Wall Street Journal (via 43rumors) reports: “Olympus said Friday it will raise ¥49 billion ($631.6 million) by issuing new shares to Sony Corp. With the capital tie-up, Sony will effectively become Olympus’s biggest shareholder, with a stake of 11.5% in terms of voting rights. The two companies also plan by the end of December to set up a joint venture to develop medical devices and to study collaboration in compact digital cameras.”

Olympus and Sony didn’t disclose any detail about the collaboration and I don’t know what to expect from this. Olympus has a great experience when it comes to high quality lens design. They are for example the only one doing f/2.0 fast zooms, the [shoplink 14498 ebay]14-35mm (here on eBay)[/shoplink] and the [shoplink 14492 ebay]35-100mm (again here on eBay)[/shoplink].  This is certainly something the NEX system needs urgently.

UPDATE: In a PDF released by Olympus/Sony they say: “The two companies also aim to enhance their competitiveness, primarily in the area of compact digital cameras, by exploring opportunities for mutually beneficial transactions and collaboration between their respective camera businesses, including the supply of Olympus technologies such as camera lenses and mirror cells to Sony, and the provision of Sony image sensors to Olympus.”

On Monday Sony and Olympus will have a press conference and we may will learn more about their future camera strategy!

Image source: DC.watch.

Sony Japan showed the Sony shares in the worldwide mirrorless market. You really don’t see such detailed reports very often. The Sony NEX system leads the market in US,Canada, France, Russia, China, Taiwan and Korea. And is on second place in Japan, UK, Germany and Hong Kong.  18% of all sold interchangeable lens cameras are mirrorless. I guess Brand A and Brand B on the scheme are Olympus and Panasonic. The new NEX lenses and new NEX-5r/6 cameras will certainly help to strengthen the business.

—
Sony preorder list:
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.
RX1 Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Wex Germany Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 with kit lens Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex Uk ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG900 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, Wex Uk and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG30 Adorama, Amazon, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 16-50mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals .
Sony E-mount 35mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 10-18mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony A-mount 300mm f/2.8 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH.

MEMOVY from Lucas Zanotto on Vimeo.

Chipworks confirmed that the new iPhone5 uses a Sony sensor. Another step into world wide domination form Sony :)
And because we are talking about iPhones I invite you to watch the movie I embedded on top. It’s an application made by a long time SonyAlphaRumors reader. Thought it may interest you to see how it works. You can read the full description and download the application on iTunes (Click here). Thanks Lukas for sharing this!

And here are more news and readers mail:
33 Objektive in Test und Bestenliste (Chip.de).
Michal: Pictures from the Hasselblad Photokina booth on Facebook.
Tynana: My biggest gripe with the NEX 5 series has been the lack of audio in. Today I spent about six hours dissecting the ECM-SST1 and the NEX flash to combine them to make audio-in. Although I tried many different things, I couldn’t figure out how to get a stereo input, so I eventually settled on mono. The project is medium difficult… to get it to fit nicely in the flash you have to desolder a big switch from the microphone board, and you have to solder a couple tiny wires. But then again… I’m terrible at soldering and I managed it. Here is the picture: http://i1266.photobucket.com/albums/jj524/picrumors/DSC03596_zpsbd76e739.jpg. Unfortunately I got overeager after I got it working and I got a big glob of solder on one of the connectors, thus breaking it. I’ve ordered another sony microphone to take the connector out of, and should have picture of the finished product and some sample videos soon! For now I’ve attached a couple pictures. The side of the unit will look a lot nicer once I’m finished– I haven’t put the side panels back on yet.
Vladislav: Today I stumbled upon a video of Gary Fong reviewing briefly the a77. Now I know that nowadays there’s quite a bit fuzz about the new a99 (which I should say looks just GREAT, although the 6fps kinda make me feel glad I got a77 and didn’t wait for the a99 to come out), but the a77 ain’t that old yet :) Here is the video if you think the SAR fans as myself would enjoy it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imT31-hvmSU&feature=related

Right after the end of the Photokina show Samyang announced a new A-mount lens. Price is yet not known but the lens should shipping by end of the year. It’s a manual focusing lens with 72mm diameter and 513g weight. It is a VDSLR version which means it has a silent aperture ring and features focus gearing.

