The 550 is dead?

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Dusty
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The 550 is dead?

Unread post by Dusty »

Dyxum and Sony Alpha Rumors are both reporting the death of the 550. SAR says 4 new cameras will show up at Photokina, none of them a FF or 700 replacement. The 550 price is now down to $750 (BODY ONLY) at SonyStyle, BH and $750 at Adorama w/ the kit lens.

I may have to wait until Wal-Mart has them at $499 and scarf one up!

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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by bakubo »

Dusty wrote:Dyxum and Sony Alpha Rumors are both reporting the death of the 550. SAR says 4 new cameras will show up at Photokina, none of them a FF or 700 replacement. The 550 price is now down to $750 (BODY ONLY) at SonyStyle, BH and $750 at Adorama w/ the kit lens.

I may have to wait until Wal-Mart has them at $499 and scarf one up!
Awhile back I chose $499 as the price I thought the A550 was worth. If it had an OVF that was not blocked by the huge protruding LCD then I might get one too at that price. I really like the fast LV but not the clunky LCD design. Olympus, Panasonic, etc. also have tilting LCDs that aren't so thick that they make using the OVF difficult.
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

The A900 has resurfaced at WarehouseExpress in the UK at £1899 with the A850 at £1499. Sony today launches a substantial offer deal - for example the A550 at list price with 18-55mm now gets a 55-200mm SAM and a Lowepro bag.

You can now buy an A380 - a very capable DSLR - with an 18-200mm Tamron lens (yes, Tamron not Sony, despite this being apparently a Sony promotion overall) for £399.99 - that is about the price you would once have paid for the Tamron lens alone. And a free UV filter, appears to be Kenko.

With Nikon and Canon now rolling out photokina and pre-photokina launches, expect to see a LOAD of new stuff in August.

Sony is now firmly set to target 2nd place in the market. Nikon is in trouble; they have called this 'the year of the Coolpix' - meaning the year when DSLR sales suddenly dried up. Olympus had to fly a Japanese senior executive to the UK to deny statements made by their own UK staff that the company was pulling out of DSLRs (statements confirmed by a contact of mine).

Cheap'n'cheerful Sony may be - but isn't that the complaint we (I anyway) used to have about Canon?

As Sony is now saying to Canon, Ass your Kiss goodbye...

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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by Winedarksea »

Dusty wrote:Dyxum and Sony Alpha Rumors are both reporting the death of the 550. SAR says 4 new cameras will show up at Photokina, none of them a FF or 700 replacement. The 550 price is now down to $750 (BODY ONLY) at SonyStyle, BH and $750 at Adorama w/ the kit lens.

I may have to wait until Wal-Mart has them at $499 and scarf one up!

Dusty

To set the record straight on what SAR is predicting currently:

1. Four new Alpha A-mount bodies to be introduced during the last week of August. These to include two A5xx replacements, with video, and the A33 & A55, pellicle or "translucent" cameras with EVF, fast fps, & fast-AF video. The A55 will have a 16-mpx sensor. [The model numbers indicate these are 3- & 5-level cameras, & hint at higher-level models to come--as do the NEX cameras.]

2. "Many" new lenses, including the CZ 24 f2, to be introduced this coming Tuesday.

3. The A7xx--maybe not by Photokina, but soon. It will have an 18-mpx sensor, according to Andrea.

4. The A9xx--again, maybe not by Photokina, but soon. Andrea has hinted that the camera will have a 30+-mpx CMOS sensor.

I think he is also still expecting a NEX 7 before very long also--& an A850/900 FW update.

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WaltKnapp
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by WaltKnapp »

Sounds like I should start looking for some more a700's. Not a good picture from Sony.

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bakubo
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by bakubo »

Winedarksea wrote:To set the record straight on what SAR is predicting currently:

1. Four new Alpha A-mount bodies to be introduced during the last week of August. These to include two A5xx replacements, with video, and the A33 & A55, pellicle or "translucent" cameras with EVF, fast fps, & fast-AF video. The A55 will have a 16-mpx sensor. [The model numbers indicate these are 3- & 5-level cameras, & hint at higher-level models to come--as do the NEX cameras.]

2. "Many" new lenses, including the CZ 24 f2, to be introduced this coming Tuesday.

3. The A7xx--maybe not by Photokina, but soon. It will have an 18-mpx sensor, according to Andrea.

4. The A9xx--again, maybe not by Photokina, but soon. Andrea has hinted that the camera will have a 30+-mpx CMOS sensor.

I think he is also still expecting a NEX 7 before very long also--& an A850/900 FW update.
So, if this is all true then it looks like Sony will have 4 lines of interchangeable lens cameras:

1. DSLR with traditional mirror and A-mount -- no video
2. DSLR with pellicle mirror and A-mount -- video
3. NEX with no VF only LCD and E-mount -- video
4. NEX VG-10 videocam with E-mount
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by pakodominguez »

WaltKnapp wrote:Sounds like I should start looking for some more a700's. Not a good picture from Sony.

