We'd love nothing more than to extol the merits of
Sony's Alpha ultra-compact concept with an interchangeable lens -- which bears a striking resemblance at face value to Olympus and Panasonic's
Micro Four Thirds standard -- but alas, the little device is hidden behind glass. Furthermore, all the Sony reps we managed to corner wouldn't answer our questions. Will the lenses be interchangeable with Sony's current Alpha DSLR line, or any of the MFT lenses? What's been cut from traditional Four Thirds models to accommodate for the drop in size? Radio silence, save for a repeat of this morning's information and a finger point to the adjacent "
Exmor APS HD CMOS" sign -- which, as we know from this morning, is larger than a Four Thirds sensor, but we're not sure how much. Still, enjoy the pics we managed to take from behind the glass -- and also be sure to enjoy the shots of this morning's other Sony announcements, the
Super Telephoto Lens (500mm F4 G) and the prototype Distagon T 24mm F2 ZA SSM.
posted February 21st 2010 4:19PM
Only Sony lets you have a "hands off"
@JustThatNerdyGuy
Well, them and women in general. Just like me, they really missed a trick here.
@JustThatNerdyGuy why would you want a portable device if the lens you are using with it is everything BUT portable anywayz?
Do you get the "Super Telephoto Lens" after 250 "headshots"? :)
As has been reported elsewhere, this is in no way related to Four Thirds. This is a mirrorless/prismless APS-C sensor camera using a new mount called the E-mount.
@nrp
what's important is that it takes memory sticks.
@nrp Might want to actually read the article
@nrp I though that all Micro four Thirds were mirrorless
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_Four_Thirds_system
Great looking camera, Sony. The problem though, for me, is that it is a bit small. It just looks like a point-and-shoot with a telephoto lens. I bet Sony is going to implement touch-screen interface for this device but for many photographers, more physical buttons and knobs are going to be very important. I guess it would be cool if this was like a back up camera or something when you want better photos than a point-and-shoot but don't want to haul around a big Nikon D whatever.
@Schmitty
By "many photographers" I assume you mean "real photographers". :D
@New Reformation
Yes. :)
@Schmitty Small is not a problem. Small is great! Lack of physical controls... and viewfinder... is certainly a problem. (The two are correlated, sure. But just saying, nothing wrong with small in itself.)
I wish Canon and Nikon would make an effort to reduce the size of their high-quality SLRs - again, this is partly mandated by the viewfinders (bigger/better viewfinder = larger size), and above the midrange also by the sensors (full-frame), and things like robustness, dust/water protection etc, but I bet they could still cut the size down a bit. If Canon came out with a full-frame camera that's actually smaller than the 40D I'm currently using, I'd be so there.
@Schmitty " but for many photographers, more physical buttons and knobs are going to be very important."
Everybody knows "Real" Photographers love Knobs and Buttons
Will it freeze in liquid Nitrogen?
@Google
Remember freezing it in Liquid Nitrogen wont hurt it.... but other things might...
@Jaylittles531
The question is, Will it Blend? (after being frozen in liquid Nitrogen)
I know it's just a concept, but I find the lack of physical switches a bad sign.
@rkd Touchscreen?
@rkd
Form over function.
Since Sony's the Apple of Windows, I am not truly surprised at all.
MFT still takes the cake in the removable-lens-camera-thingmaling.
Err.. the size is APS size I guess.. since they named it that way
@TRLKOR Yea, nothing 'compact' about it.
Are they going to implement finger gestures to change aperture and shutter speed? Who needs all those thumb wheels and dedicated buttons!?
In all seriousness, I hope they improve upon this prototype as much as Olympus did theirs. With a little work this could definitely be a viable competitor to m4/3. And I hope the larger APS-C sensor doesn't make the lenses too much larger. That would somewhat nullify the compact body.
That would pretty sweet if they could price this for under $500 with a basic low cost lens.
Which congress of venue is this?
what about news of the video capturing regular Alpha?
I hope this is micro four thirds.
Making a new line of lenses is just stupid
@Cynical Hippie It's not m4/3. It's a new standard mount from Sony. I think it would be great if another manufacturer joined the open standard that is m4/3, but it seems like everyone has their own idea of how a interchangeable lens compact should be done. And that's really not such a bad thing. More competition is good, and if this does well, Olympus and Panasonic will really have to try hard to keep ahead of the game.
