Sony today announced it’s newest prosumer body, the A850. Sporting the same CMOS sensor as their other full-frame, the A900. So that’s a whopping 24.6 megapixels. It also sports the dual-bionz processors of its predecessor. It has no built-in flash, and I don’t see any movie mode here, and it drops from 5 frames per second down to 3, but those seem to be the major concessions to keep the price down.

Pricing is yet to come, but it should be the cheapest of all the available full-frame bodies. If you want to get on our waitlist, call us at 1-800-726-5544. The A900 was an impressive offering, and at the kinda price points we’re hearing for the A850 it’ll be a fabulous option for studio shooters, slow economy or not.

• 24.6 Megapixel, full-frame CMOS sensor (same as the A900’s)
• Support for all Minolta and Sony Alpha-mount lenses, with no focal length conversion ratio
• Sensor-shift image stabilization
• Dual Bionz image processors
• Optical viewfinder has 98% coverage and 0.74X magnification (A900 has 100% coverage)
• 3-inch LCD display with 921,600 pixels; camera does not support live view
• AF system made up of 9 main and 10 assist points
  • Shutter speed range of 30 – 1/8000 sec, plus a bulb mode
  • ISO range of 100 – 6400 when fully expanded
• Continuous shooting at 3 frames/second (compared to 5 fps on the A900)
• Hot shoe and flash sync port; camera does not have a built-in flash
• Dynamic range optimizer offers 5 steps of correction; user can also bracket for DRO
• Preview feature quickly takes a photo and lets you see the effects of adjusting white balance, dynamic range, and exposure compensation
• Dual memory card slots support CompactFlash and Memory Stick Duo media
• Optional battery grip
• HDMI output
• Uses NP-FM500H li-ion battery; 880 shots per charge

Tags: a850, a900, alpha, body, camera, dslr, expo, ISO, lcd, lens, roberts, Sony