Rumors on the Chinese social media site Weibo suggest that Sony is planning to announce two new mirrorless cameras within the next few weeks.
Sony registered the two cameras with the internal designations of models WW459276 and WW559681. But what cameras could they be? Let’s look at the rumors.
Image credit – SONY
The rumors began when screengrabs of patent registrations appeared on Weibo suggesting the new cameras were coming with WiFi 5.1 as a major feature. As time went on this weekend, the speculation focused on two mirrorless models that are overdue for an update by Sony.
Image credit – Weibo
Sony Addict believes that the cameras could be next generation Sony a9III and Sony a1II, but left the possibility that they may also be the next generation of Sony’s successful a7 line.
This seems unlikely, however, since the a7SM3 and a7M4 have had a recent firmware update and are only three and two years old respectively.
Image credit – Weibo
Conversely, the a9II is four years old while the a1 is two years old. This makes them overdue for a refresh, in order to take advantage of better image sensors and AI-based camera features.
Moreover, according to photorumors.com, the release window for new camera models has generally been between 2 1/2 -4 months from when a registration is listed.
If that window holds, then it’s likely that the rumored cameras will hit the market sometime in December or January, with February being the latest.
And if the rumored Sony a9III is one of the models, the specs that are rumored are as follows: a 50MP full frame RS BSI Cmos Sensor capable of capturing 8k30p and 4K 120p 10-bit video with support for RAW video capture and 5-axis Steady Shot in body image stabilization.
The ISO ranges from 50-102400, and up to 2200 autofocus points for 100% sensor coverage.
Other features of model WW559681 are rumored to include –
- 3.7 m-Dot EVF (Blackout free)
- 759-Pt. Fast Hybrid AF, Real-time Eye AF
- FX100 batteries
- 3.4-inch tilting dual touch screen
- CFExpress Type A/SD dual card slot
- 240 AF calculations per second
- GPS/GLONASS/BeiDou/QZSS compatible
- 5G BASE-T Ethernet port
So far, spec rumors for the second model, WW459276 are sparse, but it is believed to be a mid-range, prosumer model, and that could be the a7 offering, and even then, many think it may just be a “facelift,” and not a serious update with hardware improvements.
The registration is younger than that of the model believed to be the A9III, therefore, users will have to adopt a wait-and-see attitude to see what specs will be forthcoming.
Meanwhile, we can only speculate until then.
[source: Sony Addict]
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