Just got my a850

[Mark K]

At USD 1858 price tag. Not a bad choice.
Immediate familial interface almost identical to that of A700 is a great plus. I love the on top tiny LCD which is more than enough, at least better than those found on my EOS bodies.
Image quality is good, and better than A700
I also finally get my lens information displayable on LR, a plus from A700.
Too bad there is no DxO Lab Optics Lite included.

[aster]

Congratulation Mark K!

Looking forward to your observations of this camera and the adventures of photography you'll walk through...

Good luck and enjoy!

Yildiz

[Dr. Harout]

Congratulations Mark.
I'm really interested in the A850, though am not sure which to pick (850 0r 900).
LR displaying the lens info is from the new version (2.5 ) not from the 850.
I use LR version 2.5, I have the A700 and it shows the lens info. Even latest ACR shows it now.
Will be glad if you'll keep us informed on the A850 (performance, endurance and so forth).

[Mark K]

Congratulations Mark.
I'm really interested in the A850, though am not sure which to pick (850 0r 900).
LR displaying the lens info is from the new version (2.5 ) not from the 850.
I use LR version 2.5, I have the A700 and it shows the lens info. Even latest ACR shows it now.
Will be glad if you'll keep us informed on the A850 (performance, endurance and so forth).

I am not sure. I have problems importing images from the photos taken by my A700 (which are stored in a Photofast micro SD to MS adapter). However, all other iamges taken by A700 do not show lens information.

The a850 is almost identical to A700 in terms of AF speed and accuracy. Images from my favourite lenses 135ZA, 85G, 50/1.4 are much sharper. Lazy me I am still using my convetional Bridge-ACR-CS4 workflow so the noise reduction and stuck pixel problem persists. If the fact that image quality of a850 is inferior to that of a900, then I can immediately return the camera in exchange of an A900, at an extra cost around 500USD

[Mark K]

always not being successful in posting a link
Let me try again

[Dr. Harout]

always not being successful in posting a link
Let me try again

If you're using Firefox, then right click on the image (on the web page you show/store your shots) you want to show in this forum, go to "Copy image location" and then paste it in the text in this forum (after hitting reply) clicking on a small knob named "Img". And just "Submit"

[Mark K]

Wish me good luck

[Dr. Harout]

Great. Now we may see a lot of your shots.
BTW, the first shot is awesome. I like it a lot.
In the second shot the colors are much dull.

[DonSchap]

After owning the a850 for a month, I have to say, if you are used to using the a700 ... going straight to the a900 is probably "the best move", just to get the 5fps. The a850 is just not going to provide that or even anything close. Is it worth the extra $500? Probably, but again, it just depends on your needs. I know I have to admit, I miss the sheer "firepower" of 5fps, when I switch off from the a700 to the a850.

At first, I honestly thought that I would not, but ... the a850 became my primary shooting platform. When that's the case, you simply have to have ALL the bells and whistles in it. I suspect that you can get away with "cheaping out" on the backup DSLR, but not the primary.

Just ask yourself and be honest, "What do you do when your 'secondary' DSLR is actually functionally better than your primary one ... and you did not bring it to the party?"

A word of warning.

"Stay thirsty, my friend"

[Mark K]

After owning the a850 for a month, I have to say, if you are used to using the a700 ... going straight to the a900 is probably "the best move", just to get the 5fps. The a850 is just not going to provide that or even anything close. Is it worth the extra $500? Probably, but again, it just depends on your needs. I know I have to admit, I miss the sheer "firepower" of 5fps, when I switch off from the a700 to the a850.

At first, I honestly thought that I would not, but ... the a850 became my primary shooting platform. When that's the case, you simply have to have ALL the bells and whistles in it. I suspect that you can get away with "cheaping out" on the backup DSLR, but not the primary.

Just ask yourself and be honest, "What do you do when your 'secondary' DSLR is actually functionally better than your primary one ... and you did not bring it to the party?"

A word of warning.

"Stay thirsty, my friend"

That is the point.
a850 has become naturally my primary shooting camera. I brought it along with a700 for birding yesterday. Well because the poor weather, I kept using a850. I hate to say but EOS 7D is a more capable camera for this purpose. The camera designs of EOS bodies have become improved over the years.
Oops, I cannot post my link because of width restriction here, even to link

[bakubo]

After owning the a850 for a month, I have to say, if you are used to using the a700 ... going straight to the a900 is probably "the best move", just to get the 5fps. The a850 is just not going to provide that or even anything close. Is it worth the extra $500? Probably, but again, it just depends on your needs. I know I have to admit, I miss the sheer "firepower" of 5fps, when I switch off from the a700 to the a850.

No doubt that is true for some people, but in over 35 years of using SLRs and DSLRs I have never used continuous advance mode. I guess I would be fine with 1fps or even 0.5fps. The A850 does 3fps but since I never take it off single shot mode I guess I would never push it to its limits.

[Mark K]

Is there any better solution to solve the noise problem. Colour noise is profound and obvious even at ISO320 and I am hesitant to buy Capture ONe

[David Kilpatrick]

There should be no visible noise to speak of at ISO 320. That's what I use all the time on the A900. I am surprised you find it produces colour noise.

David

[Mark K]

Yes, my mistake. I tended to use ISO 200 and 320, with a thought that ISO 200 must be the best ISO.
The "profound" noise I mentioned is what I see by enlarging pictures to 1:1 pixel level. It is not until having read David's A550 review I came to understand the similar problems. IN fact, I have never stopped using a850 at high ISO and here they go
http://images5.fotop.net/albums7/herbri ... C00704.jpg
http://images5.fotop.net/albums7/herbri ... C06173.jpg
http://images5.fotop.net/albums7/herbri ... C06244.jpg