SonyAlphaRumors told you on May 2 (click here to read our ogirinal rumor) that the two cameras would be the next Alpha DSLR cameras. And here they are! The A390 and A290 will start shipping in July. The A390 price is $600 and the A290 is $500. In Europe €500 and €450 (body only!)
Sony EU press release
Dpreview
Letsgodigital
Photographyblog
DCresource
Photoscala.de
Key features:
• DSLR-A390 with 14.2 megapixels, Quick AF Live View and 6.7cm (2.7-inch) tilt LCD; DSLR-A290 with 14.2 megapixels
• Compact, stylish body with new grip design and revised button layout for comfortable handling
• Quick AF Live View with tilt LCD (α390) for live image preview with fast, accurate autofocus
• Friendly on-screen Help Guide and Graphic Display
• HDMI output and BRAVIA Sync
The now “old” Sony Alpha A230
22 Responses
Does A390 still have less buttons than A200? lol
For beginners, huh? Not one beginner smart enough to check the other systems will buy these overpriced cameras. Or they’ll just go for the NEX.
Well usually you don’t just buy a DSLR as a beginner, you also buy into a SYSTEM, so I say this is a better choice than Pentax K-x, it’s also the same price/feature as Nikon’s.
Snooze fest. I am about to pull the trigger on the a500 after months of waiting for the a390, but now it’s out and I am not impressed at all. If it had video I would have been happy but now I am thinking it’s just not worth it trying to get good video from an SLR, at least not a Sony. The a500 is only $549 now (body only) and will outperform either of these new cameras.
The cannon EOS rebel T1i has hd video and 4.5 fps for $ 699.00. I don’t understand what sony is smoking in Japan but has to be some bad stuff!!! Maybe the new a7xx is on its way and hopefully with video that’s what I waiting on.
Assuming correct, these are LAUNCH prices.
At launch the Sony A230 (with 18-55mm) was $50 more than the A290. The Sony A380 (with 18-55mm) was $250 more than the A390.
Nobody actually pays these prices, they are meaningless!
When is the next release of a ‘hybrid’ Alpha camera ?
Am I the only one thinking those are a waste of resources?? I’m not the complaining kinda guy but those are the most superfluous DSLRs Sony ever made….
I’m thinking that these cameras, which introduce a very welcome change in Sony’s lowest-priced entry-level cameras, but are otherwise not inovative, will be the last cameras introduced by Sony this year and next that will not be very interesting. Bring on the A5xx and A7xx!
Btw, has anybody noticed that these two cameras seem to be replacing three? Does that mean that Sony has decided to go across the board with fewer models at each level? Will we see just one A5xx and just one A7xx? Of course we already have a 3- and- a 5-level NEX, and expect to see a 7-level next this fall, and the rumor is that we’ll have 3-level and 5-level pellicle cameras in the A33 and A55. Does that mean we may have an A77 as well, a little later?
Interesting.
“Am I the only one thinking those are a waste of resources?? I’m not the complaining kinda guy but those are the most superfluous DSLRs Sony ever made….”
+1
if these cameras had the new Exmor APS HD CMOS, then they would give the T2i and K-X something to compete with.
The new A5xx will be going up against the T2i, not these cameras. I must admit that I wish Sony had done more with these cameras, but I think they won’t do badly, and will be replaced with much better in a year. But Sony has been working this year on the NEX cameras and the other Alpha cameras that will soon be released.
What a colossal waste of space, that top plate could have been used to put WB, ISO, DRIVE and EXPOSURE COMPENSATION buttons but NONE are there!
That means you actually have to dive in the menus to get these settings changed. YAWN! By the time anyone is done changing anything, the moment or subject you were going to shoot, it’s gone!
What the hell Sony?
The more I see these basic entry cameras, the more I’m convinced that I should really go for a A200 as a back up body or just another A700.
I hoped this new versions would actually be an IMPROVEMENT over the previous generation, but I was wrong. It’s just the same thing but with a different topping…
I don’t mind too much that they use the A350 CCD still, that’s ok, but these cameras could have been a lot better.
Yet another screw up by Sony in their effort of trying to make “things easy” for people…
Ok, I missed the picture of these cameras where some of the functions I listed above are included in the 4 way controller. So they are there, but still, they could have used the top plate for those buttons and add other functions to the 4 way controller.
If they so much wanted to make things easy on new users, they could have explained in the tips or help section of the cameras what is it for.
