At CES 2013 Sony unveiled a 4K camcorder. Sony calls it a consumer model, but it definitely looks more like a prosumer piece of gear. The guys at photographybay had a close look on the 4K handycam, they write:

The 4K concept camera features an XAVC badge, which is Sony’s new codec introduced last year. As Sony puts it, “the primary objective in adopting the XAVC format is to develop a family of professional production tools that can economically handle High-Frame-Rate (HFR) HD and 4K imaging formats.” The maximum capability of the XAVC codec allows for 4K video at 60p and 4:4:4 12-bit at 960Mbps bit rate. Of course, it’s likely a consumer-grade 4K camera would be substantially lower than the max that XAVC can deliver.

We have yet to learn more about this new camcorder, maybe NAB 2013 (in April) will bring some news. Check the post at photographybay for pics of the camcorder and more tidbits.

Leica is having a lot of success and probably earning a lot of money on their exclusive and expensive Leica Monochrome. So le’ts think (or dream) a bit out of the box. Imagine Sony doing a NEX camera with a Black and White sensor. A sensor that allows you the maximum possible per pixel sharpness, no AA filter, bigger pixels for greater dynamic range. And that NEX would cost around 30-50% more than current NEX camera prices.

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Price and specs of the Leica Monochrome at Amazon and Bhphoto.

Image courtesy: Chipworks.

That’s an interesting news! The Nikon D5200 doesn’t actually use the same Sony 24MPX sensor but as discovered by Chipworks it has a new Toshiba sensor! This may be one more sign how Nikon wants to move away from a complete Sony supply dependency. That’s just my pure speculation but this may be an indirect good news for us Sony users too. We may don’t see Sony sensors being exclusively sold to Nikon while Sony itself will have to wait 6 or 12 months before using it on their own cameras.