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I am still waiting for the day where Canon and Nikon will give up their top position in favour of Sony. The good news is that at least in Japan the Sony NEX-5 is pretty close to the two big guys. 8,1% of all sold cameras are NEX-5 (Source: BCNranking). But the real surprise is that the mirrorless camera market share is well…going back! After reaching a top of 36,7% of all sold system cameras it’s now dropping down to 31%. So the DSLR vs Mirrorless battle is still continuing. A wonder how it will be in 1 year from now!

P.S.: You can see on Amazon that most cameras in the TOP 20 are compacts:
Amazon US rankings (Click here)
Amazon DE rankings (Click here)
Amazon UK rankings (Click here)
Amazon FR rankings (Click here)
Amazon IT rankings (Click here)

One of our trusted sources read your comments and sent me an answer to one of the hot questions regarding the reason for the low price. He said that there will be a couple of A77 kit options. $1099 is the price for the cheapest entry level kit with the current Sony 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 SAM DT Standard Zoom Lens (pictured on top). It is an aggressive price to attract Nikon and Canon users. But the source believes most of the people will buy the higher priced kits with the “improved lenses“.

That last sentence lead us to believe he is talking about the new high quality kit lens which should be announced on the same day (July 7).
P.S.: First Chinese eBay resellers (Click here) are now adding the A77 name to Sony accessories. Preparing for the big launch :)

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Finally the wait is over! We know when Sony will show the new A77 to the world! A trusted source confirmed the Sony A77 will be announced on July 7 (as some reader noticed that’s not a casual date 7/7 for the A77). It will be priced at $1099 including the kit lens! As I already told you the camera will be in Stock in late September/early October. Feel free to share that news on your blog or forum. But would be nice to link back to SonyAlphaRumors as we have been the first to post that! (Thanks to our special anonymous sources!!!).

The A77 will be Sony’s top APS-C model. And I am very surprised about the very good price. I don’t know if that is the price with the current 18-55mm zoom lens or the rumored new high quality kit lens (that would make that price even more amazing) . Let’s compare it with the best APS-C models from the main competitors:
The Nikon 7000 costs $1,199.95 but you pay that for the body only! Check Amazon, B&H, Adorama, eBay.
The Canon 7D costs $1,860.00 (again body only!). Check Amazon, B&H, Adorama, eBay.
The very good Pentax K-5 costs $1,479.00 with kit lens. Check Amazon, B&H, Adorama, eBay.

Let’s assume the kit lens is the current 18-55mm zoom, and let’s assume the image quality is indeed top of the notch:

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I am convinced the A77 will be the best APS-C camera on the market. It toke very long for Sony to develop the A700 successor. But the reason behind that is that Sony wanted to make a perfect camera using the new SLT technology. It will fix most of the problems of the current first generation SLT cameras (Sony A33/55). Along that camera Sony will announce new accessories and new lenses. I have no 100% confirmation yet but also the NEX-7 should be announced on the same day.

Its’ going to be a big day on July 7! I hope you will be all here on SonyAlphaRumors to follow that event live! Don’t miss rumors, join us on Facebook and Twitter and follow our RSS-feed!

I toke a day off from my work to read all your comments. Ask me whatever you want and I will answer you! Thanks!

Those are the specs of the A77:

The A77 announcement on July 7.
Shipment start early October
Coming with new kit lens (A Sony 16-50mm zoom. Compared to the Zeiss 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 it will have a constant aperture and probably have a bit higher price. Zeiss 16-80mm price check at Amazon, B&H, Adorama, eBay.)
24 Megapixels (The combination of the new sensor+new Zeiss lens delivers 62% more resolution than the A55 16 Megapixel sensor.)
1080p/30fps, 720p/60fps and 720p/30fps high-definition video
AF fine-tuning capabilities. A source told us that it has an improved focusing system (quite fast and accurate).
3 Million dot OLED viewfinder (more than double of the resolution fo the current Sony A55/33 viewfinder.)
magnesium alloy
It will take CF+SD+MS cards
No flip-up mode to allow shooting without this extra sheet of glass in place
1.000 pictures with one battery

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!

Thanks Tip.

NEX shoots the ‘Flight of the Angel’ – HD1080 YouTube (Via Photoclubalpha)

NEX with Minolta 90mm Rokkor-M Lens Test (SonyAlphaNex).

Sony Alpha DSLR Sliced Down the Middle (Petapixel).

Sony Security Sensors to Shift from CCD to CMOS (Image Sensor World).

New Lens Mount Adapter for Sony PMW-F3 from P+S TECHNIK (Cameratown).

Sony Launches Fastest Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX Card to Date (Photographyblog).

How to transform your NEX-3 in an infrared camera (Alpha Numerique).

You can get a VG-10 demo model for $1,649.00 only at Adorama (Click here).

Sony A55 with 18-250mm DT Lens with 16GB Card + Battery + Filter + Sling Backpack + Accessory Kit for $1,119.95 at Amazon (Click here). Found via Noisycamera.

Some of us are not completely happy with the Sony NEX roadmap because of the lack of compact primes. So we have to rely on this kind of products coming from third party lens makers. SLRmagic showed a new E.mount lens prototype which will be on market by June. You can see a size comparison with some of the current NEX lenses:

Don’t know the price and image quality it can deliver. I would not expect to much from it!

P.S.: Click here to see the current SLRmagic 35mm f/1.7 lens for NEX on eBay (You can get it here only).

Looks funny but could be the future: Sony liquid lens technology.

The japanese blog Egami posted the latest Sony patents:

1) Sony liquid lens patent (Click here).
This is not the first Sony patent we found that describes the liquid lens technology. With such technology you can change the curvature of the lens by changing the voltage of the liquid. The advantages are:
-non-movement glasses for zoom or AF
-less glasses inside the lens
-faster electrical response
-non-motor on the glass
-silence AF mode

2) Sigma filed a patent in Japan (2011-059293) for what appears to be a 18-48mm lens for NEX cameras (via Photorumors). I really hope Sigma will make fast primes instead of this one :(