Not going by its insane used prices. $700+ is just dumb for this camera that came out way back in 2012. You can get a 5D Mark IV for the same price and get a much better camera with far better lenses. The A99 is a nice camera for sure, but its only worth about $300-$400.
It's worth what it is to you.. if you have a lot of Minolta/Konica/Sony Alpha mount glass then it might be worth it for you. I look every so often to check prices. My other under rated camera to watch is the Epson R-D1..
I've been delving into Contax/Zeiss gear lately too but no luck for videos (aside from a cool street camera I've picked up lol). It would be awesome to see a real resurrection of minolta, aside from their shotty made overseas Temu bridge cameras released under the "Minolta" name
@JesusIsLord7773 I'm sure it's technically superb. Just their design philosophy along with Canon, and nikon until they cam out without the ZF is everything I hate about modern cameras.
@@WhoIsSerafin That's honestly a fair point. They're essentially perfect cameras. James Popsys actually made a great video about how that's not just a good thing, but also makes it somewhat boring.
The landscape photos at 5:33 remind me of the dream I had last night or early this morning. I opened up one of my cellphones and took this paper off that was under the lens and it made my cellphone into a infrared camera. It was working and I was taking nice black and white images but then something happened and I was getting colored images again. Kind of a wacky dream. LOL
I have used a Sony A77II for 7 years from having bonded with an A200 for another previous 7 years. It was such a blast, however it worn out quite quickly within this last month, the viewfinder dimmed out, the screen cable broke and the leather cover detached. Such a fantastic camera, with full frame minolta lenses it was unstoppable. I wanted to go for the A99II since it's basically an A7RIII with A mount. But scalpers were selling near-to-death cameras for 3K DOLLARS from Japan to Europe. Now i have an A7IV, neat camera, great AF but I can't take advantage of the screwdriver lenses ' insane torque on LA-EA5. Confirmation biased E mount users that never tried A mount on a native A mount camera still believe screw lenses are slower. They never tried Minolta's HS Gold series, the G Master of A mount. Thanks for making me cry. Screw you.
Sorry for the tears, I feel ya! It's awesome to hear from a fellow Minolta supporter! There's so many gems hidden in the A-mount heritage for an affordable price. It's almost worth keeping a secret in today's inflated market lol
@@MattsNotes yes, I'm never selling my Minolta lenses. I have the 80-200 and it's a beast. My future plans is buying a used LA-EA4 and change the motherboard for the monster adapter because la-ea4 has the torque of the A77II/A99II and the monster mod lets you use the whole sensor. The reason why I bought LA-EA5 is because it was cheaper in a single go and I wouldn't have to void a warranty. I also never sell my cameras, because I get very emotionally attached to them. Not thinking the camera has feelings, but I know that the children at the sweatshops that make them, do have feelings, lol.
Excellent video Matt! Never looked at that Sony camera before looks like a great deal! Great channel as always, Thanks for sharing! I have a fear of heights and that tower climb had feeling woozy...lol
@@bondgabebond4907 Yeah there are, but in my understanding and research (I dont own E mount bodies nor tried adapting A mount lenses to E mount) usually it comes with some downsides like limmiting you af points specially with older lenses. Also You get limmited on the bodies than you can use them properly, mainly high end mirrorless bodies. Plus I think sometimes you get limited of the frames per second that you can shoot continously. I have seen some videos of people comparing both scenarios and using an A mount lens on an A mount body will perform better than adapted to an E mount body.
@@bondgabebond4907 There are a bunch of them really. The only issue is that they are quite limiting in frame rates and availability of AF points. I haven´t tested them because I dont own an E mount body but at least reviews say this plus they only work on like high end mirrorless bodies. Also performance is better on native A mount bodies rather than adapted to E mount.
You got some beautful shots! I looked this camera up on EBay and dang it's not cheap. I guess it's cheaper than a new fancy camera, but some people are asking 2K for the mark ii.
Yeah the mark ii had an INSANE price spike within the past few years. The a99 can be found 400 to 600. I'm sure people simply miss the A mount cameras!
