There have been reports that Sony plans to release a higher end ‘true pro’ level mirrorless full frame camera for some time now, going back at least a year and a half or so. The general consensus of these reports centered around the naming of this newer camera being called something along the lines of an A9, to signify the unit being a class above the current crop of A7 series bodies.
Well, some new reports this week have revived the A9 talk, though now the consensus of this ‘A9’ naming seems to be in question. In these new reports, over on Sony Alpha Rumors, it is being said that this new camera will be coming in 2017 with dual card slots and a price tag above that of the A7R II – Sony’s current top end mirrorless offering.
The report also indicates that Sony may, in fact, forego the A9 naming all together and just make this newer camera the A7R III. This would be a good thing in my opinion just from a simplicity standpoint and not oversaturating the full frame mirrorless market with a ton of different model names (which, let’s be honest, is already kind of a problem) for no reason.
Regardless, the reported 2017 announcement timeframe is coming up soon. Whatever Sony’s plans are, we will likely be hearing about them soon.
At least it isn’t the a6700!