There seems to be a bit of a confusion around the exact announcement date for the A58 and NEX-3n. On Wednesday (Feb 20th) Sony will announce the new Playstation and also talk about the current Full Frame cameras (see the official Sony teaser video on top!). But the A58 and NEX-3n may be announced on Monday Feb 25ht. Anyway, the NEX-3n, the A58 and the three new A-mount lenses will be officially announced the next few days that’s sure!
I got some more bits from a hopefully reliable 😉 source:
1) He said the NEX-3n will cost $499 with the 16-50mm compact zoom.
2) The very new AF feature has to do with “tracking focus”.
3) The A58 has on step better ISO performance compared to rpevious generation APS-C sensors. If true this would be a very good news!!!
Thanks to the anonymous source! 🙂
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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!
58 Responses
Five more days until full info on the A58? I was having enough trouble waiting until Wednesday 🙂 And then who knows how long until it’s actually available…
But if the new sensor really gives better ISO performance (and it comes with an updated kit lens) then it seems worth the wait.
There is no rumor about better ISO performance.
“The A58 has on step better ISO performance compared to rpevious generation APS-C sensors. If true this would be a very good news!!!”
What does that mean anyway? Just “one step”?
I think he ment 1 stop. Its a measurement for exposure etc. If you have Adobe lightroom when you adjust the exposure the numbers change in stops. So if you can get a 1 stop better performance that would be very good. If you google it you will get a better explanation as I was never that good at explaining these things.
Yeah I will believe a full one stop improvement when I see it. Sony shooter and all, but that is a significant jump.
Is it just the announcement date? Any news with regard to the release date?
It’s very difficult to made an APS-C sized sensor 1Ev better at high ISO than the current generation Sony 16MP and 24MP sensors. Well, Toshiba has shown with Nikon D5200 sensor it could be at least 1/2 Ev better than 16Mp and 24Mp Sony sensors but it use Cu process unlike Sony which is on Al. Also there is another paradox, if 20MP sensor is 1Ev better than current sensors than it is on par with A99 at high ISO.
I don’t think Sony has a problem with creating a cheap camera with better high ISO performance than the A99, they usually don’t care about models already released months ago.
It would be better than the A99…
The A99 or better said the translucent mirror is a joke! The RX1 gets 2534 ISO on DXO Rating where the A99 gets 1555…. But Nikon squeezes 2980 ISO out of the RX1 Sensor, so there might be even some potential left…
The best APS-C ISO Rating from Sony is about 1120 ISO with the A580 or the NEX F3… One stop would mean double light for me what would mean to me same quality with 2240 ISO…
The best APS-C sized Sensor (in terms of ISO performance) is the Nikon D5200 with 1284 ISO… 2240 ISO would be a great leap ahead!
It is not all correlated to DR high ISO score and it is not all about SNR. On high ISO apparent noise is not only dependent on SNR but it depends on dynamic range and that is area where new 24MP APS-C Toshiba sensor excels and I hope that new 20MP Sony will have similar quality.
I would like to see your excellent iso102,400 pictures of linoleum floors
It’s only marginally better in high ISO department than 16Mp sensor cooked by Pentax.
Pentax uses NR even in RAW files so it’a not a best way of comparison, better way is A580 to D5200 or D7000 ti D5200.
It does NR only from ISO3200, until that we have fair ISO. As you can see, the clean 3200 is far from current APS-C capabilities.
The Toshiba sensor improves about 1/3 EV over the Sony and Nikon 24 MP APS-C sensors. The greatest improvement from one generation to the next is about 1/2 EV (16 MP vs 14 and 12 MP sensors for example). A full stop would mean 100 % quantum efficiency, the theoretical max of Bayer sensors.
So I see three options. It’s not a Bayer sensor with regular color filters, or it’s mostly the shadow noise that is improved (read noise, which would also explain more DR) or we’re talking OOC jpeg rather than sensor performance.
No, it’s more like a 2/3 Ev improvement against Nikons own 24MP APS-C sensor. As I said apparent noise on high ISO is not only correlated to SNR at high ISO but with DR on high ISO also and DR is category where D5200 sensor on high ISO excels.
So, I doubt that this new 20MP sensor will be much better in SNR at high ISO than current Sony sensors but most probably it will have much improved DR and that will make a difference at high ISO.
You’re talking about high ISO > shadow < noise, I'm referring to midtones, say 18% gray in the context of DXOmark (or at least the most referred to part of their measurements). Neither is an absolute truth, as most images indeed involve bothm
Yes, both DR and SNR are important to camera noise performance at high ISO. And because of 1Ev better DR at high ISO 24MP Toshiba sensor is at least 1/2 Ev better than 24MP APS-C Sony or Nikon sensor at real-life high ISO settings.