I remember selling an a99 to a guy in 2009 at Ritz Camera. His father had just died and he inherited a bucketload of Maxxum AF lenses. He wanted the Sony but not to spend a fortune on Sony lenses. Told him that all he needed was the a99 and all the Maxxum lenses. Happy customer.
Where are these images from. That tower really spooked me. I can't stand heights in a structure like a high-rise tower. And cool camera. That flippy screen is something I would like on my camera. It is the photographer's/videographer's dream setup. The history of photography and cameras is fascinating. Where we are today from when it all started in mind blowing. I love the art of photography, I don't rag on other brands, though I am a Sony guy. Previously, in the film days, I was Nikon, when I could actually afford one.
I have a lot of relatively great gear, but my Sony Alpha SLT-A58 is still one I grab and enjoy using. I have a lot of full frame and medium format stuff, and sometimes a nice little APS-C setup is just what you want. Matching that with a small nifty-fifty, or my 70-200mm f2.8 still impresses me, after such a long life.
The a58 may be next on my list! It's very affordable right now. I started my Sony journey on the little a3000 but always wanted an a58. I'll keep an eye out:)
The Minolta 135mm f2.8 is a really good lens. I had the Minolta 28-85mm macro was not a bad lens also for a walk around lens. Keep in mind I was using these lens in the 80's so I was not looking for lens issues on a large screen. But I think the Minolta 28-85mm macro had some vignetting. Also some uses have made lens profiles for Minolta lens. I think you can find some info on DPreview if you do a search.
Noted! I'd love to get a copy of both of those lenses. That 135 f2.8 sounds intriguing. I'm seeing a couple versions of it; a film and an AF maxxum but they're relatively affordable! Which one have you used or recommend?
Unrelated to the camera: I was also up in the same area and walked along the same pier at the end of the video a few weeks ago with my local photography club's annual fall road trip. Beautiful area in the fall for sure! I brought my more modern Nikon Z5 with me for that trip tho.
Oh man I really wanted one of the Sony SLT cameras when they came out. I thought they were insanely cool and way more advanced than what was going on with the Canikon camps. Sony was kind of the underdog (funny to look back on now). I remember Kai and others dunking and clowning on them at the time. The "professionals" pretty much dismissed these cameras. I scraped up enough money to buy an a55, but ended up buying a Pentax k-x instead. I am still looking for a decent deal on a used a77 or a99. One day. Awesome photos in the fire tower!
Thanks for the comment! Man I should've mentioned how funny it is looking back on all the old reviewers talk about how BAD Sony cameras were, and how they had no place in professional photography. It's funny now since Sony essentially owns the camera market now lol. Seeing Natgeo partner with Sony for their professional photographers systems a few years back was a very satisfying juxtaposition to all those old remarks
@@MattsNotes I appreciate the modern look at this system for sure! It's hard to find videos with someone actually taking an a99 out to shoot with. Most of the videos on TH-cam are 10+ years old and the old Sony Alpha guys are gone. Gary Fong makes videos about Cell phone towers and is selling magic rocks now haha
I just got reacquainted with my a850 today, ive been using my Konica Minolta 7D soo long that i forgot how good the Maxxum lenses are on full frame....i really want one of these or an a99ii but those are inanely expensive.
I've been on the hunt for an old a850 or a900. The Minolta 7d is an awesome one too! I had one for a few years and planned a video for it, but it went belly up on me and started only shooting black images:( I'm on the hunt for one of those as well!
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I love my old a65, but the mic port was bad, and the Minolta flash shoe was a terrible idea too
I wish I kept my a65 and lenses instead of selling to help pay for my move to the a6000 a decade ago. There's something about that shooting experience that I miss. The Minolta proprietary and incompatible flash shoe was pretty awful.
Irrespective of manufacturing origins and price it was so sad to see Minolta swallowed up by Sony. Nonetheless a great camera and good quality photos is what matters. Thanks for sharing your video with us all Sir.
Thank you for thoughtful comment! Im a fan of minolta cameras at large, especially their older digital camera iterations (not the newer cheap temu generic cameras with minoltas name tagged to them lol). The Minola 7d comes to mind as a great example of what could have been. I'd love to see them back in business one day but this is wishful thinking lol
Was that a wildfire watch outpost you visited Matt? I recall watching a documentary about those, how in the olden days forest rangers would essentially live in those outposts for weeks or even months at a time ceaselessly watching the forest-line for fires. Beautiful countryside and some great shots with that Sony!
