There is no doubt anymore. The official Sony Hong Kong website already published the A850/A900 firmware upgrade manual! Take a look at the screenshots at Dchome.

UPDATE: There is an english manual here: http://support.sony-asia.com.edgesuite.net/consumer/IM/ADWB100111.pdf

P.S:: Finally some real nice deals from Sony! The Sony A850 price dropped by $100 and the A900 by $200!!! And there are many other Instante deals on Sony lenses. Use the links below to see all deals!!!

Click the direct shop links to buy the camera:

Sony A580 $100.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A33 $100.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A850 $100.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A900 $200.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.

And here the detailed discount (Click on store name):

Sony 11-18mm f/4.5-5.6 DT Lens $50.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 16-80mm f/3.5-4.5 Lens $50.00 Instant Savings at Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 18-200mm f/3.5-6.3 DT $50.00 Instant Savings at Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 18-250mm f/3.5-6.3 $50.00 Instant Savings Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony Distagon T* 24mm f/2 SSM $100.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 24-70mm f/2.8 Carl Zeiss $100.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 28-75mm f/2.8 SAM Lens $100.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 30mm f/2.8 DT Lens $25.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 35mm f/1.4G Lens $100.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 35mm f/1.8 SAM Lens $25.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 50mm f/1.8 DT AF Lens $25.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 APO SSM $150.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 70-300mm f/4.5-5.6G SSM Lens $50.00 Instant Savings at Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 85mm f/2.8 SAM Lens $25.00 Instant Savings at Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 135mm f/2.8 Lens $100.00 Instant Savings at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Sony 300mm f/2.8 SSM Lens $100.00 Instant Savings at Adorama and BHphoto.

According to our sources (Thanks!) the new Sony A850/A900 firmware will be announced on December 2th. The main improvement will be the auto focus speed and performance. We have no reliable info about a possible image quality improvement.

Stay tuned on SonyAlphaRumors!

P.S.: In US you have tons of Instante Rebates on Sony cameras and lenses. I couldn’t find any deal in Europe  (I am one of those guys waiting for some nice european A850 deal).

Click here to see the full US deal list!

I found a more specifi liquid lens patent from Sony. It descibes a very compact zoom lens. I need your help to find out the specs aperture and focal lenght because I am not smart enough to understand all those crazy data :)

Here is the link to the patent (.pdf): http://www.freepatentsonline.com/20100284091.pdf

According to two of our sources Sony should unveil the new Sony A850/900 firmware update by end of the next week. It’s Christmas time and Sony wants to push the full frame camera sales. Would be nice to see some price drops too ;)
We only know that exposure compensation, AF performance will be improved. One source said also the image quality will have a major improvement (but that hasn’t be confirmed by other sources). We don’t know yet if also the A700 will get a firmware update. If you know something please contact me at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. Thanks!

Click the direct shop links to check the Sony A850 price and availability at:
US -> Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Europe -> AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR, AmazonIT.

Click the direct shop links to check the Sony A900 price and availability at:
US -> Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Europe -> AmazonDE, AmazonUK, AmazonFR.

P.S.: We expect the next Sony Fullframe camera to be announced late 2011/early 2012.

I received a few confirmations from other trusted sources about the NEX-7 announcement by early 2011. They confirm it will have a built-in Viewfinder and it will NOT have any in Body-stabilization. They also confirmed that the design is very close to the NEX-7 main competitor the [shoplink 4718]Panasonic GH2 (Click here to see that camera design and specs)[/shoplink].

We have a few unconfirmed specs from new sources. They are rated SR3 (which means there is a 50% chance they are correct):
– 16 megapixel sensor
– OLED EVF
– AVCHD recording

If you have some news to sahre about the NEX-7 contatc me at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com or use the contact form on the right sidebar. thanks!

P.S.: Those are the results of our NEX-7 poll:

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And here I am again with the next [shoplink 3028]A850/A900[/shoplink] firmware rumor. Sony was expected to release that firmware a few months ago but as I learned from my sources Sony had many problems with the “old” minolta software architecture of the A850/A900. I confess that I thought we would never see a new firmware for these cameras. But a few weeks ago I received a new rumor and it looks like the impossible will (finally) become possible. The Sony Santa Claus will make a (well deserved) present for every A850 and A900 owners!

UPDATE: Another source said that “there are 4 updates which will come to A850/900 firmware. Most of them is exposure compensation, AF performance and Release w/lens in menu option..”

There are three reasons why Sony releases the firmware:
1) To improve the autofocus performance and to give a big image quality boost! This is a major upgrade (I have been told). I hope this will bring the cameras closer to the Nikon D3X performance.
2) To push the christmas sales.
3) This is also a message to current users that Sony takes care of you and will support and soon expand the fullframe system!

So let’s cross the finger and hope that the firmware will REALLY be announced soon and REALLY bring some major improvement! Thanks Sony!
Stay tuned on SonyAlphaRumors! I hope to get some more details soon…

Check price and availabiltiy of the A850 at:
Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

Check price and availabiltiy of the A900 at:
Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.

NEX-7 rendering from Tecnofotografia (not the real camera!)

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Sorry if I didn’t post anything about the NEX-7 camera since a very long time. But there is a good reason for that. Sony itself was evaluating the current [shoplink 3003]NEX-3/5[/shoplink] response from the market before to define the NEX-7 specs and release date. I still don’t know those specs but I can give you a few info from my good sources.

1) The NEX-7 is coming by early 2011 and before the A77 announcement! One source told me that the NEX-7 will be announced in February-March.
2) Unlike the NEX-3/5 the NEX-7 has a built-in EVF. I heard the EVF should be very advanced and use a new OLED technology!
3) The NEX-7 is optimized fot video recording but unlike the older rumors it doesn’t come with ExmorHD. It will record 1080p with AVCHD 24mbit/s (same as the Panasonic GH2)
4) I received some specs from unkown sources but I am currently trying to “squeeze” more info from my trusted sources. Take it with a grain of salt but one new source (also not reliable for now!) said the NEX-7 will have In-body stabilization. I repeat take it easy, I also don’t know why the NEX-7 should have in body IS

I didn’t find any NEX-7 news on the world wide web. Only [shoplink 4664]asian eBay resellers (Click here)[/shoplink] are speculating with a NEX-7 release :)

I rated that rumor with SR4 so some things could not be entirely correct. I really hope to give you far more precise details soon! I also need your help to get more info about the NEX-7. If you want to share some “rumor” feel free to contact me at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com or use the contact from on the right sidebar. Thanks!

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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!