Surprise, or not, the Sony Alpha 450!

It’s quite like the A550, but:

– No Quick AF Live View.
– viewfinder has improved from 0.8x 95% to 0.83x 95%.
– LCD screen has shrunk from 3″ 640×480 LCD to 2.7″ 320×240 LCD.
– No Smart Teleconverter function (because there is no Quick AF Live View… but I honestly like the Smart Teleconverter function.)
– Eye-Start AF sensor has been moved above the viewfinder (a first for any Alpha.)

(Obvious where this picture comes from. I could not find it on http://presscentre.sony.eu/content/detail.aspx?NewsAreaId=2&ReleaseID=5395.)

If you check the EXIF on the pictures on that site, the A450 has existed at least since 13th October 2009!

Notice that it is now called “MF CHECK LIVEVIEW” because there is space; on the A500/A550 it is spelled “MF CHECK LV”.

As comparison here’s the A550 top.

I’m not quite sure why they needed to move the Eye-Start AF sensor above. However, it does decrease the distance from eye level to lens level, which does cause a minor parallax between what you see and what you see when you look through the viewfinder. The benefit is a slightly higher viewpoint in normal position… but a downside if using the camera upside-down to gain a boost in viewpoint.

It looks like it will use the same VG-B50AM as the A500/A550, which is good news.

On the plus side, all the great new additions of the A550 are in – the fantastic AutoHDR, 7 FPS Speed Priority, Dynamic Range Optimizer up to Level 5, MF Check Live View.

This is indeed, the upgrade for the A200, as the A550 was to the A350 and the A500 to the A300. (The A230/A330/A380 can be seen as retooled deviants.)

However, I am not in the market for an A450; the A550 is far more appealing as a fun, freehand dSLR which I can use in Quick AF Live View all the time. Having only MF Check LV is not great for over-the-head shots when you still need to manually focus! The A550 appeals as a backup to my A900 because it also gives me 7 FPS and a swivel screen.

Now that it is obvious that Sony does things in threes, could there be an A800? What could a possible A800 take out from the A850? Could it remove Intelligent Preview from the DOF button and add MF Check LV?

In other news, Canon has released the Canon 70-200mm F2.8L II IS USM; the major change being that the minimum focus distance is 1.2 meters instead of 1.4 meters. Finally! 7 years after the Minolta 70-200mm F2.8G SSM did 1.2 meters! (And the new Nikkor AF-S 70-200mm F2.8 VR II still does 1.4 meters.)