FLASH: Sony to launch A5/A5r - the "new" NEX-6 and NEX-7 ?

[Mel Snyder]

"Sony has announced in Japan this morning that, following the enthusiastic response to its new full-frame A7, it will be advancing production of its A5 and A5r, APS-C versions of its A7/A7r full frame DSLR.

"The A5 will replace the NEX-6, using the new sensor employed in the company's recently announced A3000. Delivery is expected in late February 2014."

"The A5r will replace the NEX-7, and will have a new 36mp APS-C sensor. the most refined and advanced APS-C sensor ever produced, Sony said. It is expected to launch in late March 2014.

"The A5 and A5r represent our commitment to providing consumers with a choice of sensors and price points in a single, more consumer-accepted configuration," Sony's announcement said. "E mount lenses for both the A5 and A7 series will work on both full frame and APS-C sensors, with the APS-C versions providing smaller sensor coverage when used on the A7.

"The A5 will carry a body-only MSRP of $699, and the A5r will be priced at $999. Both will differ from the A7 series mostly in sensor size. All current E mount APS-C lenses will function normally on the A5 and A5r."

-----------------------------

Not real yet - but not fantasy, either.

This is a far more likely scenario than Sony walking away from APS-C.

1. Sony has clearly invested heavily in a new camera body style - one that, for better or worse, is a blend of the rangefinder-type NEX configuration and a traditional DSLR form.

2. Dropping APS-C sensors into it makes a lot more sense than doubling down on the current NEX design that has been a sales disappointment. It would enable Sony great manufacturing and marketing efficiencies. The profits on an A5 and A5r would be vastly greater than trying to keep in production a different body type for the NEX-6 and an NEX-7 and an A7.

And so, those of you who have read the A7 chatter and feared Sony has abandoned you for richer customers, fear not. It would not have introduced the A3000 and a new 16-70 zoom if it was doing that.

Makes more sense than abandoning the APS-C market.

 

[Astrophotographer 10]

Imagine that a 36mp APSc sensor. Sounds sensational.

Greg.

 

[parallaxproblem]

The release of the recent high-end 16-70 and 18-105 lenses suggest that there will be future APS-C NEX releases, but the concern is that they will be awkwardly-shaped SLR like designs with fake pentaprism bulges that do not fit into our camera bags and which were not the sort of cameras we wanted when we bought into the NEX system. Your suggestion of an A5 and A5r would have likely have such a body format

These two images comparisons express the concerns better than words can (apologies for clumsy cut-and-paste from camerasize.com - wanted to get this reply in quick. Please view image full-size):





Obviously the A37 only has an APS-C sensor (though it does have IBIS) and the A7 gives you a lot of features and technology in a relatively small space. However many of us simply do not want to carry a DSLR-sized camera around with us any more whatever the benefits, which is why we bought NEX bodies in the first place

 

[Mel Snyder]

Astrophotographer 10 wrote:

Imagine that a 36mp APSc sensor. Sounds sensational.

Greg.

Not impossible if you're Sony. Ten years ago, a 6.1mp APS-C sensor was the rule. We're 4x that today - Sony could easily have a 6x under wraps. But it sure would not want to confuse the FF market by unveiling it ahead of the A7r

Now that they have a credible body configuration, I think it's likely that we will see them showcase the sensors in it that they want to sell to competitors. The rangefinder configuration we love just wasn't popular enough to make it a demo platform.

Technology demos can fail in the wrong platform. Witness the Wankel engine. Who knows where it would be today if it had been first placed in a Camry or a Corvette instead of a Mazda?

Now that Sony has a credible platform, it can showcase its sensor expertise, and use positive reviews and sales to drive harder bargains and longer exclusive vendor agreements with Nikon and others. Multiple body styles that consumers confused with point-and-shoots was not the place to do that.

