New Sony A230, A330, A380, My Opinion

[Filmmaker]

This is what the A200-350 line should have been like from the start. But Sony needed to beef it up a little, to cover the gap between them and A700, also to make A200 look as an upgrade from A100. People think that Sony can't make competitive DSLR's. Just wait for the time, when they complete their lineup with all new models. They are really only starting out. And they have the Zeiss label lenses. They have the Minolta design team, but Sony's design and manufacturing expertise is superior, so it takes some time to come out with real Sony-like products.

Now that Sony is able to cover the gap with A500 and A550, the 3 cameras are positioned properly in the entry level.

We can look at it this way:

Series 230-380 - entry level. One major improvement is higher extending built-in flash.
Series 500-550 - amateur

Sony, in pro video, always makes two models that are basically the same, but one has less features. The A100, A700, and A900 single model series is very unSony-like. I assume that Sony has been using the following strategy:

1. A100 as KM#5 replacement, with Minolta design, which is not as economical in manufacturing as Sony design.

2. A700. This one is already using the Minolta numbering scheme.

3. A900 was in development for some time. New steady-shot mechanism had to be developed. That may have caused delays.

4. Interim models 200-350

Now we will see a new range of products, and there will be pairs of models. Let's assume that Sony strategy is not 5 models, as they claimed, but 10 models, which makes more sense, considering their pair strategy. I also think that they all will have properly implemented video.

JVC came with improperly implemented high definition prosumer cameras couple years before Sony. I think that they were models HD1 and HD10. Sony, couple years later, came out with FX-1 and Z1. Note that both companies used again the pair strategy. It took Canon and Panasonic two years to catch up. Canon did it with the use of Sony technology. They used the same Sony processors, etc. As a result Canon conversion from interlaced to progressive yielded the same results as Sony's. Still, even years later, the owner of the biggest video forum site comes to his board and claims that Canon is not losing resolution in progressive, but Sony is. They both lose precisely the same amount. I can back up all this. Tests were done i.g. by Adam Wilt.

Sony was not the first one before JVC, because it protected their expensive HD segment of the market, where their least expensive camera, with lens, battery, and viewfinder cost over $100K.

Now Sony is protecting their pro video market again, when it is not releasing video function in their DSLRs. When it does, it will be a superior system. It needs to, to counteratack Red, not Canon. Canon is no threat to Sony, Red, backed by a multibillionaire is - but only in the digital cinema market segment.

When Red startup threatened Sony by producing a low end digital cinema product, Sony reacted by creating XDCAM EX1 and EX3 - note the pair again - basically the same cameras, but with different features. Red was planning to introduce a new budget camera Scarlet, but had to scrap their original design.

What is also interesting that Red claimed 4K (8 MP) resolution with a 35 mm sensor. It actually produced the same resolution as Sony's 2MP 1080p EX camera, and had the same low-light performance, despite the fact that Sony is using 1/2" CMOS.

Sony came out with excellent XDCAM 700 model. It had better picture than their several times more expensive HDCAM, but was crippled by Sony, because of all the rental houses rented HDCAM and they needed to write off their purchase expenditures in these cameras. It took Sony over a year to come out with the better featured XDCAM 800 that competes with HDCAM.

Sony wanted to buy JVC from Matsushita, but Matsushita would not sell it to them, even though Sony used the same company that they lined up with to buy share of MGM. Matsushita sold JVC to Kenwood and Sony licensed their XDCAM technology to them, basically killing Panasonic's inferior P2 competition in the long run.

Note what a bargain the new DT primes are. They may cost a little more than Canon stuff, but the Sonys are stabilized, the Canons are not.

This is what we may be able to see in a 10 camera lineup:

A110 no EVF
A250

A360
A400

A530
A600

A730


FF:

A800
A930

A1000

Did anyone notice that when DPR added A230-380 to their database, it never appeared in their "number of hits" and never made it to their charts, in which Sony did not gain any points. They left out these new Sony models from their database. if it was on purpose, or by mistake, I'll let you figure out yourself.

[bakubo]

Filmmaker, are you A1000? You sound amazingly like him.

[alphaomega]

I simply ask, is hihs historical account correct or not? I hav´nt a clue and no way of finding out. It certainly sound like A1000 but it may not be. Essentially I am interested in whether this is factual or not rather than who wrote it.

[David Kilpatrick]

You appear to be correct - it's Tom with registration in the Czech Republic. Since I had deactivated a large number of dormant registrations, Tom had 'A1000' put out of action last week. I subsequently reactived a number of identifiable posters - his last post was Jan 28, I went back to the beginning of the year and checked out deactived accounts with posting histories but no recent activities, and put them back into action.

Tom clearly tried to use A1000, couldn't, and re-registered.

I will deactivate A1000 again, no need to delete 200 posts associated with the account. He can use Filmmaker from now on and does not appear to have logged in since I reactivated A1000.

There may be some other users who have been deactivated for long-time absence from the forum - rather than re-register, they should contact me for reactivation. All new members are now being manually activated.

David

[David Kilpatrick]

It looks more like imaginary speculation than guerrilla marketing. Feel free to point out any excesses, Don, that is legitimate criticism. I can't stop anyone from making up lists of imagined future cameras or claiming things that Sony will do, it happens all over. I have occasionally reported on plausible rumours, and those have often turned out to be unfounded or the result of a misinterpreted leak. I don't think I will be putting Filmmaker's product lists on the main web pages

David

[David Kilpatrick]

I did not realise that deleting the user would make the (not deleted) posts anonymous. I guess that is a problem with the way the option to leave posts functions.

David

[bakubo]

I did not realise that deleting the user would make the (not deleted) posts anonymous. I guess that is a problem with the way the option to leave posts functions.

I wonder if you can lock a user so he/she can't make new posts using that id, but not remove the user id?

[David Kilpatrick]

Yes, the user can be deactivated but not deleted. Actually, A1000 remains visible on all the old posts, so the user does not become anonymous, you just can't search for posts from a user who does not exist any more. Most of those old threads were rubbish anyway and mainly a long exchange of insults between A1000 and Sonolta, which explains why Don was worried about Filmmaker appearing and starting off another bout.

Moderation will end that anyway from now on as such posts will simply be deleted and if the member creates new ones to attempt to force insults/arguments on to the boards, they will in turn be deleted.

David

[bakubo]

$1,000 FF Alpha - Can you guess when?

There is no reason why FF should cost more than 2x as much as APS-C.

I estimate $2K FF this year, $1,5K next, $1,000 in 2011, even with strong Yen.

We have less than 6 months to go to see the Sony $2k FF DSLR. Let's check back here on December 31st and see what happened in 2009.

[UrsaMajor]

You appear to be correct - it's Tom with registration in the Czech Republic. Since I had deactivated a large number of dormant registrations, Tom had 'A1000' put out of action last week. I subsequently reactived a number of identifiable posters - his last post was Jan 28, I went back to the beginning of the year and checked out deactived accounts with posting histories but no recent activities, and put them back into action.

Tom clearly tried to use A1000, couldn't, and re-registered.

Thanks for mentioning that this Tom is posting from the Czech Republic. When I first started reading this thread, I became worried that someone else had hijacked my ID, and I was being blamed for his actions. My name is not really unusual, but I had not seen anyone else here with the same name, so it gave me a little cause for concern until it became obvious that you guys were talking about a completely different Tom, and knew that you were. Whew!

With best wishes,
- Tom -