PMA rumours?

[KevinBarrett]

Where are the connections? Where is the flash sync socket?!

[bfitzgerald]

Ok I'm confused a bit now.

The 2 SLR type bodies, the one on the left looks like bits of the A550 merged with the A700, but it looks like a class below that (just on what I see) I'd call it A6xx. Odd to see a top plate LCD..but I'll wait on that one. AF assist. No studio flash socket shown makes me think that even more. Not sure the design will grab some..was the A700 bad design or handling wise??

The other one is erm, looks like a basic entry model to me..maybe one to replace the evidently now ceased production 3 bottom level ones.
We'll have to wait on this for more info, aka specs and more shots. No flash raise button, seems the earplugs are still in place at Sony land.

The mirror-less ones are just mock up jobs, basic looking compacts, nothing wrong there..can't tell much as there isn't a lot to see, bar the mount looking bigger than expected.


Edit, just found a back shot..kind of

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_5xB32388FwM/S ... 774788.jpg

[KevinBarrett]

This also shows a little of the back.

[alphaomega]

Ref. reflection of A700 successor back, there does not seem to be a movable rear 3 inch screen. Maybe we are not supposed to see the back yet. In any event I have been looking and been unable to find a specification sheet for this model. We really need a spec. sheet and I am keen to know the Mp size of this new sensor. 14 Mp or more???

[Dr. Harout]

That ring around the shutter button is definitely the on-off switch (why did they change the place?). Another thing for sure is that the ring doesn't do the job of DOF preview, cause you might notice the button on it's usual place. Could be for lighting the top LCD panel too
The design/curvature is a bit Canon like

[Birma]

At least there was something at PMA in the dslr form factor. I also don't like the on-off switch around the shutter button. Not convinced people had been clamouring for a top plate lcd either? Let's hope it is an early proto-type.

I also see that sigma are bringing a 8-16mm lens out for APS-C, including Sony mount. An equivalent to their 12-24 for FF. I am interested to see more about this. The Zeiss 24mm is also exciting but I suspect will always be too expensive for me.

[bfitzgerald]

It does look very Canon like, style wise..aside from the on/off placement.
Not sure top LCD is as useful nowadays as it was 35mm era.

Grip shape different again, looks like Sony have succeeded in expunging the last remnants of Minolta from their ergonomics and design, shame really..as I rather liked them! lol

So..where to run to, Pentax or Nikon???

[VyronasV]

It does look very Canon like, style wise..aside from the on/off placement.
Not sure top LCD is as useful nowadays as it was 35mm era.

Grip shape different again, looks like Sony have succeeded in expunging the last remnants of Minolta from their ergonomics and design, shame really..as I rather liked them! lol

So..where to run to, Pentax or Nikon???

The camera looks good (more rounded). What is said above from all i agree i dont like the on / off bottom location and the top lcd.

[bfitzgerald]

Down to taste really..not sure how you change the WB and ISO!

I def see Canon 50d here..at least some of it
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOS50D/page4.asp

Looks fairly similar..

I guess the A700 was a tad boxy, and could have made better use of the top plate..but still, do we want a Canon clone? Still, at this stage it would want to have some really serious improvements under the hood, overhauled AF system, damn fine specs and features. A mild warmover won't cut it..HD video or not! Going on these shots it looks like the number of on body controls have been cut down somewhat. I'm not sure that's going to sit well with current A700 users.

[VyronasV]

Down to taste really..not sure how you change the WB and ISO!

I def see Canon 50d here..at least some of it
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOS50D/page4.asp

Looks fairly similar..

I guess the A700 was a tad boxy, and could have made better use of the top plate..but still, do we want a Canon clone? Still, at this stage it would want to have some really serious improvements under the hood, overhauled AF system, damn fine specs and features. A mild warmover won't cut it..HD video or not!

The WB and ISO must be where it was before the on/off swith.The reason they use some thinks from Nikon/Canon is to get more easy customer. I know lot of Canon/Nikon that when they desite to change will go for Sony because they offer the same....... ergonomic in 30%

[alphaomega]

I have had another look at the display cabinet picture of the socalled A700 successor and I think that the button at 5 o'clock to the SSS mark must be the DOF button. So far so good. There was a brief spec. mentioned on Sonyalpharumors

UPDATE 21: More news about the A700 successor
- Body smaller than the A700
- 2 live view mode as A550
- Sweep Panorama
- Video HD

They were right about the smaller body and HD video. Now, if it has LV like the A550 the OVF casing does not look large enough to contain a larger viewfinder than that found in the A550 (a pity) unless the suggestion of EVF is indeed true.

I cannot detect a tilting rear screen from the blurred image, but it may be there. I do not see a LV/OVF switch though. The area around the joystick - I guess - looks bare. It is as if a lot of buttons - that could have been there - have been omitted. A retrograde step in my opinion. The button rear top left looks like the AEL button on the A700 - good.

