Let’s take a break from our pure technical news/rumor coverage. I want to congratulate all Sony World Photography Awards 2011 Winners!
You can see all the pictures of the winners at worldphoto.org (Click here). And you can also see the photos of the Open Competition category winners (Click here).

I will try to be one of the winner at the next 2012 contest with my NEX-7 or A77 :)

Mike Worswick (president of the Photographic Research Organization) said at USA TODAY that with the shortages in cameras, due to the crisis, “The opportunity for Sony, Olympus and even Samsung to grow a little market share in the next few months is clearly out there“. At a time when many Canon SLRs are hard to find, due to production issues, the Sony models are not only in amply supply, but discounted to sell with special promotions.

Thom Hogan commented that statement on his website: “USAToday speculates that the shortage of Canon and Nikon cameras caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami will benefit Sony’s DSLR market share. Maybe, but not for any of the reasons USAToday suggests. First, Canon has already announced that it doesn’t expect any drop in DSLR sales, so USAToday would essentially be saying the Sony share increases would come at the expense of Nikon. That’s probably true, but it isn’t really the earthquake and tsunami that is the root cause here.“..:”Sony’s inventory problems had been somewhat the opposite of Nikon’s: most items have been in plentiful stock, partly because they’re not as efficient as Nikon in getting a customer in a store asking for something. So, yes, USAToday’s basic premise is correct: if sales shift away from Nikon, Sony should gain.”

My two cent on that: I learned via my sources that Sony has quite a problem with the CMOS sensor production. I have my doubts that what Mike Worswick is telling us is true.

P.S.: The deals we are talking about are only running in US (didn’t find any deals in european countries:
-$50 on the A580 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H and J&R.
-$50 on the A55 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the A33 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-5 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-3 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.

Let’s start with a short editor’s note: On April 21 we reported about a new Sony CMOS sensor with amazing 120 fps at a full 12 Bit resolution (source DC.watch.Impress). I still noticed that many readers didn’t understand that this is a sensor for videocameras (and not for Alpha cameras). Thom Hogan explains why this is so: “It’s 24.3×12.8mm in size, which makes it slightly wider than APS-C but substantially shorter. The 2160 vertical pixels are exactly double what’s needed for 1080P (the horizontal component is almost exactly 4x). It looks like a straight-out video sensor to me. That’s confirmed by the other details: 60 fps 14-bit output, 120 fps max speed, and the first target: NHK’s Super Hi-Vision format.”

But the real interesting part of Thom Hogans article is the following one:
“To what end? Well, DSLR-enabled video is pretty compromised and about to be eclipsed by prosumer and pro video equipment, much as I predicted some time ago. Both Sony and Panasonic now have large sensor video products, with more coming. Those products blow away the capabilities within DSLRs for one simple reason: the sensor is optimized for video use. In order to get 1920×1080 (1080P) or 1280×720 (720P) out of our DSLR sensors, the cameras do two things: they line skip and they sub-sample within a line. The results are rolling shutters, artifacts, and less than optimal color information. Those dedicated large-sensor video cameras fix all those things. The output from the new Sony NEX-FS100E is noticeably better than any video-enabled DSLR I’ve seen to date. If I’m serious about video production, why would I compromise by using a DSLR? Plus the FS100E is configured to be a video camera from the get-go.”

What do you think?

Reminder: The Sony NEX-FS100U will be in Stock in July (Source: B&H).

I am now posting all those news I could not post because of the NEX-C3, Sony A35 and Flash leaks. One of the coolest new products shown at the NABshow in Las Vegas is the EOS to NEX Birger adapter. It is the first adapter that provides full control of focus and aperture on all tested EOS lenses! But that adapter will be really expensive (should cost around $800). More (few) info on Birger.com.

If you need a cheap solution you can look at the new Kipon ESO to NEX adapter with manual aperture control on [shoplink 5561 ebay]eBay (but there are no items in stock now)[/shoplink]. Looks a bit weird but it seems to work (you get what you pay for).

P.S.: See the list of all current EOS to NEX manual adpaters on [shoplink 5932 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Sony NEX-FS100 Demo Footage (Click those links to check if the camera is on preorder: [shopcountry 6170]).

70-200mm F/2.8 telephoto zoom comparison (Kurtmunger).
A crazy test: Hasselblad 45mm f/4 lens on the NEX-5 (DC.watch).
Sony Ranks as the Highest Rated Consumer Electronic Company in the United States (SonyRumors.net)
Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H70 review (Cnet US).
More image samples of the new chinese 28mm f/2.8 lens for NEX (Xitek forum).

As you know a few days ago we posted the first images of the NEX-C3. In our poll we asked you if you like the new camera and your answer was largely positive! ThePhoBlographer explains: “Why The Sony NEX-C3 May Be Really Awesome”. I do agree and you?

Dear SAR readers!

I wish all of you a happy time with your families and friends. I will have a long dinner with my parents and you might excuse me if I am not going to post any news or rumors today :)

Enjoy your time and take nice pictures! Feel free to post the links as a comment to that post.

P.S.: You sent me many links to news reviews and new videos during the last week. I will all post them starting from tomorrow! Thanks for your very precious help!

Sony announced a new near APS-C sensor with 19,3 Full and 17,7 effective pixels. But the really amazing feature of the sensor is that it can capture 120 fps (frame per second) at a full 12 Bit resolution. And it takes 60 fps at 14 Bit! The only real limit here is the mechanical shutter (that’s why the final fps could be lower). The sensor has been designed to limit the Rolling Shutter effect while recording video. The sensor has consumes less power than the current 16 megapixel sensor of the [shoplink 3617]Sony A55[/shoplink].

UPDATE: A reader noticed that “the dimensions are not APS-C as we know them (1.5x crop  3:2 sensor), it’s a few mm short on the height.  It’s closer to aspect ratio of 16:9 than 3:2 , thus probably a video sensor, nothing for a Alpha body.” And another reader (Thom) said: “This sensor uses Clearwid rotated pixels, effective resolution is 27 MP; it is to be used in the new 8K (about 24 MP) Ultra High Definition TV cameras, developed by Sony, in conjunction with NHK. Even BBC participates in this project.”

There is a very detailed description of the sensor specs at the japanese DC.watch (Click here) website. To bad the google english translation tool seems to be confised working on the original text. We would welcome if our japanese friends could comment this post and add some more interesting information we might have missed. Thanks!