The camera delivers excellent image quality, though it flags when the light gets too low.
Lori Grunin
I've been reviewing hardware and software, devising testing methodology and handed out buying advice for what seems like forever; I'm currently absorbed by computers and gaming hardware, but previously spent many years concentrating on cameras. I've also volunteered with a cat rescue for over 15 years doing adoptions, designing marketing materials, managing volunteers and, of course, photographing cats.
The A99 has excellent JPEG processing and noise reduction, at least up through ISO 1600. Photos are extremely clean through ISO 400, and you can start to see some slight edge artifacts appearing at ISO 800. There's a noticeable jump in noise suppression between ISO 1600 and ISO 3200, regardless of how bright the scene is.
The camera seems to handle saturated reds well, although I couldn't find a test shot situation in perpetually cloudy NYC to produce intense highlight areas.
(1/100 sec, f4.5, ISO 100, multisegment metering, AWB, 24-70mm lens at 70mm)
The Standard (default) Color Style increases contrast and saturation to a point where hues shift a little, though I didn't see a notable loss of shadow detail.
The A99 does a very good job of preserving detail in raw files of blown-out highlight areas. Underexposed or deep shadow areas can't seem to be recovered without introducing more color noise than competing cameras, though.
(1/250 sec, f2.8, ISO 200, spot metering, AWB, 24-70mm lens at 70mm)