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!

Via Digicaminfo we got our hands on the new Sony DT 55-300mm f/4.5-5.6 image. The lens will sell for 50,400 yen (530 Euro or $640). This is certainly not a suprise. The lens info was leaked through the Sony Service leak from two weeks ago along the new SAL 300mm G lens. And I think this is just the beggining of the new Sony lens announcements coming in August! Stay tuned guys!!! And hopefully some lenses of you wishlist will get real!

P.S.: The Zeiss for NEX is back in Stock for the normal price at BHphoto (Click here) and via third party resellers at Amazon (Click here).

A SAR friend posted a small rumor on our SonyAlphaRumors Facebook page (Click here). He said that Sony will have a small announcement on July 26th that possible has to do with the NEX-FS700. This is a super great NEX camera with a not so super available NEX lens range :)

One more thing: There seems to be a small surprise for the late August Sony announcement. There is not only an A99 and NEX-5F coming. Keep your expectations low, it’s not another FF SLT or a new FF mirrorless. I will share the info as soon as I can confirm it via trusted sources.

Back to facebook. I never really pushed the SAR community on Facebook. I think it’s a great tool to read SAR news and get in contact with me. So feel free to click on the “Like” button ;)

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 ;)

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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!

“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