The Sony Alpha 99 ($2,799.99 direct, body only) is the company's top-end digital SLR camera. It sports a 24-megapixel full-frame image sensor, and like other Sony SLRs it uses a fixed mirror, which allows for fast autofocus in all shooting modes, and a seamless transition between its eye-level OLED EVF and rear LCD?but it omits the optical viewfinder that many pros expect from a high-end camera. It's an excellent choice for video, as it blows the competition away on focus speed and audio options, but it isn't as well-rounded, or inexpensive, as our Editors' Choice full-frame D-SLR, the Canon EOS 6D.
Design and Features
When it was introduced, the Alpha 99 was the smallest and lightest full-frame D-SLR on the market, but it has since lost that title to the slightly-smaller EOS 6D. The A99 measures 4.5 by 5.9 by 3.1 inches and weighs about 1.8 pounds; the 6D is 4.4 by 5.7 by 2.8 inches and 1.7 pounds. Its image sensor is the same size as a 35mm film frame, dwarfing the smaller APS-C sensor that is found in most D-SLRs. This is advantageous when using wide-angle lenses, as a smaller sensor leads to a narrower field of view, and also allows you to capture images with a shallower depth of field, so you can create more separation between subject and background.
Like Sony's other current D-SLRs, the Alpha 99 uses a fixed, semi-transparent mirror to bounce light to its phase detect autofocus sensors. The mirror doesn't reflect enough light to feed an optical viewfinder, so Sony installed an OLED EVF. We've praised the 2.5-megapixel OLED finder in other Sony cameras, including the Alpha 77, our Editors' Choice winner for high-end APS-C D-SLRs, because it offers a bigger, crisper view than the optical finders found in that level of camera. Things change when you increase the sensor size?the optical finders in traditional full-frame cameras like the Nikon D4 and Canon EOS 5D Mark III are larger than those in APS-C cameras.
That said, the EVF is one of the best that I've used, and there are some inherent advantages to the design. When composing images what you see is exactly what you get?out-of-focus highlights appear as they will in the final image, which is not the case with optical finders. If you're shooting with a fast lens you'll see the actual depth of field at maximum aperture, while traditional optical focusing screens can only show you the depth at around f/2.8. Activating the Aperture Preview function shows you exactly how your final image will look, down to the exposure. As the camera is, essentially, always in Live View mode, there's a seamless transition between using the EVF and the rear LCD. Put your eye up to the viewfinder and the EVF is active, pull it away and the feed automatically switches to the rear LCD. You'll also be able to magnify a scene to confirm critical focus, while Focus Peaking highlights the in-focus areas of an image.
If you're moving up to the Alpha 99 from an APS-C Sony camera and would like to continue to use the APS-C lenses you own, you can do so?images are recorded at a reduced 10-megapixel resolution, as the sensor automatically crops to the smaller size, but apart from that, it's a seamless experience.
The 3-inch rear display features a sharp 1.228-million-dot resolution. It's sharper than the million-dot LCD found on the Canon EOS 6D, and sets itself apart from the crowd thanks to a hinge mechanism. You can adjust the rear display so it can be viewed from almost any angle, which is helpful when composing shots from low or otherwise difficult angles on a tripod, or shooting above your head at a crowded event.
In dim light, the Live View feed does get a bit choppy, which is not something that you'll have to deal with when using an optical finder and looking at a real-life image through the lens. Instead, you'll be looking at an image that is filtered through the image sensor and an electronic go-between, which has its merits. Whether you're happy with the EVF will come down to a matter of personal preference. For some shooters it will seem like a natural progression, but others will find it difficult to give up the more comfortable feel of a traditional D-SLR. If you let the camera switch automatically between the EVF and rear LCD, there is a slight delay turning on the EVF as you raise the A99 to your meet your eye when getting a quick shot. However, if you set the camera to manually switch between the two via the Finder/LCD button, the EVF will remain on when the camera is powered up?so you won't miss candid shots.
Every bit of control that you could ever want is easily accessible, without having to dive into menus. You can directly adjust the focus mode, ISO, Exposure Compensation, Drive Mode, White Balance, Exposure Lock, and other settings via buttons and dials. There's also a Function button on the rear of the camera that brings up an on-screen display with more advanced settings, giving you quick access to Meter settings, Flash Compensation, Object Tracking, the Autofocus Area, and others. One feature that is currently unique to the Alpha 99 is the ability to limit the amount of distance over which the autofocus system searches on the fly. There's an AF Range button that lets you dial in the distances over which focus will search?this is useful for macro photography, where you'll only want to try and focus close, or for shooting sports with a telephoto lens, where it's likely you'll only be interested in action in the distance.
Sony has included an integrated GPS radio. When enabled, location data is added automatically to photos, so you can later view where they were taken on a map?Lightroom, iPhoto, Aperture, Picasa, and other software applications support this, as do photo sharing sites like Flickr and Smugmug. Using the GPS does put some extra strain on the camera's battery, however.
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