BCNranking collected the sales data from a majority of the Japanese stores. And there is really good news! BCN reports:

After losing a lot of sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, the camera market is recovering in the post-COVID era. December sales volume was 123.7% higher than the previous year, showing a booming performance. Unlike PCs and TVs, cameras generally increased year-on-year until around last summer. There were times in the early fall when sales fell significantly below the previous year’s level, but they regained momentum in November and December and significantly exceeded last year’s level. Compact cameras with built-in lenses showed particular growth. December sales volume was 132.7% higher than the previous year. Meanwhile, sales volume of interchangeable lens cameras, whose momentum has slowed due to rising unit prices, continued to fall below the previous year’s level since August, but in December it rose to 101.0%, slightly higher than the previous year.

Canon led the camera market overall in December with a 25.5% unit sales share. Sales volume increased significantly to 151.4% compared to the previous year. Fujifilm, in second place with a market share of 18.6%, maintained its good performance with a 107.3% increase compared to the previous year. Kenko Tokina, which rose to third place for the first time with a market share of 11.8%, also put up a strong performance with a 256.8% increase compared to the previous year. However, Kodak, with a market share of 10.4%, was affected and ended up below double digits at 89.7%. Sony, which remained in fifth place with a market share of 9.7%, also fell below the previous year to 92.4%.

As is often the case, we don’t receive detailed reports from markets like the US, China, or Europe, which is unfortunate. The key takeaway here is that Sony holds just a 9.7% market share. This is largely due to their absence from the growing affordable compact camera market, which is experiencing a boom right now. In contrast, companies like Kenko Tokina and Kodak had strong years, as both offer popular compact models. Again a call for Sony to revive the RX lineup….

You may have noticed the new Sony A1II is out of Stock everywhere in USA (BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama ) and Europe (FotoErhardt, FotoKoch, Calumet, WexUK). Sony Japan issued a statement saying that the number of preorders was higher than expected and that this will delay the delivery of preorders. Now we have two updates:

• Adorama reports the A1II will be back in Stock in March
• FotoErhardt reports “expected delivery time is over 1 month(s).”

The only place were you can find the Sony A1II in Stock is as reconditioned at BHphoto (Click here).

All these lenses are excellent….but Sony is even more efficient :) It is the lightest, most affordable and overall optically superior system too!

Sony trio:

• Sony 16-35mm GM II (Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama)
• Sony 24-70mm GM II (Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama)
• Sony 70-200mm GM II (Amazon, B&H Photo, Adorama)

Daniel Ockeloen is developing a grip extender for the new Sony A1II and Sony A9III. He writes:

As promised, an update on the design of the extender for the A1ii (and a9iii and probably a7V) I really want Sony or someone to make. This is now a fully working prototype: 17mm height, Airtag inside, Arca plate, Peak Design plug space, and easy battery swap. The Baby Extender Grip (BEG) is my way of begging some brand to make this. I am open to some people with 3D printers to share the files so you can test them. The core is now designed around an Airtag alu part from JJC.

The extender is compatible with popular Sony models such as the Sony A1 II, Sony A9 III, and Sony A7V.

He also made a special cooling grip:

Made a 2h22m 8k 25p 50hz, 520M 10bit 4:2:2 recording with my first test a1ii cooling grip. I just wanted to see if cooling in between the lcd and body would work. I think it can go unlimited in my test case at 20c room and no direct sunlight. I stopped it at that point. I also had to attach a usb bank to the a1ii because at 1h10m internal battery was at 10%. Did this because i was bored and well engineers that are bored start to fiddle and to provide feedback to Denz Ahmet. Ill report this back to smallrig sony design manager and maybe sony or smallrig or… will add something like this to their new cases as a option or build in. Canon made a 570 euro cooling grip for the R5ii that kind of does something like this and even this small test shows it could be done for the a1ii. I have no deep feelings if a a1ii should be used for 2hour 8k video thats up to people themselves and their usecases.

Cool project!