Seriously, Marc? You mean I could not slip a wireless remote in the hot shoe? I really did not know you were interested.
Yes, initial mild interest because I use 35mm field-of-view a lot, and use strobes quite often with sync speeds to 1/750th or 1/800th on the Leica S2 and H4D/60. Plus, this little guy would be an interesting companion/emergency back-up to a A900 or A99 especially with an AF Zeiss 35mm prime which currently doesn't exist in the Alpha mount.
The feature that really caught my eye was the 1/2000th sync speed, which is pretty unique and highly desirable when coupled with a f/2 lens.
Unfortunately, most radio transmitters top out at 1/250 with focal plane shutter cameras, 1/500th with leaf shutters ... some like Profoto AIR go higher (1/1000th in fast mode depending on camera and uniquely 1/1,600th on the Phase DF), but none that I know of go to 1/2000th.
Depending on the strobe unit used and t.1 flash duration at any given setting, all sync speeds are available when hard wired.
The best radio for a camera this size is the tiny Microsync VM2T which tops out at 1/200th with focal plane and 1/350th with leaf-shutter cameras. Hardly 1/2000th :thumbdown:
Plus, with the EFV or analog finder in the hot shoe, there is no way to trigger a strobe or off-camera speed-light other than optically using the wimpy pop-up.
This Sony seems to only work with their wireless remote/speed-light ... which is all but useless at any longer distance, or in bright outdoor conditions where 1/2000th would be most useful. How the leaf-shutter works with their speed-lights remains to be seen. Imagine holding this little camera at arm's length to view the LCD, with their new HVL60 in the hot-shoe :ROTFL:
For a great amount of my mobile strobe work I use a TTL speed-light in the hot shoe for fill with a radio sender hardwired to the camera on a grip bracket to trigger the key strobe light. More importantly, I ALWAYS carry a standard sync cord as back-up to any radio system, and trust me have had to use them.
I had the same gripe about the M9, however, the new Leica M will accommodate this mobile configuration using the new multifunction grip which has a standard sync port ... and it has a way to shoot with camera to eye ... the rangefinder.
For almost $3K they could have put in a crummy little sync port ... IMHO.
-Marc