I guess the A700 replacement is one of them. The A700 is THB 32,900 in Bangkok now ( = $940 ). I'm very tempted to use that as an introduction to the system and buy a couple of lenses. Does anybody here have the A700?
Oh, yes, I have an A700 as a backup, and it's really better than it should be at that price. It is very similar to the D300 in IQ (better color, a smidgen noisier,) and more or less has the A900 feature set, outside of the VF and a few things like Intelligent Preview. The A700 doesn't feel quite as solid as the A900, because the back of the camera is a thin metal coated in plastic, but, considering the price, I don't think you can do better for an APS-C camera. It'd be a great back-up cam, once you get the A900...which you undoubtedly will once you break the Sony seal. :grin:
As far as a new raw converter is concerned, I don't believe Sony brought a new converter with the last A2xx and A3xx lines, but rather with the A700 and A900, so we'll see. I have a feeling we'll see some firmware updates, though.