can anyone anticipate what the a750 will have?

[andrewrocks]

the a700 came out last october? I wonder how long sony will go before they replace it? And, what would they replace it with?

[David Kilpatrick]

If anything, it may have a 14.2 megapixel sensor like the A350, just in an A700 style body. Or, if they follow what Nikon is about to do, it might be a low res (12 megapixel) full frame. Since no-one knows whether one will exist anyway, and the Alpha 700 seems set to run for a good while, there is no point speculating now. You may notice that the new 58 flashgun is shown on the A700 body.

David

[andrewrocks]

you think it will be awhile?

the a700 came out early September of 07... if i had to guess, i bet the 700 will be replaced by spring of 2009

[Dr. Harout]

I am sure it'll have the alpha sign on it

Now seriously, I don't think Sony will follow the steps of other makers. IMHO, I think he will stick to FF and higher megapixels this year (the flagship body, as they refer to it). And if they do make a surprise, then again I think the megapixel count would be in the 16-18 up to 20. Or maybe one camera with the "standard" 24 Mpixels and the other with the new one with brighter pictures, high ISO-Low noise "reversed" sensor (sorry, I don't remember how it was named) again with 24 Mpxs. Who knows?

[alphaomega]

I cannot anticipate what the successor to Sony's A700 would look like but I do know the specification that would make me trade in my A700 for an A750 with APS-C size sensor sporting a minimum of around 16.5 Mp and a better quality LV than that in the A350 and with a 3 Inch display. I have calculated that taking the 10 inch 4/3 in the Olympus as the maximum the largest acceptable APS-C should be around 16.3 Mp and with the Canon 50D rumored to be above 15 Mp I think that a 16.5 Mp sensor would be just about right and providing a 48 Mp TIFF from the RAW. For my use the A700 with the larger sensor and quality 3 inch LV would be just about right for me.

John PEter

[PhotoTraveler]

I assume you are talking about a A700 replacement in the long term, not some rumor A750 going around.

My feeling is there won't be a true A700 replacement. Instead we will see a PMA 09 an A500 which is much like it sounds, a slightly stripped down A700. It becomes the 1100-1200 model. And competes with the Nikon D90. They take the A700 as it is, remove a few things, maybe a slightly cheaper body, add off the main sensor LV and just minor stuff. It gives them an entry level body that is targeted at higher end/more traditional users. It has a real pentaprism, not a penta mirror, not movable display, just a more traditional camera. That all but kills A700 sales, but it's fine because come spring 09 when the A700 is do for replacement (18month theory) they will bring out an A701/A710 or how ever the system pans out for replacement models. This camera will be more like the Nikon D300. Everything that it gets knocked on, like not being super extreme tough, or not having a full coverage view finder so on and so forth gets upgraded. In many ways, it pulls stuff from the A900. So where sony had a $1400 camera straddling the Semi-Pro and Entry markets, now it just becomes 2 different models. One higher, One lower. Clearly to have 2 models like that wouldn't have been an option early on for Sony, the A700 had to be a compromise. Now they can have a A710&A900 that match up much like the Nikon D300 and D700. Similar market, similar design, but have the differences between APS and FF, mainly the 1000-1200 USD price differance.

So what ever the A900 has, expect a fair bit of trickle down.

For a sensor, an A500 might do as David says and go for the 14MP CCD, or stick with the A700 sensor. I think we will know more when the Nikon D90 comes out. We will know if there is a new sensor, or it's the A700 sensor, or if Nikon had implemented the 14MP CCD and we find it has LV capability. My money would be on an A500 having the 12MP sensor. Where an A700 replacement gets an all new sensor. Probably a 14MP CMOS unit, Sony addresses how they did NR and the read out (they could probably just use the current sensor as is and just use it differently). But cameras will keep gaining 12MP at time, so they grow there. I don't see any way the CCDs will end up back in the higher end models.

