Rumours, rumours, rumours are they valid??

[geoffbillett]

Just been reading sonyalpharumours.com again. Doesn't make much sense to me. Seems like mirrors, smoke and shadows. Does anyone give this stuff credence? Who are these secretive contacts who are often contradictory and apparently change their stories from day to day? Are they clairvoyants? Do they really have links with the executives at Sony? Is the guy running this site making a career on this stuff or is he creditable?

I dont mean to start some kind of war here but just some clarity? Are their equivalent Canikon sites?

Cheers
Geoff

[peterottaway]

I simply don't know, and even if a rumour site gets one set of announcements correct it doesn't mean much for the future. I'm personally not loosing any sleep over what sonyalpharumors has reported any more than some of the constant chicken little postings on some forums. Have you been following DPR etc over the last few weeks ?

It is a common tactic with governments etc to float a number of different versions of preliminary reports to control leaks to journalists and also to identify the possible sources of the leaks. So Sony may have a number of replacement Alpha models and the new mirror less models to be released, and there may be genuine debate as to what gets released when or that they wish to wrong foot speculation.

[Vidgamer]

In the past, Apple has had problems with leaks, for example. They really like to control their releases. There were people who liked to rumor about what was happening. Nothing new, except there is probably a bit more interest and excitement in such a large change, so I guess you can justify a web site.

But as for that rumor web site, I'm not finding much concrete info on there, so who knows? Maybe the mirrorless cameras will be released in May and maybe the A700 replacement will be released in the fall. Sounds plausible.

[OneGuyKs]

Huh? I don't know what's complicated here? It's a personal web site that posts rumors/links to reviews/interesting tidbits etc about Sony cameras (rumors/links emailed to them by the internet users. You can send them a rumor too via email). Sometimes the rumors are false. Sometimes they are true. They rate their rumors from 1 to 5 (SR1 to SR5). The rating is based on the credibility of their source (in their view). If you send them some rumor and it comes true, they might consider you a credible source too and give future rumors from you a higher rating (SR4).

Why this site exists? Why not? There are zillions of far useless sites and blogs. At least what they do is interesting. He/She wants to make some money by getting more internet traffics/posting adds/link to amazon etc.

It’s pretty simple. What is there that you have hard time comprehending?

[Vidgamer]

I rather enjoy the site, although I think it's too sparse (more the fault of the subject matter than the site).

Years ago, one of my favorite columns in Computerworld (?) was Cringely, who dealt mostly with rumors in the computer industry. At least he made it interesting.

I don't think there's any secret plan by Sony here except that Sony wanted to create a bit of buzz by showing the prototypes -- so in that respect, they were probably successful. I don't think there is any purposefully-leaked information by Sony.

[alphaomega]

I have read the rumours about the NEX3 and 5 on sonyalpharumors.com as well. Not having access to any inside information it is difficult to know how accuate the predictions are. I actually e-mailed the site querying the IS in lens statement. He came back immediately stating that in lens stabilisation was confirmed by Sony at PMA. I can believe that the NEX cameras will be slim as Sony are doing that to P&A cameras. Maybe that is the reason why there is no room for in body SSS. What a shame. There will be a limited selection of lenses; at least to start with and fitting an Alpha lens will apparently provide AF through the adapter, but there will be no SSS. A negation of Sony's current competitive advantage over CAN/NIK. Anyway, if the Sony 16mm pancake and rumoured 18-200mm are quality optics and they come out with an E-mount say 12-24mm or thereabouts I will be happy to contemplate the NEX5 for 2011. I do need to go wider than 24mm (35mm equivalent) on occasion. I very much look forward to seeing how that new video enabled 14Mb sensor performs i "still" mode as that is all I am interested in.

[geoffbillett]

Thanks for all the comments. I guess what prompted my original question was wondering whether the site was a potentially exploitative direct response to some of the negativity and confusion around the current Sony body and lenses. Acolyte's view that it is a 'personal' website doesnt really hold with me; there are far too many links to vendors for it to be 'personal' and does have the flavour of income generation from it. Sponsors don't invest for nothing!!!

It hadn't occurred that Sony may actually release information themselves and I can see that information management may be corporately desirable. Perhaps Ive been reading too many conspiracy theories

Does anyone actually know anything about the person who runs it?

[Vidgamer]

There are a lot of sites on the web with interesting info. where people put up links to stuff to get some extra cash. The only thing I know about the guy is that he also posts to DPReview (and I'm not even sure about that!). I got the impression that he was not related to Sony, if that's what you're wondering.

