Sony A900 officially discontinued!
Good news folks! After the Sony A850 also the Sony A900 has been discontinued! Sony Japan (Click here to read the translation) confirmed that they finished the A900 camera production. Why is that good news? Because I have been told by top sources that this is happening because the A900 will now get some price drops and after that you will see the new ff camera.
In these last 10 days I worked on new FF, NEX and lens rumors. I thank the sources for their help and I thank your reader for your patience. It’s a lot of work to get rumors and I also try to doublecheck the info I get to avoid big mistakes. And now it’s time to open the new rumor season to see what’s coming next. From what I know right now (and I haven’t told you anything yet) there are only good news. Many good news!
Stay tuned on SAR!
P.S.: A900 in Store check: Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
Related Posts
Share
Recent comments
Comment from SonyA77: erm, bye....
Comment from Neo NiGHTS ®: Ok, then Sony should release an Æ mount...
Comment from Denis: +1! It's better to make transluscent tec...
Comment from Doraemon: Sony should release one with translucent...
Terryfried
8 months ago |I hope some of the lens rumours are of interest to A77/A65 etc. users and not Just FF or nex. still waiting for a telephoto zoom partner for 1650. hopefully something like 60-250/F4.
SRL
8 months ago |The last several years have been all APS-C and very little FF
A few good rumors about pro cameras and optics would be nice to see.
PhotoNut
8 months ago |Damn, i just bought a Sony A850 for a reasonable price. I sure hope it was a good decision as I actually wanted the A900 and also will feel stupid if a new Sony FF comes out in the next six months.
pancanikonpus
8 months ago |you are, as usual. why you are still here? aren’t you keep bash on this site since day one. (is surprise today not see it). Don’t know how you are placing your face when see you at here. people smart like you keep saying other posted rubbish SAR also can did a crap moves (clever monkey will fall one day) interesting thought…
Wheelus
8 months ago |I have never been able to understand one of your posts. Never. Time to go back to ESL school.
Greg
8 months ago |What?
mwl
8 months ago |LOL, so true Wheelus.
Carl
8 months ago |I find the random stuff he comes up with most amusing.
acolyte
8 months ago |hmm I detect racism.
Do you know that America counts for ~3% of the world’s population?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language
Not even a quarter of the world speaks English.
So before you try to become a language police, try to understand what they say first. It will help you in the long run, with US in debt. You wouldn’t want a million dollar deal broken because you say that the other party is not well versed in English
[If you haven't realized, I'm quite sensitive to cultural-related insults. Even if you don't mean it.]
Kalpurush :)
8 months ago |@PhotoNut
Congrats on your new a850 mate. It’s a fantastic camera and you could only win here.
Rob
8 months ago |I am using an 850 – a $2000 camera with the same chip as the $9000 Nikon. You should be laughing hysterically and rubbing your hands together with glee as there has never been such a great value in a camera, in my opinion. BTW, here’s an image I took last week – http://www.flickr.com/photos/41310115@N06/6194596110/in/photostream/
Carl
8 months ago |Shot with the Zeiss 85, was it?
Rob
8 months ago |No that was shot with a 70-200 2.8 G lens. I think it’s a darn fine lens, and seems to give great microcontrast. You can surf backwards and forwards for pics of the same model, and see some subtle variations of light (some use a light gold reflector).
Carl
8 months ago |It easily has the goods on my 80-200/2.8 as far as contrast is concerned.
Rob
8 months ago |I’d have to do a side-by-side comparison to judge. We had awesome light on the day of that shoot too, which may make that lens look like a really good perfomer. I’ve done several shoots with this model – she’s such a natural poser and so unique. Anyhow, here’s her website where you’ll see all of her work (and several of our shoots), and see the overall performance of that lens (it seems to be a good choice for her so I’ve used it exclusively).
http://xylidin.deviantart.com/
Raghav
8 months ago |Good News like ISO in the Hundreds of Thousands???
Dee2Vee
8 months ago |too often is hurtful.. watch out
matgay
8 months ago |time to start selling craigslist the a850/a900!
Maximus
8 months ago |DT 16mm 2,8 or DT 24mm 1,8 or 2 easy choice lens in sight?
