(SR5) A99 price range set between $2,500 and $3,000

One of the (almost certainly fake) images floating around the chinese forums.

A couple of sources told me that Sony set the price range of the A99 camera between $2,500 and $3,000. The final price will be set this summer but it will be definitely be within that range! Also the name (A99) should be confirmed this Summer.This means the camera is certainly cheaper than the $3.499 Canon 5DmarkIII (here are the specs) and the $2,999 eploding Nikon D800 (here are the specs)……LOL :)

Specs I got from the early prototype are also unlikely to change. It means we can pretty much be sure the camera has a 24 Megapixel sensor and a 102 “super” AF system (something unmatched by today’s Canon and Nikon cameras). Frame rate will be 10 or 12 fps (depending on the final testing and firmware). Its also sure that at least two new A mount lenses will arrive along the A99. One of them will be almost surely be the Zeiss 50mm f/1.2 SSM lens. I still don’t know the price of the new Zeiss but I suspect it will be in the same range of the Canon 50mm f/1.2 ($1,499 here at Amazon).

Curiosity: The most expensive 50mm f/1.2 lens on market is the Leica Noctilux. $29,950.00 on [shoplink 12594 ebay]eBay (Click here to check that if you don’t believe it!)[/shoplink].

Reminder: Stay tuned on SAR tomorrow (May 17th) between 6-8am London time! You can follow live on SAR the A37 and NEX-F3 announcement!!!

(SR5) At least four major new lens introduction at Photokina!

Before you forget it: On Thursday (May 17th) at around 6-8 am in the morning (London time) Sony will have a big product announcement. As you know there will be a new A37, NEX-F3 (damn cool machine!) a new 18-135mm A mount and a new 18-200mm E mount lens. So stay tuned on SonyAlphaRumors to follow the event live!

The days and weeks after the announcement I will focus on the following next product announcements. The APS-C camera with fixed pancake zoom lens. The NEX-F5, the A99 Full Frame camera and the new A and E mount lenses. All that stuff should be announced this Summer! What will also be announced at that time are at least two new A mount lenses and two new E mount lenses. One of them is almost certainly the 50mm Zeiss SSM lens (could be f/1.2!!!). But there is also an A mount zoom, an E-mount prime lens and an E-mount zoom. But as I wrote on the title this are “at least” four lenses. There is chance there might be more. But I am sure those four I mentioned are coming!

P.S.: I hope Sony will give us some official A99 hint on Thursday. It’s just a hope, not a rumor :(

(SR2) The next “chinese” A99 rumor

An unknown source of the Chinese forum Xitek (Click here) posted a full Sony A99 and some other rumors:

The A99 has 24 MPX sensor and 102 AF point (I already posted this months ago)
It has touch screen and a 3 million EVF
Announced in September at Photokina and price $2.800 (I already posted this last month)
The body is larger than the A77 (I already posted this last month)
Basically the only news which I didn’t post before on SAR and the source added is the 3 Million dot EVF.

The source also said the [shoplink 8454]NEX-7[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8461]A77[/shoplink] will be updated next year. There will be also an updated 50mm f/1.4 SSM, 70-200mm f/2.8 SSM and a 135 Zeiss lens. The new 50mm Zeiss will be f/1.2.

As usual take these “sources” with a grain of salt. They often mix existing rumors with some “inventet” stuff. Anyway, I once found the exact NEX-7 specs on a forum like that and they were right. That’s why I am posting this, you never know it can be true!

(SR3) A99 and Nikon D600 will share same 24 Megapixel sensor? Leica uses Sony. Canon makes Mirrorless.

Her are a bunch of news from competitors that are particularly interesting for us:

First: The Leica X2 (Click here) uses the Sony 16.2 Megapixel sensor (same of the A57) Second: Canon could announce their NEX system competition in June (via CanonWatch).

But it is the Third news that really matters most. Nikonrumors posted the possible D600 specs and it really sounds like it will indeed share the same 24 Megapixel Sony sensor. Both, the Nikon D600 and A99 will be announced in late August/early September. The only difference is that Nikon has some own proprietary tweaks on it. From the specs we know the Sony will have more than double the frame rate of the D600 (10 or 12 fps versus 5fps) and more than double the AF points (rumored 101 versus 39 focus points). The big deal with the Nikon is that it is rumored to cost less than $2.000. I hope at that point that the A99 will also stay in the same price league. If Sony shares the sensor with Nikon but keeps the price above the Nikon than the SLT technology might not be enough to justify the price difference. I certainly hope the D600 rumor is correct because it means we can hope the A99 will be priced damn low!!!

(SR5) New Sony RGBW sensor coming in compact camera by end of the year!

From time to time I post patents describing many new technologies like organic sensors and “foveon” alike vertical alligned pixels and so on. But as you know most of the time these patents just remain….patents. Now many top sources confirmed that there will be a new sensor design made for compact cameras. Sony will launch some compact cameras (with small sensor) by end of the year having a new RGBW sensor. It means it will have Red-Greeen-Blue and White sensible pixels. That new pattern will allow an increased dynamic range. I have no clue yet if that kind of sensor will sooner or later also find his way on larger APS-C an FF sensor. Certainly not within this year!

Rumor roundup: Fixed lens APS-C camera to be announced in Summer. Hybrid E-A mount cam in 2013.


I am being asked by some SAR readers what’s the news on the fixed lens APS-C model and the Hybrid camera concept. The news I have says that the APS-C camera with fixed lens a là [shoplink 11547 ebay]DSC-R1 (here on eBay)[/shoplink] will arrive this summer and compete against the Canon G1 X ($799). Like the Canon it uses a very compact zoom lens and not a prime lens like the Sigma DP series the Fuji X100 and Leica X1.

The hybrid E-A or (A-E?) mount camera that will bring full support for both lens systems is still in being developed and will not come before 2013. At that stage I really don’t know how this camera will look and what exactly Sony wants to do in terms of design and features. How this will work remains a bit of a mystery. I only can think on a similar solution of the Zeiss Ikon Contax I, II and III that can still be found [shoplink 10295 ebay]here on eBay[/shoplink].

After the May 17th NEX-F3 and Sony A37 announcement I will intensively work on the next A99 Full Frame camera release. I am crossing my finger that this will become a great camera!