Walt
I'll be probably selling mine, when the A700 replacement arrives!
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by [SiC] »

I still want an A700, but the prices for a used one are pretty high :(
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bfitzgerald
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

Sony can target second place all they like it won't happen not now nor in 10 years time. Have to strongly disagree with DK here I really don't find models such as the A380 very appealing it's got poor ergonomics and the 18-200mm isn't really that good a lens anyway and def not going to hold up to the higher res bodies very well.
Kenko budget UV filters are junk I know I got given one and it's like poor quality window glass ;-)

Back to things at hand. I agree Nikon have been boring and lazy and they will pay a price for that..but it won't be yielding to Sony market position wise. They simply must deliver a seriously good D90 replacement and soon and they cannot afford to run the D300s for too long either it needs to be overhauled the S part was purely a stop gap it's not able to hold up for long as it is. Even Nikon might have run out of time with the D3000 and D5000 both need beefing up too.

Onto Sony they will probably simply add video to the A5xx models and not address a single issue raised by users. They will still be poorly featured bodies and too cut down.
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by David Kilpatrick »

My only comment was that the A380 is a very capable camera. It is. I had one briefly and sold it, preferring to keep the A350 - for some of the reasons Barry might agree with.

But I am not the target market, nor is Barry, and it does begin to look as if all the things 'we' don't much like have very little effect on Sony's targets. We may just have to face two or three years of relentless consumer entry-level activity.

After all, there's nothing out there I would especially want to use instead on my Alpha 900 and it will soon be two full years since that camera appeared. I photographed photokina 2008 on the 900. I can see some reason to trade in A550 for a video-capable pellicle mirror version, but actually I am enjoying using the NEX-5 especially with the 16mm, just today I secured two pictures for stock library sale which I don't think I could have shot with anything larger or more visible. I might well photograph photokina 2010 on the NEX.

Simon Bainbridge, BJP editor, just came back from Arles and he told me that most of the photo press and media people who used once to use SLRs seem to be using ICLs now. And they shoot a lot of video clips.

David
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by bossel »

bfitzgerald wrote:Sony can target second place all they like it won't happen not now nor in 10 years time....I really don't find models such as the A380 very appealing
At one point you should recognize that you're not the market (nor am I). The A900, while being really great, is a niche product, whereas the tiny NEX is flying off the shelves. It's not what is technically best that will win, history has shown it many times. You and I are looking and waiting for products that are financially not that important for Sony.
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bfitzgerald
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by bfitzgerald »

If somebody want's to tell us all "who Sony are aiming at" I'm all ears!
And don't say point and shoot users because I won't believe you ;-)
These products that don't seem important for Sony, and yet they apparently are for Canon and Nikon I don't get that maybe I'm missing something here? Do Nikon not sell a ton of D90's despite it's age? How can the 50d and 550d meet most users needs and sell well? Is the goal not to make a DSLR range that appeals to new and more experienced users at the same time?

I've heard the same thing about the Cybershot series and that there is no point Sony making enthusiast models there. But strangely Canon seems to be able to sell a ton of S90's and G11's and Panasonic seem to have trouble keeping production up on the LX-3. If Sony don't want to compete in these markets that's one thing but I'll still question why they are eliminating or putting off a very large base of potential buyers. Lumix was not a big brand either one time but they are doing well so what's the story with Sony?
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by bakubo »

bossel wrote:At one point you should recognize that you're not the market (nor am I).
Everytime I read that I read: "You should buy from a different company who thinks you are part of their market."
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by Winedarksea »

bakubo wrote: So, if this is all true then it looks like Sony will have 4 lines of interchangeable lens cameras:

1. DSLR with traditional mirror and A-mount -- no video
2. DSLR with pellicle mirror and A-mount -- video
3. NEX with no VF only LCD and E-mount -- video
4. NEX VG-10 videocam with E-mount

1. DSLR with traditional mirror and A-mount--yes, but WITH video. I'm pretty sure the A5xx & A7xx cameras will have video, & I believe the A9xx will also. At this point, however, the A290/390 do not have video.
2. DSLR with pellicle mirror and A-mount--video--yes--with EVF.
3. NEX with no VF only LCD an E-mount--video--yes, but soon I expect we'll also see NEX with EVF.
4. NEX VG-10 videocam with E-mount.

I expect the Alpha cameras to be very strong tools for still photography.
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Re: The 550 is dead?

Unread post by Winedarksea »

David Kilpatrick wrote:My only comment was that the A380 is a very capable camera. It is. I had one briefly and sold it, preferring to keep the A350 - for some of the reasons Barry might agree with.

But I am not the target market, nor is Barry, and it does begin to look as if all the things 'we' don't much like have very little effect on Sony's targets. We may just have to face two or three years of relentless consumer entry-level activity.

David
I don't think it will be all consumer-entry-level activity, but I do think we are in for relentless activity on the part of the Alpha division, both in product development & release, and in promotion.

There is a sea change under way, & that wave of change might just help Sony gain some serious traction--since I believe they have caught the spirit & direction of the wave precisely.
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