To steal the show to the competition Sony will announce their new A-mount strategy in late September. They will introduce new APS-C and FF A-mount (!) mirrorless cameras. Sony will be the first company to switch their DSLR A-mount system to full mirrorless. And according to latest rumors we got it also looks like Olympus will finally merge the two systems (FT and MFT) in one camera. There will be no more a classic DSLR line. Olympus will launch a High End Micro Four Thirds camera with a sort of integrated Four Thirds mount adapter. This could also mark the end of the classic Olympus E DSLR line.
Are Sony and Olympus anticipating the future? Is DSLR dead or are they just trying to differentiate themselves from the almost impossible to beat Nikon-Canon DSLR dominance? only time will tell…
28 Responses
First? Did you forget the mirrorless Pentax K-01? Same K-mount as its dslr K-mount brothers.
I am talking about High End DSLR cameras!
i think sony will completely acquire olympus down the road
DSRL are definitely condemned to death. At least 3 to 4 years there will be extreme resolution and very fast ELVs. Who needs then another mirror. Anyone who has ever worked in low light with a good ELV, will never want to miss the advantages. And the less mechanics in the game, the less wear there is.
I thought four thirds was long dead? When was the last time Four Thirds made a lens?
DSLR technology isn’t dead yet but it is going to be threading before long. It’s a smart play by Sony if they execute it well. They have been willing to try new things but they haven’t consistently put out quality and great support. But increasingly it’s fighting for shares in a declining market.
In any case, I think Fuji is hitting the right mix of new technology and stills-focused thinking. I hope they stay on this path.
Canon better throw their money researching cheaper medium format sensor fabrication 😀
DSLR still sellsA lot better and mirrorless does not increase markrt shares. EVF still has severe shortcomings like in strong lighting conditions.
In the longer term 10 yeras or so mirrorless will no doubt take over: fewer complex parts, complex to assemble means increased profit for manufacturers….. Today mirrorless are more expensive – really they should be cheaper.
looks like a mechanism to move the image sensor forward and backward to change the focal plane.
Will these FF cameras be significantly larger than the average size of m43 cameras? Yes, I know they will be bigger, but will they be as big as a standard DSLR today? Also, what happens to the lens sizes?
I ask because so many people make the argument for mirrorless based on size. If they go full frame, what do you think will happen? I know that Leica are full frame yet are a nice size. Their glass is also a nice size but then they are manual lenses.
Any ideas?
I would love Olympus to shock everyone and go 35mm FF with specialized 4/3 and m4/3 adapters in the box. Of course, they would have to create a whole new line of 35mm FF lenses. 😀
Why isn’t the Olympus OM displacing more Canikon sales, it’s simple. To paraphrase a former president, it’s the lenses stupid; primarily the lack of long lenses.
True, the steady reduction in quality is distressing but at least we can adapt the older lenses such as the excellent Oly 12-60 instead of using the @#$% 12-50. But for long lenses with AF, we are SOL.
Definition: long lenses are 600mm equivalent and up, something like the 150-500 Sigma mounted on FT/MFT to yield 300-1000. Sure that is a large combo but it would be less than 1/4 the price of a non-zoom FF equivalent and 80-90% cheaper (go price a Nikon D4 with 800mm lens).
Bill
The tough truth is, that then ONLY reason to introduce a camera a’la Petax K-01 is, that while it is indeed reasonable to drop the mirror, it is not easy to leave all those lenses behind – so these ‘neither-fish-nor-fowl’ cameras appear – super bulky miror-less cameras. It makes me wonder how low will the transition to to mirror-less camera take – I mean including top pro cameras.
I can’t understand the point of releasing mirrorless cameras for lenses made for dslr cameras. The big advantage of mirrorless is to reduce the flange distance and hence the thickness of the camera. This is negated by the rumored approach.
Besides on present mirrorless (eg nex and nx) you can mount legacy lenses via adaptors, thx to the small flange distance. This also won’t be possible in these rumored cameras.
Compatibility perhaps?
What are the items shown in the diagram marked 23 & 40 ?
IMHO this is a very dumb idea only confusing the clients and bringing two families way too close to eachother. It’d be by far better if they’d come back to classical DSLRs or stay with SLTs and just add mirror lock-up feature for high-ISO photography.