More from Gustav on Sony Alpha in 2010

[Greg Beetham]

IMHO this is the market segment that expects a compact camera to have LV+video, people who buy/pay for a full featured high quality still camera like an A700, A850, A900 with an optical VF and fast response times, ie. fast turn on, fast focusing, fast processing of large image files don't usually want or need video as well, (I know I don't, if I wanted video I'd buy a high quality dedicated video cam).
Sony should have had more vision and produced something along the lines of the Samsung NX-10 two years ago to slot in where they have the A230, A330, A380, they could have still used the A-mount if they wanted, (with or without the body motor) or had an adaptor for the current A-mount lenses and introduced a few new SAM lenses...oops they already did that....in any case the mirrorless design can have a much shorter flange distance (that is if they want to make new lenses yet again), or just remove the mirror and prism and leave the distance 'as is' so the existing lenses remain compatible without an adaptor...it might be better for dust prevention to have the sensor further away from the front of the camera anyway, although more difficult to clean when you do get dust on it.
I wouldn't mind playing with one of these, if there was a waterproof version that is, might even be more handy in the rainforest than a DSLR, or even general photography in the street, or family shots, looks much less obtrusive, intimidating etc.
http://www.samsung.com/us/consumer/phot ... b=features
Greg

ps. Sony has/had advantages over Samsung, Panasonic/Lumix. If Sony keeps the in body AF and SSS, people don't have to re-buy these items every time they buy a lens like they do with the above brands, this should result in lower lensmaking costs as well.

[theresa_n]

In addition to my a850 I have a Konica Minolta a2 and it has pretty much all the features of any "bridge" camera. It has a little screen on the back and a EVF. It also shoots video and its little brother the a200 has better video. I never used the video or the live view. I did miss having a good optical viewfinder when I used it. Sony produced an excellent and affordable camera with the a850. Why doesn't it sell like a Nikon or Canon? Because almost all of the ff cameras are nikocans. When I told an acquaintance that I had spent so much on a Sony he said "why didn't you get a Nikon?" He is just starting out in photography and knows very little. Is it a surprise? No. Does it make me question my decision to get the a850? No. It is the best camera out there for less than $2000, has body stabilization which I need because of my tremor, and has very good lenses available. I'm not a pro so I don't need long telephoto or a 10 fps shutter. I shopped for months before buying and found out everything I needed to know about the camera. Great viewfinder, excellant pictures at ISO 800 and below, and an excellent lens, the Sony Zeiss 24-70 f/2.8.

p.s. Whats the deal with the guy in the Confederate uniform? It communicates that you are racist, although I doubt it.

[bfitzgerald]

The guy is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_jackson

Frankly I am staggered that anyone would imply that it endorses racism.
I simply admire the man, purely on this impressive battle performances, and talent in this area.
I'd like to point out, that I like music a lot, and the two most popular artists for me are Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson. Neither are white.

Back on topic

[alphaomega]

Back on topic. Here is an interesting rumour http://sonyalpharumors.com/sr4-sony-pro ... evolution/ predicting a Sony EVIL with video and CZ licensed lenses soon. Also A700 replacement and Pellicle mirror later in 2010. I know it is from the rumour mill but the predictions are not miles away from what Gustav has been posting on Dyxum. There is something brewing and time will show what Sony can and will come up with to "leapfrog" or at least draw level with competition. The EVIL will need a much better electronic viewfinder than that used in the R1 to even interest me. The combo will need to be a lot lighter and smaller than say the A350+lens without sacrificing APS-C quality. The lenses would need to cover full range from 16 to at least 300 mm (35 mm equivalent). Not sure how bright a viewfinder with Pellicle mirror would be with say a F5.6 lens fitted. Would you be able to see much with the F8 mirror lens attached?

[Winedarksea]

The guy is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_jackson

Frankly I am staggered that anyone would imply that it endorses racism.
I simply admire the man, purely on this impressive battle performances, and talent in this area.
I'd like to point out, that I like music a lot, and the two most popular artists for me are Jimi Hendrix and Michael Jackson. Neither are white.

