Sony Alpha 850

RAW file conversion process

Ready to celebrate the arrival of 2009 Beaujolais Nouveau, a new version of the RAW conversion utility from Adobe is here: Camera Raw 5.6. It supports a whole lot of recent cameras:

• Canon EOS 7D
• Canon PowerShot G11
• Canon PowerShot S90
• Leaf Aptus II 5
• Mamiya DM22, DM28, DM33, DM56, M18, M22, M31
• Nikon D3s
• Olympus E-P2
• Pentax K-x
• Panasonic FZ38
• Sigma DP1s
• Sony A500
• Sony A550
• Sony A850

It also solves an issue in demosaicing of some Raw files on PowerPC Mac.

Download Adobe Camera Raw 5.6.

Save money on photo gear

Since this is time for the end of the year and its high sales of electronic gadgets and photographic gear, here also comes the time for cashbacks, sales and promotions. The photography market will not forget this in these recession times and there are many offers and promotions or bundles.

Among the offers I tried to identify for you, I want to list the following ones:

• Pentax “Focus on savings” for K-7 system: $100 prepaid card on a choice of over 20 Pentax lenses. From now until January 15, 2010 (Pentax special offers)
• Nikon Canada adjusted its prices to reflect evolution of the exchange rates (November 16, 2009) – From NR
• Pentax opens a European on-line store with Digital River
• Sony launches an “all in one” kit made by bundling the Alpha 850, a Sony 28-75mm f/2.8 SAM lens and the Elite version of DxO Optics Pro, at a listed price of 2700€. (According to AN)
• Sony France cash-back offer of 50€ on the Alpha 330, Alpha 380 with the SAL50F18 lens and 100€ on the Alpha 500 and Alpha 550 with the SAL50F18 lens (Sony 50mm f/1.8 DT), up to December 2009
• Canon cash back offer for Europe and UK: £150/€170 cashback on PowerShot G11, from Canon UK
• Pentax offers up to 250€/£250 of cash-back coupons for purchases all over Europe before the end of 2009. All the details on www.pentax-cashback.com.

You can try and take advantage of them by rushing to your local photography shop or by browsing to one of the on-line shops that support YLovePhoto.

• Buy it from B&H (The Professional’s Source)
• Buy from Amazon.com
• Acheter sur Carrefour online

In any case, you are strongly advised to check case-by-case the exact conditions required (sometimes only applicable in one country; Sometimes against the return of a special coupon) and exact limit dates.

Sony Alpha 850

Now it’s official! Sony released information about the Sony Alpha 850, it’s second Full Frame digital SLR camera. Now, the price is right.

Below 2000€, the body is essentially the same as the Sony Alpha 900 (including the excellent 24 mega-pixel Full Frame sensor with its in-body image stabilization). The designers reduced significantly the costs following a reasonably easy path:

• Simplification of the viewfinder which goes down to 98% field coverage (the A900 still has its superlative quality viewfinder)
• Reduction of the continuous shooting speed (allowing to remove one the 2 BIONZ processors that endowed the A900)
• The IR remote control is now optional

Great move. Good implementation of a strategy to bring Full Frame resolution and quality at an Expert/Enthusiast photographer level.

The camera is unveiled along with a new 28-75mm f/2.8 zoom that should make a pretty nice standard zoom for such a camera.

Nota bene: The data that we published here during the recent weeks are thus proved exact since the technical description of the Sony Alpha 850 was right for a couple of weeks.

(more…)

Collected from the German computeruniverse.net web site:

• DSLR-A500 body only: 649 Euro
• DSLR-A500L with 3,5-5,6/18-55 mm: 749 Euro
• DSLR-A500Y with 3,5-5,6/18-55 mm + 4,5-5,6/55-200 mm: 949 Euro

• DSLR-A550 body only: 749 Euro
• DSLR-A550L with 3,5-5,6/18-55 mm: 849 Euro
• DSLR-A550Y with 3,5-5,6/18-55 mm + 4,5-5,6/55-200 mm: 1049 Euro

• DSLR-A850 body only: 1999 Euro
• DSLR-A850Q with 2,8/28-75 mm: 2699 Euro

The Sony Alpha 850 will definitely be an inexpensive Full Frame camera at this price level. It could even attract some pros to the Sony logo. The Sony Alpha 500 and Alpha 550 will be bringing very reasonable prices to a market segment where competition is very tough.

Thanks Bernd. What is still left for Sony to announce?

They’re here! A German site, DigitalKamera, started spilling the beans before the official date (or is it the official hour?).

Sony Alpha 500

Sony Alpha 850

So, Sony is really about to launch (as expected) the following DSLR cameras:

• Sony Alpha 500
• Sony Alpha 550
• Sony Alpha 850

Among the most important or most notable news, I would immediately mention:

• The Sony Alpha 850 will be positioned under the psychologically critical limit of 2000€
• The specification of the Sony Alpha 850, already presented on YLovePhoto, is fully confirmed (still no LiveView).
• The Sony Alpha 500 is inspired by the slim body of the Alpha 380.
• The Sony Alpha 500 abandons fully the CompactFlash memory format in favor of both SD/SDHC and MemoryStick Duo.

