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.
66 Responses
Maybe the secret to dealing with Sony is to realize that we get what we never ask for and we never get what we do ask for.
OK lets try this…
Please Sony, give us more consumer cameras with novelty trinket features that don’t work in RAW format.
Please Sony, don’t make another full frame camera. Don’t expand your lens lineup. Don’t give us tethering. And whatever you do… pah-lease don’t make a wired remote for NEX… like the Oly OMD has for its USB port. That way, we’ll never be able to control the camera without touching it. We’ll never be able to auto bracket with IR remote. And we’ll never be able to shoot video from an overhead boom. Thanks for setting limits on our shooting abilities!
Oh, and don’t even think about improving your flash technology to the level of Nikon’s. We’d ever buy that sort of thing.
Hurm? It seems like most of the things you mention are already in one Sony product or another.
Which new Sony allows tethering or remote video control? Which NEX product has a wired remote separate from shooting modes to allow auto bracketing without touching the camera? Which one supports Smart Teleconverter in RAW? Which one allows for Sweep Panorama in RAW, or at least a JPG larger than 23mb?
Now I’m sure that face detection and smile detection are very important features for the togs who don’t know what a smiling face looks like, but there are other features that could be considered too, for the rest of us who pay our rent with Sony technology.
Oh sorry, I didn’t realize you were referring to all of those specific functions in your post, aside from the wired remote (ala NEX-7), which in actuality you meant USB tethering.
Love it Clyde!
The flash system to the level of Nikon’s- I disagree.
The Sony ADI TTL, IME, is better than that of Nikon’s iTTL.
Just do not make any versatile new flash units is a better request. 😉
Also, please do not make any more E prime lenses!! LOL.
Yeah and please do not give us any improved A77 firmware either.
Lol. I’ve remembered that episode in simpsons where they traveled in Japan…I really think that we may have to write a “manifesto” to sony. If we will dictate our terms then eventually they will listen.
wow how many cameras. shouldnt sony focus on fewer models? idk just saying.
But Sony are in the news again. 😉 Get used to the short life-cycle of Sony cameras, it’s here to stay.
And this is so amateur for sony. Short life of cameras, lack of firmware upgrades, lack of glasses. If only there where some people who could hack their cameras too.
And that’s why I’m buying a d800 and selling my a850, 16-35, 35/1.4, 85/1.4 and a580..
Sorry Sony, but I’ll only be patient for so long!
Nobody will ever blame you.
A kid’s excuse to change the boat!
And why you will be needing an excuse anyway?
You use/buy whatever camera you need/want, no?
Camera is just a tool I thought!!
Not sure I buy all these new cams, or least not the specs. Let’s see, a supposed lower model, A57, but with more advanced features than the A65 like battery grip and AF from the A77, and a sensor that could be better at high ISO. I could see a A38 but they just released the A35 last year. OTOH it’s Sony who have never released cameras logically. ‘k maybe sour grapes just getting a A65 only to hear maybe a better cheaper cam in the A57.. I want a grip and more than 3 cross point sensors. lol
“I want a grip and more than 3 cross point sensors.”….
…but didn’t want to pay for it. 😀
For sony, these new models are too easy:
You take a sensor here,
You take a body there,
You take an EVF and you shake it all about
You do do the hokey pokey and your move your line around
Thats what its all about.
🙂
Many people (incl. me) wish just that.
Take A700 body and OVF
Take A580 sensor
Take A77 AF and firmware
You’re forgetting the A77’s ridiculous buffer… Sony, please give us a buffer worthy to be called “BUFFER”, and not a surrogate of it! 😉
How often do you *need* to shoot 12fps and fill the buffer? You haven’t been able to before, so what have you been doing to get 12fps up to now?
It takes around 6 seconds to clear the buffer on my A77.
Get a UHS-1 sd card and stop moaning.
I would LOVE an option to save 12Mpx RAW in my A77. And I would LOVE to have pixel-binning in those 12Mpx images! I’ve ever needed more than 12Mpx for my work. And so you would have buffer capable to hold more pictures. Anyways, how long time do I need to shoot 12fps? 2-3 seconds? Btw… I would love a 5 fps shooting option too. 8 and 12 is too much for me, 3 fps too less.
A77 is a good piece of hardware, but the possibilities are quite limited due to the actual firmware.
Optimize Sony, Optimize! You can not change the buffer size, but you still can give-out a GOOD firmware. PLEASE!
I’ll join you, Mike.
Hope they’ll make something like this in A600 and I buy it with Zeiss 16-80.
LMFAO
Is nice to see a new camera release…if, Sony able to modify the Minolta black version 70-200 F2.8 at reasonable price that is magnificent combination…:)
It was the 80-200 that came in black, not the 70-200.
That’s what happens if you put an electronic giant on the camera business. All body no lens.
Developing an updated camera is FAR MORE EASY than developing a new lens. (And by the way also done by completely different people, so Sony doesn’t take away any resources from lens production/development).
>Developing an updated camera is FAR MORE EASY than developing a new lens.
Um…who said that it must be a new lens? Are you forgetting that sony have bought minolta? They could re release old minolta’s lens with new coating. What’s wrong with that?
Slight correction, Minolta still own the IP for their lens designs and license it to Sony. I thought the same as you until I was corrected by someone on here, so I went and did a bit of research into it and its true. Sony pay Minolta a bucket of cash for the licensing too.
You mean like Canon, a photocopier company…
Awesome news! The A35 never got released here in Japan anyway. They really need an entry level model again here.
Well Sony SLT camera is still new in the camera industry. Sony replacing it early to fix the problem that people addressed such as the EVF problem because the tech. is not there yet at that time. They want to mkae a better SLT to gain more new buyer, but for people that just recently bought the camera…this is a bad thing
One more thing, Sony also need to have one super cheap entry level with super basic specs to compete with Nikon/Canon cheaper entry level camera
*Sorry poor engrish
Really?
