Dubai: Sony launched the slimmest and lightest full-frame mirrorless camera — Athe lpha 7R II — in Dubai on Tuesday, ahead of its global launch on Wednesday.

The camera industry is dominated by Canon and Nikon, and the mirrorless movement gave other manufacturers a new way to challenge the leaders.

DSLR cameras use mirrors to reflect the image passing through the lens, which can be seen through the viewfinder. By eliminating the mirrors, the cameras become light and compact.

Full-frame sensors produce the best high-resolution images with and give users a high ISOs, which allows them to take photos in very low light.

Satoru Arai, head of Sony Middle East Marketing Company, told Gulf News that mirrorless cameras are eating into the market share of DSLR makers.

The company, also the leader in the mirrorless segment, unveiled other two models — RX10 II and RX100 IV — also on Tuesday.

The Alpha 7R II is a 42.4MP camera with better image stabilisation capabilities and even capable of taking images in very lowlight conditions. It can capture 4K (ultra high definition) at 30 or 24 frames per second for 29 minutes with the camera and the RX100 IV will be limited to a five-minute clip.

Targeted at pros and enthusiasts, Arai said the Alpha 7R II is the world’s first interchangeable lens camera with a back-illuminated 35mm full-frame sensor.

It has 399 autofocus points and capable of up to 1,000 frames per second for slow motion recording.

It will be available from Wednesday for Dh11,999 (Alpha 7R II), Dh4,999 (RX10 II) and Dh3,699 (RX100 IV).

Arai said that consumers’ preference for cameras that are lightweight and have fast autofocus capabilities is increasing globally even though the global camera market is heading southward.

Quoting a GfK research report, he said that the global digital still camera sales fell seven per cent in the second quarter to 6.8 million units but value rose two per cent to 2.5 billion euros.

In 2015, he said the mirrorless market is expected to reach 4.7 million units compared to 4.6 million units last year. In the MEA, the market is expected to grow to 1,392,000 units compared to 1,046,000 units last year.

The Japanese giant is the world’s largest supplier of image sensors to other camera manufacturers and smartphone vendors, and controls 50 per cent of the global market.

“We see lot of growth opportunities in the region. Last year, the mirrorless segment contributed 15 per cent to the total regional camera sales and it is expected to grow to 20 per cent this year. The growth in the mirroless segment in the last two years is around 110 per cent,” he said.

Arai admitted that smartphones are eating to the low- to mid-end segment, so manufacturers are looking to diversify its offerings that, and full-frame camera is one of them.