your wide angle lenses returning to the "normal" viewing area (wider, yes!), as this full frame DSLR restores them to to their REAL focal length. 14mm becomes 14mm, not 21mm.

As for "bang for the buck", the a850 is everything you would have gotten from the Advanced Amateur a700 APS-C sensor DSLR, with the added features of "Intelligent Preview" and "APS-C backward capability mode", should you opt to mount an APS-C designed lens. You might say the a900/a850 have an a700 hidden inside of them.

Personally, I applaud your fortitude for making this change. Way to go! Just short of a brilliant idea.

[BuddhaPi]

Thanx Dodge & Don for the input!
I was actually considering an upgrade to one of the tween models, just to save some pennies, I seriously looked at the 350, 380, 500, 550 & 700, but in the end my thinking is leaning towards Dons input, might as well make the leap into the deep end and reap all of the benefits, at the moment I have enough lenses in my arsenal and more than enough to learn as I'm just a serious hobbyist...Besides when Don decides he's tired of photography I can probably grab some of his tenderly used equipment! ( I peaked at your current inventory

Thanx again for the info, just it's time to take the dive

[bono]

Just check your lenses - not all of them seem to be compatible with a fullframe body. But the A850 is nearly the same as the 900 so just go for it. A very good and affordable standard zoom is the old Minolta 28-135 f/4-4,5 lens. If you get a good copy it is worth every cent. You will get it for 200-300 EUR/USD from ebay - but watch out, there are some bad versions around...

[Brett Valentine]

I'm also looking to move up to an a850 body, but from a Maxxum 7D.

Have a decent cross section of old Minolta glass as well as a couple of Sigma, and a Tamron. It's nice having many of the controls at your fingertips (much like the 7D).

Got to try an a500 body (graduation present for my niece), and while I really like it (and might consider it as a future backup body), I missed not having to look at a bunch of menus for what I wanted (spoiled by the 7D).

Nice having all the functions available.

[LenDog]

Originally Posted by DonSchap

The move up to the a850 from the a100 is an excellent and brilliant choice. It eliminates wasting cash on the in between models, which you do not need for this kind of move. The a100 has no live-view, so that will not be missed. The a850 is effectively the a900, minus 2 fps. I doubt it will matter to you, either, so you are getting the true power change.

You will have to get used to your wide angle lenses returning to the "normal" viewing area (wider, yes!), as this full frame DSLR restores them to to their REAL focal length. 14mm becomes 14mm, not 21mm.

As for "bang for the buck", the a850 is everything you would have gotten from the Advanced Amateur a700 APS-C sensor DSLR, with the added features of "Intelligent Preview" and "APS-C backward capability mode", should you opt to mount an APS-C designed lens. You might say the a900/a850 have an a700 hidden inside of them.

Personally, I applaud your fortitude for making this change. Way to go! Just short of a brilliant idea.

I know this is an old thread but I just picked up on it, esp the point about the APS-C backward capability mode. In all the reviews I've read on the 850 I'd never heard of this, but sure as Hogan's Goat there it is on Sony's web page.

How does the camera perform, relative to it's other standards, with an APS-C specific lens? Does anyone know of/have a link to a review for this aspect?

[DonSchap]

There are a couple of ways this APS-C Capture Mode feature works on the a850.

1) Automatically - when you place a SONY DT lens on the a850, it automatically detects the lens and places the camera in the APS-C Caputre Mode.

2) Manual selection from the Menu.- On the LAST page of the menu screen, is "APS-C size capt." "ON/OFF" This allows you to deal with APS-C only lenses made by other manufactures, like TAMRON, SIGMA, Tokina, if the auto mode will not work.

When the APS-C mode is on, the images are cropped down to an 11MP image.@ 3984 x 2656 which equates to a native 11.282" x 7.589" and a resolution of 350ppi. That's pretty sweet.

From presonal experience, it makes a nice, neat looking image (no vignette) from the Boker (SamYang) 8mm f/3.5 lens ... converting it to a 12mm f/3.5 result.

By Odin's beard, I hope that helps.

[LenDog]

Originally Posted by DonSchap

There are a couple of ways this APS-C Capture Mode feature works on the a850.

1) Automatically - when you place a SONY DT lens on the a850, it automatically detects the lens and places the camera in the APS-C Caputre Mode.

2) Manual selection from the Menu.- On the LAST page of the menu screen, is "APS-C size capt." "ON/OFF" This allows you to deal with APS-C only lenses made by other manufactures, like TAMRON, SIGMA, Tokina, if the auto mode will not work.

When the APS-C mode is on, the images are cropped down to an 11MP image.@ 3984 x 2656 which equates to a native 11.282" x 7.589" and a resolution of 350ppi. That's pretty sweet.

From presonal experience, it makes a nice, neat looking image (no vignette) from the Boker (SamYang) 8mm f/3.5 lens ... converting it to a 12mm f/3.5 result.

By Odin's beard, I hope that helps.

By George, it does. I would like to see a technical comparison somewhere, if one exists. Simple reason being I'd like to buy an FF and can afford the 850 but can't quite cash flow the glass just yet. I can probably restrain myself fiscally if there's a noticeable improvement between the 330 and 850, both using lenses specific for APS-C sensors. I also can't help but think the price of the 850 will go down, perhaps by the time I can spend money on new lenses.

[DonSchap]

Originally Posted by LenDog

By George, it does. I would like to see a technical comparison somewhere, if one exists. Simple reason being I'd like to buy an FF and can afford the 850 but can't quite cash flow the glass just yet. I can probably restrain myself fiscally if there's a noticeable improvement between the 330 and 850, both using lenses specific for APS-C sensors. I also can't help but think the price of the 850 will go down, perhaps by the time I can spend money on new lenses.

You can always sell your APS-C glass, but I am a little confused by how much of it you could actually have.

Nomally, APS-C glass only includes TAMRON Di-II, SIGMA DC, SONY DT and Tokina DX lenses. Anything else should be Full Frame.

What lenses do you specifically have that you could not easily replace?