Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

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bfitzgerald
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

bakubo wrote:
bfitzgerald wrote:Hard to say unless you have the cameras side by side what the story is ISO wise. I bet most are over stating the ISO values though
Read the articles and you will understand what is happening and why. It is not a matter of cheating or overstating.

I have read them but I disagree makers are overstating their ISO numbers. I picked on Olympus because they are one of the easy ones to spot..and they have a shady corporate past too so much more likely to cheat :lol:
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

I have had suspicions too but still I don’t get how it’s possible to fudge ISO, either the camera measures the EV level accurately and sets the three variables accordingly or it doesn’t. If it doesn’t why wouldn’t clinical tests reveal that? I assume test facilities like DXO aren’t asleep at the wheel and conduct tests with a level playing field, surely they would pick up oddments like ISO’s not being accurately stated by large amounts.
Their test results graph shows that apart from the D600’s ISO50 and ISO100 both being slightly less than ISO100 and the A900’s ISO100 being above that mark by about 1/3rd the A900 and D600 level peg with one another until the limit of the A900’s reach, all the measured ISO’s from both being slightly less than what it should be but looks like about 1/3rd stop so, i.e. not very much, according to DXO’s test anyway. http://www.dxomark.com/index.php/Camera ... and2)/Sony
This has nothing to do with the chroma noise comparison between the two though, it’s just the accuracy of the metering and settings at an equal EV level, but the overall score difference between the two, part of which includes dynamic range etc. is quite a different story.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

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I don't buy everything DxO test but they said the OM-D was a full stop overstating it's ISO values, that's way more than most makers do.
I'm not shocked it was an easy way to try to convince people that micro 4/3 could do really good ISO so your ISO 6400 looks not bad..well it's really ISO 3200.

Same applies to lenses it's been known for a while that that zoom lens that has a 300mm top end, might actually be 280mm or something like that. Flashgun well how do we know that GN40 flash is not actually as powerful as you think? Not that every maker will be dishonest, but I'd wager Olympus are a prime suspect in this case. Someone reported the actual light transmission of that Nikkor 50mm f1.8 did not tie up with the rated lens speed v the 50mm f1.4.

Won't be the first time or the last that makers pander to marketing tricks to boost sales.
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

Yes the fact that the ISO test on that particular Olympus camera by DXO revealed a major discrepancy leads one to place some credibility in the tests themselves I think, until proven otherwise of course.
Greg
Ps One thing I don’t ‘get’ right off the bat though (I haven’t actually looked at the test), is how does one TAKE an ISO6400 shot at ISO3200? The exposure would be longer and the noise would probably be worse than if the camera actually USED ISO6400 to suit the available light…wouldn’t it?
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bakubo
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by bakubo »

bfitzgerald wrote:I have read them but I disagree makers are overstating their ISO numbers. I picked on Olympus because they are one of the easy ones to spot..and they have a shady corporate past too so much more likely to cheat :lol:
Awhile back I pulled out my A700 and my E-M5 and shot the same subject in the same light using raw. I was curious to see what the meter would do. I set both to ISO 200 and f2.8:

A700: 1/20
E-M5: 1/25

I shot another subject using ISO 200 and f4:

A700: 1/160
E-M5: 1/160

I looked at the resulting photos and they seemed to be the same. DxO says at ISO 200 the A700 is 150 and the E-M5 is 107 and yet the meters resulted in the same exposures. From a practical standpoint it doesn't seem to make any difference what is happening inside the bowels of the camera as long as the exposures for a given light level and ISO are the same among various cameras. I am talking about from a photographer's perspective.

I do get the impression that I am sometimes out of step on this and other forums though since I am more into the photos than all the nitty-gritty details of what is happening inside the cameras. As long as the results look good to me and I get exposures that I expect for a given ISO then I am okay. So, you can compare photos from various cameras set to a particular ISO and know that you are seeing what they do at that ISO.
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by MarcoC »

Interesting ! And what's your take on a700 IQ versus OM-D ?
bakubo wrote:
bfitzgerald wrote:I have read them but I disagree makers are overstating their ISO numbers. I picked on Olympus because they are one of the easy ones to spot..and they have a shady corporate past too so much more likely to cheat :lol:
Awhile back I pulled out my A700 and my E-M5 and shot the same subject in the same light using raw. I was curious to see what the meter would do. I set both to ISO 200 and f2.8:

A700: 1/20
E-M5: 1/25

I shot another subject using ISO 200 and f4:

A700: 1/160
E-M5: 1/160

I looked at the resulting photos and they seemed to be the same. DxO says at ISO 200 the A700 is 150 and the E-M5 is 107 and yet the meters resulted in the same exposures. From a practical standpoint it doesn't seem to make any difference what is happening inside the bowels of the camera as long as the exposures for a given light level and ISO are the same among various cameras. I am talking about from a photographer's perspective.

