A850 manual out in HK offical site

In all the discussion about not enough differences bewteen 850 and 900, surely the imaging engine has the potential to be a big one. All we know is single BIONZ vs dual BIONZ but that may relate to more than just a slower FPS. While it is unlikely to represent a significant drop in IQ (from marketing point of view that would be dumb) but there may be other subtle performance issues apart from FPS.

To me this is potentially a much more serious difference to know about that FPS or size of viewfinder, yet this thread has been devoid of any discussion as to the impact of the move.

lattiboy wrote: Can I just say this is all very weird? I really do not understand the direction they're going.

Well, Sony sold Playstation 3's at lower than "at cost" prices, in order to sway gamers from the Microsoft Xbox. I'm guessing they're doing something similar but saving some money by using the same a900 parts.
This sucks, though, for those who paid more for the a900 who "didn't really need 24 megapixels " but just wanted full frame. I have a feeling, though, that something will come out (firmware?) that will make those a900 shooters less pissed.

I don't think i would have been any more peeved at having bought a 900 now the 850 is on its way than with any other camera/pc/mobile/hi tec hardware. There is always something cheaper and better that comes out a couple of months later, just the nature of the beast. Just a question of where on the curve you want to be.

Tim

As an a900 owner I think the new a850 sounds great, the more choices/options a buyer has the better. I am no way annoyed that a cheaper full frame has become available, when you purchase any electrical device you do so knowing it will most likely be superseeded or lower in price in the future.

I think of all the great photos I have from my a900, probably none needed 5fps or 100% viewfinder but I bought what was available at the time and still love getting it out of the bag.

The other thing is Sony needs to sell cameras, if a lower price 24mp FF brings in new buyers then the strategy has worked. There are people all the time buying new cameras who are not aligned to a system that price is a major factor.

what i believe sony is doing at the moment may not seem wise but it will all unfold in the future, what i am thinking is that they are releasing this model so that the can take the a900 and turn that into their pro model while still mainting a decently priced full frame (a850). Think of it this way, throw out every camera but the a230-a330-a380 and your left with a budget full frame but now you need a prosumer camera like the upcoming 60D which will be the A550 and A500 and then you need a pro level camera. Sony is not producing enough pro level optics for them to want to rush into the pro market so i believe we'll see their pro camera next year and then at that point sony will have a complete and logical lineup. just my 2 cents

This sounds good to me - but I do think we're going to see some angry a900 shooters who, given the choice between the 2, would have gone for the a850. Personally I'm very happy with my a900 because I've been using it for almost a year now and I've produced some great results in that time, but for those who've had an a900 for only a month or two and mostly left it sitting in the study until that week off came around...

I'm not a believer in magic wand firmware updates but I certainly hope something comes out to differentiate the a900 from the a850. One thing I'd kill for would be the ability to drop in a new AF array - 9x nicely spaced out crosses. Return the body to Sony for a quick hardware upgrade? I don't see any reason why not...

That's a bit off topic though - going by Kiklop's directions on a850 pricing (and he's one who tends not to spurt rubbish or make wild guesses for website hits) I think it'll create a bit of a ripple. Cheap FF? There's a lot of peoople who've been after that for a long time. Lots and lots of ripples add up into a wave - keep it up Sony.

What is it that people lack on A700/A900?

A700 does not have focus micro adjust. Both lack lifeview. None of these are deal breakers.

Cheap Full Frame is great stuff.

Grubster if Sony "fixes" A900 and puts new camera in the league of D3x/1Ds mk3 would you buy it? No you would not.

If they give all the APS-C shooters way to go full frame at very reasonable cost would this make a dent in the market? Yes it will.

I do not understand the confusion.

What ground breaking features do you want? May be wait till end of September (22nd and 23rd) for the great Sony event.

May be A500/A550 is the camera meant for techie people. Exmor-R, ultra high iso etc.

A850 is simply a camera for people that want to take beautiful photos but did not have the dough to buy 2200 Euro model like A900, D700 or 5d mk3.

You can easily imagine that for very current Full Frame user there are 10 amateurs that cannot afford Full Frame camera. This is where A850 fits.

amazing picture quality, amazing ability to produce shallow DOF pictures, your 28 f2.8 becomes great walk about lens, the 50 f1.7 or f1.4 a dream to use; the zeiss 16-35 becomes amazingly wide lens of incredible quality; the 24-70 the perfect lens for studio stuff; 85 f1.4 incredible portrait lens.

You still retain the superb motion tracking of the A900. Not the frame rate. But how many poeple shoot sports and wild life as percentage of photographers? and if you are into wild life perhaps you can give the little extra for the 5 fps A900 - I mean just look at the lens prices for this segment.

PS Canon did this exact same thing when they released the first 5D camera. IT was slower than the APS-C variant, it lacked the features of their 1D/1Ds line, it had mediocre focusng, mediocre focus tracking, but nevertheless is incredible success.

Edited by karaatanasov - 02 August 2009 at 11:10