Alphatracks

What a difference a year makes. At the 2007 PMA show Sony Alpha dSLR line was shunned by most of the press. There were no great announcements, although Sony did show off two mockups of yet unnamed dSLRs. The “Advanced Amateur” model eventually came to pass as the A700, while the tantalizing “flagship” is still waiting to be released. Other than the concept cameras, which Sony refused to elaborate on, there wasn’t much to see. The press lavished tons of coverage to other major and minor dSLR offerings, but except for the few A-mount sites and forums, Sony was just a postscript at PMA 2007.

Sony was not about to let that happen again. The 2008 PMA show was packed with Sony and Sony Alpha dLSR news. Of course everyone is still talking about the incredible 24mp, full-frame sensor that Sony announced, and the introduction of not one but two new live view dSLR bodies caught a lot of people by surprise. The A300 and A350 are a huge shot in the arm to the Alpha line, and should go a long way to convince potential customers that Sony is serious about playing in the dSLR arena.

In the excitement of the huge sensor and live-view SLR announcements, many observers may have overlooked Sony’s release of several new dSLR accessories.

Sony will add a new flash unit to their existing Alpha flashes.

The first totally new Sony Alpha Flash unit, the HVL-F42AM, will be available in the near future. The other Flashes in Sony’s line up appear to be re-badged versions of Minolta flash units. That isn’t a bad thing, Minolta’s wireless flash system was considered by many to be excellent.

The new HVL-F42AM might appear to be a middle of the road unit, filling the gap between the the HVL-F36AM (GN 36) and the big HVL-F56AM (GN 56). While the new flash’s guide number of 42 does place between the current two Sony shoe mount flash units, the HVL-F42AM has an zoom range of 24-105mm. You can cover up to a 16mm lens with wide angle adapter. The current flashes in the Sony catalog offer a range of 24-85mm and the adapter covers 17mm.

As usual, Mike Hohner seems to have an inside track on Sony’s latest products. Here is Hohner’s “Flash tech data for Sony Alpha HVL-F42AM” page.

There is also a Sony Europe press release covering the PMA announcement floating about. Here’s what the release has to say:

With wireless, ADI and manual modes, plus a full range of tilt and swivel possibilities, the new flash unit sounds like it might be an excellent addition to any A-mount user’s camera bag.

Then there are the lenses. Although technically not a PMA announced product, Sony’s latest two lenses were introduced on the eve of the show, so they might as well be considered new PM products. Both of the new lenses use SSM technology for quicker auto focusing.

Say hello to the Carl Zeiss® 24-70mm f/2.8 lens

Coming this spring, the $1,700 Vario Sonnar T* 24-70mm f/2.8 ZA is a very-fast, wide to mid range zoom lens. According to the Sony release:

The second new lens, also available this spring, is the $800 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6 G-series zoom.

The SAL70300G lens incorporates the optical performance of Sony’s G series in a compact and flexible telephoto zoom lens ideal for sports and portrait photography. Constructed of 16 elements in 11 groups, with one extra-low dispersion element, this lens offers superb contrast and sharpness across its wide focal length range.

The use of extra-low dispersion glass compensates for chromatic aberrations which challenge long telephoto zoom lens design, maintaining excellent optical characteristics from center to periphery. Internal focus construction not only realizes compact size, but also a close focusing capability of just 47 inches (1.2m), unusual for a lens of this focal length range.

New 70-300 G-series SSM Alpha mount lens

Like the SAL2470Z, focus drive is provided by Sony’s Super Sonic wave Motor (SSM) technology. Silent and highly accurate, the SSM system is ideal for providing larger lenses with the speed and rotational precision often required by telephoto shooting. To match auto focus operation to the situation, a focus range limiter can be set to a minimum distance of three meters. A lens barrel mounted focus hold button locks focus if desired.

