Future of A mount

Specifically for the discussion of the A-mount DSLR range
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

classiccameras wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 3:36 pm Everything in the camera/lens world is getting outrageous
Canon's pricing is pretty extreme, I'm sure they're great lenses but at this price I think we've gone into crazy land. I would still keep an eye on them in case they ever do a decent entry FF body, adapting though. Way way too costly for native lens purchases. None of the MILC lens prices are good, but perhaps Sony/Nikon are not as bad. I won't write Canon off, unless they come out with another crippled RP type camera :mrgreen:

Jury still out on Nikon, maybe they will sell a ton of these retro cameras. They don't have much happening with APS-C lenses on Z mount, and what they do have is slow F6.3 stuff. Right now MILC is fairly easy to ignore from a photography perspective!
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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Here's a slightly interesting thread on DPR
https://www.dpreview.com/forums/thread/4586392

Worryingly no repair parts for the 70-200mm SSM, or it seems the 16-35mm SSM
Second SSM failure according to the OP on the 70-200mm G lens.
It would seem Sony were winding down A mount quite some time ago with parts and range. I'm not unhappy most of my lenses are screw driven, despite that being out of fashion!
I wouldn't be too happy with lenses that price being "unrepairable". You're only option is to use as manual focus or sell them for parts, which would be hefty hit indeed. No idea what the statistical failure rate for in lens motors is across makers?
With modern lenses we now have motor drive aperture control too, wonder how long they last?
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by classiccameras »

I'm very pleased with my Canon M5 and supplied EFS adaptor, I have my Canon 15-85 hooked up at the moment and getting superb IQ. However its a massive lens both in size and weight, but worth the effort in the field. The 15-85 was bought second hand and in mint condition.

Its time I gave the A58 a trip out, just with the Minolta - Konica 17-35 D ,this lens gives super sharp images and exhibits those lovely Minolta colours, prone to flare though so you have to be careful. I find the Sony kit lens over cooks the saturation almost larger than life colours, may be this was what Sony wanted but I prefer the hues and colour balance of the Minolta lenses, its all in the coating I guess.

Sometimes repair costs are more than the lens is worth, Not sure if Nikon are going to have much of success with this retro styling, that style and price its only going to appeal to a small section of photographic community in my view and it may end up as a lost leader

Canon seem to be dragging their heels on new M lenses, although the 18-150 looks quite useful but we will have to wait and see.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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Hard to know where EOS M is going, there are rumours of a crop RF mount body, perhaps to appease the 7dii shooters?
Might be difficult to see Canon supporting so many mounts long term, I hear the EOS M stuff does sell
On the lenses I dodged the bullet with Sony, I just didn't buy anything new or with in lens motors except a used 30mm SAM Macro, the other stuff I am trying to sell (18-135mm/35mm F1.8). I wouldn't be too happy if I bought a 16-35mm that broke, in fact you can still buy the II version new right now from a few places.
Don't know what the failure rate on the SSM motors are gen I or II, it is worrying they have no spare parts and no repair. I've not had problems with those 3 so far
Sort of indicates that Sony's planned obsolescence for A mount was going for a while, and the last couple of bodies were mere token gestures. I bet if you asked most people back in 2015/16 where they were going, most would have bailed out if they knew what the future held.

I'm just going to tick along and offload my crop stuff if I can, hold onto the cash and see what turns up later on. Nobody likes to have their time or money wasted :mrgreen:
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by classiccameras »

My local, camera shop is selling the M5 and M50, one of their best sellers but apparently most buyers are already Canon users, some are adding to the collection and some are just down sizing. I think Sony could see that small is better as promoted by Olympus and Panasonic, and the E mount then became a development to join the club but A mount was left to linger on a while longer knowing that its days were numbered. Trouble is Sony never kept its users or photo media informed of the road map, preferring to hide, the less said the better seems to be their MO.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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I think most would agree they could have handled it better. IMO would have made a lot more sense to have called "time", around 4-5 years ago. A99ii gave the wrong impression (ie continued commitment at least some)
Saying nothing is never a great plan - I would expect Canikon to deal with it somewhat better, suppose we shall see on that one.
Not particularly easy to shift A mount gear either - it's a very slow process indeed, though likely similar for many mounts as the market is flooded with stuff. So invested users are pretty much stuck, maybe 3-4 years ago it would have been faster/easier to offload A mount gear lol.
Had the LAEA5 been a much better supported products, that would have helped a lot - niggles and wrangles aside with design etc, with only 3 bodies so far supporting screw drive AF, it doesn't give much incentive to stick around with Sony!

It's probably going to take a long time to depart A mount, for the few hold outs that were left. Maybe some will just use what they have. At least I'm not stuck with a load of Zeiss/G stuff that would be worth a ton less than the new purchase price, for that I am thankful!
I think EOS M has a niche thing going on some adapt EOS lenses and it's a portable thing for them. I've not tried any myself but know a few who have them
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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Looks like lens prices are going into the outer atmosphere, just like Richard Branson!
One wonders how sustainable the photo industry is, I know many makers said they were concentrating on higher margin products. This goes far beyond anything I would imagine, high prices = ever decreasing market...it's as if they have no new ideas just insane prices. £3.5K gets you a K3III APS-C DSLR and 16-50mm F2.8 lens mind blown!
I'm putting Pentax no. 1 in the not going to make it category. Once a value brand now a high end boutique maker - I just can't see it working
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classiccameras
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Re: Future of A mount

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What on earth are Pentax playing at, the sales of these lenses are going to be very small, Its a brand that is struggling any way, I do not see the logic in direction Pentax are taking.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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I'd wager it's the same plan as most of the other makers, perhaps even more extreme in this example. Jack up prices (a lot), to try to make up low sales in terms of value/profit. The problem with that is is drives many potential buyers away, frankly who would be crazy enough to pony up the asking price on that lens, no matter how great it is optically? APS-C is fine if it's "priced appropriately", it's a non runner IMO if it's at full frame levels. You can buy say a Z something FF and 24-70mm F4 for the price of that lens alone, yes it's F4 but you'll get the same thing DOF and FF is easily a stop better in low light.

