Any news on new Alphas?

[alphaomega]

At my age I am in the business of purchasing one more DSLR to replace my A700 when the right camera comes along. I do hope that Sony will produce such an Alpha with APS-C sensor of at least 15Mp and higher ISO performance than my A700 v.4. I am sure it will have at least as capable in body motor as the A700. I have A mount lenses without motors and they perform well. I have no interest in going through a wholesale replacement programme. I used to think that I did not need AF and P mode when I used my MD set-up but I am afraid I would not do without these now. Other people will think differently . I have no worries about Sony staying in the DSLR market for as long as I continue to take photographs. I notice from DPReview that there are rumours to the effect that there will be news from Sony on or after 18 May. There is something brewing and it better be good if they want my money.

[bfitzgerald]

No idea where all this AF motor ripping out stuff came from. Just don't see it myself.
People are saying that sony will go for video in the next models, but going on their past record, they seem to be resisting such a move strongly. Is there any reason to suggest things have changed? They didn't even include live view on the other models (A200/A700/A900), maybe they won't on the next batch of ones (I don't mind the idea of sensor based LV, it has some use, but it's not a big deal to me)

It's rather ironic that the traditional camera companies have jumped on video so quickly, yet sony..one of the big electronic companies, whom you would expect to be mega into video, are ignoring it completely. I have to say, I find that rather refreshing and good!

Playing about with video might be fun, but I doubt I would use it that much. I am much more into stills photography, I am not a video shooter..not a serious one, thus I don't require this. I wouldn't want to bank on video or even LV (for non LV models) turning up.

[destrianlives]

forget it... I http://www.studiolighting.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; show contributor David Griffin a.k.a. the Prince of Cheap just bought the Sony Alpha A900! So I dont care what new stuff is coming out!

[David Kilpatrick]

They clearly have not removed the AF motor. The cameras are cosmetically modified A200-300s, taking a different card format (SD or MSPD we do not know yet) and with HDMI output. No big deal really.

David

[bfitzgerald]

They clearly have not removed the AF motor. The cameras are cosmetically modified A200-300s, taking a different card format (SD or MSPD we do not know yet) and with HDMI output. No big deal really.

David

The big if is MS only or MS and SD. Myself, I don't care if MS is there, but if it's the only media..I do care, not that I am in the market for this stuff anyway, but most compacts are SD, if Sony are courting the compact up grader crowd (and it looks like they are very much), SD is essential. If they stick to old stubborn sony habits, and do a MS only, it might even hurt sales. As well as get a major bashing on some review sites

[alphaomega]

Glad to hear that the body motors have not been removed from the new A230330/380. Not happy about removal of CF slot. I am still recovering from being "under-whelmed" by this release. More or less "old wine in a new bottle" idea. I shall stick with my A350 as second to my A700 and wait for the A730? If Sony keep adding 30 to their model No. they will soon run out of options. Why not A210 etc. Frankly my A700/350 combo can do what needs to be done photographically so I qm quite relaxed but I see this as a marketing exercise. I will watch the reviews and comments on higher ISO performance particularly of the A380, but no - I am not tempted to spend money on this lot.

Sony better bring out an A700 upgrade later this year. I cannot imagine they have ambitions to become No. 2 without a strong camera in that particular slot.

[bfitzgerald]

Everything in the camera business is marketing! So I am not too shocked that we have a different look before us.

I would question some of the canon rip off elements though. I still cannot see a button for AEL and exp compensation on the LV models, a button is raised up on a slope, but it can only be one of those. I frankly don't care what they do to these models, but my days of entry level buying are most def over now. What concerns me, is what happens to other up the range models. A500 (we hope), would take some of the pain away, and A700 land will not really tolerate anything freaky going on design wise.

