It is well known that the alpha 900 JPEGs are not exactly perfect - especially concerning high ISO levels (ISO 1600 - 6400). However, low ISO JPEGs are far from showing the real capabilities of the 24MP sensor as well. When shooting JPEGs and RAW in parallel, the situation is quite annoying since the in-camera DRO (Dynamic Range Optimization) works incredibly well, and usually I prefer the tonality, visual appearance and dynamic range of the DRO-JPEGS. But ... their detail resolution is simply not sufficient. I have done a small comparison last November, and I think it's worth publishing it. The situation are typical landscape situation: low-contrast, but nearly limitless detail. You may think that the JPEGs (left images) are simply de-focused, while the RAWs are from a different shot. However it's really the same "RAW+Jpeg (fine)" shot ...

Sony alpha 900, RAW + JPEG

Minolta AF 2.8/300mm APO HS @ f8

Manfrotto 055C tripod with Manfrott 410 three way head

ARC conversion using "Sharpening" (60), "Radius" (0.5), "Detail" (60)

Sony/Minolta hardware is quite up to date (if nor superior to other brands), but whenever I look at such crops I understand that concerning the Alpha 900 firmware there's still quite much room for improvement.

Shooting "JPEG extrafine" and increasing the sharpness (to +1 or even +2) improves the situation somehow - but recording RAWs and "JPEGs extrafine" simultaneously is impossible. I would much prefer not to have to switch all the time between "RAW+JPEG (fine)" and "JPEG extrafine"...

Below a few 100% crops from a shot taken with the Minolta AF 2.8/200mm APO HS lens. Many consider this lens the best ever built for the Minolta system, and I would range it on par with the equally incredible Zeiss 1.8/135mm and the Sony 2.8/300 mmm G SSM.

RAW conversion with Adobe Raw Converter 4.6 beta, Sharpening 60, Radius 0.5 px, Detail 60. No CA corrections applied - the lens has simply no CAs.

Again, detail resolution from the A900 RAWs is truy superb.