I really want a new camera badly

I cant wait for Sony to announce the news stuff already so I can figure out what im going to do. Im still going back and forth between the A99 and A7
Or the A79! Some rumors suggest it will employ a new mirror that saps away less light. That would potentially improve the ISO performance. (Maybe another 1/4th of a stop improvement?)
A99 price has been dropping away from the main retailers. Now you can get it new for about $2100.... used for under $1700.
Once you remove the excitement and novelty around the A7 (the first real fullframe mirrorless interchangeable lens camera), the A99 seems more like the better camera and better system.
What are the advantages of the A7?
*Smaller size --- To me, this is the biggest advantage IF you are going to shoot with short prime lenses. Then it becomes a pretty compact system compared to a fullframe dSLR. But once you start attaching longer lenses... You simply get poorer balance on the A7. If you are going to attach A-mount 2.8 zoom lenses.. with the adapter... You really lose most of the size advantage.
*Better high ISO performance -- Definitely true on paper, but in the real world, this is cancelled out in most cases. If you are going to use A-mount lenses in full auto-focus, you need to attach the LEA4 adapter, which cancels out the ISO upgrade. You essentially get the same ISO performance as the A99.
If you shoot with prime lenses, you will lose stabilization. For action shots, the loss of stabilization doesn't have much impact. But for many other shots, you can get slower shutter speed, and therefore lower ISO, on the A99. So what will come out better, shooting with a 50mm prime.... 1/12 of a second at ISO 3200 on the A99, or 1/50th of a second at ISO 12800 on the A7.
So take take full advantage of the better ISO on the A7, compared to the A99, you need to shoot with native E-mount optically stabilized lenses. But those lenses tend to have slower aperture -- once again forfeiting the ISO gain.
Yes, for an extra $300... you can get the A7 with an optically stabilized 28-70 3.5-5.6 lens.
So at shoot at a stabilized 5.6 on the A7 -- versus shooting with a stabilized 2.8 on the A99. So it's a choice between shooting 2.8 - 1/20 - ISO 3200 on the A99 -- versus shooting 5.6 -- 1/20 -- ISO 12800.
There are simply NO optically stabilized 2.8 (or faster) lenses for the A7.
The best you can do it $1200 for a 24-70 stabilized F4 -- and then only lose 1 stop versus many A99 lenses.
So the loss of stabilization in many cases... and smaller aperture lenses in other cases, really cancels out the A7 ISO advantages.
As to other advantages of the A7:
*Use any lens with an adapter! -- Great if you have old expensive Leica lenses sitting around! But really, if you like having fast autofocus, this isn't an advantage. Sure, if you also shoot with manual focus, this opens up lots of options. But for fast AF, you would need to use A-mount lenses with the LEA4 adapter -- which would take away stablization, and would take away the mirrorless ISO advantage. (since the LEA4 has a mirror). Plus of course, you are adding $350 to the purchase price of the camera.
Then the A99 has a few advantages of its own.. fully articulating LCD (as opposed to just tilt), GPS. Faster burst rate.
The A7 has wifi... In theory, I like wifi on a camera. But in practice, I mostly shoot RAW, and wifi isn't great for transmitting huge RAW files.
In terms of lens availability --- If you don't want to shoot with adapters, there are no native ultrawide angles lenses currently on the market and none that have been announced. There are no long zooms currently. Announced, there is (what will surely be ultra expensive) Zeiss 70-200 f/4. I've been happily shooting my $300 Tamron 70-300 4-5.6 on the A99.
I am interested to see more reviews of the A7, especially when the novelty wears off.
I'll leave with this shot....... ISO 6400, shutter speed 1/500 because I wanted to capture action. I used my Minolta 135/2.8 prime. Used tracking continuous autofocus. Would I have been able to get this picture on the A7? They don't have a native 135mm lens. Would need to use an LAE4 adapter, which would cancel out the ISO gains, or LAE3 adapter, which would make it a manual focus lens. And lose stabilization either way.
untitled-124.jpg by
Havoc315, on Flickr
Noise is pretty bad in the above, because I had to brighten the shadows. But even with lifting the shadows and ISO 6400, still very usable.
Below, this was ISO 6400 with a better exposure level. In fact, the aperture was stopped down to 3.5, shutter speed 1/500, ISO 6400.
untitled-120.jpg by
Havoc315, on Flickr