Photoclubalpha

So SAR has a rumour that the A55 successor - designated A57 - will be announced on 13 March http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr4-sony ... -march-13/
Not sure how the specs would indicate a major step forward as Sony are retaining a 16Mp sensor (good decision IMHO) but not introducing the A65/A77 EVF. I notice the sensor is listed as ExmorHD. Swifel screen is clearly swivel screen.

What we know so far about the A57:
16 megapixel ExmorHD sensor
100-16.000 ISO (up to 25.600 with MultiNR)
12fps
Same menu and focusing of the Sony A77
Swifel screen
No top LCD
No GPS
New battery grip
Not the same EVF as the A77/A65

Apparently the price will remain the same as for the A55.
I might have been interested had I not invested in NEX for my "light outfit" . I think it is a step back if they retain A55 EVF, but perhaps the A65/77 EVF is too expensive for this level of camera.

Aside from AF and more fps it doesn't seem like a very worthwhile "update" to the A55
Why would they remove the GPS?

Not surprised at the 16mp still I don't see that as a problem. I do wonder at times where Sony are heading. The EVF was one area for improvement very much so

Agree - not much of an upgrade, or even much of a change. But I gotta say I have turned off the GPS in my a55. It's just not fast enough to lock on. The only way to get close to usefulness is to leave the camera on all day to feed the GPS, and that ruins battery life. I've gone to a GPS logger instead. It's one more piece of kit to haul, but it's small, lasts all day without worries, and of course the other bodies I have are without GPS.

A57 to be announced on 13 Mar 12 (per SAR)

Why?

Not a bad little question maybe we could see a slight resurgence of interest in the enthusiast/prosumer area by Sony now that their favourite consumer target market area is seemingly being taken over by smartphones with apparently declining sales of camera type cameras in this sector or it’s not an expanding area, or cameras are loosing out sales to smartphones so the article I was reading was saying, not that I was paying a whole lot of attention, it involved a fight to the death between a smartphone and a basic model SLT (I think) so naturally my eyes glazed over, but whatever, one could hardly expect even Sony to attack the A77 with a consumer class camera that’s got enough features to attract A77 buyers away, the A65 would most likely have done that already if it had had the 16MP sensor but Sony cleverly avoided that one, they’ve refined the art of just avoiding giving people what the want to a high plateau so they can edge a little closer with the next model…maybe.
Greg

Atgets_Apprentice wrote:A57 to be announced on 13 Mar 12 (per SAR)

Why?

Obviously they didn't want to announce it on March 14.





(Sorry, couldn't resist)

There is one very important thing that really deserves an upgrade - the old beamsplitter mirror is much worse than the new one found in a77/65 and in the LA-EA2. Then they should really add that focus peaking feature, too.
That would be quite enough to get some current a55 users to upgrade and also to attract new buyers with obviously expectedly favourable reviews - that's a 'new and improved' product version, after all.

https://twitter.com/#!/SonyElectronics/ ... 9196856320

http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores ... 1666433223

http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/03/13 ... 57-HVL-LE1

Dpr JPEG samples show very low noise and also very low NR-induced luma detail degradation.

I have an A55, and wanted to upgrade to A57, but the lack of GPS makes me think more about it.
As when I travel I usually use GPS and the difference in battery life is not that much.
Usually it takes more time to lock at first and then it takes very short, keeping in mind that you usually update GPS assist data.

The body style is better than the A55 there is no doubt about that good move there (much better body A65 more comfortable) A55 was too small to handle well.
DPR's preview again reads like a marketing brochure for Alpha (I wish they would be a tad more objective)

Auto Portrait Framing! Yes we've been waiting for that for years

Usual empty top plate space but that's nothing new really. Overall it looks like a minor change with the same bracketing limitations etc etc.

Just checked the raw, and it appears they have finally solved the problem with purple tint in the shadows at higher ISO. That problem was very obvious in a55/77/65, and it was caused by sensor sensitivity to heat.
Otherwise, I don't see any improvement in noise performance over a55 up to ISO6400.

So the best upgrade to a55 would be to simply change the mirror for the new improved one.

I also wonder about the lag when using flash that was present in A55, as it was impossible to capture the moment with flash.
As we can see, DK is also very disappointed about the lack of GPS.

Well you can't have everything if Sony put GPS in there then nobody would buy the A65
Just because SLT turned up on the scene, Sony still have to differentiate between models the same as everyone else. They can't really use fps any more as that's their SLT "pro point"

That is why you get no GPS, and you get the same limited bracketing. Bracketing is a "pro" feature for Sony so you have to buy an A77 to get that
I can see a pattern developing that's very similar to the Alpha DSLR's ie lots of models with minor variations in specification.

I have the same ideas about the GPS and the way that it is done.
I think that this way he gets down the overall sales. I am not going to pay 200 more for GPS and more mixels that I do not need.