[carpents]

Sony UK's Alpha 700 Mini Site

To me this should be called the α-500. Oh well, at least they're offering dedicated manual focus screens - although unlike Pentax the Sony screens are not user-interchangeable.

[ivoire]

Beautiful tool and the advertising/ web work is excellent.

[PENTAX!!! take note of your competition and get that camera and new lenses out to your 'loyal subjects"!!

[ivoire]

Sony UK's Alpha 700 Mini Site

To me this should be called the α-500. Oh well, at least they're offering dedicated manual focus screens - although unlike Pentax the Sony screens are not user-interchangeable.

I made that comment and the site is no longer available! conspiracy? corporate sabotage?

[carpents]

I made that comment and the site is no longer available! conspiracy? corporate sabotage?

I think it has been up and down all day. It must be getting quite a bit of traffic.

Successful advertising or not, I'm still underwhelmed by the camera.

[messthetics]

I'm glad that another company has switched to a CMOS sensor, it seems to have become a trend in this new generation of DSLR's. I think its becoming pretty safe to assume that pentax will implement one as well.

[ricosuave]

more info here.

[Arpe]

And here for the flash Flash movie
http://a700.ic.cz

[Tom M]

I've noticed something in the newest digital slr camera advertisements.. Small cameras with proportionatly large glass.. It's false advertising.. lol

[ZaphodB]

Looks good. New sensor. ISO 6400. Refined 7/7D design... very very nice. Shame about the lens availability and the fact that the ones you can buy are horribly overpriced. They need to inprove their whole system but at least they seem to have proved they can live up to the Minolta legacy regarding body design.

Now...

Canon announcements...
Nikon announcements...
Panasonic announcements(!)...
Olympus announcements...
Sony announcements...
...
...
(waits)...
...
(looks left)...
...
(looks right)...
...
(starts to whistle)...
...
(large dustball blowing past)...
...
Oh, Peeeeentaaax?

[carpents]

Looks good. New sensor. ISO 6400. Refined 7/7D design... very very nice.

I like the idea of a lower-noise sensor, the f/2.8 focus sensor, and a weather-sealed body, but as for the rest of the camera that's about it.

I don't like:
No dedicated exposure compensation/flash compensation knob. (The Maxxum/Dynax 7D had this.)
No top LCD. (The rear LCD is very distracting IMO.)
The rear scroll wheel is in the wrong position again. (K10D got this right!)
AF/MF button will be accidentally hit. 7D is the same way.
Focus screens are not user-interchangeable. Shame on Sony.
SCENE MODES. They're marketing this as a 'semi-pro' camera? C'mon! Put that dial to better use!
Price, price, price. It is, like every other Sony DSLR item, about 1/3rd overpriced. This camera needs to start at $999.


I guess I'll reserve final judgment until I see a live sample. IMO this only gives a sigh of relief to existing Minolta customers, it won't gain new market share. This is a bit of a shame, because Minolta has kept several very fine full-frame lenses that I'd bet could siphon advanced amateurs with the right body.

Now...

Canon announcements...
Nikon announcements...
Panasonic announcements(!)...
Olympus announcements...
Sony announcements...
...
...
(waits)...
...
(looks left)...
...
(looks right)...
...
(starts to whistle)...
...
(large dustball blowing past)...
...
Oh, Peeeeentaaax?

Pretty funny, Zaph. Totally agree.

[Stratman]

Price, price, price. It is, like every other Sony DSLR item, about 1/3rd overpriced. This camera needs to start at $999.

Actually it's like ANY item that says Sony on it, lol, they have always been rediculously overpriced compared to their competition.

[barondla]

Camera sort of underwhelms me. I was afraid that Sony would do the killer app. That would have been a Canon 40D/ Nikon 200 price camera with full frame sensor. All companies would have lost incredible market share. Canon owners would have left in mass. The old Sony would have done this.
Looks like an okay camera, but scene modes? Hidef tv output? These aren't the things that get most real photographers excited. Little surprised at the lack of gps. Sony sells an add on gps for cameras now. Don't see this camera making serious inroads into Canokon. Unless the image quality is out of this world. Don't think it even beats out the K10D. Non user interchangeable focusing screens? What a joke on an advanced amatuer camera.
thanks
barondla (the K10D isn't going anywhere)