Though there isn’t much to go off of here, we know that Sony will eventually be releasing the NEX-C3 and a long side of it, some new NEX (E-mount) lenses. Now, we have a good idea on of those lenses and that is a 30mm macro. Thanks to a leak, we know that this 30mm f/3.5 macro lens is priced at €259, though we don’t have a specific launch date to report. We will have more for you on this as more leaks or official news come.
[Via SonyAlphaRumors]
Did you know that is a new NEX-3 replacement around the corner called the NEX-C3? Originally planned to launch late last month, the now delayed camera, due to the recent events in Japan, (though I guess something that has yet to be officially announced I guess cannot be delayed) is becoming more and more official as Sony’s own Czech website accidentally posted the manual online before quickly pulling. Still, there was enough time for a screen shot of the camera’s new button layout which isn’t a huge departure from the NEX-3 and NEX-5. Even though we don’t know all the details about the NEX-C3, we do know a few little tidbits about it like the 16.2 megapixel image sensor that it will come with. Expect plenty more news on the C3 as Sony begins a rollout of it which seems to be sooner then later if this accidentally published manual is any indication.
Hit the jump for a picture of the leaked manual.
For sometime now, we’ve been reporting on the discontinuation of the Sony NEX-3 and when the likely hood of the successor, the NEX-C3 would come. Although we still don’t have a exact release date or specs, we have a pretty good idea on the latter, we now have some pictures to show off. Andrea at SonyAlphaRumors has gotten her hands on what appears to be the NEX-C3, as well as the A33 successor, the A35.
More specs and pictures after the jump. Also let us know if these new specs and looks are enough to entice you for a purchase or if the NEX-5 still holds a place in your heart.
With the turn of the century that came to be, there was a shift in the professional and consumer electronic world and a digital one at that. No, I’m not talking about the internet, instead, the focus this time is on the transition from film to digital. In the world of film camera, names like Nikon, Canon and Kodak ran supreme. Many of these giants have been in the camera business for over 50 years and had an established name and user group. All that however changed as companies began to shift over to this new digital revolution. Now whether it that they simply did not want to believe this shift would take place or if they had no idea how to deal with it is not the focus of this article. The fact is, with the digital revolution at hand, the camera market group was in limbo which gave way for companies like Sony who had no presence in the professional and consumer segment to enter and make a name for themselves.
Less then 10 years later, the balance has shifted completely in the DSLR and Point and Shoot market. When we consider the entire camera landscape, long time champion Canon has held a 19% market share for 2009 and 2010, while Sony has gone from 16.9% to 17.9% in the same period. Sony, now with its second place position is well ahead of Nikon which holds the 3rd place spot with 11.1% in 2009 and 12.6% in 2010. With camera sales up 10% in 2010 for a total of 141 million units sold, Sony still has a lot of room for growth, especially in the emerging markets like China and India where there might not be a lot of legacy ownership from other camera brands. With a largely untapped market and introduction of 3D digital cameras that start at just over $200, its easy to see how Sony should and will top Canon in the near future.
Announced for Europe and we’re guessed head to other territories in months to follow, Sony is releasing a new external flash, the HVL-F43AM. Designed to be dust and moisture resistant, this new rugged flash also has a few neat tricks up its sleeve like working Sony’s Wireless Ratio Control and will come with the Quick Shift Bounce system. This new feature allows “lash head position to be adjusted instantly when switching between horizontal and vertical compositions. This maintains consistent shadow positions regardless of camera orientation, allowing easy creation of natural-looking ‘bounce’ effects.” This Alpha and other branded DSLR based flash is priced at $350 and will be available in Summer.
Hit the jump for additional photos and a press release from Sony.
After being on sale for only 7 months, Sony has decided to end production of their entry level, translucent mirror based DSLR. As we reported back in October, Sony was experiencing some troubles with the A33, specifically an over heating issue which was caused if the camera’s Image Stabilization was turned on and the user recorded video a continue video for over 11 minutes. During that time, it was believed that the translucent mirror’s in the camera were the culprit though a confirmation of cause was never given. Furthermore, Sony has other translucent based camera’s in the market currently which none poses these problems so we are not entirely sure what the true culprit was. Regardless of that, Sony of Japan has indicated that production for the A33 is over. Fear not though, fans of the A30 series as we’ve heard rumors that a replacement will be coming shortly, though the reported dated is indeed off.
