Sony have just announced a slew of DSLRs, the latest two 
being the A300 and A350 - the latter is APSC with a 
(stupidly high*) 14 megapixel sensor. They now (finally) 
have "live view" but, unlike everyone else so far, Sony have 
finally done it the way I "designed" one several years ago 
(it's easy when you don't have to actually make it) and 
don't do the brain dead "mirror down, mirror up) sequence 
that everyone else does so far with their live view.

Up until now the A350 was crying out to me to take it home 
and use it with my excessive range of compatible Minolta 
lenses.
(On the market in April, they say, at ~$US900 SRP body 
only). My thoughts of buying an A700 have wavered.

However, the clamour seemed to dim to a background whisper 
when I saw this press release.

        http://www.steves-digicams.com/pr/sony_01292008_cmos_pr.html

The path may be longish and rugged, but this is the 
announcement of Sony's "sometime" full frame 35mm sensor. 
Onchip 12 bit A2D. Stupid* (again) 24.81 megapixels.

One of these days not too too long from now the first 
Minolta lens compatible full frame DSLR will see the light 
of day. The A350 cries wanly on my doorstep as I muse the 
yet-to-be options ... .


        Russell

________________________________


* Stupid:    You don't NEED either 14+ or 24+ Mp in sensors 
of this size. Providing them largely increases noise levels 
and degrades overall picture quality. About half as much in 
each case is ample. Regardless of what Canon does and what 
others feel inclined to knee-jerk follow.

FWIW - this is the detail you can get with a 6!!!! Mp APSC 
(half frame) digital sensor.

        http://others.servebeer.com/misc/Toreka.jpg

Do you really want to more than double the pixels on an APSC 
sensor at the expense of more than doubling the noise level 
you could otherwise achieve?




-- 
http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive
View/change your membership options at
http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist