Photoclubalpha

This is a part extract from AP Mag's website Re: the Alpha 700 replacement,


Sony USA is showing a prototype DSLR at the CES show that it says represents the forthcoming replacement body for the now very long-in-the-tooth Alpha 700 high end enthusiast camera. Michael Bubolo, the national DSLR trainer for Sony Alpha, told Amateur Photographer that details are still not finalised, but that the camera would probably be launched this year (2011) and that it would definitely use the translucent mirror technology introduced in the Sony Alpha 33 and 55 cameras at the end of 2010.

The new model however will feature a 'substantially better' electronic viewfinder. Bubolo was also able to confirm that Sony's priority for this coming product will be high ISO settings 'up into the hundreds of thousands'. The body shell will be made from magnesium alloy and the finished product will be priced in the same area as Canon EOS 60D type products. The current A700 uses an APS-C sized sensor, and Bubolo told AP he expected the replacement to do the same – with 'rumours' suggesting a resolution of 25 million pixels.



http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/ne ... 04848.html

That agrees with what I've seen of the mockup. The body construction uses strap lug connections similar to the A700, which can only be done (at least in Sony/Minolta history) when a magnesium or similar body casting is used. The cameras using a steel pressing for the skeleton have linear strap mounts which are part of the pressing, those with a body casting have posts screwed in.

Assuming it is APS-C, going for the same pixel density as the Canon EOS 60D produced a 22 megapixel image. So this is definitely possible with current production technology. 25 megapixels is a very small increase over that.

David

personally I wouldn't put too much credence in much of this.
a) he's a trainer - not sales, marketing, product development etc. Having worked for multinationals (incl. Canon) it's my experience that he's unlikely to know exactly what's coming until a few weeks before launch when he'll start training on the product himself.
b) he says that everything is subject to change - this I can believe but it means that you can't trust any of what he's said ...
c) if Sony give us a 7 class, metal bodied, 25MP high ISO beast for the price of a Canon 60D I'll be amazed (but delighted )

Certain pieces are definitely falling together -

- 25Mp would already justify back-illuminated sensor design as at that density the gain could amount to 1/3 stop easily
- 1/2 stop loss from the mirror would be mostly compensated by that BIS design (or they could also limit the loss to 1/3 stop)
- larger body could allow moving the SLT mirror, if not upwards, then definitely aside towards the grip
- moving IR filter to the SLT mirror (as their patent application suggests) and removing all wiring from the sensor active surface should kill all the camera-induced fringing

The only thing that's really lacking is that uber-EVF we've never seen to date...

With 25mp on APS-C that's going to hurt lenses quite a bit we're fast reaching the point of hitting a brick wall for limits to resolution. Still say they need to find someone other than bayer sensors for longer term. I'd expect a significantly increased resolution for the EVF and addressing some of the issues present on the current ones.

If buyers are willing to embrace EVF's in cameras of this class will remain to be seen, I'd much prefer a decent D7000/K-5 OVF myself. You can be sure they'll have some crazy even faster FPS rate as well. Other than lots of pixels and the expected build for a body of this class and fast FPS not sure what else they can pull out of the bag.

bfitzgerald wrote:With 25mp on APS-C that's going to hurt lenses quite a bit we're fast reaching the point of hitting a brick wall for limits to resolution.

Not even close. That would require some gigapixels sensor. Just try scaling a 1/2.3 inch 14Mp P&S sensor to APS size and count for yourself.

Pricing is an interesting point, if you are going the traditional cost recovery route then something between the Canon 60D and the Nikon D7000 would be called for even with Sonys inbuilt economies of scale. But if you are serious about doing some damage to the big two and establishing your own turf, then somewhere around the price of the 60D will be required. Also Sony as the new kid on the block cannot command a price premium over the established players.