The 14MP CCD could be a one hit wonder. It is probably the result of a continued design on the old CCD architecture while sony created the new CMOS chips (A700/D300/A900). I highly doubt Sony would keep using a sensor if they can't get Nikon or Pentax to buy it. Seeing that Pentax went 14MP in the K20D, there is probably a good chance that Pentax had Sony and Samsung putting in proposals for 14MP and Samsung won. So Sony is probably not going to sell it to them. And if the D90 sticks to the D300/A700 sensor, and the D60 is still on the 10MP CCD, there might just be no market for that sensor. Unless there is a D60X in the works, it could have just been Sony deciding to put it in production after all their effort, slap it in the A300 but make it a higher res option, see how it does and re-group.

But focusing back on the original question more. I just don't see a true replacement, a new $1400 model. The A700 came out several months before the A300/A350 and carried Sony for a while. They really need a model that falls between (A500), which leaves no price range for a 1400 model. At the same time, they need to do something with the D300 and future D400. So it needs to step up on a replacement.

I suspect Canon will be working on a similar path. They either need to re-invent the #0D line or make it official and starting with the 50D just say it's entry level camera and market it against the D90 and what ever Sony brings. In the mean time, they need a "7D" (yeah, I said that, but Canon world is full of said rumor a lot). A "7D" being the APS brother to the "5DII". Gives canon a similar setup to the Nikon D300/D700 setup. Or Canon simply needs to re-invent it as I mentioned and bring a 50D that packs the works and cost 1600-1800 to go against the Nikon. As is, if a 5DII comes out at $3000, and the 40D is nearing $1000, that is a massive gap with no camera. So they need to do something. Sony will be in the same boat if they don't make a higher spec replacement to the A700.

[KevinBarrett]

I think it is somewhat fruitless to argue megapixels in future cameras. They will simply get better and better. Nobody expected a 14 MP model to slot below the A700, and I think it just goes to show that Sony is going to try to win the pixel war with every entry, period.

The points that I think will be worth arguing is features in functionality. The A700 replacement may well be a 1-2 punch. There will be an A900 this fall, with which we are familiar already, and Sony will expect the A-mount loyal to replace their A700 bodies with an A900. The low end of the A700 market (that is, the people like myself who didn't want the biggest and the best, necessarily, but who wanted an SLR that familiarizes them with a full array of controls) will be covered by an A500 model. I expect A700 control and capability in a less expensive body. The A700 will still be produced in its superior body so we don't feel burned by a lesser model with more pixels, and it will certainly be replaced by something with great build quality and superior controls and output. That is my prediction, A900, A500, then perhaps A700 mk2, but no sooner.

[Greg Beetham]

The marketing strategy of the different brands is quite interesting at times, who would have thought it would be a good move too release a budget version (D700) of the D3 ($6200 here) not that long after it itself was put on the market, there's a good bet that it will take sales off not just the D3 but the D300 as well...but then, as long as someone buys one of the three, Nikon won't mind I guess...but there's always economy of scale, there would have too be a break even point in any manufacturing endeavour...just seemed odd to me.
I'm not sure Sony will convince potential A900 (possibly $4000+here) customers here that 25MP is going to be worth the extra over the known low light performance of the D3 12MP sensor put into an economical D700 ($3600) body, but there's always the possibility that Sony will release a glitch free camera for once though (sans the A700 Hi ISO & RAW NR fopar and A350 funny stuff for starters), and just give us a solid reliable camera that just takes solid reliable pictures, if they do they will have a winner regardless imho...and if Canon go high res with the 5D MkII (18 or 20+ MP) will Nikon look at the Sony sensor for a high res D700 or D3 version?
Funny thing about the 40D a lot of people turn their nose up at it in comparison to the D300 and A700, but if you sell truckloads of em then it's got to be a success, is it not, and probably the average 40D owner wouldn't know what or if they are missing out on anything by not paying quite a bit extra and purchasing an A700 or D300, and if they balked at the price of those, would there be a place for a big selling 7D? but there does seem too be quite a big gap in the Canon lineup there alright, between the 40D and the 5D/5D MkII.
Myself, I wouldn't mind a A500 plastic body version of the A700 with perhaps the rear wheel missing (if necessary just to dumb it down a little) and with either a 12MP cmos or ccd..I don't mind....it might be a while before we see an el-cheepo FF though I think, possibly when Sony pays off the new Four Billion dollar Fab I heard they built the price might come down a little on large wafers...maybe.
Greg

[Cross_lane]

All I hope is that the A900 and "A750" will lower the price of the A700 so that I can afford it... along with the VG... Don't quite need anything better than A700... seriously need much better high ISO performance than A100 that I am currently using also. As long as the A700's price drops I will be very very happy with the new products

[KevinBarrett]

You know, Those are my sentiments exactly, only I've already got my A700 and I'm waiting to purchase my VG. Welcome to the Forum, Cross_Lane!

