$2000 Price Threshold
Sony may be starting a price war. The race to larger Megapixel sensors has all but ended with some brands announcing they are going to stay with in the range of sizes they currently sell. Quality of image and feature sets being extremely high, pricing now emerges as the next battle front. Cost of Full Frame cameras will drop as more are made. Sub-frame sensors due to physical size and complexity will be cheaper, but perhaps not by much before long.
The size of the sensor is only one cost and Sony has made a few compromises to achieve this pricing level. They use a different mirror implementation that is less costly but slows the continuous shooting frame rate to about 3 frames per second. There is reportedly a limit on frame count when shooting RAW as the buffer becomes full.
Auto Focus uses a standard 9 sensor system as opposed to other full frame contenders that are going to high counts of available focus points. There are high sensitivity sensors in the camera and they result in a 10 point system by using dual cross and dedicated f/2.8 sensors.
There are some minor compromises in the viewfinder coverage, less than 100%, and reportedly the finish of the body may be slightly less refined.
Key Sony Alpha DLR-A850 Features
- 24.6 Megapixel Full Frame Sensor
- Steady Shot in camera anti-shake image stabilization up to 4 stop improvement
- Dedicated f/2.8 AF sensor
- 40 segment Honeycomb metering
- AF micro adjustments for up to 30 lenses
- Dynamic Range Optimization and DR bracketing
- Memory Stick and Compact Flash Storage
Sony has announced September 2009 availability for about $2000. This will include related accessories. All a900 accessories will work with the A850 including the dedicated vertical grip.
Official Sony Alpha DSLR-A850 Press Release >>
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A full frame digital SLR for under $2000 is a pretty powerful move from Sony. The question is, will it get people to switch from established brand like Nikon and Canon and invest in a Sony system? I see it as a no-brainer for film holdouts and Sony owners who want to upgrade but not to the A950. But the real win for Sony will be if this starts to lure some Nikon and Canon photographers into the Sony camp.
This is an amazing price for full frame. But since Nikon uses Sony sensors I dont think the a850 will hold the title
of “only full frame sensor for $2,000″ for very long………..
NIce camera as a full format and at a price of $1,999.00. But there are a few technical/marketing mistakes, things to have considered to compete against the BIG boys, Canon and Nikon. First and foremost, the lens compatibilty should have been for either Nikon or Canon and not Minolta/Konica. That would have engaged a larger market. Image stability built into the camera body is a plus and has the advantage of using the older 35mm lenses (no AF) with an adapter, This has the edge over its competition The competition can always lower their prices, but to have a camera with more and better features would be the seller. Most Canon and Nikon users will not switch to another system unless it offers compatibility to their existing system, including lenses, flash units, filter size, etc. One more minor detail: there is no auto-sensor clean; this is important to most photographers who are willing to spend nearly $2,000 just for the camera body.
Does this camera have image cache, or picture store?
Ken-
I thought that the A850 did have sensor cleaning. Are you sure that it doesn’t?
There is Sensor Cleaning/Dust Reduction that is the same as implemented on the A900 Full frame from Sony.
Sony has high quality and performance lenses from Carl Zeiss that are second to none. As far as the Big boys are concerned, they may be a bit worried as Sony is the Big Boy in the Consumer Electronics Game. There isn’t an area that worldwide they have not absolutely dominated when they put their mind to the task. The user base of legacy lenses from Konica Minolta is pretty staggering in the consumer segment and they have been the last to convert to Digital. Now they can use their older film based lenses and newer G series and Zeiss glass. Powerful options!
There are some questionable marketing/feature issue I would agree including the average AF system, and the tacit admission that they achieve lower noise/higher image quality as much through signal processing as the demonstrated ‘given advantage’ of the larger sensor.
Testing and real world use and acceptance will tell the tale. But less the $2000 for a Full Frame!! That is a competive advantage that cannot be easily overlooked. For those who want the large file size this could be a real winner. I know print shops that will line up to buy this for a shop and layout camera. Offset, D2P, and other will love that huge file that won’t require tweaking for big quick jobs!