CactiGuide.com

After having mulled it over a long time now I've finally pulled the trigger on a new camera body to replace my failing Sony A350.
Having seen the local prices, and with Sony discontinuing the A57 there really only was one body they offered in my pricerange, the A65. That was untill 2 days ago when the stepson, who also is looking towards a starter DSLR did some google magic and found an Australian retailer selling the A77 for what I only can call an A65 price.

After having all bills for the fortnight paid this morning I bravely desided to place my order, and a whole days worth of hassles started!
First time around as I hit the final button on my purchase the site went down with a "closed for maintenance" message.
Second time around the camera was all of a sudden near $80 cheaper but at completion of the order the payment failed.
Desided to call the store and see what was up just to be told there seemed to be something wrong with it and payment had been refused by my bank.
Not to worry though, it's a failed order to according to them I won't have to worry about it. Just place a new order and all should be sweet.

Que attempt #3 that ended in the same way as attempty #2
Another call to the store and now they are scratching their heads aswell, passing the issue onto store manager aswell as the IT guys running the online side of things.
Several emails later with the IT boys and there still was no resolution, for some strange reason my account is detected in their system as an overseas one, prompting it to remove the Australian GST from my purchase (there's your $80 something price drop) and since it's an Australian purchase in turn has my bank decline the purchase.
Went to the extent of the IT guys removing my account and having me create a new one, didn't fix a thing as even with a new account I'm somehow classed as an overseas buyer.

So in the long run we agreed on taking another payment method, one more commonly used for paying bills. They sent me an invoice detailing the purchase (that I have to admit didn't read 100%, just confirmed it had one A77 for the agreed prize) and containing all the info needed to complete a Bpay payment. 10 hours after I tried my first purchase attempt and it's finally paid for and should arrive sometime next week.

Here's the kicker though, and I'm not holding my breath over it and will have to wait untill my parcel turns up to really find out, I fully read through the invoice after having completed the payment and yes it does state 1x Sony A77 body for $899 (mind you best price I've found elsewhere is $1199) but also 1x VG-C77AM vertical grip at $0 If that's what they are intending to ship I'll be a very happy camper indeed!

All the modern technology does not beat letters and cheques! I find letters get through where emails fail, particularly if addressed to the CEO or Chairman of the Board!

A 27 page review for you to be going on with until you get it:-

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/sonyslta77" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like to get the best out of the sensor you will have to shoot RAW and use post processing rather than rely on in-camera JPEG's. Not difficult as I have hardly ever shot anything other than RAW and convert to JPEG's after processing and sharpening.

Too true! Although if it wasn't for the modern technology I'd have no idea a store in Perth sells the camera I want $300 cheaper than what I can find it locally
And mind you, the stepson has been informed that if he does go the way of Sony A-mount for his purchase I've got a few kit style lenses gathering dust that he can have for free. Heck I'll cover him from 18 to 300mm if the grip the invoice mentions acctually turns up! Think he's kinda interested in the "budget" A58, could be a nice entry into the DSLR world for him. Told him the other day to not blindly stare at lenses though as they are interchangeable, it's the body he'll have to live with and unless that suits him it will be a duff buy.

Thanks for the link, though you don't really want to know how many times I've read the A57, A65 and A77 reviews from that site Tend to over analyse my purchases down to silly levels. This time around though price alone won out, A77 just have to many more useful features over the A65 that I couldn't overlook the fact that I could have the A77 for what down here is an A65 price. Among the most useful would be lens micro adjust as I have one or 2 lenses that backfocus on the old body.

And shooting RAW isn't a hassle at all, the old A350 has been in RAW+JPG mode from the day I got it. What I've found though is aslong as ISO is kept at a reasonable level the resulting JPG images work wonders for web use in 99% of cases. If I want to print large then I work up the RAW file to make the most out of the capture.

Acctually have an ongoing portrait shoot with the wife + daughter and granddaughters that I'm looking forward to trying again with a new camera that can do higher flash sync than the old one. Last time around it was my very first test with manual off camera flashes and I found I was somewhat stuck between sync speed and flash power needed.

I too get told I over research things before I buy, but you are stuck with your decision for quite a time afterwards, so far better than buying on impulse or the word of one salesman or reviewer.

I don't buy detachable lens DSLR's now with lens, but buy the camera body only and buy the lens I want separately. OK if you want the kit lens option, but if not you may as well put the kit lens saving to the lens you really want, in my case a proper macro lens.

Also no need to buy the lens from the same source as the body. The firm giving the best price on body only may be trying to make their profit up with a higher price for the lens and vice versa, the cheapest lens firm may charge extra for the body. Therefore get both from the cheapest sources when you know what you want and that these days is usually buying online after you have decided what you want by examining them in the high street stores! Not very ethical maybe, but easier on the pocket and that's how most people are now doing it rather than pay high street prices.

