You've probably read plenty of articles touting the benefits of Sony's translucent mirror technology (e.g. high fps, AF for video, quietness, etc...), but what about the cons? One of the main downsides to having a translucent mirror is that the light hitting the sensor passes through an additional layer (the translucent mirror), which reduces the amount of light and the image quality.
Here’s an interesting look at the guts of the pellicle mirror Sony A55 and how the camera works. The …
Sony and Olympus are headed in very different directions when it comes to DSLR cameras. While Olympus …
TIME magazine has named the Sony Alpha A55 as one of the top …
Sony has issued an "important notice" that shooting HD video for semi-long periods of time with the A33 and A55 may cause the sensor to overheat, shutting off the camera. How long the camera lasts depends on ambient temperature and image stabilization is enabled. If it's 30° C (~86° F) the A55 can only go 6 minutes with IS turned on.
Two advantages of the translucent mirror found in the Sony A33 and A55 are high fps continuous shooting (since the mirror doesn't slow things down) and the lack of viewfinder blackouts when shots are being captured.
The rumors that have been circulating in recent weeks were spot on: Sony has just announced four new DSLR cameras: the A33, A55, A560, and A580. As expected, the A33 and A55 are the world's first pellicle mirror DSLRs, and have the features and specs we posted just yesterday: phase-detect autofocus while recording HD video or shooting 7fps or 10fps respectively.
The above is supposedly a leaked photo of the not-yet-announced Sony A33 and its …
Alleged photographs of the upcoming Sony Alpha A33 and A55 DSLR cameras have popped up in an overseas forum. The images look legitimate, though the A55 and A33 front views are identical images that had the model number Photoshopped. Not sure why that is.
These two cameras are rumored to be pellicle mirror cameras. Read this post that we wrote last week to learn more about what pellicle mirrors are.
Here's what the next couple weeks are going to look like in terms of press events possibly related to DSLR announcements: Nikon goes first on August 19th, Sony does theirs on August 24th, and Canon has one scheduled August 26th. Nikon will likely be announcing the D3100, while Canon drops the 60D during theirs.
A big rumor regarding Sony's upcoming unveiling is that they're going to be showing us the world's first pellicle mirror system on a DSLR camera. This means instead of a traditional bulky mirror that swings out of the way -- as found in current DSLRs -- the Sony DSLR will have an ultra-thin and ultra-lightweight semitransparent mirror that allows photos to be shot without the mirror swinging out the way.