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Engadget reports that “Sony will close its Minokamo site, which currently produces camera lenses for DSLRs and smartphones, with production being moved to factories in Kohida and Kisarazu, 840 staff will lose their jobs.”

What I don’t know yet is if this will influence and reduce the lens production capability. The latest I heard from my trusted sources was that Sony was trying to find third party companies capable of producing more of their E-mount lenses. An example: Sony still has some issues to produce more of the superb Zeiss 24mm lenses. Amazon, the largest online store of the world has only two of them in Stock (Click here).

Matthew Durr posted that youtube video to show you three of the neww five features of the NEX-7 firmware update. Thanks Matt!

Sony announced many new cameras at Photokina, the NEX-5R, NEX-6, VG900 and the A99. The first to be in Stock is the NEX-5R that is finally shipping in US and Europe too. Here is a short list of stores that are having the camera in Stock and link to the (non scientific) rankings:

USA:
The Sony NEX-5R body and different bundles are in Stock at Adorama (Click here). Also Amazon US (Click here) is shipping the first preorders although they are not in Stock if you buy it now. And the camera is now in the top 10 of the most sold mirrorless camera (click here to see the ranking). Plenty of cameras are also in Stock on eBay at ElectroElectro and Beachcamera.

Europe:
The camera is in Stock at Amazon Germany and on top of the mirrorless ranking (Click here to see). Also in Stock at Amazon UK, Jessops and Amazon FR but not selling as well as in Germany for now.

First a real news: Preorder of the A99 are now back at Amazon (Click here). And now an (impossible?) message from an anonymous source. Please be aware that I have no confirmation from trusted sources yet but I hope they will contact me after reading this post.

The message I got from the anonymous source said that “Sony dropped the pre order Cost of the A 99 from 2348 to 2099, and the pre order cost of the nex 6 with kit lens from 836 to 749.99 in the us”

The preorder costs are the ones paid by dealers and not by the final single buyer. If…and I repeat “if”(!) the rumor I got is correct this may will lead to a Sony A99 and NEX-6 price drop soon and probably your preorder will be charged less than you expected to pay for.  This may be Sony first reaction to compete against the low entry Canon 6D (specs and price here) and Nikon D600 (specs and price here) FF cameras. I am a bit more surprised about the NEX-6 price drop which honestly wasn’t bad at all.

I repeat it, for now I think the rumor has low chance to be correct. And no need to drop your preorders. If the rumor is correct they will simply charge you less when shipping the camera!

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Sony preorder list:
A99 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex UK, Wex Germany, Sonystore DE-UK-FR-IT-ES-NL-SE-FI-CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
A99 with kit lens links Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 body Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Wex UK, Wex Germany Sonystore DE-UK-FR-IT-ES-NL-SE-FI-CH and more links at Alphacameradeals.
NEX-6 with kit lens Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Jessops, Wex Uk ,Wex Germany and more links at Alphacameradeals.

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Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

You can finally get your hands on the A99 handbook:
English: http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4438654111.pdf
Spanish: http://pdf.crse.com/manuals/4436247311.pdf
German: http://www.sony.de/support/de/product/SLT-A99

Preorder of the A99 are now back at Amazon (Click here) and in Australia at Sony AU (Click here).

New A99 hands-on report at Rodkar.