There is a lot for us to glean from this move at Nikon and the recent
low end Canon announcement in terms of its implication to the dSLR
photographic industry in general and our Sony dSLRs in particular.
Up until this point in time, as a general rule, same-generation
higher end cameras received higher end sensors and produced
technically superior pictures. For all intents that is no longer
true or at least much less true. The Canon prosumer 50D and its much
less expensive brethren the 500D have similar sensor and output. The
pro/prosumer D300 body, the enthusiast D90 and the just announced
high-end consumer D5000 all have the same or similar sensor. That’s
essentially the same sensor as in the Sony A700 and they must all be
made by Sony. I suspect this means that what we are looking at in
the new unannounced lower end Sony’s will be this same sensor.
That’s not a bad thing of course. There will be very modest IQ gains
in the a700 replacement; the technology just isn’t there. And IMO
increasing pixels in an APS camera is counter productive right now
and is more a marketing ploy. We are back to the film-era camera
days where camera body innovations are slow in coming…especially
innovations that really enhance the photographic experience. IQ
improvements will be even slower in coming.
Like it or not, live view and its variants will lead to a blurring of
video and still photography. It will enhance some people’s
experience, probably not mine. It’s coming however. What bothers me
is that we seem to be getting sidetracked in our vision of what we
need to take photographs; what I view as REAL improvements for us as
photographers. We can always use improvements in auto focus, we can
always use improvements in dynamic range, we can always use
improvements to micro adjust individual lenses as in the a900, we can
always use a better viewfinder and we can always use improvements in
in-camera processing. Look at how little press and forum bandwidth
is given to the a900’s wonderful film-like curve in the highlights. I
don’t understand why it isn’t universally applauded. Instead I read
slams on high ISO noise (I suspect they are intrinsically linked to
the way these images are processed). I don’t need an in-camera ‘web
sized B&W psychedelic posterization filter’; please. I have
Photoshop. I don’t need an in-camera television either but we’ll
probably see one before long.
With all that said there are big unknowns to me, other than Sony’s
introduction timeline. Mainly what is their worldview of the
positioning and economic viability of 12-15MP full-frame sensor,
lower-noise camera. Clearly they have the wherewithal to produce
one. I’d personally love one at a decent price-point. But are there
enough of ‘ME’ to warrant making one? For that matter is there
enough of me to warrant making an a700 replacement that isn’t a knee
jerk reaction to the wants of their marketing department.
Time will tell, not my idle speculation. LOL
Bruce
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http://www.pbase.com/misterpixel
If Sony plans a lower price FF chip, I'd bet they'd stick with 24MP in order to amortize the cost with the A900.
