Ben, doesn't that sweeping statement preclude wanting a specific look and feel of a specific system?
My friend refuses to relinquish his Contax 645 (which he uses with a Phase One back), because of the look and feel he gets from the whole system, not just the sensor specs. He'll spend what is necessary to preserve that unique systems look. He only shoots with that camera and a Leica M9. I don't think he even owns a 35mm DSLR.
IQ isn't just pixel peeping, and subjectivity IS what this is all about as an artist's choice ... because it IS the photographer not the tech specs that makes the aesthetic choices.
I shot with an A77 for three days and could NOT wait to return it. The look and feel from the A900 was so much better ... frankly, I was stunned after reading all the accolades about the A77 and then actually using it. Wiped the NEX7 off the consideration list at the same time. Not much hope for the A99 if the look and feel will be like that in the rush to jack-up the meg count and squeeze it into a tiny space. They can keep the EVF also BTW.
IMHO.
-Marc
Marc, how many of the greats are known for the 'look' of the equipment they use rather than the content and the way they use them? (honest question)
It's a point I've been musing about for the past few weeks after the end of year exhibition from my art students. So much incredible and diverse work, all 8X12" prints, 90% shot on p&s's or on my lent 5Dc + 50mm lens set at f5.6. I was sitting at the display at the end of the evening when a couple of students from a nearby college walked by. They stopped to look and I overheard a muttered comment about two of the displays 'if I had a better camera..'. I really enjoyed walking over and telling them that the photographs were taken on p&s's, one of which had been set to 3 megapixel mode to make the pictures faster to load up to facebook!
banghead: students) That sent them off red faced.
I honestly want to believe, as an artist, that the differences in nuance which most other photographers cannot see nevermind the viewing public, can only be a personal need and not a necessity for producing the art. If it is personal then arguments about which fits better to a personal need are like arguing over which is the best colour. Everyone has a different and subjective opinion that can have little to no relevance to anyone else and no persons choice is any less valid than anyone elses. There is a big difference of course between requirements and choices, I'm talking about the latter.