Leaps and Bounds in the DSLR world...

Today, Sony announced the A900. 

Normally, I don't really care enough about this kinda thing to announce it here, but this camera represents the crowning of a new king in the DSLR world, a post that Canon has held for around 6 years. 

The A900 FULL-FRAME sensor clocks in at a whopping 24.6mp and has in body image stabilization--a feature some thought could never be implemented in a full-frame body. 

Sony has stolen, for the time being, the megapixel crown off of the 21.1mp 1Ds Mark 3, Canon's current $7,999 flagship.

And, get this, it did it for $5,000 less. The A900 will cost $2,999 when it hits the shelves sometime this winter. Crazy.

Now, of course, the A900 is no 1Ds. But the word "tank" was used by DP Review in describing its build quality, a comparison once reserved only for the top dogs of the DSLR world. Standards are climbing with every generation of cameras and it seems that Sony has taken this to heart.

When the A700 was introduced, it represented Sony's first real plunge into the DSLR market. The A700 was nothing special, it felt cheap and breakable, I doubted that Sony would ever be able to carve out a piece of the Canon/Nikon pie. 

But, low and behold, it seems that with this new A900 and an INCREDIBLE line of Zeiss lenses being churned out for it, Sony might be a real contender after all...

Only time, Canon, Nikon, and Photokina 2008 (Sept 23-28) will tell whether the A900 will be a real force in the DSLR market. Personally, I think Canon has an ace up their sleeve. It's been 3 years since the release of the 5D and with the recent "Moon" teaser, it seems a Photokina announcement is imminent. 

Either way, buckle up your seat belts (all who care), it's going to be a pretty exciting month.