New Sony FF A850 coming

[BUFF]

http://www.photoclubalpha.com/2009/0...s-in-900-body/

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

I saw news about this on some other forums too. It will be interesting how much Sony will price this at!!

[brammers]

Ja, this one's all about price. It's been reduced in complexity mechanically, but still gives one of the biggest viewfinders around (0.98 at 0.74x is still bigger than a 5DMkII or D700) and I'm guessing that it's the mirror and shutter mechanism rather than the electronics (remember what a fuss Sony made about their new mirror system to incorporate a moving, ff sensor with a 100% VF at 5fps?) that have been chopped down to give 3fps. Couple of other cost saving features, they've lost the remote, probably cheaper packaging...

The magic figure in the US is apparantly $2000 - if people can get a simple but incredibly solid FF camera for $2000 it's create a big ripple.

From Camerapricebuster, 5DMkII is GBP1900, D700 GBP1730, a900 GBP1670. So maybe under GBP 1500/1400 to create a real splash?

It would appeal to a lot of landscapers - very solid camera in RAW up to ISO1600, awsome colours and resolution, tough body, excellent central AF point. It's not as 'tech' as a D700 or a 5DII (although this only wins on Video and about a stop of high ISO performance) but if it's cheap...

Good move imo - just might piss off recent a900 buyers.