Sony Alpha 230, 330 and 380: dSLR leakski

Rich Trenholm | May 12, 2009

(Credit: Sony)

Those crazy Russians. They've gone and leaked details of three new Sony Alpha dSLR cameras: The 230, 330 and 14-megapixel 380.

Details of the new dSLRs briefly surfaced like the Red October on the Russian Sony site before disappearing again. Fortunately for us, photoclubalpha was on hand to capture and composite the various new features listed, albeit with a Google translation about as convincing as Sean Connery's Russian accent.

(Credit: Sony)

The A230 is a lightweight, entry-level model. The top-end A380 and middle child A330 boast flip-out screens. All three boast HDMI output to TVs, but do not appear to shoot video of any definition. Features shown include a new user interface, showing aperture and shutter speed on a sliding scale, pictured left.

The leaked pages mention APS-C format sensors, presumably for all three cameras. The sensors are protected by a dual dust-reduction system. Sony's Bionz sensor handles the thinking, while a dynamic range opimizer handles tricky, contrasty images to keep detail in both highlights and shadows.

(Credit: Sony)

Another feature is a smart teleconverter, which magnifies the image by 1.4x or 2x on the camera's screen, for more precise focusing. We also like the look of a 40-segment metering system, pictured right.

Finally, Sony has gone all green, pointing out that the cameras' shells are made using polycarbonate byproducts of CD-ROM manufacturing. Very reassuring. It also appears that one--or all--of the cameras supports two types of memory card. We've got our fingers crossed for SD cards, but we'll settle for CompactFlash, like the Alpha A300, alongside those pesky Sony Memory Sticks. Do svidaniya!

Via Crave UK

Filed under: Digital Cameras
Leave a comment | Bookmark | Share