This just makes sense. With all the HDSLR cameras that have been introduced over the past few years, I sort of expected to see more of this sooner (I think Canon’s 320EX is the only first-party unit so far).
Thus far, third party manufacturers have been killing it with hot shoe mounted LED units (see, e.g., LitePanels and ikan). Since camera manufacturers are charging $200-$600 for speedlights, why not make the units a little more attractive for those shooting both photos and video?
According to SonyAlphaRumors.com, that’s what we’ll see when the Sony HVL60 lands alongside the full frame Sony A99 this September. Additionally, rumors suggest that the A99 will feature a standard ISO hot shoe (as opposed to Sony’s own funky hot shoe we’ve seen in other recent Sony models), which will make the A99 compatible with a wider range of third-party accessories.
Expect to see more on the Sony A99 and HVL60 speedlight/LED combo as we approach Photokina 2012.
Eric says
Actually, Olympus also has a first-party flash / LED unit too (FL-600R): https://us.buyolympus.com/fl-600r-flash.html
Eric Reagan says
Cool. Thanks for the find. Pretty sure we’ll start seeing more and more of these…
Daniel says
Yeah…finally someone in Sony realize how silly the current flash mount is…wobbly & loss contact once in a while. ISO mount is much firmer besides being able to use more accessories.