Photokina 2014

[bfitzgerald]

Well surprised there was nothing A mount turn up (even a single lens just something) still the debate has turned quite sour with yet again the question of what Sony plan to do.

I said I wouldn't be losing sleep whatever happens, a recent death in the family has reminded me that life isn't long enough to worry about silly things. But I'm surprised at the level of anger on SAR with their "frustration thread" Honestly I did not expect much A mount stuff to arrive, but then nothing is nothing and Sony really should have known better. If you're in the mood for some ranting this is required reading

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/the-a-mo ... qus_thread

On other areas the long awaited 7dMkII arrived and has the extra add on bits I would expect with such a long delay in updating that model. Canon might do ok with it despite the high price, there are a lot of D300 users who are quite annoyed that that body never got an upgrade (the D7100 buffer just won't cut it for these users)

Other stuff includes the bigger sensor LX100 (with a big price to match)
Samsung decide to launch yet another NX this time an NX1 a semi pro body with mag alloy build and "4k" and erm yes more pixels (28mp)

I suppose it wasn't a bad show just no show for A mount users

[peterottaway]

Given the noise about all the things claimed to be lacking with FE mount it is not surprising that 2014 about E mount. Although I assume all these things were actually being designed before the A7 cameras were even introduced.The flash and controller may be interesting to me as what I have at the moment is rather elderly. It will be interesting to see what the 28mm and the 90mm turn out to be like as they would make a potentially good pairing with the A7r.

I suspect that SAR is beating up the no A mount gear angle to generate some more business - given that SAR itself reported that Sony was not going to introduce/announce any cameras until January 2015. I wasn't expecting anything major for A cameras.

[bakubo]

I thought there were a bunch of A-mount lenses already from Sony, Tamron, Sigma, etc. plus all the older KM, Minolta, Tokina, etc. lenses. Who needs yet another lens?

[peterottaway]

Serial pests and the terminally insecure ?

Sony do in fact need to replace many of their wide angle primes - excluding the 24mm of course.

[bfitzgerald]

Well SAR were off the mark again they said the 35mm f1.4 but it turned out to be an E mount lens
No sign of the suggested 24-105mm f4 turning up also read about an updated 70-300mm G.

I'm not surprised Sony didn't do a lot with A mount (didn't expect it) but to put nothing at all out sends the wrong signal even a single lens would be something. There are plenty of gaps to be filled in the line up.

The degree of anger and comments on SAR is far higher than I would expect too..worrying times for Sony

[alphaomega]

According to Mr Aoki "4) “we have a 40% market share in the mirrorless segment” (on SAR). So it is clear that Sony see the profit opportunities in mirrorless rather than trying to slug it out with CAN/NIK in the A mount segment. Wait for the suggestion that A-mount lens owners ditch their A-mount cameras and purchase E-mount converters.

[bfitzgerald]

That's like saying you own 40% of all the pubs on the Falkland Islands I'm not exactly sure how many they have but I'd wager not many

I know what Sony are thinking they can get a head start on the others and E mount full frame beef it up over time and they are a winner, I'm just saying it's not really cut and dry to me that ILC's will be the only system cameras around, they have had a mixed reception in many regions. Too early to tell what the story is. E mount doesn't have much pull losing IBIS isn't great the bulky big adapters unless they can come up with something a bit more interesting than that really I would not consider that a viable direction at least not at the moment.

[alphaomega]

Reference Barry Fitzgerald's comments above, not really defending Sony. For my part I have "read the leaves" and sold my A550 and 580 on ebay. I keep my A58. Not a bad camera, but most of my photography is made with my RX100 as I have it with me most of the time. For video I now use my NEX-6 with the LA-EA2 adapter and Sony's 18-250 zoom. Stable on tripod and adapter mount moves camera back for easier use of EVF if required by light. For more demanding and planned photography I would bring a light bag with NEX-6/16-50 and NEX-5N/10-18mm zoom as well as Sony's 50-210 zoom. Covers most of what I need in terms of zoom range and these lenses are good enough in front of a 16Mp sensor. Rarely use the A58 with a-mount lenses. Won't sell either - at least not yet. That suits me, but other photographers have different requirements and it would seem to me that, at least at present, A-mount occupies a backseat at Sony. They seem intent on exploiting mirrorless in APS-C and particularly FF. Of course, these cameras with adapters allow almost any worthwhile lens to be fitted and that is why we see professionals having an A7 with a variety of favorite lenses from different manufacturers in the one bag.

[David Kilpatrick]

Mty 45-minute 'tour' of the Sony stand amounted to little less than an insult. Sony's former PR head girl has now left Sony and become part of a PR agency, possibly because she is also married to Amateur Photographer's technical editor, and that would be an unacceptable situation for an empoyee. She's an ordinary wee lass and disnae seem tae ken awfy much.

I'm away on a week's break now, and before leaving, I emailed her to ask was there ANYTHING I did not already own that Sony could loan for review. The answer was no, they had nothing. This is what Sony has been like for years There is actually no single item I've reviewed on Photclubalpha without buying it myself. I've reached the end of this trail, I think, and while I will continue to pay the domains and space for Photoclubalpha and the forum, I can not continue to feed a brand which offers zero support (they are not even advertisers with any of our magazines unlike Canon, Olympus, Nikon, Sigma and many other companies - some of whom have not missed an issue for over a decade).

photokina was a complete waste of time and money for me, and using Sony's successor ranges to the Minolta gear I used to love and trust is proving destructive and expensive. Sorry to say it, but that's the case.

David

[pakodominguez]

I'm away on a week's break now, and before leaving, I emailed her to ask was there ANYTHING I did not already own that Sony could loan for review. The answer was no, they had nothing. This is what Sony has been like for years There is actually no single item I've reviewed on Photclubalpha without buying it myself
...
photokina was a complete waste of time and money for me, and using Sony's successor ranges to the Minolta gear I used to love and trust is proving destructive and expensive. Sorry to say it, but that's the case.

David

Unbelievable.
There might be a personal issue...
Even I can get stuff for loan here in the US if I insist (I haven't, but the door is open)

[Birma]

Unbelievable and sad. I understand your position, David, and feel your frustration.

I'm glad you're keeping the forum going.

[peterottaway]

David I hope you CC your dealings with the local Sony to their HQ in Japan. After all miracles sometimes do happen. Or at the very least they will be more careful with dealing with you.

[Marcell Nikolausz]

This is really sad because I really liked your articles and reviews. Now, I'm just mainly here for the forum, but I understand fully your standpoint.
Isn't there any alternative way to get lenses, cameras and accessories for reviewing. A sony independent source would be even better.

[classiccameras]

What about Sony Europe.

[DrScottNicol]

There really is something strange here - my friend runs a camera shop here in the UK and even he gets the occasional loan from Sony (albeit more at the consumer end of things). On the other hand, speaking to reps on Sony open days etc, I get the impression that demo stock of the good stuff (high end lenses etc) really is like gold dust even for them, like single copies for the whole of the UK.