Sony a850 Digital SLR Camera Body with 24.6 Megapixel & 3.0" LCD Screen, HD Output

2012-04-01T21:00:00

The Sony A850, now discontinued, is a quality FF digital camera with excellent craftsmanship, excellent Sony, Minolta & Zeiss lenses and a very good 24mp CMOS sensor. Probably a best buy for a FF camera. No longer made and that is a shame because it is a quality camera that will satisfy m the most demanding studio/landscape photographer.

TL

2012-01-29T19:00:00

Just like the Alpha 900, but lower price. Biggest difference is frames per second is slightly lower than Alpha 900. Little image for me, as I am a wedding photographer.

ERIC G.

2011-12-04T19:00:00

This full frame Sony is a beautiful camera for studio and wedding work. The resolution is amazing and the cost is more than fair. The build quality is first rate too.

TL

2011-09-10T21:00:00

Best price for full frame camera., Built like a tank. Has all the necessary features to produce excellent photo's. Ad a Carl Zeiss 24-70mm F/2.8 and your have a system that is hard to beat. I love it.

bill

2011-09-04T21:00:00

Okay people, here's the facts. This camera is hands down, the best full-frame digital camera bargain out there. Better buy one while you still can. Absolutely stunning detail and color accuracy, autofocus is fast, viewfinder is HUGE. An actual professional photographers camera. And I know where of I speak-been a photographer since 1972 (started as a Navy photographer) Then 35-plus years as a pro-football, fine art and wedding shooter. I'm retired from weddings and now just shoot landscapes and nudes. (I love my job!) No gimmicks on this bad boy, can't uplink to 'THE TWITTER,' or any other site. Just a very well made tool with scads of resolution. If you shoot landscapes, portraits, fine art etc.. Buy this camera. If you shoot anything in the dark...Don't buy this camera. Packing 24.5 million pixels on a 24x36mm chip means those pixels are small. And they get real noisy when you up the iso speed over 800 or shoot time exposures. I go back to the time when ISO 400 was mind boggling. So I'm perfectly comfortable at ISO 200. So, other than that IT SMOKES ANYTHING ELSE! Especially for the money. But whatever you do, don't put cheap glass on it, unless you want blurry shots. This chip demands the best glass. I print my fine art work on an Epson 3800 and the results are stunning. Very 'film like'. I can easily rez. up the files to 40x60" prints for shows I do here and there and the quality is amazing. I even use my Wista a lot less now because of this camera. (That plus I'm 57 and tired of hauling 50 lbs. of view camera gear up hillsides) So honest, you better buy it before the stock runs out cause Sony don't make 'em anymore and you'll have to shell out an additional 800.00 to get the A900. A camera which will soon be the 'best bang for the buck!' Cheers!

fotoguy53

2011-09-03T21:00:00

I purchased this camera for weddings to replace my aging Minolta 7d. I like the fact that Sony continued the same intuitive user interface that Minolta developed in the mid 90's. The full-frame is fantastic compared to a smaller sensor and reminds me of looking through my old film cameras.

GARY G.

2011-09-03T21:00:00

This camera is a quality built machine with great resolution. Although it shoots only 3 FPS (it was not meant to shoot fast action) it is perfect for studio, landscape and other applications. Highly recommended!

TL

2011-05-19T20:00:00

I had a chance to use the a850 and took photos of my kids at a baseball game. The quality was fantastic but when the sky was a slight overcast the image was quite darker than it should be. Even in bright but cloudy weather I had to use the flash (not supplied) Overall a great camera, a bit heavy. But with as many features packed into it, it should be.

