Only six lenses compatible with the A99 102 AF system (support for six more coming)
There was some buzz today because ThePhoBlogapher pointed out that “the 102 AF points will only work in the new AF-D mode of the camera which can sense depth and continuously track objects very accurately. The big news to me and the staff was that the camera only currently supports 6 lenses at this point of time.” At the time of launch the following lenses support AF-D: SAL2470Z, SAL2875, SAL50F14, SAL300F28GII, SAL70400G, SAL50050F4G.
But as I told you before firmware updates will be released to support more lenses. Sony Japan said that by early 2013 also these lenses will be supported: SAL85f14Z, SAL135f18Z, SAL70300G, SAL70200G, SAL100f28 Makro.
ZPk!Qg~~60_35.JPG)
Dee
9 months ago |This is not really news, We’ve known this for a while. They have promised firmware upgrade for other lenses.
RVN
9 months ago |hope all A-mount sony lens and thrid party lens will compatible too
Carl
9 months ago |I doubt any lens without a distance encoder will be supported.
Hopefully Minolta (D) lenses will be eventually, though I’d be very (pleasantly) surprised if the 85/1.4GDLE ever got supported.
RVN
9 months ago |+ 1
if not supported the price minolta lens and the others will be drop
Carl
9 months ago |Well that would be nice, but rare lenses don’t generally drop in price, short of becoming incompatible. The Minolta 200 Macro these days goes for nearly double what I paid for mine.
Once cheaper Sony lenses start sporting AFD, there might be a drop in prices of the more common Minoltas, though, maybe.
Kindsey
9 months ago |It’s a relief to find someone who can elpxain things so well
Joe Fotosiamo
9 months ago |Yup, this was mentioned at the start of Photokina. I even highlighted it in my own article on the A99 on Sept 12 (it’s towards the end):
http://www.slrlounge.com/sony-on-the-offensive-releases-flagship-a99-full-frame-dslt
– Joe Gunawan
SLR Lounge Editor
Taiga
9 months ago |Well this answers my question about why on earth did they demo A99 with the 28-75 SAM and not 24-70ZA SSM…
Almazar80
9 months ago |The 24-70Z is one of the lenses that takes advantage of AF-D.
Jim
9 months ago |Please, correct the ton of errors you made in the post
admin
9 months ago |Where?
Sky_walker
9 months ago |I see only one: SAL50F14 listed twice – both in current lenses and planned (Andrea, unless that’s a leak of Zeiss 50 f/1.4 ???),
Maximus
9 months ago |12 additonal lenses are wrong, with your list it would be extended to twelve lenses total, so it would be 6 additional lenses.
now:
SAL2470Z
SAL2875
SAL50F14
SAL300F28GII
SAL70400G
SAL50050F4G.
additional:
SAL85f14Z
SAL135f18Z
SAL70300G
SAL70200G
SAL100f28 Makro
SAL 300f2,8G I?
SAL50f14Z ?
admin
9 months ago |Thanks! My mistake. I copy and pasted the Sony Japan text!!!
Futile
9 months ago |Yeah think they mentioned it in an interview with Genge on the Camera Diner.
Glad they are updating it for the main lenses too. Nice to see the non SSMs getting the treatment too.
Jens
9 months ago |Hope they will also make APS-C-Lenses kompatible with the 102 AF-System like my 16-80 cause nothing similar is available as a fullframe lens für Sony System (like e.g. Canons 24-105 F4)
Ragnarok
9 months ago |They discovered nothing (EDIT: that’s what you said before editing the post). David Kilpatrcik mentioned it, and showed his disappointment, it his first A99 article. And it was discussed at DPReview. Those that cared already knew about this.
Maxwell
9 months ago |Firmware updates, just what Sony release every month… not.
The camera should be able to read the needed information from the lens,
so no firmware update needed. I believe the E-mount does so, but the
A-mount not.
LEdgars
9 months ago |Regarding lenses, there were rumours about new 70-200mm and 70-400mm. Are they coming?
