how well the A900 stacks up in IQ verses the A99
i have not tried either yet that leaves ample room for speculation :toocool: an important consideration for any consumer about to fork out cash and of little use to anybody who has already done so
I would guess the main difference is about $1500 + video + better low light performance minus (for stick in the muds) OVF. Please correct me if I am wrong about this.
Whereas the main difference between the Fuji and the Sony oranges (forget about Apple for once) is most likely as Marc suggests how much juice can be squeezed from an APS-C sensor, how much gear you want to cart around and how much (for stick in the muds) you like rangefinders and/or hybrid EVF?
Admittedly chemistry, old habits, lifestyle and the images you get out of any of these things may also have some significance
All true enough.
I just did a quick test between the A900 and A99 on tripod with fixed lighting using the same Zeiss 135mm (I locked the mirror up for the A900 shot which is not necessary with the A99). I only tested at ISO 6400 because I know the A900 is just dandy at ISO 100 to 800 where a vast majority of my work is done. To keep it short ... the A99 won hands down. Much cleaner/sharper pixel peeping detail, less noise and nicer looking noise, better color rendition with a surprising level of color fidelity for a higher ISO. I used the AWB for both cameras and the A99 was better there also.
Another advantage of the A99 when shooting is apparent in that there is no mirror slap, so a bit lower hand-held shutter speeds are possible in conjunction with the steady shot.
I personally do not think it is Luddism, or being "a stick in the mud" to prefer OVF especially one like the A900 has ... I do NOT like the image I just shot coming up in the EVF on the A99 even for 2 seconds, nor when shutting it off in the menu also losing the LCD preview. It is distracting and irritating when in the heat off shooting where you may shoot a quick series ... or do one shot and do a quick nano second review on the LCD. If there was one improvement that would make the EVF/SLTs more effective it would be the option to not have the preview in the viewfinder, but still immediately show up on the LCD.
To me, and the way I shoot, this is one of the biggest practical shooting differences between OVF and EVF.
-Marc