According to some of our sources the A99 will be announced in early September. And the worldwide shipment of the A99 is scheduled for early October in Japan and for mid-late October in Europe-US. Of course we have to see how many preorders the A99 will get…
I repeat the A99. 24Mpx, 102 AF points, 50-25,600 ISO (with +2 stop option), Built-in GPS, AVCHD 2.0 support, no CF nor XQD support. Price will be somewhere between 2,500 and 2,800 Dollars.
Trusted sources just told me that a new high end APS-C model is expected for 2013 only and certainly not for Photokina this year. The high end model for 2012 will be (and remain) the already super Sony NEX-7.
Sony NEX-7 price check at [shopcountry 8454]. If you own or (soon will own) the NEX-7 you ahve to pair it witht he superb Zeiss 24mm lens in Stock now at Amazon.
Last week we had some issues on the website because SAR moved to a new more powerful machine. And many missed to read the lastest A99 rumor which we got from an “A99 tester”. He sent us first a short report and than the answer to your questions:
Original tester report:
“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]!
Testers answer on your questions:
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
This is very likely a correct rumor! Thanks again tester for sending us this! :)
Not really a big deal but I have been told that Sony will officially announce the new DT 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 lens within the next couple of hours. I asked my soruces if there would be “something else” and the answer was “no”. Anyway, don’t get sad. One month from now we will have ton of new cameras and lenses.
P.S.: RX100 beats Canon EOS-M for now at Amazon ranks :)
The Sony PRO website has a countdown running for a new Sony announcement tomorrow. Thanks to Cinescopohilia we already know there will be a new Sony PMW-200 XDCAM Camera. And as I told you this morning there is definitely no 36 Mpx SLT camera coming any time soon. But I am wondering if there is some kind of FX-700 related news coming out tomorrow. Let’s see tomorrow!
Meantime feel free to send me some bits of rumors about the A99, NEX-5F and the third mysterious camera I am hearing about right now for the first time! Contact me at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com….Thanks!
After reading the Kirk Tuck 36 Megapixel SLT camera rumor a couple of sources contacted to tell me the rumor is wrong. I Thank you for the response!
One short question, one of the sources mentioned a NEX-5F release…a question when exactly? :)
Will the Nikon D800 topseller camera get a competition from Sony?
Now, I have to be sincere. I wouldn’t have posted this rumor if it wouldn’t come from a person I do respect a lot….from Kirk Tuck! Today he posted on DP forum the following message: “I spoke with two people today who sell Sony products. Both commented that there would be an announcement this coming week to introduce the Sony a99 (yes, that’s the official model designation). They added that it will definitely be a 36 megapixel sensor. ISO 100-4000, 12 FPS in raw. Definitely SLT design, no OVF. And coming quicker than we thought. I have reserved one with my local Sony dealer sight unseen. Not sure by we could see them shipping in Sept. I feel pretty confident in the sources. This will be fun. $2799 US. At least that’s what they think.”
Now before to get too much exited let’s start from the rumors I got via my sources. As I always told you Sony developed two FF SLT cameras, one with 24 Mpx and one with 36 Mpx sensor. Now, until now I heard that one camera would arrive at Photokina and another one in 2013. And the original Sony plan was to release the 24 Mpx first.
After reading Kirk’s message we can think at two possibilities:
1) I am sure Kirk is telling us the truth when reporting his rumor but it simply happens that sometimes rumors are wrong :)
2) Seeing the Nikon D800 huge sales success Sony quickly decided to anticipate the 36 MPX SLT announcement. It’s unlikely but sometimes miracles do happen.
For now I will rank this rumor with a low SR2 value only. But the best part of this rumor is that Kirk said the camera should be announced this week. So it will not be long until we find out if the rumor is correct or not. A Sony announcement is scheduled for this Thursday!
I hope other sources can just send me a short message to comment Kirk’s post. Thanks!
Some personal thoughts: The Nikon D800 uses a 36MPx Sony sensor and cost around $2999 at Amazon (Click here). An SLT camera with fast fps, better video, better AF for $200 would be a total killer (even if some here would miss the OVF). That 36Mpx may become the hotseller of the moment like the Sony RX100. It sill rules the ABSOLUTE camera sales ranking at Amazon US (Click here). But….that ISO 4.000 sounds a bit strange…
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P.S.: Remind you to join the super nice SAR community on Facebook (Click here).
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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!