 

[Marti58]

[No message]

 

[Sonyshine]

its just fantasy...read the full article! :-D

 

[Mel Snyder]

Neil:

I wasn't clear, I guess. The likelihood is that the A7 body is the prosumer body style for a redux NEX-6 and 7. NOT the AX000 style

1. It keeps the high-quality EVF, LCD and electronics of the A7, just swapping out the sensor

2. It justifies a higher price than an AX000 model

3. It amortizes the cost of the A7 FF body

4. It, like the A7, nails down a segment Sony owns today, but has had lesser value until the launch of the A7. At $1700, they are offering a very attractive body for those willing to accept its limitations - which less demanding and aware consumers may either accept or miss

5. For years, Detroit clung to the adage, "Little cars have little margins." Even today, SUVs and pickups have vastly greater profits than even luxury sedans. Small pocketable cameras with prices competitive with DSLRs seemed like a bad deal to American consumers. Sony appears to have threaded the space between those with the A7 design. Not as small as an NEX-5, or even a 6. But looking like a small DSLR.

parallaxproblem wrote:

The release of the recent high-end 16-70 and 18-105 lenses suggest that there will be future APS-C NEX releases, but the concern is that they will be awkwardly-shaped SLR like designs with fake pentaprism bulges that do not fit into our camera bags and which were not the sort of cameras we wanted when we bought into the NEX system. Your suggestion of an A5 and A5r would have likely have such a body format

These two images express the concerns better than words can (apologies for clumsy cut-and-paste from camerasize.com - wanted to get this reply in quick. Please view image full-size):



Obviously the A37 only has an APS-C sensor (though it does have IBIS) and the A7 gives you a lot of features and technology in a relatively small space. However many of us simply do not want to carry a DSLR-sized camera around with us any more whatever the benefits, which is why we bought NEX bodies in the first place

I understand your size concerns. But please understand Sony's sales concerns. The pocketable prism-less look simply didn't sell to the masses. The AX series represents, I think, Sony's attempt at making the smallest possible body that will sell.

 

[Mel Snyder]

Marti58 wrote:

 

[Marti58]

to see the teaser, more coffee drunk see it different now

 

[parallaxproblem]

Mel Snyder wrote:

Neil:

I wasn't clear, I guess. The likelihood is that the A7 body is the prosumer body style for a redux NEX-6 and 7. NOT the AX000 style

1. It keeps the high-quality EVF, LCD and electronics of the A7, just swapping out the sensor

2. It justifies a higher price than an AX000 model

3. It amortizes the cost of the A7 FF body

4. It, like the A7, nails down a segment Sony owns today, but has had lesser value until the launch of the A7. At $1700, they are offering a very attractive body for those willing to accept its limitations - which less demanding and aware consumers may either accept or miss

5. For years, Detroit clung to the adage, "Little cars have little margins." Even today, SUVs and pickups have vastly greater profits than even luxury sedans. Small pocketable cameras with prices competitive with DSLRs seemed like a bad deal to American consumers. Sony appears to have threaded the space between those with the A7 design. Not as small as an NEX-5, or even a 6. But looking like a small DSLR.

parallaxproblem wrote:

The release of the recent high-end 16-70 and 18-105 lenses suggest that there will be future APS-C NEX releases, but the concern is that they will be awkwardly-shaped SLR like designs with fake pentaprism bulges that do not fit into our camera bags and which were not the sort of cameras we wanted when we bought into the NEX system. Your suggestion of an A5 and A5r would have likely have such a body format

These two images express the concerns better than words can (apologies for clumsy cut-and-paste from camerasize.com - wanted to get this reply in quick. Please view image full-size):

View attachment 437579

Obviously the A37 only has an APS-C sensor (though it does have IBIS) and the A7 gives you a lot of features and technology in a relatively small space. However many of us simply do not want to carry a DSLR-sized camera around with us any more whatever the benefits, which is why we bought NEX bodies in the first place

I understand your size concerns. But please understand Sony's sales concerns. The pocketable prism-less look simply didn't sell to the masses. The AX series represents, I think, Sony's attempt at making the smallest possible body that will sell.