Mooncow

Originally posted at

2011-04-05T20:00:00

Had camera less than two weeks, still experimenting with use. Test images look fantastic. Yes noisy in lower light but can be corrected easily. Supplied software is good but not pro quality, pros need photoshop/lightroom. Used to shoot Konicas so wanted to stay with Konica/minolta line, No regrets. Can't wait to shoot some more. Sample attached (large file)

Moonstruck

Originally posted at

2011-01-11T19:00:00

I purchased a SonyA850 as I wanted a full frame camera. After much research I picked the Sony. I have had no problems with it. It takes beautiful pictures. I do like to take photos in almost no light conditions, and unfortunately the camera does not perform well in low low light. But, at least the Sony tries which is more than I can say for my Nikon D80. I believe many people are equating SONY with their walkman and gaming devices, and are really not giving them credit for developing a full frame quality camera in the price range a consumer can actually afford. There is no such thing as a perfect camera as each has its ups and downs, but Sony did a darn good job with the A850 and A900 and I am happy with mine.

camera1

Originally posted at

2010-12-20T19:00:00

A great camera at a relatively decent price. This camera delivers and even more! i am very happy with this purchase. Now i am on a quest to find good lenses at good prices for the alpha 850.

Photographer101

Originally posted at

2010-11-27T19:00:00

First off, the previous reviewers that mention that the high ISO noise is too much over ISO 400 have NEVER printed a photo from this camera. They must be viewing these files at 100% image size on their monitor, which is actually quite useless. My suggestion, go to your local camera store and get some of your photos printed from the A850, you will be amazed. This camera captures more detail and better colors than I have ever seen. I am amazed every time I use this camera. It has wonderful external controls, perfectly placed buttons, a HUGE bright viewfinder (photographer's dream) and fast and VERY ACCURATE autofocus. When paired with professional lenses, I don't think the A850 can be beat in overall image quality, and color reproduction. I am confident that I can produce wonderful photos from ISO 100 to ISO 3200. Great job Sony, I cannot wait to see what the future holds in photography.

spada

Originally posted at

2010-07-19T20:00:00

I was so excited to finally upgrade to the Full Frame A850 until I saw the poor quality images that it produces with higher ISO levels. I'm considering returning it due to the extremely poor performance. After researching online and seeing the long running numerous rumors about a firmware update, nothing is materializing and Sony doesn't appear to care about the professional level user market. I have owned 2x A200's, 1- A300, 1-A500 and 1-A700 and now the A850 and I'm very disappointed with the low light shots.

Chiro65

Originally posted at

2010-07-10T20:00:00

This camera was apparently designed by photographers. It does what you want it to do, and does it easy & quickly. The image quality to my eyes is obviously better than another high megapixel camera I had before. The alpha 850 has a more natural & film-like quality and the color & tone gradations are better; and with xlnt lenses it provides more resolution. Although jpgs are xlnt and camera settings can be tweaked as desired, I shoot mostly in raw and use Lightroom 3 to process them with excellent results. Now, if only Sony had more updated prime lenses...

Photojoe

Originally posted at

2010-06-22T20:00:00

If you are a feature/function Sony fan and don't care much about image quality this is your choice, though is expensive compared to Canon or Nikon that provide much better quiality/performance. I bought this camera based on other reviews made by self named "professional" guys, and the bottom line is that after I shoot 500 pictures I had to return it back and decided to go for the Canon 7D.... HUGE DIFFERENCE!!!

Regio

Originally posted at

2010-05-22T20:00:00

The a850 is awesome, everything that you photograph looks amazing. All the features make it a blast to shoot with and its design allow for very quick navigation in menus. Menus are super easy to navigate through, very straight forward without submenus within submenus. In darkness there is ISO noise when on a high setting, but a photographer shouldn't be only as good as their tool... Very very solid piece of equipment, especially considering anything comparable (excluding the a900) is 5k or more. I would also recommend a very large memory card, when shooting in xFine JPEG quality a 4GB stick held about 250 images, in RAW it was about half that.

dpops

Originally posted at

2010-04-24T21:00:00

The Sony a850 is one great camera at a great price. It's well built and does everything I expect it to. I highly recommend

FRANCIS P.

