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 »

I would add I don't like the Sony grips much because I think they are too big, way too bulky I rarely use the A77 one. But the A99 grip is better because at least it has removed the annoying stem for the battery compartment.
They are big, but at least they have a lot of controls v the E mount big with very few controls. Some strange concepts at work. I don't mind less buttons if the grip is slimmer and more compact. Aka Dynax 7 grip
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classiccameras
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by classiccameras »

Sadly, Barry is right, I think A mount are entering the history books as an also ran, its a sad indictment of what Minolta gave the camera world only to be taken over by Sony who lacked vision and design expertise. E and FE mount will not pull Sony into a viable alternative if anything on cost alone. Canon and Nikon will keep their heads above water, Micro 4/3 have a dedicated following for both brands and steady sales. Pentax are an enigma quite frankly. Fuji have gained a big following. Canon M series for those who want A compact ICL camera are struggling to keep pace with Micro 4/3 and other compacts, they simply entered the race too late as did Nikon. I think they were both dipping their toes into the water to test the market forecasts first.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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It's strange really that Pentax survive (a company with far smaller market share than Minolta and being frank Pentax optics are not even near to Minolta in terms of quality), yet we have lost A mount thanks to Sony letting it fade a slow, painful and lingering demise. People were calling out A mount as a zombie mount/with no future 7-8 years ago. I suspect some of us just held out hope that it might carry on at least on a bare bones release cycle (ie body every once in a while), that was a best case scenario perhaps unlikely but not impossible. Then the LAEA5 got people excited about some kind of lens future for all this stuff - yet dashed again with the Sony cripple/marketing hammer with so few bodies working with it.

I was talking to a friend the other day (who is on Canon but not moving to mirorrless) and admitted I made a serious mistake in staying with A mount. Thought the lens charm and bang per buck rating is very high. I'm not angry just disappointed in Sony, and their silence/ignoring the obvious press about this merely adds to the mistrust of the company. At least man up a bit and admit it's gone, I'd have a bit of respect for that. Seems the desire to eek a few more $$$ out of the few committed A mount users, was more important.

Lesson learnt though! Part of me wishes they had not bought A Mount and just started their E mount on their own. Least 15 years ago we'd know exactly what the story was, rather than wasting time/money/effort into building a system up with a maker who wasn't fully committed to it - despite many interviews which turned out to be fictional! Maybe Japanese culture won't admit to failure - from a customer perspective it's just plain wrong though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYodehAOlUE
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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Here's the Nikon 1 exit confirmation:
https://www.dpreview.com/news/398910965 ... scontinued

Even Samsung (UK) sort of confirms the NX is gone
https://www.techradar.com/news/photogra ... rs-1310244

Ricoh GXR discontinued confirmation:
https://photorumors.com/2014/01/10/rico ... in-the-uk/

Almost a month later no update to DPR which is clearly the largest photo site out there. So Sony's plan is to "ghost" the press? Interesting! I did watch a Tony N video where he says that makers don't announce such things, yet the 3 obvious ones above it contradicts that entirely.

We have contacted Sony to confirm the discontinuation of the a68, a77 II and a99 II A-mount DSLT cameras, but have yet to receive a response as of publication. We will update accordingly if we receive a response.
classiccameras
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by classiccameras »

I will hang on to my Sony A58 and both my Minolta lenses for posterity and in tribute to what Minolta gave the photographic world. My 2 Minolta SLR's are now going to get some 35mm through them. namely Fujichrome slide film just to bring back fond memories.

Kodak's attempt at joining the Micro 4/3 club didn't amount to anything so they can join the also ran stable,

Sony will never reply to questions as they only communicate by press releases, and then it can be quite ambiguous.
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Fotogeorge
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Re: Future of A mount

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I like the grip for the 7D, because it has an adapter for 6-AA batteries. I know the batteries add more weight and it's inconvenient, but it's impossible to find the OEM batteries and the after-market batteries, like those from Watson, don't last long enough. Now, I have a charger, that will recharge spent alkaline AA, AAA, and C batteries. The charger is not fool proof. Sometimes batteries will not recharge. I never leave alkaline batteries in any devices, when not being used, because regardless of brand, the batteries are likely to leak in the devices. I want the 7D and other devices to last longer. I wish the E-mount cameras had such grips. I don't have any grips for my other cameras.
KM7D, Sony A350, A580, A-700, A57, A65, A5100 , a6500 , & a7iii, plus a bunch of lenses.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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Not sure if this helps but the only good third party cell I've used is the 2-Power NP400
I bought it from Duracell direct years ago, it's working like a champ and easily as good as the originals. Still going strong
I tried many others Patona (didn't last long) and some from China/eBay again they just went bad after a year or so. This one is still working great.
Maybe you can find one in the USA very good quality cell. I might buy another it's the best so far
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Yes the ability to use AA batteries I like (one thing I liked about Nikon) you could just load up the AA cartridge with 6 AA's and keep it spare, drop it into the grip when needed. Sony have never offered that, whist I have a lot of their batteries down the road I'm not sure how long you'll be able to get them. Can't even get replacement hoods for most lenses, Sony seem to have cut supplies off some time ago. Not a good sign
classiccameras
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by classiccameras »

