Sony bought the KM body div. ostensibly for a purpose; maybe it was to become a contender in the field of making photographic system cameras and continuing on with the one they obtained, or maybe it was to gain access to the expertise of building still camera ILC’s and ultimately come up with a mount of their own, the E-mount.
Whatever the motive actually was there was only one way Sony could ever seriously counter Canon and Nikon; and that was to become a photographic company like those are and offer a complete system (with either mount) that works properly in a broad range of applications.
Their sensors might have improved but the ‘photographic system’ part isn’t convincing.
If you look at the functionality of Sony cameras now, how do they stack up doing various things, like astrophotography for instance, would you be absolutely confident that what is captured is the same as what is actually there, or how would they compare doing macro with flash either in a lab or on location, or microphotography, or in a studio situation? There are things the A-mount can do quite well of course but If you were a photographer comparing systems would you consider the Sony system in all of the above applications equal in performance and functionality to that which can be obtained from Nikon or Canon?
I’m not talking about Sony duplicating Canon’s lens list tomorrow, but after about seven years with Sony in charge of a former high class camera system how well does the system function as a whole now? Better than before or worse?
Would knowledgeable counter staff in a reputable camera store anywhere be inclined to recommend the Sony A-mount system as an equivalent to the Nikon or Canon systems for all kinds of photographic pursuits without having to worry about a customer coming back complaining about something that doesn’t operate as expected?
As far as I’m concerned there is a reason why DSLR’s sell well, it’s not because people think that DSLR’s a ‘pro’ cameras, it’s because DSLR’s from Nikon and Canon are part of a system and their systems work as expected (and for those shopping for a camera information from all directions reflect that expectation).
Not doing the ‘same’ as Nikon or Canon is often given as an excuse for not offering a photographic system the works properly, but that excuse doesn’t work for me and I bet it doesn’t work for potential users of the A-mount system either.
The other suggestion I see often after the explanation is offered that Sony innovates much better than Nikon or Canon and that those who want an OVF and a system that works in the old fashioned way (i.e. properly) should go and buy a Nikon or a Canon.
And that’s what has been happening apparently, this article reckons Sony interchangeable lens camera sales have declined by 35%
http://www.eoshd.com/content/11409/cons ... ad-5-years but they forecast good sales for the 7’s which is good.
Did the new hotshoe influence the Sony downtrend? Who knows but it certainly wouldn’t have helped, it would be viewed by quite a few as more fragmentation of a photographic system. I expect that change has made it even less likely that camera store owners/workers would recommend Sony, many places would now be stuck with third party i-shoe accessories that no longer fit directly onto new Sony cameras.
In any case it seems the photography market is dissolving into niches now, and the DSLR market looks like it’s shrinking down into one of the niches too, maybe 4/3rds will take over at some point as the leading system, or become the largest niche, nothing would surprise me these days.
I’ve often wondered who is in charge at Alpha headquarters, is it anyone who knows about photography? Or is even interested in photography itself? its only idle curiosity, I guess it doesn’t really matter, the camera market is going south and who knows where it will finish up but I’d like the A-mount to stick around for a while, who knows maybe Sony might venture briefly into my niche sometime before the lights go out, while there’s life there’s hope…right?
Greg
Ps my Win7’s are stable too, its adobe text and graphics that suck in Win7, where they didn’t under Vista.