Mel

Personally I think the Ax series will be reserved for Full Frame sensors as:

- it will be much easier to explain to customers (and resellers!) that FE lenses fit on Ax bodies and E lenses fit on Axxxx bodies (I still remember the sales assistant fitting an APS-C lens to my A900 when I first tested it in a shop!)

- there is a lot of space under '7' to market full frame sensor Emount bodies in 2014 and 2015. A lower priced A5 and eventually an A3 could make FF sensors available to a wider audience and capitalise on the Full Frame sensor advantage which Emount can offer over Samung NX and m43 mirrorless mounts

- full frame is clearly Emount's long-term destiny. As smartphones offer increasing IQ benefits the companies selling cameras need to push the IQ output of their products to the limits to justify purchase of their products to the masses. This requires the biggest and best sensors possible in the camera bodies

But who knows what will happen... Sony can adopt any naming convention they choose and I see little point in getting into arguments over second-guessing the names of future products

My concern is about a change in future body styling for all Emount bodies, and if I understand correctly you also believe that this body styling change will happen

If Sony do not release future rangefinder bodies then they will lose me as a customer as I already have a DSLR camera and want the smallest high-quality system possible for travel and convenience. What others do is their business, but you will see that many people here are currently just refusing to accept the possibility that the body styling can happen and there will be a lot of angst here amongst current NEX owners if it does come to pass

 

[Mel Snyder]

parallaxproblem wrote:

Mel Snyder wrote:

Neil:

I wasn't clear, I guess. The likelihood is that the A7 body is the prosumer body style for a redux NEX-6 and 7. NOT the AX000 style

1. It keeps the high-quality EVF, LCD and electronics of the A7, just swapping out the sensor

2. It justifies a higher price than an AX000 model

3. It amortizes the cost of the A7 FF body

4. It, like the A7, nails down a segment Sony owns today, but has had lesser value until the launch of the A7. At $1700, they are offering a very attractive body for those willing to accept its limitations - which less demanding and aware consumers may either accept or miss

5. For years, Detroit clung to the adage, "Little cars have little margins." Even today, SUVs and pickups have vastly greater profits than even luxury sedans. Small pocketable cameras with prices competitive with DSLRs seemed like a bad deal to American consumers. Sony appears to have threaded the space between those with the A7 design. Not as small as an NEX-5, or even a 6. But looking like a small DSLR.

parallaxproblem wrote:

The release of the recent high-end 16-70 and 18-105 lenses suggest that there will be future APS-C NEX releases, but the concern is that they will be awkwardly-shaped SLR like designs with fake pentaprism bulges that do not fit into our camera bags and which were not the sort of cameras we wanted when we bought into the NEX system. Your suggestion of an A5 and A5r would have likely have such a body format

These two images express the concerns better than words can (apologies for clumsy cut-and-paste from camerasize.com - wanted to get this reply in quick. Please view image full-size):

View attachment 437579

Obviously the A37 only has an APS-C sensor (though it does have IBIS) and the A7 gives you a lot of features and technology in a relatively small space. However many of us simply do not want to carry a DSLR-sized camera around with us any more whatever the benefits, which is why we bought NEX bodies in the first place

I understand your size concerns. But please understand Sony's sales concerns. The pocketable prism-less look simply didn't sell to the masses. The AX series represents, I think, Sony's attempt at making the smallest possible body that will sell.

Mel

Personally I think the Ax series will be reserved for Full Frame sensors as:

- it will be much easier to explain to customers (and resellers!) that FE lenses fit on Ax bodies and E lenses fit on Axxxx bodies (I still remember the sales assitant fitting an APS-C lens to my A900 when I first tested in a shop!)