Sony vs. Pan/Oly vs. Samsung vs. Ricoh... let the fight begin!
Reminds me of the Olympus m4/3 Concept Camera shown in 2008:
http://bit.ly/aYap9g
Which means that alot can happen before the final product release.
It will be perfect for my lomo adventures
@Killitwithfire lol ur thumbnail pic is epic!
that is all...
Not ultra-compact unless I can fit it in my pocket.
@Cydoniac : Well it's ultra compact to Kevin Smith....
Is there any reason why the pictures of the camera from the rear are flipped horizontally? Just noticed that all the writing was flipped the wrong way. Maybe worth fixing the photos.
@meeku
The back of the display is a mirror, that's the only way they could shoot the back of the camera.
@jon Ah, that makes sense! My mistake then. I should have probably taken an extra moment to consider why the text was flipped before simply pointing out an apparent 'error'.
Is there any pics of the smashed laptop?
I would lol if these were to have their own special lenses. Good business for Sony, not so much for the customer.
This is probably a follow up to the legendary Sony R1. I've been waiting awhile for something like this and I'm glad to see it may be finally happening.
What was that last DSLR (the black one)? I have not seen that one yet! Is it a new model (it does not even have a model number on it.
Interesting Panasonic, Olympus and Samsung all have micro Four Thirds cameras out right now and Sony is now jumping in. Although this format is pretty new I think it will definitely be game changer for people looking to more from a point and shoot camera. I think micro Four Thirds camera will really be a compelling choice for people who want the small size of a point and shoot camera and the higher picture quality of the larger sensor. I'm looking forward to see this how small and cheap these micro Four Thirds cameras will become.
@napsterlover2375 Sadly this nor the Samsung will share the open standard of m4/3 that Olympus and Panasonic have created. So while Oly and Panny can both make and share lenses between bodies, Sony and Samsung have their own proprietary mounts.
However, if these formats all do well enough, we'll probably have optics companies like Sigma making lenses for them as well.
@weylynwolf That sucks, oh well. I should have known better, Sony loves their proprietary formats, they finally just started making their cameras SD card friendly. I'm just curious to see how this will effect the DSLR market and more specifically Nikon and Canon. I'm not suggesting that DSLRs are going away any time soon but that these large sensor/small body camera may take away some market share from the entry level DSLR sales, maybe.
@napsterlover2375
http://43rumors.com/zone-10-canon-vs-olympus-and-future-predictions/
They compare MFT v. Canikon to David v. Goliath.
@Dummy00001 Great article, exactly what I was thinking. I hope the article is right, either way we all benefit from increased competition and innovation.
That thing look like a tank.
"and a finger point to the adjacent " Exmor APS HD CMOS" sign -- which, as we know from this morning, is larger than a Four Thirds sensor, but we're not sure how much."
Umm, it means that it's an APS-C sized sensor. You know, just like all the Sony Alphas and crop body Nikons/ Canons. How clueless are you guys when it comes to photography jargon?
@Herr Synnberg
Canon, Nikon and Sony don't all use the same APS-C sized sensors. It's more of a general guidelines than an actual rule...
@Sarig The variations between APS-C sensors are pretty tiny compared to the pronounced difference between 4/3rds, APS-C and FF. It's pretty clear that Engadget had no clue what the sign meant.
@Atkins Amusing how you arrive at that conclusion when you haven't even seen the back of that thing properly yet. The most you can see is in this image and yes, that shows buttons:
http://www.engadget.com/photos/sony-alpha-dslr-concept/#2729406
@Atkins NX10 is not all that much smaller than a DSLR actually. The GF1 allows more control, yes. But add any decent lens other than the pancakes and we're talking of non-pocket friendly sizes. So why exactly is it better than a DSLR now?
Personally, I don't get the craze. I find even the smaller DSLRs difficult to use and prefer some heft for the bodies I use. Not to mention things like the excellence of OVFs, the sheer range of lenses available etc. etc.
These things are like new gen rangefinders. Some people would like it, but if you want absolute control, go DSLR.