The Stratos-Sphere Project : making-of from Edouard Janssens on Vimeo.

We already knew the NEX-5n is a great camera but it’s good and very useful :) to know that it works perfectly also under very extreme conditions! A Belgian photographer sent a helium balloons up 33km into space to take photos of the curvature of the earth. At 6:05 you clearly see the NEX camera :) Their website is stratos-sphere.com. Thanks Justin for sending me this ;)
And here are the search links to that great stratosphere camera: [shopcountry 8452] :)

To remain in the reign of the weird findings someone also sent me the links to “Ducati NEX adpated lenses”. There is a DUCATI Luxtor 40mm f/1.5 you can find on [shoplink 12171 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. And a DUCATI Lator 60mm f/2.8 again on [shoplink 12172 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

More Sony TidBits:
Kirk Tuck (Click here) fells in love with Sony :)
A special edition of the NEX-7 at DC.watch (Click here).
A Sony A77 biorthday cake on Flickr (Click here).
List of camera defects from Sony and other manufacturers at Moonlightknighthk (Click here).

From time to time readers send me links to their best work done with Sony cameras. And I am glad to share them here on SAR! Here is the list:

Luca: “I am doing a 365 project at http://366nex.blogspot.com. It is focused on using solely the NEX-7 as awalkaround, life-companion, multi-purpose camera. I hope you will enjoy it. As you’ll see in the blog, if you’ll like to visit it, I am using the NEX-7 for many (and very) different purposes, so you’ll find bit of studio photography, street photography, candids, portraits, and night shots.”

Mattia: “AutoMotoRetrò 2012 video on Youtube“

Marc: “I got my NEX5 converted to infrared by Lifepixel in the US (300$) it works terrific, it works also for video. here is a sample test http://youtu.be/Ff-T8aEyFA4 I will be using it in the coutryside during my holidays”

Tino: “Ich habe soeben nach längerer Zeit wieder einmal ein paar Bilder auf meinen Flickr-Account hoch geladen. Aller diese Fotos wurden im Bodensee gemacht.
Folgende Ausrüstung kam zum Einsatz: Sony NEX-5N. Nauticam NA-NEX5 Unterwassergehäuse (Umgebaut auf NEX-5N). Sony E 30mm F3.5 macro. Nauticam Marcro Port 45. INON D-2000 Blitz. Hier der Link zu den Bildern: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdphoto-ch/sets/72157629567407365/“

Tomer: “I just wanted to share my Sony experience with you… I’m a filmmaker, based in Tel-Aviv. I was recently comissioned to direct a launch video for the NYC company, Boxee (www.boxee.tv). The shoot called for a high quality, low footprint camera system, adapted for first-person POV purposes. After much testing and deliberation, myself and the DoP chose the Sony Nex-5N+16mm lens+wide adapter, and have never looked back since… The camera performed admirably, in a wide variety of scenarios (no heating issues whatsoever), and the client was very happy with the end result :-) :
https://vimeo.com/36758114
On a side note, I purchased the camera after the shoot, and managed to locate a vintage Olympus 38mm Pen-F lens for it. It never leaves my camera, and has really transformed my still photography experience. As and avid music fan, I do some concert photography, and it serves my purposes beautifully:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomerbahat/sets/72157629174781312/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomerbahat/sets/72157629112168249/
That’s it, thank you very much for doing such a great work on the blog!”

Douglas: “Some of my recent work done with the Nex 5n. https://vimeo.com/37920172”

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Thanks you all!

Two months ago our friends over at Photorumors got the news that on April 1st Sony will increase the price on all Sony lenses. Sadly this wasn’t an April joke. And the bad news is that i have been told more price increases will arrive soon in other countries too :(

This is the price change list in USA:

Yeah I know, some rumors should never become truth!

The worse financial results and fee scandal forced Olympus to seek for a new partnership. And according to the new Olympus president Sasa Sony (along other) made an official offer (Source Der Spiegel).

My guess is that Sony is interested in the medical business from Olympus, which is very healthy and profitable. What I don’t know if it’s good for Sony to join another new business. Sony is already facing a hard time in many sectors (like for example the TV business).

From a digital camera strategy point of view Sony could force Olympus to jump out of the Micro Four Thirds ship and join the NEX system. I don’t know if that is just a forced speculation or a real plan. Would be good for the NEX system, bad for Panasonic. I think it would be a good new for NEX users havng Olympus on board!

Sony 36 megapixel sensor got a lot of praise from reviewers and the Nikon D800 is the most sold digital camera for over three weeks now (Click here)!

I am surprised how many (Nikon?) readers sent me (not so nice) messages to say that the Nikon D800 doesn’t use a Sony 36 Megapixel sensor. As you know Nikon itself always claims that they are using their own sensor technology and this lead someone to believe I am talking bullxxxx :) While I certainly think Nikon is putting some of his own tech knowledge on the sensor development I am pretty convinced the basic sensor technology has been developed and fabricated by Sony. Here I am writing a post to tell you why I “think” it is so:

First story: It is proven that Nikon is using Sony sensors in some cameras. The D7000 sensor for example has a big “Sony” stamp. The guys from Chipworks dismantled the Nikon camera and here is the picture: http://www.chipworks.com/media/wpmu/uploads/blogs.dir/4/files/2011/01/IMX071_diemrk.jpg.

Second story: It’s actually pretty ease to see that Nikon and Sony are almost always sharing the same resolution on APS-C and FF cameras:
24 Megapixel Full Frame sensor on the Nikon D3X and Sony A900
16 Megapixel APS-C sensor on Nikon D7000 and Sony A55
14 Megapixel APS-C sensor on Nikon D3100 and Sony A560
12 Megapixel APS-C sensor on Nikon D300 and Sony A500
10 Megapixel APS-C sensor on Nikon D3000 and Sony A330

Third story: So why do I “believe” the Nikon D800 uses a Sony sensor? The same trusted sources that shared to me the correct [shoplink 8461]A77[/shoplink] sensor info also sent me the 36 Megapixel Full Frame info back in June 2011 (Click here to read the original post). They also told me the sensor would be used first in a Nikon camera. So was is just luck that Nikon came out with the D800 having a 36 Megapixel Full frame sensor? :)

In summary: Of course this is a rumors site and you absolutely have to take the news I write for what they are…just rumors. Sometimes I can be wrong, no question! But it’s common use to share technologies between companies even if it looks like they are strong enemies (see Samsung Apple patent battle story). I strongly “believe” Sony is behind that 36 Megapixel sensor and that’s why I will post some D800 test hee on SAR. I “suspect” Sony will come out with a Full Frame camera with exactly the same sensor and with at least a 99% similar RAW performance. Now let’s hope Sony will not wait too long before to release the new FF cameras!

And the next NEX camera has been finally announced. It is the FS700 camcorder! The full press release can be found here at Sony Europe. Specs and images:
4K Super35mm CMOS sensor
3G SDI Out
Internal ND filters (clear, 1/4, 1/16 and 1/64),
Super Slow motion (120-240 fps Full HD or 480 up to 960 fps with reduced resolution),
2xXLR,
108024p and 1080/50p AVCHD 2.0
MemoryStick or SDXC Cards or on external HXR-FMU128 recorder

Price is yet unknown. The camera will be available in June!

Click on the pictures to enlarge the size: