Among the exciting new possibilities that emerged during and after Photokina 2012, we have the probable full frame compact system cameras. Major tech giants that have hinted towards this possibility include Sony and Fuji Film. So we can expect a new battle front in the domain of compact system cameras between Sony and Fuji in 2013, and this front is the full frame compact system cameras. Sony’s possible intentions were revealed in a recent interview with Mark Weir, Senior Manager of Technology and Marketing for Sony Electronics Inc., during Photokina. Other than talking about the RX 1 full frame compact cameras form the company, Mark Weir also shed some light on the NEX-series compact systemcameras from Sony and the way they are being received in the market.
Mark Weir said that the main reason behind the popularity of compact system cameras is the development of new devices, since camera development follows device development. He said that Sony is hard at work creating new devices which could be used in new cameras in future. Main attention is being paid to the development of full frame sensors and processors which can be used to efficiently process the data. The new full-frame image sensors generate the 14-bit raw data, other than the full frame data, which is hard to handle for the conventional processors and need high processing power.
Talking about AFD sensors, Mark Weir said that the primary function of this sensor is that it allows the added points to give a depth map of information, which not only extends the coverage area but also the density of the points. This is particularly useful while capturing images of fast moving objects, since greater possibility is that when a fast moving object comes in front of the camera, it would be targeted by one of the several AF points. And the AF range control, working in conjunction with 102 AF point array and conventional sensor, allows you to declare a specific area that the AF system will ignore while shooting. This sensor is also useful for capturing videos since users have the ability of controlling the AF duration time.
Talking about the video capturing capabilities of the NEX compact systemcameras from Sony, Mark Weir affirmed that the shutter speeds for video recording on these cameras can go as low as the quarter of a second and multiple identical frames are recorded until a fresh frame is exposed. A few structural changes have been brought in Nex-6 and NEX-7 cameras, talking about which Mr. Weir said that NEX-6 has been evolved to provide a physical shooting mode dial which was highly demanded by the users. With these physical dials, NEX-6 is more in line with DSLR cameras and would be very useful for people considering switching from DSLR cameras to mirrorless ones. Besides, there is also the facility of Tri-Nevi on the NEX-7 which facilitates direct access to several controls during the shooting process.
About the possibility of a full frame mirrorless camera form Sony, Mark Weir said that if Sony can make the VG900, it can also make a still camera variant of that. This pretty much tells that we can soon expect a mirrorless camera in the NEX series from Sony equipped with full frame sensor.
