Sony name conventions

[ErikKaffehr]

My understanding right now.

Sony A series will take A-series lenses with or without adapters. Some A-series cameras take E-mount lenses.

Decoding

A# (single digit) takes FE and E lenses and A-series with adapters
A## (two digits) takes A-series lenses (with or without crop)
A#### (four digits) takes FE, E and A-series with adapters but has APS-C crop

Logical, isn't it.

Best regards
Mr. Spock

 

[pegelli]

Good overview Erik :thumbup:

If you add some older camera's in it you could also say:

A## (two digits) takes A-series lenses (with or without crop) and have a translucent mirror that doesn't move during exposure
A### (three digits) takes A-series lenses (with or without crop) and have a real mirror that flips up during exposure
NEX# (1 digit) takes FE, E and A-series with adapters but has APS-C crop

 

[jfirneno]

My understanding right now.

Sony A series will take A-series lenses with or without adapters. Some A-series cameras take E-mount lenses.

Decoding

A# (single digit) takes FE and E lenses and A-series with adapters
A## (two digits) takes A-series lenses (with or without crop)
A#### (four digits) takes FE, E and A-series with adapters but has APS-C crop

Logical, isn't it.

Best regards
Mr. Spock

Hello Eric:

Sony is an amazing combination of innovation and corporate bureaucracy! Luckily they have now added a new prefix to all their cameras that will always distinguish an a-mount from an e-mount. So an e-mount always will be called ILCE (e.g., ILCE-A7 or ILCE-3000). And in the same way, all a-mount cameras will be prefixed ILCA (e.g., ILCA-77 II or ILCA-99). The really confusing thing is that ILCE (e-mount cameras) now come in two distinct form factors. The ILCE-6000 is the old NEX-6 and looks like a rangefinder while the ILCE-5000 has the body shape of an entry level DSLR! So much choice and never the exact tool you want! Sony reminds me of the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland.

Regards,
John

 

[Malina DZ]

Substitution of concepts is the Alpha series roadmap. Sony pushes their creation to the masses (E-mount) under the name that has a better reputation and a longer history.