Unveiled earlier this morning, the Sony a68 is the newest entry level Alpha camera from the number one mirrorless camera maker in the world. Despite its entry level status, there’s a lot to be liked about this A-mount model, which offers a 24-megapixel APS-C sensor at a very affordable price.
If you want to know more, you know where to meet me.
For owners of the Sony Alpha a7 II, Christmas will be coming early this year. Via a press release from B&H Photo (I know Sony has outsourced their online retail portal to authorized resellers, but are they no longer doing their own press releases either?), the Sony Alpha a7 II will be gaining uncompressed RAW this November with a firmware update.
But that’s not all. The firmware update, which is set to arrive on November 18th, will have other goodies attached to it as well. Those details after the jump.
If Samsung has taught us one thing, it’s that providing components to your competitors can be a very lucrative business. The once-dominant smartphone maker has struggled in the last two years to compete with Apple and in turn, sales have declined each quarter. However, Samsung as a whole is doing fairly okay, thanks to rising profits from their components division. For those unfamiliar, Samsung supplies the now A8 and A9 chips that Apple develops in house and in the past had produced the other A series chips that power the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV. Ironically for Samsung, every smartphone sale they lose to Apple is a gain for their components and semiconductor division.
When former CEO Sir Howard Stringer commanded Sony, he argued that it would be nuts for the company to provide their expertise to competitors. Stringer’s thinking was that why should Apple’s iPhone cameras shine when Sony instead could power their own phones exclusively and use it as a differentiator to sell Xperia phones. Of course what he didn’t account for is that in mobile, a lot more goes into producing a great photo then a lens, an expertise that Sony lacks to this day. Stringer also likely thought that they could match Apple’s dominance – or near dominance – in sales, which also has not come to fruition. I’ve lobbied for years that Sony should make a profit off their competitors and in turn, take that money and invest it into the company. Luckily when Kaz Hirai took helm of the company, he shared that view and it’s now paying off in strides for Sony.
Despite struggling and weighing down heavily on the company, Sony is continuing to support its mobile arm by building a new, wholly-owned smartphone factory. With all the news about mobile and its future within Sony, a story that doesn’t garner enough attention is the company’s amazing rise as a camera powerhouse. With little fanfare, Sony has become the #1 mirrorless camera maker for the last four years, taking away marketshare from rivals Canon and Nikon.
In early 2015, Sony announced an $805 million investment to increase their CMOS image sensor capabilities which has been reaping heavy rewards for their bottom line. In fact, Sony’s CMOS business has been so lucrative for the company that they’ve created a separate drone business in order to show off their camera technology.
With that as the backdrop, Sony has announced that it will acquire Toshiba’s CMOS image sensor business.
The Sony RX100 IV is the latest compact camera that despite its small size packs quite a bit of cutting edge technology. This includes the worlds first stacked CMOS sensor, HFR shooting (960fps movie recording), and a 1/32000 sec. super-high-speed shutter which allows you to capture in very bright light. In general, the RX100 IV offers
After the jump, the full Sony RX100 IV specs sheet awaits you.
The Sony A7r II is one beast of a camera with a back-illuminated 35mm full-frame CMOS image sensor with 42.4 megapixels that’s capable of recording 4K video. According to Sony, a Fast Hybrid AF system’s dense extra-wide focal plane phase-detection AF coverage keeps a subject in sharp focus entirely throughout the frame, while 5-axis image stabilization reduces blur which otherwise tends to affect handheld shots.
After the jump, the full Sony A7r II specs await you.
If there’s one thing that sucks about what I do here, it’s that too often, I’m reporting downright depressing news about Sony. When it’s not that, it tends to be editorials on how I believe Sony can do better. With that as the back drop, it’s always refreshing to report on what Sony is doing right and in the past year, there is glimmer that perhaps it’s beginning to be more and more. While in the end, PS3 etched out ahead of the Xbox 360, it’s been PS4 that has singlehandedly dominated Xbox One with most analysts believing Sony’s console is ahead 2 to 1.
