SONY α900(A900)
Review and Photo Examples of the α900 Digital SLR Camera
Table of contents
Gallery
Review
The α900 is the pinnacle of Sony’s pentaprism single-lens reflex camera, which was inherited from Minolta cameras.
This is a long-awaited digital camera with a 35mm full-frame sensor that can use Minolta α lenses, and is equipped with in-body image stabilization, making it a highly complete camera that combines analog and digital technology.
The viewfinder is really fun to manually focus on, and the physically large viewfinder on the LEICA S Typ007 is nice, but I think the α900’s viewfinder has the best visibility of any 35mm camera.
The ISO sensitivity could be raised to 3200 (extended setting 6400) at normal settings, but 800 was the upper limit for regular use, and 1600 was used for emergencies. The next-generation α99 has the upper limit of the normal setting expanded to 25600, giving a sense of four years of sensor evolution. As expected, the α99II increases the sensor pixel count to 42 million pixels while maintaining the same ISO sensitivity as the α99.
The α900 was not a quiet camera, as it made loud mirror drive noises and shutter noises when taking pictures. I feel like anyone who has used a single-lens reflex camera for a long time will understand the feeling that that sound lifts the mood of being photographed.
However, cameras these days are surprisingly quiet. Among the single-lens reflex cameras I have as of 2023, LEICA S Typ007 and SIGMA SD10/SD14, I remember that the sound was about the same as the LEICA S Typ007.
For a Sony camera, the button layout is decent and I didn’t have any trouble using it.
Personally, it served me well for about two years as the mother ship for the M42 and MINOLTA-α lenses.
The lens I used the most with this camera was the CarlZeiss Sonnar 135mm-ZA, which had a great body and sensor that was versatile enough to be used with everything from the latest lenses to older lenses.
A few years ago, I thought about getting one again, but at that time I ended up buying a used EOS-1DsMKIII that was on display, and so far I haven’t gotten around to getting it a second time. There would be no problem if the Leica R lens could be installed without modification, but it is physically impossible due to the length of the flange back.
Specification
| Model name | α900 | α99 | α99II |
| Sensor Pixels | 24 megapixels | ← | 42 megapixels |
| Sensor Size | 35mmフルサイズ | ← | ← |
| Back LCD and Pixels | 3.0 920,000 dots | 3.0 1.28 million dots | ← |
| View Finder | Fixed eye level Pentaprism used | EVF 2.36 million dots | ← |
| Viewfinder Magnification | 0.74 | 0.71 | 0.78 |
| Max Shutter Speed | 1/8000 | ← | ← |
| ISO sensitivity | 200-3200 (100-6400) | 100-25600 (50-25600) | ← |
| Battery | NP-FM500H | ← | ← |
| Recorded media | CF/MS | SD/MS | ← |
| Release date | 2008.10.23 | 2012.10.26 | 2016.11.25 |
| Size(mm) | 156.3× 16.9× 81.9 | 147× 111.2× 78.4 | 142.6 x 104.2 x 76.1 |
| Weight(g) Body only | 850 | 733 | 770 |
Options
- Vertical position grip VG-C90AM (2 batteries can be mounted)
- Remote Commander: RMT-DSLR1, RM-S1AM, RM-L1AM
Reference links
Update history
- 2024.02.28:Update
- 2023.11.04:First draft
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