Carl
8 months ago |I’d rather any 24/1.8s not be of the DT variety. The Distagon is too slow for any shallow DOF work.
Maximus
8 months ago |as the 24mm f2 being this new there will be no new 24mm for fullframe in the next decade i think
Carl
8 months ago |20mm or 28mm would be fine.
pancanikonpus
8 months ago |Cz 24f2 Za is FF lens right….? why ask for another similar lens…
Carl
8 months ago |Depth of field.
monkeyfacemcbride
8 months ago |A sad day, if there’s one camera Sony should keep in production long term its the A900, its simplicity and purist nature will have continued appeal and its image quality is still as good as it gets in a DSLR. Well, they may have stopped making it but I wont stop using mine for a very long time.
rayheart7
8 months ago |yes! changes!!!
I hope soon, very soon!
Denis
8 months ago |+1! Hope, my both A850 will stay alive for a long-long time… But it’s very-very interesting to see A850/900 successor. Hope it won’t be a hi-tech toy…
Anon
8 months ago |A FF SLT? Will it have as many glitches as the A77? Errrmmmm…
William
8 months ago |If it stays the same price as the launching price of the A900 or lower, I’ll be one of te first few in line for it.
J
8 months ago |Good news? Maybe. When was discontinued the A700, and when did come the A77?
takomaki
8 months ago |FF SLT will be interesting but I do hope they can give a OVF options or keep the lower price FF strategy … affordable fullframe for enthusiast!
passer-by
8 months ago |SLT is cheaper than OVF, so the next FF could be dirt cheap! or not. A77 is not so cheap.. huhuhu
Maxwell
8 months ago |Since Andrea (web admin) bought himself a NEX-5N I guess there ain’t
no mirrorless FF in the near future?
Neo NiGHTS ®
8 months ago |You lost the post he said he WILL buy the Nex 7 and will give the Nex 5 to his brother (I think). *AND* he will give his Nex 7 to his girlfriend when he buys the Nex 9.
So, my guess is that there’ll be a FF Nex in the near future.
Carl
8 months ago |Seems a bit early to be discontinuing it. I doubt they have warehouses full of A900s.
Terryfried
8 months ago |In many country’s such as UK majority of camera sales are over Christmas period. If you don’t start sales by November you will be left till November 2012 to get rid of old stock. So it has to go this Christmas to leave next Christmas for A99 etc.
Wheelus
8 months ago |Amazon says that they have 20 in stock. So move quickly if you want one.
mmmm
8 months ago |I think the resources in Japan’s production line is tight since the disaster. It should be wise to re allocate the resource to the new FF line.
May be as said here before, there are more than one FF to be launched. Switch the resource to the new lines may be a must ?
May be the new FF lines would be more stable than that for A77 / A65, after the production line for A900 is discontinued. I do believe A77 / A65′s issue is somehow due to the early disaster.
Maurizio
8 months ago |The A900 will be the last real DSRL from Sony, it’s simply too expensive for Sony producing its “state of the art” optic view finder, its complex mirror movement and its real two shutter curtains… the new Sony Era is made of all “electronic” cameras, much more profitable than before.
I’m not happy.
Neo NiGHTS ®
8 months ago |Actually, the last dSLR was the A580.
PhotoNut
8 months ago |I don’t get that. Throughout the fifties up to the eighties, all DSLRs had large optical pentaprism viewfinders. I’m talking millions and millions of units manufactured.
So how come it was affordable to make this mechanical components without advanced technology and manufacturing like we have today?
Steve Jones
8 months ago |I think you mean SLRs. The reason SLRs had better viewfinders than DSLRs is that they were (nearly) all 35mm full frame. If they had been half-frame SLRs then they also would have had small optical viewfinders. It’s simply not possible to have a larger, bright optical viewfinder in a cropped format. Pentaprisms are, of course, btighter than pentamirrors, but it’s the format that is most important.
Carl
8 months ago |Modern DSLRs (and later film SLRs) have a secondary mirror behind the main mirror, and a slightly semi-silvered main mirror, which robs light from the viewfinder.
To counteract this, they use a brighter focusing screen, but that makes manual focus more difficult and depth of field assessment less accurate.
David
8 months ago |He said the last REAL dslr.
