Tamron announced the new 150-600mm f/5-6.3 DI VC USD lens. It will be available for A-mount sometimes in 2014. Price hasn’t been unveiled yet.

That’s the full press text (Click on link to read it).

The Imaging Business report from Sony.

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Canon (Info on Yahoo), Nikon (Info on Engadget) and Sony (Info on CNN) did cut their profit outlook. The full Sony PDF report can be donwnloaded here: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/13q2_sony.pdf. While Canon and Nikon stated that the system camera market (DSLR+mirrorless) will stagnate or shrink in 2014 Sony’s main issue is the dramatically disappearing compact camera business. That’s why they came up with the Sony QX system but if that will work out for Sony has yet to be seen. The outlook is still negative:

>Imaging Products & Solutions Outlook:
Overall segment sales are expected to be below the August forecast primarily due to a downward revision in the annual unit sales forecast of video cameras and digital cameras. Operating income is expected to be significantly below the August forecast, primarily due to the negative impact of the above-mentioned decrease in sales. Year-on-year, sales are expected to be essentially flat and operating income is expected to increase significantly.

There is no mention in Sony’s report about the DSLR and Mirrorless sales outlook. Would have been interesting to see what Sony expects from the A7-A7r sales.

Kimio Maki is Senior General Manager at Sony’s Digital Imaging and also considered the “father” of the RX and A7-A7r series. Dpreview (Click here) posted a long Interview with him and here are some interesting key info:

– The QX series has been designed for the younger generation: “The younger customers demand better pictures to get more positive feedback from their peers – more ‘likes’ on Facebook.”
– On the other hand, the kind of customer I had in mind for the RX100 and RX1 products was someone who wants to be able to carry the best image quality possible in their pocket or bag.
– The RX10 is different – that’s the camera I wanted for events, like sport, when my children are playing soccer and basketball.
– He explains the difference between E and A-mount: “We can make E mount cameras and lenses smaller than A-mount. But for A mount we can realize superior image quality with better new technologies“.
– Also interesting is the answer he gave about why no other company created something like the RX or A7 series: “Our company philosophy of creating new products, of course, plus a fighting spirit. We are a challenger. We are not kings in this industry. In professional broadcasting we’re one of the biggest companies, but in the still imaging industry we’re still challengers, so we have the freedom to experiment. ”
– He is sure Full Frame will become cheaper: “Sony is the number one manufacturer of imaging sensors, and if we can sell a lot of them, the price will come down!”

It’s a very interesting interview and Mr. Kimio Mati really appears like a very curious and innovative man. I can’t wait to see what his next creation will be!

Til yesterday BHphoto (Click here) said the A7 and A7r would ship late November. They now changed the delivery estimation to “beginning of December”. Amazon (Click here) says December 1. The great 55mm f/1.8 Zeiss will ship right before Christmas (Dec 22 according to Amazon). I hope you will be able to get your camera and lens preorders before Christmas!

The cameras will ship earlier in Europe (mid November says Sony Germany) and Asia (2-3 weeks says Digitalrev). Click on the links below to check the shipment estimation for single countries and stores:

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.

Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,  WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony  DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev
A7 at Digitalrev.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

Recently quite many websites posted articles about a possible big change coming soon. For the first time after ten years the DSLR market is not growing anymore and because of many reasons (economic crisis, market saturation, and so on) it is likely to shrink the coming years. Most noticeable Canon and Nikon failed to bring some major innovation while Sony is trying to innovate with concepts like the RX series (well done), QX series (bad in practice) and the A7 series (still not a mature system but it will grow fast). So let’s hear some opinions about the new tendency:

Luminous Landscape writes:

“DSLRs will diminish in market share and likely will become a niche product for wealthy enthusiasts. Mainstream enthusiasts will move to so-called mirrorless system cameras and the mass market will happily take pictures with their smartphones while uploading them in real-time to Facebook.
Sony has seen the writing on the wall better than most. So have Olympus, Fuji and Panasonic. Nikon and Canon have had an ostrich-like mentality and are therefore about to be side-swiped by a market shift of tsunami proportions. Unless their market planners grow the cojones needed to adapt to the changing marketplace, in a few short years there’ll be a lot of executives in Japan staring out the window at a train that has swiftly left the station.”

