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Sony has increased the number of new Alpha dSLRs introduced in 2009 to six, with the introduction of the A500, A550, and the A850. The rumors have been with us for months, but Sony has now elected to make it official.

The A500 and A550 are similar, the difference being the A500 carries a 12.3mp sensor, while the A550 is equipped with a 14.2mp chip. Both sensors are claimed to be a new generation Exmor CMOS design, so the A550’s sensor is not the same as that used in the A380, despite the similar pixel count. Both the A500 and A550 offer tilt out LCD screens with Live View.

The A850’s resemblance to the A900 is unmistakable. The new A850 incorporates many of the features of the A900, including the big 24mp, full-frame sensor.

Sony indicates the A550 can click off seven frames a second, a noticeable improvement over the A350 and A380.

Both the A500 and A550 offer built in HDR capabilities. Available only in the JPEG mode, the HDR function shoots multiple images and then combines them into a single image with extended dynamic range. I’m pretty excited about this option, as creating conventional HDR images is a time intensive process. Being able to accomplish the same thing in-camera, on-the-fly sound great.

A500 and A550 feature new sensor, tilt-out live view and choice of 12.3mp or 14.2mp sensors.

I’m less interested in the face detection and smile shutter features, but if you want to rely on your camera to determine when your subject is smiling, the A500 series dSLRs are equipped to do so.

The A500 and A550 follow the lead of the A330-A380 machines by offering users dedicated slots for Memory Stick PRO Duo and SD/SDHC media. Sony is also points out the new cameras can utilize Sony’s new 32GB Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo™ HX media. That’s a mouthful, but Sony claims some very impressive transfer speeds for the HK Memory Sticks.

I could not find any specs on which battery the A500 series uses, but I suspect it will use the same smaller battery employed in the A330 and A380 models. I hope I am wrong, because the NP550 used in the A300 and A350 gives much better capacity, at the expense of greater size and weight.

Meanwhile the A850 checks in with the same 24mp full-frame sensor used in the A900. The A850 is quite similar to the A900, but Sony says the new full-frame model will list for $2,000 in body only trim.

That is a nice saving over the A900, but you have to wonder what the A850 will do A900 sales. The A900 is a superior camera in most respects, but is is superior enough to justify a price tag several hundred dollars more than the A850?

The A850 will use most of the A900 accessories, including the battery and vertical grip for the A900. Like the A900, it apparently will not have a built-in flash, so either the HLV-F20AM or the HLV-F58AM flash units will be required to trigger Sony’s wireless flash system. The A850 features memory slots for Compact Flash and Memory Stick Duo cards, including the 32GB HK cards.

I haven’t mentioned video recording, because Sony still has not seen fit to add a video mode to the Alpha dSLRs. If you want video, you will have to wait a little longer.

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What are Sony’s plans for the A500 series and when will it be available?

May 25, 2009 It appears the A230, A330 and A380 will not be the only new dSLRs in the Sony Alpha lineup. The website 1001 noisy cameras tipped me off to a screen-shot posted in the Dyxum forums. While registering their new camera at Sony-Style Canada, the poster noted that the drop down list for available cameras included choices for two mysterious models: A500 and A550.

This looks to be a genuine slip — there are no other details available. Naturally I am very curious to see what the A500 series will be like and when they will be available. At the same time, I don’t want to start rumors that could cause people to put off buying an Alpha dSLR because they are waiting “for something better.”

About ten years ago, I had a friend who wanted to buy an iMac. At the time, all iMacs had 15 inch screens. My fiend was ready to buy, but he heard rumors of a soon-to-be-released 17 inch iMac. So he waited. And waited. Every time he determined to go ahead a purchase the computer, he would hear a rumor about a new, better model. So he would put off his purchase. This indecision lasted over 18 months. I moved away and never heard from him again. I don’t know if he ever bought his computer.

The point is, rumors can cause people to hold off buying something while they wait for the “next best thing.” I hope my friend finally got the computer he wanted. Because he was always looking for something better, however, he went without the computer for a year and a half. He could have been enjoying the computer and expanding his skills during that time, but because he was always chasing rumors, he did without. The thing is, a computer with a 15 inch monitor trumps no computer at all.

This applies to cameras as well as computers, especially for someone wanting to move into their first dSLR. How many great pictures could you make in 18 months? How much sooner could you get up to speed on a digital SLR if you started 18 months sooner?

Of course there is no reason to think the A500 and A550 are 18 months away. The logical assumption is that someone at Sony Canada was readying the site for the release of the A500 series and made the changes live before the cameras were on the market. If that is true, we can assume the A500 and A500 will be announced very shortly.

There are another scenarios, however. Someone could have just made a mistake and typed 500 and 550 when it should have been another series of digits. Not likely, as they would have had to make same the mistake many times, because there are several versions listed with different kit lenses. Unlikely, but it has to be considered.

There is also a possibility that someone was simply experimenting with the database. I do quite a bit of web development work and I have seen database administrators make up fake data to fill in fields in the database. The fake info is just there to flesh out the database and see how it would work in actual production. It isn’t supposed appear in an actual live site, but sometimes these fake entries make into the wild.

That is exactly what happened several years ago when a computer science student was developing a database script for a class project. He must have been a photography enthusiast, because he made up some fake camera entries, including one for a 18 megapixel, Minolta Maxxum 9D dSLR.

It was just something the student created to flesh out the database, in order to test his script. It sounded logical. It was widely believed that Minolta would introduce a Maxxum 9D because that followed the usual naming convention for Minolta SLRs. They already had the 5D and 7D. History indicated the next camera in the series would be the 9D.

Minolta was undoubtedly working on a 9D model, but there is no reason to belive it would have had an 18mp sensor. The 5D and 7D were 6mp cameras and at the time anything over 10mp was unheard of.

The student published his code online so he could test his database script. Someone discovered the “evidence” of a 18mp Maxxum 9D. Word spread rapidly, and the Minolta faithful waited with baited breath for the official announcement of the 9D. It never came. Outside of Minolta’s laboratories, the Maxxum 9D never existed. Since Sony (who made sensors for Minolta) never released an 18mp sensor for dSLRs, it is highly unlikely Minolta was developing an 18mp Maxxum 9D. But there are those, who based on the imagination of a computer science student, still believe that Minolta was ready to unleash an 18mp super camera just before the company closed the doors on its photo operations.

Having said all that. I believe Sony does have A500 and A550 models in the works. I expect to see them announced very soon, yet I wouldn’t bet the farm they will be out this summer. When you will be able to actually order an A550 and what features it will have is anybodies guess. It won’t be real until Sony says its real.

If you are considering buying a current Sony Alpha, but are holding off because you are afraid of missing out on something better, I suggest you go ahead and buy now. It is possible the A500 series will be announced in the next few days. On the other hand, you could be like my friend, forever waiting for a new product announcement that never comes.

You will probably be much happier getting an actual dSLR you can use now, rather than waiting on a phantom camera whose features and shipping date are completely unknown. It’s awfully hard to take great pictures without a camera!

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Tom Bonner
Alphatracks

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