A700 Replacement Rumor + FF Price Rumor

[KevinBarrett]

I think something was lost in the retelling of the Sony rep's spiel. Did he foretell two FF bodies by the end of the year or just one? I would find it hard to believe the a850 could be under $1000, so if the 500/550 set are APS-C and FF, I don't see how either one of those could be a camera that I would want. How stripped-down will the build be for that sub-$1k FF? And if it shares body and controls with an APS-C camera, how compromised will that one be? Are we talking "+30" style utility but with CMOS sensors?

[fastson]

Sub 1000USD FF? If that happens to be the 850? Yes please.

I suspect even you would pick one up Sonolta.

[destrianlives]

I'll take back everything I said negative about sony and the A850 for a $1000.00 full frame 24mp dslr! I mean this. However I seriously doubt that the Sony A850 will be $1000.00... this will freakin TERMINATE the A900. I doubt Sony will do this unless they have a new Flagship model in the wings.

Wildest best scenario...
1. Sony releases the A500 as an upgraded aps-c A700 replacement at $800 - $1000

2. Sony releases the A550 as a 12mp full frame dslr with a high frame rate 6fps that'll compete with the Nikon D700 (thats soon to be updated) at $1399 - $1499

3. Sony releases the A850 at the specs we're hearing about at a competitive 2k pricepoint.

Worst case scenario...
Sony fails... closes up shop and Minolta returns only to be bought out by Canikon and subsequently dismantled!

[pakodominguez]

Don: a scenario where the A850's tag price will be 1500 US$ isn't that crazy -and I'm happy about that: I've been waiting for an affordable FF camera since I got the 7D (for 1500 US$hiccup!!)
So, after 12 or 13 pages showing everybody that the A700 is a better camera for your purposes, you will buy a 24 MP FF camera, ha! next step will be getting the 70-400G

[Tony Meredith]

I wish Sony would take the sensor from the a350, tweak it for better high ISO, stick it in an a700 body, add AF fine tune, then give it some top of the line firmware and call it an a720 (or something) and sell it at a reasonable price. This would satisfy me for the time being.

[David Kilpatrick]

See the thread on APS-C crop from 900 versus APS-C native - the A380 certainly wins on detail. I have no hesitation using it as an alternative to the 900 for lighter weight travel and I've given our daughter an A350 simply because she can take such good stock pix with it.

David

[David Kilpatrick]

Yes Don, I would agree. I need the A900 for what it does incredible well - 69MB finished files without resizing, using the lenses I generally prefer with it (12-24mm, 17-35mm, 28-75mm, 70-200mm and various primes). I would like something a little better than the A700 and also better than the A380 sensor, ideally a 17 megapixel APS-C (remember, that would still have the same pixel pitch as Canon's 50D/500D because the larger sensor gives 16.x megapixels compared to Canon's 15.x). Although I do not like the Canon results much, even one of those sensors in an Alpha body would be very useful for the longer range stuff.

I don't think we will be in the market for an 850, Shirley does not want a huge camera (the 700 is already big enough) and we definitely don't need two cameras without built-in flash. The little Alpha 380 is great for flash close-up work with its 18-55mm - not as stellar a lens as some reviewers imply, but very useful with its 1/3 life size close focus. It's interesting that most reviews of this lens don't really notice the fact that it is now the 'closest focus' (largest subject scale) of all the entire range of Sony Alpha lenses. The flash also works really well for close-ups.



http://www.pbase.com/davidkilpatrick/image/115626482

David

[Dusty]

The little Alpha 850 is great for flash close-up work with its 18-55mm

David

What You've tried it already? I think that should read 380.

Dusty

[David Kilpatrick]

Corrected! Only tried the 850 in my dreams, and the funny thing was it felt just like a 900

David

[alexramos7]

For me the probably scenarie is:

a850:
$1799 only body and $2000 with Sony 28-75 SAM kit lens...

a500:
A body between a300/a350 and a700 body (maybe like a100), no sealed, pentamirror (big OVF), LV through 2nd sensor, tilting LCD, a700 AF system and only CF. Same D90/D5000 sensor.
The targtet will be D90/D5000 cameras.

a550:
Same body that a500 , but I doubt Sony launch a new APS-C sensor with better performance than a700 sensor in serie 500 camera, for me a sensor like that will be launched in a a700 body camera.
I hope that Sony put in it the same a350/a380 CCD sensor with a firmware like v4 a700 performance.
The target will be 500D camera.

The serie 500 could include HD video through main sensor.

The a700 substitute to next year...

[KevinBarrett]

I'm guessing that the a500 will be like an a100 with a 12 MP CMOS sensor; a similar unit to the one in the a700 and most of Nikon's entry-level line-up. I'm hoping that it will have front and rear control wheels, but there's no precedent for such controls in a "5" series A-mount camera. Ideally it would be a bargain a700 in a less expensive composite body.

The new a500/a550 combo seems as likely to support SD as they are to support CF, considering the a380 below it and the a850 above it. They will definitely have MS support, for Sony has announced already their next generation of the format with up to 2 TB capacity and read/write speeds in the hundreds of megabytes per second. It seems to me that the format would be ideally suited to a high definition video camera, perhaps a V-DSLR? One can daydream, but I'm not holding my breath.

[Dulaney Ward]

Everyone persistently compares every new Sony to the Nikons, and designs new dream cameras to match the Nikons. I understand why: Nikon has long been the standard of excellence in the DSLR world. But we must not forget that Nikon and Sony are actually partners in their joint war against Canon, which, not very long ago, totally dominated the DSLR market. Sony has been carefully avoiding direct challenges to its partner, and will continue to do so for now. But I believe we'll begin to see that change with the 550, and definitely next year, when I forecast a super APS-C and a super FF, along with a shower of new lenses, brought on by a hot-selling 850 Of course I may be wrong, but Sony's deliberate leaking of the 850, the tight secrecy about the 500/550, and the tantalizing suggestions about September 22 make me very suspicious we are in for some fireworks that evening (in a manner of speaking).

Dulaney