VirtualMirage
Veteran Member
I know these pop up from time to time and some enjoy them and some don't, but I figured I would share what I would like to see in the next camera and what would entice me to spend the dough to acquire one. My guess in price would be around the $2,800-$3,300 price range.
Most of the items on my list were there even before the A7RII announcement. Surprisingly, to me anyways, is that some of the things I changed to align themselves to be more in line with what was announced in the A7RII I didn't require much adjustment, showing just how close Sony has come to actually producing something I have imagined in my head. Anyways, here goes:
Sensor and Processor:
Most of the items on my list were there even before the A7RII announcement. Surprisingly, to me anyways, is that some of the things I changed to align themselves to be more in line with what was announced in the A7RII I didn't require much adjustment, showing just how close Sony has come to actually producing something I have imagined in my head. Anyways, here goes:
Sensor and Processor:
- 42.2MP Exmor R BSI Gapless Sensor with AR (Anti-Reflective) coating and no OLP Filter
- Improved/Faster Bionz X Imaging Processor
- Electronic Front Curtain Shutter
- Silent Shutter mode
- Shutter reliability increased to 500,000 cycles
- 5-Axis image stabilization
- Native base ISO 64 preferred, minimum ISO 100
- Native max ISO 25,600
- Expanded ISO 32 - 51,200
- 14-bit (in all shooting modes)
- Competitive with the Nikon D750 and D810 in terms of noise and dynamic range
- Similar design to current A77II/A99
- All magnesium alloy body (front, back, top, bottom, and mount)
- Weather Sealed
- Built in Vertical Grip or Vertical Grip similar to A99 (3 batteries)
- Backlit buttons that are contoured like those found on the A77II
- Dedicated Focus Assist Lamp
- Built in flash optional, but would be useful as a commander for external flashes
- Rotary Dials made of coated metal instead of being plastic
- Locking Dial
- Dual SD Card slots with UHS-II support
- Locking memory card door
- USB 3.0 port
- 3" 640x480 (1.23M dot) RGBW swivel LCD Screen with lock
- .80x 1600x1200 (5.76m dot) or 1920x1440 (8.3m dot) OLED Viewfinder with Zeiss T* coating on optics
- Improved refresh rate, lower latency, shorter blackout times
- Stabilized viewfinder (as already done in the A77II)
- Minimum shutter speed of 30s with option to extend it to 60-120s without going into bulb mode
- Max shutter speed of 1/8000s
- A true flash sync speed of 1/250s to 1/320s
- True 14-bit uncompressed RAW or lossless compressed RAW as option
- Max framerate of 8fps at full resolution
- Max framerate of 10-12fps in APS-C crop mode
- Continuous framerate speed options of 3/5/8fps
- 24-30 shot buffer in RAW+JPEG at max framerate
- Faster buffer clearing capability
- Video with no line skipping
- Video that support full sensor readout and/or pixel binning
- 1080P 60/30/24 with XAVC S support
- 4K 30/24 with XAVC S Support
- Slow Motion capable, even if at lower resolution (ie, 120fps at 720p)
- Sony S-Log2 support
- Ability to control microphone gain
- Improved A77II type dedicated PDAF module
- 79 AF points, all cross type
- Maybe slightly wider spacing between AF points to increase coverage area (Although current size of A77II AF module already offers similar coverage found in the D810/D4s/5D MkIII)
- Center AF point is dual cross type for F/2.8 and faster lenses
- Low light AF capability as low as -3EV to -4EV
- On sensor PDAF Assist Points (same 399 AF points found on A7RII?):
- -> Not lens specific nor dependent
- -> Can be used to aid in MFA calibration/tuning
- -> Can be used to assist in tracking and AF range limiting
- -> Can be used to improve AF precision (at potential cost in focus speed)
- 2 or 3 point MFA for zooms (Wide/Tele or Wide/Mid/Tele)
- Built in auto MFA calibration using on sensor PDAF Assist Points (Google Dot Tune Magic Lantern for demonstration)
- Better Lens Identification methods
- Video AF with more aperture latitude instead of being fixed at F/3.5 (ie, F/1.4 through F/5.6 or F/8)
- Improved AF tracking algorithms
- Spot, Center-Weighted, and Multi metering methods
- Capability to have spot and center weighted metering calculate off of chosen focus point/zone
- Ability to add expanded ISOs to Auto ISO range
- Ability to set a minimum shutter speed either by shutter speed or stops
- Tether capability
- WiFi/Bluetooth/NFC built in
- Improved PlayMemories app support
- Integrated GPS, GPS app via PlayMemories, or GPS add-on module (hot shoe mounted?)
- If GPS equipped, offer a star tracking mode for Astrophotographers to use (see Pentax's ASTROTRACER)
- Pixel Shift Resolution mode that outputs both JPEG and RAW for increased resolution and reduced noise (see Pentax's Pixel Shift Resolution)
- Built in and customizable case modes tailored to different shooting situations (like Canon)
- Option to add copyright to photos in camera
- Built in intervalometer, works with PlayMemories app
- Panoramic mode that produces both the final output JPEG along with the individual RAW files
- Dual view mode that helps with manual focusing
- More color options for focus peaking
- EVF display option that shows live histogram and spirit level at the same time
- Option to have menus and functions rotate with camera orientation
- Option to change AF overlay colors (black, white, auto, etc.)
- Ability to do bracketed shooting while using the timer function
- Exposure bracketing up to 9 frames