- there is a lot of space under '7' to market full frame sensor Emount bodies in 2014 and 2015. A lower priced A5 and eventually an A3 could make FF sensors available to a wider audience and capitalise on the Full Frame sensor advantage which Emount can offer over Samung NX and m43 mirrorless mounts

- full frame is clearly Emount's long-term destiny. As smartphones offer increasing IQ benefits the companies selling cameras need to push the IQ output of their products to the limits to justify purchase of their products to the masses. This requires the biggest and best sensors possible in the camera bodies

But who knows... Sony can adopt any naming convention they chose and I see little point in getting into arguements over second-guessing the names of future products

My concern is about a change in future body styling for all Emount bodies, and if I understand correctly you also believe that this body styling change will happen

If Sony do not release future rangefinder bodies then they will lose me as a customer as I already have a DSLR camera and want the smallest high-quality system possible for travel and convenience. What others do is their business, but you will see that many people here are currently just refusing to accept the possibility that the body styling can happen and there will be a lot of angst here amongst current NEX owners if it does come to pass

I don't discount your thinking at all, Neil. There will be a parting of the ways between many customers and Sony over the body changes.

Since you are in Lausanne, I would strongly suggest that, if you haven't visited the photo apparatus museum in Vevey, you do so. I had just 30 minutes to blow through it as my partner Sandy had a capucchio (sp?) in a cafe outside.

In there were two precedent cameras to the NEX series: The Ermanox and the Compass:


The nonreflex Ermanox - NEX-5 predecessor




Reflex Ermanox - NEX-6 predecessor




Compass - first serious attempt at a NEX-like small system

The Ermanox had an f1.8 lens that could shoot old slow film in poor light. The Compass was a jewel of a system. Both staked their futures on people being willing to pay for small, pocketable (for their era) cameras.

Both failed as commercial ventures. They didn't fit people's concept of cameras or what they should cost in the eras when they were produced.

Leica succeeded in part because it shot "ends" of movie-industry 35mm film even before Agfa and Kodak formally made and spooled the film for it! An example of how media can drive hardware!

Sony will likely lose you and others who, like the Ermanox and Compass customers, simply weren't numerous enough to keep the brand going - and faced with many larger options than any offered by Sony.

 

[little jim]

Mel:

I think you're right. Sony's current lineup is a dog's breakfast and needs a massive overhaul. It makes sense that the Nex6/7 be merged into A5/A5r with the A7 form factor. I can see the Nex3/5 then becoming the A3/A3r with the current rangefinder formfactor, including EVF and pop-up flash (which I think is necessary for the P&S upgraders). Then we'll see the A9/A9r next year for the pros.

I always liked the 3/5/7/9 progression, and was bemused by the Nex6 from a branding point of view. Finally, I'm sorry to see the "Nex" brand disappear - it was a breakthrough in high IQ in smallest possible formfactor and forged out a loyal following and mindshare - but my 5n has a prominent "alpha" on the front, so I have no problem calling it the A5n...

So, my feeling is that the APSC 3/3r series is the transition for P&S upgraders, the 5/5r APSC for enthusiasts, the 7/7r for FF prosumers, and 9/9r FF for pros.

As for the 3xxx/5xxx/7xxxx, I'm at a loss there. I really don't care about the DSLR formfactor.

Exciting days! Personally, I'm pulling the trigger for the A7 for my G28/45/90 glass. Gotta find a way to break the news to the spouse, tho...

All the best,

Jim

 

[parallaxproblem]

Mel Snyder wrote:

parallaxproblem wrote:

Mel Snyder wrote:

Neil:

I wasn't clear, I guess. The likelihood is that the A7 body is the prosumer body style for a redux NEX-6 and 7. NOT the AX000 style

1. It keeps the high-quality EVF, LCD and electronics of the A7, just swapping out the sensor

2. It justifies a higher price than an AX000 model

3. It amortizes the cost of the A7 FF body

4. It, like the A7, nails down a segment Sony owns today, but has had lesser value until the launch of the A7. At $1700, they are offering a very attractive body for those willing to accept its limitations - which less demanding and aware consumers may either accept or miss

5. For years, Detroit clung to the adage, "Little cars have little margins." Even today, SUVs and pickups have vastly greater profits than even luxury sedans. Small pocketable cameras with prices competitive with DSLRs seemed like a bad deal to American consumers. Sony appears to have threaded the space between those with the A7 design. Not as small as an NEX-5, or even a 6. But looking like a small DSLR.