Christopher Chute (market intelligence firm IDC) predicts Nikon may be out of business in 5 years if the trend continues.

“You’re talking about a 10-15% decline in DSLR shipments all over the world. Which is kind of shocking because that market’s been growing double digits for almost ten years. Nikon recently said they have a five year plan to address this. And my view is, that five year plan should have come out five years ago. They’re not going to be around in five years.”

Andrew from EosHD writes:

“In my view, Canon are more vulnerable than anyone going forward. It isn’t just that the higher the climb, the bigger the drop at the other side – frankly their DSLR line has become boring from top to bottom.
The Sony A7 is a nail in the coffin of Canon’s full frame line-up but it’s consumer apathy which will finally close the lid.”

My opinion so far: I am always very careful with predictions. Yes, Sony created some great new cameras (RX and A7 series and so on). But honestly I do not believe Canon and Nikon are that lazy. I am sure they are right now working to fight back the Sony innovations. That said I am quite happy to lead a Sony rumor sites in such exciting times. And I already got some reliable hints about the 2014 roadmap and it sounds amazing what we will get soon. And if Sony keeps doing so (and maybe improve their support…example, better firmware upgrades) they may keep the momentum to seriously challenge Nikon and Canon High End camera market.

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Support SonyAlphaRumors: After months of FF mirrorless rumor work I would be glad if you can support my work by making your A7-A7r purchase by using these links below. I will earn a small commission and you don’t pay one single penny more! Thanks!

Specs and Preorders in US and Canada (Click on store name to see direct preorder page):
Dedicated Sony announcement page at Amazon US (Click here).
Sony A7r body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 body at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit lens at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS. TheCameraStore Canada.
Sony RX10 at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 24-70mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 35mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Zeiss 55mm at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
70-200mm A-mount at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony A-Mount to E-Mount Lens Adapter at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
Sony A to E adapter with mirror at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto.
A7/A7r leather case at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
A7/A7r vertical grip at Amazon, BHphoto, SonystoreUS.
Sony W Series Battery Charger at Amazon, BHphoto.
Sony FA-CS1M Off-Camera Shoe at BHphoto.
Semi-Hard LCD Screen Protector for A7-A7r at Amazon, BHphoto.

Specs and Preorders in Europe:
Sony A7r body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Sony A7 body at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony A7 with 28-70mm kit Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE, Amazon UK, Amazon DE, Amazon FR.
Sony RX10 at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT, WexUK, WexDE.
Zeiss 35mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT,
Zeiss 55mm at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, NL, BE, CH, AT, SE, FI, NO, PT

Asia:
A7r at Digitalrev
A7 at Digitalrev.
A7 with 28-70mm lens at Digitalrev.

DSLR Video Capture: David McLain shares why a99 is his main camera

I have to catch up with some non A7-A7r related news. So here is what have been posted in these busy days:

I’m glad that to see that in the last time the 2 riflessifotografici-guys Max and Donato are writing more and more reviews about Sony gear. They definitely know their work! Street photographer Donato wrote a review about the Sony E-Mount Lenses, with plenty of beautiful images shot in the streets of Milan, Rome and Cottanello here (English version). On the other hand Max just posted his RX100II review. He tested the camera on an Italian island and compared it with also with the RX100. Enjoy also this review and the great shots here (English version).

image courtesy: riflessifotografici

Sony NEX-5T review at Photographyblog.
QX100 anlaysis by Quesabesde
Hasselblad Lunar y Steallar at Quesabesde.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX100 review at Digitalversus.
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-QX10 review at Digitalversus.
Sony E-Mount Lenses Field Test (Riflessifotografici).
Sony Alpha 3000 review at Pcmag and Photographyblog.