During the CP tradeshow in Yokahama, Sony made several important announcements about products in development and about the imminent arrival of a long-awaited lens. Let's take a look at each of these.

Alpha Full-Frame DSLR

According to a comment made by a Sony Corporation spokesperson during a round-table discussion, the company will be replacing its 24-megapixel full-frame A900. No time frame or specifics were provided, but most industry observers agree that it will likely employ Sony's Translucent Mirror technology and electronic viewfinder, aspects that have become standard in Alpha DSLRs since the a55 and a33 were announced in August 2010.

Some pundits expect the new flagship Alpha model to feature 36-megapixel resolution, although that's strictly a guess, predicated on rumours that Sony manufactures the full-frame 36.3MP CMOS sensor used in Nikon's new D800 and D800E 36.3-Megapixel DSLRs. (insert URL) Frankly, that's a huge leap in logic, since neither company would comment as to the source of that 36.3MP chip.

New 500mm f/4 G A-Mount Lens

A more concrete announcement from Sony Corporation during CP confirms that the SAL500F40G super telephoto for Alpha DSLRs will finally be available, by special order in April, though at an undisclosed price. First announced as a product in development at the PMA 2007 tradeshow, and later shown in various iterations, this lens is the longest ever from Sony and boasts impressive specs available for review here. Important features include rugged construction with dust and moisture resistance, an improved supersonic AF system for superior subject tracking, Nano AR Coating and three Extra Low Dispersion elements to correct chromatic aberration.

E-Mount Lens Roadmap

Sony Corporation also distributed a slide to journalists with hints about additional lenses plus a wide angle and tele converter to be available by 2013 for the mirrorless NEX system. (Although the chart, above, indicates 15 lenses, some of those were released in 2011.) No specifics as to focal length and maximum apertures are available yet. Still, this revelation should certainly help to address complaints that "the E-mount lens line is relatively limited," although some of the products are not planned for production until 2013. Some highlights: a wide-angle zoom slated for early to mid 2012; and a G-series high-performance standard zoom, slated for late 2012.

Article Tags:  Sony, alpha, CP+, NEX, translucent, DSLR, full-frame, lens, roadmap