Sad news today. Steve Jobs passed away. A visionary that had the talent to take tuff and revolutionary decisions. Not everything he has “invented” was successful or admirable but what I liked most about him was that he acted following paths that no others wanted to go.

Looking at the camera industry which is mostly driven by Asian companies I often see a very conservative and anti-risk inclined mentality. I am now guessing what Steve Jobs would have done now as chief of the Sony camera division. How would he develop the next camera? What would be the key features and innovations?

I am just guessing, but I suspect he would:
1) Introduce less cameras than Sony is doing right now.
2) Make camera usability easier and more intuitive.
3) Focus less on technical specs but more on real user needs (What the camera does…just works!).
4) The camera would have full connectivity to Internet and social medias
5) The camera an lenses would not be the center of the camera division, but just a medium of a whole system which has the (mass-)photographer in the center. He would probably create an APP store, accessories, make it easy for other companies to develop software and hardware for the Alpha system.

Those are just my ideas, but I am also honest enough to say that Jobs would probably go far beyond the points I have written here. What do you think?
Fact is I will miss Steve. No matter if you liked him or not, he definitely changed the computer industry.

UDPATE: Yes, Apple did once make a camera the [shoplink 9443 ebay]Quicktake (Click herer to see it on eBay)[/shoplink]. But it has been announced in 1994 before the comeback of Steve in 1996.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I first read this! Fuji announced a new mirrorless system with interchangeable lens system that will use a very large sensor. Exact size of the sensor has not been unveiled but Fuji said it is the highest resolution and lowest noise sensor ever used and it will beat any current full frame sensor! That’s probably the first real competitor for the NEX system and probably also of the future full frame NEX camera! Amazing Fuji. You did what Nikon and Canon where not able to do for now!

Press release and pictures at: DC.watch.

We have been told by our sources that Sony will delay the shipment of the first [shoplink 8461]A77[/shoplink] cameras in Europe to deliver the cams with the new 1.03 firmware. As you know firmware 1.02 isn’t 100% compatible with the very new Bionz processor used for the A77 production version The 1.02 was optimized for an older Bionz processor. The new firmware that will be announced mid-October should fix all the issues we mention last week (black outs, shut down etc).

A SAR reader asked Sony UK when they will fix the [shoplink 8452]NEX-5n[/shoplink] “click” issue and that’s their response: “I understand you are thinking or purchasing a Sony NEX-5N camera. This is not an inherent fault with every single NEX-5N. I can confirm that a firmware fix will be released in October to resolve any issue with the affected models. I can confirm that the firmware update will totally eliminate any issue with the affected Sony NEX-5N cameras. Should you require further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me.”

In summary in a couple of weeks the A77 and the NEX-5n should work fine! And please, do not make any mistake with the [shoplink 8454]NEX-7[/shoplink]!

P.S.: On Amazon (Click here) you can already read 11 user reviews. The truth is that all would rate the camera with 5/5 stars if there wouldn’t be that “click” issue. And one more reminder: You can preorder the 50mm lens on Amazon (Click here).

Image on top: The biggets of all ENX lenses, the 18-200mm.

Alfred Schopf (chief executive of Leica Camera) had an Interview with Asiaone where he reveals: “his reticence to follow the design route taken by Sony with its compact mirrorless NEX cameras“. He literally said: “They have compact bodies and huge lenses in front. I feel a little bit stressed by that design, to be honest.” He also confirmes that they will make a mirrorless system (non rangefinder). There were rumros saying that Leica would use Sony’s APS-C sensor for the system. I would be happy if Leica would go a huge step further and share the same E-mount. I am just dreaming I know…

P.S.: Meanwhile you can use manual M-mount lenses like the one I am using, the [shoplink 8725]Nokton 35mm f/1.4 (Click here to see it on eBay)[/shoplink] if you need compact fast lenses!

Finally Sony Taiwan (Click here) announced that a new [shoplink 8461]A77[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8459]A65[/shoplink] firmware will come in mid-October! The firmware will bring the following improvements:

1.support of HVL-MT24AM twin flash controls.
2.improve of response time.
– switching LCD and EVF response time.
– front and rear dial response time
– Fn feature control
3.Others improvement.

That’s good news although I hoped for an earlier release!

—
A77 preorders at [shopcountry 8461].
A65 preorders at [shopcountry 8459].

An anonymous source just sent me this: “I have learned that the production Alpha a77 has a revised set of new Bionz processors but the Firmware updates were for the older processors. Someone messed up and may have forgotten to have the firmware people test with the new processor. There will be a major update to the firmware as soon as full testing is completed. This is going to delay US and Canada Distribution. The current Firmware was never test on the newer processors that is in the production cameras. So there will be major corrections are needed in the firmware before its released again.”

If the “rumor” is correct than this is an embarassing news for Sony but also good news for us because it means that the firmware updgrade will hopefully fix all current issues. Reminder: The rumor hasn’t been confirmed by official sources so as usual take it with a grain of salt!

P.S.: Yesterday I told you that Sony UK stopped the A77 sales. Another reader wrote me: “popped into my local Jessops (Hedge End, UK)and asked when they expected to get A77. they checked on system and said that there were none at “head office” and they were expecting stock on 25th October.”

And those are the links to preorder the new cameras and lenses:
A77 at [shopcountry 8461].
A65 at [shopcountry 8459].
Sony NEX-7 [shopcountry 8454].
Sony NEX-5n [shopcountry 8452].
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8450].
Sony 50mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8448].
Sony 55-210mm [shopcountry 8444].
NEX-5n viewfinder [shopcountry 9110].

A korean video shows the complete blackout of the A77 (Source: blog.naver.com)

Since a couple of days there “rumors” about A77 issues are floating around the web. Many readers contacted me to confirm that there are quite some issues with the first batch of released A77 cameras. The very latest news i got says: “Sony UK have put a hold on all orders till they investigate a problem that seems to be occurring with the cameras failing to recognise any lens attached.”

As you know the very first cameras have been shipped to Asian countries and there is where you can find many issue reports like here at Dchome and here at Xitek and here at SLRclub. There are also issue reports on Dpreview, here and here. One of our readers had the A77 for three days and had the following issues: “I had 3 times a system hang. I found 1 or 2 death spot when the system hanged and full Black screen was shown. When I pressed the “Fn” key, two column of icon were shown on both L/R sides.  My a77 EVF also disappeared.”

Also other sources or readers contacted me to say they are having problems. In summary it sounds like on some cameras there could be those issues:
1) Top LCD info disappears in some occasions.
2) Crash of the whole camera (you have to remove the battery and reinsert it after to restart).
3) AF points do disappear when using third party lenses (and than it doesn’t work for Sony lenses neither!).
4) There are also a lot of other “minor” issues like that one you can see on youtube.

It definitely sounds like all those problems are SOFTWARE issues and that’s at leats a good news. It means that Sony could fix that via firmware upgrade. Anyway, I really think Sony messed it up. You cannot develop a camera for three years and than release it with such basic faults! This sounds even worse than the [shoplink 8452]Sony NEX-5n[/shoplink] “click” problem. Please Sony try to release an official statement as soon as possible if you don’t want to loose all your A77 orders!

Those are the A77 preorder links: [shopcountry 8461]. But keep in mind that there are some issues. You might want to wait until Sony releases or at least announces the new firmware…