The rumour mill says we'll get a $999 A77 in October with 24MP sensor, enthusiast-style body and great iso, as well as all the usual bells and whistles that accompany the DSLT.

This is a super low price for a pretty high spec camera. If I read my tea leaves correctly the upcoming D400 will have the same sensor but in a body that costs twice as much as the A77.

At $999 the A77 is not exactly entry level, but it's not so high that p&s upgraders would exclude it out of hand. Comparing the spec sheets in a shop the A77 will look very good indeed. Could this be the camera that actually gives canikon a run for it's money?

The D300 cost way more than the A700 when introduced and this didn't make the A700 a best seller, or the D300 a poor seller -at all. Actually, what made the D300 a really great seller, and put Nikon back to the road was its great built quality and stellar AF and noise performance. Sony needs more than just low prices. The NEX system is an example of success.

In other hand, I'm not sure all the A700 owners, waiting for the upgrade, are ready to buy into SLT...

I mentioned the D400 primarily due to the same sensor. The more direct competitors to the A77 in terms of price will be the D7000 and 60D, which would appear to be well outclassed by the A77 spec.

OLED EVF...

I predicted a UK price of sub £1000 for the A700 and I was spot on but I've yet to collect my prize
Let's wait and see what this brings to the party it's all a bit early to work out the price and features/spec just yet.

You have to remember some buyers are pretty picky at this price point and SLT might not hit the spot for many users. Even with a great spec and good price it's by no means a certain D7000/60d sales killer.

At least in the UK that isn't true - the D300 RRP was £1299 body only & the A700 was ~ £1000 body only (£1124 with 18-70). However, the street prices were even closer partly because the D300 was out earlier & therefore was already exiting it's first few months that dealers can actually achieve RRP by the time that A700 stock arrived & imo partly by Sony trying to keep dealers from discounting. At very similar prices the D300 is simply a better body.
Canon had a very similar problem - 40D sales hit a brick wall until Canon added rebates & dropped the price effectively making it something like 45-50% cheaper at which point it started selling again. Sony reacted similarly but more slowly & not by as much.
Plus the A700 gained an unfair reputation for noise from reviewers using Photoshop where ACR did a poor job plus there was on the additional firmware the lack of an NR off setting.
Afaik DPReview was the only review site that went back & revised it's review after these were all resolved however I'm sure early reviews were a major drag on early sales.
I strongly suspect that the A700 may be 1 of the very few DSLR bodies that was selling better right at the end of it's sales life by when it's virtues had been recognised rather than in it's early days ...

Being a sales killer for another system means you have to bring more to the table than just a good price point on a particular body.

Would any of you abandon your Sony/Minolta system just because you could get a D7000/60D for $500, body only? What would you do for lenses? Flash? Other Accessories?

Flipping over to another system means quite a bit of outlay, and I doubt that the average 7-class body owner is starting from scratch. I'd bet that most have an investment in the system that's many thousands of dollars, and to switch you'd have to have one humdinger of a deal.

That's why I never switched from MD to Alpha mount before digital. The cost of replacing everything would have put me in the poorhouse, and using a dual system isn't too practical, although I did grab my brothers 7000 for my Holy Land tour in '99, just because he had a 28-210 lens that I thought would be useful. However, on a daily basis, it won't work.

Yes, you can always sell your used gear, but how much can you get out of it? You'll still have to buy replacements for everything, and still spend a lot of money. If you really want a competition killer, have and excellent line-up of quality products at a better price point, starting at the low end. Then also have a better dealer network (Sony's is crippled by it's "can't discount" policy) and a good support system. Sony has no real support system, try getting a loaner when your a900 shoots craps on assignment in Rome.

$999, good for Sony people who want a DSLT, worthless for Sony people who want a DSLR. Enjoy it if you're the former.

Dusty

I have serious doubts about that price rumour, a new 7 series model (even if it is an SLT design) with an OLED EVF and a 24MP sensor on the shelf at $1000 USD all sounds like a whopper to me…or wishful thinking. If that price does come to pass there might be quite a few A-mount system 7 buyers who will try one just to see how it pans out.
I will probably be able to withstand the temptation myself, I don’t really need a klutzy designed video camera that’s been disguised to look like a still camera, but we will see in due course just how well the still taking side of things has been implemented and stills photographers have been accommodated….at least we can expect that a system flash will actually flash on a 7 when you press the shutter button…hopefully.
Greg

Ps I see that there has been reliability issues with the shutter in the SLT’s already, someone who had clocked up around 40000 photos (80000 shutter cycles) had the A55 go dead suddenly in the middle of a holiday.

Isn't the Internet wonderful? A single user reports an issue and an entire class of camera is damned as defective!

Yes you are right redsim74 I'm probably over reacting and that is most likely a one off case for that A55 and won't happen with any other SLT.
Greg

Come on, Greg. Does everything have to be an extreme?

That's not what I was saying at all.


Sim

Sorry redsim74, I'm just peeved that these days it's all ra ra SLT yay yippie, and Sony have seemingly abandoned making proper cameras.
Greg

Well, it's certainly a polarising issue.

I'm pretty sure I could personally live with a modern EVF, given that I came from a Panasonic bridge camera to dSLRs (FZ5 to KM 5D). I can fully understand however, that those coming from a more traditional background might be concerned.


Sim

Where does the 80,000 shutter cycles come from? Is the A55 doing something strange that an SLR doesn't?

Henry the SLT design is similar to the NEX in that regard, it has too hold the shutter open so the main sensor can relay the view to the EVF or rear LCD; when you press the shutter button the shutter closes first then opens and closes for the shot then opens again to resume relaying the current image view through to the EVF or LCD again; so with that design the total number of shutter actuations is double the number of photos taken.
Greg

Nice to see that things never change here at photoclubalpha. Still the same old grumbling, and lack of action (i.e. pragmatically accpeting reality and moving to a company that makes ovf-based dslr, if that's your thing).

The A55 was extremely well-received by people who didn't have they heads shoved in the sand, if the a77 hits the 999 buck price point I believe it will be a revolution. we'll see.

Oh and a cookie to Baz for getting the price right.