The future of alpha line?

On my calculations, the e-mount will not fit a FF sensor in it, so that rules out the posibility of Sony switching to the e-mount eventually for 'serious' photographers.

I have been looking at the new E-mount and, with making some assumptions (always dangerous); it seems to me that one possible outcome is the adaptation of the e-mount to the alpha line. There are 10 contacts in the mount which obviously is more than the original a-mount and even the modified a-mount (which came to pass with ADI). I believe, although I may be incorrect, as my memory is not what it used to be that the original a-mount had 6 contacts and went to 8 with ADI. So assuming that there are equal distance between the contacts, it should be no big deal for the camera processor to identify the lens and the mount associated with it so that the proper protocol can be used. Therefore I surmise that the e-mount might be very capable of handling both A-mount lenses and E-mount lenses from a protocol and continuity standpoint. It may need to be resized for the alpha line but the electronic connectivity should be there. The NEX mount and the e-lenses also appear to have quite a radius so maybe the adaptation to an APC-C A7xx is not difficult physically.

The a-mount is long in the tooth anyway having orginated with the 7000 in 1986? so if the alpha system is to evolve to take advantage of future technical innovation, then maybe now is the time to start the transition. A lot of Minolta glass, while fine performers, is also in need of a redesign so again to take advantage of as yet some unknown technical innovation in lens capability, the e-mount may be necessary.

I may be missing something but I don't see based on pictures alone what prevents incompatibility between the a-mount and e-mount but then I could be wrong.

Also because the a900 production line has been stopped doesn't necessarily mean the camera will not be available or supported. They probably have built up whetever inventory to support sales and parts that they think they need. They have a requirement to support the camera for 7 years I think.

Just my.00000000002 worth
Tim

"The a-mount is long in the tooth anyway having orginated with the 7000 in 1986? so if the alpha system is to evolve to take advantage of future technical innovation, then maybe now is the time to start the transition."

Manure.

jdm_777 wrote: If the NEX ISO is this good, Man, the next Alpha ISO should be even better. I hope Sony will tweak the AutoFocus more. Looks like video Alpha is next too. http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk/news/sony_our_next_alpha_dslr_will_shoot_video_update_news_297857.html?aff=rss

Since I am not interested in the NEX line, I keep the above as really good news. It is only logical the next alpha will build on NEX's great (from what it looks like) high ISO performance.

Edited by evangelos k - 11 May 2010 at 19:45

Here is one pessimistic (at least for me...) point of view:

Sony need the 10-pins mount and in-lens stabilization for video. The new alpha lens will have something like the E-mount, just with different distance. There will be 2 different e-mount - APS-C which fits the NEX and FF which fits the DSLR (just like today we have two line - FF and APS-C). At first there will be adapters, but you will lose some of the functions (like SSS and maybe AF for some lenses). Later, the adapters will be hard to get...

Are we really sure that the new lenses (500mm and 24mm) are the good old alpha mount (which now Sony calls alpha A-mount) or the new alphs mount (which Sony calls alpha E-mount)? After all, the new mount and system is also alpha...

evangelos k wrote: Since I am not interested in the NEX line, I keep the above as really good news. It is only logical the next alpha will build on NEX's great (from what it looks like) high ISO performance.

But what about low-ISO performance? The NEX lowest ISO is 200.

JeremyT wrote: A-Mount probably should be killed, but we need a sane migration path. The E-mount doesn't appear to provide that, at least not initially, and I imagine that we'll see "something else" from Sony that brings the A-mount into the 21st century (a new mount designed for video on bodies with FF sensors - even down to entry level - with A-mount compatibility, would be my wager).

That is an interesting observation but there are two different markets here: photography and videography. Even though it appears that they are "closing the gap", it is definitely more sensible (in my mind) to keep them separate, for profit generating purposes. There are tons of A-mount AF lenses out there, and people that are willing to invest and buy bodies for them.

The E-mount will stay for casual photographers and videographers, but I don't think the lens selection is going to be diverse as the professional A-mount, which there are plenty of them out there and covers a full 35mm imaging circle.