• All APS-C SLR cameras
• All Full Frame SLR cameras

Gee! This is going to influence the future of the Sony Alpha line.

In a nearly parallel direction, knowing that Sony decided not to announce a new Full Frame SLR camera this year (but only in 2012), it is interesting to notice the information provided by SonyAlphaRumours and telling us that Sony determined its strategy for the year 2011. For the most significant part, Sony forecasts a complete stop of manufacturing for the Sony Alpha 850 whose stocks will plummet quickly. On the opposite, the elder brother (more endowed too) Sony Alpha 900 will see its price drop progressively at the current 850 level, to boost sales, avoid leaving too much room to the competition and empty the stocks before the arrival of an Alpha 99.

Thanks, once again, to Sébastien.

However, Nikon is now ready to launch its replacement (the Nikon D300s was launched in July 2009). So, it is useful to sum up what should be included in this camera when it is revealed to all of us.

The most obvious improvement should be a new sensor, quite certainly coming again from the Sony manufacturing plants. It should be the same as will be used by Sony on the upcoming Alpha 77 (or A77). The rumours has it that Nikon should hit 24 mega-pixels. I am not sure of this, for lack of clear signals from reliable sources. However, the sensor will show a sheer improvement in sensitivity (ISO ratings) and its image quality will be brought to very high levels by Nikon-designed software. The sensor will also provide good video capture (1080p HD at up to 30 fps, possibly a little more) with continuous autofocus (based on contrast detection) during the video shooting.

Some people have been asking if Nikon would be using the semi-transparent mirror of Sony in front of the sensor, and this will not happen. Nikon will only introduce Pellix-like mirrors on a specific camera line which will only appear in the second half of 2011. this is not ready for SLR cameras (it may even be a very long time before Nikon goes into this direction which is not really optimal for expert photographers).

Continuous shooting of the Nikon D400 will not be increased significantly over the existing D300s (already very good) and 7 or 8 fps will be on the characteristics list. However, if the Auto focus will not change (51-point AF & 5 cross-type zones), the light/exposure metering could see the arrival of an improved version of the already excellent 1005-pixel 3D Color Matrix Metering II.

This looks nice (even if not really a jump forward for Nikon), but the availability date for the Nikon D400 is unclear. My sources tell that this could still be in the second quarter of 2011, but probably even very late then (May? June?). Obviously, there is no price information available, but this D400 camera should be fighting hard to drive prices down in a segment which is ready to drop down to the $1000/1000€ mark. I would expect an SRP under 1500€, possibly around 1350€, with a street price coming down quickly to 1200€.

• “we’re really quite dedicated to developing products for both the A-mount system and the E-mount system because we do believe that both have roles to play” : Mark Weir clearly indicates that the NEX (E-mount) and Alpha (A-mount) ranges are not designed to compete against each other by to be complementary and to reach different targets. This is certainly not a surprise, but it’s good to hear it said clearly.
• “we absolutely understand and value the point about the continuity that an interim A700 successor model would have offered, but we prioritized the development of new capabilities, new benefits, and new technologies such that the A700 successor will be a truly unique and revolutionary product” is a key sentence where the Sony manager tells us that the spirit of continuity with the A700 does not have priority over the development of new revolutionary technologies. Who would not think about the semi-transparent mirror of the Alpha SLT (A33 and A55). This way, it is nearly completely confirmed (see more about it below), but it can also be understood as referring to many other improvements to come soon (at least, Electronic ViewFinder quality and -maybe- a record resolution for the sensor which may well be identified as a revolution).



