Cameras and Camcorders

Sony Talks 20-Year Partnership with Zeiss

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 11, 2016 | 5 comments

I’ve never been much of a camera enthusiast outside of Sony. Part of it is likely due to my familiarity with the company and the other is due to the fact that Sony is one of the few companies that’s pushing the boundaries of cameras. Sales data tends to back this up as Sony has been the number one mirrorless camera maker for the past four years. So for me, it’s hard to imagine a time where Sony wasn’t making camera, (even my first digital cameras was a Cyber-shot with my absolute favorite being the ultra-slim for its time, T1) but unlike Canon and Nikon, they’ve only been going at it for about 20 years.

In the mid-1990s Sony was at a turning point. While Sony was a powerful name in consumer electronics, it was less well-known among professionals for optics and photography, and wanted to rectify this situation. The company therefore sought a strong and reputable partner in the high-end market and an expert in optics that could help them improve quality in the booming camcorder segment. For ZEISS – which can look back on more than 165 years of experience in optics and lens manufacturing – the situation was the exact opposite. Although its lenses enjoyed an excellent reputation among professional photographers, ZEISS was virtually unknown in the wider consumer market.

More after the jump.

14 Sony & PlayStation Valentine’s Day Gift Ideas

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 4, 2016 | 2 comments

When you’re a techie, you tend to find an excuse to give tech gifts whenever you can. This includes Valentine’s Day where you might normally be tempted to give your significant other a box of chocolate and red roses. While I can’t argue with the chocolate part, especially if its dark German chocolate, you can do a lot better than just roses. Tech gifts can not only last longer than those roses that were jacked up in price for the week, but can also be far more personable.

Lucky for you, with the big day just 10 days away, we have 14 Sony & PlayStation Valentine’s Day gift ideas for you that are sure to win you some extra xoxo. Meet us after the jump.

Sony G Master Lens (24-70mm 70-200mm f/2.8 GM and the 85mm f/1.4 GM) Announced

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 3, 2016 | 0 comments

To go along with the Alpha A6300, Sony also debuted the G Master Lens. Consisting of three new lenses, the new brand is designed to attract professional photographers and works with the company’s full-frame mirrorless cameras. The three lenses are

24-70 f/2.8 zoom
85mm f/1.4 prime
70-200 f/2.8 zoom

More details after the jump, including pricing and release date.

Sony A6300 Camera with 4K Video & 425 Phase-detection Autofocus Points Announced

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 3, 2016 | 2 comments

As expected, Sony has unveiled the successor to the mirrorless Alpha A6000 with a similar design language. Though the two cameras share many physical aesthetics, Sony has done a lot to create a worthy successor. The new Sony A6300

packs a 24.2-megapixel sensor, shoots 4K footage. The A6300 uses 425 phase-detection autofocus points, allowing it to focus in as little as 0.05 seconds

More details after the jump.

Sony Patent Points to an Enormous FE 28-70mm f/2.0 Lens

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 1, 2016 | 2 comments

Let’s get one thing out of the way: I’m not sure if Sony is ever going to actually make this beast of a lens, because it would frankly be enormous. With that, a new patent filed by the company states the following:

Patent Publication No. 2016-14841
- Published 2016.1.28
- Filing date 2014.7.3
Example 1
- Focal length f = 28.84 45.32 66.50mm
- Fno. 2.06
- Half angle of view ω = 36.87 25.52 18.02 °

If Sony ends up making a FE 28-70mm f/2.0 lens, expect it to cost around $100,000 – I’m not kidding.

Putting the Sony Q3 FY15 Earnings Results in Context

by Sohrab Osati | Feb 1, 2016 | 1 comment

Sony Q3 FY15 Sales Chart

To better get a sense of the Sony Q3 FY15 earnings results, I’ve put together a few charts alongside official information to give you a better sense of how the company is doing. In short, things are much better compared to a few years ago and even last year when the company posted their first profit in nearly a decade. Sony Mobile, despite pumping out the fantastic Xperia Z5 family, continues to struggle. You can read more in depth about Sony Mobile and their results here.

A quick heads up. All charts can be clicked on to viewed in much more detail.

So, let’s start from the beginning again. For its Q3 2015 financial results, Sony posted a net income of 120.1 billion JPY ($1 billion) on total revenue of 2,580.8 billion JPY ($21.5 billion). That’s up 33.5% and 0.5% year-on-year. Operating income came in at 202.1 billion JPY ($1.7 billion), an 11% rise on the previous year. In short, Sony achieved $1 billion of net profits for the three months to end in December.

As you can see from the chart above, Game & Network Services (read: PlayStation), Sony Pictures, Sony Music, and the company’s Financial Services have been on the rise. Mobile is obviously hurting and in doing so, dragging down their ever-so-profitable Devices division where image sensor sales are accounted for. Here’s how the different divisions within Sony add up.

Sony_Q3_FY15_Sales_Segment_Chart

More info and charts pertaining to the Sony Q3 FY15 earnings results after the jump.

Sony Q3 2015 Results – PlayStation Up, Mobile & Image Sensors Down – But Profits Up

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 29, 2016 | 10 comments

Sony has just posted its Q3 2015 results and, as a whole, the company is doing much better. According to Sam Byford from The Verge:

third-quarter earnings up on those from a year ago, making ¥202.1 billion ($1.69 billion) in operating profit off ¥2.58 trillion ($21.5 billion) in revenue. Net profit between October and December was ¥120.1 billion ($1 billion), 33 percent higher than the same quarter last year.

