Sony Alpha 850 DSLR manual pops up on Hong Kong support site
By Ross Miller 
posted August 1st 2009 3:49PM
posted August 1st 2009 3:49PM
[Via Dyxum forums; thanks, Doug]
posted August 1st 2009 3:49PM
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Sony needs to control leaks! Everything gets out before they announce it!
Maybe it's part of their strategy. Actually I'm pretty sure these leaks are intentional.
Someone call a plumber?
I don't think people feel wowed or surprised by a product when they already know about it. Look at the PSP GO, I know nobody cares about the PSP much in general but when it gets about before people just say, meh.
Do you really think a multimillionaire corporation will allow anything to be really leaked? and if in the event it was leaked they have contracts with the printing and distribution facilities to sue them for breaching confidentiality agreements it would get in the news that there´s a lawsuit against the party who leaked the info.
These "leaks" are done by PR firms hired by Canon, Nikon, Sony, etc. To create hype around their soon to be in the market DSLR cameras.
I doubt that Sony keeps on intentionally virtually everything. Even if you look at a company like Apple who actually tells it's employees fake info to spit leakers leans out. Sony just happens to be terrible. There was also a cell phone company Deutsche Telecom I think spied on it's employees to catch leakers. Yes some companies may want to leak out things but Sony is just over leaked. They might as well just post their plans online and not leak then.
Wonder what price this is going to come in at. If it's less than a D700, it might be worth a punt...
I'm wagering that it'll be close to the A700 price.
Being that its a full-frame sensor I doubt it. The A700 is cheaper then a Nikon D300/Canon 50D, if Sony brings out a full-frame sensor for cheaper/close-to what Canikon are selling their smaller APS-C sensors then its a slam-dunk for Sony. But I doubt it, the Canon 5DMkII can also do only around 3fps; I'll say this camera will sell for over $2k.
... But I would love to eat my words. The world is long over-due for an affordable full-frame sensor camera.
I think you mean DSLR.
3fps?
what?
This is most likely due to the a850 only having one image processor instead of the 2 found in the a900. And for most wedding and studio work, 3FPS is definitely enough.
I don't see a problem. This is a 25MP fill-frame DSLR that is designed for quality above all else.
... err. The Canon 5D does 3 fps, and the 5D Mark II does barely over that.
Ah... I see.
Thanks for the tip. I feel almost silly now.
test
I'm about to buy an A200 off of craigslist, anyone know if this is a good beginner's DSLR? Thanks!
(I'm paying $365 for it and the kit lens)
I can highly recommend this camera, I use an a900 but I've worked with the a200. Don't bother with the watered-down Nikons at this price-point.
yep, i too bought this camera as a starter photographer and love it.
Don't be fooled by the new a330, its the same camera with a different body.
The zoom kit is great, however doesn't produce the best images, if I were you get yourself a tamron 17mm-50mm, this setup is an absolute corker
I don't mean to throw a wrench in your plans, but you should consider lens-offerings of manufacturers before considering the body itself.
I won't try to sway you in what company makes better lenses, but doing research on the quality (both build and picture) of Sony lenses vs. other major players might give you a good idea of which direction to head.
I did my research on lenses before jumping into my first DSLR purchase and am really glad I did.
Moordryd is perfectly correct on this one. Really, a lens is just as important now as the body is and in future as you progress it becomes even more important. I too echo the opinion that you should really do your research first, Sony aren't perhaps the best lens makers of their time, unless you delve into the Zeiss side of things! Just a heads up: scan the market for what you want, 50mm is a good starting place.
I've been dealing on KEH.com now for a bit for some used Minolta glass.. there's some good things out there. I have had a a200 for a year and a bit now, and have filled out lens selection to phase out the use of the kit lens (its ok... but nothing great). Minolta auto-focus glass works great on the a200 (focuses a little faster on the a700 from all reports that I've seen).
Get the a200... save the $$$ that the Canon / Nikon would have cost you... ignore all those people talking about the poor range from Sony... because you can use all that great Minolta glass, and if you score big on the $$$ somehow... you can get some Zeiss glass that they just DREAM they could have. When they say buy into the system... and use that as a diss for Sony, its generally because they don't have a clue that the Minolta stuff works on there (or that companies like Tamron, Sigma and others support the Sony format as well... I believe I heard a rumour a bit back that Tokina is going to throw in a range too).
