Sony Alpha digital cameras

Amazon US: The NEX-7 gets more preorders than the A77!

August 25, 2011
news
134 Comments

I confess that I epxected the A77 to easily outsell the NEX-7. But if you take a look at the Amazon camera bestseller ranking (Click here) the NEX-7 body only sells better than the Sony A77 with 16-50mm lens! Sony never have been that close to become Number One!

Most sold cameras at Amazon (Click on the names to see the camera):

Position 3: Sony NEX-7 body only
Position 10: Sony A77 with 16-50mm lens
Position 12: Sony A77 body only
Position 16: Sony NEX-5N with 18-55mm lens
Position 22: Sony NEX-7 with 18-55mm lens
Position 28: Silver Sony NEX-5N with 18-55mm lens
Position 30: Sony A65 body only
Position 34: Sony NEX-5N body only
Position 36: Sony A65 with 18-55mm lens

Situation of the Amazon rankings do change hourly!

P.S.: Those are all preorder links I have now. Feel free to send me links if you find more stores!!!

Well done Sony! What’s next?

August 25, 2011
rumors
158 Comments

Good Morning dear SAR readers!

I am now recovering a bit from the two very busy days and weeks I had before the A77 announcement. It’s a bit to early to for me to talk about the new products. I still had no chance to get my hands on the new cameras and lenses and from what I have seen on the web it’s difficult to judge the quality from the cameras and lenses (Example: image samples have been taken with non final firmware version).

Yes it took long to see an A700 successor, yes it’s difficult to get in love with the EVF (electronic viewfinders) way of shooting when you are used to work with OVF (optical viewfinders). Yes the price is higher than we hoped it would be and there are also many other smaller things I necessarily do not like. But I think Sony made an overall very good job! The A77 is a bomb of a camera and I will definitely buy the NEX-7 (which I will buy) which in my opinion is a unique camera! Actually I think they are leading the whole photography world into a new direction, something Nikon and Canon aren’t doing yet!

I had a lot of talk with my sources in these days. They all do confirm that Sony will focus on the still&video experience, they are aware that NEX users need pancake lenses, they are aware that we need video optimized lenses (by the way Sony, take a look at the new X video lenses from Panasonic!), and least but not last ALL, I repeat ALL(!) sources do confirm Sony has a very busy and amazing fullframe roadmap! It will take some time before we see the new A99 and other full frame cameras. Sony wants to see if the A77 will be accepted well by the market and if there are some flaws to address.

So what’s next?
Actually I believe more lenses will be announced in a couple of months and I do expect Sony to make some major announcement right before the CES event in early January. I have been told that Sony is also working on a new type of cameras. But that is a surprise I will keep up for you later :) So this was just to say, that there will not a be a lot of time to rest here on SonyAlphaRumors!

See you soon! And thanks for your help in these days and weeks!!!
Andrea

(UPDATED_2) New set of Sony news, image samples and reviews!

August 24, 2011
news
65 Comments

Here you will read a new set of links I did receive in those hours:

Image samples

NEW: You can use that MAC software (dpreview forum) to open and convert A77 RAW files!
NEW: ISO samples at Quesabesde (Spanish).
NEW: NEX-5N Gestion du bruit électronique at Focus Numerique
NEW: Sony NEX-5N Preview at Photographyblog
NEW: Sony Alpha NEX-7 preview at Cameralabs
Firmware v1.0 test shots at fotomagazin.de (you can downlaod a zip file with A77 images!).
Sony DT 16-50mm Lens Photos at Photographyblog.
Carl Zeiss 24mm E-mount Lens Photos at Photographyblog.
Sony 55-210mm E-Mount Lens Photos at Photographyblog.
Sony NEX-5N Photos at Photographyblog.
Sony Alpha A65 SLT Sample Photos at ePhotozine.
Sony NEX 55-210mm OSS Zoom Lens Sample Photos at ePhotozine.
A77 image samples at Photoscala.
Gallery of A77 photos from the Japanese official site of Sony and Popphoto.
Gallery of A65 photos from the Japanese official site of Sony and on ePhotozine.
Sony Alpha NEX-5N Sample Photos at ePhotozine.

Preorders

Youtube and Vimeo videos

NEW: Sony NEX-VG20 Promotional and Sample Videos at Sonyalphanex.
Sony A77 underwater video on youtube.
Sony VG-20 video on facebook.
Sony A65 Promo Video Japan Version HD on youtube.
Sony NEX5N Promo Video Japan Version HD on youtube
A77 commercial on youtube.
Sony A77 ripped apart on youtube.
1 minute of Sony CEO on youtube.

