A99?

[Almazar80]

If I pay over £1,100 for a camera, I don't want "teething troubles" or "glitches", I want a quality that reflects what I just paid out, and a camera that will at least work when I take it out of the box. If Sony can't (won't?) do that right, they might as well get out of the camera business now.

I expect that fixing these "teething troubles" and "glitches" will cost Sony a lot, both financially, and in terms of lost customer confidence and loyalty. I hope that these are expensive lessons that Sony will learn from, quickly, and improve on, even more quickly.

The black dots problem didn't cost Canon too much, nor did the early D7000 problem cost a prolonged problem for Nikon, did it. Unfortunately, with the complexity of modern cameras, it will always be miraculous to release a camera without teething problems. The true test of a company is what they do to fix the problem. From my vantage point, Sony has been pretty good at the fixing part.

[bakubo]

It's simple then, don't be an early adopter. It doesn't sound like you are cut out for it.

Did Mark get a pre-release, beta camera? If not then he bought a normal price, production, fully released camera. IMO, one has a reasonable set of expectations of a fully working camera when one buys it. Giving Sony or any company a pass and making excuses for them hurts them and us, IMO. Oh my. The soft bigotry of low expectations. Sometimes, especially on dpreview, I get the impression that people think that although Sony is a huge, multi-national corporation we must provide them an affirmative action program because they just can't hack it without our thumb on the scales.

[Atgets_Apprentice]

It's simple then, don't be an early adopter. It doesn't sound like you are cut out for it.

Oh, I can assure you I am not an early adopter! I am not the sort of mug who has to have the latest toy that Sony or anyone else throws out there. How many early adopters here are disappointed by their a77s? How many pre-ordered, without paying attention to the stories of poor image quality? How many have ordered or purchased, despite the lock-ups and firmware issues? More fool them, especially if planning to take their camera on an exotic holiday. I don't see the gentlemen of the press ditching the Nikons and Canons for a "Pro" FF 36mp EVF camera, especially if they can buy the same sensor in a Nikon body, with an OVF!

I looked at the a33 & a55 while shopping around for my latest camera, and decided fairly quickly that they weren't for me for a number of reasons, chief amongst them being lens compatability, battery life, and the fact that they were uncomfortably small for may hands, which aren't that big, really. The fact that Sonys' next step is a retrograde one, with the a35, is an odd one, but then to cap it all off by launching the a65/a77 with different flaws to the earlier cameras, and to completely disregard the system owners who don't want an EVF and delete ALL their OVF cameras just tells me that Sony don't have a clue what they are doing. I suppose we knew that already, due to their incomprehensible releasing of entry level models with minor tweaks or cosmetic changes, when everyone here was praying for an a700 replacement that never came. (I don't count the a77 as its replacement, I count it as an expensive joke.)

I remember the days when people complained if a battery powered camera didn't have a manual shutter speed, in case of battery failure. Now, we have an entire range of Sonys that you can't even look through the viewfinder if the electrics go! my a580 might not have been perfect, although it is much better since its trip to Central Servicing, but at least I can take the battery out and still look through it!

Sony might think it can go down this route of having no OVF cameras, and make a success of it, but the will find that the demand for them will still be out there, and it will be supplied by Nikon (the D800, anybody?), Canon and Pentax, who will no doubt look on and realise Sonys' folly in going down the EVF only road, and maintain OVFs in their ranges, even if they do launch EVF cameras in the future.

I used to quite proudly defend my choice of camera, in the Minolta days, and when I got my a100, but I can no longer defend, or be a blind apologist for a brand that makes the errors of judgement that Sony does.

[bakubo]

The black dots problem didn't cost Canon too much, nor did the early D7000 problem cost a prolonged problem for Nikon, did it.

My recollection about the Canon 5DII "black dots" problem was that it was discovered by some users right after it came out (I don't recall any of the early reviews finding it, but I might be wrong) that very bright, small lights against a black background would sometimes have a black dot in the center. It is also my recollection that before long Canon acknowledged the problem and released a firmware update that fixed the problem. I didn't follow it closely, but I haven't heard of it again after the first few weeks when it was brought up a lot on the forums so I guess the fix worked. A very similar problem, coincidentally in much the same situation, is the A55/A33/(A35 too?) "ghosting" problem. I think it has been a year or more though and, I think, Sony has never acknowledged it and hasn't done anything to fix it for A55/A33/(A35 too?) owners. If I am wrong about any of this [5DII and/or A55/A33/(A35 too?)] then I hope someone will step in and correct me. My memory may not be perfect and my knowledge of all things about product updates/fixes is not perfect either.

[Greg Beetham]

I suppose we are going too get an SLT A99 whether we (all) want one or not and I guess Sony will sell some of them. To me it’ll be just another power hungry gimmick, but I’m starting to think that a FF NEX (without going crazy with MP’s) might actually be a good thing for adapting MF lenses onto, if Sony does bring one out I bet Mamiya etc. MF second hand lens sales take off especially the wide angle lenses. (If someone makes and adaptor, that is)
Greg

[bakubo]

I am okay with an EVF if it is good enough. IMO, the A55/A33 EVF was not good enough though. I haven't seen the A77 EVF yet so I will withhold judgement. IMO, an EVF and OVF both have advantages and disadvantages so when an EVF is good enough then I will be willing to use one.

Doc, if you read this, I know I used many acronyms, but I also know that you are okay with these.

[Dr. Harout]

I am okay with an EVF if it is good enough. IMO, the A55/A33 EVF was not good enough though. I haven't seen the A77 EVF yet so I will withhold judgement. IMO, and EVF and OVF both have advantages and disadvantages so when an EVF is good enough then I will be willing to use one.

Doc, if you read this, I know I used many acronyms, but I also know that you are okay with these.

Henry, I'm gonna shoot you.............. with an a77

[bakubo]

Henry, I'm gonna shoot you.............. with an a77

And I will shoot you back with my A700........if you haven't already gone home, had dinner, and gone to sleep before I have finally gotten the aperture set after fighting with my &#@$ defective control wheels.