Sony adds the A450 to the line-up

[Rooz]

i like people switching cos of what they hear...it helps me buy great gear 2nd hand.

[Elisha]

i like people switching cos of what they hear...it helps me buy great gear 2nd hand.

Damn you and the LX3 you got for a steal
I need a P&S soon!

[jr_rodriguez]

Is Sony limiting you somehow?
Just asking cause I haven't seen many images from you yet!

I kinda understand the people that switch after they have actually been trough the pains and limitations but I don't get the people that switch cause of what they hear!

Not really. Like I wrote earlier, I don't have much faith in the future of the system. I know Canon and Nikon are and will be heavily invested in the DSLR market. Sony is a gigantic company with many divisions, and this is not huge to them.
With that in mind, since I don't have much invested in the Sony system, NOW is a good time to switch, while the relative cost of switching is lower...
I'll be posting a couple more pictures taken with my little Sony camera soon, I've just been really busy with work (and glad I have work).
I don't normally care what others say, etc. But, I have an idea as to how Sony thinks -- I worked for Sony a number of years ago!

[Elisha]

I have to say that that I really miss stabilized primes. My Siggy 30mm would be so much better if I could handhold it at 1/30mm or lower!

[DonSchap]

Look, you guys can readily switch, as we all have discussed. If you only have three or four lenses, it really is not worth the fight. In fact, it teeters on being just plain annoying. You really need the exposure to other brands to broaden your appreciation of what you have/had.

What kind of limited investment in SONY are we talking, $2000-$3000, at the most? That's just about embarrassing to be called "serious money." The α900, alone, costs $2,700 w/o a single lens ... and it is the cheapest Full Frame DSLR on the market!

Plus the fact you can recoup most of the cost of decent lenses if you are patient and sell them accordingly. If they are the cheapo lenses? Well ... you get what you get. It was your decision to not invest in better glass. I guess the photography was not all that important, anyway. Just consider them the price of the "learning curve" and give them away with the camera for what you can get for the package.

But, if you are using the a900, a850, a700 ... and the better glass to boot ... wandering away may not be the best idea, especially since both Canon and Nikon's overall cost is higher and the Zeiss advantage is unquestionable. But, there are plenty of other SONY low-end users that would love nothing more than to upgrade to the a700 or go Full Frame.

I am noting, more and more, that it was, more often than not, the a300 bunch that scattered when the Canon 7D showed up. I have not heard of many a900 users saying "adios." Why is that?

BTW: The "cry-towels" are hanging in the Nikon D$LR forum, along with a pretty darn good entry fee.

[Rooz]

BTW: The "cry-towels" are hanging in the Nikon D$LR forum, along with a pretty darn good entry fee.

excuse me, only canon people cry cos they are fairies. sony people ? they dont cry at all. they either see the light and jump ship or are too stubborn/ stupid to know what they are missing. nikonians dont cry, we whinge enthusiastically.

[DonSchap]

That Nikon D3x is $7,469.95 (USD) here in the states ... in Joey-land, that big boy cost has got to be just horrid. Man, I feel your pain! I have to admit, I am pretty stubborn when it comes to spending my cash. That's about equal to 3x α900s and a pretty snappy lunch to go with it.

In fact, I can just hear the down-under whimpering all the way to Sydney. $8,393.16 AUD, before taxes!

[Rooz]

That Nikon D3x is $7,469.95 (USD) here in the states ... in Joey-land, that big boy cost has got to be just horrid. Man, I feel your pain! I have to admit, I am pretty stubborn when it comes to spending my cash. That's about equal to 3x α900s and a pretty snappy lunch to go with it.

In fact, I can just hear the down-under whimpering all the way to Sydney. $8,393.16 AUD, before taxes!

just like there will always be a market for kia, there will always be a market for mercedes. me ? i dont like sony's...woops...i mean kia's too much.

[jr_rodriguez]

Don,
As usual, you contradict yourself. You keep talking about "you get what you pay for" and the need to spend "serious money" to get good results, yet you keep talking about the a850 and a900 being great deals because they are the CHEAPEST full-frame DSLRs.
So, which way is it? Are they just cheap, or are you not wanting to spend serious money on a serious DSLR?
By the way, you always talk about wanting to help beginners, yet you demean the kind of equipment beginners buy at every chance. Perhaps it is to justify all the money you've spent on lenses, etc.

[Peekayoh]

i couldnt think of a worse enemy to progress than that statement.

I am Sony's worst customer in that I'm unlikely to purchase many lenses so what I do or don't do is unlikely to affect their approach or limit their progress.

let me start by saying that this is pretty much answer shopping. ie: if you search hard and long enuf you are bound to find someone that shares your POV, regardless of what it may be. to try and suggest that there is some sort of definitive answer by selecting ONE persons opinion compared to thousands of others who have a totally different view is the definition of myopic. ie: if you find 1 out of 10,000 views, (and it wouldnt be far off that), to support your POV...what possible conclusion can you draw otehr than say "ohhh look, THIS person agrees with me, i must be right."

I didn't advance an opinion neither was I looking for confirmation of my own view, I'm more than capable of making up my own mind.

ok, interesting article, very much so. and a highly reputable source. a couple of things i took out of it.
1. he used sony alot, he used other dslr brands sparingly..........clip

He said that he'd only used the Sony for one full season of shooting only which, by implication, means he's used the other systems for longer. I also recall him saying some good things about the other systems as well.

clip........the a850/900 are certianly sony's stand outs purely based on price. of that there is no doubt. but to try and draw some sort of general conclusion out of this for the whole sony system is quite simply ridiculous and disingenuous.

I'm not clear whom you are calling "ridiculous and disingenuous". If it's Marc Williams, I disagree. If it's me, I wouldn't and I didn't, I simply say that Sony works for me and I'm very happy with the situation.
Marc Williams has 30+ years as a Pro and spent the last 10 years as a successful Wedding Photographer. In my book that sets his comments above the average in terms of veracity.