(SR5) new compact camera announcement on July 20th

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[shoplink 7597][/shoplink]Image on top shows the last Sony compact camera that has been announced in february, the [shoplink 7597]Sony HX9v[/shoplink].

Sony will soon announce new compact camera(s) (UPDATE: On July 20th). So no NEX or Alpha camera yet but it might be interesting to see what kind of new features will be coming with the new stuff. If you have some info about those cameras drop me a text at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com or by using the anonymous contact form you can find on the right sidebar. Thanks!

The last three compact camera announced in early 2011 were the:
– Sony HX9V you can find at [shopcountry 7597].
– Sony HX100V at you can find at [shopcountry 7598].
– Sony TX100V you can find at [shopcountry 7599].

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DxOMark tested the Sony NEX-C3: “a great sensor in a tiny camera”

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DxOmark (Click here) tested the new [shoplink 7207]Sony NEX-C3[/shoplink]. They also tried to understand if the Sony NEX C-3 vs [shoplink 5509]Sony A580[/shoplink] vs Pentax K5 vs Nikon D7000 are using the same sensor: “The scores say no, but our measurements loudly say yes, this is the same sensor but it has been tuned differently:

  • Strangely, the lowest ISO available on the NEX C3 is a mere ISO 200, this limitation does not allow the user to take full advantage of the built characteristics of this sensor in Low-ISO.
  • Not being able to go further down than ISO 200 explains the difference in scores as far as dynamic range and color sensitivity are concerned.

On the other hand the Sony NEX C3 should be able to provide the same Image Quality scores in High ISO (the lowlight ISO Score is of 1083).”

So why did Sony ban the ISO 100 from the Sony NEX-C3? Mystery!

P.S.: Those are the direct search links to the Sony NEX-C3 at [shopcountry 7207].

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(SR2) New info about the mysterious A-mount NEX styled camera

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[shoplink 7546 ebay][/shoplink]

The “saga” about the mysterious A-mount camera is continuing! A third source sent me the following text last night: “Whoever leaked the a mount is somewhat correct with the look. Where you see that OVF on the V3 will be the focus light to help in low light. It has gps! Sony is making gps a common feature with most future midrange/pro as you know. Don’t be surprised to see it launch with a pancake style lens too! I think you should post a vote to see who would buy one!”

My answer for the source: I will make the poll once I have more info about the camera. because right now it’s difficult to understand what it is. We know it’s an A-mount NEX styled camera without viewfinder. We know it looks very similar to the [shoplink 7546 ebay]V3 (Click here to see it on eBay)[/shoplink]. Can you give us some more info about the camera? Thanks :)

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

 

A private message: Sorry if I didn’t participate to the last discussions but I have my full family at home and I am more busy than usual! Anyway, the good news is that I worked on rumors only instead. So stay tuned on SAR!

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(SR4) Is the Fuji X100 killer coming? NEX-7 has built-in viewfinder!

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[shoplink 6075 ebay][/shoplink]
The [shoplink 6075 ebay]Fuji X100[/shoplink] is most popular mirrorless camera with built-in viewfinder. Hop the NEX-7 will become more popular than the Fuji!!!

Finally I am getting rumors about the future NEX-7 too! Sources are confirming the NEC-7 is coming in late August. But the news I can share today is that it has indeed an integrated viewfinder. We have been told it is the same 3 million dot OLED viewfinder from the A77. The EVF has a high refresh rate to avoid flickering and other issues you have with current viewfinder. Everybody told me that viewfinder is a huge step forward to anything yo have seen before (better than the [shoplink 3617]Sony A55[/shoplink] EVF, better than the external [shoplink 7539 ebay]Olympus VF-2 viewfinder[/shoplink]).

What I don’t know yet is if the NEX-7 has a rangefinder style a là Fuji X100 ([shoplink 6075 ebay]Click here to see that camera[/shoplink]) or a more classical DSRL look like the [shoplink 7541]Panasonic G3[/shoplink]! Anyway, we are getting tons of rumors in theses days so stay tuned because there could be surprises at any time on SAR!

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

Reminder: The NEX-7 has the same 24 Megapixel sensor from the A77!

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New Lens reviews roundup!

