I'm afraid I don't have an exclusive announcement for you here, though I wish I did. The 'NEX-7' is of course only one of a number of eagerly anticipated new products from Sony. We are also waiting on the 'A77' and the Carl Zeiss 24mm E-mount lens.
At least we have seen some mock ups of the 'A77' and the planned E-Mount lenses but as yet nothing official on the next NEX. Over at SonyAlpha Rumors (SAR), there have been a string of posts speculating on the specifications of the 'NEX-7', conveniently summarised in one recent posting.
For a camera rumoured to be released only three months from now the information is decidedly thin. Will it be bigger than the current models? Will it have a built in electronic viewfinder? It will, it seems, have more knobs, dials and buttons - though whether that is a good thing might be debatable. It will have a higher build quality, though at a rumoured $1300 it had better have.
The most interesting - and most problematic - rumour is that it will have a 24MP sensor, shared with the new 'A77'. Of course there will be concerns over the implications for image quality of packing that many pixels onto an APS-C sized sensor. Though Sony seem to have overcome their earlier weakness in this regard with the excellent 16 MP sensor that is getting rave reviews in Sony's own A580 and A55, the Pentax K-5, the Nikon D7000 and now the Nikon D5100.
The more interesting question for me is what lens Sony intend to package with this camera that will do justice to all those pixels. The current kit lenses have often been unfairly criticised - usually by people who seem to expect premium performance from what is a budget lens. On the basis of my own experience with the 18-55 kit lens I think that it is a very acceptable lens for what it is. But even its greatest advocates would have to accept that there is no way that it is capable of doing justice to the resolution available with a 24MP sensor. It's interesting to note that according to SAR there will be a new high quality kit zoom lens for the 'A77'.
So, if the 'NEX-7' is indeed announced in July and does start shipping in September, what are we going to be putting on the front of it? Sony's E-Mount lens roadmap does allow for a high quality 'G' branded standard zoom, just the thing to match with this camera, but it is not scheduled to appear until 2012.
Either, Sony are going to introduce this lens a lot sooner than anticipated - and wouldn't we all love that - or Sony isn't going to introduce the 'NEX-7' anytime soon and will release the camera and lens together at some point in 2012 - groans of disappointment all round.
There is one other intriguing possibility though. Since the 24mm Sony Carl Zeiss prime is scheduled to appear this year, could it be that Sony will market the 'NEX-7' with this as the kit lens? This might go some way to explaining that rumoured $1300 price tag. In some respects this could be Sony's high-tech version of the Fuji X100. Yes, the Sony would have interchangeable lenses, but a high-end NEX with a fast Carl Zeiss prime sounds like a winner to me even if we would once again have to wait for further suitable lenses to appear.
I don't know about you, but I am as intrigued by this possibility as many of our members have been by the X100. Having determined that I would never spend more than $1000 on a camera I find my resolution potentially wavering. If the 'NEX-7' has a 24MP sensor and if that sensor can build on the image quality of Sony's existing best sensor and if it comes with the Zeiss 24mm as standard and if that lens lives up to its name, then I could very easily be tempted.
That's a lot of 'ifs', I know, but ultimately it's all speculation and rumour, just a bit of fun for now. Only time, and Sony, will tell.
At least we have seen some mock ups of the 'A77' and the planned E-Mount lenses but as yet nothing official on the next NEX. Over at SonyAlpha Rumors (SAR), there have been a string of posts speculating on the specifications of the 'NEX-7', conveniently summarised in one recent posting.
For a camera rumoured to be released only three months from now the information is decidedly thin. Will it be bigger than the current models? Will it have a built in electronic viewfinder? It will, it seems, have more knobs, dials and buttons - though whether that is a good thing might be debatable. It will have a higher build quality, though at a rumoured $1300 it had better have.
The most interesting - and most problematic - rumour is that it will have a 24MP sensor, shared with the new 'A77'. Of course there will be concerns over the implications for image quality of packing that many pixels onto an APS-C sized sensor. Though Sony seem to have overcome their earlier weakness in this regard with the excellent 16 MP sensor that is getting rave reviews in Sony's own A580 and A55, the Pentax K-5, the Nikon D7000 and now the Nikon D5100.
The more interesting question for me is what lens Sony intend to package with this camera that will do justice to all those pixels. The current kit lenses have often been unfairly criticised - usually by people who seem to expect premium performance from what is a budget lens. On the basis of my own experience with the 18-55 kit lens I think that it is a very acceptable lens for what it is. But even its greatest advocates would have to accept that there is no way that it is capable of doing justice to the resolution available with a 24MP sensor. It's interesting to note that according to SAR there will be a new high quality kit zoom lens for the 'A77'.
So, if the 'NEX-7' is indeed announced in July and does start shipping in September, what are we going to be putting on the front of it? Sony's E-Mount lens roadmap does allow for a high quality 'G' branded standard zoom, just the thing to match with this camera, but it is not scheduled to appear until 2012.
Either, Sony are going to introduce this lens a lot sooner than anticipated - and wouldn't we all love that - or Sony isn't going to introduce the 'NEX-7' anytime soon and will release the camera and lens together at some point in 2012 - groans of disappointment all round.
There is one other intriguing possibility though. Since the 24mm Sony Carl Zeiss prime is scheduled to appear this year, could it be that Sony will market the 'NEX-7' with this as the kit lens? This might go some way to explaining that rumoured $1300 price tag. In some respects this could be Sony's high-tech version of the Fuji X100. Yes, the Sony would have interchangeable lenses, but a high-end NEX with a fast Carl Zeiss prime sounds like a winner to me even if we would once again have to wait for further suitable lenses to appear.
I don't know about you, but I am as intrigued by this possibility as many of our members have been by the X100. Having determined that I would never spend more than $1000 on a camera I find my resolution potentially wavering. If the 'NEX-7' has a 24MP sensor and if that sensor can build on the image quality of Sony's existing best sensor and if it comes with the Zeiss 24mm as standard and if that lens lives up to its name, then I could very easily be tempted.
That's a lot of 'ifs', I know, but ultimately it's all speculation and rumour, just a bit of fun for now. Only time, and Sony, will tell.