(SR5) Sony delays the A99 launch :(

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I have many new rumors I am working on but one of them is actually a bad news. That’s why I start with this. I learned from my TOP sources that Sony delayed the A99 launch. Reason for the delay is the (again) Thai flood. Sony needs time to evaluate the A77 customer response and the A77 production delay will not allow them to launch the A99 in Spring as originally planned. Instead the A99 will be launched in September at the Photokina show in Cologne. To make it worse the whole Sony FF roadmap has been shifted forward, this means the second FF camera (with integrated vertical grip) will probably hit the market in early 2013 only.
The A77 will be 100% available eveywhere in March. Right now you can find few cameras only at Amazon DE (Click here), Amazon Japan (Click here), with shipment in USA in March only (Click here), and overpriced on [shoplink 8461 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

Now guys, like you I am also in a bad mood because of this news. I understand that Sony has a very good reason for delaying the A99, and sincerely they really cannot afford to repeat some of the early A77 bugs experience on a camera that is supposed to appeal the pro market. But Nikon (with the D4) and Canon (with the 5DmarkIII coming in February) are pushing forward and Sony really has to come BIG at Photokina otherwise they will miss the train. In general Sony should decide first if they want to be a serious contender in the FF market and than develop a clear and reliable product strategy. I believe Sony has the technical knowledge to challenge Nikon and Canon. But they should really start to make us “feel” they are serious with FF.

A couple of suggestions:
– New sensor technology with quantum leap forward is needed. That would allow to create a massive advantage over current Canon-Nikon cameras. See what’s going to happen with the new Fuji sensor technology tonight to see how this will create a huge buzz.
– Push super video quality on FF cameras. it’s something that will hurt Nikon.
– More top quality FF lenses. A top lens system matters!
– The camera specs should not only look good on paper but work for real from the very first day
– Make a fullframe mirrorless system. Again, create an advantage over Nikon and Canon like they did with the [shoplink 8454]NEX-7[/shoplink].

In sum Sony, make it right at Photokina…create a historical event! It’s the only way to win credibility! And one more message to my readers. To cheer you up I can share you right now that other rumors I will post soon are very positive :)

P.S.: The A900 which was marked as “discontinued” is now “in Stock” at Amazon (Click here) and Bhphoto (Click here).

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Image leak of the new compact cameras.

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I know this is not the kind of news you particularly like but it’s just a proof that you should not expect new NEX and SLT stuff. The images on top do show the three new Sony compact camera that are going to be announced at the CES show on Monday. The W610, W620, W650.

The reason for Sony not announcing any new “serious” camera stuff is the production delay because of the Thai flood. First they have to go back to full production capability. As I already told you now even the NEX-5n is facing some serious stock shortage. From all new cameras the A65 is the only one in Stock at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here) and if I am not wrong the NEX-7 is in Stock at Fotomundus.

A bit of free Advertising: Probably the “Only” real new interesting camera announcement is coming form Fuji. neither Canon nor Nikon (a part of the D4) nor Panasonic really have to show somethign new. You can follow the announcement live on Monday at MirrorlessRumors (Click here) at 9pm London time.

In Stock status check:
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].

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Sony Tidbits…(with SAR readers work)

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Here is a collection of news and mails I got from SAR readers:

Kelly: “Hello! I just wanted to let you know that DxO v7 is now available for purchase. A very important note for current DxO v6 users – if they log into their dxo.com account and look for an upgrade link, it will save them a lot of money. Instead of paying 200 euros to upgrade, I only had to pay 50 euros. (Thanks Kelly!).”

A.: “I´m a Video-sub Diver from Spain and a writer about underwater filming at www.forobuceo.com. I´m  testing the faboulous Sony NEX VG 20:
Videos about the NEX 20:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCrIhYCetzA&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkpV0FdKScY&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TPMVxji3vs&feature=player_embedded”

Anonymous: “The local paper here in Melbourne, Australia, and probably syndicated to/from the Sydney Morning Herald, has a curious little article on sensor size which strangely turns into a brief review of the A77. http://www.theage.com.au/digital-life/cameras/the-difference-sensor-size-makes-to-a-camera-20111123-1ntds.html“

Jermey: “I’ve made a new video test about the noise management between the Sony A77 and the Sony NEX 5N: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VVBJ5bVRabo. My next video test will be about the noise management and aliasing between the Canon 5D and the Sony A77.”

A77 review from David Tayor-Hughes at Soundimagesplus.

Henrik: “I made a video on Kyoto using the Sony a65 alongside the Canon 5dii, which I think really shows off the video capabilities of the a65. About half the cuts are from each camera, with the handheld shots done using the a65 due to its in-body stabilization, and the “flying” shots done using the 5dii mounted on a glidecam. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgDyTK0Rz6w”

Mike Kobal: “portraits link
http://www.mikekobal.com/blog/?p=3288
travel snaps with Nex 5n and A77
http://www.mikekobal.com/blog/?p=3254
and fashion shoot with A77
http://www.mikekobal.com/blog/?p=3242
that is so cool you shot a documentary in kibera, no video for me :(”

OZ: “A77 & A65 Gallery from 1000 flickr user http://www.flickr.com/groups/a77/discuss/72157627947591387/”

Sony LA-EA2 test at DC.watch.

