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Tuesday, December 1, 2009

A700 replacemnet rumors

Rumors are out on the Internet that the A700 successor, which is likely to be unveiled in Q1 2010 should have one revolutionary features:
1) Pellix (or pellicle) mirror
Photonotes.org explains very well what a pellicle mirror is: “Also “fixed reflex mirror.” Essentially this is a SLR reflex mirror which is partially transparent and does not move.
One of the advantages of traditional moving-mirror SLR cameras is that the photographer can look through the viewfinder and see what the actual taking lens is seeing. The primary disadvantage is mirror blackout – when the mirror has flipped up to expose the film then nothing can be seen through the viewfinder. Mirror blackout, though brief at high shutter speeds, can nonetheless be a problem for sports and other action photography.
Cameras with pellicle mirrors have fixed half-silvered mirrors that both direct light to the viewfinder and to the film surface. They therefore eliminate mirror blackout whilst preserving the advantages of an SLR. They are also much quieter, as there are no mirror slap sounds or blur-inducing vibrations caused by mirror motion. Pellicle mirror cameras can also shoot almost instantly – unlike most SLRs there’s no lag time resulting from having to move the mirror out of the way. This rapid-fire capability also permits faster film transport mechanisms in some cases.
Pellicle mirror cameras have two drawbacks. First, the mirror must be kept scrupulously clean because light passes through it to the film surface. Second, because some of the light is being diverted up to the viewfinder there’s less light available to the film. Pellicle mirrors typically cost 2/3 stop of light and the viewfinder is also a bit dimmer.
A pellicle is a membrane or a thin film and refers in this case to the very thin reflective coating on the mirror.”
There are many film-cameras which do use the Pellicle Mirror. An example is the Canon EOS RT, the
Canon EOS-1N RS and the Nikon F3H.
Some other interesting specs on the rumor mill are
2) shoots ten frames a second
3) It also has an electronic view finder
4) 1920×1080 video (no details yet about frame rate and compression type but the video quality will easily beat the quality of Nikon/Canon cameras)
5) full AF in 1920×1080 video
the main advantage with the use of a pellicle mirror. The Phase Autofocus System works during video-recording?
6) takes SD cards??? Will have to see about this, I personally do not think that Sony will part with it's own MS format

Original post can be found at http://sonyalpharumors.com/sr4-the-sony-a700-successor-will-have/

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