Sony Alpha DSLR-A850 (Body Only) Reviews: Digital SLR Camera

Here’s a list of the questions other shoppers have asked owners of the Sony Alpha DSLR-A850 (Body Only)

1. plz can u tell me wht is the maximum distance to which a picture can be taken clearly .
   
   Mirza aya asked on 28 Oct 2010
   1. All lenses of course will focus to infinity. But the answer is that it's mostly a function of the lens quality - there is no absolute answer to your question. Sony, like other SLR manufacturers, has so-called kit lenses (e.g. the other cameras in the Sony range are often sold with a 18-70mm zoom) which are built to a budget cost and sold at a budget price - maybe €100 or less. They won't produce particularly crisp images, either further away or in low-light conditions or at the corners of the image. More expensive lenses like the 24-70mm f2.8 Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar T Zoom lens will be much better (but cost €1500).
      The camera itself has evidently an extremely high quality sensor, and the processing engine inside is also good quality. So the fundamentals are good. There have been complaints that the low-light (=high ISO) capability of the A900/A850 is not as good as the competing brands. Maybe so - I haven't got a Canon or Nikon to compare - but this is a bit purist since the alternative cameras cost generally a lot more, and the amount of time a typical user would spend with the camera set to high ISO is quite limited.
      And the final obvious point is that on dusty or misty days, images taken at a distance will not be crisp. There is always dust and moisture in the atmosphere - the more there, the lower the picture image in terms of sharpness.
      
      Steve replied on 28 Oct 2010

       
2. I have been searching for over a week on the web to find information re dedicated lenses for the a850/a900 Sony alpha full frame camera. Can some kind person point me in the right direction.
   
   Charles asked on 29 Oct 2010
   1. I fitted the 50mm Sigma HSM to my 850, it's great but is sometimes difficult to use in some circumstances due to back-focusing problems.
      When it's good, it's very, very good. I have looked at the new Sigma 85mm lens, but there's not a lot of clear blue water between it and the 50mm lens by the same maker. I think that by preference, I would choose the Sony Zeiss 24-70mm 2.8 zoom but this is expensive and I am waiting to get enough work to justify buying one. Other than that, the Sony Zeiss 135mm lens would be good.
      
      Graham replied on 30 Oct 2010

       
   2. There are not really "dedicated" lenses for the A850/900. In effect, any lenses with the Minolta, Konica-Minolta or Sony bayonet mount will physically fit on the bodies, and the electronics will also work appropriately.
      
      There are lenses which one way or another will suffer problems. The 850/900 are "full-frame" bodies, which means that the sensor is about the same size as a 35mm film frame. Some K-M and Sony lenses are explicitly designed for "half-frame" or APS-C size sensors; these are labelled DT lenses. They will often - maybe, for all I know, always - produce vignetting when put onto a full-frame camera. When switching from a K-M 7D APSC-C camera to an A850, I had that with a 18-70mm lens (I didn't care, it was a kit lens and cheap so I could get rid of it) and a 11-18mm wide-angle zoom (which bothered me a good deal more since it was expensive).
      
      One of the issues with full-frame cameras like the two Sonys are that in a sense they are well-suited to older "film" lenses - ones that were designed for camera bodies using print or slide film, which were de facto full-frame. I have a 24-80 lens dating from the 1980s like this, evidently without the vignetting problem of some modern "digital" lenses.
      
      However, something else to bear in mind is that the sensor on the 850/900 is very large and with a big pixel-count. That means that its fundamental ability to generate sharp images is high, with the right lens. If you use a cheap or - maybe - old lens on the camera, it will be possible to see the imperfections in the result. Or maybe more to the point, you may not see them because the image will just be soft. Full-frame cameras are fairly unforgiving in focusing (get it wrong and you'll see the result). There is then an incentive to use the bodies with very high class optics, in order to reach the potential for the integrated body+lens system. Sony's Carl Zeiss-designed lenses fit the bill here. But necessarily they are expensive - for example, the 24-70 f2.8 costs around $1500 in the US and comparable elsewhere. This is about the same as the price of the body... for one lens.
      
      I hope that helps...
      
      Steve replied on 30 Oct 2010

       
   3. As Steve said the are Sigma and Tamaron lenses that will fit the 850 - go for the best optics that you can afford take care when ordering wide angle - ensure they fit a full frame sensor. I have the Sigma 100 macro and the Tamaron 28-300 both of which I find work well with the 850.
      
      Bernard replied on 03 Nov 2010

       
3. Thanks guys for the info, one more question I will want to purchase a wide angle with the 24-70 Zeiss and I remember having an 18mm Nikon Ai (for film-non fish-eye) which I found to be great mainly because of the spread of the image. Is there such an equivalent in the Sony/ Minolta range even if it is manual settings.
   
   Charles asked on 03 Nov 2010
   1. You might be better looking at Sigma with an Alpha mount.
      