Back on topic

Barry, I grew up in the capital of the Confederacy, and when I started first grade in the school where my father taught, I was assigned to the Junior Jackson Literary Society. Half of the class became Lees. My mother grew up in the Shenandoah Valley, where Jackson's great Valley Campaign was played out. At an early age I read Henderson's Jackson, and then Vandiver's, and I Rode with Stonewall. Henderson's book was still being used in British schools teaching military strategy well into the 20th century.

Jackson was a very religious man, and defied official policy by teaching African American Sunday School classes. Lee, in his first interview after the Civil War was over, said that most right-thinking Southerners had long wanted an end to slavery. I am under no illusion about why the American Civil War was fought; the secession ordinances of every Confederate state said clearly that it was to preserve slavery. But that doesn't mean that the men who fought for the South, at any rank, were all fighting for slavery, or were all racist.

Jackson was a very decent if rather stiff human being, and a very fine general officer, and conducted some of the most interesting campaigns in modern history. So Barry has good reason to admire him. He of course was also a rebel, and I suspect that Barry finds an attraction in that as well.

So let us get back to the subject, and make sure we all, always, extirpate racism and all other arrogance toward others from our hearts. Sorry to be preachy, but this is a subject dear to my heart.

Dulaney

[bfitzgerald]

Ah my secret is out, I am a rebel at heart, and admire those who are/were also

I find the conflict fascinating, and I might have to get some new Ken Burn's DVD's, I'll wear these ones out! I find the history of warfare interesting, but of course, I am completely against war..I look at it from another angle. WW II and WW I also very gripping, any conflict period, Napoleon..even down to Roman wars etc. But what I like most of all about more modern conflicts, is the photographic angle, these pictures are very unique, and tell amazing stories. Shame there were no cameras back in ancient times, what stories they could tell us..the mind boggles!

[Winedarksea]

Ah my secret is out, I am a rebel at heart, and admire those who are/were also

I find the conflict fascinating, and I might have to get some new Ken Burn's DVD's, I'll wear these ones out! I find the history of warfare interesting, but of course, I am completely against war..I look at it from another angle. WW II and WW I also very gripping, any conflict period, Napoleon..even down to Roman wars etc. But what I like most of all about more modern conflicts, is the photographic angle, these pictures are very unique, and tell amazing stories. Shame there were no cameras back in ancient times, what stories they could tell us..the mind boggles!

Well, let me try again. I had just about finished a response, when poof! it disappeared. My clumsiness, I think.

I find myself in complete concurrence of all you have just said, Barry. I have often found it ironic that, while I abhor war, I find especially the strategies of war completely absorbing, as well as the hardships men and women submit themselves to in order to pursue war. Moreover, I am so enthralled by the photography of war, that a friend of mine and I are in the process of setting up a business to sell prints of Civil War photographs of Petersburg, and perhaps Richmond as well. I am using a Canon ipf5100 to print large high-quality images on high-quality Hahnemuhle paper and canvas. There are well over a thousand of these large-format images from Richmond and Petersburg alone, and very few people have seen most of them printed as well as I am doing it. It is like looking into a new world. Our star image is a panorama of Petersburg, taken from the other side of the Appomattox, in four large-format images, which we have stiched together using first-class German software. We have a U.S. copyright on it. On my 17" printer, the pano is at least six feet long. In a town that has long been predominately African-American, Petersburg, we expect our images to help pull us all together in a new understanding of the past.

[stevecim]

Back to Camera's this does not paint a pretty picture for Sony

In japan Sony has lost 3 place to Panasonic in both PnS and interchangeable lenses markets.

Japanese Top 3 brand for the year 2009!
January 14, 2010 news No Comments

BCNranking just published the market shares grouped by brand!

