Sony alpha A55

[WaltKnapp]

Sony might be the brand for some consumers, but they've burnt a lot of bridges with serious enthusiasts.

I note this morning that SAR, the Sony rumor site is predicting the a700 replacement will be the a77, coming out in January. End of the DSLR and OVF with Sony, since they would probably follow at the 9 level with only an a99. I wonder what that will do to the serious enthusiasts? Cheer or leave?

Walt

[peterottaway]

Barry, you and Walt and those who are unimpressed with where Sony is going may be correct after a fashion. If that fashion is the A700 and the traditional SLR whether it is film or digital because that is not where Sony conceives photography to be headed. They give every indication that they are hunting for as much of the market as possible for those who are only now just getting into photography and to position themselves for the next generation after that as well.

The ex Minolta crowd was important to them when starting out and financially it would be good to take as many of them with them in the future. But to bet your future on keeping the past happy ?

I enjoy my A850 and I feel very much at home with it, and I hope that Sony will continue to keep it simple in the same way that I find this a wonderfully simple camera to use in comparison with a number of Canon and Nikon cameras I could mention. But I have also pre-ordered an A55 as a suitable camera to replace what I am now using my A700 for - a back up camera. A back up camera that is also lighter and smaller and will be easier to carry around when I don't need the A850 or whatever replaces it in the future.

[mike2008]

hang on a second.

they just released the a580, which by all accounts is a top notch amateur camera with all the trimmings, and ovf.

that does not look like a move away from the amateur / enthusiast, quite the contrary.

if, as many believe, there is a new a750 released at photokina then the overall picture would look pretty rosy for everyone, perhaps missing an upgrade for the FF, but that's it.

i don't see them abandoning enthusiasts, just yet. the lack of a replacement for the a700 and confusion about how to deal with video wrong-footed sony, that's clear, but now it seems that some more strategic thinking has returned.

we'll see soon enough, but I think the doom and gloom crowd will be disappointed.

[Dusty]

.........
I have no doubts that the lack of A700 update has lost Sony a not insignificant number of users.
The fixed mirror cameras look to be aimed towards new users or what were bridge users a bit more than enthusiasts (note the control layout etc) NEX is very much aimed to p&s users as well.

Having spoken to and seen many working photographers, very few have anything to say about Sony nor any interest in their products at all. Canikon completely dominate the sector and this trickles down to semi pro and serious hobby level too. Sony are mostly interested in volume consumer sales and not photographers.

I doubt the lack of a 7xx has been too much of a problem with new users. After all, they weren't selling like hotcakes. I am sure that the lack of one has led several Sony system users to hold off any purchases until they know whether or not Sony will continue to support that type of semi-pro camera. If they don't those people have to decide if they can do with a 5xx series, go to fullframe or swap brands.

Going the 5xx route only works if you can do w/o the 700's added controls. I know you don't want to! In reality, I find my 350 only lacks 2 things I want, control wise: 1) A PC sync socket. 2) DOF preview. I can do w/o MLU, I hardly ever used it on my old cameras, so it's not a big deal. There are times when a second control wheel would be nice, but I've lived w/o it.

Going FF means new lenses, if you only had APS-C lenses, but many still have KM film lenses, and flashes are part of the system, too, and no need to change them when going FF. This makes the cost of going FF probably less than the cost of dumping used equipment and buying a whole new system.

The trickle-down from the pros DOES effect sales. Many aspiring young photogs ask a pro for advice, or pick a guy who's work they like and then buy the same brand that he uses.

This is where Sony needs to do more work, as well as expand it line to suit the pros a bit more. I'll probably never be able to justify buying one, but Tilt and Shift would be a recommendation for them to have.

Dusty

[alphaomega]

Dusty stated

I can do w/o MLU, I hardly ever used it on my old cameras, so it's not a big deal.

Per this DPrReview entry the A560/580 have MLU similar to the A700, i.e. a 2 seconds delay from mirror up to shutter release.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/readf ... angemode=1

[WaltKnapp]

hang on a second.

they just released the a580, which by all accounts is a top notch amateur camera with all the trimmings, and ovf.

that does not look like a move away from the amateur / enthusiast, quite the contrary.

if, as many believe, there is a new a750 released at photokina then the overall picture would look pretty rosy for everyone, perhaps missing an upgrade for the FF, but that's it.

i don't see them abandoning enthusiasts, just yet. the lack of a replacement for the a700 and confusion about how to deal with video wrong-footed sony, that's clear, but now it seems that some more strategic thinking has returned.

Read it for yourselves folks. SAR has been believed completely and quoted as gospel through the NEX and axx episodes, there is no reason for any more doubt when they put pretty high confidence in not having an a7xx and that the a77 is the official replacement to come in January.
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/category/rumors/

The feel so far is there are a whole bunch that want to deny this. And a bunch of others that think the 5 series should represent top of the line.

We shall see soon enough.

Walt

[Javelin]

it doesn't look that clear that they are talking about the A7xx at all. most of that is about the A77 whose future is in flux it looks like they want to wait and see if there is any reason to have one of not.

[Dusty]

It would be a real mistake to make the A77 the A700 replacement. EVF and semi-silvered mirrors are not proven enough to do that yet. We'll need at least a year of 33/55 performance to see where it leads.

You're also changing the whole dynamic of the enthusiast/semi-pro camera going from an OVF to a EVF. I don't think that market segment is ready for that move yet.

Dusty

[bakubo]

Read it for yourselves folks. SAR has been believed completely and quoted as gospel through the NEX and axx episodes, there is no reason for any more doubt when they put pretty high confidence in not having an a7xx and that the a77 is the official replacement to come in January.

