Flagship

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Sony confirms 24mp sensor in Alpha flagship dSLR

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

Sony quickly ended speculation about whether the new 24mp sensor would show up in the yet to be officially named “flagship” dSLR. Soon after Sony announced the full frame sensor, several high-profile Sony doubters expressed their opinion that Sony would never use the sensor in their own cameras, because after all “Sony would never dare to challenge Nikon and Canon in the pro arena.”

Here is what technology site Gizmodo had to say when Sony took the wraps off the new sensor: “Sony isn’t about to pop it in one of its Alpha models, at least not as far as we can tell.” That idea was echoed by several other commentators.

That sound you hear is those same forecasters gnashing their teeth after Sony proclaimed that, yes indeed, the upcoming flagship will be equipped with the big full frame sensor. So much for the theory that Sony is afraid of competing in the professional category.

There is, however a minor mystery. The new full frame sensor is rated at 24.8 megapixels. The flagship, on the other hand, will boast 24.6mp. That unexplained 0.2mp difference has led to some interesting speculation.

Sony Alpha flagship will boast full frame sensor, 24+ megapixels

Some have suggested it is a completely different sensor. Sony however has indicated that the flagship will use the recently announced full frame sensor.

If you’ve been reading Alphatracks for any length of time, you know we have discussed at length the ramifications of installing a full frame sensor with in-body stabilzation.

Could that 0.2mp difference represent the crop factor needed to use the sensor with Super Steady Shot? If so, it isn’t much of a crop. If my math is correct, the sensor would be roughly 99.193548387096774193548387096774 percent of a full frame. That would be something like a 1.008 crop factor. In other words, no crop at all.

Of course Sony hasn’t said the missing 0.2 megapixel is related to the Super Steady Shot. Perhaps there is some other reason Sony trimmed that portion of a mp from the sensor. Since the flagship will use a CMOS sensor, it should be possible to “shut off” any unneeded pixels.

Sony has said the flagship will ship this year. Many observers are suggesting a Photokina timeframe. (September) Sony hasn’t confirmed that — in fact Sony hasn’t said that the dSLR will be known as the A900, although many people have already started calling it that. Sony has firmly said the dSLR will ship in 2008.

To me, it really doesn’t matter where that 0.2mp went. The flagship will be full frame and pack more that 24mp.

All of a sudden those Sony haters have started to get rather quiet.

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Alpha flagship full frame, Alphatracks, Photography, Sony Alpha, Tom Bonner

Sony announces new 24mp full frame sensor — can anyone say A900?

Wednesday, January 30th, 2008

Sony has just announced a 24.8MP full frame 35mm sensor targeted at digital SLRS. The new CMOS sensor is said to use advanced circuitry to overcome the limitations inherent in creating a full frame sensor.

The answer to a hard drive maker’s prayers: the Sony 24.81mp sensor.

The following is from the Sony press release:

The enhanced image quality generated by the sensor’s 24.81 effective megapixel resolution, wide range of graduation expression achieved by its full size broad dynamic range, and the low noise, high resolution, ultra-responsive performance provided by Sony’s Column-Parallel A/D Conversion technique enable it to meet the ever-increasing requirements within high performance digital SLR cameras.

Sony will target for mass production of this CMOS image sensor within this year.

Major features

High picture quality in 35mm full size image sensor with 24.81M effective pixels
“Column-Parallel A/D Conversion method” achieves high S/N and high-speed imaging
- CDS/PGA(24dB) Circuit (PGA: Programmable Gain Amplifier)
- 12bit-AD Converter on chip
- Diversified readout mode
  - All-pixel scan mode 6.3 frame/s (12bit)
  - Window readout
- High-speed digital output (12 channel parallel LVDS output)

Device Structure
Image size Diagonal width: 43.3mm (Type 2.7)
Total number of pixels: 6236(H) x 4124(V) approx. 25.72M pixels
Number of effective pixels: 6104(H) x 4064(V) approx.24.81M pixels
Number of active pixels: 6096(H) x 4056(V) approx.24.73M pixels
Chip size: 41.0mm (H) x 31.9 mm (V)
Unit cell size: 5.94um (H) x 5.94um (V)

This sounds pretty incredible. We’ve all heard the “too good to be true” rumors, now we have Sony’s announcement that they will offer a full frame, nearly 25mp sensor.

Two things are evident. This has to be the sensor Sony will use in the flagship/A900 dSLR. It has to be. Sony will undoubtedly offer to sell this sensor to other manufactures including Nikon and Pentax. But they can’t call their top-of-the-line camera the flagship unless it utilizes the best technology Sony has to offer. So unless Sony is developing something even more incredible, this has to be the heart of the flagship.

The other point is the press release says the sensor will be mass produced within this year. That tells me the flagship won’t be on sale any time soon. This year, maybe, but those hoping for a PMA announcement with the camera shipping soon afterwards are going to be disappointed. It is possible Sony could announce the flagship at the PMA show, but from the tone of the press release the top of the line Alpha won’t be on dealer shelves for some time.

Don’t worry too much about the A900. It seems that Sony has a whole box of new toys they are ready to announce at PMA. We are sure to see some new Sony dSLR hardware before the week is up.

If you still have your heart set on the flagship, look at it this way…you’ll have several months to stock up on terabyte hard drives to store all those images from that huge sensor

Watch this space for more Sony dSLR news in the coming days.

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Alphatracks, Camera, Photography, Sony Alpha, Tom Bonner, full frame sensor