parallaxproblem wrote:

The release of the recent high-end 16-70 and 18-105 lenses suggest that there will be future APS-C NEX releases, but the concern is that they will be awkwardly-shaped SLR like designs with fake pentaprism bulges that do not fit into our camera bags and which were not the sort of cameras we wanted when we bought into the NEX system. Your suggestion of an A5 and A5r would have likely have such a body format

These two images express the concerns better than words can (apologies for clumsy cut-and-paste from camerasize.com - wanted to get this reply in quick. Please view image full-size):

View attachment 437579

Obviously the A37 only has an APS-C sensor (though it does have IBIS) and the A7 gives you a lot of features and technology in a relatively small space. However many of us simply do not want to carry a DSLR-sized camera around with us any more whatever the benefits, which is why we bought NEX bodies in the first place

I understand your size concerns. But please understand Sony's sales concerns. The pocketable prism-less look simply didn't sell to the masses. The AX series represents, I think, Sony's attempt at making the smallest possible body that will sell.

Mel

Personally I think the Ax series will be reserved for Full Frame sensors as:

- it will be much easier to explain to customers (and resellers!) that FE lenses fit on Ax bodies and E lenses fit on Axxxx bodies (I still remember the sales assitant fitting an APS-C lens to my A900 when I first tested in a shop!)

- there is a lot of space under '7' to market full frame sensor Emount bodies in 2014 and 2015. A lower priced A5 and eventually an A3 could make FF sensors available to a wider audience and capitalise on the Full Frame sensor advantage which Emount can offer over Samung NX and m43 mirrorless mounts

- full frame is clearly Emount's long-term destiny. As smartphones offer increasing IQ benefits the companies selling cameras need to push the IQ output of their products to the limits to justify purchase of their products to the masses. This requires the biggest and best sensors possible in the camera bodies

But who knows... Sony can adopt any naming convention they chose and I see little point in getting into arguements over second-guessing the names of future products

My concern is about a change in future body styling for all Emount bodies, and if I understand correctly you also believe that this body styling change will happen

If Sony do not release future rangefinder bodies then they will lose me as a customer as I already have a DSLR camera and want the smallest high-quality system possible for travel and convenience. What others do is their business, but you will see that many people here are currently just refusing to accept the possibility that the body styling can happen and there will be a lot of angst here amongst current NEX owners if it does come to pass

I don't discount your thinking at all, Neil. There will be a parting of the ways between many customers and Sony over the body changes.

Since you are in Lausanne, I would strongly suggest that, if you haven't visited the photo apparatus museum in Vevey, you do so. I had just 30 minutes to blow through it as my partner Sandy had a capucchio (sp?) in a cafe outside.

In there were two precedent cameras to the NEX series: The Ermanox and the Compass:


The nonreflex Ermanox - NEX-5 predecessor


Reflex Ermanox - NEX-6 predecessor


Compass - first serious attempt at a NEX-like small system

The Ermanox had an f1.8 lens that could shoot old slow film in poor light. The Compass was a jewel of a system. Both staked their futures on people being willing to pay for small, pocketable (for their era) cameras.

Both failed as commercial ventures. They didn't fit people's concept of cameras or what they should cost in the eras when they were produced.

Leica succeeded in part because it shot "ends" of movie-industry 35mm film even before Agfa and Kodak formally made and spooled the film for it! An example of how media can drive hardware!

Sony will likely lose you and others who, like the Ermanox and Compass customers, simply weren't numerous enough to keep the brand going - and faced with many larger options than any offered by Sony.

Many thanks for the hint about the camera museum... actually I've never visited it in the 13 years I've been here as I didn't know about it so will do so next week!

