When will we see a sub-£1,000 full frame camera?...

[Faldrax]

One thing I have noticed with people opting for the Sony A900 is that a purchase is often accompanied by one or more 'premium' lenses to take advantage of the super new body.

I do wonder a little if the drive to cut costs for the A850 is also in part a drive to fuel sales of these mroe expensive lenses - 'loose' a few hunded on the body, gain a few thousand on the glass???

 

[pearce_jj]

Probably. Re sensor costs, some info here - twice the size, four times the cost because of the yield rates. Obviously Canon nor Nikon would disclose how much of the cost of the camera is directly attributable to the sensor though.

 

[HoppyUK]

The price differential between FF & 'crop' sensors is a purely artificial marketing price point.

Probably true While full frame sensors certainly cost more to make in the past I'm not sure how true it is today. But the marketeers will no doubt perpetuate the myth for as long as possible. Then again, if they are more expensive, how much more, and what proportion of the total cost is that? Must be a reducing proportion?

If the price is related to rejection rate and yield, then I wouldn't mind betting that a full frame sensor with 18m pixels would be cheaper to produce than an APS-C sensor with the same number, as fitted to the new 7D. Maybe?

 

[Radiohead]

I disagree with the all Nikons will be FF.

Why just Nikon? The D300s and 7D scream the opposite to me.

Slightly OT - I expect the 1D III to be the last APS-H sensor and the new to have a 1.3x crop mode, but a FF sensor.

 

[sdb123]

Or they'll just do what they already do with the D3/D3x - offer an FX camera with optional DX-capability for those who want additional frame-rate and lens-'reach'...

And D700.

 

[Arkady]

And D700.

Nikon make other cameras too...?

How nice of them...

 

[heidfirst]

I do wonder a little if the drive to cut costs for the A850 is also in part a drive to fuel sales of these mroe expensive lenses - 'loose' a few hunded on the body, gain a few thousand on the glass???

I'm sure that's part of the equation but the 100% vf apparently took a lot of labour for calibration & similarly the mirror assembly supposedly has fewer parts than the A900 (as it only needs to withstand 3fps rather than 5fps) so there are definitely cost savings involved in manufacture.