Let’s take a break from our pure technical news/rumor coverage. I want to congratulate all Sony World Photography Awards 2011 Winners!
You can see all the pictures of the winners at worldphoto.org (Click here). And you can also see the photos of the Open Competition category winners (Click here).
I will try to be one of the winner at the next 2012 contest with my NEX-7 or A77 :)
Sony Service Canada officially confirmed the existence of the NEX-C3 and A35 models. Visit that website: https://www.sonyservice.ca/ServWebII/modelSuggestedPriceSearch.do and click on “Download Model Price List”. The list contains the following codes:
SLTA35K SLTA35K WITH 18-55MM LENS 4WNOT AVAIL
NNEXC3KB NEX N-Sample camera NOT AVAIL
NEXC3KB NEXC3KB with 18-55mm Lens 4WNOT AVAIL
NEXC3MOCK NEXC3 Mock-up NOT AVAIL
I hope Sony will announce the new cameras soon, also because I am very tempted to buy the NEX-C3!
Mike Worswick (president of the Photographic Research Organization) said at USA TODAY that with the shortages in cameras, due to the crisis, “The opportunity for Sony, Olympus and even Samsung to grow a little market share in the next few months is clearly out there“. At a time when many Canon SLRs are hard to find, due to production issues, the Sony models are not only in amply supply, but discounted to sell with special promotions.
Thom Hogan commented that statement on his website: “USAToday speculates that the shortage of Canon and Nikon cameras caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami will benefit Sony’s DSLR market share. Maybe, but not for any of the reasons USAToday suggests. First, Canon has already announced that it doesn’t expect any drop in DSLR sales, so USAToday would essentially be saying the Sony share increases would come at the expense of Nikon. That’s probably true, but it isn’t really the earthquake and tsunami that is the root cause here.“..:”Sony’s inventory problems had been somewhat the opposite of Nikon’s: most items have been in plentiful stock, partly because they’re not as efficient as Nikon in getting a customer in a store asking for something. So, yes, USAToday’s basic premise is correct: if sales shift away from Nikon, Sony should gain.”
My two cent on that: I learned via my sources that Sony has quite a problem with the CMOS sensor production. I have my doubts that what Mike Worswick is telling us is true.
P.S.: The deals we are talking about are only running in US (didn’t find any deals in european countries:
-$50 on the A580 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H and J&R.
-$50 on the A55 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the A33 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-5 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-3 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
The error message that appears when you try to login. Nice to see Sony uses Ubuntu servers ;)
UPDATE: A SAR reader found the links (???) to the official NEX-C3 and SLT-A35 manuals written by zstudio.cz. To bad that you need username and password to login. Without them I can’t login and see if those manuals are real :(
sony.zstudio.cz/PERSONAL_VIDEO_FOTO-VIDEO/NEX-C3
sony.zstudio.cz/PERSONAL_VIDEO_FOTO-VIDEO/SLT-A35
[shoplink 4617]
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Just a reminder for our (lucky) US readers. Most curreny Sony cameras are discounted:
-$50 on the A580 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H and J&R.
-$50 on the A55 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the A33 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-5 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-3 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
Digitalcamerainfo (Click here) tested the Sony A33: “The Sony Alpha SLT-A33 did not blow us away in any specific area, but the camera did a passable job in all of our tests. If you’re overly concerned about image performance, then there are plenty of other cameras that will please you more than the A33 (like the Sony A55V). But, we found the A33 to be a handy shooter with a good set of controls, an intuitive menu system, and some fun features to boot.”
Chekc the A33 price at [shopcountry 3620].
Phase One released the new Capture One 6.2 which adds the support for the Sony SLT and NEX cameras. And Alpha Numerique tested the new software with the Sony A55 and NEX-5. The reuslt is that Lightroom is still better at High-ISO handling but Phase One is a very good tool for studio and landscape photography.
Cameras.co.uk (Click here) tested the NEX-3: “The Sony Nex-3 is not a cheap option, but it is a quality option. You can pick up the majority of features this camera has with an entry level Digital SLR and pay less if you prefer to. The main attractions are its picture quality and a portability that a Digital SLR simply cannot match. Overall The Nex-3 is an impressive camera.”
Check the NEX-3 price at [shopcountry 3000].
Two days ago we leaked the new NEX firmware upgrade manual. One of the new features is the new peaking feedback system. To see how it works check this Sony H5 review at Dpreview (Click here): “The blue areas show peaks of contrast (as used by the autofocus system), giving clear, obvious feedback about which areas will be captured sharply.”
What I don’t know yet is when Sony will announce the new firmware (and also the new NEX-C3). If you know something feel free to share it by dropping (anonymously) a message using the contact form on the right sidebar. Thanks!