[Dr. Harout]

And a welcome from me too Cross_lane

[destrian]

The scariest thing I can think of is Sony saying okay... if your a pro you have to buy the A900 series DSLR for full frame and pro status. If your an amateur or semi-pro you'll have to go with the APS-C sensor (A200 - A300 - A350 and A700 series). That would hurt my feelings. However that approach actually may work for them. They could make some of the most advanced PRO class DSLR's you can buy in the 900 series then make the same seriously awesome aps-c cameras to compete with the likes of the 50D from Canon and the D90 from Nikon.

[KevinBarrett]

I wonder what Sony will call a super-A900? Since the presumed A900 will likely be an "entry level" full frame (or, at least, marketed against others' "entry level" full-frame cameras), where will Sony go to take on the competitors' flagships? There isn't any precedent yet for A-mount architecture using series names above "9." Could it be possible that the upcoming camera will be an "8" and the "9" is still yet to come?

[Greg Beetham]

Personally I don't think it matters all that much what Sony decides to nominate as the model number of the new one, but if I were too guess they could easily go for A7 for example too differentiate that class of camera, sort of "pro-am ish", from the A700 "advanced amature ish", (after all, Sony themselves said the A700 wasn't intended for people too earn their living from), even if they don't go that way this time, there is still room to do that in the future and go forward with A7 (a), A7 (b) etc. or do a Canon with, A7 MkI or A7 MkII etc. this is assuming that the new one is aimed at the D700, 5DMkII strata, if it's somewhere in between the D3, 1D area in price and features/performance then it probably will be either A900 or A9 ....maybe.
Greg

[PhotoTraveler]

There is always A1100 and A1000.

I don't think it will be too long for us to wait. Maybe by the later part of 09 we will see their pro bodies. We will probably be able to tell by how many Pro lenses they have out there. They will soon have the pro zooms in place, they have the pro people shooting lenses now. They have a few of the big tele primes coming, and probably more to come (it's a pretty safe bet that 4/200, 2.8/400, 4.5/400, 4/600 will be out within a year). Tilt Shift lenses are the biggest mystery as to when they will come (hint Sony, you need these). So to be matched up with Nikon and Canon, the biggest holes left would be the tilt shifts, and a 4/500, maybe a 2/200. But at that put your really reaching for missing lenses. Once Sony has the lenses in the pipe, they can bring a pro-high speed body. A pro high res body could happen as is, but they are missing the TS lenses and a few primes and the 4/200 macro.

Probably the few things that will hold up pro bodies are.

1) They are busy with other bodies, A700 replacement, New entry level lineup, and something between A700 and A350 (A500). That could keep them busy, but Sony should be working towards getting the resources there to crank out these new models like clock work. Still, there is probably 3 bodies for sony in 09 right there. With possibly 8 models in production at any given time to cover the market, and updates for those being as short as 12 months at the low end, they will have to gear up for a lot of models each year.

2) They want to see how people react to the A900 and get some real feedback before running too far.

3) General getting ready, they will want to really figure out what they will do, get the bodies perfect and scream "switch systems to me", and have everything they need in place from support to accessories to lenses and so forth.

Back to the names a little bit, we will have to see how Sony decides to do things. They may scrap what they have soon as they get the first generation of all models out. This throwback to minolta might be a one generation thing. I think the A350 is a wrench in things. They might get a whole model line laid out and then re-set to a new permanent naming system and just say the heck with the Minolta/BMW style system. I hope the Minolta style system stays, but I'm just not sure how they will do it they way they are going. How do they rev them, or are they just as stumped as Minolta was. Maybe the A900 should be A800, to leave room for a high speed and high res pro body above without going past 1000. Maybe A350 will be a thorn to them in a few generations. Plus what happens when they go an start adding EVILs to the lineup. How are they going to fit, will they create a different system name even for those models.