As well as the SLR-styled cameras such as the A35 and A55, Sony also offers a mirrorless range called NEX. These have flat, more rangefinder-styled bodies, though without a viewfinder. They’ve always seemed a strange option to me because although the bodies are small – something Sony have made much about in marketing – as soon as you stick a zoom lens on the front, the whole package is little different to an SLR-style except for missing a grip.
These flatter rangefinder-style cameras make much more sense to me with prime lenses and especially pancakes. Sony does offer a 16mm pancake, but that isn’t the focal length I’d want if using one lens. Panasonic and Olympus have both produced pancake lenses, but no rangefinder-style body with a viewfinder. And Fuji have produced a rangefinder-style body – but with a fixed lens.
Panasonic GF2 - Mirrorless, But No Viewfinder
Now Sonyalpharumors suggests that there may be a NEX-7 coming that has a viewfinder, with the same 24MP sensor as the A77. If they are smart enough to couple it with a pancake more in the ‘standard lens’ focal length, that would be an interesting package. Significant though mirrorless designs are, I don’t think anybody’s really got it right yet, and that gives any NEX-7 an opportunity.