      Graham replied on 03 Nov 2010

       
4. Hi, I am considering buying a 850. I have a a100 at the moment (I know a huge step!) I looked at the Sony a580, but it has no macro setting (which I use a lot) other wise i would have gone for that one, I liked the jump in pixels to 16. DOes the a850 have a marco setting and my other problem is I have a nice range of lenses for the a100, but will they do the a850? I have a sony macro sal100m28, a sony sal70300 a sal18200 lens, thanks in advance.
   
   Rona asked on 06 Mar 2011
   1. Hi Rona, I don't honestly know if your lenses will fit, something you will have to enquire of Sony. Probably they will or you can get a converter. As to macro it depends on the lens you use. Sorry if I'm not much help, but it's a great camera body, there's no doubt. Good luck.
      
      Ian replied on 08 Mar 2011

       
5. I was wondering that this product is advertised as Sony alpha A850(body only),
   body only means i cant understand .. whether lens i need to buy seperately or ...i dont know.. pls clarify this query
   
   parthiban asked on 03 Apr 2011
   1. You need to buy a lens.
      
      Graham replied on 04 Apr 2011

       
   2. Parthiban
      The whole point of any Single Lens Reflex camera, whether digital like the A850 or going back to film days, is that lenses can be changed. Often retailers or manufacturers will sell a DSLR with a "standard" zoom lens (and this is often not that great quality, but that depends). But they can also be sold just as body-only, for people who already have a set of lenses of that fitment.
      Frankly, the A850 is an expensive camera - is it worth paying that amount of money when you're just learning about DSLR photography?
      
      Steve replied on 04 Apr 2011

       
   3. The simple answer is yes you need to buy a lens or lenses for this camera. Personally I didn't buy a Sony lens as they are rather expensive. The camera body I think is great, taking very good photographs, money well spent.
      
      Ian replied on 04 Apr 2011

       
6. Hi,
   What does 2-4 weeks delivery time mean? Do you think A850 is not available any more? Is there production issues, considering the Japanese earthquake..
   I had ordered this body and Sony has not come back to me on availability yet. Has anyone actually waited for 4 weeks and got their A850 or any other slr successfully delivered?
   Thanks,
   
   Ergun asked on 04 Aug 2011
   1. Sony have stopped making a number of models including the A700 and A850 which was before the earthquake, so that can't be the reason unless the majority of remaining stock was destroyed in a warehouse of similar.
      
      If you've ordered from Sony direct, anything could be a reason, but why 4 weeks I have no idea unless they don't actually have it in stock and are ordering from Japan, and as they would've already been made, I see no reason for such a delay. There are still new copies to be found depending which part of the World you live in, but as the A900 was more popular with the professionals, it is available more easily and is still showing as a current model, and I've seen it in the High Street for under £1500.00 new. With the introduction of the A77 in September/October, A850 & A900 prices may start to fall, but it's not a full frame camera, though I hear they are working on an A850/A900 replacement.
      
      If you ordered an item from Japan from eBay, it would be delivered in about 7 days from ordering.
      
      Regards,
      
      Mark replied on 06 Aug 2011

       
   2. Hi
      I bought mine brand new, in a shop on Ebay.co.uk and get it a few days later, from London. No problems and £300 cheaper.
      
      Pierre replied on 09 Aug 2011

       
7. Hello dear SONY Alpha 850 owners. I wish to pose a question only to the professional users: For a studio purpose I will give a proposal to my boss to purchase a FF camera. I recent prefered the Nikon D3X before I 've look at A 850. Question: Is the Sony Alpha 850 preferable choice to regard all the studio and landscape purposes with some really good lenses as; CZ 24-70 F.2.8, CZ 85 F.1.4, CZ 135 F 1.8 and CZ 24 F.2,CZ 16-80 F.3.5-4.5?
   
   Alan asked on 25 Oct 2011
   1. if you have nikon lenses even ai go for d3x. manual nikkor wides are fine for landscapes esp 20mm f2.8 is sharp as! if starting over the A850 is a cheaper option but lens choice is less and cant open its raw files int PS cs3!
      
      martin replied on 26 Oct 2011

       
   2. I use my a850 mostly for landscapes and close up work I use two Sony lenses the 500 mirror and the wide angle zoom, I use Sigma 150mm macro and a Tamron 28-300 zoom. With all lenses the results are good, I only have an A3 printer so I normally only enlarge to this size but the results are are excellent - you will be using studio lights/flash and I have no experience of these, I do use a ring-flash for my macro work and the TTL metering works fine with that. Before I retired I use to do some professional photography, at that time I used a Canon A1 for my 35mm work - it is difficult to compare film with digital but I think the results are of comparable quality.
      The only drawback to the a850 over the a350, which I also own, is the a850 doesn't have a tilting viewable LCD for taking shots in difficult positions (mostly macro). I always work in RAW and the Sony RAW converter is OK but I use Abobe RAW in CS5 and that fits all my requirements.
      
      Bernard replied on 28 Oct 2011

       

Got a question? Get an answer from someone who actually owns the product.
We'll publish your question and the answer here to help other shoppers.