Better ISO AND dynamic range performance……………
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this is real and not just hype
Better ISO AND dynamic range performance……………
Let’s keep our fingers crossed that this is real and not just hype
Me, I’m waiting to see the new full-frame lenses
I’ve need a new 50/f1.4 to replace my old Minolta 50/1.4 and the 70-400 was on my B&H order-list before the replacement rumor made me stop and wait.
I don’t care if the price is a little high IF the performance is better than I can get elsewhere for the focal length.
Good optics and the a850 kept me in the Sony camp in 2009 maybe good optics will keep me with Sony for another camera generation.
ISO that goes to the hundreds of thousand a la a77? 😉
I’ll believe when I see it. Not like whatever currently available isn’t good enough…
3) The A58 has on step better ISO performance compared to rpevious generation APS-C sensors. If true this would be a very good news!!!
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Let’s REALLY hope for this! My a580’s iso is not good enough, but the slight improvement (0.5 – 1.0 stops) for the a99 isn’t justified considering the cost. If this a58 would be one stop better than my a580, I will be ALL over it!!
“My a580′s iso is not good enough”
Are you on drugs?
Maybe another guy who’s strongly convinced to shoot dark cats in a gloomy coal mine 😀
right.
because NO ONE has a need for shooting clean images higher than 1100 iso right??
both of you, please go kill yourselves….NOW!.
thanks.
Problem if that: If A580 isn’t good enough for you than you probably should contact NASA. They perhaps have something that might satisfy your dire needs.
BTW: Man, your life must have really sucked till A580 release… with all these frustratingly poor cameras around… How could you have shoot back in the day? Oh… wait, perhaps you simply didn’t and you are just a lost newbie.
Look, he dun even have a name….
funny, your name is funny but you’re complaining about a “-“? um, yea.
Stop dreaming or you’ll be disappointed. It’s an SLT so even if we take the rumor as absolute truth, it will be half a stop better than the A580. If….
well even if it’s a full stop better than the a57 (versus a580), that would still put this on par with what the a99 produces–presumably with a MUCH lower price tag.
My A200 is still good enough…. you really need to learn how to use your camera
you should go work for Sony and tell them all the dollars and employee time they are putting into improving iso is pointless as they should just tell their customers, the iso of the a200 is enough and they should just learn to use their camera. omg, do you really know how off you sound? “learn to use your camera”. Maybe if you knew ANYTHING about cameras, you would know after locking in aperture and shutter, the only thing left is what? ISO! And the higher the iso, the what? the higher the noise! So if you’re fine having grainy, nasty looking images, than i’m glad i’m not needing any pictures from you.
You should listen to the way YOU sound. Someone who knows only about one thing- numbers on paper. spec sheets. And absolutely nothing about photography. Does it ever occur to you that there are many photographers out there, making images right now, with less equipment than you? We’re talking images that you could never even dream of capturing- you really should focus on that with the A580 you have now- much more camera than you can handle from the sound of it- before you whine about noise performance in 100% crops at settings you sincerely don’t need to be using.
right, I should listen to the way I sound when YOU are the one assuming you know ANYTHING about me, right? I only know paper spec. sheets, huh? No real world experience?
Please tell me how long I’ve been shooting?
you have no idea.
Please tell me how long I’ve been an alpha shooter?
again, you have no idea.
Please tell me the type of environments I shoot in?
again, you have no idea.
I’m not sitting here telling any of you what’s good enough or not good enough for you, because I have NO idea what you do/what you shoot, correct? If I tried to tell you what you needed when I have NO idea what you shoot I would sound like an IDIOT correct?
And making images isn’t the question. You can shoot in bright daylight or under studio lighting or still subjects were you can keep shutter speeds down to let in more light and shoot with an a100, at those points iso wouldn’t even come into play. But if you’re shooting fast moving subjects in dimly lit situations where flash photography is not allowed, no, the people with less equipment (i.e. worst performance at high isos) will not be about to get better images, and if you want to sit here and argue otherwise, just got sit in a corner somewhere and talk to yourself.
maybe you should add psychic to your business cards, since you know what “settings I sincerely don’t need to be using”. Please tell me, what I was shooting last week and what my settings should have been for said shoot. Oh you don’t know? Yea, please go in the streets and play in some traffic.
what is the teaser for? odd if they just have a teaser to talk about current products
Andrea, one year ago ***(SR5) Also a new 70-200mm II G lens is on the new roadmap!***
Do you believe (SR5)?
http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr5-also-a-new-70-200mm-ii-g-lens-is-on-the-new-roadmap/
“almost” certainly correct! just like a cleaner can kill 99.9% bacteria.
yep it is.