But given current prices then that implies doing more damage to Nikons bottom line for upper end APS cameras in the D7000 and the D300s replacement than to Canon. Perhaps things aren't what they used to be between Sony and Nikon .Or Sony may have simply decided to remake the rules of the game to its advantage and Nikon is now expected to make its own way in the world. Thom Hogan may have got it wrong about who is divorcing whom.

Looking at the mockup, isn't there a few very important buttons missing? like WB, ISO and SSS switch, and does the AEL button still do slow sync? And what about the tilting rear screen? Don't EVF cameras have the eyepiece projecting out past the level of the rear screen?
Anyway whatever the mockup looks like, it seems we won't be getting a proper normal OVF high end DSLR without video compromises...it seems we'll only be getting a 7 kaf kaf series SLT.
Greg

Relax Greg they added the video button so that's all we need
Some folks complained about the AEL doing slow sync (I was not one of them) so that's out the window

Yes you have to have quick access to ISO and WB on any body let alone a higher end APS-C one let's see what the Alpha "dream team" think up.

Not sure I can agree with agorabasta some users are reporting issues at 18mp odd it's only going to get more demanding on optics even the lens makers admit as much (I believe Sigma said something about this a while back). Most p&s cameras have lousy image quality so it's hard to compare those.

I think I'll put off the a55 until i see what happens, no big deal really I'm still in madly love with the a700

bfitzgerald wrote:Not sure I can agree with agorabasta some users are reporting issues at 18mp odd it's only going to get more demanding on optics even the lens makers admit as much (I believe Sigma said something about this a while back). Most p&s cameras have lousy image quality so it's hard to compare those.

I can't see where this is really a problem until we get sensor densities in 700 sensles/nM range...

Do I not remember seeing a big chart (from Sony) saying their FF Carl Zeiss lenses can deliver (just about) to 24mp on full frame?
I sure do I'll have a look for that how accurate it is I'm not sure. And that's CZ lenses how other ones stack up is a big ???

Any anyway who the hell wants 25mp on APS-C? Maybe you folks crave resolution but I think we've been doing just fine there for a while. Time to get some new HDD's raw files are not going to be small!

bfitzgerald wrote:Time to get some new HDD's raw files are not going to be small!

They'll be about 24-25 mb CRAW or 37 mb RAW...

Barry, it's quite obvious that measly compacts have much higher absolute resolution as measured in 'lines per mm' than all the current APS/FF/MF ever had, period. So there's no fundamental limitation in the lens optics.
Sure some lenses will show their limitations as sensor res goes up simply because making low-res lenses is cheaper. But the final goal of any digital representation of an analog signal is to provide a lossless image of that analog signal. Hence we must ideally have sensors capable to outresolve even the best of lenses.

So there's a very long way of resolution race ahead. And it doesn't mean that files will grow too much as the less photons are caught per sensel, the less bits are needed to represent the sensel data and the compression of such simpler data also becomes more effective.

So it's better to simply enjoy the ride at this technology race...

Barry Fitzgerald wrote

With 25mp on APS-C that's going to hurt lenses quite a bit we're fast reaching the point of hitting a brick wall for limits to resolution.

Agorabasta wrote

Barry, it's quite obvious that measly compacts have much higher absolute resolution as measured in 'lines per mm' than all the current APS/FF/MF ever had, period. So there's no fundamental limitation in the lens optics.

You need to pick the right compacts to understand what a good compact lens can do. I own the Panasonic LX2 & 3 with Leica lenses. The LX2 is pretty good but let's consider the LX3. This camera has a 1/1.63" CCD sensor with total pixel No. of 11,300,000. Taking ISO100 images (Jpeg or RAW) I would say they are as sharp at 100% as any of my A series Sony cameras. Forget about ISO400 and above, but that is a sensor rather than lens problem. So would someone please work out what Mp this Leica 24-60mm zoom can resolve with APS-C size sensor. I bet it will be coming on to 100Mp if not higher. So a Sony A750 with 25Mp will probably not outperform Sony's CZ or G lenses. Pity the person who could only afford kit lenses for such a camera. That would be a waste of camera money.