Im just waiting for the new A9xx to be revealed as it will dictate whether i will switch to Nikon in the next 2 years.

Sony has said that E is targeted at cybershot/P&S digicam users who wants significantly better image quality and dSLR A-mount user looking for significantly smaller body. This will be separate alpha line. Sony also said it won’t support macro/micro which shall be provided with A-mount lenses with adapter. The E lens will be limited, and I think there will be max 2 more prime at most (50mm and 135mm). As pointed by David Kilpatrick, Sony may be aggressive in this line by providing adapter for another mount outside Sony with manual focus in the future. So Nikon, Pentax, etc user can use their lens with manual focus with Nex.

The A will be targeted for more conventional dSLR with bigger body. IMHO, there will be EVIL with 720p video A-mount dSLR that will be the entry level replacing A2xx. There will also be video (720p) capable A3xx in summer. The 1080 AVCHD A5xx, and 1080p AVCHD A7xx. The A900 replacement will be announce at photokina. Availability will depend whether Sony will provide full feature 1080p AVCHD video or not. If it is then it will be like A700 situation (only mock up at photokina) and will be release sometime/end in 2011. If no video or limited video capability like current Nikon it may appear at the end of this year/early next year.

The line up at photokina will be:

new EVIL-A3xx(video)-A450(no video)-A5xx(video)-A7xx(video)-A850(no video)-A9xx (announce/mock up).

I think this is clever move by Sony. One of key objective for Nex is compatibility with Alpha lens in order for it to earn alpha badge (even with different color). If I had loose money I will definitelycomplement buy this for my wife to replace my waterproof Pentax P&S.

take the iphone, if apple decided to create different models of the iphone, each model will be competing with each other thus one of them is going to win. thus, making the other one not to be likable and you wouldn’t want that in your brand.

sony, create “the” only best entry-level camera, “the” only best prosumer camera, “the” only best professional camera. and not the best of the best of each lineup.

put yourself in the situation right now and ask yourself, “should i buy the a330? how about the a380? but the a230 costs less. but i want a better feature so maybe i’ll go with the a280? the a500 is great but if i add a little amount on my budget, i can get the a550? what’s the advantage though?”

instead of competing with nikon or canon, sony’s competing with their own cameras among themselves.

First, the first cameras in the new E-mount system, at the lowest levels, the NEX3 & NEX5. Give them plenty of room (temporally) so as not to confuse the press and the public by avoiding the announcement of any A-mount cameras until maybe a month after.

Then the new A2xx and A3xx cameras. I expect, from comments in interviews with Katsumoto-san, that there will be at least two of these. Start inroducing an entirely new line of A-mount cameras at the low end, in parallel with the introduction of the E-mount cameras. Give all of these cameras an entirely new look, responding to criticism & suggestions from customers. And new or restored features. I expect these cameras by the end of June, at least–from an excellent source.

That means, perhaps by the end of the summer, Sony follows with the new A5xx cameras–E-mount 3 & 5 having already been announced. DK told me that he felt that the “Mainstream” camera shown at PMA was the A5xx successor. Other than that, this is the first I have heard about these new cameras, but it makes every bit of sense in the world. These cameras will not be a simple remake of the A500/550 with video, a la D300s, but entirely new cameras. This time I expect they will sell very well.

Then at Photokina, or before, the new 7 cameras–the A7xx cameras and the NEX7. Since every camera in the Alpha A-mount and E-mount lineup will have a sensor with at least 14mp by that time, I feel confident that at least one of the A700 cameras will have more mp than 14–probably at least 18. And lots of other improvements. Will the NEX7 also?

Then, at Photokina? later in the year? at PMA 2011? the new 9 cameras: at least a new A9xx–and, could it be, a new E9? There is a great deal of excitement in the air about both of these potential cameras, although the rumors, to say nothing of Sony info, have been sparce so far. Katsumoto-san, however, in a recent interview, posted on this site, said of the E-mount, that there “is the potential of a professional model.”

Remember that Sony’s fiscal year begins in April and ends in March, so PMA falls withing the current fiscal year.

I am entirely unclear about the timing of the 9-level cameras, but I am sure that the A9xx is coming. A NEX9, with a FF sensor seems also ineveitable, & very exciting, if possible. I have heard it stated that it is possible, but not by any of those with the expertise to say this definitively. If it proves to be possible, I believe that Sony will do it, and have a very big winner.

“We are about to do so much.”—Kayla Lindquist, Director of the Sony Alpha Artisans of Imager program, December 2009

Not that all exciting…”

It is for someone who just wants a decent camera that can do video. I am slightly concerned that the a390 would use the same 14MP sensor that the a290 is supposed to have, but I don’t think I will complain about it.