Press release and Reviews

NEW: Sony NEX-5N Preview at Photographyblog
NEW: Sony Alpha NEX-7 preview at Cameralabs
Sony NEX-5N Preview at Photographyblog.
Sony A77 Preview at Photographyblog.
NEX-7 Preview at Photographyblog.
Pictures of the Sony event in Malaysia on Facebook.
Sony NEX-7 high-end APS-C mirrorless camera first look at Dpreview.
Sony SLT-A65 Hands-on Preview at Dpreview.
A77 Sample videos at Dpreview.
Sony SLT-A77 & NEX-7 Hands-on First Look at Photoxels.
Sony LA-EA2 Helps Turn Your NEX into an Unwieldy Camera at Petapixel.
The A77 magensium alloy at Alphacorner.
Sony NEX-5N Performance at Imaging Resource.
VG-C77AM vertical grip at Itmedia (japanese).
Sony also announced new lens caps that will be available in 2012..LOL. Images at DC.watch.
Sony A65 at AlphaNumerique (french)
Sony VG-20 at Digitalcamerareview and Akihabara
LE-EA2 pictures at DC.watch
German Sony A77 page
German Sony A65 page
Colorfoto (german)
Alpha-foto.at (german)
Sony NEX-5N on youtube.

UPDATE: See the recorded video with Paul Genge from Sony UK.

August 24, 2011
news
111 Comments

UPDATE: I have been requested by Sony to remove the video because the very first 20minutes of the video where “private”. Sony thought that I recorded the video but the tuth is that the recorded video has been put online by Sony itself via livestreaming(!) I think Sony didn’t know that livestreaming streams AND records everything so that it is automatically available also after the liveshow!!!

I told Sony that they have the video currently visible and available for everyone on their website! So it’s not SonyAlphaRumors showing the “naked” video :) I will of course not link to it yet but I hope they will cut the “private” part and make it available again later because many Sony readers here really enjoyed the official Q&A session with Paul!

P.S: I am surprised Sony team doesn’t know how livestreaming works!

Today you can have a live Q&A with Sony at 7.30pm London time!!!

August 24, 2011
news
25 Comments

Video ont op: The A77 gets wet :)

Photographyblog (Click here) just informed that: “Today at 7.30pm BST, Sony UK will be hosting a live Web chat on its Facebook page. The company’s photography expert, Paul Genge, will be there to answer any questions you might have about the products announced today. If interested, visit the website below, hit the “Like” button, and join the conversation.”

Click here: http://www.facebook.com/SonyUK. And our UK readers can preorder the new Sony stuff at Jessops (Click here).

UPDATED preorder list:

Sony 16-50mm reviewed at SLRgear! Sony’s marketing is “more,” not “better.” (Thom Hogan)

August 24, 2011
reviews
127 Comments

The new Sony 16-50mm f/2.8 lens has been already reviewed by SLRgear (Click here). They did NOT test the lens on the new Sony A77! The lens is sharper at the wide end than on the tele end. It has a very good corner to corner sharpness. The only real “issue” is Chromatic Aberration. But overall “the combination works to produce excellent photographs.“. You can read the full review and see all the graphs here at SLRgear.

Meanwhile Thom Hogan (Click here) gave his first impressions about the A77: “This is a top end camera, and so obviously it should have a top end level of features, but one thing that struck me in reading all the Sony marketing material was that there was a lot of emphasis on the bells and whistles and not nearly as much on the quality side. When quality was mentioned, it was obviously hyperbole (“flawless image quality”).” and “A few people with preproduction cameras have sent me image samples to analyze, though, and what I see is a lot of noise reduction in the JPEGs, which pretty much rules out the word “flawless” in my book.”
If you don’t agree with Thom drop a comment on SAR. I am sure he is reading your them!

You can check the price of the new Sony stuff and preorder at Amazon:
Sony A77 with 16-50mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony A77 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony A65 with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony A65 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-7 body only at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N with 18-55mm lens at Amazon (Click here).
Sony NEX-5N at Amazon (Click here).
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 E-mount at Amazon (Click here).
Sony 55-210mm E-mount at Amazon (Click here).

Sony: “Fullframe cameras are on our roadmap!” And three new NEX lenses in 2012. (+Sony interview)

August 24, 2011
rumors
107 Comments

There are hot news coming via Quesabesde (Click here). Sony will announce three new NEX lenses in 2012. A high standard zoom lens, a wide angle zoom lens and a mid telephoto lens (See picture on top). And Sony confirmed that “Fullframe cameras are on our roadmap”. There are no details yet but we from SonyAlphaRumors already told you that we heard that more than one model will be announced in 2012.

Our Australian friends from Electronicsnews.com.au (Click here) Mr Sean Ellwood (Sony’s product specialist for digital imaging). As usual I will give you only a few tidbits of info. For the rest read the full article!

1) Mr Ellwood confirmed that SLT is the future for Sony (bye bye optical viewfinder) because: “We decided that…rather than trying to do the same thing that Canon and Nikon have done and refined to a very great degree, it made more sense for us to do something different.”
2) Sony will also take the new fullframe strategy very seriously: “We recognise that there is more to offering a professional camera service than just putting a camera out there.”. Just an editor’s note: Unlike Electronicsnews I do believe (no, I am sure!) Sony has a great FF strategy and you will see a huge event like today in 2012!