Sony A3000, A NEX In SLR Clothing For Only $400

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a3000_angle

The second piece of Sony news today (along with the neat new NEX 5T) is the Alpha A3000, an SLR-style mirrorless camera for the crazy, crazy low price of $400. Take that, entry-level Canon Rebel bodies.

SLR-style in this case means that the camera gets a built-in viewfinder (electronic), a handgrip and the general layout that SLR shooters have been used to for years (hotshoe, knobs and dials and so on). The only thing missing is the optical viewfinder and the mirror need to feed it light, making this camera super-small.

Sony is clearly going after the cheap-o DSLR crowd, those people who want more than their iPhone camera can offer, but who don’t want to spend much money. They buy DSLRs because that’s what people do, the same way they buy shitty cheap laptops instead of iPads becasue they don’t know what they need, and so they play it safe.

The A3000 will appeal to these folks as they will see the interchangeable lenses coupled with the teeny (compared to an SLR) body and their knees will jerk up and shoot their wallets straight out of their pockets. The 20.1MP sensor, built-in flash and hotshoe are just bonus extras.

On Twitter the other day I posted that when I see someone taking holiday photos with a DSLR, I feel the same way as I do when I see people on a plane watching movies on a laptop.

Sony is smart. This new A3000 will sweep up the luddites, and when they finally realize that they should be shooting with a tiny mirrorless body instead they can just upgrade to a NEX, keeping all the same lenses. Also, that $400 price is absolutely killer.

Source: DP Review

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