The Inevitable (Affordable) Mirrorless Full Frame

If you want a mirrorless full frame right now, the only game in town is Leica, which will set you back many thousands of dollars. The market has been calling for a more affordable mirrorless full frame for a few years now, but nobody has answered. Rumor has been floating around the net lately, that Sony is about to introduce a full frame mirrorless. I believe it. I do not believe Canon or Nikon, or anyone else, would want to produce such a product, either because they want to protect their full frame DSLR market, or unable to make one economically and make money from it. Sony is the perfect manufacturer to make one; they already have the RX1. All they need to do is to make the mount interchangeable. And, there is the VG9000 full frame with the NEX E-mount, which is optimized for video and is not exactly small or portable.

Yes Virginia, I think the market is ready for a full frame mirrorless camera. Rumor has it that the Sony version will cost $3000 for the body, which is a lot of dough, and I think is overpriced. Consider the RX1, that has a built-in excellent Zeiss lens, costs less. Poor mortals like me cannot afford one at this price, but I am sure there are many early adopters who has deep pockets will snap up these eagerly awaited full frame bodies. Perhaps in a couple of years, we might see its cost fall below $2000.

My fear is that even when the full frame mirrorless costs under $2000, it will still be a very niche camera. We have already seen camera sales have fallen by some 40% this year over last. The continuing sales slide may force the camera maker to pull it off the market. Let's hope this will not happen.

Flower - NEX-6 & Carl Zeiss Jena Pancolar 80mm f1.8

The Full Frame Sony NEX

The Sony Alpha Rumor site has a posting about the up coming full frame Sony NEX with a SR5 (highest) rating. Generally, posts with SR5 rating are almost always correct.  This is indeed an excellent news.  The only rangefinder style full frame camera is currently made by Leica: the M9 and M9 Monochrom.  Most of us mortals can not afford such expensive cameras.  A full frame rangefinder that can auto focus and thousands of dollars less than the Leica?  What's not to like?

The only question is: How will it be implemented?  The current E-Mount, from the look of it, does not seem to be able to accommodate a full frame sensor.  So a new mount or a modified E-Mount maybe possible.  For me personally, it's not a real problem, as I only have two E-mount auto focus lenses, and I am willing to accept a new mount.

If Sony can pull off this feat with a full frame sensor in an NEX style body, I bet many people will forgo their current big full frame DSLRs.

Interesting and exciting times.  Can't wait for the official announcement.

I see pixels -- NEX-5N & Schneider-Kreuznach Componar 50mm f4.5 Enlarging lens with 4-blade aperture at f5.6 or f8.