DxOmark just published the Canon 650D sensor results. And once again we can see how Canon is struggling to get on par with Sony sensors. The Sony A65 dynamic range the beats the Canon by one stop! Still the Sony cameras would be even much better without the Translucent mirror: “we know from having tested various types of Translucent Mirror Technology that such systems usually reduce low-light scores by about 1/3 to 1/2EV. The SLT-A65 does in fact divert a portion of incoming light to support its electronic viewfinder, and… this is pretty much the only reason that the 650D can compete with Sony’s DSLR video in terms of low-light sensitivity.”

Anyway, the difference between the A77 and NEX-7 are negligible (here is the comparison). I really want to see how good the new [shoplink 14165]Sony A99[/shoplink] and RX1 sensor will be. And of course, if there is a major difference between the two.

Coming back to Canon, at least on the sensor front they are now clearly behind the competition. And keep in mind that Nikon, Olympus and very likely also Panasonic are now using Sony sensors too!

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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.

Luminous Landscape is one of my favorite websites and It’s always interesting to read their Sony reviews. They just posted a Sony A99 field review (Click here to read it). LL really likes the new features and quality of the camera “The A99 is a camera geek’s wet dream come to life.” and also writes that “Clearly noise isn’t an issue up to and including ISO 1600. From there to and including ISO 6400 a bit of noise reduction will produce highly acceptable images for most applications.“.

But they have on major doubt. It’s the use of an electronic Viewfinder on a Full frame camera. Read:
“has the recent development of very good on-sensor contrast detection AF, and now from Sony on-sensor phase detection AF, not rendered the whole translucent mirror technology somewhat redundant? Maybe not today, but in a year or two almost certainly.” and “But one of the key advantages, especially to Pros and advanced amateurs who are familiar either with full frame DSLRs of the past decade, or film-based cameras prior, is the large and bright view possible though a mirror reflex with a prism. Shadow areas are open rather than black holes, colours are accurate and natural, fine details are visible, and one can see and focus and compose even with the camera turned off. These are significant advantages, and for many experienced photographers are among the main raison d’etre for appreciating what full-frame has to offer.As good as it is, the Sony EVF just can’t compete in terms of realistic contrast, brightness and overall clarity to a full frame glass prism viewfinder.”

While the use of EVF makes sense on mirrorless cameras (for the sake of compactness) and on APS-C cameras (their optical viewfinder is very small anyway) they don’t find any reason to have it on FF. Let us know what you think about this:

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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.

Image by ePhotozine.

The Sony Hong Kong RX1 Press Release contains an interesting MTF resolution chart. Here is it:

The lines may don’t help you much without a comparison. Here are the resolution results of the [shoplink 13883 ebay]Zeiss 35mm f/2.0 Biogon ZM lens[/shoplink] at f/2.0 aperture:

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The RX1 lens is way better than the current ZM lens!
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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, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals .
Sony E-mount 35mm Amazon, Adorama, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 10-18mm Amazon, Adorama, 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, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH.

Still didn’t get enough A99 image samples? Here is a short new list to some tests. As usual feel free to comment this post to add your links and tests! Thanks!

An Adobe RAW test. Image before Adobe RAW conversion, image after Adobe RAW conversion.
Some tests by Mark Galer (also on Flickr).
Black and White A99 tests by Amy Davies.
Sony A99 image samples at PConline.
Sony A99 and other new Sony stuff hands-on pictures from the Createc show in Japan (Dc.watch).
RAW image samples from Russia at Prophotos.
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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.