FYI: A900 total failure.

[edwardkaraa]

Only 3K!

I am near 9K and I consider myself a deliberate shooter

As you say, one of the repair technicians must have touched the shutter because I don't think this could happen on its own. Good luck and please do let us know what happens.

 

[Tony Beach]

Hi Dave,

It's an interesting effect coming from your shutter blade. It's a good thing it showed up in the photos -- now you are aware of it and can have it fixed. I'm sorry to hear that you have to hassle this and hope it gets resolved soon. Keep us posted.

 

[Dave_Anderson]

Graham, I'll be burning sage, incense, and a few other things when I get it back. Maybe I should build a pyramid case for it...

Ed, I'm hoping that's typical -- I haven't been getting out much, I had just resolved to change this whwen the camera acted up.

Tony, thanks for the nice thoughts. I'm really itching to put some miles on that 135.

I hope I get it back in time, I had just volunteered on Friday to do a shoot at work at the end of the month; we're having a big Emergency Response Team event/exercise in a building that we just vacated. Moulage, triage, fire department on hand, etc. -- I've already arranged to rent a body in case Sony takes too long.

 

[Dave_Anderson]

Camera is shipping back with a new shutter, gratis. Should be here Wednesday and I'll be able to check it over and finally deflower it with the VG.

 

[Dave_Anderson]

Wow, my camera is going on quite the tour... I hope it sends me some postcards, maybe takes a couple of snapshots of its vacation along the way. :ROTFL::ROTFL:

 

[edwardkaraa]

Wow it's travelling at a speed of 50mph

 

[Dave_Anderson]

Yes, and it will be over 4,000 miles by the time it gets here. Google maps shows a 1,750 mile route by car. Anyway, it will have been tossed onto at least 6 docks by the time it gets here... I will be checking it VERY carefully.

 

[ptomsu]

Left the Nikon behind for today's wedding assignment. Took two A900s.

Everything was fine until I went to shoot the first dance at the reception.

Outta nowhere ... the dreaded "Camera Error".

Reboot didn't work. Fresh battery didn't work. Different settings didn't work. Different lens didn't work. Waiting didn't work. Cooked.

Just does a whizz-whirr sound with a sort of odd delayed shutter sound ... captures nothing and the "Error" comes up on the screen.

I was freaked out that it may have corrupted the CF card ... but just the Error files were black ... whew!

First camera that totally let me down at a wedding in 10 years.

Then the second Sony flash failed on me! Just over-exposed no matter what setting I used.

Darned lucky I had a second shooter with me.

No second chances at a wedding.

BIG PITA to send it all back for repairs right in the middle of my most busy time.

Oh well ...

-Marc

Marc,

this is really bad luck! But understandable. Never had any of these but I am not using my equipment as extensively as you as a pro.

Anyway after long back and forth I have sold my Sony gear. Not happy with the whole handling of the A900, neither too much with the IQ and colors, especially at higher ISO.

Going back to Nikon now. Not that all these failures could not also happen with Nikon, but I feel much more comfortable with the whole system.

Enjoy your Sony anyway

 

[Tony Beach]

Anyway after long back and forth I have sold my Sony gear. Not happy with the whole handling of the A900, neither too much with the IQ and colors, especially at higher ISO.

Going back to Nikon now. Not that all these failures could not also happen with Nikon, but I feel much more comfortable with the whole system.

I enjoy my A850 very much, or at least I did until the end of last December. Since then I have not had an opportunity to shoot seriously with the camera even once. Sony finally told me they would refund me my $1600 for the CZ 24-70/2.8 and I sent them the invoice for it on February 19'th. Today after work when I saw that the check still hadn't arrived, well I was more than a little angry.

As of today I don't know if I'm going to try to buy a Minolta 35/2 or sell my A850 -- I'm literally on the fence about this. If I win the auction on the too-hard-to-get prime, I'm going to stick with Sony for awhile longer. If I lose the auction and I'm still waiting for the refund check, the camera is going on the auction block.

As for Nikon, well I'm upset with them too. I'm still waiting for a lower priced version of the D3x sensor. I don't think Nikon is going to come through anytime soon, so I think I'll just focus on training for a 200 mile bike ride I'm planning on this summer and maybe by next fall one of these two companies will come through.

 

[Dave_Anderson]

Marc,

this is really bad luck! But understandable. Never had any of these but I am not using my equipment as extensively as you as a pro.

Anyway after long back and forth I have sold my Sony gear. Not happy with the whole handling of the A900, neither too much with the IQ and colors, especially at higher ISO.

