Sony DSLR-A900, Full Frame Sensor on an APS Sized Budget.

If you’ve been online and around for the past few days you’ve probably already seen the announcement for the Sony Alpha a900. Their brand new 24 megapixel full frame digital SLR body. The real shocker if anything is the price tag, at $3000 a price equal to that of the Nikon D700 and less than half of that of Canon’s EOS-1Ds.

Could this, and the expected announcement of Nikon’s D3 iteration using the same sensor finly put enough pressure on Canon to lower the prices of their EOS-1 series cameras, and in turn the prices of their semi-pro and consumer models into the range of easy reach?

DPReview.com has an overview of the a900 as well as sample images available in their Sony DSLR-A900, Preview and Gallery.

Unfortunately even at the price, I don’t think the a900 is all that attractive when compared to the alternatives especially the yet unannounced Nikon sibling. The a900 still lacks a pro grade AF system, only 9 selectable AF points and only one of those is cross type, further the gird is quite small barely filling the APS frame let alone the 135 format frame. Also, while Sony lenses are designed by Carl Zeiss and of excelent quality optically, their lineup lacks the length and breadth that Canon’s and Nikon’s lines support.

That said, I don’t think the a900 is attractive to own, but it will hopefully bring Canon’s and Nikon’s prices down to be competitive. Here’s to hoping that the Canon EOS 50D gets a nice price drop right out of the gates, let alone the yet unannounced 5D successor.