The Sony Alpha A900 - The Monster Snapper
10 September 2008

We're still counting down the days to Photokina and it's as if the major companies can't wait for Photokina to make their announcements. Sony runs in third so far with their announcement of the Sony Alpha A900. Yes you read that right, the A900 is confirmed and boy is it one big fish.

Sensor
Here's the mind bender; the A900 has Sony's highest resolution to date with a mind boggling 24.6 megapixels, full-frame CMOS sensor. Full frame means you get all the advantages of the Sony's high precision alpha lenses and all the beauty of wide angle images. That awesome pixel count guarantees amazing image details. The sensor itself is complemented by Exmor™, which performs on-chip analogue/digital (A/D) signal conversion and two-stage noise reduction.

Dual BIONZ Processor
All that bulk of information captured with the 24.6 megapixels sensor means the processor needs a boost to deal with all that data. Therefore Sony introduces the dual BIONZ processing engine to process all that data quickly and efficiently. The dual BIONZ processor means powerful noise reduction and sustained 5fps continuous shooting at full resolution.

Image Stabilisation
The A900 is also the first to brag a body-integrated image stabilization system for a full frame sensor with Sony's SteadyShot Inside anti-shake system. The enhanced in-body optical stabilisation system delivers up to 4 steps of anti-shake correction with all compatible lenses.

LCD
Looking back over your shots becomes deliciously fun with the large 3.0-Inch Xtra Fine LCD. Details are just going to pop up at you from the 921k dot resolution of the LCD screen. It even offers sharp clear viewing indoors or outdoors no matter where you are. The wide choice of index viewing simplifies best-shot selection while the full featured RGB histogram and shooting information displayed gives you all the information you need.

9-Point AF system
The A900 comes with a fast, high-accuracy 9-point AF system which is supplemented by 10 focus assist points to help with subject detection, improved out-of-focus detection and a dedicated F2.8 sensor for enhanced AF accuracy with wide aperture lenses.

Pentaprism
Unlike most other pentaprisms which usually only manage to give you a 95% field of view, the A900 gives you a clear and bright optical viewfinder with a 100% field of view. That means total coverage; you see exactly what you get on images so you don't have to wonder if an elbow or an unwanted limb somehow crept into the image while you weren't looking.

Body
The Sony A900 is built to last constructed from high-tensile aluminium chassis with magnesium alloy body panels. Every slot and control is protected from dust and moisture with rubber seals while the inside of the camera is protected with an anti dust system to protect the sensor.

Dual Anti Dust System
Dust floating around is unavoidable, especially when changing lenses, so despite the A900's airtight seals, Sony's thrown in the all important Anti dust system to shake off those extra stubborn particles. The sensor is covered with an anti-static coating to repel the dust bunnies and a sensor shift mechanism shakes them off.

Last Word
All in all Sony is really going all out with the A900 starting with the amazing sensor resolution and moving outwards to create a monster of a camera that's worthy of admiration. The Sony Alpha A900 is Sony's flagship model and they've spared no expense or effort to make this an impressive new model and we can expect to see the first shipment in stores around November 2008.