Two months ago our friends over at Photorumors got the news that on April 1st Sony will increase the price on all Sony lenses. Sadly this wasn’t an April joke. And the bad news is that i have been told more price increases will arrive soon in other countries too :(

This is the price change list in USA:

Yeah I know, some rumors should never become truth!

The worse financial results and fee scandal forced Olympus to seek for a new partnership. And according to the new Olympus president Sasa Sony (along other) made an official offer (Source Der Spiegel).

My guess is that Sony is interested in the medical business from Olympus, which is very healthy and profitable. What I don’t know if it’s good for Sony to join another new business. Sony is already facing a hard time in many sectors (like for example the TV business).

From a digital camera strategy point of view Sony could force Olympus to jump out of the Micro Four Thirds ship and join the NEX system. I don’t know if that is just a forced speculation or a real plan. Would be good for the NEX system, bad for Panasonic. I think it would be a good new for NEX users havng Olympus on board!

Sony 36 megapixel sensor got a lot of praise from reviewers and the Nikon D800 is the most sold digital camera for over three weeks now (Click here)!

I am surprised how many (Nikon?) readers sent me (not so nice) messages to say that the Nikon D800 doesn’t use a Sony 36 Megapixel sensor. As you know Nikon itself always claims that they are using their own sensor technology and this lead someone to believe I am talking bullxxxx :) While I certainly think Nikon is putting some of his own tech knowledge on the sensor development I am pretty convinced the basic sensor technology has been developed and fabricated by Sony. Here I am writing a post to tell you why I “think” it is so:

First story: It is proven that Nikon is using Sony sensors in some cameras. The D7000 sensor for example has a big “Sony” stamp. The guys from Chipworks dismantled the Nikon camera and here is the picture: http://www.chipworks.com/media/wpmu/uploads/blogs.dir/4/files/2011/01/IMX071_diemrk.jpg.

Second story: It’s actually pretty ease to see that Nikon and Sony are almost always sharing the same resolution on APS-C and FF cameras:
24 Megapixel Full Frame sensor on the Nikon D3X and Sony A900
16 Megapixel APS-C sensor on Nikon D7000 and Sony A55
14 Megapixel APS-C sensor on Nikon D3100 and Sony A560
12 Megapixel APS-C sensor on Nikon D300 and Sony A500
10 Megapixel APS-C sensor on Nikon D3000 and Sony A330

Third story: So why do I “believe” the Nikon D800 uses a Sony sensor? The same trusted sources that shared to me the correct [shoplink 8461]A77[/shoplink] sensor info also sent me the 36 Megapixel Full Frame info back in June 2011 (Click here to read the original post). They also told me the sensor would be used first in a Nikon camera. So was is just luck that Nikon came out with the D800 having a 36 Megapixel Full frame sensor? :)

In summary: Of course this is a rumors site and you absolutely have to take the news I write for what they are…just rumors. Sometimes I can be wrong, no question! But it’s common use to share technologies between companies even if it looks like they are strong enemies (see Samsung Apple patent battle story). I strongly “believe” Sony is behind that 36 Megapixel sensor and that’s why I will post some D800 test hee on SAR. I “suspect” Sony will come out with a Full Frame camera with exactly the same sensor and with at least a 99% similar RAW performance. Now let’s hope Sony will not wait too long before to release the new FF cameras!

And the next NEX camera has been finally announced. It is the FS700 camcorder! The full press release can be found here at Sony Europe. Specs and images:
4K Super35mm CMOS sensor
3G SDI Out
Internal ND filters (clear, 1/4, 1/16 and 1/64),
Super Slow motion (120-240 fps Full HD or 480 up to 960 fps with reduced resolution),
2xXLR,
108024p and 1080/50p AVCHD 2.0
MemoryStick or SDXC Cards or on external HXR-FMU128 recorder

Price is yet unknown. The camera will be available in June!

Click on the pictures to enlarge the size:

Image courtesy: Photoscala.de

Kenko announced two new 10mm and 16mm extension tube that fit in between the lens and the camera mount. It will transform any E-Mount lens in a macro lens! You can also use both extensions at the same time. The probably bigger news here is that it has electronic contacts to allow autofocusing and aperture control. The tubes will be available some time within April and cost around 216 Euro each.

I don’t know where you can buy Kenko stuff in local stores. I found some of their lenses and adapters on [shoplink 12067 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].