Yeah, Walt, I have also noticed how rumors that people like start to be treated as if they are facts, but rumors that people don't like are discounted.

[mike2008]

sar rumours should always be taken with a pinch of salt.

there does seem to be a little superficiality from some here who perhaps didn0t actually read the sar entry: it does actually say

"One of my sources told me that Sony also has a A7xx with optical viewfinder. He doesn’t know if that model will be released."

we will see soon enough. my money is on a photokina announcement of the a7xx. what would be the point of an nda at the august sony press briefing otherwise...

[catalytic]

This sounds like what's going on in the Olympus camp with their user base frustrated that nothing has been done with the dSLR line for almost two years while the micro4/3 EVIL cameras get new models and lenses every quarter. It's taken forever to get a new flagship model to market, and people don't seem too enthused about the rumoured specs of the new E-5 that is slated to be announced Sep 14th more than 1000 days after the launch of the E-3.

They question Olympus' commitment to the dSLR line and pro-spec products and worry that it's going to be a future full of P&S and EVF based mirrorless cameras with scene modes and smile detection. I see Olympus users selling off their equipment and jumping to the safety of Canikon.

Does that sound familiar to anyone? It's not just Sony. It seems like the "second-tier" players (in terms of market share, not quality) have admitted defeat in the traditional dSLR segment and are racing over to the new and exciting mirrorless / EVF market to try to get their share of the pie before Canikon is able to come in and muscle their way into the market. Perhaps it helps to think of it not as "giving up", but rather, progressive "blue ocean" thinking.

Blue ocean strategy is one of those business strategy concepts that became popular amongst management types a couple years ago. The basic premise is why keep swimming in a crowded part of the ocean where everyone else already is? Everyone is fighting for the scraps and there isn't much left to go around. The better strategy, they say, is to head for the open waters of the blue ocean where there's a lot more room, more food to eat, and much less competition for said room and food.

That's what the second tier companies have been doing. It's a wide-open market that's just growing without the two dominant players and established customer bases and investments in lenses that discourages switching.

[Greg Beetham]

Yeah the 'Blue ocean strategy' is a good enough description of a 'creat a new niche' marketing approach that might discover some new customers, but I've got this feeling that those free swimmers might not be the type to want too upgrade as often as the manufacturers would like as each new 'improved' model eppears. The camera concepts themselves appear 'gimicky' too my sensibilities and would probably appeal to those wanting to get onboard the trendy current fad, but the jack of all trades-master of none approach is not going too convince me, at least, that they are serious cameras.
Too my mind Sony has or intends too offer a choice, so far just in the 5 model range, the so called SLT model/s that is biased towards video (A33-A55) and can do stills as well, but with highlight reflection issues under some circumstances, and a corresponding model/s (A560-A580..later....hmmm), that is (maybe...yet to be assessed and confirmed) biased towards still taking and can do video in a pinch.
I've also got a feeling that this is market research 'Sony style' they might devote much more depelopment energy on one of the concepts in future based on which one gets the most market acceptance. And they might want an indication of just how big the demand is for video in a DSLR...actually, (the video howlers are getting their wish, now I hope they just buy the things and be quiet), before they commit to a similar direction (or not) in the 7 level cameras. It remains too be seen if you can transpose the demand for video in a 5 level camera over into the 7 level segment....that could be chancy.
Greg

[KevinBarrett]

Two specifications that most clearly differentiate the a700 from any a5XX model are not burst rate, ISO, or megapixels, but sync and shutter speeds. A camera that syncs at 1/250th has been built to much higher specification and tighter tolerances than one that syncs at 1/160th. The higher shutter speed of 1/8000th means one more stop of control over the puny 1/4000th cameras.

Of course, a big bright pentaprism is nice, too.

[bakubo]

The higher shutter speed of 1/8000th means one more stop of control over the puny 1/4000th cameras.

When I bought my first SLR the top shutter speed was usually 1/1000 or 1/500. I got one that went to 1/1000 because 1/500 just seemed puny.

[bakubo]

If Sony has made cross sensors which have an f/3.5 - f/5.6 dual function, in place of the old f/2.8 - f/7.1 'separate' sensors in A900/850/700, they could be pretty efficient. And they would make full use of the maximum aperture of many zooms, as pointed out, which f/2.8 sensors do not.

If they have a new higher accuracy f3.5 AF sensor then that should be very helpful. Lots of zooms start at f3.5 at their wide end such as:

18-250mm f3.5-6.3
16-80mm f3.5-4.5
18-55mm f3.5-5.6
24-105mm f3.5-4.5
28-105mm f3.5-4.5

It won't help with the 11-18mm f4.5-5.6, but should with the Tamron 10-24mm f3.5-4.5 and Sigma 10-20mm f3.5.

Something that I have always found odd is that I didn't seem to have much trouble with AF at wide angles with my Minolta FSLRs. When I got the KM 7D the AF at wide angles was really bad using these lenses:

Minolta 28-135mm f4-4.5
Minolta 35-105mm f3.5-4.5
Minolta 35-70mm f4
Tokina 20-35mm f3.5-4.5
Tamron 28-200mm f3.8-5.6

At wide angle the 7D would often focus to infinity even for objects which were only 2 or 4 or 6 meters away. I recall that when I got the 7D in early 2005 and found the wide angle AF problem I put a battery in my Minolta 707si or Minolta 7 to see if I was just dreaming that wide angle AF used to be better. I didn't shoot any film, but I did see that after focusing the lens distance scale showed that it had focused at basically the right distance rather than showing infinity as the 7D often did. I didn't really test, just tried it a few times with an FSLR and enough to see that something weird was going on with the 7D. I still don't understand why this problem popped up with digital.