Rebate question

[PurpleHays]

I have worked my @$$ off the past two months and have saved a chunk of OT/bonus pay for a new camera. Since I have so many Sony A-mount lenses, I want to stick with Sony. I can get an adapter to fit the  Alpha a7III, so that's the route I'm going. When I talked to the guy (clerk? Sales rep? What are they called these days?) at our local camera store, he suggested I wait until Sony offers instant rebates and then order, bringing the ~$1900 price tag closer to 1600.

 

So, my question is how do I find out when Sony is offering rebates? Do I have to sign up on a bunch of websites or is there *one* good one out there?

 

Also, any recommendations for online classes?

 

I'm so excited. I've had the A37 for nine years and have been talking to my husband about upgrading for a couple of years now. I can't wait to have a new toy to play with.

 

Thanks,

Christy

 

[pierces]

Go to Sony Alpha Universe (https://alphauniverse.com/) create an account and choose to receive notifications. Same with the Sony store. I chose to receive notices for sales and such and they don't spam me for every little thing. 

 

Cost me some.money recently with a notice of a sale on the A6600...

 

Dave

[PurpleHays]

Thanks @pierces. That's exactly what I was looking for. 

[Hezu]

I don't know about US Sony rebates, but also worth a mention that at least in Europe there has been some offers where you get cashback offers for future lens purchases once you register your new Sony camera.

 

But the main reason for my reply is to mention that the A-mount adapter route has pitfalls, since there are three different types of Sony adapters:

- LA-EA3 (and old LA-EA1 for APS-C bodies) offers autofocus only with lenses with built-in AF motors (for Sony lenses the designations this means SSM and SAM)

- LA-EA4 (and old LA-EA2) can autofocus with any lens, but the caveat is that the adapter has SLT mirror and AF sensor similar to what eg. Sony A55 had, thus there is just 15 AF points and on full frame sensors these are on centre of the frame, which is much inferior compared to the native camera sensor based AF solutions that offer coverage for almost whole frame

- LA-EA5 is the latest and greatest adapter that autofocuses with any A mount AF lens and allows screw-drive AF to work without extra mirror and AF sensor, however the full AF capacity works only on select newer camera bodies (A6600, A7R IV, A1, A7 IV), on other cameras it works like LA-EA3.

 

Thus if you are planning on getting A7 III, be prepared that you may not get the best performance on your adapted A mount lenses.

[PurpleHays]

Thanks for this info. I got a used body with the LA-AE5 adaptor. There may be some less than ideal results, but I can work with them as I learn and gradually upgrade my A-mount lenses to E-mounts.