… then have a look at this! (Via Photo Rumors.)

Sony Alpha Rumors got hold of a diagram showing a possible new hybrid viewfinder system for Sony’s upcoming SLT cameras. Just as the Fujifilm X100, it uses both an optical and an electronic viewfinder, but according to the diagram and the information provided by SAR/PR, the images from each viewfinder are actually merged before hitting the photographer’s eye.

Picture provided by Photo Rumors/Sony Alpha Rumors.

It looks awfully complicated, but here’s how (I think) it works: the first pellicle mirror lets 70% of the light through to the sensor, and deflects the other 30% upward — just like the current α33 and α55 models. The deflected light, though, isn’t being transmitted to the AF sensor, but instead to the viewfinder’s eyepiece. The EVF, on the other hand, provides the image for the AF sensor via another pellicle mirror, which lets 70% of the EVF’s light pass through to the photographer’s eye, while the other 30% are being deflected to the AF sensor. Got it?

I can only begin to wonder how this is supposed to work … can an electronic display really provide the information needed for phase detection? As I understand it, it can’t. Also, can you really merge an optical and an electronically generated image in a way that they form a new full, bright and clear image without compromise? I guess we’ll have to leave this to Sony to find out — provided this information is even real and not a fake.