San Diego — Sony introduced Tuesday a pair of compact interchangeable-lens cameras in the A3000 DSLR and the NEX-5T mirrorless compact system camera (CSC) families, both with value pricing.
Of the two, the Sony A3000 offers the biggest twist. The “DSLR” is designed to offer the look and shape of a compact DSLR, but with much of the internal workings of a mirrorless NEX-system camera.
It will also carry a very affordable $398 street retail for the body and an 18-55mm E-mount kit lens when it ships to dealers in September.
Unlike other Sony Alpha DSLRs, the A3000 uses the same E-mount lens system as Sony’s mirrorless NEX CSCs, enabling the use of smaller E-mount lenses than the A-mount lenses used by most Alpha DSLRs.
The A3000 also omits an internal mirror, like the NEX mirrorless CSCs.
The camera incorporates a 20.1-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor, a 100 to 16,000 ISO speed range and captures HD video up to 1080/60i/24p.
Other features include a 3-inch 230k-dot resolution LCD viewscreen, a 0.5-inch QVGA electronic viewfinder (EVF) and up to 3.5 fps burst shooting rate.
Meanwhile, the Wi-Fi-enabled NEX-5T upgrades the currently available NEX-5R CSC with nearfield communication (NFC) technology to make it easier to share images with other Wi-Fi-connected devices.
The NEX-5T will ship in early September in a kit with the 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 OSS power zoom lens with Optical SteadyShot for a $700 suggested retail or $550 for the body only.
Like the NEX-5R, the Sony NEX-5T includes a 16.1-megapixel APS-C CMOS sensor and the same Fast Hybrid phase-detect/contrast-detection AF system.
Other features include: a Bionz image processor, 3-inch 921.6k-dot tilting LCD touchscreen, FullHD 1080i/p video recording at 60 or 24 fps, 10 fps continuous shooting, ISO 100 to 25,600, auto object framing and auto HDR modes.
