The full frame Sony a850 is now officially discontinued at B&H. The camera was announced in August of 2009. The future of the Sony full frame DSLR line is unclear at that point. Sony did confirm that all future Alpha cameras will have translucent mirror technology.
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Sony really is lacking “growth” in their lineup right now…the a700 has been discontinued for how long now? and the a850 is now discontinued too?
Hopefully Sony has replacements on the way…Sony seems to love updating their lower end cameras every 3 months (exaggeration) and doing nothing about the higher end..
I think they want to make something definitive. Let’s hope they achieve that.
[Sarcasm] Sony realized that they could not compete against the Sigma SD1. [/Sarcasm]
The A850 was a test to see if pros would bite with a $2k full frame camera. It probably didn’t have as much an effect as Sony wanted, and they probably decided to continue with just the A900 until a replacement is available. This could be an indication that Sony is finally abandoning their “duplicate” strategy of having multiple, closely specified bodies near the same price point.
I guess it’s because not many people going full frame with Sony.
…or a newer and lower cost model is on its way… I would not be surpised that sony will release the A850 replacement earlier than it was originally anticipated. Maybe after the earthquake they looked at the situation closely and said that let’s stop the production of the old A850 and focus on the new generation. I think sony will not abandon the FX segment.
Right on the money
Since the earthquake has generated losses for every manufacturer they will focus on the products that sell the most and that also produce the most in terms on revenue and thus Sony discontinuing the A850 is a no brainer, first because it will push the sales of the A900 more (focus on the best product and leave the other behind).
What´s scary though is that there are no solid rumors about a new A700… nor there are any solid rumors on the future of the FF line which is scary.
I hope for the best but since I depend on the reliability that there will be new models coming on the future I sold my gear and bought another brand but I´ll be crossing my fingers for you dudes and dudettes.
At one time (when the 900 was introduced) I was really hoping that Sony/Zeiss FF digital would take off.
I wanted Leica to fillow through with their promise(s) of a FF DSLR – we know now that won’t happen, and it appears that the Sony FF DSLR isn’t either; at least that we know of. Canon and Nikon have such a huge advantage with their established systems and it must be near impossible for anyone else to hit the ground running with a complete or nearly complete system.
Maybe digital tech and quality will allow APS or DX format to eventually be close to FF – and the cost would be cheaper too. Seems as though more and more companies are choosing down for that APS/DX sensor tech. As usual, time will tell the tale.
Sony will double their sensor production capacity once the Mar earthquake devastation has been cleaned up. Since camera sales are not likely to double, the extra capacity must be to supply full frame sensors when FF body prices fall below 2K. Was the rumor that it would happen summer 2011 ? Mar 2011 earthquake causing a delay in all things Japanese.