Service manual for Sony A850 Online @ Sony HK

[Highlandsnapper]

Seems to be a FF 98% viewfinder with no video.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read. ... e=32560624


Opps wrong forum, please move to the appropriate forum.

[KevinBarrett]

Still no upgrade path for us a700 users. If the rumor rings true, my next body is a Pentax.

[picman]

Another small change is that the remote commander is not delivered with the camera. It can be bought separately.

Cheers, Bob.

[PhotoTraveler]

Which is fine, it's not like people need 2-3-4 remote commanders cause they got one with every camera.

Folks buying a A850 probably all ready own a body that came with one. I've barely ever used mine, as it's a pretty dumb device. Doesn't work from behind, and has all the tv controls. I just use my cable release.

[Dusty]

Since it seems to be the same sensor, I guess it's just a price point thing. It will be interesting to see just what that is.

A 24MP FF camera for under $2K will be quite a deal. That would convince a few people to buy into the line, I'm sure.

Dusty

[KevinBarrett]

Counting the a850, Sony's last four DSLR models have been down-graded versions of older models. This doesn't really present the system in a very good light.

[stevecim]

you would expect a cheapper FF to kill sales of the a900, would anyone spend extra just for 2 fps and a 2% bigger viewfiner?

If it's all correct, then will will have by the end of the year
A230,330,380 A500,550 A850,900

Seems like Sony treat their DSLR line up the same has their PnS
T series 2 models
W series 5 models
H series 3 models
S series 3 models

They work on the idea that you will sell more cameras if you have 2 or more very similar versions of the same body.

Hope the the a500 series are really good, At this stage the A850 looks like a just a cut down version of the A900 and I don't see how the minor changes will see a big differance in price and it still does have a flash, which make it look like a studio only camera, which is the way I see a lot of sales staff describe the A900. "A perfect camera for studio work" not a camera for all day use. (don't flame me, those are the words I heard sales staff use )

[KevinBarrett]

I'm building up my Pentax and Nikon wishlists already. I'll need an extra body to do weddings, and there are more than a few lenses necessary to fill out my kit. If I stick with Sony, my only upgrade paths from the a700 lead me to $1800 lenses.

[stevecim]

Well, when people who own A700 are thinking of moving to other brands, to me that's say a lot.
(I still wish I had a A700 ) (I recon Sony could sell heaps of A700 is the seriously dropped the price)

I'm no expert and maybe Sony do have it right and Can/Nik/etc all have it wrong.

But Sony have/will have relased 4 models this year which are all "down grades" of current models and no new features. (I'll don't call making something lighter a "new feature")

have Canon or Nikon released any models that have less features than the models they replaced?

Hmmm Maybe Sony are looking to kill off APS and looking to move the market to FF and only use APS for very low end
maybe they think they have the edge over Canon in FF tech?

[PongoAlpha]

Perhaps Grand Caliph is right about Sony having it right, IMO serious photgraphers like us make up less than 1% of Sonys' customers base, whereas with Nikon & Canon it is probably 5% or more.

So the more Sony make their SLR's handle like P&S compacts the more customers Sony will get, don't underestimate them they are not the most succesfull consumers electronics company for nothing. After all they are only in it for the money..

We used to complain about them but oh how nice it would be to have Minolta back.

Regards Paul.

[bfitzgerald]

So the more Sony make their SLR's handle like P&S compacts the more customers Sony will get, don't underestimate them they are not the most succesfull consumers electronics company for nothing. After all they are only in it for the money..
We used to complain about them but oh how nice it would be to have Minolta back.
Regards Paul.

It is yet to be decided if making low end DSLR's more "compact like" works or not, I'll put money down that it won't (Canon have managed rather well without it)

As for Sony, and being the most successful consumer electronics company, I would have agreed with you up to the mid to late 1990's, but times have changed. Sony did well back then, and could carry a premium with the "Sony = better quality"
But they came under great pressure from some other makers, esp one Korean company in particular..that was nowhere, but now has mostly a very good rep, and holds far more market share than Sony for TV's (one of their staple hardcore areas) Sony withdrew from computer monitors, they also have struggled in their previous very successful area, video game consoles, the PS3 has not done anywhere near as well as rivals. Too late, priced too high, and beaten out by a "new concept" inferior spec machine (wii)

It's not all doom and gloom, Sony can do great things, the walkman was one..but like other makers, Apple caught them with their pants down (ipod, huge success) Larger volumes, and less margins on many products (look at the cost of a half decent hi fi 15 years ago, and now..much cheaper) Sony need to adapt to that, or face a tough time. DSLR land is a very unique market as well, I don't believe a cybershot strategy is appropriate for this market, or will work.

There will always be an element of wanting Minolta back, for some of us, however we have to move with the times, or find another maker! I for one hope Sony can find a bit of that Minolta (being different, and cameras made by photographers, for photographers), fairy dust magic back, we'll see on that one.

[Mike]

I suspect that for every DSLR that Sony sells to someone that ever takes it out of Program Mode, they sell 20 to people that either use it once a year on vacation or use it till the baby is 6 months old and then get tired of carrying it and switch to their cell phone. Serious photographers should be thankful that the high end models are subsidized by the low end models otherwise they would be much more expensive. I'm surprised at how many people assume that the purpose of the new models is to add features. I'm betting that the new models are designed to reduce production costs not to add features. In fact, I bet $799 by buying an a700, display clearance, that the replacement for the a700 will not be as well made.

Mike

[bfitzgerald]

You cannot seriously suggest that newer models should be "worse" than older ones. That flies in the face of the entire camera industry, even back to film days. Browse about, look at the later cheaper film bodies (film 5 a good example), albeit yes with cheaper build, but it outgunned even higher end older models features/spec wise in many places.
Time moves on, technology improves, esp notable was autofocus, and the move from single point, to multi point AF systems.
Also the profit margins on lower end bodies are clearly very much lower than high end ones. So I cannot agree lower end buyers help keep costs down on high end bodies.

[Mike]

You cannot seriously suggest that newer models should be "worse" than older ones.

I didn't suggest that the new models "should be" anything. I simply pointed out the reality that the driving force behind the new models is not to add new features it's to reduce production cost. The trend is smaller, lighter, less expensive materials. Some technological improvements are bound to be included since the hardware and firmware have continued to evolve and can be incorporated at no additional costs. To see this simply compare an a350 with an a380. There is no way to confirm it but I would bet that Sony is losing money on every a700 and a900 while it makes while they make a small profit the millions of Cyber-shot Cameras that they sell for $200 each at WalMart.

Only time will tell but I predict the a700 and a900 are discontinued within a year.

[bfitzgerald]

What technological improvements do we see in the A380 v A350 then?
The A850 appears to be the same weight as the A900, and the same size

That's not playing out with the "smaller" strategy you suggest.
If sony keep bashing out non updates, they won't win many fans!
DSLR can only get so small, then you get into EP-1 or G1 type cameras, which frankly I would have little interest in.

Ironic, but I see some A700 users complaining now, that they are left out of the mix..they want APS, 5fps or more (even 7-8fps) think D300s spec. Now they know the situation with current A200-350 users, who expected "updated/improved" and got worse all round

Sony do have some odd ideas, and sometimes they have decent ones, we'll see how much this A850 is price wise, then we can comment with more accuracy. But I don't expect anything amazing on that front, this is a company that is notoriously out of touch with it's user base.