Sony Alpha A700 Announced

Well, we knew that Sony had two digital SLRs in the works and today they've announced the Sony Alpha A700, targeted at "photo enthusiasts or serious photo hobbyists". The A700 has a 12.2 megapixel EXMOR CMOS sensor, BIONZ processing engine, and in-camera image stabilization. The A700 body will be available in October for $1400. Also available in October will be a kit that has the camera and a 18-70mm lens for $1500. In November, you can get a kit with a 16-105mm lens for $1900.

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Sony is also rolling out two new lenses along with the camera, bringing the lens lineup to 23 models. Coming as a kit lens is the DT 16-105 mm f.3.5 – 5.6. The 35mm equivalent zoom range is 24-157.5mm. The other new one is the DT 18 – 250 mm f3.5 – 6.3 lens. Another premium lens is in the works that will feature a supersonic wave focus motor. The 70 -300 mm f4.5 – 5.6 SSM G lens will be available in Spring 2008.

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Sony Alpha A700 features:

• 12.2 megapixel EXMOR CMOS sensor
• 3 inch, 921K pixel LCD
• In-camera stabilization (Super SteadyShot Inside)
• BIONZ processing engine
• New AF system - 11 wide-area sensors, dual cross (two horizontal and two vertical) center area AF sensor
• Optical viewfinder provides 95% coverage at 0.9x magnification
• Maximum shutter speed of 1/8000th of a second
• Continuous shooting up to 5 frames per second - in JPEG fine or standard, you can take as many shots as you have storage for - up to 18 RAW images
• 14 creative styles that can be fine-tuned
• Improved Dynamic Range Optimizer - users can select amount of detail preserved in shadow areas
• HDMI output
• Dual memory slots - Memory Stick Duo slot that can handle the new Memory Stick PRO-HG high-speed transfer standard and a CompactFlash slot

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