These lenses are good ammunition to use against those who imply that Sony doesn’t offer sufficient quality glass to complete against the “established camera makers.” We will have to wait to see how these lenses perform in the real world, but it sounds like they could hold their own against anything similar from other manufacturers.

Next up, the new vertical grip. Again this isn’t technically a PMA product, as it was announced along with the A200. The grip is available now at a lest price of $249.00 (less batteries). The PM news is that it is compatible with the A300 and the A350, as well as the original A200. This provides a great deal of flexibility if you trade up or add second body in the A200-A350 family. It does not fit the A700, which has it’s own specific vertical grip, and will not fit the A100 style bodies.

With the PMA announcements, Sony has taken a major step forward in it’s quest to become a major player in the dSLR realm. Many observers have relegated the Sony Alpha as niche product, offering some nice features but unable to compete against the big name dSLR makers. Sony continues to add luster to its brand, unhurriedly creating a dSLR system that can compete against the best of the best. As these products begin to gain momentum in the marketplace, watch for Sony to assume a dominate role as a dSLR maker.

Read the complete Sony Alpha Europe Press release

Technorati Tags:
A300, Alphatracks, Photography, Sony Alpha, Tom Bonner

Share This

Another week, a couple more new Sony Alpha dSLRs…

Sony has officially announced two new dSLRs, both featuring Sony’s new Quick AF Live View system. This brings the Sony dSLR model lineup to five, provided you include the original A100, which is no longer in production but still available in many outlets.

Only about four months ago, the A100 was Sony’s only dSLR and had been for eighteen months. To many observers, it seemed Sony had lost their direction and might even abandon the dSLR market.

Tilting live view LCD appears on new Alpha dSLRs.

Sony has effectively shut down the naysayers by releasing the A700 in September of 2007, then unleashing the A200, A300 and A350 in January 2008.

The A200 was announced at the CES show, and only a few weeks later, Sony sends word that the A300 and A350 will ship in March and April.

The A300 specs seem similar to the A200 with the same 10.2mp sensor. The A350 ups the ante with a new 14.2mp CCD sensor.

The feature that sets the two “main-stream” dSLRs apart is the Live View system. The tilt out 2.7” LCD panel allows the user to compose and shoot from a variety of angles. The Quick View system uses a second sensor to continuously monitor the scene:

Here is what the Sony press release has to say:

Although I am not particularly interested in Live View, on paper it appears the Sony system is one of the best implementations of Live View yet.

Alpha 350 boasts 14.2mp (CCD).

After an incredible drought, A-mount shooters suddenly have wide selection of dSLRs to choose from. And yesterday’s huge announcement of the 24mp full-frame sensor is a reminder that the A900/flagship model is yet to come.

All of a sudden, it is a great time to be an Alpha Mount shooter!

Share This

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:

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.

Technorati Tags:
Alphatracks, Camera, Photography, Sony Alpha, Tom Bonner, full frame sensor

Share This

Don’t look now, but photos of the Nikon D60 are starting to appear throughout the web. Why should A-Mount shooters care about Nikon’s latest offering? Aside from the fact that the D60 probably will use a Sony built sensor, rumors suggest that the D60 may replace the D40, which has been Nikon’s low end dSLR up until now. Before the introduction of the D40, Nikon lagged behind Canon in sales. Although I haven’t seen total world wide sales figures for dSLRs, shortly after the D40s introduction, Nikon began outselling Canon - at least in the Japanese market. There might have been other factors, but the D40 was a landmark camera for Nikon and undoubtedly helped Nikon regain its strength.

Of course the biggest reason the D40 has sold so well is price. The 6MP D40 carried a list price of $599. This was far less than most dSLRs and gave Nikon a real advantage in the dSLR marketplace,

A worthy competitor to the Sony A200?

If the rumors are accurate, the new Nikon will carry a 10.2mp sensor, making it a true competitor to the brand new Alpha A200. Here is where things get interesting. As I said, many rumor sites are indicating that the D60 will replace the D40. Which begs the question, if the D60 will replace the D40, will Nikon retain the $599 price for their introductory model?