• “everyone will realize that it was very valuable to first develop the technologies and the capabilities” has to be translated from marketese into plain English with some kind of We had too much in our hands, too much to work on, before we could build the product we wanted”. Elsewhere in the interview, it is easily understood that Sony did not want to work simultaneously on everywhere and that the A33/A55 developments must have been eating the lion’s share or the R&D resources. “We can’t do everything at the same time, so let’s spread it over time and let’s start with big-volume cameras.”
• Mark Weir also clearly state that the A700 successor will be located between the A580 and the A850. Some will want to read this truism as the hope that a traditional viewfinder will be maintained against the possible semi-transparent Pellix-type mirror and an EVF, but I believe that nothing can stop the impetus acquired by the technological transformation aforementioned. And the following phrase (“the A700 successor […] will incorporate the translucent mirror technology.“) is without any doubt: the A77 will have a semi-transparent mirror. This is now certain. Mark Weir then defends this approach by publicly stating that the associated improvements will reduce the last worries and win the last complaints back.
• Another remark about the Full Frame cameras, “the market has shifted increasingly toward the use of APS-C cameras, even in the enthusiast and semi-pro space” could well trouble those waiting for the replacement of the Alpha 850. More or less, if the market forces everybody to have high-end Full Frame photo cameras, sales go to the high-end APS-C photo cameras. We must admit that the limited success of Sony within the pro public, but it’s true that, inside Nikon or Canon, the same problem is certainly present too; with the critical difference that those two brands have a very strong presence in the pro market and probably have a slightly different perception of (and an easier path to) this constraint. As repeated by many observers, Sony still must prove worthy for pro photographers to collect the associated brand image, but the Sony Marketing is at a loss to find the means to this end. The consequence will certainly be a little less pleasant: Sony will wait more before working on an Alpha 950 (or Alpha 99) for Full Frame cameras. As everybody murmurs it, let’s not discuss this any longer before 2012.
• Some more fuzzy comments about the difficulties to ship the Alpha 580 will not shed any new light on the issue. The camera is still hard to find, but these suggest simultaneous issues of primary parts procurement and manufacturing capacity. We will probably never learn anything more precise from a Sony employee in front of a microphone.
• The zoom lenses included in camera kits are selling exceptionally well (“the 55-200mm telezoom or the 70-300mm telezoom that is promoted at the time of purchase really represents a tremendous part of the lens units that are sold.“). Nobody will be surprised by such a statement knowing that all camera manufacturers build camera kits at prices obviously attractive. But at a noticeably lower level of sales, Sony sees a real success for the 24-70mm f/2.8 and 70-200mm f/2.8 (“The other part of the business is the lenses that are sold to enthusiasts, and these are typically wide-aperture 24-70mm or wide-aperture 70-200mm“). This is recognition of the value of lenses designed and bought to be present for a long time in the expert photographer’s bag (when I was saying the same…) But Sony also makes significant efforts to present high-end prime lenses (prime = not too expensive, or 150-250€).
• “What you are seeing is the emergence of hybrid silent AF motors.” is the introduction to a list of commentaries to explain that Sony will keep on developing SSM lenses (ultrasound motor AF, expensive but very quiet) along with SAM lenses (hybrid motor AF, cheaper and somewhat quiet). the E-mount lenses are designed from inception to be silent (for video capture), but the A-mount range shall also receive more lenses designed to satisfy the video lover in Alpha suit. To my eyes, this part contains too much warm water to warrant for a clear future and the marketroid who’s talking probably translates Sony’s indecision on this issue. He even goes to the point of defending the use of external microphones…
• “there’s full aperture control with movie capture in SLT right now, it’s just not with AF at the same time.” will certainly stop most dreams short for some people still hoping to get both fast AF and free choice of lens aperture. As Mark Weir finely explains, it is mostly a matter of technical limitations and the only hope left is to give contrast-based AF enough time to improve slowly (for the time being, for technical limitation, phase detect AF can only work at wide open A-stop – or up to f/5.6).
• One short mention to confirm the 500mm G f/4.0 prime lens, without giving even a hint of a launch date.
• the end of the interview covers the evolution of the different markets and requires to be analyzed with a big grain of salt in front of the statements from the other camera manufacturers, but it can be summarized in telling that all manufacturers think that 2011 will be a good year for photography and that Sony wants it to be a good year for 3D photography (Sony decided to heavily bet on 3D in all of its markets).

As we can see, this is one of those rare interviews where a brand representative openly speaks and provides a lot of precise data without hiding it behind a heavy curtain of unreadable bad English. Congratulations to Imaging Resource which had already shown their ability to write excellent gear tests and demonstrate that they can also write other article kinds.

