The Calling from SonyElectronics on Vimeo.

If you want to see a great work shot on the new Sony A99 than watch this! And there are two more backstage videos: First a video portrait of David McLain on Vimeo and than a Back Stage video again on Vimeo. Really a great work that shows you the huge potential of this camera. I don’t see any banding or any other issue on this videoclip. Colors and Dynamic Range are great. Of course we are looking at a compressed video on Vimeo and this doens’t show the maximum potential of the camera. On paper this camera beats any other FF camera when it comes to video quality and features. What do you think of the quality of this video?

And the second good news is that Sony started shipping the A99 in Europe and will ship it tomorrow in US too (according to BHhoto). Here are the links to check price and shipping date:
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.

[shoplink 14934 ebay]

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You can now find first A99 camera for sale on [shoplink 14165 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. And to be more precise four are now for sale on [shoplink 14934 ebay]Cameracenter eBay UK (Click here)[/shoplink]. And first SAR and Dyxum readers are receiving their preorders from the European Sony store. Click on the country id to visit the A99 page: Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH. Our US readers will probably get the camera soon too. According ot BHphoto (Click here) the camera will ship from tomorrow!

And here are some more new tidbits about the new Sony cameras:
The Chinese website ZOL (translation here) posted a 14 page long A99 review.
A new wedding vidoe also shot on the A99 (vimeo).
A dutch NEX-6 preview on youtube.
NEX-5R test on Mobile01.

CameraLabs (Click here) posted the final RX100 review and writes: “The RX100 is not only a great achievement, it’s a cracking advanced compact that only the most curmudgeonly of photographers would be reluctant to acknowledge as such. Once again Sony has shown it’s got what it takes to identify the core requirement of a particular market and come up with an innovative and exciting camera to meet those needs. Which only leaves me to make some brief comparisons with the competition.”

The RX100 was announced back in June and since then it never went out of the top 20 of the most sold overall(!) digital camera popularity ranking at Amazon (Click here). We may can complain with Sony on many points but we can’t deny that the last three years Sony showed us an impressive cycle of innovations and I can’t wait to see what they have prepared for us for 2013!!!

One more RX100 related news. The super cool Magfilter is back in Stock at Amazon (Click here).

RX100 links roundup:
RX100 price search links: [shopcountry 13014].
Cases: [shoplink 13347 ebay]Official Sony LCJ-RXA case[/shoplink], [shoplink 13344 ebay]Gariz case[/shoplink], [shoplink 13345 ebay]more leather case[/shoplink].
Batteries: [shoplink 13346 ebay]NP-BX1 Battery[/shoplink].
Special stuff: [shoplink 13343 ebay]Multi-Coated LENS ARMOR UV[/shoplink]. Magfilter at Amazon (Click here). RX100 filter adapter on [shoplink 13486 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]

Image courtesy: Quesabesde (UPDATE: wrong focus point on the A99 picture?)

Although Nikon dind’t officially unveil the sensor manufacturer it’s easy to guess that Sony manufactured the D600 sensor. And it’s likely based (or exactly the same) sensor used by the Sony A99.
Quesabesde (Translation here) analyzed the RAW image quality of the  two cameras and came it looks like the Nikon D600 is a bit sharper although the A99 has a more harmonic balance between noise and details (so they say). But…

UDPATE: ….Our smart SAR readers had the patience to analyze the full size images and noticed that the in focus point is different for the two cameras. Our reader Ramire proved it by showing the focus point of the bill here:

Now the A99 looks to be sharper than the Nikon D600 :) As you see, always be careful on these reviews and tests.

UPDATE_2: Quesabesde assured me that the camera showed that the focus point was right. So these may be a problem of the A99 with Sigma lens. They will redo the test now.

A particular Thanks goes to all the SAR readers finding out the problem! Bravo!

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Sony preorder list:
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.
RX1 Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Wex Germany Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 with kit lens Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex Uk ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG900 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, Wex Uk and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG30 Adorama, Amazon, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 16-50mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals .
Sony E-mount 35mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 10-18mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony A-mount 300mm f/2.8 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH.