Sony + Konica/Minolta to bear fruit?
Sony's purchase of Konica/Minolta's photography division at the beginning of this year is set to bear fruit this summer.
Since the shift to digital, the photography industry has been in a bit of turmoil. A lot of good, traditional, photography companies have been lost to very tight markets and rapid development cycles. Thankfully, the megapixel race seems to be at an end, and companies can concentrate on better feature sets, better value, and (hopefully) better design.
KM's departure from the photography market (both film and digital) was a bit of a shocker, but it's absorption into the Sony family has been seen as a positive move. The market needs more competition, not less. Sony's goal has been to produce a Digital SLR capable of competing with the likes of Canon, Nikon, Pentax/Samsung, and Olympus/Panasonic/Leica. Rather than re-inventing the wheel (something Sony seems to enjoy doing on a fairly regular basis), KM gave them 1) a existing standard mount for millions of lenses 2) an anti-shake sensor design unique in the market and 3) access to lots of Konica Minolta customers.
So, this summer there should be at least one, probably two new DSLR's on the market. They'll have a Sony name, but have a KM mount. It will be interesting to see if they offer a camera for both the advanced amateur market (competing with the Nikon D50, Canon 350D, and Pentax *istDL) as well as the semi-professional or possibly high-end professional market. The line of Sony DLSR's will be known as "alpha"