We are told that this Fall is a great time for news on the SLR market. I let you judge by yourself:

• Canon: one announcement would be a definite possibility to replace the Canon 1D Mk III with a Canon 1D Mk IV and maybe also a Canon EOS 7D whose top cover and a detail are visible below (August 25?)
• Nikon: D700x (or D800) to offer a 24 MP full frame sensor.
• Sony: Alpha 500, Alpha 550, Alpha 850 (probably on August 28)
• Pentax: an entry-level SLR

We only have to wait (impatiently) for a few days (maybe a few hours) in order to know all about .

Canon 7D ? top

Canon EOS 7D detail

There is a bizarre rush for visibility in the online shops all around the web. I start to feel that most of them are actual fakes. Let’s check this:

• Several (accidental?) leaks from Sony web sites, showing Sony Alpha 500, 550, 850 (and possibly Alpha 750, but this one may be a counter-fire).
• A German site showing the Alpha 850, with price.
• An Andorra web site showing a supposed Alpha 800, no price.
• The Canon EOS 7D spotted in Best Buy internal catalog system.

I will not fully judge their credibility, but I feel that the order I used goes from most possible to mere rumor.

Sony Taiwan just sent a few invitations to the local press to present new products in the Sony Alpha series. The announcement will be done on August 25 (maybe a little earlier or a little later everywhere else in the world).

Everybody expects to see the presentation of the Sony Alpha 850 and maybe also the Sony Alpha 500 and Sony Alpha 550 (if they are not pushed later in 2009).

Source: PR.

Sony Alpha 850

A German photo retailer web site, Fotobrenner, has listed the Alpha 850. This could be in preparation for the upcoming launch of the new DSLR from Sony. But there is a more interesting information: a price.

1.999,00€ would be the street price for the Sony Alpha 850.

This is more probably a very serious information (but still in the rumor category) since no reasonable company with a fame to protect (like Fotobrenner) would price a product without some good confirmation from Sony. But it still may be nearer to the list price than the actual street price. Anyway, this would be still 500€ lower than the Sony Alpha 900. Quite expensive, but within the price range for many more expert photographers.

Surprise on the Sony Japan web site: The Sony Alpha 700 is no longer listed as a consumer SLR camera between the Sony Alpha 380 and Sony Alpha 900.

This can normally be considered as the sign of its imminent disappearance in favor of a new camera. Or several ones…

A new leak at Sony Style (from the USA, this time) confirms (this is no longer a surprise) the arrival of the new following cameras:

• Sony Alpha 500
• Sony Alpha 550
• Sony Alpha 850

Apart from the Sony Alpha 850 already well known from a User Manual leaked on a Sony Hong Kong web site (see below), there is not much to talk about.

Download the Sony Alpha 850 User Manual copy here.

The original is still on the Sony HK web site, but this is VERY slow download.

Where to get the Sony A850 user manual

It seems that this has been a leak from the Hong-Kong Sony web site: The full Sony Alpha 850 user manual available for download during a few hours. It is a small Sony Alpha 900 with features like:

• 24,6 MP with Full Frame 35mm sensor
• Sensitivity: ISO 100-6400
• A-to-D conversion with 6000 amplifiers (to reduce pixel noise)
• Single BIONZ processors
• Shutter speed: 30s to 1/8000s + Bulb
• Flash sync: 1/200s (1/250s if SteadyShot is not activated)
• In-body stabilization
• Viewfinder with 98% coverage and 0,74x magnification (pentaprism)
• Replaceable focusing screen
• 9+10-point new AF system (with central dual cross)
• Continuous shooting at 3 fps
• EV bracketing with ±2EV range
• 13 creative styles and 3 programmable modes
• Image Data Converter SR3 software even allows to compensate for corner light fall off (vignetting)
• High-Speed USB (2.0)
• Memory slot: CompactFlash I/II type + Sony MemoryStick Duo
• 3″ LCD screen (921,000 pixels)
• Secondary LCD screen on top
• 850g

Having a slightly slower shutter, a smaller viewfinder, only one BIONZ processor, only one LCD screen display, Sony can make the Alpha 850 slightly less expensive (many people are waiting for this). The price is still unkonwn, though.

Source: Dyxum forums, Thanks Bernd.

Thanks to Dyxum forums, we know that there is a very strong possibility of seeing a new Sony photo camera under the name of Sony Alpha 850. The camera registration system on Sony Style has been shortly showing the following option for registering Sony cameras:

Is this the Sony Alpha 850 on Sony Style?

Actually, there is currently no DSLRA850 in Sony line of SLR photo cameras, so it’s just expected to be a small error leaking information about the name of one future camera nearing launch.

Of course, this could well be a hoax… But this is going in the same line as the previously rumored Sony Alpha 500 and Sony Alpha 550.

Still no feature list.