Photography news, before it happens

Random reports about a new high-end Sony APS-C mirrorless camera (with EVF?) have been going around for years without any real leaks or trustable sources. The only reliable information so far is coming from Sony directly:

• In October 2018 Sony promised more APS-C mirrorless lenses and cameras
• Also in October 2018 Sony promised that they have not abandoned their APS-C mirrorless line
• In February 2019 Sony claimed that the a6500 camera replacement “will exceed expectations”

In a recent interview with Imaging Resource, Sony confirmed again that a new “enthusiast” APS-C mirrorless camera is coming:

But I said that, no, for us that market is very important. But before that when we had things to do [Ed. Note: that is, priorities to set], that was the full-frame. Because full-frame for the brand, a kind of symbolic thing. Because before APS-C, we had to create the symbolic brand or symbolic products. So we first started to create the full-frame mirrorless.

Yeah, I think you're right, and we have the opportunity to develop a type of enthusiast APS-C model, and the enthusiasts, especially the US ones are waiting for this type of model. But you know, last year, all the owners, especially at the US market, we conducted a market experiment, and for Alpha 7 Mark II, we kept the price at US$999. And I want you to know that the result was more than our expectation. That means that many enthusiast customers bought the Alpha 7 Mark II, and the Alpha 7 Mark II is a full-frame model, so my understanding is that somehow the customers are overlapped between high-end APS-C and entry-level full-frame.

Well, but we're implying many things. Of course we are trying to expand the APS-C series of cameras. That maybe implies not only one product. And we implied we are working on the sports area, that implied not only a 400mm f/2.8 lens is coming. So we are implying many things, but not directly saying "next model is this one, the next model is this one". But we're focusing on sports and we're focusing on the APS-C area.

Yes, we have a one-mount strategy. So we are trying to increase our APS-C customers; it's very easy for people to go up and down [between sensor sizes]. Full-frame users can easily use a sub camera, and our APS-C camera customers can very easily go up to our full-frame mirrorless.

Here is the recap of the entire Imaging Resource interview with Sony courtesy of SonyAddict:

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