The idea of SLT was much older, but yes Sony picked it up as one of the first to really do something big with it. In an age where video just got decent on DSLR's* And maybe just maybe you could use a DSLR for video. Sony did this to make auto focus work, not perfect, but at least to a point work in video. A great testing ground. And important for their later Mirrorless Body designs. I had one of these, still have it somewhere. Sony A65. A good model. If not a bit old by now. * Except that darn auto focus issue
Yeah I'm in 4:3 lol. Panasonic cameras are what I use since they can shoot academy format straight from camera! I am using the GH5 II and GH5s currently, but the OG GH5 is about the same camera lol
DSLR stands for Digital Single Lense Reflex Camera - the reflex referring to the mirror flipping up and and down with each shot. In sony SLT (Single Lens Translucent) Cameras the mirror does not move. It's fixed in place and is almost entirely Translucent. It serves only as a reflector for a small portion of the light into the autofocus system for the phase detect AF. Aside from the autofocus, I'd argue this actually makes closer to a mirrorless camera, because it lacks features like the optical viewfinder and therefore feels very similar to use to a mirrorless.
@@laneye7669do you perchance know any dslrs that uses one way mirror? like the sensor can see through the mirror but then the lights still reflected into the AF and OVF system
@@burnedmozzarella If I understand your question correctly, you're looking for a camera similar to a Sony SLT, but where the translucent mirror still flips up and down with each shot? I can't think of any system where that's the case. And I can only think of very limited reasons why you'd want to do that. First off, having the translucent mirror in front of the sensor while taking the photo only removes about 1/3 of a stop of light. So really not a ton. So from that perspective, there wouldn't be much point in flipping it out of the way. The main advantage of not having the mirror flip with each shot is a quieter, quicker and more reliable operation. The only two advantages a system with a mirror used to give you, was a better viewfinder (cause screen and sensor technology just wasn't ready for EVFs yet) and much better auto focus, because phase detect af was only possible with a separate sensors. There was only a brief period where EVFs had gotten usable enough for cameras, but sensor technology hadn't caught up yet to justify the DSLT system existing. But as soon as sony was able to put phase detect AF directly onto the sensor, there was literally no need for SLTs or mirrors to exist anymore. So to put it shortly: No, I don't know of any camera system with such design and I can't think of any reason why anyone would want that. But if you or anyone knows better, let me know!
@@laneye7669 Thanks! A quick google/wiki etc, they all seem to just term this cameras as a DSLR hey.. which is why I was a bit confused. Thanks for clarifying!
![Chris Langan - The Interview THEY Didn't Want You To See - CTMU [Full Version; Timestamps]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/9miVG2xT5jY/mqdefault.jpg)
The most underrated camera system ever.
Not going by its insane used prices. $700+ is just dumb for this camera that came out way back in 2012. You can get a 5D Mark IV for the same price and get a much better camera with far better lenses. The A99 is a nice camera for sure, but its only worth about $300-$400.
@@michaelbell75are the scalpers helding the price high because of this video or just always like that?
It's worth what it is to you.. if you have a lot of Minolta/Konica/Sony Alpha mount glass then it might be worth it for you. I look every so often to check prices. My other under rated camera to watch is the Epson R-D1..
Agreed. I started with Sony A
The A99 had great ergonomics that Sony should have implemented in the A7 series.
The legacy of Minolta that Sony didn't continue
I've been delving into Contax/Zeiss gear lately too but no luck for videos (aside from a cool street camera I've picked up lol).
It would be awesome to see a real resurrection of minolta, aside from their shotty made overseas Temu bridge cameras released under the "Minolta" name
hair tax office, give me your spiky hair
Despise Sony cameras of today. But that adjustable view screen is fantastic! That should be the standard on every camera!
I have the A7 IV and its superb. Battery is great too and the camera doesn’t overheat
@JesusIsLord7773 I'm sure it's technically superb. Just their design philosophy along with Canon, and nikon until they cam out without the ZF is everything I hate about modern cameras.
