Sony A99

 

 

 

I’ve been into photography for 3 years now and it’s my 1st ever time to actually use a dslr from Sony. My first ever digicam though when I started blogging in 2008 was a Sony and I was truly satisfied! I never thought my love for photography would open a whole lot of opportunities and I also never thought I’d be this serious about it. Now that I’m gradually advancing on with my photography skills, I know that the next best thing to do is to upgrade to a new camera which will enable me to do more and effective visually express the pictures I have in mind.

 

Like all writers in When In Manila, I value my credibility a lot so before I wrote my first review about the Sony a99, I had to make sure I was writing something about a product that I liked a lot.Similar with what I mentioned in my 1st article, my 1st Sony a99 encounter was like love-at-first-sight….. and to my surprise, I never thought it would bloom into a much deeper relationship as I discovered more about it day after day. After that 1st article, I was determined to further prove how great the Sony A99 is so I tested it out on various lighting situations!

 

Honestly, I can  say so many  good things about the Sony a99 for I can’t believe all the features I’ve been wanting would all be there in one piece! 

 

First thing I really loved about the Sony A99 was that I had no problem in getting used to the controls! I could easily adjust the shutter with my index finger with a wheel located below the shutter button.  Adjusting the ISO was done with a simple click with a button located near the shutter and another aperture wheel which my thumb could easily reach! The Sony A99 is a user-friendly camera that is packed with all the features you can think of!

 

 

 unlike the 2 leading brands which I’ve experienced using, adjusting the Sony A99 had no complicated controls

 

 

 

 Anyway, with this feature, I’ve decided to focus on the most important thing- and that is to test the ability of the Sony A99 to create clear impressive images because no matter how user friendly it may be or how many added features a camera may possess, at the end of the day, it will still be all about the quality of the photo!

 

 

To test the performance  and picture quality of the Sony A99,  I tried using it in various locations, times and light situations without the use of any external flash. Here are the results…

 

 

 

 1. Indoor with day light

 

 with the Sony A99, I was able to produce this very soft looking well exposed food shot by using only window light

 

 

 

 

2. Indoor at night time

 

 

 this was a shot I made in one of the stores we went to during our Vigan trip. I love capturing textures and these tobacco sticks really caught my attention! The various monotone shades looked really nice despite not having enough light.

 

 

 

3. Landscapes at day time

 Most people would probably think that shooting during the day is very easy… truth is, it takes a lot of skill to control light and produce a properly exposed photo especially when you have too much light around! I love the very versatile 16-80mm lens provided for it enabled us to shoot wider shots like this gigantic bell tower in Vigan.

 

 

 

 

with a wider lens and better zoom we were able to take better shots from afar making the Sony a99 very ideal for photo walks and travel photography!

 

 

 

4.  Outdoor at night

with the Sony a99, we were still able to capture clear night shots even with high ISO

 (shot at 6:30pm)

 

 

 

 

(shot at midnight)

 The Sony A99 has this amazing ability to create clear night shots because it has a maximum ISO of 25,600!

 

 

 

create dramatic scenes with  the Sony a99! Even during ultra low light situations, the  Sony a99 was still capable of producing clear not so grainy images!

 

 

 

 

5. Natural color vibrance and White Balance

The  Sony a99 captured the  natural vibrant colors of  my subjects and I actually didn’t have to do much color enhancements during post processing even if I don’t shoot in RAW! 

 

 

 colors looked so alive

 

 

 

 clear and vibrant

 

 

 

6. Get stable shots while on the move

 

 this shot was taken by my partner Frank while riding the bus on the way to Vigan!

 

 

 

7. Macro shots

As you know, my forte is on food photography and I’m very particular in showing details in my food shots. I usually use my manual macro lens during food shoots but when I tried shooting food with the Sony A99, I was very impressed with the clarity and details even without using a macro and prime lens!

 

 

 just look at the details of this mouthwatering dish! The texture of the meat says it all!

 

 

 

 it looked so tempting and real you can almost eat it!

 

 

 

I’m sure that in time, I will get to discover more cool features which the Sony a99 is capable of.  Honestly, there are only a few minor things which I think Sony should improve on. I noticed that the battery gets drained easily unlike with my 3yr old Nikon which can still last for days. I also had a hard time is converting Sony’s ARW file. Adobe LightRoom isn’t compatible with ARW files so I had to convert them all into jpegs unlike with Canon and Nikon which can take photos in RAW format. I was also a bit annoyed with the strap. I dunno how to explain it but I suggest you use a different strap for it.

 

 

There’s definitely so much to love about the Sony a99 and I’m thankful that I got to know such a great camera! Great for all subjects and lighting situations! Very versatile! Perfect for photo walks and travel photography. A powerful yet easy to use camera! With Sony a99‘s easy to use features, you can definitely focus more on capturing precious moments and being more creative rather than be frustrated on operating your camera! With the many colorful and awe-inspiring places here in the Philippines, the Sony a99 is definitely a great camera to have when in Manila!

 

 

 

 

 

 Try the NEW SONY SLT a99!

by SONY PHILIPPINES

 

 

 

 

 

To read more of our WHEN IN MANILA adventures, click HERE

 

 

 

 

 

 The New Sony SLT – A99: A Powerful Yet Easy to Use DSLR Camera