There is no doubt Sony is working on a “foveon-like” sensor. Every week we find new patents explaining the technology (Click here to read one patent example). The question now is: when are we going to see the first foveon camera from Sony? We just got an info from a new SonyAlphaRumors source. As usual take rumors from new sources with a grain of salt. That’s why the rumor has the value “SR2” (read the rumor classification explanation at the bottom of the post).

According to the new source there will be a new A770 announced in early 2012 (this is not the translucent A77!). It will use the same 15.2 mp Sigma SD1 foveon sensor. The test shows that it’s 24 mp to 25 mp equivalent (instead of 30 mp or 46 mp) to a conventional bayer sensor.

One more thing, the A770 does not have video recording feature.

List of useful links about the Sigma foveon sensor:
Sigma SD1 product page at BHphoto.
Sigma and Foveon discuss the forthcoming SD1 (Dpreview)
Carl Rytterfalk about the SD1
First SD1 image samples at shinzlogclips
A very interesting new interview at DSLRmagazine.
List of Sigma Foveon cameras at Amazon.

Stay tuned on SonyAlphaRumors because the next few months we will see many new REAL products from Sony. That includes Alpha and E-mount lenses but also new NEX and Alpha cameras. Don’t miss any rumors. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and follow our RSS-feed!

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

UPDATE: We made a small mistake and the sources did correct the rumor. The lens is f/1.7 and not f/2.0! that’s even better ;)

Message to one of our sources “A.” -> Thanks for your help. If possible contact me using a fake gmail account. So that I can send you rumors. Bye!

According to two of my best sources the upcoming 24mm Zeiss lens for NEX should have an aperture of f/1.7 (faster the current [shoplink 3037]24mm f/2.0 for Alpha mount[/shoplink]). But the very good news (SR5!) is that new E-mount lenses from Sony and also from third party lens makers will be announced within the next 2-3months. I mean those are the REAL lenses and not prototypes…finally! I will write more about that soon!

Direct link to the Zeiss 24mm f/2.0 (Alpha mount): [shopcountry 3037].
And those are the current available NEX lenses:
– Sony 16mm f/2.8 [shopcountry 2998]
– Sony 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 [shopcountry 2996]
– Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 [shopcountry 3060]

Stay tuned on SonyAlphaRumors because the next few months we will see many new REAL products from Sony. That includes Alpha and E-mount lenses but also new NEX and Alpha cameras. Don’t miss any rumors. Join us on Facebook, Twitter and follow our RSS-feed!

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

[shoplink 5419][/shoplink]

After today’s Sony announcement there are many rumors floating around the web about the upcoming lenses. A very reliable rumor says that Zeiss will make the CP lenses available for Sony E-mount too! The Zeiss CP lenses are compact primes with manual focusing. They are very expensive and meant for the use on the future professional NEX videocameras. The price is crazy high: you can get them for $3900 at Bhphoto or on [shopcountry 5419]! Not exactly a lens you will buy for your [shoplink 3003]Sony NEX-3/5[/shoplink]!

The CP+, the biggest asia photoshow of the year will start on Wednesday. I have one bad news and two good news. The bad news first: There will be no new NEX camera or Alpha camera! Please don’t cry yet because there are also two good news:
1) I have been told there could be new stuff like new lenses, new colored NEX cameras and maybe something else(?).
2) Sony chose to launch the big stuff within the second and third quarter of the year. So you don’t have to wait a lot! “he who laughs last, laughs best“! I will post more about that soon!

Don’t miss any rumor. Keep following us on Facebook, Twitter and follow our RSS-feed!

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources (60-80% the rumor is correct)
SR5=almost certainly correct!

I confess this is more a speculation than a rumor! But “something” made me suspicious. During my usual Sony patent search I found so many Sony patents that do explain the functionality of foveon like sensors. Unlike Bayer sensors the Foveon sensor uses an array of photosites, each of which consists of three vertically stacked photodiodes. The advantage is that you can have bigger pixels with greater light gathering ability, you have no color artifacts and no demosaicing is required. The drawback is that current sensors (from Sigma) are quite noisy.

Wild speculation: Sony keeps saying the A77 will be a revolutionary cameras. So what if the A77 has been delayed because Sony took time to develop a new 24 megapixel “Foveon” sensor? What do you think, is that something you would like to see in future cameras?

– Bayer sensor (Source: Wikipedia)
– Foveon X3 sensor (Source: Wikipedia)
– List of Sigma Foveon cameras at Amazon.
– The Sigma SD1 website.

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A few days ago a dutch A77 rumor created a lot of buzz announcing the A77 would be announced in April. As our trusted sources pointed out quickly that rumor is NOT TRUE! De facto the rumor was a mix of already published SonyAlphaRumors and a few added WRONG specs. As you know the “A77 packshots are ready and currently being reviewed by management.“. If no problems will occur during that process the A77 will be on market in Q3 (July-September).

All sources point me out that this will be an amazing camera. Much better than anything out there (in the APS-C world). We should expect a real huge improvement over the [shoplink 3617]Sony A55[/shoplink]. They know that people is frustrated because of the long wait. But they have not a single doubt that it will be worth the wait!

I repost our correct specs (collected form trusted SonyAlphaRumors sources):
– 24 megapixel sensor
– FullHD
– New advanced OLED(?) EVF
– UNCONFIRMED -> There were rumors (and also a Sony patent) about some kind of hybrid viewfinder ( a là Fuji X100 (Click here to see that camera on Amazon)?).
– ISO will go ‘up into the hundreds of thousands’
– price will be in the same area of the [shoplink 5117]Canon 60D ($900-1200. Click here to check price)[/shoplink]
– The A77 has a bigger and robust body compared to current SLT cameras.
– The A77 will not have a flip-up mode to allow shooting without this extra sheet of glass in place.
– It will take CF+SD+MS cards, of which you can use two at the same time.
– With the new battery you can take around 1.000 pictures.

P.S.: Paul Genge of Sony UK said that “this camera will include such high specification features that current [shoplink 3228]A700[/shoplink] owners will be amazed”

P.P.S.: We have a new facebook page! Join us at http://www.facebook.com/sonyalpharumors!

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