Alpha Silver Jubilee – 25 years 1985-2010

The Alpha era

What followed was pretty remarkable. First of all, where Konica had not made proper use of the Minolta expertise it merged with, Sony immediately saw the value of the managers and workforce who had created classic cameras and some of the world’s best lenses.

Doesn’t look so bad in retrospect, does it? The Alpha 100 seemed like n0 great progress, but it actually incorporated pretty well all the features needed for a single economically priced camera to keep the system selling.

Within three months of the final takeover of the brand, they had the Alpha 100 ready for worldwide launch with a single brand name – the original Japanese choice – replacing the confusion of Alpha, Maxxum and Dynax. They gave it the first use of the highest resolution APS-C CCD yet made for consumer DSLRs, 10 megapixels, and kept all the features needed from the outgoing KM models.

The Alpha 100 remains an extremely good choice especially for landscape or macro work where its superior sharpness, depth of field preview, and 2 second mirror lock-up timer are desirable.

World beater; the first 12 megapixel CMOS 5fps DSLR which anyone could afford, which felt and still feels like a professional body, and which omits nothing the Alpha 100 had while adding plenty to the mix.

In September 2007, the Alpha 700 put 12.3 megapixels into a semi-pro body with glass prism, 5fps and every primary function a serious still photographer needed.

The launch of the Alpha 200, 300 and 350 six months later (actually rolled out between January and March) gave Sony a complete line-up from entry level to enthusiast/freelance grade.

The Alpha 900 inherited the same 600si/9 genes as the 700 but even more so. The top plate LCD with its large, easily readable simple display of key information harks back to the control dial LCD of the 9000AF. Let’s hope this one lasts longer!

The full-frame Alpha 900 came as a complete surprise in September 2008 – only two years after Sony’s takeover really got under way – and the rollout of exceptional Zeiss lenses which had started with the 16-80mm for the A100 continued with premium grade (and price) full-frame options. The G range got the 70-400mm, considered one of the best lenses of its range from any maker.

Flip screen, but not flop cameras – the Quick Focus Live View system has given Sony Alpha DSLRs one benchmark in performance which other makes simply can’t match, and buyers love it. The Alpha 550 continues the 350 and 380 tradition.

This speed and quality of development can only be compared to the first years of the Alpha system back in 1985 to 1988. Yet is was not going to let up; in 2009 Sony added the ultra-compact Alpha 230, 330 and 380 to replace the 200-350 series then launched a new breed of CMOS sensor in the Alpha 500 and 550. At the same time, the Alpha 850 was put in place as a reduced cost full frame 24 megapixel option.

The latest (fixed rear screen) 14 megapixel sensor-based MF live view Alpha 450 of 2010 – the camera which effectively marks the 25th Anniversary and Silver Jubilee of the Alpha marque.

Finally, in January 2010 the Alpha 450 arrived confirming that high performance CMOS and off-sensor live view would now be the norm.

Past and future

As I write this in January 2010, the Alpha 700 has been discontinued and a replacement is keenly awaited. Sony has eight current DSLRs on sale in the Alpha range, with four immediate predecessors still working their way out of the retail system. Alpha offers three main body sizes, two sensor formats, new lenses using non-sonic in-lens motors (SAM), and four final image sizes from 10 megapixels to 24.

The 1992 wireless flash system which had lost some of its functions when digital cameras first used the unique Minolta hot shoe (the Dimage 5 of 2002) was eventually restored to full compatibility, though it was never possible to allow older flash units to mix with the (D) series and later Sony HVL models.

Best of all, so far, has been Sony’s retention of the original 1985 M-AF lens mount which has kept the Alpha system backward compatible with millions of superb lenses made over a quarter of a century. Though the latest lenses (SSM and SAM drive) are not usable on old film cameras before the Dynax 7 or converted Dynax 9, current bodies work with all lenses.

Even the old cable-linked system for remote flash has been retained, and that makes the Alpha system reach back to 1981 in terms of compatible connectors.

All of Minolta’s inventions – from TTL-off-the-film metering and flash control, Acute Matte focusing screens, honeycomb matrix metering, predictive AF, new hotshoe design… to wireless flash, sensor-based stabilisation and more – have been inherited and still bring their benefits to the Sony Alpha camera range.

– David Kilpatrick

For further reading on Minolta see 70 years of camera history.

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