Sony Alpha A850

Sony, whose compact camcorders always sift out near the top of the heap in all categories, raised a few eyebrows last week when their three new DSLR bodies all trotted out completely devoid of HD video recording.

HD Video recording, which in part has contributed the monumental success of the 5D Mark II, and of course is the major buzz surrounding Nikon’s new D300s.

But, Sony, who basically own the HD world as far as end-to-end experiences go, opted not to include HD in any of these offerings, despite the markets their competing in being clearly lead by HD enabled competitors.

So, luckily, after that strange bout of behavior, we get a statement from them about why:

“We recognize that HD video is driving customer interest, but without effective continuous auto focus and exposure control, we are concerned that current implementations of HD Video on DSLR cameras don’t provide a good customer experience. Capturing quality still images is a major driver for photo enthusiasts to buy DSLR cameras, and our A500, A550 and A850 DSLR cameras prioritize features (HDR, Exmor CMOS sensors, BIONZ processors, 5fps continuous shooting etc.) that ensure customers will achieve high-quality photos.”