Today I have to climb a high mountain on the dolomites. Weather is wonderful and I am ready to enjoy that day. But as soon as I am back I will work on the Sony fullframe camera rumors I received today. It seems that Photographers are already testing various prototypes. Damn would I love to see them…I could help Sony to chose which one should go in mass production!

Anyway, wish you a nice Sunday with your friends and/or families. See you soon!

P.S.: I am going here: http://maps.google.it/maps ;)

When you reader asked me if the Sony A77 would have built-in GPS a source sent me a text saying that not only the A65 ad A77 would have built-inGPS, but also the future Fullframe cameras. And while the rumor about the A920 32 Megapixel fullframe camera posted by an external website is certainly NOT true I have been told that there will be some exciting fullframe news soon. The next fullframe cameras will be announced in 2012 but if all works fine I will get some details about those cameras soon! I repeat…”cameras” and not “camera” ;)

Let’s cross our fingers!

P.S.: The A850 has been discontinued (Check [shopcountry 3028]) and soon the A900 should see some price drops (Check [shopcountry 3032]).

And here we are! On top of the post you can see the world first picture showing the upcoming new Sony A77 and A65 translucent models! Sony original plan was to announce those cameras in July but the announcement has been delayed to late August because of the recent production issues that external suppliers had after the Tsunami-Fukushima disaster. The Sony A77 will be Sony’s new top APS-C model and replace the now very old [shoplink 3228 ebay]Sony A700 (Click here to see that camera)[/shoplink]. It has a newly developed 24 Megapixel sensor which we have been told will deliver a crazy ISO performance. Specs are not 100% finalized yet but it looks like the ISO range goes from 100 up to 102.400 ISO. The A77 uses a new double Bionz processor and a newly developed 3 million dot OLED EVF. It takes more than 10 frames per seconds and has 11 cross AF points. Of course it can record videos at FullHD. It has a new USB 3.0 connection (with transmission speeds of up to 5 Gbit/s). Both cameras (the A77 and A65) will use the new translucent technology (there will be no optical viewfinder Sony camera anymore!). That allows Sony to reduce the production costs and we expect the A77 body only price to be around $1.000 only! That’s much less than the competition:
Check Canon 7D price at [shopcountry 6954].
Check Nikon D7000 price at price at [shopcountry 6952].

UPDATE: A source noticed that many of you asked about the GPS. He sent me a text saying that both cameras will have built-in GPS! -> Thanks source ;)

First user that tested the camera told us the AF is very fast and accurate. The OLED viewfinder has almost no noticeable lag or flickering. We will post more A77 user reports during the next weeks! If you don’t want to miss any future rumor be sure to join us on Facebook and Twitter and subscribe our RSS-feed!
And what do we know about the A65? The A65 will replace the current [shoplink 3617 ebay]Sony A55 (Click here to see that camera)[/shoplink]. It has very similar A77 specs. The main difference is that the A65 has no magnesium alloy and no top LCD (as you can see that from the picture).

One more thing: But there will be many more new Sony cameras and lenses this summer. There will be new NEX Pro that will feature the same A77 sensor, a new [shoplink 3058]Sony NEX-VG10[/shoplink] successor, new lenses (Zeiss and Sony) for both Alpha and E-mount systems.

Those are the detailed A77 specs (some minor aspects could be subject to change until the final announcement):
The A77 announcement on late August.
Shipment start early October
Coming with new kit lens (A Sony 16-50mm zoom. Compared to the [shoplink 5586 ebay]Zeiss 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5[/shoplink] it will have a constant aperture and probably have a bit higher price. Zeiss 16-80mm price check at [shopcountry 5586].)
24 Megapixels (The combination of the new sensor+new Zeiss lens delivers 62% more resolution than the [shoplink 3617 ebay]A55 16 Megapixel sensor[/shoplink].)
1080p/30fps, 720p/60fps and 720p/30fps high-definition video
AF fine-tuning capabilities. A source told us that it has an improved focusing system (quite fast and accurate).
11 cross points
over 10fps
3 Million dot OLED viewfinder (more than double of the resolution fo the current [shoplink 3617]Sony A55/33[/shoplink] viewfinder.)
magnesium alloy
It will take CF+SD+MS cards
No flip-up mode to allow shooting without this extra sheet of glass in place
1.000 pictures with one battery
Price body only = $1000.

Support this site: I am having a lot of fun to work on SAR. I don’t use dozens of banners and I don’t get paid by any company to do what I do. All the work you see here is made by me during my free time. If you want to help me to cover the monthly server costs there is an easy way: Click on affiliate links you see on that website like [shopcountry 3028] to buy whatever product you want (it doesn’t have to be a camera) and I will earn a small commission from it. You don’t pay any penny more on the items you buy and at the same time you support SonyAlphaRumors without me having to put 100 banners on my website. Cool or not? Thanks :)

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

Many trusted sources informed me that Sony decided to delay the A77 and NEX-7 announcement from July 7th to late August. Reason for that delay are production problems. To be more detailed it looks like that there is a production issue with minor components of the cameras. The cameras will be in Stock in late September/early October.

