Sony could reveal its new hybrid camera system this morning

UPDATE -12:20 I have been playing with a sample NEX-5 and here are some initial impressions:

Press Release: Sony announces A revolutionary approach to interchangeable lens cameras

The NEX-5 has an incredibly small body, although the lens mount is huge (which is good for technical reasons). The 18-55 (27-82.5mm equivalent) on the other hand is quite big and bulky, although te 16mm pancake (24mm equivalent) is suitably slim and very light.

Although I have a pre-production unit, I'm told that its image quality is representative of models that will start to ship in about a month's time so pictures taken today can be uploaded for evaluation. That's the good news; unfortunately weather here in Croatia is overcast and wet.

Build quality is superb and it's great to have a magnesium alloy body for the NEX-5, especially at the £550 or so price point (with the standard zoom). The NEX-3 is £100 cheaper and has a polycarbonate body, but otherwise looks very similar.

The user interface is very unconventional, relying on a mobile phone style control panel of icons that govern various aspects of the camera control and setup. Soft buttons and a rotating control wheel that also operates as a four-way controller, are used. This could be good for people upgrading from a compact but experienced DSLR users will be slowed down by the user interface.

The screen is very nice and seems to work quite well out in the open, althoug there has been no sun so far to really test it. It's a wide format 3 inch high resolution screen and can tilt vertically up and down, but not sideways.

So far the only negative point I have to note is the rather loud and unpleasant sound that the shutter makes.

I'll have more later today and will be posting samples as well. You can also find more on our forum.

UPDATE - 8:09AM Sony launches Alpha NEX hybrid camera, compact with interchangeablelenses -we're live at the launch press conference

8:15: I'll adding details on this page as I get them during the launch presentation...
8:17: Yoshiyuki Nogami vice president Digitak Imaging Europe -just reflecting on how worried he was two days ago when the airport here at Split was closed because of the volcanic ash problem.
8:20: DSLR market growth is now flattening.
8:21: Where have we heard this before?: "compact upgraders find DSLRs too bulky and too complicated"
8:22: Toru Katsumoto, head of Alpha business. DSLR, compact, and video camcorder markets are beginning to merge.(He holds up a Sony alpha NEX-5 camera).
8:25: Holds up the NEX-3 model. NEX-5 has a magnesium alloy body.
8:29: APS-C sensor, so same as entry level and mid-range DSLRs. HD movie mode. Lighter than rival models froSamsung, Panasonc, and Olympus.
8:31: 18mm flange back distance, the shortest yet (means smaller wide angle lens designs). Three lenses at launch and adapter is available for Alpha DSLR lenses.
8:32: 3D Sweep Panorama feature from compacts has been modified to generate 3D imaging.
8:33: This is just the start, more to comeafter NEX-3 and NEX-5 - a camcorder compatible with NEX lenses is under development.
8:33: By the way, NEX lenses have a new E-Mount system.
Presentation ends. There are product workshops for us coming up and I understand we will have cameras to use and try later today.

We're in the resort city of Split, in Croatia, this morning, attendig a lavish and, so far, highly secret, press launch of a major new Sony photography product. All will be revealed later this morning,when this news story will be updated with the new details.

Very bullish Sony staff were clearly dying to reveal what they knew but there is strict silence over what has been described as as important as Sony's launch of its Alpha DSLR range four years ago.

At PMA 2010 back at the end of February Sony unveiled what looked like styling exercise mock ups of its proposed hybrid system camera offering, but most pundits, including DPNow, suggested that Sony was gearing up for a launch later in the year at the big biennial Photokina trade show.

Sony also previewed new DSLRs at Photokina, its first to offer video recording, so it could be about these instead of the hybrids.

We'll know around 8-9AM (UK time), so watch this space!

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