This morning saw what is likely to be
the biggest announcement of PMA, and it took place an hour before the
show officially opened. Sony started off their press conference with
a rather elaborate display of the all-weather functionality on their
new TX5 compact. The camera had been frozen in ice in advance and
then chiselled free before being placed into a box filled with saw
dust being blown around, then into a tank of water, before being
dropped to the ground. The press audience were finally treated to a
picture via another one of its great features the intelligent sweep
panorama. It was an impressive display from a camera that looks
almost no different from a standard compact but it was the next part
that most had come to see. This was announcement of a concept that
will become Sony’s entry into the Hybrid, Mirrorless interchangeable
lens camera category. Surprisingly they are still planning to brand
it under the alpha banner rather than differentiate it, though this
could change. It looks more compact than SLR in its styling and was
shown in a range of colours. Some other good news was that the new
sensor technology, which includes HD video will also be making its
way into some new DSLR models in the near future too, such as the
A700 replacement.

The size of things ‘state side’ can be
deceptive. Walking anywhere seems to take much longer than it should
but this is mainly as everything is out of proportion; the straight
roads are 12 lanes across and the hotels huge, so what may look like
a 5min stroll and end up a 5 mile hike. Its the same with the food -
only the very brave should try all three courses. So maybe its
fitting that in this giant location we see the announcement of a
another micro system camera, as though their size is undoubtedly
small they are definitely going to be huge in the next few years.