Peter Walkowiak
9 months ago |This is split between two camps: those who already know and those who had no idea / are shocked.
lifeispixels
9 months ago |I find it ironic Sony released a weather proof A77 with a weather proof lens to go with it; however the A99 is released without any compatible weather proof ff lens. And they had to resort to pairing it with the outdated Sony 28-75 f2.8 SAM. They should have updated that lens to weather proof and SSM way before the Photokina fair. They didn’t and it seems Sony rushed A99 into the market to catch up with the D800 5DMK3 competition, while having no resources/time to manage the lens.
Carl
9 months ago |Well, timely releases of lenses has never exactly been Sony’s forte.
Sky_walker
9 months ago |A99 was released with new weatherproof 300mm f/2.8 G SSM II.
You missed it
john
9 months ago |Yeah nice $7000 kit lens
Sky_walker
9 months ago |He never told anything about kit lens. Besides: kit lens for A900 is running for 2000$….
barri
9 months ago |You have the excellent Zeiss 24-70. What else do you need?
And this lens is pretty much dust and moisture resistant… I have maltreated mine a lot and it still works perfectly.
Dulaney Ward
9 months ago |Sony released both the 300 f2.8 and the 500 f4 this year to accompany the release of the a99. Both are weather-proofed, have SSM, and support afd. Sony is obviously working first on compatibility for FF lenses with afd, and by early 2013 will have more than half of their FF lenses compatible.
The award-winning 28-75 f2.8 SAM was designed as an inexpensive alternative to the 24-70 f2.8 CZ, and was released in August of 2009, so it is one of the newer lenses in Sony’s stable.
I am concerned that Sony does what is necessary to make the 24 f2 CZ and the 16-35 f2.8 CZ compatible as soon as possible.
carnevali
9 months ago |I think the answer for this will be NO, but do you guys know wether the minolta 70-200 2.8 will be compatible when the sony 70-200 is…?? optically they’re the same, but the electronics probably not…
anthony
9 months ago |nice im wiating for teh 85mm f1.4 cz
Aalpha100
9 months ago |Now this seems a nice target for a hack project!
Cadha13
9 months ago |Is there going to be any more surprises, does the AF-D system for video AF or it’s the 19 point system that does that?
Carl
9 months ago |It should be for both video and stills.
gabrielefx
9 months ago |Hi guys
I want to buy the A99 when available.
I got this lenses 16-24Z F2.8, 24-70Z F2.8, 85Z F1.4, 135Z F1.8, 70-200G F2.8
Can’t I use the autofocus with these lenses?
I saw many A99 videos that show a mix of these working lenses.
Regards
Maximus
9 months ago |you can use the normal phase detect af with all lenses for a-mount, just the 102 additional points wont help you with the lenses that aren’t supported
quazi
9 months ago |Haha, wow
Redd
9 months ago |SAL50050F4G……typo? Unless Sony has a 500-50mm f/4.
Vlad3D
9 months ago |I think advantages of AF-D mode are very little, at least I haven’t noticed any improvement between nex7 and nex6 (tested myself)
Sky_walker
9 months ago |NEX 6 doesn’t support proper AF-D. And advantage of this mode is mostly with tracking objects under specific conditions or video mode. Hardly anything you can easily test, but a great feature when it comes to it’s use.
Carl
9 months ago |It’s potentially useful for tracking things moving towards or away from the camera (the z-axis), so for fashion, street, sport, birding, etc. For people who shoot mainly static subjects like landscapes it’s probably not going to be a very exciting feature.
Sky_walker
9 months ago |even for casual shooting/testing it doesn’t make a difference. AF-D won’t make camera focus faster or make any magic. It just adds a capability to track the subjects depending on a distance. Ability priceless when you know how and when to use it, but otherwise? People will find it hard to test and fully appriciate withouth using camera for long while in specific conditions.
Dulaney Ward
9 months ago |Are you sure it won’t make the camera focus faster? Certainly Sony claims otherwise, saying that it will enable “ultrafast” AF.
Joe
9 months ago |The 24-70Z is in both lists, are you sure one isn’t the 24mm f/2 SSM?
lifeispixels
9 months ago |I’d be very happy if they will include the 24mmf2. The AF on this lens isn’t very accurate and I hope AF-D could provide some more accuracy.
