Get on with it!

When these people simply start selling decent 24x36mm sensor sized macines, we'll buy them.

Why they do not is a mystery. Sampling the recent a77 results online says they cannot. Its image quality is processed, artificial and flat, and the lenses too, are lacking.

Of course I look forward to the time everyone can duplicate D3X results in a much lighter silent fast machine that can do HD movies at useable rates, but shall I live that long.

There seems to be aconspiracy or cartel among these manufacturers that prevents what we all know we can use from existing, as thougfh they "feel" the need to support an entire "legacy" industry, that, to be fair, did not even exist a decade ago.

Being fair is no help, because everyone who wants to go on using DSLRs can in any case, that's a given.

But being fair to our future is not happening anywhere right now. Cameron, being fair, is not making hoodies and other headgear illegal- he must do id wrongdoers are to be identified.

Digital camera manufacturers are producing largely very shoddy goods, and we let them too get away with it because , well, we dont have decent monitors and cant see how bad the image quality really is, anyway: and that is theft too.

Sony produced the ONLY interesting machine since the original Exacta SLR when they produced the DSC-R1, and I have been waiting for its full-frame sucessor ever since.

It makes no noise and can be used on film sets and at concerts, and has an 0.007 shutter lag prefocussed, almost six times more accurate a reflection of my choices than my Canon 1Ds MkII with minimal lag applied, and like thousands of other photographers I have been waiting for them both to mate sucessfully.

Seven years is a long pregnancy, and will the offspring make their parents proud of them, or run riot, and do only damage?

A77 hype

Woo users with fancy specs that most wont use - 12 FPS - unless you shoot technical sequences.

Pellicle mirrors/translucent mirrors are old technology - Canon EOS 1H RS!

My extensive professional users experience (owned two 1n RS cameras) - the 1N RS AF accuracy was no better than the 1N (mirror SLR). There is more to AF (sophisticated algorithms) than hardware. The advantage of a mirror-less camera is no momentary black out - a good thing.

If Sony's image processing hardware/software (history of infancy in this respect) from the A77s high ISO sample jpegs are anything to go by (appear very poor, smudged, noisy and firmware resistant) I would dread to think what their AF algorithms are like (these takes years of research to develop and mature).

The translucent mirror will rob the image of resolution that no amount of sharpening can recover - better quality technology than plastics required here.

AFAIK Sony missed the boat by spec over image quality. 24 MP in a crop sensor is ridiculous.

Quality light gathering pixels over fancy spec any day.

R1 Still Sony's Best

Agree with Peter. The R1 has been Sony's best camera, I've been using one extensively since 2005 and can't find anything to touch it for versatility and image quality combined. A full frame version would be great but to be honest, the APS version is perfectly adequate for my needs. The Zeiss 24-120 built in lens is an absolute gem. Best camera ever made in my opinion.

Lenses

If Sony wants to attract pros, it needs to concentrate on full frame lenses.

we need faster comments

I'm looking for a follow up article on the comment that KodaK is getting read to become bankrupt.

I checked the reference to the N Y Times and there is a lot of truth to it.

We need faster opinions from the BJP to help explain this situation to us.

If this is true... put us onto the perfect digital camera now so we can but our film cameras on out antique shelf now.

As it looks now Sony, who makes their own sensors may be the best available.

All those other companies that rely on KodaK may be scrambling for a life boat now.