This is my second post about replacing my ageing A99ii. While I don't really do sports photography, I believe that the A99ii is one of the worst camera for tracking any moving subjects and way behind all current mirrorless cameras and some DSLRs.
This comes into play when I shoot a family with kids on swings. Sure, if you know the limitations of your camera, there are always workarounds, but I would rather be able to have a 100 photos with eye-AF spot-on to choose from, than one that somehow I was able to make work.
As I mentioned before, the Canon R5 is a very tempting camera for me to think of ditching Sony altogether. As specs go, it is a great replacement to the A99ii. If it wasn't for the pandemic, I would have been tempted for sure. The downsides of jumping ship is needing to replace some Sony specific accessories that I already own, such as my Godox flash equipment.
Also, for environmental reasons, everything I buy is used. With Sony, there are so many lenses from various manufacturers that you can buy used on e-bay or FB. There are some Canon lenses available used, but they are definitely very expensive.
So what is my current plan? I really like the Sony A1. It just came out and costs twice as the A99ii. That said, it does everything I need and more. Spec-wise, it seems like it would last for many years as a perfect hybrid camera. I might not need 8K or 30fps, but at least I know that I have them in case they are needed a few years from now.
I would probably want to get the LA-EA5, also not really available much on the local used market right now. I would also need to get some CFExpress A cards, but they also don't have great availability right now.
So it seems that everything I would need to switch to mirrorless is out there, but that I will have to wait until next year to do it. For now, I can get by with the A99ii and perhaps rent out some mirrorless cameras for larger jobs like weddings. For now, I am avoiding event and wedding photography, due to the pandemic. I do have a wedding scheduled for September which I will probably shoot with rented A1 and mirrorless lenses.
So, it seems like there are two possible roads for me. If the pandemic will be over by summer and there will be an influx of photography work, I will possibly get the camera of my dreams sooner than expected. If I continue relying mostly on video editing work with some portrait photography on the side, I'll wait until next April to buy a bunch of great used mirrorless equipment that hopefully will last me a long while.