There's also an interesting looking newish exhibition of photos at the Musee de l'Elysee here so I've got plenty to keep me busy in my 'enforced leasure time'

Difficult to know if NEX is being dumped because it wasn't selling - the US market obviously wasn't responding but I see quite a few being used by around here and lots of tourists from other countries seem to be carrying them (and my former girlfriend and several of my friends bought NEX 5's after playing with mine - another friend is borrowing my old NEX-5 to 'think about it' even now). I suspect the reasons for the discontinuation and body changes may just as well be 'internal political' ones arising from the big internal reorgainisation of the NEX and A-mount teams that David Kilpatrick told us about - you probably know better than I do the effects that 'vanity projects' and 'careerist managers' etc can have on product ranges in such circumstances

EDIT: when I say 'you know better than I do' I mean that you have certainly seen it happening, not been involved yourself! (got to be careful on the internet not to be misunderstood sometimes!)

 

[blue_skies]

If Sony announced such an A5 with a next generation APS-C sensor, with better high ISO response, cleaner NR, better DR, etc., would you, or anyone for that matter, still be interested in the A7/r?

 

[Anderton]

Mel Snyder wrote:

"Sony has announced in Japan this morning that, following the enthusiastic response to its new full-frame A7, it will be advancing production of its A5 and A5r, APS-C versions of its A7/A7r full frame DSLR.

"The A5 will replace the NEX-6, using the new sensor employed in the company's recently announced A3000. Delivery is expected in late February 2014."

"The A5r will replace the NEX-7, and will have a new 36mp APS-C sensor. the most refined and advanced APS-C sensor ever produced, Sony said. It is expected to launch in late March 2014.

"The A5 and A5r represent our commitment to providing consumers with a choice of sensors and price points in a single, more consumer-accepted configuration," Sony's announcement said. "E mount lenses for both the A5 and A7 series will work on both full frame and APS-C sensors, with the APS-C versions providing smaller sensor coverage when used on the A7.

"The A5 will carry a body-only MSRP of $699, and the A5r will be priced at $999. Both will differ from the A7 series mostly in sensor size. All current E mount APS-C lenses will function normally on the A5 and A5r."

-----------------------------

Not real yet - but not fantasy, either.

This is a far more likely scenario than Sony walking away from APS-C.

1. Sony has clearly invested heavily in a new camera body style - one that, for better or worse, is a blend of the rangefinder-type NEX configuration and a traditional DSLR form.

2. Dropping APS-C sensors into it makes a lot more sense than doubling down on the current NEX design that has been a sales disappointment. It would enable Sony great manufacturing and marketing efficiencies. The profits on an A5 and A5r would be vastly greater than trying to keep in production a different body type for the NEX-6 and an NEX-7 and an A7.

And so, those of you who have read the A7 chatter and feared Sony has abandoned you for richer customers, fear not. It would not have introduced the A3000 and a new 16-70 zoom if it was doing that.

Makes more sense than abandoning the APS-C market.

Nobody said Sony was abandoning APS-C market.

Except for a few insecure individuals 'oh noes! A7/A7R full frame was released, my camera is outdated!'.

There is zero reason for Sony to leave this market any time soon.

 

[nevercat]

parallaxproblem wrote:

These two images comparisons express the concerns better than words can (apologies for clumsy cut-and-paste from camerasize.com - wanted to get this reply in quick. Please view image full-size):



Obviously the A37 only has an APS-C sensor (though it does have IBIS) and the A7 gives you a lot of features and technology in a relatively small space. However many of us simply do not want to carry a DSLR-sized camera around with us any more whatever the benefits, which is why we bought NEX bodies in the first place

You are right about the A37 as being only APS, it also is the smallest of the APS cameras from Sony at the moment. When you compar the A7 to the only FF SLT from Sony there is a totaly different look and you find the A7 very small. It is easy, you cant have them all!:

There is an other thing to think about. not only Lenght and With are important factors but deapth is important too. here the three cameras (A7, A99 and A37) together:

When looking at it this way, what camera will fit better in your pocket? What camera is smaller?

Lets help: The A37 has: 969.374,56cubic mm, the A99 has 1.281.557,76cubic mm And the A7 577.405,152 cubic mm. Yes a APS camera in the RF style is smaller (253.435,056cubic mm), but that is to no use when you want a FF camera... And a FF camera in rangefinder style, without EVF will still be larger as the same camera in APS.