2010-04-16T21:00:00

Upgraded from an A700. Love the FF and the large viewfinder. Great camera.

FRANCIS P.

2010-04-10T21:00:00

It is best value for money to get into FF world and save money on lenses if you want to buy F2.8 zoom such as Zeiss 24-70 or Sony 70-200G. High ISO is not problem because it performs well to ISO 3200 with High Noise reduction on. It is best for studio portrait or landscape photography. I have researched for about 3 months to make this decision to go A850 when looking into Nikon D700 and Canon 5DII. But I can't refuse the value and picture quality by A850 plus Zeiss 24-70. It is no brain to leave Canon behind when you study the quality from Canon lenses. Nikon is over priced for high ISO pictures.

StudioGuy

2010-03-15T20:00:00

Horrible jpeg images (my $150 canon powershot a590is is far bether), unaceptable noisy even from iso 200, never updates firmware.

Plasmador

Originally posted at

2010-03-04T19:00:00

I got the camera for a really good deal considering it was over $200 less than a normal brand new one. The grip is really good, because I have bigger hands and need more camera body to hold onto.....the camera fits nicely. The camera's ability to capture extreme saturation is such a big plus. I am a fashion photographer and being able to have a large range of color and image options is something that is VERY important to me. 24 MegaPixels is nice to have, but honestly, if you aren't going to print pictures larger than a 20x30 poster....then 10 is really all that you need. I find the 24.6 MegaPixels a big consumer of space on the hard drive. On the other hand, when shooting RAW and making a lot of adjustments in Photoshop, 24.6 is such an added bonus for image clarity even after many adjustments have been made. I have to say that even though I really like the design of the camera, I don't like that some of the really important buttons that I need to switch through (such as the shortkey ISO button) are a little farther than normal to reach if your hand is still clentched to the grip. I found the in-camera menus are a lot easier to navigate through than most other larger camera manufactures' menus. It's simple and there aren't worlds of submenu's through the main categories that are abbreviated into strange terms that I have never encountered. The shutter was very interesting to me for the simple fact that it's sound almost mimic's my medium format Contax camera. The sound is study and strong, so hopefully it will last as long as the Contax has. There are only 4 or 5 small differences contrary to the A900. They both have the essentials that I really need, such as the Dual Bionz Processor, Sensor size, image quality, and are practically the same visually, but cost over $700 bucks less. If you want something that doesn't have most of the common bells and whistles that you will never use, but has the ones that count the most for your professional and everyday photography....then this is the camera that you have been waiting for.

dannyvann

Originally posted at

2010-02-20T19:00:00

I use this along with the alpha 900 at weddings. The Alpha 850 works just as well. Only difference is a sight delay after taking several rapid shots before the images are displayed on the LCD. I would highly recommend the A850!

ERIC G.

2010-02-02T19:00:00

This machine (more a machine then a camera) spits out massive ~35mb RAWS which are unmatched in terms of resolution and color. (Well... matched by the a900 obviously) Highly recommended to anyone wanting to enter the world of full frame photography. ## Request: Firmware update to allow use of manual lenses (such as lensbaby) in aperture priority mode with functioning autoexposure. This feature was present in the a100 and a700.

Kilikopela

Originally posted at

2010-01-20T19:00:00

After weeks of toiling between Nikon D700 or A850, I went with A850. While it's not a perfect camera, it's a very good one. Image quality is outstanding (using CZ 24-70 and Sony 70-400G). Menus are easy to understand and the controls are easy to use, and the camera feels great in your hands. Awesome viewfinder! I think the high ISO complaints are really overblown. I use up to ISO1600 easily with just a bit of chroma NR. I'll get up to ISO3200, but then I have to give the file some TLC with Noise Ninja, etc and your color suffers at 3200. Overall a nice camera that produces great imagery. I've already done a 24x36" print and it looks awesome.

JEREMY S.