@@WhoIsSerafin terminally hipster
@@WhoIsSerafin That's honestly a fair point. They're essentially perfect cameras. James Popsys actually made a great video about how that's not just a good thing, but also makes it somewhat boring.
@@kistovisback I was born in 1970. I just prefer the designs I grew up with. Not sure if that’s hipster or not?
The landscape photos at 5:33 remind me of the dream I had last night or early this morning. I opened up one of my cellphones and took this paper off that was under the lens and it made my cellphone into a infrared camera. It was working and I was taking nice black and white images but then something happened and I was getting colored images again.
Kind of a wacky dream. LOL
I have used a Sony A77II for 7 years from having bonded with an A200 for another previous 7 years. It was such a blast, however it worn out quite quickly within this last month, the viewfinder dimmed out, the screen cable broke and the leather cover detached. Such a fantastic camera, with full frame minolta lenses it was unstoppable.
I wanted to go for the A99II since it's basically an A7RIII with A mount. But scalpers were selling near-to-death cameras for 3K DOLLARS from Japan to Europe.
Now i have an A7IV, neat camera, great AF but I can't take advantage of the screwdriver lenses ' insane torque on LA-EA5.
Confirmation biased E mount users that never tried A mount on a native A mount camera still believe screw lenses are slower. They never tried Minolta's HS Gold series, the G Master of A mount.
Thanks for making me cry. Screw you.
Sorry for the tears, I feel ya! It's awesome to hear from a fellow Minolta supporter!
There's so many gems hidden in the A-mount heritage for an affordable price. It's almost worth keeping a secret in today's inflated market lol
@@MattsNotes yes, I'm never selling my Minolta lenses. I have the 80-200 and it's a beast. My future plans is buying a used LA-EA4 and change the motherboard for the monster adapter because la-ea4 has the torque of the A77II/A99II and the monster mod lets you use the whole sensor. The reason why I bought LA-EA5 is because it was cheaper in a single go and I wouldn't have to void a warranty.
I also never sell my cameras, because I get very emotionally attached to them. Not thinking the camera has feelings, but I know that the children at the sweatshops that make them, do have feelings, lol.
Excellent video Matt! Never looked at that Sony camera before looks like a great deal! Great channel as always, Thanks for sharing! I have a fear of heights and that tower climb had feeling woozy...lol
They're still quite expensive!
I have a lovely A99II and I love it to death. It is a pitty that Sony killed the A mount so soon.
Aren't there adapters to mount a-mount lenses on e-mount camera bodies? I think Sony actually sells one.
@@bondgabebond4907 Yeah there are, but in my understanding and research (I dont own E mount bodies nor tried adapting A mount lenses to E mount) usually it comes with some downsides like limmiting you af points specially with older lenses. Also You get limmited on the bodies than you can use them properly, mainly high end mirrorless bodies. Plus I think sometimes you get limited of the frames per second that you can shoot continously. I have seen some videos of people comparing both scenarios and using an A mount lens on an A mount body will perform better than adapted to an E mount body.
@@bondgabebond4907 There are a bunch of them really. The only issue is that they are quite limiting in frame rates and availability of AF points. I haven´t tested them because I dont own an E mount body but at least reviews say this plus they only work on like high end mirrorless bodies. Also performance is better on native A mount bodies rather than adapted to E mount.
You got some beautful shots! I looked this camera up on EBay and dang it's not cheap. I guess it's cheaper than a new fancy camera, but some people are asking 2K for the mark ii.
Yeah the mark ii had an INSANE price spike within the past few years. The a99 can be found 400 to 600. I'm sure people simply miss the A mount cameras!
That’s a dope off roading car right there
I remember selling an a99 to a guy in 2009 at Ritz Camera.
His father had just died and he inherited a bucketload of Maxxum AF lenses.
He wanted the Sony but not to spend a fortune on Sony lenses.
Told him that all he needed was the a99 and all the Maxxum lenses.
Happy customer.
I would've loved to see that lens collection!
Instead of DSLR for reflex, it would be DSLP for 'Pellicle' mirror like the canon pellix from the 60s had.