 

[DezM]

parallaxproblem wrote:

If Sony do not release future rangefinder bodies then they will lose me as a customer as I already have a DSLR camera and want the smallest high-quality system possible for travel and convenience. What others do is their business, but you will see that many people here are currently just refusing to accept the possibility that the body styling can happen and there will be a lot of angst here amongst current NEX owners if it does come to pass

100% agree

--
Dez
http://dezsantana.com

 

[parallaxproblem]

nevercat wrote:

parallaxproblem wrote:

These two images comparisons express the concerns better than words can (apologies for clumsy cut-and-paste from camerasize.com - wanted to get this reply in quick. Please view image full-size):



Obviously the A37 only has an APS-C sensor (though it does have IBIS) and the A7 gives you a lot of features and technology in a relatively small space. However many of us simply do not want to carry a DSLR-sized camera around with us any more whatever the benefits, which is why we bought NEX bodies in the first place

You are right about the A37 as being only APS, it also is the smallest of the APS cameras from Sony at the moment. When you compar the A7 to the only FF SLT from Sony there is a totaly different look and you find the A7 very small. It is easy, you cant have them all!:

There is an other thing to think about. not only Lenght and With are important factors but deapth is important too. here the three cameras (A7, A99 and A37) together:

When looking at it this way, what camera will fit better in your pocket? What camera is smaller?

Lets help: The A37 has: 969.374,56cubic mm, the A99 has 1.281.557,76cubic mm And the A7 577.405,152 cubic mm. Yes a APS camera in the RF style is smaller (253.435,056cubic mm), but that is to no use when you want a FF camera... And a FF camera in rangefinder style, without EVF will still be larger as the same camera in APS.

There are other small DSLRs (my 8 year old *istDS is 125 x 93 x 66 mm and contains a large magnification, pentaprism OVF and solid, mid-level construction), the A37 was only picked as an example to show that the A7 is actually the same height and width as as small DSLR (though it is clearly smaller than any current FF DSLR)

Displacement in terms of cc is misleading as what is important are the maximum external dimensions as these define the size of the camera bag you will need to carry the camera in

Yes, DSLRs are more deep than mirrorless cameras like the A7, but 'depth' is the least important of the dimensions. Firstly it is rather dependent on the size of the 'grip' which the camera has, but more importantly for transportation in a camera bag you need to consider the combined depth of the body+fitted lens. If you are using pancake lenses then it is useful to have a shallow camera, but we aren't seeing many of those in the E-mount range now and the A7 28-70 kit lens looks pretty long to me (can't be bothered to work out length of A7+28-70 vs length of A37+18-55 but guess there won't be much in it and suspect the A37+18-55 might be shorter!)

The 'fitted lens+body' dimension of your camera bag (no interchangeable lens camera is 'pocketable' for me) will always be resonably long but the other two dimensions make a *big* difference in the size of your camera bag and this is the reason I have so much distate for the pentaprism in this design (and that it's false and just trying to appeal to people without the intellect to realise it's just for show - like a fake 'power bulge' on a car bonnet for carburettors that haven't existed on engines for 20 years)

 

[Trollmann]

My Guess is the future aps-c bodies will still be Nex-like and the full frame bodies will be A7 and A7r like. But I might as well be wrong - of course.

It is unlikely that the new cameras will fail on the market - earlier on big used to be advanced (like all kinds of bragging about worlds biggest), but now small is advanced (sub micron technology, nanotechnology and so on). And the new Sony cameras are no Ermanoxes or Compasses (the new cameras appear in quite another context and besides the A7 and A7n are dirt cheap compared to Ermanoxes and Compasses at launch time).

So I think the right time is now and small is now!

 

[Mel Snyder]

blue_skies wrote:

If Sony announced such an A5 with a next generation APS-C sensor, with better high ISO response, cleaner NR, better DR, etc., would you, or anyone for that matter, still be interested in the A7/r?