New Sony SLR Does One-shot Panoramas, 3D
New Sony SLR Does One-shot Panoramas, 3D
Sony has announced a new SLR that offer features previously only found on their point & shoot cameras: one-shot wide panorama shooting and 3D panoramas. The A560 also takes Full HD video and will be available for $750 with a kit lens.
The Alpha 560
The A560 captures panoramas in 2D using the same technique used on many Sony point & shoot cameras: the user presses the shutter and pans the camera, and the camera builds a panorama from a series of captured images (Sony calls this technique Sweep Panoramas). You can read more about it in our review of the Sony DSC-TX7. The A560 can also capture 3D Sweep Panoramas with a single exposure using the movement of the camera to create a 3D image. The resulting image can only be viewed on a 3D HDTV, which is connected to the camera through the mini HDMI port.
The new sensor also allows the camera to perform several other tricks that point and shoots can do by combining multiple images to produce better results in low light, with moving subjects and shooting hand-held in low light.
A 3-inch 921k LCD screen is built into the back of the camera, and this can tilt up or down 90 degrees. The A560 makes use of this to provide a live view of the image. Sony also claims that the camera can focus as quickly in live view mode as in the standard viewfinder mode, because the camera includes two focus sensors that can be used in either mode.
The new A560 is built around an Exmor APS CMOS sensor that captures 14.2 megapixel images. This sensor can also capture Full HD video at a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels at 60 interlaced frames per second (upscaled from the 30 progressive frames per second that the sensor captures), or 1440 by 1080 pixel video at 30 full progressive frames per second. No support is offered for capturing video at the 24 frames per second favored by movie makers.
The A560 will cost $650 for the body alone, or $750 for the body and an 18 - 55mm zoom lens. It will be available in October.
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