You got those Far Cry 3 Towers
Where are these images from. That tower really spooked me. I can't stand heights in a structure like a high-rise tower. And cool camera. That flippy screen is something I would like on my camera. It is the photographer's/videographer's dream setup. The history of photography and cameras is fascinating. Where we are today from when it all started in mind blowing.
I love the art of photography, I don't rag on other brands, though I am a Sony guy. Previously, in the film days, I was Nikon, when I could actually afford one.
These shots are from the Canadian border :)
I agree! I love sony but I can find something about each camera I've used that's enjoyable
I used to rock a a65 back when it first came outs uncles that camera so much. It launched my career!
I had the original A99 for a bit! I'm looking for an A99 II eventually, wanted to see how cool would be to use Minolta AF with peak flagship specs
An a99ii would be an incredible find! I just wish they weren't so expensive right now lol
@@MattsNotes I saw one for $1200 at National Camera Exchange sixish months ago down here in the cities....I should have pulled the trigger
I have two of the a99 (along eoth a bunch of sony mirrorless bodies) because i love then so much.
I have a lot of relatively great gear, but my Sony Alpha SLT-A58 is still one I grab and enjoy using. I have a lot of full frame and medium format stuff, and sometimes a nice little APS-C setup is just what you want. Matching that with a small nifty-fifty, or my 70-200mm f2.8 still impresses me, after such a long life.
The a58 may be next on my list!
It's very affordable right now. I started my Sony journey on the little a3000 but always wanted an a58. I'll keep an eye out:)
The Minolta 135mm f2.8 is a really good lens. I had the Minolta 28-85mm macro was not a bad lens also for a walk around lens. Keep in mind I was using these lens in the 80's so I was not looking for lens issues on a large screen. But I think the Minolta 28-85mm macro had some vignetting.
Also some uses have made lens profiles for Minolta lens. I think you can find some info on DPreview if you do a search.
Noted! I'd love to get a copy of both of those lenses. That 135 f2.8 sounds intriguing. I'm seeing a couple versions of it; a film and an AF maxxum but they're relatively affordable! Which one have you used or recommend?
Unrelated to the camera: I was also up in the same area and walked along the same pier at the end of the video a few weeks ago with my local photography club's annual fall road trip. Beautiful area in the fall for sure! I brought my more modern Nikon Z5 with me for that trip tho.
I love Grand Marais! Good choice of camera friend!
Oh man I really wanted one of the Sony SLT cameras when they came out. I thought they were insanely cool and way more advanced than what was going on with the Canikon camps. Sony was kind of the underdog (funny to look back on now).
I remember Kai and others dunking and clowning on them at the time. The "professionals" pretty much dismissed these cameras.
I scraped up enough money to buy an a55, but ended up buying a Pentax k-x instead.
I am still looking for a decent deal on a used a77 or a99. One day.
Awesome photos in the fire tower!
Thanks for the comment!
Man I should've mentioned how funny it is looking back on all the old reviewers talk about how BAD Sony cameras were, and how they had no place in professional photography.
It's funny now since Sony essentially owns the camera market now lol. Seeing Natgeo partner with Sony for their professional photographers systems a few years back was a very satisfying juxtaposition to all those old remarks
@@MattsNotes I appreciate the modern look at this system for sure! It's hard to find videos with someone actually taking an a99 out to shoot with.
Most of the videos on TH-cam are 10+ years old and the old Sony Alpha guys are gone. Gary Fong makes videos about Cell phone towers and is selling magic rocks now haha
I just got reacquainted with my a850 today, ive been using my Konica Minolta 7D soo long that i forgot how good the Maxxum lenses are on full frame....i really want one of these or an a99ii but those are inanely expensive.
I've been on the hunt for an old a850 or a900.
The Minolta 7d is an awesome one too! I had one for a few years and planned a video for it, but it went belly up on me and started only shooting black images:(
I'm on the hunt for one of those as well!
I love my old a65, but the mic port was bad, and the Minolta flash shoe was a terrible idea too
I wish I kept my a65 and lenses instead of selling to help pay for my move to the a6000 a decade ago. There's something about that shooting experience that I miss. The Minolta proprietary and incompatible flash shoe was pretty awful.
Underrated camera for sure... Enjoyed your take...subscrided..