People really need to stop expecting things to work the way they want to without them putting any effort on learning what the hell happens when you press that button that says WB… And Sony has to stop indulging people on this.
@FreeRadical09: Too right mate, and with worse topping actually. Perhaps Sony produced too much CCD 14.2MP sensor, so they must get the stock out ASAP. But the way Sony sells it is beyond my comprehension. Sony cameras always have one thing right and two things wrong. I really don’t understand. Don’t fucking understand.
Not much to say guys since you all pretty much summed it up nicely. These cameras should have being better.
Sony is going to get its asss kicked if other manufacturers release video in their DSLR’s soon. There’s a lot of other cameras up for upgrade shortly and Sony will find themselves with their pants down once again.
Hopefully the NEX sensor will find its way in the Alpha range sound which its improved ISO capabilities and video or else Sony will continue to struggle.
I have a feeling that the a7xx and a9xx will have video, but Sony will limit there video quality on purpose because they do not want to compete against there own Sony camcorders……….
I think the button issue is a moot point at this level of camera. These bodies are aimed at the P&S user moving up to a dSLR. P&S users are used to having very few buttons and dials on a camera, in fact they might be put off a dSLR with lots of complicated buttons and dials, it might appear be too complicated for them.
Where Sony fall down is price, liveview and video.
Sony have to be cheaper than Nikon and Canon, why bother buying Sony when the magazines are full of Nikon and Canon users? Sony should use their P&S Sony brand awareness to push cheap Sony dSLRs onto existing Sony customers.
Sony have to put liveview in every dSLR. P&S users MUST have liveview, they will not buy a dSLR without it.
Sony have to have video on every dSLR. P&S users want video, after liveview the first thing they ask is if the dSLR can record video.
Only when Sony have figured out these very simple issues will they start taking business away from Nikon and Canon.
The problem with Sony is that they are too concerned about harming their video camera business. This is a huge mistake.
The button issue is moot, these are consumer cameras so a slimmed-down UI is to be expected. Overall the body design is pretty decent.
The A290’s a bit overpriced for launch, but once it drops $50 or so (which will take 1-2 months) it’ll do OK sales-wise. It’s got comparable performance and more pixels than the D3000 so at a similar cost it should compete well. The Rebel XS of course is simply crippled horribly even if it does have LV.
The A390 is going to flop. And flop hard. It’s slow (2.5fps vs 3.4-4.7 fps for the competition), has limited high ISO capability (ISO 3200 max and noisy even at 1600 based on the previous cameras with that sensor, competition has 1-2 stops more range and 2-3 stops better performance), the smallest viewfinder in-class and Sony’s gimmicky QAF LV system rather than a proper main-sensor implementation. Decent AF in live view is OK, but it comes at the cost of losing every other advantage of LV and a significantly smaller viewfinder. Oh, and it’s the only recent model in that range which doesn’t have Video (The only other one to lack video is the E-620, which is old and due for replacement)
Fundamentally Sony’s problem is that their cameras don’t compare well to cameras which are far older. Sony’s 2010 crop of consumer bodies are outspecified by everybody else’s 2009 crop. What happens when the D5000 and K-x replacements show up, as well as when Canon replaces the T2i in 6 months and it in turn replaces the T1i at the A390’s pricepoint.
can’t see the point in releasing these, the 390 does not seem enough of a significant upgrade from previous versions
I suppose not but believe me there are a bucket load of A230 users at the moment that will stay put for the time being i dont have enough of a reason to start saving up just to get a couple more megapixels, and a better grip and the battery in the new model is identical to the A230,A330 and 80 with the option for the FV-50 (that battery is identical to the FH50 anyway it’s the same size)
if you are prepared to wait and import one you can now get a battery grip for the A230/80/30 from the US not sure if it would work with the A290 or A390 though.
the maker of the battery grip is called ownuser or there are couple of places selling them under the name Rokinon the grip holds 3 FH-50 i am pretty postive it would hold the FV-50 as well.
I OWNED 5 DRIFERNT FILM S/L/R BODYS MY SONY a 290 IS AS GOOD AS ANY FILM BODY
BUT WHEN IT COMES TO NIGHT WORK THE A290 ROCKS
I DO A LOT OF TIMED EXPOUSER WITH NO FLASH THE SONY is the best body i have owned i got a 55mm/200mm ~ 18mm/55mm
it is all the cramera that you’ll need