In any case, all bets and rumors are pointing at an announcement not before the end of 2011.

This pro-tele-prime lens announced a year ago by Sony includes a small DMF button whose meaning should be Direct Manual Focus. The use of this button would be to easily move from a “normal” AF mode to a “x15 zoom” mode allowing easier fine focusing.

This feature has nearly no use in a prime lens which certainly contains no optical element to support such a feature. AP concludes that the only explanation is that this is a control for an SLR body feature associated to the electronic viewfinder of future cameras from Sony. Good reasoning…

The consequence:If a prime lens whose price (a few thousand Euros, maybe 10000€/$10.000) puts is firmly in the pro range contains such a feature, the electronic viewfinder is coming to the next pro cameras from Sony. The conclusion is that the Sony Alpha 77 (or Alpha 750) which will follow in the steps of the Sony Alpha 700 will be equipped with an Electronic Viewfinder (EVF) and a semi-transparent mirror like the Alpha 33 and Alpha 55, that are clearly in the entry-level part of the Sony camera offering.

It’s still a bit weird for a button already appearing on the 500mm f/4 mock-ups presented a little more than a year ago. But the indication is quite parallel to the success observed by the semi-transparent mirror system with an electronic viewfinder of the SLT-A33 and SLT-A55 (big sales everywhere in the world in 2010, starting with the Japanese market).

Today, I’ve got a rather detailed talk with Édouard Schmitt, Sony France Alpha Product Manager, who helped me go over the current situation created by the announcement made by Sony a few days ago when they revealed that the digital sensor of the Alpha SLT-A33 and Alpha SLT-A55 could meet some over-heating issues (see our posts about it here).

As expected, he confirms us the information provided previously: The use of the video capture mode leads the digital sensor to heat up to the point where, after some time, the camera will decide to switch itself off (some kind of “thermal circuit breaker” kicking i, if you want).

What is more interesting is the overall presentation of the issue: “This is not a dysfunction of the sensor, but an auto-protection“. Furthermore, Édouard Schmitt went into the detail of the causes and confirms (and precises) the evaluations I could have provided here before:

• The image stabilization (which, for Sony as well as Pentax, operates by sensor displacement) produces some heat inside the camera,
• The sensor itself is a heat source –like any other electronic device– when it is used continuously like during video capture,
• The external temperature is also an important parameter in the equation (As a matter of fact, in the table provided here on the right, we see that the higher the external temperature, the shorter it takes for the sensor to overheat).

I noticed that sony insists heavily on the fact that image stabilization is a major factor here, from two different angles:

1. It has a primary impact (It’s true that the useful shoot time is (more than) doubled when not using SteadyShot)
2. This is the only solution offered by Sony; E.Schmitt excluded the possibility of a future firmware that could improve on the current status.

Nota bene: The observed maximum figure of 29 minutes comes from the normal recording limit of the camera as it is more or less forced upon us by fiscal regulation (a camera able to record longer sequences is heavily taxed in some countries and Sony decided like other manufacturers to stick to this limit for mere reasons of cost).

Up to this, the message is relatively simple but some important elements are added by Édouard Schmitt. First and foremost, the cooling down process is very fast and a few seconds only are needed to obtain a few more minutes of video capture (some real-life tests will obviously be needed to quantify such a statement, but it seems that the Sony user will not forced to watch the camera cool down indefinitely).

Then, and it should be checked and confirmed, “it’s not better elsewhere“. Understand: Sony’s competition has the same kind of issues but they do not communicate much on it. [Ed: I’m still wondering what is the influence of image stabilization here]

As a matter of fact, according to E.Schmitt, “90 or 95% of customers first buy a photo camera [and for them] a 3-, 4- or 5-minute take, it’s already long“. In fact, those who have a longer need are not in the consumer market anymore and the impact on the sames of the Alpha 33 and Alpha 55 will be minimal. It is even suggested that “in the future generations” the issue will be taken with a different kind of attention (Ed: Here I cannot stop thinking about a future, possible, probable, Alpha 77).

