Digital Home Thoughts: Sony Alpha a55 and a33 DSLRs Revealed

"Sony is set to introduce shooting speeds of up to 10fps, as well as video, in its latest Alpha DSLR cameras, the Alpha 55 and Alpha 33, by using a new non-moving 'translucent' mirror. Echoing the technology of the pellicle mirror in Canon's EOS RT of 1989, Sony's new semi-transparent mirror allows light to be fed simultaneously to a camera's imaging sensor and AF system, removing the need for a moving mirror and providing the potential for much improved focus tracking as well as active AF in Live View and video modes."

Looks like Amateur Photographer has let out a confirmation of the new Sony DSLRs. These are true SLRs; in place of a standard slivered mirror is a pellicle mirror that lets light to the viewfinder and the sensor at the same time. Canon has used a similar setup before, the last camera being the EOS 1N RS. Back then the main complaint was dust on the mirror affecting the images, but now since digital cameras suffer from the same problem, the inconvenience of cleaning a surface in the imaging path from dust is no longer an extra annoyance. Whether this helps Sony remains to be seen; their DSLR ambitions have been flailing for a while now.