Get an ok body... bulk on glass for your needs, grab a flash maybe... experiment and enjoy.
To be honest, the only thing that I had against the Sony's when I choose my first DSLR (I went with a Nikon D40X, for the record) was the substantially louder shutter. This may be no issue for you but if you plan on taking pictures of wildlife relatively closely then the shutter noise may be enough to send them running. These days I'm shooting with a D90 for the excellent low noise performance.
Mind you, the build-in anti-shake of the Sony's is very handy.
Sony Alpha 850 DSLR manual pops up on Hong Kong support site: 12 people notice.cl
This camera has full size sensor.
Where is alpha 900 ?
alpha 900 isn't old.
a900 will still be around. a850 is just 1 level below a900, a cheaper FF body
Look forward to listing
Sony simply won't do video because they're scared of...themselves.
Seriously, they can't do it in their DSLR cameras because it would interfere with their obesely sized video division.
They've marketed themselves into a corner with their little handcams, and now what do they do when the almost certain necessity of implementing it into DSLRs rears its ugly head? Nothing, absolutely nothing. Because as soon as they do that, their HD viddy cam sales will drop by at least 25%. At least. Within about a couple years.
Assuming of course the quality of the video they've implemented into their DSLRs in comarable to that of the quality seen in the 5DmkII or the new D90s. They do that, and they can kiss sales of their consumer and possibly even prosumer video cameras good bye.
Sony has always had an interesting aversion, seemingly driven by paranoia, to actually help the indie filmmaker community (WBTW, are the ones craving these types of VDSLRs because of all the options afforded to them with interchangeable lenses and a larger S35mm-like sensor) Sony's been helpful in initiating certain things in the past, but they draw the line at the most inopportune of times. For eff sake man, they are helping fabricate sensors for Nikon who is now infiltrating their turf and they still won't do anything? Lame. Sony. Lame.
Sorry, typo - intended to say D300s for D90s.
You're assuming that people who buy Sony-handycams will not jump to Nikon/Canon/etc's video-enabled DSLRs, or that Sony is the only provider of DSLR's and videocams.
I wouldn't be suprised to see a SD card slot on the A850, just like the A230/A333/A380.
Also, Sony doesn't seem to be aware of this and the new Reader models leaks (tried to make them aware of these via Twitter, but they didn't reply).
By the looks of the leaked images, the A850 only has Memory Stick and CF card slots.
they're doing themselves a complete disservice by not adding in video; I also cannot see how this can hurt sony's handycam division-- dslr and all the components that go into it make it a completely different animal than some camera with a zoom button. plus it's sony, having people buy less camcorders and more dslr's is a good thing, right? that way they can start to market addon components (like a microphone, new lenses, filters, etc.) which is the sony way.
just my input.
I so do not care about video on a DSLR so the lack of it really should not be a deterrent. Rather, what is important is how well it takes still pictures (a full-frame sensor should help in that regard), how easy it is to use, how well it has been made and how competitively it is priced. After all that, if the camera is still level-pegging with others then by all means take into consideration extras like video recording.
Sony will come out with DSLR with video incorporated. They want to perfect the video before they launch them into the market. Moreover, Sony is after all one of the leading video imaging makers and I am sure they will do a very pretty good job to their DSLR's video.
I would consider the new A330, I have the A300 and love it but Sony has made several improvements that make the A330 worth it. The new kit lens is shorter but pic quality is improved over the older kit lens, they also made the flash taller and improved the menus. And right now sony style has a special on the A330 with two lenses for a very good price.
I'm sorry to be the only "actual" photographer to comment, but I'm going to have to burst the bubbles of those folks that are bent over sony not putting video in their top DSLR's - guess what, we don't use it. That's what video cameras are for, and sony has plenty of the best on the market. So stop blathering on about it already - 12 minute faux HD video clips will not make you a better photographer. And it isn't even all that convenient either, most can't autofocus, and are stuck in a program mode you can't change and have inadequate sound recording. So what's the point, anyway?
People need to just get over this whole DSLR HD video thing, seriously.
FINALLY I'VE BEEN WAITING FOREVER!!!!!