Sony is today, along with Canon, one of the biggest brands of mirrorless cameras in the world, but in recent years it has strangely ignored an important category of users: amateur photographers. Rumor has it that will change in the coming months with the launch of a new APS-C camera.
Sony Alpha Rumors website (opens in a new tab), usually serious, claims that: “We have been told by a reliable source that a new APS-C E-mount camera is likely to be launched just before or at the latest in early summer.” This “new top-of-the-range model” should therefore arrive before July.
Although details are scarce, there are apparently two possible candidates for this new model: a Sony A6700 (which would replace the aging Sony A6600) or a more expensive Sony A7000 which might actually be a miniature version of the Sony A1 flagship.
For photographers who have been waiting years for an APS-C camera from Sony, either would be great news. The last time Sony released a hobbyist camera aimed at photographers, rather than videographers, was in September 2019. That would be almost a four-year wait for Sony fans, during which many will understandably have skipped the not to the best mirrorless cameras from Canon or Fujifilm.
Sony has certainly been in high demand for new cameras over the past year – we’ve seen the Sony A7R V, Sony ZV-1F, Sony FX30, and Sony A7 IV, as well as several new lenses for full-frame and APS-C cameras. But the lack of a new APS-C body with the latest autofocus, menu, image stabilization and battery technology has been a glaring shortcoming – until this year, apparently.
Although these are only rumors at this point, the reliability of the source and the certainty of the claims suggest that casual photographers with a collection of E-mount lenses – or amateur photographers looking to purchase a new camera – should wait the next few months to see what APS-C camera Sony will finally offer.
Analysis: The long wait is coming to an end
Cameras with an APS-C sensor have traditionally been favored by street photographers, landscape enthusiasts, and anyone who can’t justify the cost or overall weight of a full-frame camera. That makes the Sony A6700 or A7000 a potentially exciting launch – so why has Sony waited so long?
Although this absence is strange, it is probably a practical response to the significant changes that have taken place in the camera industry. While the best camera phones started to achieve performance that simply wasn’t achievable a few years ago, demand for cheaper cameras has waned since the Sony A6600 launched in 2019.
Meanwhile, the major growth driver for camera makers has been to provide the best YouTube cameras for creators, whose economy continues to grow. So Sony focused on the Sony FX30 (an APS-C video camera) and, in particular, its ZV series of cameras for vloggers and aspiring videographers.
The good news for photographers who prefer Sony or who already own E-mount lenses is that Sony doesn’t seem to have given up on them entirely. On the contrary, it looks like Sony has simply prioritized its video and full-frame models, which means we might finally see the brand’s cutting-edge autofocus (and other goodies) coming soon to an APS-enabled camera. C suitable for photographers only.