Well, this was kinda impulse buying I have to admit. Was fully set on the A65 as that's what was within my budget but was secretly hoping I somehow could manage the A77. So when it turned up at what is an A65 pricepoint it was a nobrainer really. Same sensor and EFV but with alot of added features.

As for testing out in advance, there's the benefit of going CaNikon Looking around local camera stores I'm not finding hardly any Sony DSLR gear on the shelves, last time I looked (fair enough it's a very small store) all they had was 2 body's and 1 lens, had I wanted to buy that one lens I would of had to grab the window display unit or wait up to 2 weeks for them to order one in.
I've instead picked up a quite decent setup of second hand Minolta, Tamron and Tokina lenses with only 2 Sony lenses in the mix. As it stands right now I don't have a single lens where I was the original buyer.
It's hit and miss though, sometimes you get a bargain and sometimes you get a dud. Just got to celebrate the bargains and get over the duds, and make sure you keep your budget at a level when a dud buy doesn't really matter much.

Here's older shots of the classic Minolta lineup I've sourced, since then I've added a 35-105mm lens of the same vintage and even though it's 25+ years old it's tack sharp if I do my bit right.

There are a few sites listing what to look out for buying second-hand lenses:-

http://www.ebay.com/gds/How-To-Detect-F ... 542/g.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGonGJWgL84" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://www.wikihow.com/Buy-a-Good-Used-Camera-Lens" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://petapixel.com/2011/09/27/how-to- ... mera-lens/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For lens fungus:-

http://www.redbubble.com/people/profaud ... amera-gear" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://photography.tutsplus.com/article ... photo-7737" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

.... sigh .... Glass envy setting in. I am jealous.

Hope your new camera is everything you dreamed of, and ordering was the first and last hassle.

Yup, old lenses can occationally come with their very own little colony of life in them. Case in point would be right most lens in the above 2 photos, a 20+ years old Minolta AF 75-300mm that was alive as I got it, seller had in the listing that it had been stuck in a drawer for years inside it's lenscase....in far north queensland
I've since done some basic UV treatment, ie just left it in direct sunlight with caps off and keep it separated from the rest of my kit apart from when I take it out for use. Haven't seen it get any worse in the months I've had it, rather got better as I've used it and exposed it to UV light.

Here's what it looked like on the day I got it.


And a heavy crop from a test shot done at 260mm F5.6. As sharp as I ever could hope for handhelt at that focal length.

Beautiful!

I had fungus develop on a second-hand zoom wide angle kit lens I bought, but Nikon UK gave me a reasonable price to clean it and it came back as clean as new. Whether they actually cleaned the element or just replaced it I don't know, since the cost of an element on a kit lens is nothing to them. Lenses (and cameras) from what I have read come out of the factory at about half the price we pay for them retail since all the rest is transport, advertising and middlemen's profits to stock and handle them.

I had no idea stuff could grow on the inside of a lens.

Unfortunately lenses are not airtight and the air we breath is full of fungus spores. Every time we focus or zoom a lens it acts like a pair of bellows drawing in or expelling air along with dust and fungus spores. You cannot stop this so the idea is to stop the spores germinating by keeping the lens (and camera) dry and in low humidity conditions as much as possible. The best way is storing it with some sort of desiccant like silica gel sachets, remembering occasionally to dry the sachets out on say a radiator and then use them again. Never put the camera or lens straight back in its case if it has got wet or been in high humidity conditions, but allow it to air dry in warmer conditions first.

http://www.diyphotography.net/quick-tip ... our-lenses" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

http://cameras.about.com/od/keeping_cam ... Fungus.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

If you buy electrical equipment you may find little bags filled with a sugar like substance in with them. Don't throw these away since you can use them for your camera equipment and they can be regularly dried out again on a radiator to get rid of any atmospheric moisture they have absorbed and reused. You can also get them cheap off places like EBAY:-

http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_trksi ... &_from=R40" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Of course if you live in dry air desert climate type of conditions you may never encounter lens fungus, but for those of us in more humid conditions at some time in the year it could be a problem to watch out for and take precautions.

Sometimes you can get lucky though. Just recieved one of those "oh what the heck" purchases, old Tamron 28-200 something that was advertised as having fungus on the rear element..even the ebay photos showed what very much looked like fungus.
Checked it out as it got here and although it looked like fungus it turned out to be something sticky that had collected some dust, 2 seconds with a cleaning cloth later and the rear element is pristine

Your stars seem to be aligned -- buy some lottery tickets or head to Vegas. Hurry. Luck seems to turn sour so easily.

Indeed it does! After a week of hearing nothing from the shop I finally got a reply. Stating that unfortunately the item is out of stock and they currently are waiting on a shippment from their supplier. Would of been real nice to of been told that during either the phonecalls or emails I exchanged with them last Friday
Just got to wait now I guess and keep my fingers crossed I get it in time to learn all the differences to the old camera before I go on holidays next month.