Originally posted by D1N0 Why would Sony do that? There is a grip for the A7 and there are A to E-mount adapters. I think A-mount is dead. Sony just hasn't told us yet.
I was at a Sony media event recently to test the A7R II. They did tell me that "the best A-mount camera ever is the A7R II". That is an approximate but direct quote from their uppermost USA folks, plus a couple engineers flown in from Japan for the event.
However, no straight answers were given when asked specifically, "does this mean the A-mount will never receive a new body, ever..."
We also asked them about their historic use of the number 7 to denote a prosumer line, and the number 9 to denote a flagship pro line. They did say they were "still keeping that tradition" I took that to mean, holy crap, what then could an A9 / A9R / A9S be...?" Or in other words, if this is what Sony can do with the number seven, Canon and Nikon should be shaking in their boots in fear that they use the number nine again before they're ready to compete with it.
To be honest though, I will always prefer an optical viewfinder. I'm an old dog and EVF is the one new trick I'm going to leave off my to-do list for the foreseeable future.
Sony themselves have admitted that, if you want the best optical quality, a full-frame mirrorless body and dedicated lens will not really save you that much weight or space. Sure, the original A7 was tiny, but that created its own issues with shake and heat. The A7R II weighs about as much as a Nikon D750 or Nikon Df, both which have plenty of bells and whistles.
I would love to see Pentax create an OVF, FF body that weighs more like a D750 / Df than a D810 / 5D mk3. Once you save those few ounces, you start to realize there's not much you can't do with an EVF camera that you can't do with an OVF camera by simply turning on live view.
In other words, all of this is a moot point. If camera companies really wanted to, they could do both without really adding more than a few ounces.
Considering Pentax' history for big, bright viewfinders, I suspect they'll be the ones whose cold, dead hands you'll have to pry optical prisms from. And to that I say, huzzah!