Kenji Tanaka, VP and Senior General Manager of Sony Imaging Business (Image via Dpreview)

Well our rumor was spot on Sony just OFFICIALLY confirmed via Dpreview the A7sII successor will be announced this summer! Here is what MR. Tanaka said:

We’ve received many requests, especially from professional video content creators, and I can confirm that a successor to the Alpha 7S II will be coming, later this summer. Right now we’re focused on the launch of the new camera, and it will be a complete redesign of the whole system, including the image sensor. Everything is new. We hope it will meet and exceed the expectations and requests of our customers. I’m very confident that our new model will meet their demands.

The ‘S’ originally stood for ‘sensitivity’ but now I think it should stand for ‘supreme’ in terms of image quality, and expression. It comes from having really big pixels. I think that many professionals and high-end users will enjoy the new camera.

He said he got many features requests like:

Mainly things like 4K/60p, 10-bit 4:2:2… really what you’d expect. We’re aware that there is a certain amount of demand for Raw video. As you know, our customers include a lot of professionals, so we’re working hard to be able to deliver Raw data capture to these people.

Well glad to hear my 2020 rumors weren’t off…and indeed Sony A7sII will be announced after the Canon EOS-R5 like I told you last week :)

The question now is will the As7III overtrump the future EOS-R5? I think that from a pure video perspective it certainly will. And I like that they say the “S” now stands for “Supreme image quality”. That’s very promising!

The only reliable rumor we got so far tells us about a new FF camera that is “something new” and that it will be announced by end of August. What this camera might be I don’t know yet. So let’s keep rolling some wild rumors I got. One of our long time SAR readers heard this from a Sony manager:

In about a month Sony will announce “Sony A5 – new entry level full frame camera, small size and no EVF“.

If someone reading this post has any kind of proof to debunk or confirm this rumor please drop me a message using this anonymous contact box (use an nickname to be recognizable in the future) or drop me an email at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. Thanks!

This week Sony started to show the A7sII successor to press and store owners. Like I told you before I didn’t know until today when Sony would actually make the general public announcement of the camera. Well I now have been told that Sony decided to make the PUBLIC announcement shortly AFTER the Canon EOS-R5 launch. The timeline for the public announcement is this:

– Sony A7sII successor by mid-end July
– Sony second FF camera announcement (A5?) by end of August-early September

The Canon announcement:
I have been told that the reason is that Sony wants to unveil the A7sII successor after the Canon EOS-R5 (coming on July 9) to position it appropriately with the price and marketing. If you think that’s BS and there is no way Sony would wait for the competition read these facts:

1. History is repeating itself: Back in April Sony decided to postpone the already promoted April 20 NAB live announcement to April 30 after Canon announced it would unveil new products on April 20 too.
2. Sony A7sII successor is already registered in Asia since April 28 (article here) and the second FF camera by end of May (article here). Nokishita also spotted the 12-24mm GM lens registration a month ago. It’s the first time in 10 years a registered High end camera and lens takes more than two months after registration to be announced!

I know you are disappointed but I am 100% sure I am right on this. As this is a rumor coming from the same sources whom correctly shared this years rumors:

May 6: ZV1 launch
February 17: Sony 20mm FE specs
February 13: Sony 20mm FE info
February 7: Sony 12-24mm GM lens rumor (lens not announced yet but Sony registered the code confirming it’s real)
February 7: Prime lens rumor

I also have been told that first journalists and film makers already got the A7sII successor in their hands during internal meetings happened this week (there will be more meetings the next days). This is also very unusual for Sony to show them the camera one month ahead of the official announcement. And I think this time we might get some specs ahead of the announcement because of this (which would also proof that Sony indeed changed strategy in last minute).

Last week I told you Sony has an internal meeting with the press on June 26. But there might be some time for the press to play with the camera and write reviews and the general public announcement might follow a couple of days later. So please don’t expect yet a public announcement on June 26. I hopefully will be able to let you know soon when the info will become public.

While I am 100% sure Sony has two cameras to be announced soon I am yet not sure if both will be announced at the same time or if the second camera might be announced a bit later in July.

Let’s start with the facts:

• Sony registered a High End Camera in Japan (code “WW271448“). Has 5Ghz module which suggests this is a High end Camera
• Sony registered a camera in China (code “WW850128“). As it’s made in China it might be an entry level RX or E-mount camera
• Sony website contains the code for a new lens “SEL1224GM” (12-24mm f/2.8 GM)

And here are the rumors:

• A7sIII and 12-24mm lens will be shown to the press the last week of June (unclear when NDA breaks). The second FF camera may be announced a couple of weeks later?
• 12-24mm f/2.8 GM lens will be very expensive (around or above $3,000)
• The new High End Camera will be the A7sII successor (at least 4k120p, 10bit 4:2:2, similar A9II AF performance) and start shipping out by late July/early August
• The second new camera will be Full frame and also a Sony “first” (which means it’s somehow not branded as a successor of a previous existing FF model). It might be a new sub $1,000 entry level Sony A5

What else?

• Sony plans to release a fast f/1.2 GM lens (originally planed to be on market by second half 2020 but Covid-19 may have delayed this)
• Sony new tele zooms are on the 2020 roadmap (again Covid-19 messed the timeline so we don’t know when exactly we will get them)

If someone reading this post has any kind of info about the next announcement drop me a message using this anonymous contact box (use an nickname to be recognizable in the future) or drop me an email at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. Thanks!

Let’s start with a fact: Sony registered two new cameras in Asia. One is a high end camera (because it uses a high end WiFI module) and one is a more consumer oriented camera (because it will be produced in China). Both are going to be announced pretty soon (probably in late June-early July timeframe)

Reliable rumors: The High end camera is likely to be the A7sII successor. And the second camera is surely a “new kind of Full Frame camera”

New WILD RUMOR: I got the following rumor from a source who passed me correct Sony ZV-1 info. But in this case the info he got wasn’t from a “DIRECT” channel…so he is unsure if it’s true or not. What he heard is that Sony might announce an entry level Full Frame camera for under $1,000. It might be named Sony A5 or something like that. I guess it’s Sony’s answer to the $899 Canon EOS-RP.

That’s it, I really have nothing else to say yet. I do hope it’s a new E-mount entry level camera but keep expectations low until I don’t get at least some more “solid” info. Don’t forget to join our new Discord group if you wanna chat about more crazy wild rumors.

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You can download all images here. Announcement today! Stay tuned!

via Nokishita

Last minute rumors before tomorrows Sigma announcement:

• Nokishita also reports that the “Expected release date is July 10, 2020”
• Our reader “Z” sent me this image of the Sigma 100-400mm lens button/switches:

The new Sigma 100-400mm F5-6.3 DG DN OS lens for Sony E-mount will be announced on June 18 at 15:00 CEST time. This is what we know so far about this lens:

22 elements in 16 groups (including 1 FLD lens and 4 SLD lenses),
minimum shooting distance 112 cm (wide-angle end)/160 cm (telephoto end),
maximum shooting magnification 1:4.1 (at 400 mm),
filter diameter 67 mm,
size φ86×197. 2mm,
1135g,
compatible with optional tripod mount.
Price $949 and 1.199€