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[shoplink 7568 ebay][/shoplink]
Jhpvideotutorials posted a new Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC review: “this Sigma 30mm f/1.4 EX DC lens is a little bit soft wide open at f/1.4, but still totally usable. The edges suffer the most from the softness, but the center of the frame is not to bad.  The softness slowly goes away as you approach f/2.8, and then it’s nice and sharp across the whole frame.”
Click those direct search links to check price and availability of the lens at [shopcountry 7567].

And again Jhpvideotutorials posted a Sony 70-200mm f/2.8 APO G(D) SSM Lens Hands on Review: “it’s very sharp across at all aperture’s, but tack sharp from f/4-f/8. The Bokeh is also very nice and the optical flaws such as chromatic aberrations and vignetting are minimal and any raw processing program can fix it with ease. The only negative to this lens in my opinion is the price”
Click those direct search links to check price and availability of the lens at [shopcountry 7568].

Focus Numerique tested the Tamron SP 60 mm f/2 Macro Di II which is also available for Alpha Mount.
Click those direct search links to check price and availability of the lens at [shopcountry 7569].

Fotasy 35mm f/1.7 lens tested on a Sony NEX-3 at Seriouscompacts: “No doubt that this setup is not the end all in the quest for small camera/high IQ/low cost, but for now, it has won a spot near the top of my camera bag and I highly recommend it to anyone who is either looking for a low cost solution or who would like to take a step back from pixel peeping and enjoy a care free, creative shooting experience.”
P.S.: I don’t knwo where to find that lens ut usually you can find that stuff on [shoplink 7576 ebay]eBay only[/shoplink].

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(SR2) More mistery rumors: A V3 “NEX-styled” Alpha camera.

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[shoplink 7546 ebay][/shoplink]
As you know I am getting a couple of these “crazy” rumors about a NEX PRO camera with A-mount (yeah at first glance this is a nonsense). I can feed the mystery story with a new piece of information I received from a new mysterious source. That’s what I got last night: “A pro “nex style” with A mount is in the works. It has a DSC-V3 style to it.” I posted the picture of the camera on top and you can find that camera on [shoplink 7546 ebay]eBay only (Click here)[/shoplink]. One of the key info here is that the source said it’s a “NEX style” camera! So probably we are talking about an A-mount camera without viewfinder! That starts to makes a sense now! Could that be the third Alpha camera that will be announced along the A77 and A65?

Reminder: That is what another source told me two days ago: “The “nex pro” will indeed use the A-mount. Sony is marketing towards professionals who want it as a main camera and even as a 2nd camera. It may also have the standard Sony SLR/TLR shoe mount.”

One more thing: Be sure to follow SAR daily….I am working on many rumors!!! And thanks to all source for sending me info. I hope you understand that i usually try to doublecheck the info before to post the info you send to me :)

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

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Sony market share in Japan (slowly getting closer to Nikon and Canon!)

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The Japanese website BCNranking displayed the latest data about the Japanese camera market. There are a couple of interesting points:

Most sold cameras with interchangeable lenses (May 2011):
The first two position are held by the two entry level cameras from Nikon and Canon. The best placed Sony camera is the [shoplink 3003]Sony NEX-5[/shoplink] on Pos. 7 with 5.3% volume share. In Japan NEX cameras are more popular than the Sony SLT and DSRL cameras. Take into consideration that in Japan one third of all sold system cameras are mirrorless!

Mirrorless Market Share (January to May 2011):
Olympus volume share is 37.95% of the whole mirrorless camera. Right behind you find Sony (32.02%) and than Panasonic (30.03%). The year 2010 ended with following shares Panasonic (38.7%), Sony (32.2%), Olympus (29.1%). As you see Sony didn’t gain any market share. I guess one of the main reason could be the lack of new NEX lenses :(

Market share for all interchangeable cameras:
If you count the all interchangeable cameras (Mirrorless and DSLR) than Canon leads with 29.3%, followed by Nikon (27.4%), Sony (15.0%), Olympus (12.7%) and Panasonic (9.7%). Canon and Nikon both loosed market share during the last months. Sony made small steps forward but I guess the upcoming new A77 A65 and NEX-7 can give them a new sales boost.

You can’t have those detailed sales details in other countries. The only very unreliable and partial measurement for non japanese countries are the Amazon TOP sold camera rankings:
Amazon US rankings (Click here)
Amazon DE rankings (Click here)
Amazon UK rankings (Click here)
Amazon FR rankings (Click here)
Amazon IT rankings (Click here)

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