I keep getting news about Sony’s factory situation. As you know the situation is much worse than it was back in march after the Tsunami in Japan. The good news is that floodwaters is receding from the industrial area of Ayutthaya where Sony factories are located. Sony is now pushing to restore full production within two month. If all works best and if also suppliers will manage to restore their full production capability than Sony could restart the NEX-7 and A77 production in January. This means new Stock of cameras could arrive in February.

But this is the best case scenario. You will definitely not find any new stock of A77 and NEX-7 cameras this year :(

Sony has some reserves of A65 and NEX-5n cameras that can be sold during the Christmas time. That’s it.

All new Sony cameras and lenses links:
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].

[shoplink 8461][/shoplink]
I talked with a couple of my top sources. They told me that the Sony A77 stocks are almost gone. Overall in some big countries the request of A77 cameras has been 4 times higher than the available amount of cameras. That’s why you should expect the Sony A77 to be not in Stock anymore. And the bad news is that the Thai flood had a much worse consequence on the Sony production than the Japanese Tsunami from March. The problem is that Sony has to rebuild a complete new plant. But also third party suppliers have been affected. The sources do not expect new stocks of A77 cameras and of course NEX-7 cameras before March! Also other camera manufacturers like Canon and Nikon will have similar problems.

I am telling you all that because if you plan to buy the A77 I would seriously not wait to much. In most stores certain A77 kits are our of Stock. At the moment there are only six cameras sold by third party resellers at Amazon US (Click here),  two cameras in Stock at Amazon DE (Click here), body only in Stock at Warehouseexpress (Click here) and some kits in Stock at Jessops (Click here). It’s out of Stock in other Amazon stores, at almost in all Sony online stores. The only cameras you can find regularly in Stock right now are the [shoplink 8459]Sony A65[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8452]Sony NEX-5n[/shoplink].

As I said, I do expect new Stocks of A77 and NEX-7 in 4 months only. That’s a lot of time. I am also checking if that will affect the new product release (like the A9x). I suspect the answer is yes. It makes no sense to announce the A9x when you actually cannot produce it!

All new Sony cameras and lenses links:
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].

Our reader John sent us the following message sent him by Sonystore USA:

“Hello XXX,
Thank you for your recent Sony purchase.
We would like to inform you we are experiencing a delay with your Sony order.
Due to the flood in Thailand and the direct damage to Sony’s manufacturing facilities resulting from the flood, Sony is not able to meet the original delivery schedule that we shared with you when you ordered the NEX-7 camera.  It is our highest priority to launch the NEX-7 as soon as possible and we would like to update you bi-weekly beginning Monday, November 21st until we can confirm the new intended shipping date.  As a reminder, pursuant to your pre-order terms, your charge will not place until the order is shipped.
We apologize for this unforeseeable situation and thank you for your continued support.  You are going to love your NEX-7 camera!

Sincerely,
Sony Customer Care
store.sony.com”

What worries me is that “bi-weekly” notification service. It really gives you the idea of how long you have to wait to get the [shoplink 8454]Sony NEX-7[/shoplink]! I looked at the status on other websites. Amazon JP still says “usually ships within 2 to 3 weeks”. It is temporarily out of Stock at Amazon UK and “noch nicht verfügbar” at Amazon DE. Only Amazon US doesn’t accept preorders anymore. Days ago I told you that I got the info from sources that full production will be back in February only.