A big reason for the income increase compared to last year is due largely to all the cuts Sony has been making across the company. This includes personal cuts as well as reducing product lineup (i.e. les televisions, phones, and cameras). Restructuring costs were also down 50% this year to $61 million.

Beyond the obvious nature of PlayStation doing great business with sales up 10.5%, reaching $4.9 billion, Sony Pictures did great business as well

with movies like Spectre and Hotel Transylvania 2 performing well at the box office to help the division make ¥262.1 billion ($2.18 billion) in revenue — 26.9 percent up on last year.

It’s no surprise that Mobile continues to be a sore spot for Sony but image sensors were curiously down as the two are linked. More Sony Q3 2015 results after the jump.

Sony Action Cam – Jeremy Jones Free Fall Video

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 29, 2016 | 1 comment

At CES 2016, Sony revealed their latest entry Action Cam, the AS50 and AS50R bundle with Live View Remote. Priced at $199 and $349 respectively, the latest from Sony – while lacking some of the higher-end features of the AS200 – still offers a compelling solution for those who want to record their latest adventures.

Professional snowboarder Jeremy Jones is such a person. His free fall snowboarding video, shot entirely on the Sony Action Cam, can be found after the jump.

New E-mount Camera and Lens Teased by Sony China

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 28, 2016 | 0 comments

Here is a place we don’t often see early interactions from. Sony China, via their Weibo (popular Chinese microblog), is teasing a new E-mount camera and E-mount lens. Presumably the photo above is for the E-mount camera and I wouldn’t be shocked if it turned out to be the Alpha A6100 that I briefly talked about yesterday. Sony is obviously taking the concept of the tease a little too far in that the photo could be of anything.

After the jump, one more photo from Sony China which hints at their new E-mount lens.

Sony Misleading Consumers With Their AX53 4K Handycam Balanced Optical SteadyShot Claims?

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 27, 2016 | 11 comments

If you look at the above photo which reads

The performance packed into the top-class 4K Handycam® is peerless. Balanced Optical SteadyShot™ and Fast Intelligent AF achieve exactly the images you aim for. A new microphone structure captures ambience that’s all-surrounding. You can even play with time in motion or gain control of pro-style/manual functions. The possibilities and pleasures are endless.

what would be your takeaway from Sony’s newly-announced 4K Handycam that I previewed at CES? Or how about this

Sony_AX53_Marketing_2

which reads

The short movie below shows the camera shake compensation effects of Balanced Optical SteadyShot (right) and optical image stabilisation (left), respectively.

I don’t claim to know everything there is to know about Sony but even I, who should hopefully be a little better versed in the company and their products, thought, when reading their page about the AX53, that it offered 4K video recording with Balanced Optical SteadyShot.

Except it doesn’t, despite the words 4K being plastered all over the page and the improvements of image stabilization being touted left and right. More after the jump.

Sony Alpha A6100 to Look Like A6000?

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 27, 2016 | 3 comments

You don’t always need a refresh right?

One of my trusted sources has finally seen the A6100. And while he cannot share specs yet he said the A6100 looks just like the “old” A6000. So don’t expect anything new from a design point of view.

Sony Shows Off Its Action Cam SteadyShot Capabilities, Something GoPro Lacks

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 12, 2016 | 2 comments

Sony has been investing a lot of money in their Action Cam series cameras in order to take on current industry leader, GoPro. Thanks to the rise of the “must record everything lifestyle” and more recently drones, small cameras like the Action Cam are becoming more and more popular. At CES 2016, Sony unveiled their entry model Action Cam AS50 and AS50R bundle with some unique features. Those include SteadyShot, something that its 2015 line carries as well.

Sony hopes that their built-in image stabilization system becomes a big differentiator as its something GoPro units lack.

CES 2016: 4K Sony AX53 Handycam Overview

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 8, 2016 | 6 comments

Earlier in the week, I went a bit more in depth with the newly announced 4K Sony AX53 Handycam. In short, the camera takes everything you’ve liked about the AX33 and improves upon it while keeping the same $999 price tag. Here is a quick glimpse.

Sony Talks Action Cam AS50 & Live View Monitor With Us

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 7, 2016 | 0 comments

Later this year, Sony will be releasing the Action Cam AS50 and the Action Cam AS50R bundle which includes their brand new Live Monitor among other things. While the latest entry from Sony isn’t meant to be a flagship product, there is quite a bit to like and several improvements upon its predecessor that are worth noting. Best yet, the new AS50 is priced at $199 and includes an all new underwater housing.

I had the opportunity to talk with Van Nguyen from Sony Electronics about their newest model.

Meet the $999 Sony FDR-AX53 4K Handycam

by Sohrab Osati | Jan 6, 2016 | 1 comment

Two years ago on stage, Sony announced their first 4K Handycam which they dubbed 4K for 2K (a play on its price) and a year ago, they revealed a newer generation, yet, this time 4K for 1K. Now Sony is back at it again with the FDR-AX53 which retains its predecessor’s $999 price tag.

With that move, the AX33 is receiving a $200 price drop but for the price difference, the Sony FDR-AX53 is gaining a whole lot of features. Those details after the jump.