Food for thought: Is the A100 Sony’s low-end dSLR?
When Sony first announced their intention to offer a dSLR system, almost everyone seemed to think they would start off with a couple of camera bodies — one low-end model and a much more expensive pro body. Even after the full specs of the A100 were announced, many observers counted on Sony quickly adding at least one more dSLR in the near future — at least before the end of 2006.
In an earlier post, I mentioned the quesabesde.com
interview with Samuel Andreo, director of photographic products for Sony Spain. Mr. Andreo states very clearly that the A100 will remain the only Sony dSLR until sometime in 2007. Some hopefulls have suggested this is a Sony ploy to hide the fact that other goodies will be coming soon, but to me, Mr. Andreo’s remarks have a solid ring of truth to them. I don’t expect another Sony dSLR for at least a year from now. After all, the A100 isn’t even shipping yet!
When the A100 was announced, a lot of people seemed to think this was a mid-range offering. It didn’t have the features and specs of the mystical Maxxum 9D that many Minolta lovers were praying for. But with 10MP, anti-shake and anti dust features, the A100 is a step above the feature set of the low-end offerings from Nikon and Canon. Because of this, most people seem to expect Sony to introduce a lower-end cousin to the A100 in the future. Many have even dubbed it the A50 — even though Sony has never said anything about the name of this new offering — or that there would be a lower-end model.
In thinking this over, I’m racking my brain to come up with an idea of what sort of animal the A50 might be. It seems to me that Sony doesn’t have much maneuvering room to offer an A50 — or any other low-end model.
You see, while the A100 has a better feature set than the Nikon D50 or the Canon Digital Rebel, the A100 is actually priced at the same level. Sure, only an idiot would pay full-price for a D50 or a Digital Rebel, but these cameras carry a list price similar to the A100. Everyone expects that after the initial introduction, that the A100 will be trading for about the same amount as the introductory cameras from the other major dSLR makers.
So what is Sony going to do for an encore? Maybe an 8MP model? That, in my mind would be crazy. To be a true low-end model, the A50 would have to sell for at least $200 less than the A100. While Joe Consumer might be conned into thinking that a 10MP dSLR is vastly superior to an 8MP, most true photographers would realize that unless they are making giant prints they could get the great results with the A50 allowing the A50 to cannibalize sales of the A100.
So maybe a 6MP model. Once again this doesn’t make much sense. If you owned a camera company, would you introduce a new 6MP dSLR in 2007? Who would it be aimed at? Last Sunday’s sales flyers included a promo for the local electronics giant. The flyer featured five point and shoot digital cameras — all of which featured at least 6MP and sold for between $200 and $300. The top model featured 7.2MP, image stablization and a 12X zoom — for less than $300.
Now. you don’t have to tell me that a dSLR with a larger sensor, optical through-the-lens viewfinder and interchangable lenses is a far better camera than any point-and-shoot model. Still, when Joe Consumer wanders in to the mega-mall to look at cameras, the only thing he considers is mega-pixels. When the sales-person shows him a 6MP dSLR and tries to explain the benefits, Joe sort of closes his ears after he hears the words six mega-pixels. The $200 fit-the-pocket, auto-everything P and S camera he saw in the store window has 6MP. Heck, he saw online that at least one cell-phone company is introducing a 10MP camera-phone. Why would he spend all that cash on dSLR with only 6MP?
Of course, I’m just another guy on the street — for all I know, Sony may be planning a fleet of 6 and 7 mega-pixel cameras for 2007. Still I doubt it. I will continue this reasoning in my next post. See you then.
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[...] As promised, I want to continue exploring the the notion that A100 just might be Sony’s low-end dSLR, rather than the mid-range digital SLR many people expect it to be. In an earlier post I tossed around the idea that the A100 might be Sony’s low-end model. My contention was that introducing a new 6MP dSLR in 2007 makes no sense and an 8MP model would be too close to the A100 to set it apart as a low-end, introductory model. Could Sony really save a couple hundred bucks on a 6MP sensor versus the 10.2MP unit in the A100? I doubt it, although I’m not in a position to know for sure. I think that most of the costs of producing an APS size sensor would be the same. Naturally the 10.2 sensor would cost more, but $200 more? I maintain that a low-end digital SLR would have to sell for at least 200 bucks less than the A100 to be effective. If your “low-end” camera is only a hundred bucks cheaper than your mid-range model, you really don’t have a low-end model. Or course Sony could simply price the A50 a couple hundred dollars less and eat the cost. (Sony has never said there will be an A50, but several pundits have christened the yet unnamed model with that handle.) If so, Sony’s profit margin would be far less on the A50, on a camera that just might cannibalize sales of the A100, The only other way to reduce the A50’s price without competing against the A100 would be to reduce the feature set as well as the pixel count. Where could Sony cut features? The most obvious would be the dust-reduction feature or the anti-shake mechanism. (I know Sony calls their version “Super Steady Shot” — but that handle is just too silly to be taken seriously. I will continue to call it anti-shake.) So as an exercise, let us envision that Sony will introduce an A50 model with 6MP and no anti-dust system. Hello! Haven’t we seen this camera somewhere before? Of course we have. It is the 2005 Maxxum 5D re-badged as the Sony A50 for 2007. Never going to happen. If Sony intended to re-badge either of Minolta’s digital SLR offerings, they would have done it right out of the gate. They could be selling them now, and they would have an inexpensive dSLR to sell at Christmas. Waiting over a year to introduce a Sony version of the Maxxum 5D makes no sense. So maybe an even lower-end version of the Maxxum 5D with no anti-dust and no anti-shake? That model could certainly sell for $200 less than the A100 and it would truly be a low-end model. It would also be a huge embarrassment. Loyal Minolta fans wait almost two years for an inexpensive dSLR with the Minolta mount and they get 2005 era technology with a lack of a features? A camera with no image stabilization in the body and no available IS lenses? I can hear the Nikon and Canon fanboys laughing their heads off. So is there really room for the A50 in 2007? I don’t really see it, unless Sony is developing something unexpected. By the time the A50 would come on the scene, the street price of the A100 with standard lens will probably be less than $800. If the A50 is to be 200 dollars less — how would Sony price it? If the list price for the A100 is $999.00 then list on the A50 would have to be $799.00 maximum. That would mean they would be introducing a new low-end camera whose list price is higher than the current street price of their mid-range model. Obviously they would sell almost no A50 cameras at list — deep discounts would have to kick in immediately. Of course there are several wild cards in this scenario. Next time around we’ll discuss the competition and their impact on Sony’s future models. Until next time, stay focused. — Tom [...]
[...] Thats great, and serious Sony A-mount users are eagerly awaiting the new Alpha SLRs. But neither of the above promotions are aimed at advanced amateur or pro level photographers. Instead, they are targeting the first time dSLR buyers. There is nothing wrong with that, actually I applaud it. But what camera is Sony expecting to sell to these intro level photographers? Sony hasn’t said anything about the price of the new SLRs, but if the rumored specs are even half right, it is doubtful that Sony could offer these cameras at any where near the price of starter-SLRs offered by other manufacturers. That means either Sony will keep the A100 as it’s starter model or they have a true low-end dSLR planned in addition to the two semi-announced cameras we already know about. I speculated about this over a year ago in a post entitled “What if the A100 is Sony’s low-end dSLR?” [...]