The last two subjects that we discussed were relatively lateral or complementary (but the YLovePhoto readers know that this has been discussed here in the past): LiveView mode and the NEX family of cameras. On the one hand, I could not obtain any statement on the effect on continuous display on the back LCD of the photo camera, other than a bland comment on “it’s rarely continuously used.”

For the NEX-3 and NEX-5, there is no trouble here. They are not impacted by the issue. First and foremost because their image stabilization is not obtained through sensor displacement, but by the action on an optical group inside the lens (thus, one of the causes mentioned above disappears). The smaller size of the body is also participating by providing a much better thermal exchange with the external air and allows to keep the internal temperature lower.

But there was a fly in the ointment. Only a few weeks after the official launch, we learned that the digital sensor is overheating. We know that the digital photo-video sensors produce heat whenever they are used. The design of sensors for video (and thus used more or less continuously) must take that into account to avoid heat production at all costs. The design of the cameras must take into account the need to move any heat left right out of the sensor area (possibly out of the camera).

Sony definitely missed one of these, indeed. The SLT-A33 and SLT-A55 are suffering from over-heating to the point that, when reaching a certain temperature, the camera switches itself off (It shuts the sensor down). As can be seen in the table here on the side, in the worst case (when it’s hot outside, 40°C, and that image stabilization is enabled), this is going to happen fast, real fast: 3 or 4 minutes only. Probably nearly everybody will admit that this is incompatible with the normal use of video capture in a normal way.

So, no video grabbing during Summer. More or less.

If you thought that this was bad enough, there is a hint to the possible addition, unconfirmed by Sony right now, of another limitation (maybe, within a longer time frame) respective to the use of the LiveView mode (which is only a low definition video mode).

The solutions? Let’s try to think them out:

• No firmware change will reduce the thermal dissipation of the sensor.
• No firmware change will improve the heat transfer through the body of the camera.
• A firmware change could remove (more or less completely) the thermal protection. But would it be a solution to risk some other problems? (early aging of the sensor, unacceptable thermal noise in the images, etc.)
• Modifying/replacing the sensor (supposing that Sony has a better or corrected sensor)? This is going to be a MAJOR repair operation.
• If the problem really comes from a bad design of the camera body, this is worse… Nothing left in the bag of solutions.

I let you imagine Sony’s dilemma. I let you imagine why the communication will be really tough next week…

While waiting for it, for those asking if they should buy a Sony SLT-A55 and thinking that they need the video capture, I say: Wait. For those who are in a hurry, I will not less than they must forget about video on the Alpha 33 and Alpha 55 for now. Video is nearly excluded in these cameras for the time being. The small sound you can hear is those competitors (Starting with Nikon and Canon) exhaling loudly (These cameras had given them cold sweats and they now feel that this could buy them some more time to react).

After a few minutes of use (mostly in video mode, but possibly in LiveView too), the sensor will overheat (effect is unclear). The best (albeit partial) solution is to stop using the Image Stabilization. As you can see in the table above, it increase the time available.

Cross-section view of SLR system:
1 – Front-mount lens (4-element Tessar design)
2 – Reflex mirror at 45-degree angle
3 – Focal plane shutter
4 – Film or sensor
5 – Focusing screen or glass
6 – Condenser lens
7 – Optical glass pentaprism (or pentamirror)
8 – Eyepiece

Origin: Wikipedia

The traditional SLR camera

Let’s start with the organization of the most common Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera, as we generally know it. On the cross-section view here, we can see the light trajectory (in yellow) when the mirror is in lower position to direct light (and the image) toward the viewfinder. At exposure time (when you press the shutter release button), the mirror moves up to let the light go straight to the sensor.

Very efficient, this configuration still has some drawbacks which have long been considered minor, but still very real.

First, during exposure, the viewfinder is totally black. It’s not very long, but the inconvenience is very observable by the user.

