Will the new superfast hybrid AF replace sooner or later replace the SLT tech ?

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The Sony A6000 main selling point is the world’s fastest AF (0,06 sec) that covers an area of 92% of the whole sensor (with 179 Af points!). That spec alone makes it the best autofocusing camera to date and not even a $7000 DSLR can beat that! Just watch the video on top or the video made or the first testing video made by It’s DanK and the Sony presentation video. For the first time you can use a mirrorless camera just like (and better than) a pro DSLR. And the A6000 price/features will make it very appealing for the mass that takes sports and family shots (you will no more miss to shot a sharp pic of your kid).

UPDATE: Somone raised questions about Sony’s AF performance claims: Just to be clear, at Sony UK they write the A6000 has a “Quicker autofocus than a DSLR“. And as a note:

“Among interchangeable-lens digital cameras equipped with an APS-C image sensor as of 12 February 2014. Measured using CIPA internal measurement method with E PZ 16-50 mm F3.5-5.6 OSS lens mounted, Pre-AF off and viewfinder in use.”

But this raises an important question. Does SLT tech still have a future? My answer is no. There may be still one -two SLT A-mount cameras to come but I think it’s save to say the Hybrid AF of the A6000 is going to be improved quickly and it will be used by future E and A-mount cameras. And you will no more have that 1/3 stop light loss because of the semitransparent mirror.

obviously the A-mount still has at least one big advantage over E-mount cameras, the on sensor stabilization. If Sony would have used on sensor stabilization on E-mount cameras right from the start I think the A-mount cameras would have really little reason to be developed further.

In about one month Sony will announce the A77 successor. And it will certainly have an AF system that is at leats as good (if not better) as the A6000!

Sony really released a great camera (with a couple of let downs like the “reduced” EVF resolution although Sony explains in the video above that the numbers don’t tell the truth). Well done Sony! But I confess I am a bit angry at them because my Sony A7r doesn’t have that superfast hybrid AF :)

Preorders:
Sony A6000 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT
Silver A6000 at WexUK (Click here).
Sony A6000 with lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here).
Silver A6000 with lens at WexUK (Click here).
Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon (CLick here), BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT

DSC-H300 at  Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-H400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-HX400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 White at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Silver at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).

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Sony A6000 officially announced! It’s the world fastest autofocus camera!

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Preorders:
Sony A6000 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT
Silver A6000 at WexUK (Click here).
Sony A6000 with lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here).
Silver A6000 with lens at WexUK (Click here).
Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon (CLick here), BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT

DSC-H300 at  Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-H400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-HX400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 White at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Silver at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).

Previews, hands-on tests:
First impression at Dpreview, First impressions at ThePhoBlographer, First look at Digitalcamerareview, Hands-on at ePhotozine, First look at Amateur Photographer, Hands-on at Photographyblog, Hands-on at Pocket-Lint, Hands-on at Gizmodo, Hands-on at Imaging Resource, First impressions at Trustedreviews, Hands-on by Quesabesde (Spanish), Preview at CameraLabs.

Hot things to know:
Sony claims the A6000 has the “world’s fastest autofocus”!
The A6000 hybrid AF covers 92% of the imaging area!
The major letdown: EVF is smaller and of lower resolution compared to the NEX-6. But IR writes: “However, comparing the two side-by-side, the A6000’s EVF is the clear winner as it produces much more accurate colors and easy to discern details.
There is also a Silver A6000 but it’s not coming in US yet.
AmateurPhotographer: “Looking at 100% crops of a garden scene containing a mix of stone and plant detail, the A6000, utilizing diffraction reduction technology, managed to resolve sharper edge detail and reduced haloing compared to the 24.2-million-pixel Nikon D5300, particularly at f/11. Colour and contrast also appeared slightly more accurate on the images printed from the camera.
A6000 has selective focus speed for smooth video transitions and steady shot for video.

Videos:
First look at Cnet, First look at Whatdigitalcamera, Hands-on at Digitalcameraworld, a6000 Review and AF Testing First Look at It’s DanK, First look by Sony.