If so, this is significant, because it will mean that the brand new Sony A200 will soon have to face a 10.2MP Nikon that will be priced about $100 less.

Of course the details of Nikon D60 are still cloudy, but it is believed that it will be a 10.2MP dSLR with an anti-dust system and similar internal processing as the upper level Nikons.

Nikon hasn’t acknowledged the price of the D60, but it is awfully hard to raise prices in the world of digital cameras. If the D40 is actually going away, I think both consumers and resellers would start howling if Nikon suddenly raised the list price of their introductory model above the D40’s $599 kit price.

If the D40 remains in the catalog, then Nikon is free to price the D60 however they wish. If the D40 has reached the end of the line, however, the D60 almost has to sell for a similar $599 price.

What does the D60 mean to Sony Alpha Users?

So where does that leave Sony and the Alpha lineup? The A200 has at price of $699. That wasn’t a big problem when facing the D40, which could only muster 6MP. Against a similar 10.2MP model, however, the A200 starts looking overpriced.

Alpha A200’s great advantage: Super Steady Shot

The one great advantage the A200 will continue to enjoy is in-body image stabilization. The D60 can’t match that, so the A200 can be considered a superior camera. In fact, unless Nikon were to offer an image stabilization lens as the kit lens (highly unlikely at $599), D60 users will have buy an expensive IS lens to enjoy the image stabilization Sony users get with all lenses. I’m not an expert on Nikon lenses, but most IS lenses I have seen would cost more than the D60 body.

So Sony probably could justify the higher price tag of the A200 on this single feature alone. Those who realize the value of in-body IS would probably feel it was worth it.

But many of the people moving from basic digital cameras don’t necessarily understand the value of Sony’s Super Steady Shot. (Great system, really dumb name.) For the bulk of first time dSLR users, the pixel count is still the determining factor. While some of the better camera shops may take the time to explain Anti-Shake to prospective users, Sony can’t expect the sales people at the big box stores to steer people into the A200.

So that $100 could be a real liability, unless Sony either drops the price of the A200 or introduces a lesser priced dSLR. If the D60 does list for less than $600, I expect Sony to react quickly.

What is your take?

Technorati Tags:
A200, Alphatracks, Camera, Photography, Rumours, Sony Alpha, Tom Bonner

Share This

Now that we can bask in the glow from two new Sony Alpha dSLR models announced in the last four months, it is time to step back and wonder about the original Alpha — the Sony A100.

Sony has finally admitted that the A100 has been discontinued, although many observers believe A100 production stopped months ago. That doesn’t mean here aren’t plenty A100 kits in the pipeline. If you want a new Alpha A100, you probably can find one easily. The question is; should you buy one and how much should you pay?

Long time readers of Alphatracks may feel I don’t really like the A100, as i seem to always be negatively comparing it to the A700. That isn’t true at all. The A100 is a nice enough piece of hardware, but it is totally outclassed by the features of the A700. The A700 is superior in every way to the A100. Then again, the A700 is selling for about twice the price, so it should be superior.

Sony Alpha A100 — still a good, solid dSLR

Viewed on it’s own merits, however, the A100 is still a solid dSLR. It lacks many of the features available on pro and semi-pro dSLRs, but then so does the Nikon D40 and the Canon Digital Rebel. You get what you pay for, and if you don’t need those high-end features the A100 could serve you very well.

The Sony A200 carries a list price of $699, ships in February.

Photo: Sony Corp, used with permission

The big question is how will the announcement of the all new Sony Alpha A200 affect to the price tag on the remaining A100 kits? The A200 is much closer in specification to the A100, so comparing the two cameras is easier. Once again, the A100 lags behind the newer model, but the differences aren’t as great. The two cameras boast the same pixel count and feature set. The new A200 offers faster auto focus, a larger LCD screen, faster burst shooting and several minor improvements. The A200 will accept a Sony made vertical grip and Sony claims the high ISO performance has been tuned to dramatically reduce noise.

