Sony Alpha A850 bows out
updated 08:40 am EDT, Thu May 26, 2011
Could Sony be exiting the high-end DSLR market?
Sony has likely discontinued its flagship Alpha A850 SLR camera. B&H Photo has posted a notice alongside the camera that "this item has been discontinued by the manufacturer and is no longer available." The A850 is also no longer for sale on the SonyStyle site.
The A850 was a 24.6-megapixel, professional-grade digital SLR. Its departure raises a question as to how long Sony will continue to play in the high-end DSLR market. Currently, the company only has one entrant in the US market, the A900, which it introduced before the A850. Last year, however, Sony dropped this flagship camera from several international markets.
It's unclear why the A850 would drop now given that it was a close cousin to the A900 to begin with, although it could be a sign of either an updated model or that Sony planned to make the A900 more affordable. Supplies in the wake of the northern Japan earthquake may alternately have made having the two similar models impractical. [via 1001 Noisy Cameras]
