Thread: Sony reveals concept photos for MFT competitor..

from http://www.dpreview.com/news/1002/10022103sony2010.asp
ony has decided to keep no secrets and has outlined its forthcoming plans for 2010, including an APS-C competitor for micro Four Thirds. The company has mockup images of a compact, slimline camera, plus three lenses including a currently-fashionable pancake prime.

I like the clean K.I.S.S. approach - would like to see an entry-level Panasonic like that.

Nikon? Canon? Hello? Anyone home?

I like it. The MFT lenses being much smaller is nice, but it would also be great to have just one set of lenses and have a small body for when that's desired. As for systems, I could really see having one of these and an A850 (but I'd rather stick with Canon/Nikon). Just goes to show that Sony is being a force to watch out for more and more.

It doesn't work that way though power. You want a mirror/ prism, the lens and flangeback distance have t be longer to support it. Basically, if you want lenses to make these things small, to wrk on a normal shaped body the vewfinder needs to also be electrical.

Cool to see an aps-c version w/o a viewfinder though. How's it's overall size compare to a mft version?

I'm going to keep a close eye on these--will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Their "pancake" looks rather large...



Hard to tell how close it is to an actual lens at this point, of course...

the body looks wicked thin, so either the body is wider than a GF1 or they've done a great job slimming it up. Sam, the lens looks a bit thinner on the body at least, maybe it's a rear cap in the last shot?

I'm just judging by the proportion of barrel width to length. Seems like it would be 30-40% deeper than the Panasonic 20mm if they're about the same width. Who knows though? All of this is likely to change before they have a real product.

From SonyAlphaRumors:

The rumored specs are from a new source (also take it easy ok?). The source told me he read the Sony mirrorless manual
He says the name of the mirrorless cameras will be “NEX5” and “NEX3“. They have a new mount…the “E-mount“. And they will come with two lenses: 18-55/F3.5-5.6 , 16mm/2.8.

Here the specs:

14mp APS-C CMOS
-brand new Sony E mount (adapter for A mount)
-used SDHC or MS
-RAW supported
-3.0 LCD 920K color
-11 AF point
-ISO 200-12800
-Video recording (model NEX5: 1080 NEX3:720p) format Mp4 or AVCHD
-built-in flash and AF Assistance light
-new FW50 batteries

body: NEX5-D/K/A NEX3-D/K/A
Lens: 18-55/F3.5-5.6 , 16mm/2.8

Also found on that page is about the upcoming announcement with more info:

Real NEX cameras are slightly different (and better) - Body price under 1000 USD
- 18-200mm Lens about 900-1000 USD (very expensive but similar price of 14-140mm Panasonic)
- 16mm f/2.8 (confirmed) - Mirrorless cameras do have in LENS Super SteadyShot!

So that clarifies the 3 lenses shown.

I think the SonyAlphaRumors.com people have pretty much conceded that they were full of ****.

I haven't looked deep enough there, but how does the group know that the said source is "full of ****". Not saying he isn't, but what was the reason for saying the info was categorically wrong. I did go back just now to see the clarified rumors

The Sony press release and mockups do not reveal anything about concrete specifications and release date. So we thought it would be nice to make a small summary of all the rumors we received from reliable sources.

Important note: What we post here are rumored specs, not official Sony specs! We collected the rumors from reliable sources (which gave me correct informations in the past) and added a probability percentage.

1) 50% chance this information could be true -> The System name will be “NEX”

2) 50% -> The first two cameras will be on market within June-July (The NEX3 and NEX5?)

3) 50% -> A more advanced mirrorless camera should be unveiled at Photokina and compete against the future Panasonic GH2

4) 80% -> In Lens stabilization (Sonys goal was ot make the mirrorless cameras as thin as possible)

5) 80% -> Built-in Flash

6) 80% -> Body price under 1000 USD

7) 80% -> First three lenses: 18-55/F3.5-5.6 / 16mm f/2.8 / 18-200mm (900-1000 USD)

50% = rumor comes from one trusted source only (the trusted soruce gave me correct informations in the past)

80% = rumor has been confirmed by one trusted sources + one or more new soruces

^ yeah, the same guys runs a bunch of rumor sites. Basically, he rates the sources depending on the previous info they've shared and if it was correct or not. The Nikon rumors have been pretty accurate so far with the 16-35VR and 24mm getting leaked a month or so early.

Originally Posted by ppower

I haven't looked deep enough there, but how does the group know that the said source is "full of ****". Not saying he isn't, but what was the reason for saying the info was categorically wrong. I did go back just now to see the clarified rumors

Their sources were pretty specific about what was going to be shown, and what ended up being shown was one product that doesn't have a name, much less two products that already had names associated with them, etc. It is certainly possible that those two rumored cameras may end up being what gets released, but the fact that the "cameras" they shown weren't even operable makes that seem highly improbable.