Whilst I don't care for video myself, sony on the one hand are trying to pull consumer buyers in, on the other they are refusing to put LV in non LV models (so far), and they are not doing video on these new ones either. This is a contradiction of the consumer appeal angle. As I said before, I think Sony are having some internal issues, and they do not appear to have a cohesive strategy, even the look of the Alpha system is not consistent any longer. They may attract new users, but I doubt they will hugely dent the top 2. They risk losing their Minolta user base, if they cannot appeal to those buyers. Not an easy thing to do, in some ways I think Sony may have been much better off (in the long run) starting their own mount from scratch.

[David Kilpatrick]

We must just wait and see. They maybe could fit a dual CF/MS Pro slot in the base, maybe even keep the same battery - why not have two doors in the camera base? Or they could have a dual MS/SD drive like the one they provided for the Konica Minolta G600, one of the best compacts of its generation.

David

[harveyzone]

We must just wait and see. They maybe could fit a dual CF/MS Pro slot in the base, maybe even keep the same battery - why not have two doors in the camera base?

They would need to be able to move the slot into the grip when attached then, as a VG covering the card slot would be inconvenient at best (assuming sony offer grips for the new models).

[KevinBarrett]

There isn't much precedence for vertical grips on that style of camera grip for the A mount. Here on the old Konica Minolta web page the accessories for the Maxxum line are shown. Only an AA battery pack was available for the Maxxum 3, 4, and 5 models, and that offered no reproduction of any controls.

[harveyzone]

There isn't much precedence for vertical grips on that style of camera grip for the A mount. Here on the old Konica Minolta web page the accessories for the Maxxum line are shown. Only an AA battery pack was available for the Maxxum 3, 4, and 5 models, and that offered no reproduction of any controls.

Maybe, but under Sony there is already a precidence for grips on this class of camera. The A200, A300 and A350, the machines they are replacing, all have them. Indeed of all of Sony's DSLRs to date only the A100 (which is, of course, essentially a freshened up 5D) doesn't. Not providing a grip for the new bodies could be considered a further downgrade, but could also be consistant with aiming firmly for an entry level. It also further widens the gap between the entry level and the next class up, the A700.

[bfitzgerald]

There isn't much precedence for vertical grips on that style of camera grip for the A mount. Here on the old Konica Minolta web page the accessories for the Maxxum line are shown. Only an AA battery pack was available for the Maxxum 3, 4, and 5 models, and that offered no reproduction of any controls.

Well some folks said, Canon were doing grips for their cameras at the lower end..and maybe sony caught onto that. The mistake made, was not that sony did offer vertical grips for the entry models, but that they were priced at expensive levels. Making exactly the same mistake as Minolta did. Pricey grips. Ok at the higher end you can get away with it maybe, A700 class etc. But to have the cheapest DSLR in Europe, with the most expensive grip (at release the sony grips were twice the price of the canon ones), is frankly asking for trouble. This is another reason I am surprised the design of the new entry models has changed, I am sure Sony has a very large stock of unsold grips, they won't be much use now. Glad I didn't bother with one, no point if there is nothing to use it on later on. This raises the continuation of models argument too, and consistency.

The BP-200 does 2 things for the 3/4/5 cameras, it adds AA batteries (4 which will last forever almost on a film camera), it also makes the cameras nicer to hold for those of us who like a "longer grip"

[Dapple]

One of the photos shows an MS logo on the LCD - this made me think that the new cameras will have dual card slots. Why would there be a need to show the card type unless there was a choice? Just a thought...

[KevinBarrett]

One of the photos shows an MS logo on the LCD - this made me think that the new cameras will have dual card slots. Why would there be a need to show the card type unless there was a choice? Just a thought...

It's a good observation though I think you aren't the first to make it. It could mean that the camera supports more than just MS format, or it could mean that Sony wants to remind users all the time that their camera uses a Memory Stick. Given the highly simplified and educational GUI, I am guessing it is the latter. Also, welcome to the forum!

[Dusty]

Grips are not something the entry-level buyer wants. I bet they haven't sold most of their 300/350 grips. If the battery is changed, that means the old grips wouldn't work on the new models, another reason to not bother making new grips, hence no worries about getting to the cards from the bottom.

We should all know more in a week!

Dusty