super neat. Sony is aiming to make itself a major player in the dslr market. The FF SSS is very exciting, yes lens IS is superior for telephotos and they need to continue making teles with IS, but the Sony with a 35 1.4G and SSS is just absolutely neat as a walk-around night kit.
IMO the only thing that is exciting about this is the competition this will bring to other manufactures such as Canon and Nikon...I've never been a big fan of Sony, I deal with their products on a daily basis at work and on paper they always have great specs but they do not deliver like other brand names, and they are certainly not as reliable...
While it's great to see the competition I still wonder how effective any IS system is.
I shot a K/M 7D for about 1 1/2 years with the same in body system the Sony has now bought the right to and improved. The past month or two I have been archiving my old 7D images and I noticed a distinct trend of soft images compared to what I now get with my EOS bodies and alternative lenses. I attribute it to the fact that in my film days and now I always use a tripod when I even think there's a possibility I need it. When shooting the 7D I hardly ever used a tripod and I think relying on the IS made me sloppy. Several old timers like myself have noticed the same as they sampled IS systems over the time proven tripod method.
So, while the news of another FF DLSR is great I personnally could care less about the IS aspect. In my book the simple ol' tripod is still the most reliable souce of stabilization there is.
The A900 is not a pro camera & is intended to go head to head with the Canon 5D
Other lenses which will benefit from the SSS are a Zeiss large aperture w/a prime which is thought to be a 24mm f1.4, there is another Zeiss w/a prime which maybe a 35mm f1.8. There is also a Zeiss large aperture w/a zoom which is thougth to be a 16-35 f2.8. The 24-70 f2.8 was announced yesterday & there is chatter about a possible 70-200 f2.8 Zeiss.
Finally, ever since Photokina 2002 Canon has had a stronghold on the top end full frame DSLR market hence the price has always ben $8000 for their top model. Well, actually up until 2007 Canon had the only full frame DSLR's (other than the disastrous Kodak DSC 14n and subsequent SLR/c and SLR/n models long forgotten)
This is great news. I hope Sony prices the camera in the $2500-$3000 range to force Canon out of their monopoly and lower prices.
Mom With A Camera isn't about to use a tripod until they graduate from documenting a family's events to creating art. they account for close to 50% of the camera market.
Sneakyracer wrote:
Finally, ever since Photokina 2002 Canon has had a stronghold on the top end full frame DSLR market hence the price has always ben $8000 for their top model. Well, actually up until 2007 Canon had the only full frame DSLR's (other than the disastrous Kodak DSC 14n and subsequent SLR/c and SLR/n models long forgotten)
This is great news. I hope Sony prices the camera in the $2500-$3000 range to force Canon out of their monopoly and lower prices.
You have to remember it's not only about the size & MP of the sensor that drives the price of DSLR's. The features that each camera has plays just as big a role on the price. So even if the Sony offers this camera @ the price you say, it might not be weather sealed, or the AF points and/or speed, or it lacks other features.
Example, 5D vs. D3, both are 12MP 35mm sensor cameras, but there very different beasts.
The sensor might be quite good, but honestly, have you seen the thing? It's the most hideous camera I've ever seen, and it looks typically cheap and badly made:
A joystick for AF Points might be awesome, something that we have been asking Canon for, for a long time. I'll reserve judgement until I see it. But there is a lot more to a pro system than the Camera Body.
Any competition is good competition. Wait til they shoehorn this into a F6 body...
Edited by Andrew Gough on Feb 01, 2008 at 05:48 AM GMT (Reason: spelling)
I think there is a lot of room for the pro level DSLR price to lower. Sony can sell at cost or even at a loss and make profit off lenses and other stuffs which people have to buy for the body.
firewireguy wrote:
The sensor might be quite good, but honestly, have you seen the thing? It's the most hideous camera I've ever seen, and it looks typically cheap and badly made:
What do you expect? It's a photo of a dusty prototype, taken through glass in less than favourable lighting.
I don't think Sony is going to win any beauty contests with their DSLRs. They seem to be going for the "machine" look. Works for me
The much respected Contax never did much in the pro market with a complete Zeiss line up. What makes you think Sony, known for consumer electronics will do anything in the pro market?
Sony needs to convince people to buy into their system.
They might offer this camera for a much lower price than the 1Ds3, say 5000$ for the zeiss lens and the a900 and people would still have some money left to buy some more lenses.
and...
Contax, Leica and Minolta had their share of the pro market before the digtial revolution
joeisayo wrote:
The much respected Contax never did much in the pro market with a complete Zeiss line up. What makes you think Sony, known for consumer electronics will do anything in the pro market?
Sony is also very well known for their professional video cameras. Ever heard about Betacam?
Andi Dietrich wrote:
Sony needs to convince people to buy into their system.
They might offer this camera for a much lower price than the 1Ds3, say 5000$ for the zeiss lens and the a900 and people would still have some money left to buy some more lenses.
I agree, maybe even down towards $4,000 for the body. For someone starting a photography business on a tight budget, getting a 24MP FF body and three good lenses for the price of the 1DsIII body alone, it's an obvious choice. I know what I would do. I'm quite sure that Sony's marketing people know as well. They just launched a 14MP amateur DSLR with live-view and in-body IS for $800, $900 with a lens.
The latest rumour is that there will be 3 different camera bodies with the 24MP sensor, one of them supposed to compete with the 5D, or rather with the next generation 5D. Given the fact that they have already launched a 14MP DSLR for $800, I wouldn't be surprised.
I hope Sony do well in the noise control (in order to directly compete with 5D replacement body if it ever comes out), since no way Canon is cramping that high count of pixels on their next 5D successor, allegedly 14-16MP with 14bit.
