Sony Alpha A850, $2400 price?

August 2 2009
By Brad Soo
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Ever wished for a cheaper version of Sony’s Alpha A900 full frame digital SLR? Well, here’s your dream come true – the Alpha A850 full frame SLR (whose news was leaked today and currently spreading around the net faster than wildfire). The Sony Alpha A850 is a cheaper, slightly (and I mean very slightly) less featured version of the A900 announced in September last year.

The Alpha A850 essentially takes the body of the A900 (with tiny one or two millimeter shifts in dimensions here and there) and everything else in it, including the 24.6 megapixel image sensor, and puts a lower price tag on it. There are some minor changes here, which include a single Bionz processor, a viewfinder with slightly less frame coverage (down 2% from the A900) and a slower 3 FPS burst mode (which, however, can take more shots in a single burst versus the A900).

PRICE TAG: As of now, I don’t have an official price tag on the Sony Alpha A850, but by looking at the prices of similar full frame digital SLRs at introduction – Canon 5D Mark II ($2700), Nikon D700 ($3000) and Sony Alpha A900 ($3000) – and the market price for the A900 at the moment (around $2600-2700), I get a feeling the A850 will go for $2400. For people who know their stuff, $2400 is a steal for a new full-frame digital SLR and I’m sure we’ll be seeing more new offerings at lower intro prices in the future.

[Picture to come]

Sony Alpha A850
(Full frame digital SLR)

24.6 effective megapixels (CMOS, Full frame sensor)
Sony lens mount (compatible with Minolta ones too, DT lenses are subjected to 1.5X crop factor to 11 MP)
Dust reduction
In-body sensor-shift image stabilization
Single Bionz imaging processor (versus A900’s dual processors)
3 inch super-high resolution LCD (920,000 pixels)
98% viewfinder with 0.74X magnification (A900 had same magnification but 100% coverage)
No on-board flash
No live view; camera can take a ‘sampling shot’ instead to preview various exposure, dynamic range and white balance effects
3 FPS burst mode up to unlimited JPEG, 16 RAW or 12 RAW + JPEG images(versus 5 FPS on Alpha A900)
Full manual controls with RAW mode and hotshoe
9 point AF with 10 extra assist sensors (center is dual cross type)
No movie mode
About the same size and weight as the Alpha 900
Dual memory card slots for Compact Flash (supports Type I/II and UDMA enabled cards) and Memory Stick Duo
Uses a lithium-ion battery (NP-FM500H, same as Alpha 700 and Alpha 900)
Available in September for $2×00 (body only)