Sony Tidbits


Alpha 55 vid – snow in Scotland (Photoclubalpha).

Sony Aims to Capture 30% of Mobile Sensor Market (ImageSensorWorld)

The Art of HDR Photography Part 1 (Dpreview)

Cool! Now you can sue the Nikonos underwater lenses on your Sony NEX ([shoplink 4985]Click here to see them on eBay[/shoplink]). The bad news is that your NEX camera is not made to work underwater :)

Leica M8 vs Sony NEX-5 battle by Steve Huff.

Japanese camera sales in 2010 analysis

The Japanese website BCNranking just published the digital system camera sales share from January 01 to December 12. As you can see three Sony cameras made it into the top 20. Not bad at all if you consider that the [shoplink 3003]NEX-5/3[/shoplink] cameras were announced mid-2010 and the [shoplink 3617]Sony A55[/shoplink] was in Stock starting by September only. Sonys overall marketshare is close to 20% (on third place behind Nikon and Canon). Definitely a positive year for Sony and let’s hope 2011 will be even better!

Sony to Invest $1.2B to Double Image Sensor Production (ImageSensorWorld)

The website ImageSensorWorld catched an interesting news via Businessweek.

Sony has the plan to double its image sensor production! That’s why they will invest $1.2B in the next financial year to convert a plant in Nagasaki for the production of CMOS sensors. After that the total production of CCD and CMOS  sensors will increase to 50,000 300mm wafers a month by March 2012. Hey Sony, what will you do with all that CMOS sensors? Are those meant for the new NEX-7, A77, A750, A950 we were long waiting for? ;)

And here is the official Sony press release:

“Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced that Sony plans to invest approximately 100 billion yen in Sony Semiconductor Kyushu Corporation’s Nagasaki Technology Center (“Nagasaki TEC”) in the fiscal year ending March 31, 2012, to increase the production capacity for CMOS image sensors.

This investment plan includes (i) the transfer of the semiconductor fabrication facilities from Toshiba Corporation (“Toshiba”) contemplated under a non-binding memorandum of understanding between Sony and Toshiba jointly announced on December 24, 2010, (ii) refurbishment of a part of the above semiconductor fabrication facilities into new wafer lines capable of manufacturing CMOS image sensors, and (iii) refurbishment and equipment of a part of production facilities at Nagasaki TEC Building 3 for wafer processing to differentiate Sony’s CMOS image sensors with Sony’s independently developed unique technologies. Through the investment plan, Sony will utilize a governmental subsidy to be provided by the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry in Japan – the “subsidy for programs to promote siting low-carbon job-creating industries” – mainly in connection with the investment mentioned in (iii) above.“

SonyAlphaRumors reader Shaadi Faris wins the “nature” Sony Photo challenge contest!

I am really proud to give you that news! Our reader Shaadi Faris won the first price of the Sony nature photo challenge! You can see the picture on Flickr (Click here). And the third place goes also to a SonyAlphaRumors reader…Griveous 247 (Click here to see that picture on Flickr). My compliments for both of you!!! Really stunning pictures!

–

Reminder: You are still in time to participate the next contest with the theme “Travel”. Click that flickr link and tag every photo with “SonyPhotoChallenge” and “SonyAlphaRumors“. Why should you add the SonyAlphaRumors tag? Sony said the blogger that sends more people/pictures will be invited as special guest at the Sony World Photography Awards Ceremony on the 27th April 2011. And you won’t disappoint me or not? ;) I want to be there!!!

Sony NEX rules in Japan (+ Amazon rankings)

Watch out Canon and Nikon! Sony is coming! The latest weekly BCNranking report shows how two Sony NEX-5 cameras made it into the top 4 of the most sold system cameras. A wonder where the [shoplink 3003]NEX-5[/shoplink]
would be if we would sum the black and white model sales numbers!

But how is the rest of the world doing? There are no such reliable rankings. But we can take a look at Amazon rankings:
In US Canon and Nikon are dominating the scene (Click here to see the US ranking). You can find the NEX and Translucent camera only one the second page. But please keep in mind the [shoplink 3617]A55[/shoplink] is not in Stock right now. That could explain the low sales.
In UK the Sony A290 is selling well (Click here to see the UK rankings). But for the rest we have the same US scenario….Canon and Nikon are dominating.
In Germany we have the same story. Canon and Nikon are on top (Click here to see the Amazon Germany ranking).
Also in France the Sony A290 is the best sold camera (Click here to see the Amazon France ranking).
Where Sony is doing very well is in Italy (Click hee to see the Amazon Italy rankings).

As you see the European and American market is less “mirrorless” oriented and very conservative. Classic DSLR cameras are still dominating the camera world.