Worth replacing the shutter?

[Mr.Meerkat]

Hey all!

 

Unfortunately my beloved sony A65's shutter is failing. About every 4 photos or so, the shutter fails and throws a camera error. As it is a 6 year old camera with moderate to heavy-usage, I was wondering if it is worth replacing the shutter.

In terms of cost, I'll need to take it to a shop and see what they quote but I suspect somewhere in the region of £200~. Thing is, it is only worth around £250-350 now (depending on condition and usage) so I'm wondering it if it is more wise to just replace it. Of course, if I do replace the body, my budget is highly limited at the moment due to other commitments so I'm unsure what I could even go for (that could even be considered a side-grade).

 

So, shall I replace the sensor or just get a new body (and I suspect lenses as current offerings from Sony for A-mounts is slightly limited, so any recommendations?). I guess I could always yoink my mother's A6300 (which she uses maybe for two events a year?) but preferably I do not. 

[Indus Monk]

I don't know about UK pricing. but, what A mount camera can you get if you have a budget of 300 to 350 (maybe 400)?

[Mr.Meerkat]

36 minutes ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

I don't know about UK pricing. but, what A mount camera can you get if you have a budget of 300 to 350 (maybe 400)?

Second hand: A65, A77 and streching a little A77ii (can be found for £500~)

New: A68...that's it

 

I mean with the E-mount cameras, I guess at least I'll have a 50-210mm lens to soften the blow (mother's now that's something I can take as I know she hasn't used it once), which will allow me to (just) fit A7 or A6300s into the budget (ish, they're around £500~ as well). 

[Indus Monk]

On 3/16/2019 at 7:51 AM, Mr.Meerkat said:

Second hand: A65, A77 and streching a little A77ii (can be found for £500~)

New: A68...that's it

 

I mean with the E-mount cameras, I guess at least I'll have a 50-210mm lens to soften the blow (mother's now that's something I can take as I know she hasn't used it once), which will allow me to (just) fit A7 or A6300s into the budget (ish, they're around £500~ as well). 

Sony A7 is famous for its ISO performance. It also looks like a better deal than the other cameras because of the quality

[Mr.Meerkat]

11 hours ago, AmbarChakrabarti said:

Sony A7 is famous for its ISO performance. It also looks like a better deal than the other cameras because of the quality

Soooo...get an A7, get a general lens, yoink my mother's 70-210mm (she's never used it before) and go from there?  

[Indus Monk]

On 3/18/2019 at 5:41 PM, Mr.Meerkat said:

Soooo...get an A7, get a general lens, yoink my mother's 70-210mm (she's never used it before) and go from there?  

yes

[AbydosOne]

On 3/18/2019 at 7:41 PM, Mr.Meerkat said:

Soooo...get an A7, get a general lens, yoink my mother's 55-210mm (she's never used it before) and go from there?  

I would recommend against the A7 with that lens because the A7 is full frame and the SEL55210 lens is an APS-C lens. You'll get ~12MP photos out of that combination (instead of 24), basically wasting the rest of it. Full frame lenses are remarkably more expensive for the same thing (because they're bigger and better). For comparison, the full frame equivalent to the SEL55210 is the SEL70300G, which is a $1150 lens. Even the worse-performing SEL24240 is $950 on a good day. Get an A6300.

 

I feel for your pain over A-mount. I loved my A57, and it actually has some advantages to my recent A7II, but there's nowhere left to go with A-mount except the A68 (cheap), A77II (old), and A99II (expensive).

[cc143]

The original a7 is really bad as a camera, not really worth it, if you wanna get into e-mount, anything before a7rii/a7iii is really your best option but those cost way more. 

 

If you are changing systems anyway, you may as well do that, although you should probably consider Canon or Nikon or even Pentax since you can find used FF decent bodies for those prices and the lens systems end up being much more affordable (Canon in particular). 

 

With that budget though, depending on how invested you are in the system. Its a dead system after all, if you have all you need, consider a low cost A mount body and save up to get something better when you need to or can afford to. If not,buy a used 6d or 5d2.

 

But an a7, soupled with an apsc lens anyway is not worth it.  

[Mr.Meerkat]

On 3/22/2019 at 2:01 PM, AbydosOne said:

-snip-

Well the SEL55210 costs me £0 so its just one of those things where if you already have it, you might as well use it. Not perfect as it is only APS-C but at the same time, better than not having a zoom lens at all. Probs will pick up a SEL2870 as it can be picked up for extremely cheap (<£100) till my financial circumstances actually allow for better lenses. 

 

Yeah, it tis kinda sad as I love my A65. Bought it second hand in 2014 and after many holidays, plane spots and landscape shots, the shutter has failed. Turned it on yesterday and the shutter has basically more or less completely failed. I mean it can still take perfectly in-sharp images but the shutter fails to "reset" after each shot so you need to turn it off and on again. Ah well, I'll think about what to do with the 4 lenses I have I guess (maybe a simple non-autofocusing A to E mount? As the LA-EA3 is pwetty expensive). 

 

On 3/22/2019 at 8:07 PM, cc143 said:

-snip-

If I am getting an A7, I'll get an actual FF lens (most likely SEL2870 cause it can be found for pennies) so it isn't like I'm using an APS-C lens on a FF camera. As for the other suggests, I'll consider em however, to be brutally honest, one thing that's attracting me towards the A6300 or A7 is the size. Get a nice n compact lens and I'll actually have something usable in the cockpit of an light aircraft. 

[cc143]

3 hours ago, Mr.Meerkat said:

Well the SEL55210 costs me £0 so its just one of those things where if you already have it, you might as well use it. Not perfect as it is only APS-C but at the same time, better than not having a zoom lens at all. Probs will pick up a SEL2870 as it can be picked up for extremely cheap (<£100) till my financial circumstances actually allow for better lenses. 

 

Yeah, it tis kinda sad as I love my A65. Bought it second hand in 2014 and after many holidays, plane spots and landscape shots, the shutter has failed. Turned it on yesterday and the shutter has basically more or less completely failed. I mean it can still take perfectly in-sharp images but the shutter fails to "reset" after each shot so you need to turn it off and on again. Ah well, I'll think about what to do with the 4 lenses I have I guess (maybe a simple non-autofocusing A to E mount? As the LA-EA3 is pwetty expensive). 

 

If I am getting an A7, I'll get an actual FF lens (most likely SEL2870 cause it can be found for pennies) so it isn't like I'm using an APS-C lens on a FF camera. As for the other suggests, I'll consider em however, to be brutally honest, one thing that's attracting me towards the A6300 or A7 is the size. Get a nice n compact lens and I'll actually have something usable in the cockpit of an light aircraft. 

So is a 6d with a small prime or even some smaller zooms, there's many you can find that are quite good, certainly better than the Sony 28-70mm, dirt cheap and much more reliable. The size advantage of the a7 is really oversppreciated. By the time you put most lenses on there, the camera is as bulky as a typical dslr, only you dont need to carry 14 batteries for it and the AF acctually works.