[Via Sony]
The NEX-7 has been an interesting camera in Sony’s lineup. That is, it’s a camera that does not exist, yet there have been plenty of rumors regarding it and a strong demand for it. Sony currently has the NEX-3 (which is being refreshed shortly) and NEX-5 which is a beefed up NEX-3 with a better body and better sensor with gives the camera 1080 recording over the NEX-3’s 720p. It seems that consumers still want more, a beefier NEX which would be more for the professional. Whether I want this camera aside, this tends to baffle me a tad as the entire point of the NEX lineup has been to offer pro features, yet target the audience who is intimidated by DSLR. If people want something more professional then the NEX-5, why won’t they just consider the Alpha lineup? Despite that, rumors now have it that the engineers at Sony are basing the NEX-7 on an old Konica Minolta. Those not familiar with the electronics world will note that Sony bought Konica Minolta over 5 years ago.
When you look in front of the new Sony NEX 7 with the 24mm Zeiss mounted, the new camera looks like a twin of the Minolta Dimage A2 – a really small nice pro body.
Although I firmly believe that there is a NEX-7 somewhere in the labs at Sony, I don’t believe we are close to a public release as Sony is famously horrible at containing leaks and we have yet to see anything, other then rumors on this device. As always, take these rumors with a hint of salt and I personally don’t believe that the form factor will change much from the current NEX lineup. Hit the jump for one more shot of the Konica Minolta A2.
[Via Electronista]
Before the analogue to digital transition took place, there were generally two classes of camera and camcorders. The consumer product segment which generally carried a top price of $1,500 and the professional grade which started in the low $20k range and really skyrocketed from there. For those who wanted more out of their shooting experience, whether it be for fun or had their own small business or movie idea, the avenue more often then not either lead them towards rentals which is still expensive or a second mortgage. That was 10 years ago, but today, with the advent of digital camera’s and camcorders, consumers have access to a wide range of both camera and camcorders which enable to shoot without compromise and only have their own skills and creativity be their limitation.
Sony has long catered to the general consumer and though they are a top brand in that field, their equipments are really defined in Hollywoods backlots and sound stages where their professional grade equipments capture the footage that comes to the silver screen. Being a manufacture that caters to both crowds, Sony also been actively expanding its proconsumer lineup which starts off at $2,000 with the NEX-VG10 which offers Interchangeable Lenses. Now, Sony is adding another contendtor to the family, the NEX-FS100 which starts of $5,850. So what does this extra bump in price get you?
Hit the jump to see a gallery and video overview of the NEX-FS100
[Via SonyStyle]
The point and shoot cameras have been at an odd crossroads in the last few years. As the smartphone continues to grow in sales volume and photo features like publishing to Facebook and sending emails, the point-and-shoot cameras have been slow to offer anything new. In fact, the only major feature I can think of was the addition of GPS and out of all of Sony’s current cameras, only one offers this. For me, geo-tagging photos is a big feature, something that every iPhone has done since their launch almost 4 years ago. This has also been one of my personal reasons for skipping out the current NEX-5, in hopes of future GPS integration. Now comes news, from an anonymous friend from Engadget, that Sony is working on a Cybershot camera with a”built-in 3G modem” which would enable the device to publish photos to cloud services on the go. Those who are familiar with the Cybershot family will remember that Sony has once tried a similar approach, releasing the Cybershot DSC-G3 over a year ago with Wifi 802.11 b/g connectivity. The problem with that camera though was the fact that the UI made it hard to connect to Wi-Fi connections and there was no compression done on the camera, meaning that depending on the connection, you could enjoy a nice cup of tea while each 10.1 megapixel photo published. So with this news, I welcome some more advancements to the point-and-shoot cameras out there, but please offer more GPS functionality, Sony.
