No A78 this year according to SAR

[Greg Beetham]

I know what you’re saying agorabasta, but I’m talking about the actual physical componentry, pixel size, the size of transistors etc. those ‘process’ numbers I’m sure are talking about the wavelength of the laser they use to cut the pattern in the wafer and those would be nm, but the actual components are much larger than that, I wasn’t sure just where they ‘fit’ in relationship with near IR wavelengths.

Ok I checked, the components are huge by comparison to light wavelengths, pixels are around 6 microns now in a DSLR (some are 5) so the lenses in them would most likely have their own individual diffraction and flare problems as well, hmm the plot thickens.
Greg

[classiccameras]

Not sure how relevant this is, but the German review site Photozone.de
decided not use the A77 for Alpha mount lens tests as in their words, "The sensor was a difficult beast" and would prefer to wait for the A58 with its 20mp sensor for lens testing.

[bfitzgerald]

No idea what "difficult beast" means. Maybe they should provide some more information on that.
I'm not sure the A77 is going to have a great year it's getting on a bit, and at the time I think the 24mp sensor might have been a mistake (the light loss mirror can't explain the obvious low light performance difference v newer 24mp models like the D7100/5200/3200). I think 16mp might have been a better choice at the time.

That's the problem for Sony, Nikon now have 24mp across ALL their models in APS-C land. The other problem is the Canon and Nikon cashback offers, which are surely massively hurting Sony. A77 is around £750 right now. 60d's and D7000's can be had with cashback for around £550.
The price actually went up on the A99 too a little bit to around £2099. Well above the 6d and D600, Nikon are doing £150 cashback on the D600 bringing the cost to £1280. That's a massive price difference, Sony must be getting slaughtered for sales for full frame too.

I think the SLT cost advantage has gone up in smoke, it should in theory mean simpler production, less production time and lower costs (to a point) this just isn't translating over to shelf prices. D7100 dropped very quickly in price it's just over £900 now body only. Even if Sony had a new A78 to release they would not be able to command the A77's into price of £1150. The days of £1000+ for most APS-C models is over. Canon might get it for a new 7d with super build and hugely beefed up pro quality, anything else though not a chance it will survive.

[Greg Beetham]

There’s two possibilities I can think of regarding the price increase of the A99. Capitalizing on the problems Nikon are having with their two FF cameras at the moment, or maybe more likely someone has to pay for the ‘special’ Sony had where you could get the vertical grip and F60 flash as freebies if you buy an A99 (USA only?).
I think camera manufacturers have basically used the USA as a break even market for a long time, where a given item/production run can be brought up to or close to the breakeven point in the shortest time span even if they have to discount to get the throughput.
Then they get the other markets to deliver the margin they need to make it profitable or at the least pick up the tab for discounting in the US, plus whatever they think they can get away with.
But I’m not sure that model is working anymore (if it ever did) given the slump in parts of the camera industry, although Canon is (or was) claiming an increase over forecasts for their DSLR sales at least.
Greg

[bfitzgerald]

Interesting bit of news from SAR:
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr4-new- ... arly-2014/