The mechanical design needed to move the mirror up and down is complex, fragile, but must operate very quickly to maintain a fast shooting cadence. On pro photo cameras, these mechanisms become complex and expensive to reach high frame rates. The technology progresses fast, but this is only in the most recent years that camera manufacturers have been able to provide more than 3 frames per second on standard cameras. Some pro SLRs (like the Nikon D3, for example) reach 8 fps (but the price falls in the financial investment category!)

Pellix – transparent or nearly transparent

In the 1960’s, several cameras started to use a semi-transparent mirror to avoid moving it. The idea is merely to ensure that most of the light goes straight to the film or the image sensor, but a smaller portion of it is reflected up to the viewfinder. Unsurprisingly, there are both advantages and drawbacks.

First pro: viewing is never obstructed. The photographer always keeps the camera at eye level and shoots nearly continuously (highly appreciated in sports photography, for example, to track unpredictable action).

Second pro: The removed mechanics allow to simplify the camera structure (and its cost). Light weight and low noise come to these cameras.

But the light splitting is difficult and the technology for semi-transparent mirrors is not easy to master: You want to keep transparency without the slightest color-shift (coming from the uneven transmission of all wavelengths), and without too much light loss (to have a clear and readable viewfinder, you must reflex as much light as possible, but this would be detrimental to the image exposure on the film).

The gains are perceptible but limited in front of the technical drawbacks: The market will not be convinced and, apart from random and rare occurrences like the Canon Pellix QL, this will be the end of it.

Autofocus & video

Then, come the 2000’s and point-and-shoot compact digital cameras start boasting about their video capture features. Always in search of technical innovations, camera manufacturers are happy to go from photo to video. It’s relatively easy on the a compact point-and-shoot: Either it has a separate telemetric viewfinder (no constraint), or the photo sensor is already used for LiveView (the only problem is that it engulf energy and heat the sensor up).

If you want to focus, the digital point-and-shoot cameras have a simple solution: Analyze the image on the sensor to see if it is sharp or not (this is called contrast detection). This seems simple, but it calls for a lot of computation power (this is slow) and you have to nearly randomly try various focus settings to find the best one.

On a cheap camera (or a cheaper camera that most Single Lens Reflex cameras), these drawbacks are easily forgotten and, moreover, the same approach works for video as well as for photography. So, the photo compact cameras have simple path to video capture.

An SLR with video

In 2008, Nikon decides to add video capture on a digital SLR (the Nikon D90). This should be marvelous! But the reflex architecture is totally different and there comes trouble.

First, when the mirror is up, it is impossible to use the specialized AF sensor that is present in the camera in front of the mirror, not behind (this sensor is using a method known as phase detection). The solution would appear to be easy: Go the point-and-shoot way, with contrast detection. But three problems rush in:

• SLR sensors are big and not very compatible with continuous heavy computation.
• SLR sensors are very large, favoring a small depth of field and are thus infinitely less tolerant than smaller/cheaper sensors (as a matter of fact, focusing on point-and-shoot cameras stay very imprecise, but it is efficiently hidden behind an enormous depth of field: “Everything always looks sharp”).
• The user is used to ultra-fast focusing given by phase detection, but will be hit with an enormous difference in reaction times.

The first SLR photo cameras choose to run around this problem by removing completely autofocus and most of the automated controls. Nothing elegant, nothing shiny here. But this is utterly pragmatic. And some pretty impressive cameras like the Canon EOS 5D MkII are equipped with very limited video features.

Sony Alpha SLT-A55

One exception in this landscape: Sony. Known as a historical leader of professional video, Sony cannot and will not deliver some half-baked video solution, even on a photo camera. They will only bring video capture when it is fully operational.

2010 is for Sony the year of solving this problem with a semi-transparent mirror again: Without mirror, all the troubles are gone! You can do autofocus while filming, you can keep nearly all the automated controls. The Sony Alpha 33 and Alpha 55 are entry-level photo cameras but their video capture is not relegated to the end of the feature list. Focusing is absolutely continuous during video filming (see the video demonstrations) or during continuous shooting.

Even better, on cameras priced at a few hundreds of Euros, it becomes possible to rush continuous shooting at incredible frame rates (at least out of the realm of expert and pro cameras): 6 frames per second! Or even 10 fps if you accept some constraints on available automatisms! This is comparable to what is offered by pro cameras at 10 times the price.