I have an a580. It’s a good camera and the IQ is fantastic. But the viewfinder is tiny and dark, the usability is far less useful than a a850/900 (only one scroll wheel etc) and the build quality leaves a lot to be desired.
SonyA77
8 months ago |So a four year wait for the replacement then, just like the A700.
Maximus
8 months ago |the four year wait for the a77 is counted sice the introduction of the a700, not its production stop
SonyA77
8 months ago |So?
acolyte
8 months ago |So it’s less than four years. It was released around September 2008. Add 4 years, becomes September 2012.
A700 was discontinued Q3 2009, and A77 Q4 2011.
If you follow that pattern, then A9x will be around Q4 2013.
Pick your choice.
SonyA77
8 months ago |So??
acolyte
8 months ago |So… bye troll
SonyA77
8 months ago |erm, bye.
Carl
8 months ago |You never know with Sony. Still, aside from no live-view, there’s nothing about the camera that actually feels dated. Checkboxes like video, better high ISOs, more FPSs, etc, will help drive sales I guess, but solely from the perspective of of a photographic tool, there isn’t much wrong with the A900 as is.
My December
8 months ago |I like the sound of this! The A77 and the new FF is my two combination that I’ve planned for. Hopefully the new FF(s) comes earlier than we thought.
sonyboy68
8 months ago |+1 for me either…
DingieM
8 months ago |Didn’t the A77 rumor season started with too-good-to-be-true specs like ISO setting of 100000+?
This upcoming FF from Sony, if its based on translucent technology, I expect it will be in the line of what eventually became of the A77.
If it gets the same body size as the A77 then I consider its a “small” camera?
JOSÉ MARIA
8 months ago |I think the rush to start rumors about FF is to confirm the failure of launching the A77. For equipment that would be a killer of canikon, it’s just a high-tech product for amateurs to beginners would be thrilled to buy it.
New rumors are just beginning to forget the A77. Four years waiting to replace my A700 …
ageha
8 months ago |Cool, looking forward to have that sensor in a Nikon with OVF + better ISO!
JOSÉ MARIA
8 months ago |+ 1
acolyte
8 months ago |I thought Nikon’s trying to move away from using Sony’s sensors? o_O Impossible?
Neo NiGHTS ®
8 months ago |+1
Specially after seeing the DxO results on this new sensor.
AT
8 months ago |Let’s wait for the NEX-7 result before (no T mirror).
A55 = 73 vs A580 = 80. So we can expect the same result with this new sensor without the light loss due to the T mirror.
Nikon is not doing better iso if you compare a580 with the D7000, both have the same 16Mpix sensor.
ageha
8 months ago |Cool, looking forward to have that sensor in a Nikon SLR with OVF, more AF points over the whole frame and better ISO!
hanugro
8 months ago |Darn, and I just invest on A77. Andrea please find out about FF a-mount lens? I hope Sony announce 12 or 14 mm f/2.8 prime FF lens.
Zstan
8 months ago |Hopefully the new FF and 500 f4 will be ready in time for the Olympics!!
sonyboy68
8 months ago |+1 I hope so
Doraemon
8 months ago |Is Sony making more DSLR? I kind of miss the mirror slapping sound =(
Carl
8 months ago |I don’t. The A900′s mirror slap is LOUD.
Aldo
8 months ago |would be interesting to know more news about the service to fix the “click” of the NEX-5N .. what was the problem, which is the solution and if it is permanent .. besides also knowing how long it takes this arrangement and if someone can tell if the camera after this arrangement works well
acolyte
8 months ago |Check the rumors page. Several days ago admin posted a bunch of info about it.
SonyA77
8 months ago |.
SRL
8 months ago |My a850’s still have a year or two of service left in them before I’ll likely wear them out with daily use.
On the other hand, I have several lenses that are just shot, and I need to replace them, but would really like to see what optics Sony will update or replace first if I can.
For my photographic requirements the a850/a900 still are wonderful cameras and if for some reason, I needed to replace one of them I’m not sure what I do….
If someone had asked me a few days ago (before the a900 was discontinued) what full frame camera would I recommend to someone new, and could spend the money; would it be the Nikon 700, Canon 5 or the Sony a900?……………
I would have told them that the Sony was the best value, hand down in my opinion for a high quality full frame image.