Do remember to send a “Thank you” cake to Sonys marketing dept.
Knowing it is one ISO stop better regarding noise, but cannot be precise about the AF feature is just hilarious.
Describing the AF feature must be really simple, but claiming “One stop better” demands some serious testing!
Anyways, thank you Sony for providing the information.
/E
You are funny. Read the topic again. I dun see anywhere admin said one stop better.
Also read that it’s a SR4 and admin said from a “hopefully” reliable source….dunno why admin put it SR4 if the info comes from a “hopefully” reliable source.
Current Sony sensors are approximately 1 stop worse than the theoretically perfect photon counter.
So a 1 stop improvement means that Sony has suddenly developed the theoretically perfect photon counter. I don’t believe that.
We will of course get closer to perfection over time, but it will happen in small steps and not in one giant leap from one sensor generation to the next.
A full stop better ISO sounds too good to be true.
People have different way of interpreting it. It could be, for example, that somebody didn’t think ISO 6400 was usable on the A57, but that it is usable on the A58. If that person thinks 6400 is usable now, when before it was only 3200, they might be inclined to call that one stop. In reality it might be only a third or half a stop.
Why would Sony “also talk about the current Full Frame cameras” on the 20th? That makes no sense. I don’t think the Playstation people would be interested in listening about Alpha.
on step better ISO or one stop better ISO?
Probably just one step. 🙂
How many steps are there in a stop? 😉
The correct term for a doubling/halving of shutter speed or film/sensor gain is a step, not a stop (which is a term that technically only applies to a mechanical aperture), so in effect Andrea’s typo made his statement more accurate rather than less.
Of course, most photogs use stop as a catch-all, even if they shouldn’t.
Sony has a tendency to make these great leaps forward in things like ISO by applying great leaps forward in even more NR.
Please, just stop it.
The new Sony sensors are better than the one in your A700 – get over it. Just because you refuse to buy any new Sony camera, it doesn’t mean the sensors have not been improved.
Your constant whinging and grumbling is irritating – even more so when it is apparent there is nothing special or unique about your photography that would make Sony’s latest cameras unsuitable. You’re simply stuck in the past.
Less, noise across all ISO’s and even better dynamic range than what we have even now is always welcome.
I understand that Canon achieves better noise results between 100-800 than others, but I wonder if that isn’t at the expense of a sharper image on bigger prints by using strong noise reduction.
When I read the Popular Photography test results and see that the Canon 5DIII has less noise between 100-800 and a lot less noise from 800 and up than the Nikon D800 or the Sony a99 I wonder if anything is lost to do that?
My a850 with a little help from ACR does nicely up to 3200, and I understand that newer cameras do even better.
I think what everyone wants is the best picture possible at all ISO’s and that is happening little by little each year.
For me………having a good clean sharp ISO 6400 when I want it, without doing tons of NR with the loss of detail in a full-frame 12×16 print would be just about all I would ever need as I see it now.
Try the A99, Steve, the 6400 looks just like 1600 on my A850.
Most noise occurs in the red channel. Among the techniques Canon uses to control noise is to place a fairly aggressive high-pass filter on the red channel in their capture chain. The trade off is a flattened response in the red channel. I.e. — You get less noise, but you give up color depth. Compare high ISO shots between Canon & Sony among models of the same generation and price-points from the two manufacturers. You should be able to clearly see that the Canon is less noisy than the Sony, while the Sony’s colors — especially the reds — still pop compared to the dull, flat colors of the Canon.
Whether the trade off is worth it is largely a matter of personal opinion, which will depend largely on your particular shooting style. Myself, I rarely — RARELY — ever take a photo above ISO 400. For me, with my style of shooting, color reproduction is FAR more important than noise control. If you regularly engage in shooting where you need to use a high ISO setting, you may feel differently.
and then please put that sensor in a nex!
Sony…for the pretentious hipsters in Japan.
I’m a Japanese pretentious hipster and proud of it in that case.
I love how many people realize how good the a580 was… And look how long ago it came out… Oh yeah, it was their last OFV… No wonder.. Bet the a58 cant even hang with the a580.. But we will see….
Andrea,
I believe that teaser video above, will happen tomorrow (Feb 20) here in the Philippines, the Official launch of A99, RX1, NEX6 and other Sony Products.