End of the line for the A900?
Several rumor sites are claiming that Sony’s Hong Kong site is listing the A900 as discontinued.
Curious, I checked the site myself. I couldn’t find anything expressly saying  the A900 was discontinued, but significantly, the A900 was not listed among the Alpha dSLRs offered for sale. The site lists the top model as the A850.
It could be a simple error, but I am inclined the rumors have at least some truth to them, I don’t have access to sales figures, but I would guess that A900 sales have flatlined since the introduction of the Sony A850. The cameras are nearly identical, but the A850 can save you several hundred dollars. Unless you really, really need the faster frame rate of the A900, the A850 is a much better bargain.
Does this mean the A850 is the new flagship? I doubt it. I would assume that there is a new flagship on the launching ways, and Sony will replace the A900 with something better. At least I hope that is the case.
Some of the rumor sites are expecting an A900 replacement to be announced along side the new Sony EVIL twins.
I’m not so sure about that. I think a brand new top-of-the-line dSLR deserves it’s own special day. At the same time, a completely new camera system should have it’s own special day.
I could be wrong, but I would expect we will see the Sony Nex models first, with a new full-frame dSLR (if there is one coming soon) following some time afterward.
We may know as soon as tomorrow, as Sony has apparently chosen May 11 to announce the Nex system.
4 Comments
It’s not really a rumor that the HK site has it as discontinued, but more of a rumor that the a900 is discontinued as a whole. As for the HK site, it definitely shows it as discontinued:
http://www.sonystyle.com.hk/ss/product/alpha/a900_e.jsp
look just below the orange text that says “12 month warranty”
I imagine the Sony Alpha A900 DSLR is antique, was low production, and has finished the inventory of parts dedicated to it’s original production expectation. It’s time for a new SET of “top of the line” models. I say SET because I see purist, simplified cameras on the one hand, and do-everything video on the other. People looking for the highest qualities in still images don’t want to sped extra for video, and people wanting HD don’t want to spend extra for large still image qualities. I see the “top of the line” specification targets bifurcating.
For me its not the cost.
I want the biggest brightest viewfinder the camera can have: no EVF for me
I want to be able to instantly control AF zone selection: >9pt does not work – at least allow limit in software
I want a display which stays off when I turn it off.
I want a quieter faster shutter/mirror – like the maxxum 9
I want the in viewfinder display to be dimmable and capable of all the important displays as you adjust them.
No HDMI, its just another port to let water short out the electronics
No joystick, it will get dust in it and a dpad is fine.
Selector knobs are awesome. Would be really cool to see a manual exposure compensation knob. The a100 multi selector was also a good design. Shooting mode is such a waste – why cant I hit a button and turn the shutter/aperature wheel or go through a menu.
Better sealing of components… get rid of the flappy rubber and hide the usb port behind the card door or something.
Allow stopping the aperture down immediately after firing with the 2 second mirror lockup timer and not in continoius/predictive AF.
Grip could hold an additional battery(ies) and additional multiple memory stick media slots… but grip shouldn’t replace original onboard battery.
Software should roll-over a full card/interleave writes on configuration preference.
Make it full frame or don’t make it.
I’ll still probably buy the A55, but I wont like it.
What nonsense!!!
The A900 ist still there and I have the A850…which is fantastic btw.
Why in the world did the author thought that Sony would stop production of the A900???