Sony: New Alpha Ultra Compact

The big photography party known as PMA kicked off on Feb 20th (this weekend).  Many manufacturers announce new products during this show, and Sony certainly got my attention with this sneak peak.

The Alpha Ultra-Compact camera (pictured) will feature interchangeable lenses, but the big question is:  will they be Alpha mount lenses (or MFT?) which are used by their larger DSLR counterparts?  It looks as though they might in fact share the same mount.

Olympus and Panasonic are really promoting the Micro 4/3rds format and the new Sony certainly looks as though it's in the same class of cameras.  What would be unique is if it used full size DSLR lenses, or at least had the option to mount them.

The camera on display at the Sony booth was locked up so the media wasn't able to play with it.  The Sony reps were pretty tight lipped about the features of the new camera.  There was a sign hanging next to the camera that said "Exmor APS HD CMOS".  This sensor is actually larger than the Micro 4/3rds sensor which could mean even better image quality and/or high ISO performance. 

This looks like a pretty exciting year for small cameras!