About the only area where the A100 can claim to be better than the A200 is the controls, as the A100 is quipped with two top panel knobs, while the new model has been reduced to a single adjustment knob. It is a nice feature, but i doubt many photographers would choose the A100 over the A200 because of this solitary advantage.

In the market for an A200? Would a great deal sway you toward the A100?

Here is the thing. When the A100 was introduced in June 2006, it was the first 10mp dSLR to break the thousand dollar price threshold for body and lens. Originally priced at $999.00 ($899 body only) Sony gradually reduced the list price to accommodate the changing marketplace.

Sony Alpha A100 is still available in many places. How much would you pay for one?

Photo: Sony Corp, used with permission

During the 2007 Christmas shopping season, I spotted the A100 at several of the local outlets — Best Buy, Circuit City, Office Max and HH Gregg. All four stores were advertising a price of 695.00 for the camera and kit lens — two hundred dollars less than the original 2006 sticker price.

Not too bad. But wait. Sony is taking pre-orders for the A200 at $699 — about five dollars more than I can buy an Alpha 100 locally. Online, the A100 is all over the map. If you eliminate the dealers advertising the A100 for a ridiculously low prices (trust me, the unbelievable online prices are almost always scams), you find legitimate dealers like B & H Photo selling the A100 kit for $649 — a mere $50 bucks less than I could order the A200 for. Amazon is even worse — they are actually offering the A100 (through a third party) for $727.00 — almost $30.00 more than a pre-ordered A200.

Sony still has A100 kits in stock — the body only package is listed as sold out, but you can still order the A100 with the 18-70mm Lens for $799 or you can splurge and get the A100 with the SAL-18200 Lens for 1099.95.

Can you say yikes? Obviously these prices won’t hold. The A200 isn’t available as yet, but Sony claims it will ship in February. Unless you absolutely have to have a camera now, it seems to be a no brainer to wait and get the better model. Otherwise you would be paying more for a lesser featured camera.

Caution. Falling prices ahead!

So what so you think the price of the A100 should be? If I were in the market for a dSLR in the A100/A200 class, it would take a substantial price cut to get me interested in the A100. If the difference was only $50.00, I would definitely spend the extra cash and get the better A200. I think the improved features of the A200 are easily worth more than a hundred bucks, so I would need to see prices fall well south of $600 before I would consider a new A100 over a new A200.

So far, we have been discussing brand new, full-warranty cameras. What about used models of the A100? If you are hoping to sell your A100 in the near future, you are probably going to have a hard time getting what you think it is worth. I don’t know how many A100s are still on dealer shelves, but I expect to see some fire sales as dealers clear the old stock to make room for the new hardware. How much would you pay for a used dSLR when you can buy something brand new for less than $600?

Of course there may be suckers who aren’t willing to do their homework before trading their cash for a shinny dSLR. When Minolta exited the camera businesses there were plenty of brand new Maxxum 7d camera kits in the warehouse. I saw several reputable outlets — places you know would stand behind their merchandise — selling brand new 7ds with warranties for less than $650.00. At the very same time, I saw numerous 7d auctions on eBay where the uninformed bid over $900 for a used model.

Back to the subject of pricing on the A100, I think we are going to see some interesting times in the months ahead. There are still many A100 hold outs who have decided to pass on the A700 and wait for the A900 (or whatever Sony ends up calling the flagship model). When the A900 is released, there will undoubtedly be a flock of used A100s on the market. If the dealers still have new A100 kits to rid themselves of, we may see some unheard of bargains for A-mount digital SLRs.

Let the price slashing begin!

Technorati Tags

Sony Alpha
Sony A200
Sony A100
entry level dSLR
photography
Tom Bonner
Alphatracks

Share This