Introduction and Preview:
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Today, the Sony Alpha A900 DSLR at last rises from prototype to production model with an official announcement by Sony, along with our hands-on preview. The Alpha A900 is now Sony's high end Flagship DSLR featuring a 100% view .74x Pentaprism viewfinder, an improved weather/dust resistant body, full magnesium-alloy outer frame with a high grade aluminum sub-frame, 5 frames per second full frame capture, 3" 921k pixel LCD, a 24.6 megapixel full frame Exmor CMOS sensor, dual BIONZ processors, Intelligent Preview, and a retail price of $2,999.00 (body only). Thats a lot of horsepower for the cost. Amidst much anticipation we now have the final specifications for you on Sony's high end DSLR, and a full production model (just in) for a complete review to follow. The Alpha A900 is slated for release at the end of October. Continued...

I was able to spend a full day with the A900 to get a hands-on experience with a pre-production Sony Alpha A900. I spent the day at a Winery in the Santa Clarita Valley getting to know the A900 and taking quite a few shots with various lenses. My focus of the day was to run through all the new features on the camera as much as possible so that I could write a basic hands-on preview. I was able to use the camera and most of its features quite a bit, and try out various scenarios with it. The A900 was easy to get used too since the layout is much like the A700's.

After taking quite a few photos at the winery, it was off to the Vazquez Rocks Natural Area Park for additional photo opportunities. There I was able to test the A900's on some very interesting landscape with the Sony 24-70 2.8 SSM, and wow, quite a pair that makes!

On the ride up to the winery I familiarized myself with the A900 and I quickly became aware of some of its features that I immediately liked and that I thought would be well received by Alpha users.

Features such as:

• Noise reduction off option in the main menu
• User changeable focusing screens
• Micro auto focus control for up to 30 different lenses
• Intelligent Preview technology
• Bracketing up to 2 full stops
• Improved build quality (360 degree magnesium body panels)
• Improved Battery life with the Lithium NP-FM500H (880 shots)
• Compatibility with APS-C specific lenses in the APS-C crop mode

In general I am quite pleased about all of the new specifications and features in the A900. I have gathered quite a bit of data and hands on observations about the Flagship that I will share in this preview based on my experience with it thus far. I will also give you a tour of it and its various stand-out features. Details about image quality and other performance tests will come when I complete the final review on the production model A900, of which we now have here with us a AlphaMountWorld. Along with the A900, we have the new VG-C90AM vertical grip and the HVM-58 Flash Unit. More will follow quickly here, along with a series of first test shots in a separate gallery.

To start off, the A900 overall feels and operates much like the A700. There have been some menu changes and features added to the Quick-Navi user interface, but all in all the camera feels and operates much the same, so transition from the A700 will be very easy for you. Externally, some features have changed as well (as many have already seen on press photos), mainly to the top plate with the addition of the back lit LCD, the dedicated button re-arrangement, and lack of a built in flash unit.

What stood out for me right away while handling the camera was the build quality. If you think the A700 was well built, you will definitely appreciate the new A900 with the complete magnesium outer panels (the rear was added). Only the media card access door is high quality plastic now on the exterior surfaces. The rubber grip surfaces have been changed too, and enabling more grip area on the back panel for your thumb in comparison to the the A700. The left side of the camera has now been covered as well giving the surface area of the camera plenty of real estate to grip.

The new .74x, 100% viewfinder is a real delight to view your scene through. Those at home on the Maxxum 9 film camera will appreciate having 100% coverage again, and those that aren't are in for something truly special. The A900 is one of only 3 full frame DLSRs out today that has 100% coverage and is the most affordable of the 3. Not only is 100% coverage nice, but the view is bright, lively, and huge; with every clear component that makes up the viewfinder having been treated with new multi-layer anti-reflective optical coatings to ensure excellent light transfer.

Weight and size are both controlled well for a camera at this level and price range. While just noticeably heavier than the A700, it isn't by all that much and it seems to help balance out heavier lenses a little more. I like that the A900 is smaller and lighter than other full frame DSLRs. In part this is because of the newly developed mirror box and its unique Parallel Link design. This design elevates the mirror (as opposed to the typical design which just swings the mirror up on one link) creating a smaller overall mirror path. This decreases the overall depth dimensions while still maintaining 100% coverage. Very smart design. Click here and here for other interesting views of the assembly.

Size and weight can make a real world difference to field photographers and subsequently is a real advantage of the A900 vs. its competition in this category. Considering the amount of resolution inherent to the A900, it might be a very good consideration for those used to the bigger and much heavier medium format film cameras or large digital back models.

In use, the sound and volume of the mirror/shutter mechanism sounded like the Minolta Maxxum-9 film camera. More "mechanical" still, and more so than some other DSLRs. It isn't the quietest I've heard, especially when compared to some APS-C units, but then again it is a full frame camera and there is a lot of weight moving in there which is really comparing apples to kiwi's.

Another reason the A900 has been kept relatively small is because of the newly developed Image Stabilization unit. Even though it now houses a large full frame sensor, it has been kept relatively small in comparison to an APS-C sized unit.

This unit has been upgraded to accommodate the heavier sensor by increasing the power of the unit to 1.5 times that of the APS-C sized model. Sony claims a 2.5-4 stop improvement in vibration reduction, depending on the lens and conditions. In my limited use of the A900 in lower light, Super Steady Shot seemed to perform noticeably a bit better actually than the A700, but I will reserve a final analysis with my final review.

Write speed of the A900 was impressive. Given its class leading resolution, there was a lot of data being transfered to my Sandisk IV CF card. The dual Bionz processors worked fast keeping the A900 from lagging, and while I didn't put a stop watch to it, the A900 certainly seemed to be able to do 5FPS on that card when set to any of the file types. That is inline with the Canon MkIII 1DS as well (they have the same burst rate in raw and raw/jpeg), but the A900 has a kicker. Since there is more data coming from the larger file sizes as a result of higher resolution of the A900, it is faster at transferring the total amount of data over the Canon. To say the processing power in this camera is something else, is an understatement. Reviewing the images on the LCD was just as fast as the A700.

I like the extra attention to detail given to the body design such as extra rubber grip area on the left side and rear of the body, and the molded finger tip groove. On the left side of the camera, all of the access doors are now of the hinged type. One of my small complaints about the A700 was that the video out/HDMI cable door was not hinged and had to be pried open with the fingertip.

Those who liked Eye Start Auto Focus on the A700, might see something missing on the A900 .. Grip Start. Sony has done a lot of research about this feature. As it turns out many of the owners of the A700 reported they actually didn't use Eyestart/Gripstart at all (I admit, I am one of them), nor did the market research turn out that this feature was really desired. So, it ends up saving some production costs of the A900 by not including the feature on this model. In some territories (namely Great Britain) the Nickel content of the Gripstart has been banned, so it just makes sense to remove the feature altogether. Otherwise, most of the good features of the A700 were preserved in the A900. Moving on.

Those concerned with battery life should know right away that the same battery is used throughout the entire DSLR range. What is great however, is that somehow Sony managed to squeeze extra life out of the NP-FM500H. By improving the shot capacity to a CIPA standard 880 shots over the already respectable 650 shot capacity of the A700, photographers will be delighted to know they will get more life with the same battery. Add the VG-C90-AM Vertical Grip and another battery, and you can get up to 1,760 shots on one charge.

According to Sony, the newly developed CMOS sensor is the main reason for the lower amperage draw on the battery. We will have to see what test results conclude, but by my estimation with the camera in all day use this is pretty accurate.