Sony UK just updated their website and listed the A700 as “previous model”. Expect the Sony A700 successor to be unveiled in Q1!

The rumor comes from a dpreview forum user. He says he had a smalltalk with a Sony REP and the guy told him that there will be a new Zeiss 200mm and Sony 400, 500, and/or 600 lenses. This kind of rumor is normally not reliable!

Editors note: This is a rumor site. We have no affiliation to Sony! We collect rumors from the web and from our sources. Rumors sometimes become real and sometimes not. If you only want to get real and certain news please visit the official Sony website. Every rumor we post has a ranking value. In this case the rumor has the “SR4” value because we received it from a trusted source. This source has been right in the past (but it doesn’t mean he knows everything!) and will hopefully be right with the A700 successor rumor.

The rumor:

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SonyAphaRumors learned that the A700 successor (the A800?) which is probably going to be unveiled in Q1 2010 should have following features:

1) Pellix (or pellicle) mirror

Photonotes.org explains very well what a pellicle mirror is: “ An SLR reflex mirror which is partially transparent and does not move.

One of the advantages of traditional moving-mirror SLR cameras is that the photographer can look through the viewfinder and see what the actual taking lens is seeing. The primary disadvantage is mirror blackout – when the mirror has flipped up to expose the film then nothing can be seen through the viewfinder. Mirror blackout, though brief at high shutter speeds, can nonetheless be a problem for sports and other action photography.

Cameras with pellicle mirrors have fixed half-silvered mirrors that both direct light to the viewfinder and to the film surface. They therefore eliminate mirror blackout whilst preserving the advantages of an SLR. They are also much quieter, as there are no mirror slap sounds or blur-inducing vibrations caused by mirror motion. Pellicle mirror cameras can also shoot almost instantly – unlike most SLRs there’s no lag time resulting from having to move the mirror out of the way. This rapid-fire capability also permits faster film transport mechanisms in some cases.

Pellicle mirror cameras have two drawbacks. First, the mirror must be kept scrupulously clean because light passes through it to the film surface. Second, because some of the light is being diverted up to the viewfinder there’s less light available to the film. Pellicle mirrors typically cost 2/3 stop of light and the viewfinder is also a bit dimmer.

A pellicle is a membrane or a thin film and refers in this case to the very thin reflective coating on the mirror.”

There are many film-cameras which do use the Pellicle Mirror. An example is the Canon EOS RT, the

and the

.

2) shoots ten frames a second

3) It also has an electronic view finder

4) 1920×1080 video (no details yet about frame rate and compression type but the video quality will easily beat the quality of Nikon/Canon cameras)

5) full af in 1920×1080 video

SonyAlphaRumors speculation: This could be one of the main advantages with the use of a pellicle mirror. The Phase Autofocus System works during video-recording?

6) takes SD cards.

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That’s all we know for now! We have been promised to receive more details as soon as possible.

Feel free to contact us at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com

Have a nice day!

The SonyAlphaRumors Team.

IMPORTANT UPDATE!!!: The Sony A700 successor rumor has been published here

SonyAlphaRumors finally has got first details about the Sony Alpha 700 successor. Do not expect images or full spec list. Just few very awesome details!

UPDATE:
– This is going to be one of our rumors, there is no official Sony news or event on December 1!
– This is the first and last time we will pre-announce a rumor. After Tuesday we will post a rumor as soon as we have one.
– Regarding the wrong November 18 rumor read this post: “More news about the rumored GH1 Sony competitor…“.

One of our reader J.V from Holland just received the information from Sony Europe directly!

Here you have the original message in dutch:
“From: SONED.NL.Contact@eu.sony.com
To: xxx@xxx.nl
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 4:28 PM
Subject: Re: Webform Enquiry from x(Case: 2519xxxx)

Geachte heer V.,

Na aanleiding van uw verzoek, heb ik het voor uw onderzocht.

Het klopt dat de DSLR-A700 niet meer beschikbaar zijn.
De vervanging van DSLR-A700 zal tog de Alpha 8-serie’s zijn.

Ik hoop u hiermee voldoende te hebben geinformeerd.

Met vriendelijke groet,

Sony Support”

In short:

“True, the DSLR-A700 is no longer available. The DSLR-A700 will be replaced by the Alpha 8 series.”

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(SR2) “the a700 successor will have video and AF with video/LV through main sensor.
It will be APS-C and not FF, its display will be a tilting LED and not a LCD and a good OVF.” (Just speculation or does he really know the truth?)

Every year Thom Hogan predicts what’s coming next from Nikon (and not Nikon only! He also made a Sony prediction!):

Read the article at http://bythom.com/2010predictions.htm

I like this phrase: “Put another way, I’d say that Olympus, Panasonic, Leica, and Sony have a plan. Pentax has no plan. Fujfilm thinks they have a plan, but don’t actually possess one. Nikon and Canon have their old plan and think it will work forever. ” :)

And what is coming next from Sony?

• Sony. Lots happening at the new Minolta.
  • First up will be Sony’s GH1 killer. Only it won’t kill the GH1, especially since Panasonic will be on the next model soon, too. APS sensor, interchangeable lens video/still camera without a mirror. Check. Unfortunately, it will be larger than many of the m4/3 cameras. This has been a crash project for Sony, and I think it may explain why some of the other rumored items have been delayed. Still, I don’t expect it until near Photokina time-frame, which means it shows up after Panasonic’s next offering and after Samsung’s. That puts a lot of pressure on it to be better in some clear, significant way.
  • The A700 replacement, which is long overdue. And yes, it will have video. As with Sony’s latest fashion, it will probably come as multiple models (e.g. A750, A775) instead of a single model, though. Difference between the two models will be sensor (say 14mp and 16 or 18mp). Sony’s using a shotgun to hit the target, then going back and finding which pellet hit the target and trying to figure out the gun that would do that by itself.
  • I think we’ll see the low end lineup go through some modest, small changes during the year, too (after analyzing which pellets hit the target).
  • This should be a strong lens year for Sony, too. We’ll finally see their 500mm, and we’ll get a couple of fill-in-the-blanks lenses, too.

According to the korean website rra.go.kr Sony just registered four new compact cameras. The DSC-W350, DSC-W360, DSC-W380 and the DSC-W390.

The b2b.sony business site is showing an empty page for all this products. That’s a sign that the cameras will be announced soon!