All this with a viewfinder permanently available. The clearer viewfinder you have, the more comfort you get.

And, if there is no longer any mirror moves, there is no longer any of the associated noises. Since the mirror mechanics generated very distinctive clangs just before and after the exposure, the cameras with a fixed mirror and remarkably silent.

Is it the end of it?

This is a good question. We understand that, now, the target is set very high. Canon, Nikon and the others competitors will be compared to a Single Lens Reflex (SLR) camera sold under 600€. Innovation is now king in the Japanese (or not) Research and Development labs.

2011 will be a very interesting year for Sony’s opponents. Will they use the same recipe or will they bring some other bright idea to bring photo and video together in D-SLR cameras?

• Sony Alpha 33
• Sony Alpha 55

I may do the same for other cameras in the near future, when I feel that the information is stable enough to provide it in an organized way. Keep in touch.

• Alpha 33 (a pellix camera with a 14 MP sensor)
• Alpha 55 (a pellix camera with a 16.7 MP sensor, 10 fps, ISO 100-25600, 15-point AF, EVF – all to be confirmed)
• Alpha 560 (with 14MP sensor, 5 fps, ISO 100-12800, 15-point AF, swivel display – near certain feature set)
• Alpha 580 (same as A560, with 16MP sensor)

Note: Pellix is the name usually applied to describe a camera where there is no mobile mirror, but a pellix semi-transparent mirror which is providing a simultaneous and continuous AF while bringing light to the photo/video sensor. For more information about it, see the Wikipedia articles in both English and German. The presence of Pellix should also allow to keep a LiveView operation during the photo/video capture (probably in association with an Electronic View Finder or EVF).

Images of the A55 and A33

Images from DChome

A33/A55 size

What is now certain is that the Alpha 33 and Alpha 55 will be very small indeed. They are smaller than the smallest existing Alpha cameras (the Alpha 290). They are nearly as small as the NEX-5 camera.

Thanks to SonyAlphaRumors, you can see a marketing-based and meaningful size comparison:

As was reported here about a month ago, Canon does not believe that it is necessary to leave the traditional APS-C DSLR format factor to compete with the EVIL cameras. Sony seems to have understood this too. But they decided to provide both the (still?) smaller ones (NEX series) and continuously shrinking ones (Alpha series). It will be interesting to see how this works in the end.

At least, Canon appears right and we can expect to see similar comparisons appearing with Canon bodies of the near future.

Compatible lenses for NEX

Additionally, some companies are rumored to be interested in providing a real competition in terms of lenses for the NEX camera range (Sony will no longer be alone). If Zeiss and Leica are actually present there in a few weeks, it will mean that this NEX camera series will certainly be a huge success, if only because of the large advertisement effort supported by several companies at the same time. However, it is nearly impossible to sort out the good information and the false rumors in what is said from all sides.

• Alpha 33
• Alpha 55
• Alpha 560
• Alpha 580

The first two (Sony Alpha 33 and Alpha 55) would be entry-level cameras able to capture HD video and using the semi-transparent mirror already mentioned here and allowing to maintain autofocus in LiveView and HD video modes.

The next two (Sony Alpha 560 and Alpha 580) would be mid-range cameras announced by Sony in the middle of the beginning of the year. They are also able to grab AVCHD video but with a simpler architecture.

They share the two new CMOS photo sensors from Sony, a 14 MP sensor and a 16 MP sensor, at the heart of the rush for video started with the NEX-VG10 video camera, recently shown to the press (HD video based on the 14 MP sensor). They should all have a DOF preview button, continuous AF during video capture with 15-point AF, panorama stitching, 3D picture capacity, state-of-the-art ISO sensitivity (read “much better than A700”).

PR also tells us that the Alpha 560 has been spotted in Jakarta, but no pictures yet. So, it may still be a false lead.

But then, where is the successor to the Alpha 700? Has Sony decided to step back into the A5x0 range? Or will the A750 be a pre-announcement only?

