I have seen different topics floating around that the successor to the Sony flagship camera the A900 will be replaced by the A950. The A950 is supposed to have a whole host of new features including a sensor capturing 33 megapixels. If anyone has any information as to the fact or not a fact and if it is a fact when will it be on the market I would appreciate it.

Agree for the most part, but it is also an art. I want to take more than what I see, I want to compose, control and display to the world my interpretation. In the good old film days I would take a photograph, develop and print the results and then retouch the photo to get my interpretation. In today’s digital world I use CS5 to do the same thing. As far as what camera to use I agree it is individual taste and should not matter, however lighting, backdrops, and a host of other equipment might matter. If I missed your point I apologize.

For just under $1000 look at the Sony A55. Also you might consider used equipment, I purchased a Sony A700 on eBay for $500 in almost new condition (prior owner took good care of it).

You are right. As for rain gear for these cameras I bought one from Amazon http://www.amazon.com/cameras-Protects-against-Olympus-Hasselblad/dp/B00179QY76/ref=sr_1_33?ie=UTF8&qid=1316798261&sr=8-33 for $25 and it works great.

CS5 is a very powerful piece of software; however it comes with two problems (1) expensive (2) steep learning curve. If you have CS5 I would recommend some training DVD's from Lynda.com. The first CD to get is Photoshop CS5 Essential Training the second DVD is Photoshop CS5 Portrait Retouching. There are countless books on Photoshop CS5, however I find the DVD's to be much better since these are visual instructions from the ground up.

I guess weather resistant is the same as weather sealed?
"The SLT-A77 is built for the real world with a magnesium alloy body that combines high strength with light weight. Ports, doors and controls are also weather-resistant for smooth operation under adverse conditions."

I was looking on http://www.dpreview.com/previews/sonyslta77/ reviews of the A77 where did you find that it is weather sealed?

I agree as I own the A850, A700 and A900, these are well built cameras with allot to offer. I would not buy the Sony cheaper cameras that are plastic and made for those starting out. The plastic body cameras from Sony all have warnings about leaving them in direct sunlight or heat, as well as moisture warnings. So if you are a real enthusiast, semi-professional or professional the only 3 Sony I would recommend are what I own. As you stated they are tools in the artist’s arsenal (paintbrush and canvas) and each tool is selected by the artists for his/her own preferences’. For my taste I find nothing wrong with Nikon except they are (and have always been) expensive. Canon 5D MarkII or 7D are great cameras on par with the Sony A900 including cost, however Sony high end lenses (costing $1,700 and up) are Carl Zeiss lenses and beats Canon lenses.

Sorry, I meant in the Sony line, not reffering to other cameras.

I bieleve they are, atleast better than the low end Sony cameras. Here are some threads from comunications I recieved:
Hi guys just a word of caution here about camera, specifically, the Sony
A55v...I bought one an was really happy with it for four months until it got
wet in a rainstorm, it fried and then Sony refused to repair it (4 month old
camera....4!) because of corrosion. So now I am out not only $800.00 for the
camera, but $41.00 for a fedex charge....oh %$#&&*$#$%$^!!!!!
Warranty or not...they just refused. Oh well, Bruce, be careful with
your Sony gear!....! ;) And heal quickly, my friend!
Warren

Yowtch, Warren, sorry to hear about your misfortune, it's really difficult to understand that position. My Pentax K5 body is sealed, but most of my lenses are not, so I have to be careful to avoid water incursion into the lenses and through the mount camera mount itself.

Warren,
Sorry to hear about your Sony misfortunes. Never had a problem with my Nikon D100 body or lenses. Been to the rainforest with 100% humidity, countless rainy crew regattas, out in the snow, baked in my car on 100+ degree days. The thing is bullet proof. Even my cheesy Coolpix 5000 that is pushing 9 years old still works like a champ, aside from a few dead pixels and needing new batteries. Can't tell you how many times that thing has wound up in the snow. The D100 even got doused with 'monkey rain' in Panama one year. Other than needing a good cleaning and disinfecting, it was unharmed!

Yeah, I know....have a D2h, D90 and D300 and never a problem....guess I got spoiled by Nikon....and Sony just dosen't give a damn......

I had a lot of experience with the Sony broadcast line of TV production equipment. They used to be phenomenal with customer service. There used to be a repair facility in Teaneck, NJ and sometimes you'd walk in with a piece of gear and they'd fix it while you waited. Those days are long gone. Their customer service has tanked in recent years and to get anything fixed you need to ship it away for months.

Use Photoshop CS5 I would on one layer remove the background then create a bottom layer of a background I liked. Or for a second choice I would diffuse the background using filters in most photo editing software.

One other point on the Sony, their A700, A850 and A900 are the only cameras that are weather sealed. I have a friend that purchased the A55 for newspaper photography and it got wet during rain while on the job, the electronics on the camera got fried and Sony will not honor the warrantee as it states in the manual that you should not get the camera wet.

Agree with last coment, however in the Sony line the next one out is the A77 with much the same features as the A55 and the A77 is double the cost of the A55. You should check out http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/ for features and test reports on all the cameras.

I started with the Sony A200 and gradualy worked my way up to the A550, A700, A850, A55 and A900 with a bunch of Tamron lenses both for full frame and the APS-C. My investment in Sony equipment was far cheaper than going in top end of the Nikon line and probably Canon as well. Nikon is the leader of the pack but you will pay 3 times as much and only get slightly better quality images at higher ISO settings (more noise on the Sony). I also own CS5 and noise ninja which is a good leveling field for improving noise reduction. As comented by others what ever equipment you buy master that equipment and you can't go wrong. Remember Ansel Adam didn't have half of what is available even at the low end of todays market. Two things to consider are the sensor (chip) on the camera and the second is a quality lens to match that chip.