Joe
9 months ago |What body are you using the 24mm f/2 on? I had to do a micro adjustment on the A77 to get mine to acquire correctly.
lifeispixels
9 months ago |I notice the AF accuracy issue when focusing an object in a range from 2 meter to infinity. From macro to 2meter, it focuses very accurately, from 2 meter to infinity, it’s prone to back focusing.
My first 2nd hand copy of 24CZ F2 was always spot on on A850 but was very quirky on A77, I returned it and got a brand new one which works much better on A77 however there is still occasional hit and miss in that 2m to infinity range
Carl
9 months ago |Sounds like a micro focus adjustment problem, not a problem with your camera’s AF module.
Beachrider
9 months ago |I want to know about 24f/2 ZA, too. Does anyone know if it has the AF-D hardware mentioned above?
Dulaney Ward
9 months ago |So far the 24 f2 does not appear to be compatible with AFD; of course, regular AF will work fine with it.
MdB
9 months ago |I wonder if any of the Tamron lenses will ever be supported, as aren’t they a) partially owned by Sony b) lenses like the SAL 28-75mm are just a rebadged and SAMified Tamron and c) Tamron are the only ones that properly licence the mount, or at least that is my understanding?
Would be great if it could be extended to work with the Tamron 28-75, 70-300 USD and 90mm DI Macro…
Sigma will probably never be supported, Tokina… Well they only really make 1 or 2 lenses for Alpha mount nowadays don’t they which aren’t Full Frame anyway?
blabla
9 months ago |Yep, me too have a lot of Tamron and Sigma lenses. without support I will not upgrade to A99 or whatever AF-D body! Have to say that Canon also wants to make you buy new STM lenses with their new AF system. But with higher priced Sony bodies and need of new lenses, I don’t see why I shouldn’t go definitely towards Nikon where I find eye-friendly OVF and lower priced bodies (D3200, D600, …)
Sky_walker
9 months ago |Sony got lower-priced bodies (A37 is cheaper then D3200, A99 is cheaper then 5D mk III which both are direct competitors to Sony cameras) and brain-friendly EVF.
And besides – if you think about not-buying-sony-camera then what the heck are you doing in here? nikonrumors.com awaits for you.
Mike
9 months ago |The Sony/Minolta 50/1.4 is not on the list. Ridiculous. Very obvious that Sony wants to push sales of the upcoming new 50/1.4 lens.
Carl
9 months ago |“At the time of launch the following lenses support AF-D: [...] SAL50F14″
Mike
9 months ago |Indeed. Should take more time to read stuff properly.
Rooru S.
9 months ago |not really big news. This have been known since day 1.
Frank
9 months ago |I wouldn’t hold your breath for firmware updates. Sony haven’t updated the A77 firmware for lens corrections for months.
Sky_walker
9 months ago |Well, they released like 3 or 4 updates for it ever since release, and we wait for next one coming. We’ll see how it goes.
Frank
9 months ago |Yup, because they had to.
Marcurion
9 months ago |Thats not really good news if Sony has to add every lens manually in a firmware update to make them compatible… why is that required anyway ??? Phasedetection sensors (even on the imagesensor) should only see if image is sharp and if focusing closer or farther brings improvement and then tell the lens to turn focus ring left or right. And by the way Sony add colordetection to your AF System, Nikon does, Canon does with the 1Dx. SLT is determined for this because you don´t need an extra colorsensor but can get the inforation right from the mainsensor without desturbance from a flicking mirror.
And Sony is anyway short on affordable telelenses beyond 400mm. Sony 500mm f4 is too expensive for anyone who does not earn money with photography. Minolta 600mm f4 goes for 9000€ on ebay… WTF? For this money i could get a new Canon 1Dx and a used Canon 600mm f4 USM non IS. So i don’t get it why they are even reducing the amount of fully supported telelenses and leave us unaware if Minolta lenses will ever be supported.
I like SLT cameras and their support for manual focus but if you are eager about wildlife, need reach beyond 400mm and want primelevel bokeh you won’t get happy with Sony. Sony please release affordable teleprimes like 600mm f5.6, 400mm f4, etc.
Regards Marcurion
Sky_walker
9 months ago |+1 for affordable tele primes!