I know that’s bad news, after the Tsunami disaster I received info about production problems from Sony but I also had been told that Sony would not delay the A77 announcement and deliver the camera a couple of months later than expected. This has changed (and we certainly cannot blame Sony for that).

Oh, and before you start to think that this rumor might not be true there are a couple of things you have to keep in mind:
1) Also the NEX-C3 and A35 were supposed to be announced in early April but than the announcement have been delayed to early June. Some of you didn’t believe me and it wos good for me that Sony itself leaked the images and manual on their websites in April (it proved that my sources were correct).
2) I got the info about the A77 delay from many trusted sources. The same sources that gave me correct info in the past.
3) If I am correct than there should be already product images of the A77 (like it was for the NEX-C3 and A35 in April). And the good news is that I have one of those pictures ;)

Tomorrow (Wednesday) at 12:00 GMT (London Time) I will post the very first picture of the A77 (+ little surprise). If you are wondering why I didn’t post the picture last week the answer is that the source told me to wait until a certain date (the reason will be unknown forever). So sorry for the pre-announcement suffering ;)

See you tomorrow!

P.S.: As usual, if you have a “rumor” to share use the contact form on the right sidebar. Avoid to send me your name and email address but it would be nice if you could use some kind of fake name so that I can recognize you in future. Oh, and the contact form doesn’t store any hidden info like the IP-address.

Yesterday Photorumors posted a rumors about a possible new A920 camera with 7fps and 32 Megapixel. As you know I don’t believe the rumor is correct. I wanted to let you know that a couple of trusted sources contacted me to confirm that there is no A920 and that there will be no fullframe camera this year. So no surprise here.

I am currently working on the A77 and NEX-7 rumor and I will give you some important news soon. Stay tuned on SAR!

There is an almost impossible rumor posted by Photorumors. According to one of their sources Sony will announce a new Fullframe camera in August with 32 Megapixel sensor, 7fps and and Dual Bionz processor. There are no more info than what I posted here. Why do I say that this is an almost impossible rumor? I heard from my sources that Sony will release the translucent Fullframe camera in 2012 only. The [shoplink 3028]Sony A850[/shoplink] has been discontinued and the [shoplink 3032]A900[/shoplink] should see some price drops soon. Of course it would make a lot of sense for Sony to release a new FF camera soon. But you know, Sony product strategy and development doesn’t necessary follow our “common sense”. Otherwise the A77 would be here since almost a year, the NEX lens roadmap would contain a couple of awesome pancakes and so on :)

Anyway, I don’t want to destroy your hopes. Let’s assume the A920 rumor is real, than I can imagine that this is just an updated version of the current [shoplink 3032]A900[/shoplink]. Same body, no translucent technology (yes OVF) and basic video quality. It would give Sony some time for the development of the fullframe cameras. Let’s see…

Links to current Sony fullframe cameras:
Sony A850 at [shopcountry 3028]
Sony A900 at [shopcountry 3032]

One more store got this repair guide from Sony that includes the A77 name and repair price. There have been another repair guide “leak” a couple of days ago. Anyway, that’s again a proof the A77 is getting closer and that our sources were right when long time ago they told to us the A77 would be announced in July (with one source saying it will be July the 7th).

And if all works well with my sources than I could publish the very first A77 picture soon!

Reminder: Those are the secs and other rumors we collected about the A77:
The A77 is coming in mid July
Shipment start early October
Coming with new kit lens (A Sony 16-50mm zoom. Compared to the [shoplink 5586]Zeiss 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5[/shoplink] it will have a constant aperture and probably have a bit higher price. Zeiss 16-80mm price check at [shopcountry 5586].)
24 Megapixels (The combination of the new sensor+new Zeiss lens delivers 62% more resolution than the [shoplink 3617]A55 16 Megapixel sensor[/shoplink].)
1080p/30fps, 720p/60fps and 720p/30fps high-definition video
AF fine-tuning capabilities. A source told us that it has an improved focusing system (quite fast and accurate).
3 Million dot OLED viewfinder (more than double of the resolution fo the current [shoplink 3617]Sony A55/33[/shoplink] viewfinder.)
magnesium alloy
wishbone hinge with a centre pivot
USB: 3.0
Price 999 Dollars/Euro for body only.
It will take CF+SD+MS cards
No flip-up mode to allow shooting without this extra sheet of glass in place
1.000 pictures with one battery