And here we are again: The Sony A7rII got again selected as camera of the year by an important photography site/magazine: Popular Photography writes:

Last night at the PMDA awards ceremony held at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, the Sony A7R II was announced as the 2015 Camera of the Year. There was quite a bit of competition for the title, but when it comes right down to it, the A7R II’s mix of high-level performance and boundary-pushing technology made it the final choice.

Sony A7rII store links: [shopcountry 43671]

Sony announced new XQD and SD cards. And before we talk about those there is an interesting note on the press text:

“In addition to the new XQD-M series,  Sony offers XQD-G series which is able to record up to 200 frames in continuous burst shooting with the latest high-speed cameras including models like Nikon’s D5*.
*(FX format 14bit lossless compressed RAW mode. For details, visit http://imaging.nikon.com/lineup/dslr/index.htm)“

Means of course that Sony was well aware of the Nikon D5 launch and probably even made the sensor for the camera?

And now to the new cards press text:

Park Ridge, N.J., January 6, 2016 – Sony is expanding its lineup of memory card options for professionals to include newer and faster XQD and SD media, as well as card readers for the XQD and SD formats, and an XQD USB adapter, all designed to support the latest high-performance DSLR cameras like Nikon D5 or D500.

Sony’s newest SD cards, SF-M series, are UHS-II supported cards optimized for digital imaging devices including professional, DSLR and mirrorless cameras.  With high-speeds up to 260MB/s (read) and 100MB/s (write), SF-M series contributes quick data transfer to and from a PC with Sony’s new UHS-II supporting card reader, which maximizes SF-M series’ performance.

Both new media offerings are extremely dependable and durable, dust-proof, X-Ray proof, anti-static and magnet proof to protect the most sensitive photo and video content.  Downloadable File Rescue Software aids in the recovery of photos and videos that may have been deleted, including RAW images, MOV files and 4K XAVC-S video files.

“As digital imaging cameras become more advanced, capturing larger high resolution files, the demand increases for faster and more efficient ways to manage photo and video data, giving shooters peace of mind they’ll never miss a critical shot,” said Darin Scott, President of Sony’s AMEG, Americas Media and Energy Group.  “These latest media options allow files to be transferred and backed up even more seamlessly and efficiently, offering users the flexibility and convenience to embrace workflows that frequently require the need for content in real-time.”

Vello announced a new Off-Camera TTL Flash Cord for Sony Cameras with Multi Interface Shoe. You can buy it now for $29 at BHphoto (Click here). Here is the description:

The 3′ Vello Off-Camera TTL Flash Cord provides creative photographers with the ability to remotely fire Sony flashes with ADI / P-TTL capabilities and the Multi Interface Shoe. Removing the flash from the camera’s hot shoe allows the photographer to create unique and dramatic lighting styles that are not possible with a traditional shoe-mounted strobe. This coiled cord measures 3′, which is enough distance to accommodate hand-held lighting styles, or when keeping the flash mounted on a compact flash bracket. Also, off-camera lighting reduces the harsh shadows commonly encountered with direct on-camera flashes and gives your photographs a more natural look.
One side of the TTL cable fits directly into the camera’s hot shoe to ensure that all of the camera’s exposure data is maintained. The other side can be attached to any stand, tripod, or device with a standard 1/4″-20 threaded stud or flash shoe mount and the shoe has a locking knob to ensure your equipment is secure.

It’s good news to see Nikon releasing the Nikon D5 and Nikon D500. Not because I want to buy those, but because this will set the standard very high if Sony plans to release a new High End A99 successor and eventually a new A9 Full Frame E-mount series.
It was also surprising to see that Nikon aggressively underlined the mirrorelss weaknesses (See video here from minute 8:00). While some of the points they make are exaggerated Sony has to learn a couple of things from the Nikon camera release:

– Pro photographers need a reliable camera (no lag on operation, easy menu and so on)
– Pro photographers need a reliable autofocus (no missing autofocus shot, no EVF lag time)
– Pro photographers need a bigger body (better balance, better and less fiddly button position)

So dear Sony, just give us a Mirrorless D5 alike camera. Nikon priced it at $6,500 and I am sure for that price you can surely make an exceptional camera!

Gary Friedman sent me this:

Here’s my latest product idea for people who shoot with Sony’s new flashes:
https://goo.gl/photos/a9mxo6FpmYirPH2o8
This is a mock-up of low-profile, high-strength hot shoe adapters for Sony’s new MiS hot shoe. Now I can go back to carelessly throwing my flash into my camera bag without worry of bending those vulnerable pins or losing that tiny plastic cover. (Again.)
While I’m in Vegas covering CES for f2 Cameracraft I’m going to see if there is a manufacturer willing to take this on.
Feel free to share! :-)  I have no idea what the market size for this would be… hopefully your audience could let me know if this is something they would benefit from.

New FE lenses..#SonyCES @SonyElectronics @SonyAlphaRumors pic.twitter.com/TSex9qviC5

— LooseBalloon (@LooseBall00n) January 6, 2016

First of all: it was pretty clear in advance Sony would not announce a new Alpha camera at CES. We got no reliable rumors about possible A or E-mount camera announcement at CES. And Sony is known for launching major Alpha cameras “off” events to get the full media attention.

But: I saw the Sony CES event in live stream. And for more than 10 minutes Sony did talk about the “amazing” A7 series and so on. They did show many pictures and created a lot of focus on their cameras. And for a moment they got me and I was thinking “yeah hell!” something will be announced today! And than suddenly…after all that long talk they quickly skipped over to Audio products. So ZERO announcement. Again, I am absolute no marketing expert but I guess 95% of the people watching the stream felt like John Travolta on the video above :)

Summary: I am sure Sony will show us some real new camera soon. I am not worried about that. But I wonder what’s the “marketing point” of that CES presentation. Maybe it’s just me not understanding how corporate communications works? What was your “feeling”?

–
Message to Sony CEO Hirai: Usual marketing bla bla aside I have to say Sony CEO Hirai was the best performing CEO on stage at CES. Chapeau!

On the CES stage Sony talked for almost 10minutes about the A7 series cameras but did NOT announce any new FE lens or camera. It was somehow expected to NOT get any new Alpha camera at CES but a bit strange they talked a lot about it without to announce anything :/

Here is the list of products (handycams, actioncams and so on) announced by Sony: sony.net/SonyInfo/News/Press/201601/16-001E/index.html

P.S.: A99 and A6000 successor now going to come around Cp+ in February. And hopefully those new toys will steal the spotlight from the Nikon D5 announced today.