Now you can add mirrorless cameras to that tally as well with Sony being the number one mirrorless camera maker for the past four years and that’s not even the most impressive part. Let’s talk after the jump.
Following the semi-annual Sony lens sale which can’t be coincidence right? the Sony A7S II is now available for pre-order. Priced at $2,999 for body, the full-frame A7S II which was just unveiled, packs in a host of upgrades over its predecessor, including robust 4K recording. Those who pre-order won’t also have to wait too long as the A7S II is poised to be released in a months time.
Not sure how long this has been a thing but according to Sony, their semi-annual Alpha lens sale has kicked off. Sure, Sony might not have anymore retail stores (well ok, they have ONE) or an online portal but that doesn’t mean there can’t point people towards deals. As such, Sony is using B&H Photo, an authorized Sony dealer to provide discounts on a host of Alpha lenses.
After the jump, more info on the sale.
Knowing that the 42.4 megapixel full-frame Sony A7R II isn’t for everyone, Sony last week unveiled the A7s II full-frame DSLR. Packing in a mirrorless 12-megapixel sensor, the newest professional camera from Sony is capable of recording 4K video with an internal recorder (3,840 x 2,160) at 24 or 30fps. Priced and dated for Europe, North American fans were left to ponder when they’d get their chase to shoot with the latest from Sony.
Luckily, after the jump, we have the Sony A7s II US ship date and price.
Earlier today, Sony unveiled their latest Alpha mirrorless camera, the A7S II. Building on the legacy of the A7 II, the Sony A7S II offers a similar 409,600 max ISO setting and 12-megapixel sensor – but the similarities end there with a host of new improvements that are designed to give you crisper photos and videos.
Details after the jump.
I don’t have a lot to share with you here, other than a rumor pegging the announcement of 7 new Sony lenses tomorrow. It’s unclear what Sony has in store (if anything) for tomorrow, though, if accurate, don’t be surprised to see E-mount lenses. This rumor also popped up in July with an indication of a Fall reveal which lines up with an unveiling tomorrow.
Luckily, we won’t have long to wait to either confirm or debunk this rumor.
The Sony A7r II is a monster of a camera. Pegged as the world’s first back-illuminated 35mm full-frame CMOS image sensor with 42.4 megapixels, the A7r II offers up to ISO 102400 and 5-axis image stabilization with native 4K video. Of course none of this means the A7r II is the perfect camera. For one, the camera lacks a Full HD slow motion videos or flip out screen like other Alpha cameras. After the jump, Sony US manager Mark Weir offers up an explanation to those and other questions.
After winning the EISA 2015-2016 ‘European Multimedia Smartphone Award’ for the Xperia Z3+, Sony has announced an additional 5 devices that have won an award. From Sony
Sony celebrates as six products across its portfolio have been acknowledged by EISA (European Imaging and Sound Association) – the largest editorial multimedia organisation in Europe. A trusted organisation, EISA is renowned for using expertise to analyse and assess a range of products, and therefore Sony’s six awards are indicative of its continued commitment to creating truly innovative products that deliver both style and substance.
After the jump, the products that brought in the awards for Sony.
Sure consumers may just be on the cusp of transitioning to 4K, but that doesn’t mean manufacturers like Sony aren’t already thinking beyond that. We’ve already seen some companies show off 8K sets at CES but they provide little value as there’s barely any 4K content, let alone 8K. However, the format has some practical uses on the professional end.
With twice the resolution of 4K, recordings can be easily cropped, perfect for sports where specific plays are zoomed in on and analyzed. We’ve already seen Sony incorporate 4K cameras during the World Cup which were broadcasted in 1080p. With that extra resolution at hand, Sony and broadcasters were instead able to zoom in and highlight specific parts of the field without any loss of quality.
As we start to move towards 4K, it’s only natural for professional gear to be able to do the same thing so the 4K content we consume has the same flexibility. After the jump, supposed Sony 8K FZ mount camera specs.
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