A swedish guy published some more details about the future A90 and A390 cameras on Dyxum:
“An article with pictures and a few specs about the new Sony A290 and A390 appeared today in a Swedish photo magazine, “Digitalfoto för Alla” #9

Very glad for this, despite that they are of no interest for me prsonally (I already have an A550, which I am VERY happy with – it is FAR better than most reviewers thinks). The important thing IMO is that Sony (unlike some pessimists here?), obviously believes there still is life in low-end DSLRs (and even more so in cameras higher up in the Sony camera hierarki, one might assume), and that the NEX system isn’t supposed to kill the current Alpha line. Sony is possibly expecting some reduction in sales though, since there are only two models (if it stays that way) instead of the usual three… :-)

Anyway, it seems to be mainly complaint-fixes. :-)

The much critizised grip of the A230/A330/A380 series is gone, and replaced with a more conventional and appearantly with much better ergonomy.

The Smart Teleconverter button is moved out of the way a little, up onto the camera top.

Resolution of the lowend model is increased with 40%, so now both are equipped with 14 Mp image sensors. Couldn’t find any mention of it being CCD or CMOS, but have made a quick browse only so far.

And A390 has Quick LiveView, while A290 has not (thanks Sony, for not confuse us unnecessarily!).

Still no video.“

We already saw the new Sony Alpha 290 leaked on a thai website. According to our sources the A290 and the A390 will be announced within few days. We already told you that both will feature a new 14 Megapixel CCD and they will be the last Sony cameras without video!

And after that we will see 4 new Alpha cameras all with the new ExmorHD sensor! Two cameras are the pellix cameras (The A55 and A33). And we will tell you more about the third and fourth camera as soon as we get some more details from our sources.

Thanks!

Reminder: We are a rumors website! We are not affiliated with Sony and this are not official Sony news. Please read our disclaimer to learn what “rumor” means!

In November 2009 we told you that Sony was working on a completely new type of camera, the Pellix camera. A Pellix camera has a semitransparent and fixed mirror. Canon was once one of the leaders of the semitransparent mirror tecnology (For example with the Canon EOS RTCanon EOS RTCanon EOS RTCanon EOS RTCanon EOS RTCanon EOS RTCanon EOS RTCanon EOS RTCanon EOS RTCanon EOS RTCanon EOS RT) Those pellix cameras were all film cameras.

SonyAlphaRumors learned that Sony will launch two new Pellix cameras at Photokina (late September). This will be the first digital pellix cameras ever made. Both cameras will feature the new APS-C ExmorHD sensor.

Why should pellix be interesting?
1) Ken Rockwell said it few days ago: “why isn’t (video on DSLR) it good enough for me? Simple: DSLRs have no real autofocus!“. Current DSLR+video cameras like the Canon 5D MarkII or the Nikon D3s do have a very slow contrast autofocus. With the fixed semitransparent mirror from the future Sony cameras you will have a fast working phase detection autofocus not only for stills but also for video. And it will be the fastest autofocus ever made on a DSLR+video camera!
2) The mirror is fixed so there will be no moving parts. That should help you to get sharper images (like on rangefindersrangefindersrangefindersrangefindersrangefindersrangefindersrangefindersrangefindersrangefindersrangefindersrangefinders)
3) The camera will be more silent!
4) The camera can take pictures (stills!) at over 10fps!

The only minor issue of Pellix cameras is that they have to split the light in two parts. A small part of the light goes to the phase detection sensor and a bigger part to the sensor. You should loose no more than 1/3 EV. We really shouldn’t worry about that :)

It is clear that Sony wants to offer the best possible video expereince on DSLR cameras! The pellix tecnology combined with the new ExmorHD sensor will almost create the Killer DSLR+video camera. I say “almost” because there is also one more thing we still would need: Raw-video recording. But according to our sources the camea will record in AVCHD format (24/Mbit/s).

What’s the difference between the two cameras? The A55 will record in FullHD (1080 60i/50i) and the A33 in 720p. The body will be very small like current APS-C Sony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony AlphaSony Alpha cameras. The price of the Pellix cameras? Cheap! I don’t know the price but I am certain it will be cheap!

One more thing. The cameras won’t be called DSLR anymore (Should be something like DSTR T=transparent). And yes it is a “classic” AlphaMount camera.

As you may remember in February we also posted a Sony patent which shows how it works: http://sonyalpharumors.com/sr5-and-here-it-is-the-sony-half-mirror-pellix-patent/

Some technical details about the Pellix mirror have been posted at EosHD.

So, keep following us! We are also on Facebook and Twitter! And send us your rumors at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com!
Thanks
Andrea

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