You could also use AA cells in some Pentax DSLR's along with the usual battery,
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by classiccameras »

Just a thought, but the ill fated A3000 E mount DSLR could have been developed as a ICL Compact, A shrunken DSLR body is what they are all doing now, namely Caniko. It was a golden opportunity for Sony, to carry this concept further, by giving the A3000 a major upgrade to at least an A57 standard. E mount lenses were becoming more available. Trouble is with the current A6xxxx E mount cameras, they are high spec, much of it class leading tech and performance, shame they put all that in the wrong body. Should have been in an A3000 Mk 2 or A4000. I would have bought it.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

Yes the Pentax bodies some took AA's, with decent quality cells battery life was fine. As it was on the Nikon DSLR's with 6 in the grip
Not sure how well it would hold up to full time live view MILC cameras. Still it can be useful to have.

The A3000 wasn't a serious attempt at all IMO, poor viewfinder low grade body and LCD. But you're right they could have done a re-design aka A57 style and made a decent SLR type camera. Sony seem completely adverse to any kind of SLR design - which in turn is throwing away decades of ergonomic development, some don't agree - however no doubt the A6xxx series isn't very fun to use and hold, quite awful really. Shame as they have good AF and sensors/features, they're just a dog to hold and use. The A6300 is useful to have, at this time - but there is no way I would invest in E mount APS-C the ergos just suck. I don't think Sony take it too seriously, despite a couple of new lenses they have nothing to offer in a more serious body. The last batch of rumors are this beauty..a "vlog camera" (sigh)

https://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sony-zv-e10-specs/

E mount APS-C is IMO a dead end, you can see users are pretty frustrated with Sony too, they're just not listening at all
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bakubo
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by bakubo »

bfitzgerald wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:39 pm Yes the Pentax bodies some took AA's, with decent quality cells battery life was fine. As it was on the Nikon DSLR's with 6 in the grip
Not sure how well it would hold up to full time live view MILC cameras. Still it can be useful to have.
My 2002 Minolta D7i that had an EVF used 4 AA batteries. They were rather heavy and lasted a very short time. I used to walk around and carry 8 extra AA nimh AA batteries in my pocket. I didn't always need them, but having 12 in total was safer. When not actively shooting I would turn off the camera. I think that was the last model that used AA batteries because the next one used a lithium rechargeable like what we are accustomed to now.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

Have to remember newer cameras are much more power efficient, so I never had issues with AA's on the Pentax/Nikon bodies. The Pentax Li0ion cells were quite small anyway, so AA's were a good choice. The Nikon Li-ion's much larger capacity and DSLR's last ages with those batteries you're looking at 1000+ shots easily.
You can get Li-ion AA at 1.5V I did a test on some Keeppower ones micro USB rechargeable, they work well and store well. However when they go, they just cut out, not like Ni-MH which drops voltage. They are useful for some devices can't use them in flashes they can't handle the power drain

These are the newer ones I've not tested them the previous ones were near to 2000mAh so you're looking at Eneloop capacity (white)
https://amzn.to/3ph4S54

Some micro 4/3 news!
https://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/first- ... -pro-lens/
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bakubo
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by bakubo »

bfitzgerald wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:02 am Have to remember newer cameras are much more power efficient, so I never had issues with AA's on the Pentax/Nikon bodies.
Were those Pentax/Nikon bodies "full time live view MILC cameras"? Newer cameras use lithium batteries and are more power efficient. But still use much more power.
bfitzgerald wrote: Thu Jun 03, 2021 11:39 pm Yes the Pentax bodies some took AA's, with decent quality cells battery life was fine. As it was on the Nikon DSLR's with 6 in the grip
Not sure how well it would hold up to full time live view MILC cameras. Still it can be useful to have.
I think in most cases "full time live view MILC cameras" use more power than DSLRs. There might be some exceptions though.
bfitzgerald wrote: Fri Jun 04, 2021 12:02 am Some micro 4/3 news!
https://www.mirrorlessrumors.com/first- ... -pro-lens/
Yes, I saw that. I am wondering if the E-P7 will have a pop-up EVF like the Sony RX100IV and Canon G5XII and so on? I suspect not, but there in the photo you can see there is something in the top corner. It is probably a pop-up flash though. And another m4/3 lens too.

Panasonic came out the GH5II last week and announced the GH6 for later this year.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: Future of A mount

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A few examples A6000 CIPA - 360
A6300 - 400, A6400 - 410
Not huge gains but an improvement, though of course CIPA is just a test. Still we can see improvements over time. I think those are from the LCD which is from what I can see the same on all 3. Maybe the sensor is the reason (newer copper wiring after the A6000 came out) or other reasons aka electronics etc, as the A6300/6400 have from what I can see the same sensor. Might explain the larger jump after the A6000.
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Re: Future of A mount

Unread post by classiccameras »

Is there IBIS yet, silly omission from the start, what were they thinking and at the prices they want
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