A sincere thank you from a fellow Matt! Lol
I still love these cameras. Still using a77 II
The a77ii would make for a great wildlife or sports camera today I'm sure!
One funky thing is, for a while Sony made an A to E adapter with translucent mirror built in.
I've owned on of these lol
Irrespective of manufacturing origins and price it was so sad to see Minolta swallowed up by Sony. Nonetheless a great camera and good quality photos is what matters. Thanks for sharing your video with us all Sir.
Thank you for thoughtful comment!
Im a fan of minolta cameras at large, especially their older digital camera iterations (not the newer cheap temu generic cameras with minoltas name tagged to them lol).
The Minola 7d comes to mind as a great example of what could have been. I'd love to see them back in business one day but this is wishful thinking lol
@@MattsNotes Totally agree with you Sir on the older Minolta cameras and lenses. Thank you for the reply Sir.
Was that a wildfire watch outpost you visited Matt? I recall watching a documentary about those, how in the olden days forest rangers would essentially live in those outposts for weeks or even months at a time ceaselessly watching the forest-line for fires. Beautiful countryside and some great shots with that Sony!
I love these old towers! Such a great way to see the fall foliage. Thanks for your comment man!
The idea of SLT was much older, but yes Sony picked it up as one of the first to really do something big with it. In an age where video just got decent on DSLR's*
And maybe just maybe you could use a DSLR for video. Sony did this to make auto focus work, not perfect, but at least to a point work in video. A great testing ground.
And important for their later Mirrorless Body designs. I had one of these, still have it somewhere. Sony A65. A good model. If not a bit old by now.
* Except that darn auto focus issue
A77ii is incredible by the way.
I've heard great things about it! Gonna have to give one a try soon
Did you use some diffusion filter? Or is it old dusty lenses 😀
I can't stay away from old dusty lenses hahaha
Cool video man! What are you filming this with? Is your aspect ration set to 4:3?
Yeah I'm in 4:3 lol.
Panasonic cameras are what I use since they can shoot academy format straight from camera! I am using the GH5 II and GH5s currently, but the OG GH5 is about the same camera lol
Cool beans, I like the 4:3 ratio, it has a nice way of framing up your shot. Rock on 🤘
Sorry... how is this not a DSLR?
DSLR stands for Digital Single Lense Reflex Camera - the reflex referring to the mirror flipping up and and down with each shot. In sony SLT (Single Lens Translucent) Cameras the mirror does not move. It's fixed in place and is almost entirely Translucent. It serves only as a reflector for a small portion of the light into the autofocus system for the phase detect AF. Aside from the autofocus, I'd argue this actually makes closer to a mirrorless camera, because it lacks features like the optical viewfinder and therefore feels very similar to use to a mirrorless.
@@laneye7669do you perchance know any dslrs that uses one way mirror? like the sensor can see through the mirror but then the lights still reflected into the AF and OVF system
I guess you've never heard of DSLT?
@@burnedmozzarella If I understand your question correctly, you're looking for a camera similar to a Sony SLT, but where the translucent mirror still flips up and down with each shot? I can't think of any system where that's the case. And I can only think of very limited reasons why you'd want to do that. First off, having the translucent mirror in front of the sensor while taking the photo only removes about 1/3 of a stop of light. So really not a ton. So from that perspective, there wouldn't be much point in flipping it out of the way. The main advantage of not having the mirror flip with each shot is a quieter, quicker and more reliable operation. The only two advantages a system with a mirror used to give you, was a better viewfinder (cause screen and sensor technology just wasn't ready for EVFs yet) and much better auto focus, because phase detect af was only possible with a separate sensors. There was only a brief period where EVFs had gotten usable enough for cameras, but sensor technology hadn't caught up yet to justify the DSLT system existing. But as soon as sony was able to put phase detect AF directly onto the sensor, there was literally no need for SLTs or mirrors to exist anymore.
So to put it shortly: No, I don't know of any camera system with such design and I can't think of any reason why anyone would want that. But if you or anyone knows better, let me know!
@@laneye7669 Thanks! A quick google/wiki etc, they all seem to just term this cameras as a DSLR hey.. which is why I was a bit confused. Thanks for clarifying!
Peace bro, ❤️ back at ya