It’s wonderful!
sony want is not in the same pond fish such as Nikon and cannon. therefore they always try something else like slt gps 12fr / ps etc but the only thing we want is high quality high iso, a hot shoe like Nikon, so that we can work professionally with sony.
Please sony keep it simple but good.
If you want high ISO and a hot shoe like Nikon, then the answer to your problem is obvious!
You mean “wait a99”?=)
Let’s be logical for a second, a suggested A99 will NOT have a Nikon hot shoe. 😉
Let’s be gentle and find adapter?
Ofcourse.
Hi, not impressed at all, we REALLY need A99, please, please hurry up. Bye.
yes A99 !!
with professional institutions and wireless transmitters and receivers for studio photography. either from Sony or compatible with other brands, so replace that hot shoe pls
@Luis
Great, thats done it. Now we’ll never get one if Clyde is right. 🙂
😀 😀 😀
When will Sony show to be able to make high profile cameras instead of all this supermarket stuff?
The moment when high profile cameras sell more than supermarket stuff.
exactly !
The mass makes the profit; even though Sony doesn’t produce the high end super star, but maybe one day they just buy it ?
VW bought Porsche
Fiat bought Ferrari
Audi bought Lamborghini
Sony …. ? who knows 🙂
Sony Corp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Corporation_shareholders_and_subsidiaries) has a market value of around 40 Billion USD
Olympus: 3,5
Nikon: 8,9
but Sony loose money
Sony is so much more than just cameras.
When will people get it that “supermarket stuff” makes Sony a shed load of money compared to high end stuff? It’s bizarre that this simple point is completely missed!
because supermarket buyers don’t spend any money on lenses…
and when they want (or have) to change their SLR(T), they can easily switch to another brand with kit lens (contrary to expert with big lenses).
There will be VASTLY more “supermarket buyers” than people like us who are buying into a system. Repeat business is not what Sony are aiming these cameras at, they are consumables, just like compact.
Most of these dSLR users never buy anything more than the kit lens and will not buy another dSLR for years, if at all. Sony know this and are catering to “them” not “us”.
Nobody is missing the point as to what Sony makes their money on.
The simple point that people are missing is that Sony does not make a pro grade body and they are not interested in competing on that level or in that market.
Which is what I have been saying in other comments, so yes they are missing the point.
@SonyA77: No, you’re missing /their/ point.
and missing that supermarket people buy canikon gear partially because of the pro gear reputation ?
Sony its going to make 20 new cameras and only 3 lenses this year, this is why profecional photograpers use other brands.
Sony have always made better entry level cameras than any other competitors (Nikon and Canon entry level DSLRs are overpriced and living off the sheen from the top end cameras). You would expect Sony to refresh the bottom end often, and far more often than the high end so not sure what the counter argument is as this is all expected policy and marketing… but if we had the A99 today, Im sure we’d have more A77 owners going ‘WTF!!! I’ve been conned!!!’ than happy campers 😀
+1. couldn’t agree more. But Sony need to update their cheapest camera to compete with NikonCanon D/1000/D series..Bring back the alpha200 series..
It is not unusual that entry level camera’s are replaced quickly. For example, the Nikon D3000 was announced at July 30, 2009, and the successor, the D3100, was announced at August 19, 2010. That’s a lifetime of 13 months. Also Canon does this, for example with the XXXD series: the 500D was replaced by the 550D in one year time. The lifetimes of the a33, a35 and a55 are not unusual in this business. This reminds me of the fact that usually, higher end DSLRs have a much longer product cycle, which is why these DSLRs hold their value a little bit better, but not long.
Exactly. Look at the Panasonic GF series, the xxxxD Canons, the Dx3xxx/D5xxx Nikons, xxxD Canons an the models that came before them. All manufacturers bring out new models much more regularly in the entry space than in the pro/prosumer space, deal with it.
I can also tell you that the R&D that goes into these models is very minimal, usually slowly with each upgrade they bring down features from higher end models bit by bit. Once low end are getting close to higher end models then the actual technological developments et released in that higher end model and slowly over time they come to the many releases of lower end models. It is a marketing thing more than any technological advancements usually (SLT was a bit different – testing the waters). The low end models are usually mostly spare parts bin models that use older or more basic/cheap tech than anything they are actually ‘developing’. So just chill out. Everyone wants the top end models here sure, but you have to understand that they come out much more rarely. This is also not a statement about features lacking on high end models such as tethering – I have zero idea why Sony missed that one, but I can tell you it is nothing to do with bringing out cheaper more basic models.
I think they are going to use tethering as a studio differentiator between advanced and pro user. Like the A65 1/160 and the A77 1/250 sync (plus pc-sync port).
Despite the A77 being designed for studio use (compared to the other SLTs), I don’t believe they will update the firmware, just like they never updated the A3x/A5x for the dark EVF “design feature”.
It’s yet another reason to switch to Canon and Nikon if it’s a feature you *must* have.
Stupid Sony corporation flailing around looking for a way into soccer mom’s purse.
That’s great!
Specially when you think that a HUGE gap has opened at the “supermarket camera level” with Kodak’s bankruptcy which Sony can fit in!
Go on, Sony, keep feeding the ‘supermarket’ crowd. Just look at what happened to Kodak 🙂
So they keep releasing more bodies compared to just make firmware updates…hmmmm wonder how smart move it is. I mean, releasing new models vs. firmware updates and comparing cost…Is there something they see as profitable on doing so that I fail to see?
Since so many Sony people buy each model as it comes out it’s obvious why more models released brings in more money than a firmware update that just costs money to program.