a300 (Swivel-Screen/Liveview), a350 confirmed

Updated 20080129 @ 1037 EST:

Doing some scouting on the SonyStyle website reveals confirmation of the a300 (big deal) and the new swivel screen a300K.

A300 and A300K - 10.2MP/Live View/Swivel Screen
From SonyStyle:

From Minolta Spain:




A350 - 14.2MP/Live View/Swivel Screen
From SonyStyle:

From Minolta Spain:




A300 and A350 will have swivel-screen standard. Button layouts on both models confirm SOME implementation of Live View (HOW is the subject f much debate).

Two new buttons. One on top-plate, and one to right of view-finder. The button to the right is to zoom in Live View (for accurate MF?). The new SWITCH on the top plate is to switch between Live View and the optical viewfinder (or Digital [Electronic] Viewfinder, as some beleive).

The SSS switch, Fn button, and AF selector pad are pushed slightly to the right to allow more room for swivel screen. No other differences, stop looking or you'll hurt your eyes...

Images of both from Minolta Spain appear to be the same except for the MP designation... I'm just the messenger.

No image of the a900... :-(

Thanks to Ankit for initial large images. Initial small images removed for cleanliness. Larger images borrowed from Minolta Spain.

For those of you who don't know, Advizia is the E-Commerce host that Sony uses to run the SonyStyle. All images are direct from the Advizia/SonyStyle database, and as such, are essentially the final word.

This makes 5 cameras in Sony's active line-up.

And a message from Kiklop:

- please .. please ... please .... try to be polite and friendly. With the announcement date closing our admin/mod team will once again decrease our level of tolerance and we will start deleting threads without any warning or explanations (we don't have the time to discuss each word written). - no bashing other persons are allowed. - bashing other brands or users isn't allowed unless you are tolerant and you do have arguments - if you find yourself frustrated by someones postings, use the report button (leave us handle it), take a deep breath and go out shooting with your camera .. that's we have it for ;) happy shooting !

20080128 @ 2000 EST:

Ok, well it seems we have reached an informational stand-still now. Much of this thread is not speculation, as a good deal of the information mentioned was garnered directly from the photos presented (except the CCD/CMOS bit). This was crazy, +13k views in one day! Awesome... And to think, I haven't posted in months! HA! I would also note that this is not the first thread on the topic of the A300/A350. A good bit of discussion had been done at "A200 Based Flip screen DSLR - Main Discussion" and "A 300 coming? Battery grip logic." However, I started this thread because this was the confirmation from the horse's mouth. Folks coming from abroad. Be sure to check out the rest of our forum. It is a lovely place! Full of beautiful pictures and wicked smart individuals. Alpha-Mount owners, we want you! And if you don't own an Alpha-Mount? Well, you'd best get one. :-D

20080129 @ 1020 EST:

To clear up the Live-View/Optical-Viewfinder/Digital-Viewfinder/Electronic-Viewfinder debate. It says "Live View/OVF" on the top=plate. Not EVF (looks like EVF on small images from side) or DVF (it looks like DVF on large from-top image due to the curvature of the camera). However. We have it on good word that there MAY be some implementation of an EVF on one of the models. It is rumored that this would be done by replacing the Focus-Screen with a low-resolution, low frame-rate, low cost sensor of an unknown kind, and placing a similar low-spec'd LCD in front of the viewers eye. The reasons for this are many. One, it would retain high-accuracy AF while presenting the user (presumably a compact-convert) with a comfortable familiar interface. It would bring Sony into the "Live-View" category in a manner that they may feel is better (they have mentioned that current implementation of LV is flawed). Etc. I don't exactly agree, but we shall find out in a matter of days...

Edited by beline - 29 January 2008 at 16:37

I am unsure of where you are finding these on SonyStyle...

edit/ sorry just missed your second post, i understand now !

Edited by ricardovaste - 28 January 2008 at 18:55

Well...it looks like the dreaded "XX.X megapixels" logo on the left-hand side is still there (I had hoped they would only have this on the A200) :(

Oh and... pics #1 (A300) and #3 (A350) look to be the same...

Played a bit with the URLs. This is authentic guys. I'll let the pictures do the talking. Look closely at the little sticker that everyone loves to hate:

Well... it pretty much confirms what Kiklop has said a while ago: two models, both with LiveView, one 10mp, the other 14mp.

Now... 14mp CCD... I wonder how that one behaves at ISO800 and above :(


I'm also really curious to see how the LV implementation works. Is it worth a smaller viewfinder, or not?

no.. please don't tell me, those are both A200 clones with LV and one of them has more mpix..

Uuuu.... I wonder what that little lever besides the lens mount does :)