Bill
9 months ago |I would expect that the system is using a sophisticated feedback loop in the focus system. These sort of feedbacks need to be tuned to work optimally and I expect each lens requires slightly different tuning parameters. It looks like by the time the second batch of lenses is released most of the popular Sony fulll frame lenses that would be used for tracking focus will be covered. It would be nice to see the system extended to the crop lenses as this may fortell the same system coming to the A78 someday.
Andy
9 months ago |Can’t help wondering if whitelisting lenses is Sony’s way of locking out 3rd party lenses… My (probably incorrect) understanding is the body just needs to be fed the right info in order for it to work (ie distance and presumably focal length). Of course, that all depends on the lens being correctly identified in the first place…
The real problem is anyone shooting a-mount has to rely on 3rd party/legacy lenses to plug the gaps in Sony’s lineup
David
9 months ago |I wanted to buy this camera…until now…I’d rather go Nikon…cheaper, better noise control…supports hundreds of lenses…this is ridiculous! When are these guys at Sony going to get theire shit together and hire a full-force camera-oriented division…too much crap and too much wasted time.
blabla
9 months ago |+1 my feelings
Karen
9 months ago |Sad fact but absolutely true….
Sahaja
9 months ago |Shouldn’t the regular (not on the sensor) AF points work with any A-mount lens just as before?
Dulaney Ward
9 months ago |I suspect that there is a massive misunderstanding here. The regular PDAF system in the A99 will work just fine with EVERY Sony and other A-mount compatible lens. It is just the brand-new AFD system that is compatible as of now with just a few lenses, and it will be made compatible with most in the end.
AFD looks like a great feature, but it is somewhat revolutionary, so as you might expect it requires a refresh of the entire system to take full advantage of it.
Would you rather that Sony trundle along with more of the same lie some camera companies I know? Not me.
Meanwhile, Nikon has been leaning heavily on the Sony crutch to bring them back against Canon.
koolbeep
9 months ago |my 24za is not in the list =( why is that?
its really hard to think if instead ill go for a77 which is way cheaper, same weather sealed, same AF (excluding AFD)… not full frame obviously, i can leave with the old hot shoe, not a high iso performer much, same 24MP, same EVF, almost same size..,,, darn choosing a900 than a700 back then is a NO BRAINER @_@
Dulaney Ward
9 months ago |Choosing an A99 over an A77 is also a no-brainer, as much as I like the A77. The IQ is massively better. And the AF system is already greatly improved by its new power with six lenses, soon to be twelve, and more by the end of the year–probably all that are not likely to be soon replaced. Everyone who has used the AFD says it is blazing fast and remarkably accurate. Numerous other advantages.
koolbeep
9 months ago |well probably your right =( might be im too defensive because of the price trying to convince myself not to be tempted…
Darian
9 months ago |It has been reported that the lens shading and aberration correction feature of the Sony A99 “supports nine lenses at launch.” Does anyone know which nine lenses these are and what lenses are planed for 2013?
I am curious to see what the overlap is between the focal plane phase-detection auto focus compatible lenses and the list of lenses supported for lens shading and aberration correction.
(Andrea, this information would be good to have for a separate post if your sources can provide the information.)
Jesse Lim
9 months ago |What the heck, I just use center AF point all the long from the beginning, I don’t mind how many AF points they have as long the AF accuracy is reliable…
Marketing spec just makes people forget the true essence of photography…
obican
9 months ago |Thanks to Sony Marketing Department, we might’ve been ended up with another half baked camera.
Thanks a lot.
Jesse Lim
9 months ago |Haha, Sony have been making half baked cameras most of the time,
I love my A850, A300 and A77 (A850, A300 have better IQ even the ISO is not superior than A77 but visually is is much more “Alive” than the A77) but then they just missed out those tiny attention which seems uninteresting on spec sheets but very very important to photography… sigh.
I bet they will never and refuse to learn….