Image samples:
Sample images at Photographyblog, Quick ISO test at Expertreviews,

Press text:
Slashgear, ePhotozine, Gizmodo, TheVerge, Engadget, Pocket-Lint, DSLRmagazine (Spanish), Quesabesde (Spanish), SystemKameraForum (German).

Poll:
Read the reviews and after that tell us:

Do you like the new Sony A7sIII ?

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Images of the camera (Click on it to enlarge):

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Top deal reminder: Up to $650 on Sony A7-A7r combos at Amazon.

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You can save $200 on any FE lens (including the new Zeiss zoom) when you buy an A7-A7r at Amazon US (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and SonyStore US (Click here). Amazon and Sonystore actually show a nice scheme and you save up to $650 if you include the external flash.

A similar deals runs on Sony APS-C A-mount cameras at SonyStore US (Click here) and Amazon US (Click here).

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(SR5) A6000 EVF and phase detection specs. Announcement at 4am London time!

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Top view of the A6000

I finally got the A6000 EVF and AF info:
– 1,400K dot EVF
– 179 phase detection points (on sensor)

I have been told the AF performance is impressive!

Further, the camera will be announced in a couple of hours at exactly 4am London time (that’s 5am in Berlin and 11pm in New York).


Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!

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!

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(SR5) UPDATED: First images of the A6000!

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This is the first image of the A6000! The camera will be announced tomorrow around 4-5am London time and you can follow the announcement live here on SAR!

UPDATE: This is the top view of the new A6000!

It also looks like the sensor is Exmor and not ExmorR. Maybe the original message contained an error because the compact cameras actually use Exmor R sensors :)

Additionally we now know the 3 inch screen has 921,000 dots and is tiltable.

via Digicameinfo, via DRphotorumor.


Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!

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!

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(SR5) Specs of the new Sony compacts.

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Image on top shows the new HX400v 50x zoom camera

Tomorrow (Wednesday 5-6am London time) Sony will announce new compact cameras and the new A6000. Here are the compact camera specs.

  • DSC-HX400V
    – 20.4MP back-illuminated CMOS sensor
    – Optical zoom lens 50 times. 24-1200mm equivalent. Zeiss Vario-Sonnar T *
  • DSC-HX60V
    – 20.4MP back-illuminated CMOS sensor
    – Optical zoom lens 30 times. 24-720mm equivalent
    – 60 times all the pixels super-resolution zoom for dealing with moving
  • DSC-WX350
    – 18.2MP back-illuminated CMOS sensor
    – Lens 20x optical zoom. 25-500mm equivalent
    – 40 times all the pixels super-resolution zoom for dealing with moving
  • DSC-W810
    -20.1MP CCD sensor
    – Optical zoom lens 6 times. 26-156mm equivalent
  • DSC-WX220
    – 18.2MP back-illuminated CMOS sensor
    – Lens 10x optical zoom. 25-250mm equivalent
    – 20 times all the pixels super-resolution zoom for dealing with moving

The HX60v.

via Digicameinfo.

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Top Sony US deals: Up to $650 off on A7-A7r bundles and on Alpha bundles!

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There are many new deals ongoing in USA:

1) Up to $650 off on A7-A7r and lens bundles:
– You save up to %650 on A7/A7r and lens bundles and to see all possible combinations check out the deal table at Amazon US (Click here).
– At Bhphoto click on the A7 (Click here) or A7r (Click here) BHphoto links and than click on the “Save $200 On Select Sony Lenses” to add the $200 discounted lenses.
$450 off On The Sony HVL-F60M External Flash when you buy the A7 with 28-70mm kit lens (Click here).
–  Adorama too: A7 (Click here) and A7r (Click here) and than click on “Save up to $650.00 with bundle.”.
– $650 savings are also running at SonyStore US (Click here).

2) Up to %650 off on Sony A-mount camera bundles:
At SonyStore US (Click here) and Amazon US (Click here).

3) The number one :)
And you guess what camera is still the most sold camera in US largest online store Amazon (Click here to see the ranking and the camera). More Sony deals (inlcuding on NEX and QX) can be seen on that Amazon page (Click here).

4) SD cards
$18 off on the Lexar 32GB SDHC Platinum II 200x Class 10 UHS-I Memory Card (2-Pack) at BHphoto (Click here).

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