Q&A with the SLT Development Team

[Greg Beetham]

Greg, they are showing a 7-series SLT mockup now as we are chatting...

They? where is the link to 'they'
Greg

[douglasf13]

My A700 works fine still and i'll grab an A900 from a ship jumper soon (hopefiully. like I said in another post Ebay is empty of them)

I just put my A900 up a second ago, if you're interested. However, it was just because I've been using smaller cameras. I'd buy another A900 if the job called for it.

[stevecim]

Is this just Sony or all cameras? I'd agree that they'll lose a lot of local sales that way.

When I brought my A550 in Jan 2010 Michael's, in Melbourne, had the body for $850 at the time it was cheaper than buying US+shipping, but Sony lenses never seem to drop in price,
Comparing Canon US RRP$ and Canon Au RRP$ for most lenses the Australian price is not far off the US price around + 25-35%. except for the very high end stuff i.e over $2000
But Sony lenses prices have always been double, across the whole range. I really want to get a 70-300G but at over AU$1300.00 street price I just have to wait for the new Tamron 30-700 SP USD, The AU street price look like it's going to be around the $700.00 or I could buy from US for US$450 + shipping.

If Sony offered International warranty on their Z/G lenses like Canon do on the L lenses , I would be happy to spend $900 odd and order from US/hong kong

[Greg Beetham]

Greg, they are showing a 7-series SLT mockup now as we are chatting...

They? where is the link to 'they'
Greg

I guess you mean DK's report. http://www.photoclubalpha.com/ And how is a 7-series SLT going to compete with Nikon's D7000, what a joke. How many serious photographers are going to put up with inbuilt image degradation and artifacts?
Greg

[stevecim]

And how is a 7-series SLT going to compete with Nikon's D7000, what a joke. How many serious photographers are going to put up with inbuilt image degradation and artifacts?
Greg

Yer D7000 looks good, Nikon could be on a winner there, around the price a Canon 60D but built like a Canon 7D

[Javelin]

Hrm DPR's baclground has turned into a goiant ad for the 60D. never seen that before on DPR.

[agorabasta]

Barry, they surely don't need a large mirror to reflect for focusing, they need it large to not obstruct the passthrough. They also need it large because of a flatter than 45deg angle they used to make those cams smaller. So if they returned to 45 with 'a77', they could well make the mirror frame smaller. Then if the mirror is too fragile to flap in real time, they could allow a mode with mirror always up/out and CDAF from main sensor, exactly the Nex way.

The way it sounds now 'from the horse's' mouth, the design is a pure stupidity and a technological abomination.

[Greg Beetham]

What's the point of making a the mirror flap or flip up in the SLT anyway? the whole purpose of the design in the first place was too avoid doing that, for better or worse. As long as they were going to only make consumer versions of it it made some sort of sense, but when they carry that stuff over into the prosumer area they are going too meet some resistance I think. Even if they did make a 7 series SLT with a flip up type mirror, they're only re-inventing something that already exists...a DSLR design. And the last I heard CDAF still has a long way to go before it will seriously challenge PDAF, if ever.
Greg

[stevecim]

Sony have the A55/550 at $750 and the A850 at $1999. Since they are pushing the SLT/NEX models has their main bodies for APS-C and they at current have a jump on Can/Nik .
in that market , they should launch a second attack by releasing a Plastic FF body at around $1400.00, Say a A600 at 24MP FF Plastic body, something that combines the features of the A580 less Quick Live View but adding A850 OVF and AF fine tune in a body a little bigger than the A580.

[agorabasta]

What's the point of making a the mirror flap or flip up in the SLT anyway?

You simply get one more mode of operation, quite equal to the Nex. This mode would be very useful for critical quality shooting, totally free of any ghosting and/or of any other mirror artifacting and a half-stop better/lower noise.

And also mind that the lowly a560/580 both have such a mirror-up CDAF functional mode.

[Greg Beetham]

And also mind that the lowly a560/580 both have such a mirror-up CDAF functional mode.

We won't know how that performs until there is an in depth review, but if Sony can get that one working good I reckon a lot of people wouldn't look at an A33 or A55 for too long.
Greg

[agorabasta]

That's a pretty valid concern, Greg. They obviously had trouble getting alpha lenses to focus on Nex, and we're yet to see the outcome of their efforts...

[catalytic]

Sony may be having problems getting their CDAF performance up to speed, but Panasonic doesn't. Initial reports of the GH2's CDAF speed indicate that it is very fast -- not very fast for CDAF, but very fast, period (competitive with PDAF from any mid-priced dSLR, they say).

I bet if Sony had any faith that they could come out with a blazing fast CDAF system, they wouldn't have bothered with the pellicle mirrored SLT series. And with the R&D going on with on-sensor PDAF (both Nikon and Sony filed patents for it), they might not want to invest too much R&D into improving CDAF on the NEX platform, nor any more on SLT than they already have with the A33/55.

In other words, for the SLT lineup, i wouldn't plan on an A77 having a newer / more sophisticated moveable mirror system. And for the NEx system, i wouldn't bank on a significant improvement in CDAF performance anytime soon.

[David Kilpatrick]

Fast CDAD requires different lens motors. The E-series lenses have these motors. I can't explain how it work in detail, but you have to imagine a system which oscillates focus over a diminishing cycle to determine the correct point. Pentax do a massive cycle - it is like watching a firework displau to see the K-5 focus. Sony is visib;e, and can create a strange vibrating image preview. Panasonic - used one, forget it! Just forget it. It's a joke.

David

[WaltKnapp]

I'm actually in the camp who'd like a ringflash - though one of the one's who prefer a true ringflash and one that supports the 77mm thread size so it can be used on all the Zeiss glass. But I also don't expect Sony to make it just because I want it. It will get made if they can sell if for a profit.

And one of the strong points of the Minolta 1200 ringflash head is the switchable segmentation of the ring. One has lighting choices in using it in macro as a result of this feature. I vote strongly for the head to stay the way Minolta designed it, 4 section ring.

True a redesign could maybe be a little larger to accommodate 77mm instead of the current 72mm. Although it should not be done if it compromises the very short working distances found in macro beyond 1:1, which require a small ring. If one wants such a large flash ring for portrait work it may be necessary to have two sizes of heads.

The one change I'd make to the 1200 head is to put in LED focus lights to replace the filament bulbs and make them adjustable brightness. And get them back into auto control like they were in my RD-175 instead of manual switching as they became with the 7 and later.

Walt