It’s good news to see Nikon releasing the Nikon D5 and Nikon D500. Not because I want to buy those, but because this will set the standard very high if Sony plans to release a new High End A99 successor and eventually a new A9 Full Frame E-mount series.
It was also surprising to see that Nikon aggressively underlined the mirrorelss weaknesses (See video here from minute 8:00). While some of the points they make are exaggerated Sony has to learn a couple of things from the Nikon camera release:

– Pro photographers need a reliable camera (no lag on operation, easy menu and so on)
– Pro photographers need a reliable autofocus (no missing autofocus shot, no EVF lag time)
– Pro photographers need a bigger body (better balance, better and less fiddly button position)

So dear Sony, just give us a Mirrorless D5 alike camera. Nikon priced it at $6,500 and I am sure for that price you can surely make an exceptional camera!

Gary Friedman sent me this:

Here’s my latest product idea for people who shoot with Sony’s new flashes:
https://goo.gl/photos/a9mxo6FpmYirPH2o8
This is a mock-up of low-profile, high-strength hot shoe adapters for Sony’s new MiS hot shoe. Now I can go back to carelessly throwing my flash into my camera bag without worry of bending those vulnerable pins or losing that tiny plastic cover. (Again.)
While I’m in Vegas covering CES for f2 Cameracraft I’m going to see if there is a manufacturer willing to take this on.
Feel free to share! :-)  I have no idea what the market size for this would be… hopefully your audience could let me know if this is something they would benefit from.

New FE lenses..#SonyCES @SonyElectronics @SonyAlphaRumors pic.twitter.com/TSex9qviC5

— LooseBalloon (@LooseBall00n) January 6, 2016

First of all: it was pretty clear in advance Sony would not announce a new Alpha camera at CES. We got no reliable rumors about possible A or E-mount camera announcement at CES. And Sony is known for launching major Alpha cameras “off” events to get the full media attention.

But: I saw the Sony CES event in live stream. And for more than 10 minutes Sony did talk about the “amazing” A7 series and so on. They did show many pictures and created a lot of focus on their cameras. And for a moment they got me and I was thinking “yeah hell!” something will be announced today! And than suddenly…after all that long talk they quickly skipped over to Audio products. So ZERO announcement. Again, I am absolute no marketing expert but I guess 95% of the people watching the stream felt like John Travolta on the video above :)

Summary: I am sure Sony will show us some real new camera soon. I am not worried about that. But I wonder what’s the “marketing point” of that CES presentation. Maybe it’s just me not understanding how corporate communications works? What was your “feeling”?

–
Message to Sony CEO Hirai: Usual marketing bla bla aside I have to say Sony CEO Hirai was the best performing CEO on stage at CES. Chapeau!

On the CES stage Sony talked for almost 10minutes about the A7 series cameras but did NOT announce any new FE lens or camera. It was somehow expected to NOT get any new Alpha camera at CES but a bit strange they talked a lot about it without to announce anything :/

Here is the list of products (handycams, actioncams and so on) announced by Sony: sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201601/16-001E/index.html

P.S.: A99 and A6000 successor now going to come around Cp+ in February. And hopefully those new toys will steal the spotlight from the Nikon D5 announced today.

The High ISO race restarted today: Nikon is going after the Sony A7sII with the new Nikon D5. The new D5 goes up to ISO 3,280,000 (yes Milion!).

It’s also interesting to note that Nikon’s presentation was also focused on “down playing” the mirrorless competition. Just watch for yourself from around minute eight:

Now more than ever we need Sony to make a real pro new A-mount A99 successor. And if I may add…also a future A9 E-mount camera!  A camera that is really reliable on all aspects (autofocus reliability, operation reliability and so on).

The Sony press conference will start at 5pm Las Vegas time (that’s 2:00 tonight in Berlin). You can follow the video live stream here on SonyAlphaRumors!

Today at 5pm PST (Las Vegas) time Sony will live stream their CES product announcement. Like I told you yesterday actioncameras, VR, Playstation and other non-Alpha stuff are going to be announced. There is a very small chance Sony will show the A99 successor, the A6100 or the new FE lens roadmap. Keep in mind the “pure” photo event of CP+ is taking place next month already. And as usual with Sony some of the photographic stuff may be announced “off-show”.

Still, we can hope Sony will surprises us tonight! You can follow the video live stream directly here on SAR at:
5pm Las Vegas time
8pm New York time
2:00 Berlin time (January 6 in Europe)