I do get the impression that I am sometimes out of step on this and other forums though since I am more into the photos than all the nitty-gritty details of what is happening inside the cameras. As long as the results look good to me and I get exposures that I expect for a given ISO then I am okay. So, you can compare photos from various cameras set to a particular ISO and know that you are seeing what they do at that ISO.
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bakubo
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by bakubo »

MarcoC wrote:Interesting ! And what's your take on a700 IQ versus OM-D ?
As good or better. The E-M5 High ISO and DR are probably a bit better. Please look at this thread where I have written extensively about the E-M5:

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... =17&t=6746
MarcoC
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by MarcoC »

Thanks
I just got an E-PL5 and have a lot of Pannie micro 4/3 kit too - it's a great system but I still like shooting with my Sony DSLRs as well, especially action shots. The cost of good glass on the m 4/3 system is a bit high in my view as well...

bakubo wrote:
MarcoC wrote:Interesting ! And what's your take on a700 IQ versus OM-D ?
As good or better. The E-M5 High ISO and DR are probably a bit better. Please look at this thread where I have written extensively about the E-M5:

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/forum/vie ... =17&t=6746
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

A99 hands on thing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5vRalbeJ ... ature=plcp

Same damn annoying Aussie dude we had for the A77 (sorry Greg but urgh!hiccup!)
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

Yeah I agree Barry, I stopped watching after a short while, it seemed like a pre-scripted Sony pr blurb that he was trying to make interesting…with a degree of overkill. (If he said ‘thankyou Sony’ just once more I thought I’d explode) :x
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

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Must be a massive overdose of oddball Aussie humour that has infected him! He is annoying to the point you might want to punch the screen. And I thought Aussie girls can be annoying..boy I feel sorry for them!
I advise him to..S..L..O..W.. D..O..W..N when you speak!

Hope you are enjoying your Irish population Greg nobody left around here everyone is raving about how great it is down under. Maybe I'll rent your shed for a bit :lol:
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Greg Beetham
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by Greg Beetham »

Hey Baz feel sorry for me, I have to watch and listen to female news announcers here, (to be fair there are a couple that can actually speak and pronounce words properly though) :roll:
Greg

Ps I think poor old Ireland was hard done by with the Eurobank repayment scheme, especially when you look at how they bend over backwards for Greece and Spain.
And when you mention how swell it is here, yes I suppose it's not as bad as it could be, we are lucky that China like us and our commodities, but we have a Labour gov who just love to do social engineering, (i.e. reduce everyone down to the lowest common denominator), there are nutcases wandering around loose that should be locked up for example (re. the Irish girl who decided to walk home the length of a city block at 1AM in Melbourne…abducted by a nut and killed) there is no excuse in my book why that should happen as he was known to police from prior behaviour and was off his meds…not good enough in my book.
peterottaway
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

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Actually Greg it is the Australian Labor Party - note spelling. Which used to be a Center left alliance note capital C which has drifted some more to right as opposed to the center Right alliance which is now since the One Nation reverse takeover is now right, More to the right, hard right alliance (plus the Peasants Party as one French journalist described them).

Not that this has anything to do with the Sony A99. Having spent some 30 years dealing with varying mongrels, sorry politicians of all types, I am rather inoculated to politics at the partisan level. I do have an intellectual phobia though about the concept about the divine right to rule and that anything else is just a blunder.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

I know little about politics down under I tend to feel most of these types say what they have to and do not very much when in power (easy to bar stool in opposition) I gave up on politics a while back (they're all the same springs to mind overly simple yes but more often than not sadlytrue)

Anyway I had a vision and I see a "post it note" on Greg's fridge it says "must go down to the beach to take shots of cute Aussie babes to post on photoclubalpha"
We await the outcome of your difficult mission!
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Dr. Harout
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Re: Sony Alpha A99 Field Test Report

Unread post by Dr. Harout »

bfitzgerald wrote: Anyway I had a vision and I see a "post it note" on Greg's fridge it says "must go down to the beach to take shots of cute Aussie babes to post on photoclubalpha"
We await the outcome of your difficult mission!
I vote for that. :D
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