2010-01-19T19:00:00

This camera is a joy to use. For a novice, it is easy to pick up and take a nice picture. For an advanced user, the intuitive control layout and responsive controls make this a camera that works with you, rather than against you. The in-camera image stabilization helps you take sharper images, rather than blurry shots because your hand moved just a bit too much when you pressed the trigger. The 24 megapixel sensor gives you the option to either make huge prints (24" x 36" prints are no problem) or crop away large sections of your image while maintaining the ability to make 8" x10" prints. This camera does a fantastic job with colors. Images are rich, vibrant, and saturated without looking unnatural. I rarely need to use software to adjust color levels as they look great straight out of the camera. Some people complain about this camera's high-ISO performance - its ability to take pictures with low amounts of light. While I would not use this camera as a professional concert photographer, I have no trouble using it in dimly-lit bars. The black-and-white photograph included with this review was taken using ISO 1600 and demonstrates how, even in poor light, this camera is capable of taking very nice, very sharp photos.

BobSocko

Originally posted at

2009-12-26T19:00:00

At any ISO above 400 the digital noise is totally unacceptable. To use in auto mode it automatically goes to a high iso. Shooting in raw. No difference if using the sony software to process or latest acr for photoshop cs4. Once in ps the noise is predominately in the blue channel but it is enough that definition and sharpness is lost. If an iso of 100 is all you need then it's a good system.

justashooter

Originally posted at

2009-12-18T19:00:00

2 months+ of ownership=2 months+ of joy. The ease of use coming from so many areas like in camera IS, terrific colors, awesume detail, can crop like crazy, and still have enough data for high quality prints. Switching from a 5 year old Minolta 7D was really hard for me... now I'm glad I did.. Hats off to Sony for making use of so many Minolta AF lens and flashes.

CBoy

Originally posted at

2009-11-02T19:00:00

I have a Sony a100 and it took pretty decient pictures for a 10 MP camera but I always wanted a A900 with all the bells and whistles but when the a850 came out with just 3 frames per secont instead of 5 and a reduced price of $1999.00 I could not turn it down and I could not be happier with this camera, it is so easy to adjust the settings and you can even have 3 memory settings that you set whatever you want and you can recall them when you want, this camera is amazing and it takes great pictures with a Minolta lens 70 to 300, when I get my Zeis lens in I will see what else it can do and let you know.

Pgunschmidt

Originally posted at

2009-11-01T19:00:00

This camera would be awesome in the studio with the strobes. In a real low light setting, the high resolution was able to save photos that had to be cropped that might have been lost with half the MPs. The photos looked beautiful at print size but the crystal clear pixel quality I was used to with my A700 was not easily achievable using the same lenses (70-200, 2.8 G, 24-70, 2.8 Zeiss). There was a softness to the images that was not to my liking or taste. I was torn but after comparisons photos with the A700 I returned the A850 and will wait for Sony to produce their rumored camera with less MPs and better low light iso. Hopefully even a FF.

Trebor

2009-10-27T20:00:00

Even though I have only played around with my new camera for 2 hours, I can already tell it was an excellent investment. I upgraded from the a350 to the a850 (which is quite a large jump) and I am amazed at the quality difference between an amateur and pro camera. I was a little hesitant because of other reviews saying how big and heavy it is, but I can honestly say that I am pleasantly surprised at how comfortably it fits in my very small hands. I currently have my Zeiss 2.8 24-70 on it and while it is heavy, using my hand grip takes the brunt of the weight off my hand and fingers and lets my arm carry most of the weight (I highly recomment using the Sony hand grip!) I did a few image tests for noise, and while there is noticable noise at ISO 3200, it is so much better than what I am used to with the a350. Rarely do I use my ISO that high, but it will be nice to know I can count on the higher ISOs to perform well. While I still have a lot to play with and figure out with the a850, so far I am very impressed.

Kentlyn

Originally posted at