——-

Japanese Market share for compact cameras (non interchangeable lenses)
1 place (share) 2nd (share) 3rd (Shared)
2009 Canon (19.6%) Casio (18.6%) Panasonic (14.6%)
2008 Canon (18.3%) Casio (15.4%) Panasonic (15.2%)
2007 Canon (19.8%) Panasonic (16.1%) Sony (14.1%)
2006 Canon (21.0%) Casio (16.3%) Sony (15.2%)
2005 Canon (18.5%) Casio (14.7%) Panasonic (12.7%)

——-
Japanese Market share for cameras with interchangeable lenses
1 place (share) 2nd (share) 3rd (Shared)
2009 Canon (39.1%) Nikon (31.3%) Panasonic (8.7%)
2008 Canon (40.1%) Nikon (39.9%) Sony (9.2%)
2007 Nikon (43.8%) Canon (40.0%) Pentax (5.8%)
2006 Canon (44.6%) Nikon (33.6%) Pentax (9.2%)
2005 Canon (52.1%) Nikon (29.3%) Pentax (7.3%)

[peterottaway]

So the Panasonic micro 4/3 models sold well in the most fad driven market in the world during 2009.

For twenty years the Wall Street Journal ran stories every few months about the imminent demise of Apple. And who can forget the comments from Michael Dell ( you know of putting together cheap generic PCs ) who said the it would be better for the directors of Apple to liquidate the company and give the money back to the shareholders - funny thing Apple as of 25/01/2010 Apple had more cash reserves than what was his company is worth on the share market.

And for disclosure purposes I do own an IMac and a iPod Classic but I'm not remotely interested in the iPhone or an iPad , don't download from iTunes or the AppStore - it's just that for certain of my requirements they are consistently better than what the rest of the market is offering.

Yes I "know" that Sony is still loosing money with it's cameras and that in my opinion they stuffed up the 2009 entry level models and the A 5 models are not what I want. But that in itself doesn't mean that much for 2010 let alone 2015 or 2020.

Life, be in it !

[David Kilpatrick]

What is interesting about these charts is they don't take account of the system, only the brand. It would be interesting to see what happens to the 2009 and 2010 Panasonic interchangeable lens figure if it is combined with the Olympus figure, as the two effectively constitute one system (just as Pentax and Samsung could be aggregated in this class, up to the end of 2009).

In Spring or maybe even sooner, I think we will see the introduction of a new Sony EVIL system similar to the Samsung N-system. There will be a 'pancake' wide angle and a collapsible kit zoom like Olympus, because pocketability matters. There will also be an adaptor which allows the use of SAM/SSM lenses on the EVIL body with limited automation. I think the aperture may need to be set manually on the adaptor. Older in-body motor lenses will be usable in MF and fixed aperture setting mode.

The new lens design will use an SSM type motor not SAM, and will have a new aperture mechanism capable of true continuous variation under electronic control. This will allow AE during video to work correctly. The existing Alpha lens design allows continuous variation, but it requires mechanical control. Canon is currently unable to offer its system for serious video use as the design only allows aperture adjustment in sudden 1/3rd stop steps, which makes any required exposure change in video a 'jump' or series of jumps. Sony will work to overcome this issue before releasing a 1080p capable EVIL.

I'm basing this prediction mainly on information from Canon, not Sony!

Where Sony could gain a huge market share would be in cross-system adaptors. Olympus/Panny get this to a degree now. Sony could design a body which was able to use Nikon AF-S, Canon USM and other similar lenses via dedicated adaptors with some degree of AF and AE. I don't think they will do that, but once they have a body and the SAM/SSM Alpha adaptor, third party makers will do so.

If it doesn't arrive in Spring, there is photokina ahead in September.

David

[Winedarksea]

very interesting, David. Could be a very fun year.

[alexramos7]

What is interesting about these charts is they don't take account of the system, only the brand. It would be interesting to see what happens to the 2009 and 2010 Panasonic interchangeable lens figure if it is combined with the Olympus figure, as the two effectively constitute one system (just as Pentax and Samsung could be aggregated in this class, up to the end of 2009).

In Spring or maybe even sooner, I think we will see the introduction of a new Sony EVIL system similar to the Samsung N-system. There will be a 'pancake' wide angle and a collapsible kit zoom like Olympus, because pocketability matters. There will also be an adaptor which allows the use of SAM/SSM lenses on the EVIL body with limited automation. I think the aperture may need to be set manually on the adaptor. Older in-body motor lenses will be usable in MF and fixed aperture setting mode.

