Any thoughts on where this sensor and any larger variants may appear?
My thoughts are that:
- This sensor (or a close cousin) is likely to appear in a new Sony SLT model later this year, as has been indicated by Sony. If so, that will effectively confirm that Sony is no longer making cameras with optical vewfinders.
- In the longer term, such a sensor might appear in a Leica product, but not in an M body anytime soon, because Leica officials have explicitly said in a recent interview (reported in BJP and elsewhere) that it is staying with Kodak/Truesense CCD sensors for the M bodies.
- There will almost certainly not be any larger variant: Sony, Nikon, Canon, Panasonic and other CMOS sensor designers and makers have shown absolutely no interest in the relatively tiny market for sensors for DMF, and with cameras like the D800(E) eating a bit more into the former market for formats larger than 36x24mm, any such move into those larger formats is even less likely now than before.
Of course, I am not absolutely ruling out a larger CMOS sensor suitable for DMF, but judge it very unlikely. Since it is impossible to prove a negative, we will probably have to wait a few years for confirmation, much as was agreed in another thread. I expect this to evolve as with the formerly frequent speculations about Canon or Nikon launching new systems in a format larger than 35mm: those dreams seem to have been abandoned.