Steve
9 months ago |+1
Almazar80
9 months ago |No camera will ever be perfect, but the NEX-6 looks quite good. And even the “half baked” Sony cameras are used by a lot of people to take stunning photographs. Sometimes (heck, always), it’s the eye behind the camera (and the mind and imagination that goes with it) that is the essential tool.
obican
9 months ago |NEX 6 is the true definition of “half baked”. Come on, it has two wheels and most of the time one of them is not doing anything. Why? If you want to use more than one wheel to change your settings, you get a NEX 7, that’s why.
Dulaney Ward
9 months ago |This camera is anything but half-baked.
Dirk
9 months ago |I’m really a loyal Sony customer for over a decade.
In the past two years they:ve messed up almost everything of what makes customers sticking to a brand.
After purchasing my A900 three years ago, I’ve been waiting half a year for the availaibility of the CZ 24-70 (I can accept a sold out shortage for about a quarter, everything ahead is ridiculous), and then another half year for a G 70-200…
Last year I was one of the first getting a A77. Still with 1.05 is has certain deficiencies. For about half a year nothing coming up.
In Februar I purchased the NEX7. No FW upgrade ever since, and I went already mad with this crappy menues, not to speak about the highly desired lock function for the “no-one-knows-about-why-they-placed-the-movie-button-there”…
Waiting for the 50/1.8 4 month, for the CZ 24/1.8 5 month, and the new announced lenses are far behind the horizon…
Now, after waiting long time for a A900 successor, expected to be on par with the big boyz regarding AF, they’re coming up with the A99 halfa year later than pre-announced, and it has a AF system not covering the majority of the lens line up?
Without the 102 points it is a 19 point AF system? What’s that? What did they develop over the past years ahead of good ideas and half ready technics?
Sorry Sony, I’m quite close to break a long term friendship between an enthusiast and your brand…
Sahaja
9 months ago |The normal phase detect AF points should work with all a-mount lenses. You just can’t use the extra 102 points with the lenses that aren’t supported yet. In most situations, I expect this won’t matter much.
These on-sensor PD AF points are probably more help for video than still photography.
Dirk
9 months ago |Matter of fact is, that without the 102 points the AF system is a bit weak compared to the direct competitors.
But mostly I’m a bit concerned that we early adopters are again receiving Beta2 or O-Series FW. I would like to purchase a “ready-designed & ready-developed” product…
Rooru S.
9 months ago |That’s the main problem. The a99 has been marketed more for video than stills and many people who bought the A850 or A900 in the past and invested on expensive lenses expected a proper AF module for a successor, and when Sony announced the drop of SLR format, at least they expected to see the SLT benefits on this kind of camera. So we ended with 1fps more than A900 (although we got to recognize 1fps more with 14-bit), same A77 EVF (which some people expected to see some things improved), and 19 AF points compatible with all lenses while the other 102 “marketing” AF points can’t be used unless they’re on the supported list.
What I really want to know is, if those 102 AF points on sensor can be used as assist AF points in modes other than AF-D. If so, then that means other lenses can be used as tracking assist AF points and that’s enough for me.
Dulaney Ward
9 months ago |From whom are you waiting for these lenses so long? Last November the Sony plant in Thailand was destroyed, where many if not most of the lenses were made, and the Japanese tsunami created a huge backlog in demand for materials, especially optical glass, but the 24-70 CZ for example is currently in stock at B&H. You could have it within a week–tomorrow except that there is currently a Jewish holiday.
Tom L.
9 months ago |So along with the fact that Sony already has a shortage of lens, they produce a camera that limits it even more. That doesn’t make any sense in my perspective. I definitely won’t interested in ever buying this camera. Most of my collection of lenses are Minolta. I hope my A850 and A77 hold out for sometime for me. If I have to buy all new lenses, it would be very easy to consider switching to Nikon or Canon.
Rob
9 months ago |Would be a shame if the 70-200G wasn’t included, as it had a very fast AF, and fine resolution and color rendition. Here’s a pic I took Monday that will highlight that lens’ charms.
http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/30144690#30144690
Rick
9 months ago |I’m still buying — tilt/swivel LCD, IBIS, peaking and 60p video on a FF camera, something no other FF body on the planet offers. I’ve been shooting with a 5d2 which has a terrible AF system, this should be light years ahead – supported lens or not.
