Nikon Japan said that the Nikon D3200 sensor is different from Sony’s 24 megapixel sensor. I guess they mean that while the basic design may be similar Nikon engineers applied their own “tweaks” on it. Anyway, the Nikon D3200 and the A65 and A77 are really completely different cameras. But from a pure general marketing point of view it may be difficult to explain the $300 price difference between the Nikon D3200 ($699 at Amazon) and the Sony A65 ($999 at A.) to average “john” customers. And there is a big $800 difference with the A77 to consider too ($1499 with kit lens). I repeat, of course the A65 and A77 have many features the Nikon has not but I am curious to here your very “instinctive” answer:

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Maybe it’s just me, but I am a bit frustrated to see that the Nikon D3200 and Nikon D800 are on top of the DSLR sales rankings (Click here). Not that Nikon doesn’t deserve it, but Sony maybe could do a bit more to push their own Alpha range?

Nikon just unveiled the new Nikon D3200 which uses the same Sony 24 Megapixel sensor of the [shoplink 8461]Sony A77[/shoplink] sensor. It will be very interesting to see if there is any noticeable difference in terms of RAW image quality due the Sony’s transparent mirror and Nikon own “tweaks”. Price and specs info of the Nikon are up at Amazon (Click here). I guess DxOmark will soon test the camera and speaking of DxOmark they just published the Canon 5DmarkIII test. Why is it interesting? It has exactly the same score of the [shoplink 8454]Sony NEX-7[/shoplink]! CLick here to see the markIII versus NEX-7 comparison.

By the way, the 5DmarkIII shipment will very likely stopped soon (according to CanonWatch).

For US readers: Four new NEX-7 kits are now in Stock at Amazon (Click here).

The NEX-7 and A65 got the TIPA price award (Click here to see the website). The NEX-7 won the best expert mirrorless price. You may would think that the camera has beaten the main contender the Fuji X PRO 1…but this isn’t true. The Fuji won the Best Professional mirrorless camera category. I don’t get the difference between “expert” and “professional” category :)

The [shoplink 8459]A65[/shoplink] won within the category best advanced DSLR.

NEX-FS700 hands-on at Engadget (Click here):

CreativeUk (Click here) is accepting preorders.

Sony NEX FS100 as a DSLR alternative – first impressions (EosHD)

Minolta 70-210mm f4 versus Canon 70-200mm f4 L IS at Photoclubalpha (Click here): “Most of all, comparing this lens with the relatively expensive and much larger Canon it’s clear that the performance is either equal, or better. Take into account advances in coatings, and the effects of age on any lens, and I would have to think a new version of exactly this same Minolta lens would be stunningly sharp and ideal within the Alpha system”

Amateur Photographer Magazine (not online!) tested the A57: “With its 16.1-million pixel sensor, 15-point AF and 10fps shooting with continuous AF, Sony’s Alpha 57 may suit aspiring sports and wildlife photographers. Tim Coleman puts it to the test.”

Canon 5D Mark III ‘light leak’ causes underexposed photo’s from FotoVideo.nu on Vimeo.

When Sony launched the [shoplink 8461]Sony A77[/shoplink] we were one of the first websites to report the flaws and limits of the camera. You may would think that these kind of things would not happen with the Canon and Nikon cameras specially when they are aimed for the pro market. But as you see they are also having some troubles:

Canon 5D markIII ($3499)
Light leak issue problem (Canonwatch). And the problems has been confirmed by Canon itself (via CanonWatch).

Nikon D800 ($2999)
Greencast, memory card and tethering issues (Nikonrumors). “Exploded” D800 (Dpreview).

I hope Sony will not make a mess with the A99. They should release a mature product with no major flaws and ZERO Hardware problems. If they can manage to do it they may will dethrone the most sold DSLR camera of the moment (the Nikon D800 according to A. rankings).

Sony just issued a pdf document (Click here to download) where it describes the future strategy. And there are good news for us Alpha Camera users! One of the main goal is to Strengthen the Imaging core businesses  (Digital   Imaging,  Game,  Mobile).

Here is the detailed plan:
“Sony is reinforcing its development of image sensors, signal processing technologies, lenses and other key digital imaging technologies in which it excels, and plans to leverage these technologies in both its consumer products (such as compact digital still cameras, digital video cameras and interchangeable lens digital cameras) and broadcast and professional products (such as professional use cameras and security cameras) in order to further strengthen and differentiate Sony’s overall product line. The Company also plans to extend the use of these key technologies across a wide range of business applications, from security to medical, to further expand the scope of its digital imaging business. Sony will target total sales of 1.5 trillion yen and double-digit operating income margin from the consumer, professional and image sensor businesses by FY14.”

You can find another strategy presentation here: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/viewer/strategy/2012/. One of the main aspects are the “acceleration of the 4K Innovation”.

I guess you already read the news on your daily magazine. Sony announced the worst loss ever, ¥520 billion for the past financial year. Converted this means a 6,4 Dollar or 4,9 Euro billion loss. Sony will cut 10,000 jobs to bring Sony back to profit within March 2012. There are many reasons for the bad results listed by NYT:
1) additional (unexpected) tax expense
2) heavy losses in its television business
3) strong yen
4) natural disasters in Japan and overseas.

The digital camera market is just a small part of Sony’s business and currently doing pretty decent thanks to the A77 and NEX-7. The problem is Sony has lost many battles like the music war with Apple and the TV war with Samsung. When I talk with my sources they more or less agree that Sony is quite slow and too heavy when it comes to take action. Probably the company has a to complex structure that leads to waste time and resources. That doesn’t necessary mean that you have to cut jobs! What matters more is to have a good management and clear and easy communication-action structure within the company.

Sorry if I repeat myself again but they lost so much money with their slow camera and lens release! The [shoplink 8454]NEX-7[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8450]Zeiss 24mm[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8448]50mm[/shoplink] are selling well but Sony can’t keep up with the production. Plus they are loosing money every day by not releasing new NEX lenses. Cutting jobs will not help if your product strategy…”sucks“?

I hope the latest rumors I am getting about the next FF camera are a good sign that Sony may anticipate the FF announcement. About time!