Ricoh were price ramping pretty heavily before, we saw the GRIII go up a lot v the GRII. The K3III again most expensive APS-C DSLR I can remember, and it seems the new AF system isn't quite as amazing for BIF shooters (from what I read). Pentax have almost 0 third party support (and never had anywhere near as much as A mount), way less used lenses too. I just don't see where they are going with this plan, it's no longer a budget brand but surely it doesn't have the legs at these prices. Who knows maybe their loyal user base will support them, going forward it's hard to see them surviving. How many people would even consider Pentax in 2021 for a new system? Not many I'd say even OVF fans

K mount might end up like Eyefi, a Ricoh wind down project, no idea why they bought that company they played with it for a few years then shut it down :roll:
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by classiccameras »

Its the British rail syndrome, prices started rising, so less and less people used BR, thus ticket sales were down and profit margins started to disappear, Oh dear said the management we had better put up the prices to recoup the losses, Oh dear said the public I think I will go by car or bus, BR said Oh dear we are now losing revenue which we can't afford to lose, so they had to think of new strategies to entice people back on the trains ? Think on Ricoh
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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Whenever you jack up prices on low demand services of products it never ends well. I did use the rail system at one time, you could get acceptable prices if you pre-booked early enough. Simply put it's not cost effective for most people. Which isn't what a public transport system should be. Camera industry faces a similar problem -sales are not good, increase prices hoping to make up the loss of revenue - result is usually even less sales, then increase prices again...the cycle continues.

CIPA again the numbers are not good, despite some saying it's "not as bad as last year" and it's recovering. It really isn't. It would be reasonable to track the 2020 sales, if the pandemic never happened to be between the 2019 and 2021 figures. In other words still continues the downward trend for quite a long time now. Mix in some electronics shortages, and it doesn't seem likely 2021 is going to have a big recovery, who knows what 2022 will bring. I doubt things will improve for a while. It's just too expensive to buy into MILC, at least native lenses - I expect quite a few are adapting optics. Canon's pricing is near borderline insanity, yet the others are hardly good either.
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Looks like Sony had a rummage around the warehouses and found old parts from A6xxx cameras, same sensor, same old menus, no viewfinder, limited touch screen, no sensor IS either
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It's hard to imagine the vlog scene is that big, or demand so high. Not even having an EVF is a show stopper anyway
The camera industry is driving itself into obscurity with odd ball products, very high prices, almost no effort for affordable gear for those who might be interested, keep selling old stock (A6000 is still on sale dates back to 2014 as are many old RX compacts). Nikon's attempt is just another re-boxing of older tech, perhaps it might work better, I'm not impressed much with any of these new models.

Another attempt at an Android "camera", yet surely they work out that most people are just going to use their phone?
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I did sell some gear, however I'm not inclined to start spending any money on expensive MILC systems - when what I have can get the job done. I expect I'm not alone in that thinking either!
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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If you are willing to dig around there are some bargains there on used gear
Pretty expensive lens for it's day, I'd be a bit disappointed in the re-sale price on this lens. Big hit over what it cost new
Buyers market in 2021 and going forward. Still it does give buyers access to possibly some unaffordable stuff at new much more interesting prices :shock:
Over the next year or so I expect they body prices will drop a fair bit too
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Dusty
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Re: Future of A mount

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Well, that's a nice price for a Zeiss! Too bad I already have the 16-80.

The second hand market prices are reflecting the fact that people are abandoning the SLR for the phone, and no wonder. Besides the prices, phones have gotten much much better at taking pics, Samsung now having a 200mp sensor in one!

Still lots of issues, but for the most part, - probably 90% of what the average person wants - it'll do just fine.

Dusty
An a700, an a550 and couple of a580s, plus even more lenses (Zeiss included!).
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bakubo
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Re: Future of A mount

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Sony Japan lists all A-mount lenses as 'discontinued' on its online shop

https://www.dpreview.com/news/443426230 ... nline-shop

Sony Japan has listed all A-mount lenses on its website as ‘discontinued,’ signaling what can only be interpreted as the final blow for the A-type lens mount.

While the fate of A-mount has been all but confirmed through the lack of any updates from Sony and various product discontinuations over the years, the ‘discontinued’ notice posted to all A-mount lenses on Sony Japan’s website appears to be the end of a mount that was first introduced by Minolta back in 1985. Until now, A-mount lenses were still available to purchase on Sony Japan’s website, as the lenses still work with older A-mount camera systems and even E-mount cameras via various adapters.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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Just for fun I contacted Sony UK on their live chat. I asked 2 questions. The first was is the LA-EA4 discontinued, the reply I got was no it's just out of stock.
I then asked about A Mount, and this is the response I got. I'm not reading anything into it at all, just passing it on. Think of it what you wish.
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