My first lens will the the Zeiss 24-70 and my second is likely to be the 70-400 so I’m covered with the 102 AF points. Everything else is legacy glass for me so I can take advantage of the features listed above with some fine Leica R and Zeiss C/Y lenses.
Rob
9 months ago |Lovin’ my Zeiss 24-70. Here’s a pic from a couple weeks ago. http://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/30061957#30061957
Si
9 months ago |Excellent news all my lenses are covered for the 102 points af, result. Now just need to get pass the reviews over the next 3 months.
Si
Joe
9 months ago |I certainly hope that not only the mentioned Sony lenses are supported, but also the equivalent, identical Minolta/KonicaMinolta lenses as well. What is the experience of the current owners of the camera with the equivalent “older” lenses?
I’m talking about the following lenses:
SAL50F14 and Minolta AF 1.4/50 (D)
SAL70200G and Minolta AF 2.8/70-200G (D) SSM
SAL100f28 Macro and Minolta AF 2.8/100 (D) Macro
Probably we should motivate Sony to not only add the current line of lenses, but also the line they inherited with the purchase of the Minolta Dynax/Maxxum/Alpha line…
Carl
9 months ago |There is no Minolta AF 1.4/50 (D).
Dulaney Ward
9 months ago |And there is no Minolta lens that is “identical” to any Sony lens, thoogh some Sony lenses are pretty close.
OnlySony
9 months ago |What’s with the announced new firmware version for the A77?
not_amused
9 months ago |sony rly?
poke
9 months ago |I was a little bummed to see that the 70-200G was not included in the first group of compatible lenses. I use this lens quite a bit and is much more versatile than the 70-400G due to its softness wide open making it strictly a daytime lens for sports. Maybe with better iso performance this may change.
Sahaja
9 months ago |Too bad they didn’t spread out the on-sensor AF points rather than having them all clustered near the centre. I would have thought having PD AF on the sensor would have allowed this.
barri
9 months ago |I find it disturbing that all my Minolta and Sigma lenses possibly never will be supported by the new AF system. That would be a huge issue.
Does this mean that people will now get worse AF performance, if they choose a 3rd party lens? That would be a big problem. Sony should support any A-mount AF lens out there – even from 3rd party.
E.g., I would hate not to have good AF on my Minolta 4.5/400.
exm3racer
9 months ago |This does not bode well for the FF NEX…
BJ
9 months ago |First of all, the 102 points is outrageous. I would consider it a luxury rather than a necessity. Even if your lenses aren’t supported, you’ll probably still get great performance from the standard phase detect setup. I hope the amount of auto-focus points alone weren’t the main selling point for people.
Flashes
9 months ago |I hope all AF lenses will be supported for the range limiting feature.
If we see issues there that is a bigger issue IMHO .
Also I hope there is a way to calibrate any lens on the a99
Stef.
9 months ago |This topic has already been discussed in detail.
A couple of reminders:
1. Third party lenses will NEVER be supported, nor older Minolta lenses ( This has been verified for somebody who works for Sony and trains people on the new A99)
2. You can use any (!) AF lens on the A99 with the 19 AF points, as with the A77
3. The new AF system has to be seen as an addede feature such as object tracking in the A77. It makes mainly sense in action photography and with longer lenses. For something such as landscape you will not need it.
4. Lenses do not have to be send in for updating as this is a firmware update for the camera.
Stef.
Rick
9 months ago |I don’t see how anyone can expect old technology to perfectly function with cutting edge stuff. There are obviously issues with how/what the lens communicates with the camera to make everything work.
It has been pointed out repeatedly that any of the A-mount AF lenses will work fine with the 19-point system. You’ll just need the lenses listed to take advantage of the AF-D system.
By the time the 12 lenses listed are supported, that will make 12 more lenses than any other mfgr has capable of what the AF-D does.
Krzychu
9 months ago |What about SAL-300F28G?
Stephen Linhart
9 months ago |The implication is that making Phase Detection of “on sensor” points work requires some knowledge of each lens it works with, but that Phase Detection in a separate sensor reflected off a transparent mirror does not.
I don’t see any reason why that would be the case since in both cases the light path passes through the lens.
Can anyone explain why this is?