Going back to Nikon now. Not that all these failures could not also happen with Nikon, but I feel much more comfortable with the whole system.

Enjoy your Sony anyway

Marc's camera failure is old news... from the following I gather that Marc has found his Sony gear satisfactory enough to have sold off his Nikon gear:

Sony The One and Only

Article with Sony reviewed for weddings

Cameras are complex machines. They break. They aren't supposed to but they do. What matters is what you can get out of them when they're working right.

 

[Dave_Anderson]

I enjoy my A850 very much, or at least I did until the end of last December. Since then I have not had an opportunity to shoot seriously with the camera even once. Sony finally told me they would refund me my $1600 for the CZ 24-70/2.8 and I sent them the invoice for it on February 19'th. Today after work when I saw that the check still hadn't arrived, well I was more than a little angry.

As of today I don't know if I'm going to try to buy a Minolta 35/2 or sell my A850 -- I'm literally on the fence about this. If I win the auction on the too-hard-to-get prime, I'm going to stick with Sony for awhile longer. If I lose the auction and I'm still waiting for the refund check, the camera is going on the auction block.

As for Nikon, well I'm upset with them too. I'm still waiting for a lower priced version of the D3x sensor. I don't think Nikon is going to come through anytime soon, so I think I'll just focus on training for a 200 mile bike ride I'm planning on this summer and maybe by next fall one of these two companies will come through.

Tony, not getting any use out of that 24mm?

 

[Tony Beach]

Tony, not getting any use out of that 24mm?

Hi Dave,

It's a stopgap, something to hold me over until the Zeiss 24/2 can be bought. I can get similar quality files from my D300 and Nikkor 14-24/2.8 @ 15mm, which demonstrates just how good the Nikkor is and that the Minolta 24/2.8 doesn't do the A850 justice. The CZ 24-70/2.8 delivered better files from 30mm and up on the A850 than anything I could get from my D300, but the $1600 price seemed a little high for what amounted to a 30-70 lens.

On the bright side, I'm hellbent on getting this Minolta 35/2 and have decided that the Minolta 50/2.8 macro should work well. I'm going to replace the CZ 135/1.8 I sold with a CZ 85/1.4, so along with the Sony 70-400 I think I will have a pretty good kit by October. The whole thing hinges right now on winning that Minolta 35/2, and I have budgeted a fair amount to that end.

 

[Dave_Anderson]

I understand, I was just teasing because you CAN use the 850 if you want. Did you look at the couple of 35/2 lenses that I pointed out on that other site?

 

[Dave_Anderson]

So, the camera came back with a new shutter and AF motor. All of the MFA settings have been cleared out, probably should re-check since either the mount or the sensor had to be moved to get to the shutter. Everything seems to be working perfectly, so I'm a happy camper at this point.

I finally mounted up the VG -- which I've had for a week -- very nice setup. I could see it's a nice piece of hardware, but I hadn't handled a Sony FF with VG before so I was itching to get it on the camera. I have an event on the 31st that I will be shooting with it, so I have a bit of time to get used to it.

Now that I've handled the whole assembly a bit I can see that my initial thoughts about wanting to use it only for certain types of shooting were spot-on. I'm really glad the grip wasn't integrated into the body, the camera feels much more nimble without it for tripod work.

 

[fotografz]

Marc's camera failure is old news... from the following I gather that Marc has found his Sony gear satisfactory enough to have sold off his Nikon gear:

Sony The One and Only

Article with Sony reviewed for weddings

Cameras are complex machines. They break. They aren't supposed to but they do. What matters is what you can get out of them when they're working right.

Not only is it "old news", it never needed service. It was promptly corrected by a forum member. In the rush of a wedding shoot, I slightly mis-mounted the lens and the little lever thingy was out of place when I re-mounted.

As far as Canon/Nikon/Sony is concerned ... not only owned them all (and I mean "ALL"), shot thousands of photos with all (such is the nature of wedding photography). ALL are fully capable and it's just preference. Personally I liked all of them. If I could afford it, I'd own them ALL at the same time, and at times did use at least two systems at the same time ... still had Canon as I started to evolve to Nikon ... still owned Nikon as I evolved to Sony.

NEVER had an operational issue using two different DSLR systems together. I also often shoot with a Sony DSLR, a M9, and a Hassey MFD at the same shoot. Trust me, different 35mm DSLRs are far less different in operation than that combination of systems ... so I don't agree with Peter on that subject at all.

