Today Sony announced new compact cameras. The DSC-HX10V, DSC-HX20V, DSC-HX30V, DSC-HX200V, DSC-WX150, DSC-W690, DSC-TX66, DSC-TX20 and DSC-H90 (Click on the camera names to check the specs).

Nothing exciting but you should know that Sony is planning a big event on March 13th. I have been told by trusted sources that this is a major event that will not only launch the new A57 but also other new “stuff”. I am still not sure about the exact list of announced cameras. I heard about a new NEX-F3, new lenses and new NEX camcorders. Carl Garrard also got rumors about an A600 with optical viewfinder but my sources couldn’t confirm if the rumor is correct. There will be no new FF camera announcement but maybe Sony will show the A99 prototype too (that’s my speculation). And on March 29th Sony will announce the new [shoplink 8461]A77[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8459]A65[/shoplink] firmware too…

I kindly ask my sources if they can send me some more info about the March 13th event. It will help me to sort out the info I am getting now. Thanks!

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!

Here is the A77/A65 firmware info (Click on image to enlarge).

Finally some good news! The new A77/A65 firmware will arrive on March 29th. And here is the firmware update features list:

1) Expanded the number of automatic compensation compliant lenses (6 lens)
[shoplink 4419]24/2 ZA[/shoplink]　　[shoplink 6052]85/1.4 ZA[/shoplink]　　[shoplink 10337]135/1.8 ZA[/shoplink]
[shoplink 11583]70-300/4.5-5.6 G[/shoplink]　[shoplink 6422]DT35/1.8[/shoplink]　[shoplink 11584]DT50/1.8[/shoplink]

2) Improvement of response
・Improvement of response for Auto review
（Display of [Processing] will not appear）
・Shorten time lag between power SW operation and power off
・Improvement of response for front/rear dial and mode dial
・Improvement of response in play back mode

3) Improve AF response with 500mmF4 lens

4) Improvement of AF accuracy for low contrast objects

5) Improvement of compatibility of Minolta lens
[Konica Minolta] 1.4X TELE CONVERTER APO X [Konica Minolta] AF APO 300/2.8
[Konica Minolta] 2.0X TELE CONVERTER APO X [Konica Minolta] AF APO 300/2.8
[Konica Minolta] 1.4X TELE CONVERTER APO X [Konica Minolta] AF APO 600/4

The great news is the response improvement. There is no info about possible JPEG quality improvements.
—
Sony A77 at [shopcountry 8461].
Sony A65 at [shopcountry 8459].

Our Chinese readers shared a link to a XITEK post from a mysterious source. Our Chinese readers said he is a good source but I have no records about him so please take everything with a grain of salt. I repeat this is not a rumor from MY trusted sources!

Here is the camera roadmap from Sony according to the Chinese source:

SLR:
a600, 1830 megapixel, 2012 (March) -> The [shoplink 5509]A580 successor[/shoplink]
a950 (a1), 36 million pixels, 2013 (February) -> The [shoplink 3032]A900 successor[/shoplink]

SLT:
a37, 16 million pixels, 2012 (March) -> The [shoplink 7419]A580 successor[/shoplink]
a57, 16 million pixels, 2012 (May) -> The [shoplink 3617]A580 successor[/shoplink]
a99, 24 million pixels, 2012 (September)

NEX
NEX-F3 2012 (March) -> The [shoplink 3000]NEX-C3 successor[/shoplink]
NEX-5G, 18.3 million pixels, 2012 (September) -> The [shoplink 8452]NEX-5n successor[/shoplink]
Fullframe NEX in late 2013.

I would be really (positively) surprised if Sony would launch an optical viewfinder DSLR. I hope it’s true but I am very very sceptical! But just for fun, let’s do a poll to let Sony know what of the “rumored” cameras you would like to see for real:

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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!

That isn’t a surprise yet. Sony UK officially marked all three entry level SLT cameras as “previous model“.

I already reported about a new A35 successor here: http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr3-also-a-new-a38-is-coming-soon/
and about the A55 successor here: http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr5-more-a57-specs-almost-same-body-as-the-a65/

There is a fair chance the new models will be announced on March 13th. There are also rumor about a possible [shoplink 5509]Sony A580[/shoplink] and [shoplink 7207]Sony NEX-C3[/shoplink] successors.I hope to get more details about that soon.

The Canon G1 X you see here will soon get a new competition from Sony!

That “news” came as a BIG surprise for me. According to some of my very trusted sources Sony is almost ready to launch a completely new product, a compact camera with fixed lens and…APS-C sensor! In 2005 Sony announced the [shoplink 11547 ebay]DSC-R1 (here on eBay)[/shoplink] which had a large 5x zoom. But the new camera has a compact zoom lens. Currently only the Canon G1 X (pictured on top) has a similar product with 4X zoom, while the Sigma DP series the Fuji X100 and Leica X1 do use a fixed prime lens.

The sources explicitly told me that the very interesting thing is the new compact zoom pancake lens that will come along the new camera. It will allow an extremely compact size and in short future “could” be offered as “separate lens” for the NEX system too! Can’t wait to see this!

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!

One of my very trusted sources told me that the next Sony compact cameras will have a new “Pixel Binning” feature. For those of you not knowing what this is here is the wikipedia description: “binning is the procedure of combining a cluster of pixels into a single pixel. As such, in 2×2 binning, an array of 4 pixels becomes a single larger pixel,^[1] reducing the overall number of pixels. This aggregation reduces the impact of read noise on the processed image at the cost of a lower resolution.“.

This is an interesting news because it is also a feature many of you requested for the future NEX and SLT cameras. I don’t know yet if that feature will be exclusive for compact camera or if it will be implemented in future system cameras too. I would certainly welcome that feature on my future A99 :)

Carl Garrard got an update about the A600 rumor. In very last moment Sony opted for the 16.2 Megapixel sensor instead of the rumor 18.4 Megapixel sensor. This happens because of the high demand of the 16.2mp sensor from other manufacturers so that the 18.4mp sensor wasn’t put to production. The good news is that the 16.2mp sensor was upgraded!

Please keep in mind that the rumor is coming via Carl’s source. So I cannot tell you if the rumor is correct or not. Anyway, I am sure the A57 and probably the NEX-F3 are coming soon (March 13th). I also heard about unknown other camera coming soon. This may or may not include that A600 model.

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!