2012 Sony World Photography Awards Will Be Held In London (ePhotozine).

NEX E30 Macro Prime Vs E18-55 Kit Zoom Shootout (RiceHigh).

Sony A35 review at macworld.

Erfahrungen mit der Sony NEX-FS100 at Slashcam.de.

Sony A65 review at Whatdigitalcamera (Click here). The camera gets the “Gold Award”! The reviewer writes: “There’s no doubt that the A65 faces some stiff, established competition, but it’s the A65 that delivers the best all-round blend of features, performance and image quality. It’s a great camera that deserves real consideration.”

Kiril: “I wrote a short article how to use off camera flash with NEX 3 and 5 series. http://karaatanasov.info/index.php?entry=entry111229-221046“

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Short tutorial: Which third party lenses will work fine on NEX cameras (without lens cast issue).

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Image from Photozone. Also the famous lens review website noticed the lens-cast issue on the [shoplink 10350 ebay]Zeiss 35mm f/2.8 ZM[/shoplink].

A week ago I got my NEX-7 and I am going to use third party lenses on it (by using appropriate adapters). But is it really so easy and flawless to use whatever lens you want on your NEX?

There are is one fundamental thing you have to watch out before to chose your lens. The “lens-cast” issue which creates color shift (mostly cyan shift) in the corners of your image. That problem appears or is stronger under following conditions:
1) Lenses with symmetrical design are not optimized for digital sensors, while lenses with tele-centric design do work well.
2) Wide angle lenses do accentuate the problem.
3) Problem gets worse on bigger sensor. Leica M9 shows more color shifting than the NEX-5n.
4) Problem gets more visible on cameras with smaller pixels. The NEX-5n has less problem with lens cast than the NEX-7.

Example: The Voigtländer 15mm f/4.5 M-mount lens ([shoplink 11043 ebay]Click here to see it on ebay[/shoplink]) does a wonderful job on film cameras but isn’t that good on the NEX-5n and completely sucks on the NEX-7. This because it has a symmetrical design and extreme wide angle. Does it mean you cannot use it on your NEX? There is a solution: The problem can be fixed with the use of the CornerFix software (there are both Windows and Mac OS X versions). It can correct Sony RAW files and transforms them in DNG files.

But if you like me don’t have time to convert every single file than you have to really watch out for the design of the lens you want.An alternative for the Voigtländer is the Zeiss 18mm f/4.0 lens ([shoplink 11044 ebay]Click here to see it on ebay[/shoplink]). Unlike the Voigtländer it has a tele-centric optical design. Those lenses are usually bigger than symmetrical lenses. That’s why the Zeiss is still bigger even if it has more or less the same aperture of the Voigländer.

In general wide angle Voigtländer lenses, Zeiss ZM Biogon lenses, Older Leica lenses come with symmetrical design. All new Leica lenses, most medium and tele lenses and soem Zeiss ZM lenses will work fine. With the help of our readers I will now collect info about a huge variety of lenses you could use on your NEX. It should become a sort of general guide to see how good a lens works on NEX cameras. I will post 1-2 guides per week starting from the next week.

To read more about the problem read that short text at LL (Click here), the guide at Digitalhapeman (Click here) and an M-mount index at Ken Rockwell (Click here).

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Zeiss for NEX and A65 in Stock . First supply problems with NEX-5n.

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Zeiss in Stock at Adorama

For a camera that comes back in Stock (the A65) another one is now going out of Stock (the NEX-5n). The A65 is now available at Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here) but I just have been told by different suppliers that the NEX-5n stock is almost empty. Example, the black NEX-5n is no more available by Amazon itself (Click here).

One good news: The new Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 for NEX is in Stock for the first time at Adorama (Click here). It has (finally) the normal price…$999!

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Sony launches new XQD cards. (SR5) Yes future A99 camera will support this!

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Sony launched a new generation of flash cards called “XQD”! The same day as the first camera that will support those cards, the Nikon D4 (Click here). When using those cards the D4 can record approximately up to 100 frames in RAW format in continuous shooting mode. The cards are abviousely much faster than any current [shoplink 11034]Compact Flash card[/shoplink]. You can read specs and watch the rpesentation video at Sony.net (Click here).

A short SR5 rumor I got from my soruces. Not the NEX but the Sony A99 fullframe will be the first camera to support those cards. w it next week (

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Nikon D4 analysis (Sony sensor?)

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You certainly have heard about the new Nikon D4 fullframe camera (Click here ot read the press release at BH). It has a new 16.2 effective megapixel, full-frame sensor (16.6MP total) and a super 50 – 204,800 ISO range. While there is no info about who made the sensor it’s easy to guess that it has made by Sony (using a tweaked Nikon design). Some of our readers asked me if such a sensor is going to be used inside a future Sony FF SLT camera and my answer is No!!! It will be more interesting to see the sensor that Nikon will put inside the D800. That 36 Megapixel Sony sensor is almost certainly going to be used by Sony in one of his future SLT cameras.

I will give you some important Sony FF update next week when I am back from my busy family trip. Meanwhile let me know what kind of feature you like from the new Nikon. I will check with my sources if Sony is going to “copy” some of them :)

 

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