Sony's up-market camera push (photos)

COLOGNE, Germany--At the Photokina show here, Sony made the case that its new NEX cameras should be taken seriously. Although only three lenses are available for the NEX family's E mount, adapters let people attach all manner of lenses to the compact cameras, including this bellows option.

Sony's compact, higher-end NEX cameras use the proprietary E mount to attach lenses, and only three are available for the new camera family today. To expand the line, Sony plans to release four more in 2011: a wide-angle, fixed focal length design with Carl Zeiss optics; a telephoto zoom; a macro lens; and a portrait lens.

This trio of prototype NEX camera lenses, due to arrive in functioning form in 2012, consist of a high-performance standard zoom, a wide-angle zoom, and a mid-range telephoto.

Turo Katsumoto, head of Sony's Alpha business, at a press conference at the Photokina show in Germany.

Sony has been showing off supertelephoto lenses for years now to highlight its SLR ambitions, but this 500mm F4 model appears to be getting closer to reality. At left is a skeletal version; toward the right the painted equivalent. Sony's SLRs use the A mount inherited from the Konica Minolta line the company bought. A new line, Sony's translucent-mirror models that lack an SLR's flip-up mirror and optical viewfinder, also use the A mount.

A closer view of the controls on Sony's 500mm supertelephoto lens prototype.

This prototype at Photokina shows a planned new advanced model in Sony's translucent-mirror line that today includes the a33 and a55. The new model should arrive within a year.

Sony also is working on a new flash. A prototype of the swiveling design was on display at Photokina. Also on the accessory list is a new vertical grip for translucent-mirror camera models.

Sony committed to new E-mount lenses for its NEX line of cameras.

These add-on converter prototypes show Sony's plans for endowing lenses with a wide-angle and fisheye look.

To flesh out the NEX range, Sony plans a flash tailored for the compact cameras.

Novoflex's adapter let older Olympus and Canon lenses be grafted onto Sony's NEX cameras. A more realistic combination likely would be Sony's own A-mount lenses from its SLRs. With a firmware update scheduled for October, NEX cameras will be able to take advantage of A-mount lenses with autofocus support.

Old and new: a Leitz lens shown attached to an NEX camera with an adapter.