The sooner Sony releases a spec. the better. I am waiting for David K. to deliver his verdict. Will be interesting.

[bfitzgerald]

It might be some time before a spec is released. If we go on previous models and mock up jobs from Sony, it's likely these are close to the final designs, add some ports to the side of the A7xx one and off you go.

One of the strangest things with Sony, is every time they release a model, it's almost as if you are looking at a product from a different manufacturer, with little in common with previous ones. I find this effect overwhelmingly counter productive, one wonders how many times Sony will change their design and layout. Looking at the two main DSLR market leaders, you see a very strong level of consistent design and layout, from generation to generation. The obvious reason for this is easy, if you have not worked out decent ergonomics by now, you won't! And it makes upgrades easy for current users.

The general forum response so far has been fairly muted and cautious, it appears the impact Sony wanted to create with "HD video" in their DSLR's has been overtaken with concerns about handling and design/ergonomics etc.

[Javelin]

looking at the mockups of the EVIL it doesn't really look like the lens flange is much smaller than the A mount.

[David Kilpatrick]

I'll wait to get Gary Friedman's direct report. My first impression is that the body design is built round an A700 mirror box, which means separate mirror and shutter motors, which in turn means the possibility of mirror lock-up, d-of-f preview (which MAY be the button visible, but remember how Sony can change functions of familiar buttons). There's something about the monocoque construction which makes me suspect that the 700 series model (the larger one) is a direct magnesium alloy shell, rather like the old RD3000 and the 900.

Also, I think that Sony is going to spring an interesting feature into the video - first of all, it will be direct 1080p 24fps industry standard for sure, but may include a higher frame rate to match new Bravia TVs better - 50/60fps to enable 100/200Hz TVs to show smoother motion. Secondly, in standard mode (24fps 1080p) I'm pretty sure it will allow saving, either to the second card or on the same card as the video recording, of a still exposure at any time during video filming without interruption to the video. This may just be a 1080p JPEG, but it could be higher res.

At the moment, Canon DSLRs allow a full res JPEG to be captured at any time during filming but 1 second of video is permanently lost. Nikon (from the D3S onwards) allow JPEG extraction in-camera - just play back the video, stop at frame you like, and the camera will save a 720p frame (but their video is limited to 720p). If you shoot a video with the Nikon, you terminate it if you press the shutter for a still. End of video.

I'm fairly certain that Sony is working on a solution to this which will be in the A7xx, if not in the A5xx.

I also feel pretty certain that Sony will be the first to use sequential frame blending to create still JPEGs from video (and this may be how they do it).

For an explanation and to find out how this works, go to:

http://photoacute.com/studio/guide/guid ... deo_import

This is a software solution for post-processing videos or bracketed/multiple still frames. Sony's double-shot HDR in the 450/500/550 uses intelligent alignment of details to blend two exposures. PhotoAcute goes a step further, and uses alignment plus the natural tendency of camera shake to place details differently on the Bayer grid, to blend two or more low res images to produce one double resolution image.

Download it, buy it - I have bought it. It makes 312MB raw files from my A550 frames with zero noise, increased dynamic range and the same resolution (I estimate) as an A900 file although the actual filesize if more like a 50-60 megapixel image. A proper report on this will be in the Spring Photoworld, along with its ability to take a short burst of video frames and create a 3840 x 2160 image from 1080p.

I have been very busy, sorry, tonight at 11pm I sent the final pages for my March Master Photography magazine to the printers, and getting there really has been a 24/7 exercise for the last week.

But, I'm investigating things like PhotoAcute which I believe have a bearing on future DSLR functions. I think Sony (or Casio, using Sony technology) will be the first to have in-camera creation of supersized high res JPEGs from 5 video frames, of any relatively static shot; and I suspect that Sony may use a 2-frame blend to produce a JPEG of good quality around 3-5 megapixels without interrupting filming.

Then again I could be wrong, and they just are not as aware of the potential of their own sensor technology as they need to be.

David

[Winedarksea]

Down to taste really..not sure how you change the WB and ISO!

I def see Canon 50d here..at least some of it
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/CanonEOS50D/page4.asp

Looks fairly similar..

I guess the A700 was a tad boxy, and could have made better use of the top plate..but still, do we want a Canon clone? Still, at this stage it would want to have some really serious improvements under the hood, overhauled AF system, damn fine specs and features. A mild warmover won't cut it..HD video or not! Going on these shots it looks like the number of on body controls have been cut down somewhat. I'm not sure that's going to sit well with current A700 users.

I don't like the "canon look," and maybe this moves a tad in that direction, but it still looks pretty Sony-like to me.

As to the "body controls," two buttons are added where the on-off switch used to be. Or that's what it appears. That might take care of WB & ISO. Otherwise, I don't know what lost controls you would be talking about.