The new lens design will use an SSM type motor not SAM, and will have a new aperture mechanism capable of true continuous variation under electronic control. This will allow AE during video to work correctly. The existing Alpha lens design allows continuous variation, but it requires mechanical control. Canon is currently unable to offer its system for serious video use as the design only allows aperture adjustment in sudden 1/3rd stop steps, which makes any required exposure change in video a 'jump' or series of jumps. Sony will work to overcome this issue before releasing a 1080p capable EVIL.

I'm basing this prediction mainly on information from Canon, not Sony!

Where Sony could gain a huge market share would be in cross-system adaptors. Olympus/Panny get this to a degree now. Sony could design a body which was able to use Nikon AF-S, Canon USM and other similar lenses via dedicated adaptors with some degree of AF and AE. I don't think they will do that, but once they have a body and the SAM/SSM Alpha adaptor, third party makers will do so.

If it doesn't arrive in Spring, there is photokina ahead in September.

David

Hi David that would be nice...

I known every company want to make their own EVIL system, but Sony could just take out the mirror and prisma area and just put there a EVF. The real problem could be the actual screw motor with CAF.
Samsung found a nice flange distance on its NX system for a APS-C camera, Samsung change the IS from body to the lens, but would be interesting Sony and Samsung use the same mount. Both have the same sensor size and the NX lens look good, but with a stabilized body would look better.

[UrsaMajor]

The guy is:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonewall_jackson

Frankly I am staggered that anyone would imply that it endorses racism.
I simply admire the man, purely on this impressive battle performances, and talent in this area.

With apologies for continuing with Off-Topic comments, anyone with a halfway serious interest in the U.S. Civil War will know what you are talking about if you say "Jackson in The Valley", or "Jackson's foot cavalry". His impact upon our Civil War was immense, and he is one of the legendary commanders in the history of this country.

One thing I find ironic is that Jackson was born and raised in the western part of the state of Virginia, and joined the Confederate Army when Virginia decided to break away from the Union. The western part of Virginia did not want to do this, so THEY broke away from the rest of the state, resulting in their recognition by the Union as the new state of West Virginia. On a number of occasions, Union troops from the area of Jackson's home town were in battle against Confederate troops who were under Jackson's command.

I grew up the capitol city of West Virginia, about 120 miles southwest of Clarksburg, West Virginia, Jackson's home town. I find it interesting to look at the contrast provided by the three statues on the front lawn of the Capitol building of West Virginia. When you stand on the front steps of the Capitol and look straight out from the building, you see a life-sized statue of Abraham Lincoln, the US President during the Civil War. When you look toward the front of the lawn on your right, you see a life-sized statue representing the 32,000 men from West Virginia who fought for the Union during the Civil War. When you look toward the front of the lawn on your left, you see a life-sized statue of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson - a General in the Confederate Army.

Since Barry is Irish, I'll also mention another irony associated with our Civil War that is depicted in the 2003 docu-drama film "Gods and Generals" - which happens to have Stonewall Jackson as a central character, BTW. Both the Union Army and Confederate Army had many units made up of people from some specific geographic area, and this resulted in some units that were made up of immigrants from some other country who had tended to cluster in various areas when they came here. At the battle of Fredricksburg, a battalion in the Union Army that consisted of Irish immigrants assaulted a part of the Confederate line that was held by a Confederate battalion consisting of Irish immigrants.

FWIW, here is a photo I took last April that shows the monument to Jackson on the grounds of the West Virgina State Capitol.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

[bfitzgerald]

Very interesting, and a nice shot too.
I have to correct one point:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FitzGerald_dynasty

And I was born in Greenwich, London. Thus I am a British citizen/national, and not Irish
I also have a London accent, but not something out of EastEnders (which is good!).
It's a common mistake that people make, to assume it's an Irish name, but as you can see it's of Norman decent. However there are large numbers of folks with the surname in Ireland for obvious reasons. Funny thing is, when I am in the UK and grew up at school, everyone called me Irish. When I'm in Ireland, I'm English! You can't win either way!

The only slightly annoying thing, as per on that list, is that the actor who shares the same name as I have, nicked it! His real name is William Joseph Shields, clearly not Irish sounding enough, hence the change.

[Winedarksea]

I get much the same reaction, Barry, with my very Irish given name, and my very Anglo-Saxon surname.

Dulaney Ward