New Sony FF announced

[Jasper_D]

Sony has officially announced working on a successor for the A900 today, according to DPreview. However, no details anywhere that I can find... Does anybody know or have a link to some more information than that?

[bfitzgerald]

Interesting surely a PR attempt to appease A Mount users after Nikon's D800 arrived.
The only information I read was the stuff on the rumour site..ala there is a 24mp FF SLT this year and probably a 36mp SLT next year.
I'd give up on any hopes of a FF DSLR camera, SLT all the way I think

I think the lesson Sony have to learn (and it's amazing they have not) is that you don't discontinue a product until you have a replacement out there for it. This was a serious error that was evident with the A700. Looks like they are repeating it again with the A900

Vapourware impresses nobody, actual products you can buy could spoil the party for rivals or at least have the potential to.

[redsim74]

I think the lesson Sony have to learn (and it's amazing they have not) is that you don't discontinue a product until you have a replacement out there for it. This was a serious error that was evident with the A700. Looks like they are repeating it again with the A900

Totally agree.

[Heidfirst]

I'd give up on any hopes of a FF DSLR camera, SLT all the way I think

I think the lesson Sony have to learn (and it's amazing they have not) is that you don't discontinue a product until you have a replacement out there for it. This was a serious error that was evident with the A700. Looks like they are repeating it again with the A900
.

they've been saying for at least a year that there would be a follow on FF.
You have to allow them some leeway for the Thailand floods - I suspect that has had an effect.
It certainly had an effect on Nikon where the D800 was originally built in Thailand & planned for release at the start of Autumn - & I strongly suspect that there is an agreement between Nikon & Sony that Nikon get an exclusivity on the 36MP sensor for a set period so that 6 month delay would put Sony's launch back 6 months.

[Jasper_D]

Interesting surely a PR attempt to appease A Mount users after Nikon's D800 arrived.
...ala there is a 24mp FF SLT this year and probably a 36mp SLT next year.

If it comes this year, it shouldn´t be SLT: Mark Weir hinted at his interview at CES that they were not ready for that, didn´t succeed in producing the slanted mirror yet. If that´s true, it will either not be this year, or should be NEX at least? I´ve still not given up (my gear list does´t allow me to), I´d just like to know if and when I need to decide for another A900 or whether I let it die and jump...

[bfitzgerald]

Must have missed that one I thought Sony were all done with OVF's.
But then if it's just a "one off" then it's still the end of the road, even if it's a few years away

[Jasper_D]

True, but if it´s a ´one of´ in the future, I don´t need to buy that one right away. With the usual lifecycle, it would allow me much longer to wait until my A900 breaks, then buy the OVF successor if ever, go on happily shooting, maybe even until the end of my life! Otherwise, maybe I will really like the new tech by then with further improvements, or I´ll get much longer to save for a switch, I´m sure by then I won´t go for the heavy stuff at all anymore. Maybe I´ll give up altogether because of age, and just keep shooting with the upcoming Fuji X-Pro1.
However, realistically, I think that if they really postpone because they didn't succeed so far, it also would mean that Sony think they will some day, and if they do, they´ll indeed go for SLT only then. That will likely be my last opportunity to get another A900, or probably jump ship when my actual one becomes unrepairable (same result: I won´t have the money to fully build up the whole system).
No more DSLR / SLT discussions for me...

[Simmondsphotography]

The a900 replacement will come when it's ready and it will be eagerly checked out by myself when it does. In the meantime my A900 at over four years old is doing stirling service together with the A77 which I use mainly for wildlife. Just returned from three weeks in South Africa where I toted both cameras together with the 70-300G, 16-80 Zeiss and 24-105 Minolta. A reasonably light load this time but I am getting older but then age is just a number ( I won't see 72 again!) I still enjoy climbing off and on 4WD safari vehicles loaded down with kit!

The A77 performed brilliantly, the 70-300 providing me with up to 450 FL on the APSc sensor and for the first time for very many years I trusted to jpeg only setting when of course I could use the "1.4 and 2.0converter button", really an in-camera crop tool. It worked very well though with the advantage of being able to see the cropped image in the EVF, composing the image and focusing where needed before firing the shutter rather than trying to crop after the event. It is a much more satisfactory way of doing things IMHO.

The Jpeg`s were all perfect straight out of the camera with care using the exposure compensation button. This really is a very fine wildlife camera as Auto ISO can be trusted(unlike the A900) and auto WB.

I captured night shots of Lion, Haena and Wild Dog at night, previously impossible with the A900 OVF, light gain using the A77's EVF gave me a perfectly clear focusing and composing screen, a dream to use. I did not use continuous image capture just single shot but repeated reasonably quickly. I returned with many more keepers than usual!

[Dr. Harout]

...The A77 performed brilliantly, the 70-300 providing me with up to 450 FL on the APSc sensor and for the first time for very many years I trusted to jpeg only setting when of course I could use the "1.4 and 2.0converter button", really an in-camera crop tool. It worked very well though with the advantage of being able to see the cropped image in the EVF, composing the image and focusing where needed before firing the shutter rather than trying to crop after the event. It is a much more satisfactory way of doing things IMHO.

The Jpeg`s were all perfect straight out of the camera with care using the exposure compensation button. This really is a very fine wildlife camera as Auto ISO can be trusted(unlike the A900) and auto WB.