In the end, I selected Sony for some very basic reasons related directly to my work needs, not internet posturing, purchase justifications and manufacturer hype. I use a simple technique to determine real needs rather than speculative ones. I open various folders of 600 to 800 wedding shots, read the Exif info in CS4 Bridge and see what ISOs and focal lengths, etc. I'm really using ... not what I think I'm using. Very revealing, try it sometime.

This exercise revealed that: I rarely used over ISO 1000 even with a D3 or D700, which the Sony A900 is fully able to do IF you know how to expose properly. Another revealing example was that while I have an expensive 70-200/2.8G, it's the least used lens in the kit, and mostly it's my assistant using it for shots from the church balcony.

I also study work flow carefully because 500 to 800 shots a weekend is a lot of post processing. The Sony files simply were the best right out of the camera bar none. In my direct experience the Nikon D3X files took the longest to process. Liked the D3X end results, hated the post processing getting there. So, again, I disagree completely with Peter on the subject of color.

No Canon IS or Nikon VR lenses for ANY of the key focal lengths used for most of my work (especially my heavily used 85 and 135 focal lengths common to all three makers), where ALL of them are stabilized on the Sony.

A900 was about 1/3 the price of the D3X for the same FF high meg sensor ... serious consideration when I have to have at least two of everything for my work: $15,000. verses $5,500. (if it were today, it'd be even less because the second Sony would be an A850).

If the Zeiss 24/2 is reasonably priced I'll get it ... because my Exif info tells me I use the 24-70 @ 24mm about 40% of the time, and a smaller lens with a bit more light gathering ability for dragging the shutter in a dark church or reception room will be welcome.

It all comes down to usage ... real world usage personalized specifically to you. So, no one can say definitively one is better than the other, just better for you. In my case, it was clearly ... Sony, The One and Only :thumbs:

-Marc

 

[ptomsu]

Marc's camera failure is old news... from the following I gather that Marc has found his Sony gear satisfactory enough to have sold off his Nikon gear:

Sony The One and Only

Article with Sony reviewed for weddings

Cameras are complex machines. They break. They aren't supposed to but they do. What matters is what you can get out of them when they're working right.

Hey Dave!

This is all perfectly fine! Every system can have breaking elements and then this usually results in more or less issues. Sony's can break, Nikon's can break and all the others as well!

I do not need any confirmation that I switched back to Nikon or should have stayed with Sony or what else. I have totally different needs for a DSLR system than Marc or you might have, so my decision is based on these needs - nothing else.

OK?

Thanks!

 

[Dave_Anderson]

Hey Dave!

This is all perfectly fine! Every system can have breaking elements and then this usually results in more or less issues. Sony's can break, Nikon's can break and all the others as well!

I do not need any confirmation that I switched back to Nikon or should have stayed with Sony or what else. I have totally different needs for a DSLR system than Marc or you might have, so my decision is based on these needs - nothing else.

OK?

Thanks!

I am not in any way questioning your needs or your decisions with respect to gear. I care less than a fart in a hurricane what you buy. What I am questioning is your pushing of Nikon and Canon gear in the Sony forum, especially on the CZ 24/2 thread. Your post #88 in this thread looked just a bit condescending, especially when viewed in the context of your posts the other aforementioned thread.

To put it into context for you, do you think it would be helpful for me to go into the Canon/Nikon forums and talk about how I never even came close to having a single neuron in my brain fire in favor of even looking at Canon/Nikon for my first DSLR? About how I didn't need to read a single review or touch a single lens to know they would not suit me? Do you think such musings would be welcome there? We can have that discussion if you like but I wouldn't dream of doing so in the Canikon forums. It would be far off-topic.

For me the bottom line is, GetDPI is supposed to be a place where adults come to have constructive conversations and the comments I have pointed out do not seem constructive IMHO.

OK?

Thanks!

 

[fotografz]

Hey Dave!

This is all perfectly fine! Every system can have breaking elements and then this usually results in more or less issues. Sony's can break, Nikon's can break and all the others as well!

I do not need any confirmation that I switched back to Nikon or should have stayed with Sony or what else. I have totally different needs for a DSLR system than Marc or you might have, so my decision is based on these needs - nothing else.

OK?

Thanks!

Then why are you here on the Sony forum if Nikon cranks your engine? What purpose do condescending posts serve other than to create ill will?

Just curious as to your motivation.

-Marc

 

[edwardkaraa]

I think Ptomsu is advocating that, since he sold his Sony gear, we should all follow suit and the Sony forum should be removed

 

[Tony Beach]

Thanks for that earlier post Marc. My intuitions have been confirmed by your experience. My thinking is that 90% of my event/people needs would be served using the Zeiss 24/2 and 85/1.4 on the A850.