There will be no XQD support on the A99!

The anonymous A99 tester that shared the info I posted yesterday read your comments and sent me some short answers:

1) He can’t talk about the Image Quality of the camera yet. Firmware is by far not mature enough to make a serious discussion about it
2) Same for video :)
3) The tester confirms that there is no CF nor XQD support.
4) The new hot shoe and the special connector are there to make older accessories work (like the Sony HVL-F56AM)
5) The camera has built-in GPS

Thanks again for all the info you sent us!!!

So far we know for sure that the new A99 has a 24 Megapixel sensor and amazing 102 AF point. We also posted some more specs that we got from an early A99 prototype. Today I am going to post some specs from the final Sony approved A99 SLT camera. We got a user report I have rewritten in my own (poor) English words to hide the language style (enjoy typos and grammar errors!). Here it is:

“The final production A99 doesn’t have a built-in flash lamp (Editors note: some prototypes with built-in flash were tested). There is a new hot shoe for accys so a special link is delivered with this camera. The Autofocus is really fast. The A99 (with non final firmware) has an ISO range of 50-25600 (Editors note: Final firmware will probably have a +2 stop push in High ISO). Camera is bit lighter than the [shoplink 3032 ebay]A900 (973 g with battery)[/shoplink]. The A99 weights 827g with battery. The Battery is the [shoplink 12939 ebay]NP FM500H[/shoplink]. The camera has no CF slot! It comes with two slots for SD/MS and [shoplink 12940 ebay]SD cards[/shoplink]!

I Thank the Source for sending me this. May he can also share some general impression over the camera like image quality and camera response? No need to unveil detailed specs but we would like to know if Sony made a “mature” product like we hope it will be.

From the rumors we got until know I suppose this camera is optimized for speed, clean ISO and super video recording. And in these aspects it should beat the Canon 5DmarkIII (here are the specs) and the Nikon D800 (here are the specs)!

Reminder: Sony will announce a lot of new stuff in exactly one month. Be sure to bookmark SAR and follow us on Facebook (Click here). Do not miss any of the coming rumors! There will be some surprise ;)

—

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

“Someone” sent me this Sony prototype report. As usual take this kind of info with a grain of salt. I re-wrote the text to hide the original writing style:

“There are many “Pro” prototypes. Some A mount some E mount plus a “hybrid” 1/2 camera 1/2 videocamera. There is also a super 400 f2.8 and a CZ  70-200 f2.8. They tested the PRO cameras without AA filter and all it did was moire everywhere…but crazy sharp. One of the PRO camera protptypes uses a 36 Megapixel sensor and the early sensor ones overheated. Sony will go from NEX 1 to NEX 11 – so the Pro body E series will probably be ready after Photokina. By the way…what happens when you go beyond A99? Go to early numbers!”

So basically, we will have a 36 Megapixel PRO camera in 2013, a new hybrid video and still camera, a 400mm lens a new 70-200mm zoom and a PRO NEX very likely coming in 2013. Sounds interesting that Sony tried to remove the AA filter. Something Nikon has done with the D800E and Fuji with the X PRO 1. But I don’t think they will release a model like that.

Not a real leak, a cake version of the 500mm G lens at Ecpz.net :)

TOP sources are slowly sending me info about the Late August Sony announcement. We can now be 99% sure that a new SAL 300mm G lens is going to be released. It’s an updated version of the SAL300-2.8G (here at Amazon).

This also is an ulterior confirmation that the  Sony Service leak from two weeks ago is real. The website listed a new SAL55-300 and SAL 300mm G lens along a long list of updated “UC” (Ultra clean) lenses. That I still don’t know what it means…

(Click on name to see the current lens at Amazon):

SAL-50F14 UC
SAL-85F14Z UC
SAL-100M28 UC
SAL-135F28 UC
SAL-1870 UC
SAL-18200 UC
SAL-70200G UC
SAL-75300 UC

After posting the A99 specs I got contacted by another source. He confirmed that the specs are pretty much spotted right. But firmware isn’t finalized yet so small things still can change. I have been told Sony is working hard to avoid some of the early problems we had on the A77 launch.

Meantime it sounds like the NEX-5F (or someone told me the final name may be NEX5R) and the 16-50mm pancake lens are going to be announced in late August. But there is even more stuff coming along that!

Click on image to enlarge

SAR readder Yuanqi sent me the pictures of the soon to come Mitakon 35mm f/0.95 lens. Shipment will start on July 20th. The price just reaches to 6,000 Chinese RMB (760 Euro or $940), which migth be even higher if SLR Magic want to sell it worldwide. Mitakon is a brand owned by “Shenyang Zhongyi” a Chinese company that sometimes OEM for other companies such as SLR Magic. You can find plenty of Mitakon lenses on [shoplink 12829 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

P.S.: SLR magic made four lenses for the NEX system:
[shoplink 11187 ebay]SLR Magic 35mm f/1.7 MC (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 11186 ebay]SLR Magic Toy Lens 28mm Bokehmorphic lens (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 11185 ebay]SLR Magic HyperPrime 50mm f/0.95 (here on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 11186 ebay]SLR Magic 28mm f/2.8 lens (here on eBay)[/shoplink].

On Friday I posted the A99 prototype camera specs. I got them via trusted sources so I expect them to be very reliable although small changes can still be made for the final production version. I can add some info from unconfirmed rumors (SR3) saying that there will be a 3 Megapixel OLED viewfinder and a more reliable info that (SR4) it records 10-12 fps. In short, for around $2,500-$2,800 (or Euro or Pounds) you will get a FF SLT with 24MPX, 102 all cross AF, ISO50-25,600 (with +2 extension), 1080/p60, weather sealed body with built in Flash and optional vertical grip.

If those specs are correct the question is:

 Loading ...

My impression is that the camera is aimed for sport photography and video. It’s where the cameras can beat the upcoming Nikon D800 and the Canon 5DmarkIII.