[Via Engadget]
Our friends over at SonyAlphaRumors always have the juicy rumors when it comes to Sony and their Alpha lineup, and today is no different. They report that Sony is discontinuing the Alpha A33 in addition to the A290, A390, and NEX-3. The latter three do not come as a surprise as they are aged units and we have had plenty of heads-up time, especially when it comes to the NEX-3. The fact that the A33 might be going away in favor of an April 4th release of a successor, the A35, does however come as a surprise, seeing how that camera is not that old. However, with the NAB show in Las Vegas right around the corner and plenty of refreshes coming from Sony, the timing does make sense if the company wants to grab some additional attention.
[Via SonyAlphaRumors]
Though we don’t have much to report on, the folks over at SonyAlphaRumors are reporting that the NEX-C3 might be released on May 26th though they don’t have much more then a tip. As we previously reported, the NEX-3 is currently discontinued as Sony starts production on the NEX-C3 which can take a few months to reach appropriate levels for a product launch. A late May time frame also gives Sony’s retail partners ample time to clear their inventory levels before the next NEX release.
Updated:
The guys at SonyAlphaRumors gave us a little clarification. The NEX-C3 is still expected to ship in April for what I presume is the US with a worldwide launch date of May 26th.
[Via SonyAlphaRumors]
16.1 Megapixel Sensor
Last year, Sony was able to create the worlds first 16.1 Mexapixel camera sensor and set a target date of April 2011 for shipment. Since that time, Sony has already starting manufacturing these sensors with at least one cellphone utilizing this sensor, well ahead of the mass production month. Not to be outdone, Sony has again created a world first, a 17.7 Megapixel SMOS sensor for cellphones. In this round, Sony not only upped the resolution, but added a 34.8Gbps bandwidth which is roughly 5 times faster then any previous offerings. This allows the sensor which can be utilized in both cellphones and digital cameras to record at 120fps. There is no product announcement to follow this new sensor and we don’t expect to see it being used anytime soon. However with greater speeds and offerings, this will help push down costs of current sensor like Sony’s own 16.1 Mexapixel sensor, which means the consumer will see them sooner in products.
[Via Engadget]
Sony Electronics has finally gone on record about the future of the Alpha family lineup and fans of translucent mirror technology will be happy. From here on, all future Alpha cameras (APS-C and Fulflrame) will use translucent mirror technology which allows for an optimized shutter speed (10 frames per second) and video recording with autofocus. This means that the Sony flagship A700, A800 and A900 series will be losing out their current OVF for the new EVF technology which gives you 100% frame coverage, offers better low light conditions, and on-screen information.
“In our range Alpha the future is to replace the mechanical electronics.”
What do you think? Are you a fan of Sony’s translucent mirror technology? Let us know in the comments.
[Via Quesabesde]
The pieces continue to fall in place with Sony discontinuing the popular NEX-3 in Japan. As we reported last week, Sony is looking at an April time frame to release the next generation NEX, currently dubbed as the NEX-C3. With the current model being officially discontinued in Sony’s home turf, we can only imagine that the same well happen over the next several weeks in other countries. We’ve already seen retailers offer discounts on the current NEX and would advise you to either pick one up because of a great deal, assuming you are okay with the current features, or hang tight for another month as Sony clears out its current inventory channels and prepares for the new model.
[Via DC.Watch]
We now have confirmation that Sony will be updating their NEX series in the near future, starting with the NEX-3 in April and finishing off with the NEX-5 a few months later. Currently, all we have is that the new NEX dubbed the NEX-C3 will be getting a new housing to match the current NEX-5 for improved grip and quality. The other upgrade that we know about is an imaging sensor improvement, offering the same sensor that is used in the current NEX-5 which allowed for better video quality. No words yet on what changes will be in order for the NEX-5 but I for one hope for a GPS chip. I seriously love geo tagging my photos and viewing them in iPhoto and only my Cybershot HX5 currently offers that. For those are fine with the current offerings of the NEX-3, Amazon
[Via SonyAlphaRumors]
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