About the in-lens IS, the problem I have with that is, what are the chances that every lens will have IS? I'm just going to be disappointed with a compact camera with a compact pancake lens but without IS. I think IS is really important. I too often end up taking pictures indoors in less-than-ideal light. What about when I use the adapter to use my telephoto lenses? No IS there either? Talk about a good way to encourage shopping of other brands.... (Ooooh, I'm starting to sound like the other Sony whiners now!) Well, I guess if I had a couple of lenses, I'd end up favoring the one with IS, but outdoors, I could deal with no IS, except for telephoto, where IS really does come in handy (but might not work anyway, due to the camera not knowing what is connected). I dunno, maybe it doesn't matter as much as I think it does.... I'm willing to reserve judgement.

Also, without in-body IS, how will they do the sweep panorama? They still need motion sensors somewhere... hmm.

[Winedarksea]

I believe that the person running Sony Alpha Rumors is a woman named Andrea, who also has a couple of other rumor sites. It has every appearance of being a personal site, but I believe she tries to make some money off of it, through clickthroughs. Nothing at all wrong with that, IMHO. I believe that Andrea is from, and probably lives in Europe, or at least is there a large proportion of the time. I don't think she just sits back and waits for rumors--rather she actively cultivates sources. She seldom posts a pure rumor--that is a statement without a known reliable source. Mostly instead she posts information she has received either directly from Sony sources, or from sources with a dirrect line to Sony sources. She doesn't seem to deal in the fake specs & pics some others do--without labeling them fake or highly suspect, But that doesn't mean she gets it right every time. After all, we are talking about a company with more than 150,000 employees, many of whom actually know something--even if the company ends up going in a different direction or following a different timeline in the end. But she seems to make a genuine effort to get it right.


Dulaney

[alphaomega]

I must admit that the information/rumours emanating about the Sony NEX3/5 and possibly 7 have made me re-think my next purchase. I will not purchase until 2011 but initially I was looking to purchase the A7XX whenever it surfaces to replace either my current A350 or A700 depending on LV and adjustable rear screen availability. I am now thinking about a NEX instead if the image quality is there. (Should be with a new 14Mp sensor going by the rumours). The crucial question is lens availability. I will be looking for the 16mm pancake and rumoured E 18-200mm in-lens stabilised provided IQ is provided to equal or beat the best of the current Alpha fit crop. I would also be looking for an E fit W/A zoom - either 11-18 or 12-24 compact design. That would cover my full requirements in two zooms and a handy prime. I would not worry about IS in the W/A zoom so I guess that the rumoured AF enabled adapter for Alpha lenses would do with my Tamron 10-24mm to start with. Interesting times.

[OneGuyKs]

Maybe it's imposiible to keep the body thin/slick with inbody IS. That's why they are going with optical IS. Video maybe a factor too.

[alphaomega]

Well, judge for yourself after having read the spec leaked by a Chinese store and posted on Sonyalpharumors.com

We have to be very careful when we talk about leaks coming form China. But that one seems to be more reliable than others. The chinese store detail.zol.com.cn posted the Sony NEX3 and Sony NEX5 cameras. The only real news is that NEX cameras will use the “FW50 Special lithium battery”

NEX5:
Effective pixels:14,000,000
Sensitivity: ISO200-12800
AF Sensor: 11
Display scale: 3 inch
Video shoot: 1080p format
Body type: Single Lens electronic viewfinder
Manual operation: Full manual support
Sensor type: APS-C CMOS
Battery Type: FW50 Special lithium battery
Memory card type: SDHC Cards / MS Memory Stick
Flash Type: External
Focusing aids: Parameter correcting focus assist lamp
Support hotshoe: Yes
Data Interface: USB2.0
Pixel and class: 920,000-pixel LCD screen
Lens Description: Sony E series lens mount

NEX3:
Is almost the same camera but with following difference:
Video shoot: 720p format

[alphaomega]

I found this line particularly interesting

Body type: Single Lens electronic viewfinder

There was an earlier rumour that the V/F would be optical, but I guess that it is more likely that a kit or optical electronic V?F would be made available like what Pana and Oly are doing on their EVILs or whatever they are called.

[bakubo]

AF Sensor: 11

I thought that sensor AF didn't have individual AF sensors. I think that generally you can just move the AF location around pretty much anywhere on the sensor. Is that not correct?

[David Kilpatrick]

We have not yet seen how this camera operates. It is more than possible it contains the reverse pellicle mirror system - a simple enough 60/40 semisilvered mirror, which allows plenty of light through to the sensor for live composition and viewing, or video, while diverting a fair amount to a phase detect AF array. Sony's mockups which appeared to have just the sensor visible may have omitted a mirror system, in order to sidetrack the opposition.

Such a mirror could be a fixed pellicle, which would also seal the sensor against dust, or a moving one to allow full light transmission to the sensor if desired.

David