I captured night shots of Lion, Hyena and Wild Dog at night, previously impossible with the A900 OVF, light gain using the A77's EVF gave me a perfectly clear focusing and composing screen, a dream to use. I did not use continuous image capture just single shot but repeated reasonably quickly. I returned with many more keepers than usual!

How nice to hear. I am getting into EVF more and more by quotidian use.

[alphaomega]

Well, this is not an official announcement from Sony (sorry) but another SAR rumour listed as SR4 http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr4-a99- ... -point-af/
so yes, "kiss goodbye" to the OVF but welcome improved a new generation of SLT and OLED viewfinder technology.

A couple of days ago I told you that there are already some A99 prototypes into the wild. Photographers are testing the SLT Full Frame camera and their new features. Until know we know that the prototype has a new kind of 24 Megapixel FF sensor with base sensitivity of 100-25.600 ISO that can be extended to 50 up to 102400. One of our sources now told us that the Sony A99 has also an incredible new AF system of “102 all cross point AF“! We are talking about the A99 prototype camera so we cannot be sure the features will remain the same in the final production camera. But sources told me that focusing is one of the main area Sony is working on to beat the Nikon D800 (Click here to read specs) and Canon 5DmarkIII competition. For comparison, the A77 has a 19 cross points “only”.

So OFV enthusiasts "leave the boat" and the rest watch in awe if this is indeed true. Interesting about the 24Mp sensor. There must be something about Nikon having some sort of exclusivity on that 36Mp sensor, at least for a time (if it is a Sony fab).

[bfitzgerald]

Can't see the "awe" part unless 102 AF points rock your boat..for me I think it was nice to move to 3 then 7 but can't say I'd need more or let me put it another way how many do you need? 20? 50? I'm sure the Nikon is exclusive at least for a while but with the D800 around who's going to care about the A99 anyway?

Unless all these no OVF cost savings start to reduce the impact on wallet dent with your next camera purchase it's just another red herring plus point of SLT that doesn't really exist. It's great some folks tout about these massive savings Sony make, but let's see some of that in the retail price then, maybe folks might at least warm up to them a little bit.

[alphaomega]

Can't see the "awe" part unless 102 AF points rock your boat..

Barry, there was actually a little bit of irony intended with the "awe" part, but perhaps not clearly expressed. In any event 102 crosspoints sounds like "shooting a fly with an elephant gun". If there is anything about this rumour it does look as if Sony are serious about FF and challenging CAN/NIK. The 500mm F4 would not have seen the light of day was it not for that medium term intention.

[Dusty]

Well, 102 DOES seem excessive. Will you even be able to see what you're shooting at with all those focus points covering the viewfinder?

Dusty

[Greg Beetham]

When I see a 500/4G independently reviewed with sample photos then I’ll say the ‘release’ has some teeth, until then it’s a humongously expensive announcement that you can place an order for later this year and wait for x amount of time ? And you will probably need to plonk down a serious bunch of coconuts in advance. When you finally receive the lens it will be non returnable because the time period for returns will have elapsed.

I’ve seen people agitating for focus point infestation in the past and I didn’t really ‘get it’ I wonder what a viewfinder looks like with over a hundred focus points on it; does anyone know what purpose one would put that many focus points too? I usually have enough on my plate watching the response of just the one centre one I currently use never mind over a hundred of the varmints. Maybe I’m forgetting that it’ll be ok because it will be an EVF and you won’t notice the swarm of focus points….I wonder if the focus point ‘hand off’ can show the focus point in ‘real time’ on a moving target, it could get confusing if there is even the slightest VF lag as the subject could be under a different focus point too the one that actually is currently focussing on the actual subject.
Greg

Ps Ha ha it turns out the D800 doesn’t use a Sony sensor after all, http://www.techradar.com/news/photograp ... s--1071249 you have to laugh, people claiming that Nikon was only able to build the camera courtesy of Sony making the sensor for them and they had a ‘deal’ about usage of it…all of it fantasy land stuff.

[alphaomega]

Ps Ha ha it turns out the D800 doesn’t use a Sony sensor after all, http://www.techradar.com/news/photograp ... s--1071249 you have to laugh, people claiming that Nikon was only able to build the camera courtesy of Sony making the sensor for them and they had a ‘deal’ about usage of it…all of it fantasy land stuff.

Greg Beetham may be correct in stating that the 36Mp sensor in Nikon's D800 was not made by Sony, but another as yet unknown entity. On the other hand I guess Paul Genge may have received his P45 (goodbye notice here in UK) if he had hinted this sensor was made by Sony. Could be the company that made the D3 12Mp FF sensor.
In any event it looks as if Sony are "steaming ahead" with upgrading the Image Division as per this press release and Techradar comment
http://www.imaging-resource.com/news/20 ... al-imaging

From April 1st, Sony CPSG will cease to exist, and PISBG will be realigned as the Digital Imaging Business Group, reflecting Hirai's intention to make digital imaging one of three core pillars of Sony's business. (The other two pillars being gaming and mobile technologies.) The new Sony DIBG will be headed by Shigeki Ishizuka, who will also continue on in his current role as president of the Device Solutions Business Group.

So the suggestions that Sony's participation with A and E mount cameras/lenses will be shortlived may be premature.