Samyang is know for making high quality manual focusing land low price lenses. I highly recommend them if you don’t need AF! Here is a list of currently available lenses udner different brand names:
8mm f/3.5 fisheye at Amazon, BHphoto,
14mm f/2.8 at Amazon, BHphoto,
24mm f/1.4 at Amazon, BHphoto,
35mm f/1.4 at Amazon, BHphoto,
85mm f/1.4 at Amazon, BHphoto,

The German magazine “Digit!” unveiled the winners of this years Photokina 2012 Star Award. With no surprise we can find the new Sony RX1 because of his “Unique” design and features. But there is also another quite controversy winner. The Hasselblad Lunar camera. The reason? It is a camera that goes beyond the Price-Features aspects of digital Photography and is made for an “exclusive” target (Source: Digit). Hmmm,If I would be rich I would go for [shoplink 14424 ebay]that $37.000 Leica Titanium (Click here)[/shoplink] instead don’t you think?

—

Two Sony cameras into the top 20 of Amazon rankings (Click here) . The unique RX100 and the super discounted NEX-5n.

—
Sony preorder list:
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.
RX1 Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Wex Germany Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 with kit lens Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex Uk ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG900 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, Wex Uk and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG30 Adorama, Amazon, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 16-50mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals .
Sony E-mount 35mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 10-18mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony A-mount 300mm f/2.8 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH.

The video on top has been made by Paul Genge and introduces all the new Sony stuff like the A99, RX1 , VG900 and NEX-6. What’s also interesting to check out is the A99 High ISO samples that have been posted on Lenstip. As usual keep in mind that you are analyzing images shot on a preproduction camera with non finalized firmware! There is another German first impression review by Photoscala (Translation here).

Somre more A99 news: Image samples at ePhoto and on Facebook. Sony Canada dropped the price from $2999 to $2799 (via Dyxum). Sony Japan also said that most A mount lenses will get a firmware update this winter to be able to use the new A99 Dual Focus system.

—
Sony preorder list:
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.
RX1 Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Wex Germany Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 with kit lens Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex Uk ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG900 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, Wex Uk and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG30 Adorama, Amazon, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 16-50mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals .
Sony E-mount 35mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 10-18mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony A-mount 300mm f/2.8 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH.

Back in February Olympus launched the Olympus E-M5 and marketing guys kept a mystery around the sensor manufacturer. When asked they always said “No comment“. Until Olympus manager Sasa confirmed that the 16 megapixel sensor is actually made by Sony (Source: DC.watch).

Now Panasonic launched the new GH3 (specs and price here). It has a 16 megapixel sensor and it looks like it is the same of the E-M5. When asked Panasonic managers keep answering “No comment” (Source: EosHD, Personal View and so on).

If our “speculation” is correct than after Nikon, Pentax, Ricoh, Casio, Olympus we also would have Panasonic using Sony sensors. That makes Sony close to a total sensor dictatorship. The only remaining bigger competitor would be Canon and Aptina (for some Nikon cameras).

One more thing. The new Leica M (pecs here) is using a 24 MP sensor which is not(!) made by Sony. it’s made by a small Belgium company named Cmosis. I think that’s great news…to have new kind of companies creating new competition. I am crossing the fingers for that small 42 people company. Good Luck!
—
Sony preorder list:
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.
RX1 Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Wex Germany Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 with kit lens Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex Uk ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG900 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, Wex Uk and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-VG30 Adorama, Amazon, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 16-50mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals .
Sony E-mount 35mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony E-mount 10-18mm Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH, and more links at Alphacameradeals.
Sony A-mount 300mm f/2.8 Amazon, BHphoto, Sonystore DE–UK–FR–IT–ES–NL–SE–FI–CH.