Carl
8 months ago |The 5D2 is not really that well built. If you’ve managed to wear multiple 850s out (which amazes me, but I guess if you’re a hardworking professional it’s possible), then those flimsy 5Ds will crumble in your hands.
C
8 months ago |Put in a good video codec and trash the bloody moire thanks in advance.
David
8 months ago |A shame really. The a900 is a brilliant camera. Aside from video and live view, there’s nothing it really lacks.
An amazing viewfinder, very solidly built, great ergonomics, and the image quality is STILL incredible. You can beat it unless you buy a d3x really.
I hope the replacement comes quickly, and I also hope it is worthy. If there are price reductions coming, maybe I’ll pick up another a900… Hmm..
pancanikonpus
8 months ago |I sense Sony not only to aim topest APS-C, but seem to be in FF
Canon 5D/1D sure will goes for high end video and ISO. not sure what Sony approach to wound them lol…
HD
8 months ago |Amazing news! I thought I would have to wait another year for the full frame. This is really exciting. Can’t wait to get it!
HD
8 months ago |Just read that Nikon will release the D800 full frame this November and it will have 36 megapixels! Come on Sony, waiting for the a99
acolyte
8 months ago |November?? I bet Sony develops the sensor but Nikon is better at making the rest of the camera itself. 4 fps though – I wonder whether people will complain?
Sony needs more engineers on par with Nikon’s.
P.S. Interesting. Google shows that people has been predicting Nikon D800 to spit <20MP. They underestimate Sony
And while trolls complains Sony can’t release cameras fast enough, they complain less for Nikon D800 delayed dates and never mention it when trolling. Such a convenient world.
gamagama
8 months ago |if D800 is with 36MP sensor, then what sensor will be equipped with D4? 48MP+? I guess Nikon is not really want to get into a pixel race…
I think D4′s sensor should be the same as A99/A950′s, while D800 and Sony basic FF camera share another one (of course, provided Nikon still uses Sony’s products)
Kalpurush :)
8 months ago |Does it matter what the Trolls say? Let them waste their time!!!
Rob
8 months ago |Trolls are organized – they sure hit the alpha rumor sites hard after every new introduction. The aim is to cut the legs out from under the new units by the use of near-hysterical criticism.
I suspect that the Alpha 900 production was shut down just because they weren’t selling enough units to make it viable anymore. Also, the cashflow/manufacturing capacity can now be focussed towards production of a new camera. Or, maybe the extra capacity will be channeled into making more Nex 7s or one of the newer cameras. We should also suspect that the competition is gearing up for release of a new high end unit, and that Sony wants to ramp up preparation for their own model (esp. now that the A77 etc., are out too). No clear answer here – other than saying times are changing, and that I’m happy to see the evolution of imaging devices occurring.
butch
8 months ago |not a betting man but im guessing to keep everyone happy
retask the A900 body to A950 keep all the main stuff jsut update to 36mp and the buffers and what not to keep up.
find a way to shoehorn the FF into the A77 chassis
then build a NAX9 cause less i missed something E mount cant cover the FF so using A mount is mandatory + would make for a great backup to keep in your A850-900-950 kit as it would not take up much space and would use all the same lens
Neo NiGHTS ®
8 months ago |Nex -> E-mount. Therefore A-mount -> Nax!!! Uhh! I see what you did there! :p
matgay
8 months ago |nex with a-mount would suck because you would no longer be able to use many lenses such as nikon or leica lenses. e-mount body with a-mount adapter is much preferred.
butch
8 months ago |thats right sony wants you to buy lens that they dont make
how could an E mount ff body be the right choice if the e mount lens cant cover the sensor. that would make it a crop to aps-c anyhow so loose of FF bennies and force you to buy aftermarket (again sony makes no extra $)
Neo NiGHTS ®
8 months ago |Ok, then Sony should release an Æ mount (A+E together). Better? :p
NÆX!
Doraemon
8 months ago |Sony should release one with translucent mirror and one with the normal mirror.
Denis
8 months ago |+1! It’s better to make transluscent technology work perfect, and only after that make it the only possible variant for FF