First, and this is very easy to predict, Sony is ready to add to its NEX range of photo cameras. Already noticed because of the originality of its concept (a very dense point-and-shoot-like body, very simple but able to hold not only the new lenses of the new NEX range, but also compatible with the existing Alpha lenses, to bring light onto an APS-C CMOS digital photo sensor brought in the Alpha SLR range). While NEX was received with an obvious interest, it still needs to prove that it fills the needs of a real public. And this may be easier when a few days before the Photokina show (in September) we will be able to see the new photo camera of the NEX range: The NEX-7, which should capture 1080p video up to 60 frames/s. This should bring it in direct competition with the Panasonic GH2 which is still the best digital video offer among the compact photo cameras.

On top of it, we already know that Sony just presented it NEX-VG10 video camera, which is the pure video solution in the NEX range (again with the same CMOS 14.2 MP digital sensor that Sony seems decided to apply to as many NEX and Alpha cameras as marketingly possible). Available in September (in parallel with the door opening of the Photokina), it will be sold around $2000 (probably a little less than 2000€ on the old E continent).

Of course, Sony will also present (and possibly make immediately available) some new NEX lenses. The one whose name is most often repeated, since the Yodobashi leak in May, is the Sony NEX 18-200mm f3.5-6.3 OSS.

Then, there is no need of a crystal ball to announce that Sony will speak a lot about 3D on the Photokina floor. All the company divisions (video games, movies, video, photography) have been committed to bring active product support to this technology defined as a key target for Sony.

But, will you say, where are the D-SLR here? I kept the finest morsel for this part of the meal I offer you. Sony is preparing a full overhaul of its Alpha range. The A290 and A390 are already here with a 14.2 MP sensor (but only in a-little-outdated CCD technology), here comes the flood. There’s no doubt that the successor of the Sony Alpha 700 is ready. It was nearly official in PMA 2010 (at the beginning of 2010):

I dream of having reliable information about its photo sensor, but it is nearly certain that it won’t be the ubiquitous 14MP CMOS sensor of NEX and A500 series. It will be an APS-C sensor capable of 1080p video capture at 30 fps (at least). Since Sony always repeated that they would never bring a photo camera with a half-thought video section (like some of the competition, they murmur), it will be worth looking into its detailed features. Moreover, I would bet a tidy sum that the camera will be named Alpha 750, even if it appears that A790 was a possibility during the design stage.

The Sony press photo for PMA2010 (above) also gave us an important bit of information: The Sony Alpha 750 will have a little brother also video capable (probably with a resolution limited to 14 MP). The rumor says –curiously enough– that it would be named Alpha 33, and I find this utterly surprising. We’ll see, but in the meantime, you could listen to what the Spanish DSLRmagazine has to say about its supposed semi-transparent mirror used to assist a good autofocus in LiveView mode (traduction française, English translation).

But there is another possibility to take into account. According to Réponses Photo, the French magazine, “Sony give [us] a rendezvous in September for other SLR news, but this time in the expert and pro ranges…” (emphasis is mine). It looks a lot like a leak out of a magazine already informed but held tight by the signing of an NDA (Non-Disclosure Agreement). It would seem very surprising that anybody knowledgeable would place the Sony Alpha 750 in the “pro” range, it is the “expert” announcement. But, the, here is the last event: A pro camera! The Sony Alpha 900 (and its little brother A850) would prepare itself for a new offspring in the use of an Alpha 950 (no certainty about the name, of course)! And that could be thunderous if they announced (availability in early 2011?) the new 32 MP Full Frame CMOS sensor in association with a new quad-core BIONZ processor (aka Quattro Bionz).

The other option in this part of the product lien would be the arrival of an Alpha 820 (this name is heard in several mouths right now) which would be a new effort to popularize the Alpha 900 after the sub-2000€ Alpha 850. Credibility: Very low in my (not so) humble opinion.

You will have noticed that I did not go heavy on the conditional tense despite the long list of news. Be prepraed to see a Sony showroom of enormous size and density in Köln, next September for the Photokina. Alpha, NEX, 3D, video, Sony is alive and kicking.