I’ve been shooting Minolta for years, moving to Sony Alpha, getting a platform that allowed for me to utilize my old lenses was just a dream come true.
Moving to the A99 was absolutely a change for me; it is absolutely a magnificent machine with a lot of whiz-bang features. Killer features like full-time live view phase detect autofocus, focus range limiting, focus peaking and focus magnification, sweep panorama and heaps more. The A99 is clearly a professional camera and aimed at a professional marked.
And that’s where the problems start…
Sony seems to be a “sell and forget” kind of company. Their product support seems to lack on all fronts. There is no local repair shop in Denmark, Firmware updates … do Sony even know what that is?
New products receive new killer features which could easily be backported to this professional A99V platform. Features like Zebra, MF Assist is low hanging fruits to implement.
The layout of focus points is also pretty limited, and yes 102 assisting points would help, but where are the lenses that support this feature? How many third party lenses?
This lack of support goes beyond cameras, The F60M blitz, over heats easily in version 1.0 but the issue was solved silently with version 1.1… where is the major rollout wave?
Statement of affection…
I really love my A99, I mean I really do. But Sony as a company, and a serious vendor, you need to wake up… and now would be the perfect time.
Fellow Sony users, I would love to hear your views on this. Are you as disappointed? Please share this blogpost maybe we can awake the giant.
The Golden Hour 
Same here. I have a alpha 700. The shutter and the spring died. Poor service, no help whatsoever here. The authorized dealer offered no help. Send me to a repair shop that could not even guarantee replacement parts, but offered to charged me just take a look. I have to pay the shipping.
With all due respect, but you cant expect that manufacturer have support for 8-9 years old camera….. .
Firmware updates on a 8-9 yrs old camera.. no thats not to be expected
What about Sparepart ? is that the same deal ?
A99 is a 3 year old camera. They’ve just released a new A-Mount camera, the A68. Also with the firmware updates you can adapt almost all of your A-Mount lenses on the A7II, A7rII, and A7sII using the LA-EA3 adaptor and get pretty much full AF speed and capabilities. The LA-EA4 also works great and they might even release a new adaptor that uses the improved AF system of the A-Mount cameras.
Hi Kevin
Appricate your comment.
The A68 is a A65 replacement.. The A99V is still the top of the line in the FF series. Fine they are offering adapters to the E series, but thats really not the same as maintaining their product line.
The A99 might be an 3yrs old platform, but its not 3yrs since they sold their last camera.
Guldmann
Thanks for bringing this up as i am in the same boat as you are. I am old Minolta user from the days of Minolta Dynax 7000 and moving over to the Minolta 7d, Sony A700 and A900 in the digital age. Being heavily invested in Alpha Mount glass, i am stuck at A900 as i see the A99 not being a true upgrade to my A900 because still photography is mainly what i do. I had no other option but to get an LAEA4 and A7ii to use my A-Mount glass. I must say the overall user experience has been not that great with this combination. Any given day, i would still choose to pick my A900 instead of the A7ii LAEA4 combination.
I think Sony should roll out A99 mk II as soon as possible. One cannot beat the sturdiness, buld quality and egonomics of a DSLR shaped camera. Now i don’t mean to say that the A7 series cameras aren’t up to the mark, since i own one and love it, but to us old time Minolta users, after using A900/A99 we have been spoilt.. Please don’t ask to drive a Prius after giving us the luxury of Cadillac 😀
It’s just business. I have my alpha 200 and besides broken 18-70mm nothing bad happened. Battery still alive and so on. New does not mean better sometimes
Totally agree and it’s the same with my a77ii. New cameras get all the bells and whistles while older cameras get forgotten about. It’s a bit like BT, SkyTV, etc. They lure new customers in with special deals and offers on new equipment, then once you buy, you’re forgotten about.
I totally agree with you!
Sony’s support leaves much to be desired. If professionals and serious amateurs are to take Sony serious they must find a whole different approach to support. I had a flash with the heating problem. Sony would, after some discussion, like to update the firmware, but it took six weeks to update it at the authorised dealer.
Wait until you need warranty service on your Sony camera. It outsourced warranty service to Precision in the U.S., who by most reports is doing a horrible job.
In the UK there is zero support in any of the respected camera shops as they do not rate Sony support. 2 of my local shops have said that they make fantastic cameras but their support is woefully short. I’ve been a Minolta/Sony user since the 5xi & 7D. I’ve ended up buying Sigma glass as if I change my camera, I can change the mounts on my lenses to fit the new camera. I love my A55 & especially my A99 but when it dies, I will most probably move to either a Nikon or Canon FF.
Just to clean a sensor, Sony wanted £150!! My local shop did it for £45 for the A99 and £35 for the A55.
Love the camera but they need to get more support in the high street shops.
I hope that Sony sooner rather than later will realise that we have grown tired with the poor service. Sony’s new practice to sell products, outsource customer relations to companies who wear out the customer with poor service is not a good one.
absolutely agree with your observations about Sony ongoing support and development for existing products. Only recently did they release a couple of firmware updates for the a7 series cameras, but since the very first a7r, there have been so many opportunities to take care of loyal, existing customers, instead of putting out new cameras every 4 to 6 months. It’s shameful the disdain with which they treat existing customers. There are many forums and discussions now online where customers are expressing this disappointment and frustration. I just don’t know if Sony is listening or cares. The seem to be going after market share, which means selling more hardware, not supporting existing…. and new customers, instead of taking care of already loyal customers.
Very Disappointed….. and I will reiterate…. I, like you, absolutely love my a7 series camera….after years of Nikon shooting…. I just wish they would take care of us.