News about others: Nikon in deep financial crisis. (And sells D610 with A7 sensor for $1399).

[shoplink 28077 ebay][/shoplink]

A couple of years ago nobody would have ever questioned the leadership of Canon and Nikon in the system camera market. But things are quickly changing and Nikon reported a huge loss and forceast drop at their latest financial report. Why should we care?

1) First question is if Nikon will try to compete against Sony’s A7 series or not by proposing a sort of mirrorless [shoplink 28078 ebay]FM camera[/shoplink]. I guess we will see soon at Photokina if Nikon will finally react.

2) In the meantime their latest D610 with Sony’s 24MP sensor sells for $1399 only on [shoplink 28077 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. May be a sign that they are trying to force sales. And I bet we will see soon Full Frame cameras for just $1,000 too.

3) Will Nikon still try to rely on Sony sensors or try to break boundaries with something more revolutionary made from their own house or non-Sony partners?

My bet is that Sony will surpass Nikon in terms of system camera sales in two years from now… :)

Curiosity news: Sony prepares sensor with 10x Sensitivity for the Auto market.

I guess most of you know how car maker (particularly German car makers) are focusing on image sensor technology to create save cars. And according to Nikkei Sony is ready to conquer the automotive image sensor market too. Aptina and OmniVision are the current leaders but Sony aims to eventually pick up 50% of the market.

The interesting news here is that Sony developed a new special sensor for automotive applications which is “10 times as sensitive to light as existing chips, allowing for easier detection of objects in dark environments. The sensor can provide a color display of the surrounding area even in moonlight, enabling it to detect obstacles more readily than a driver can.

The sensor will be ready for late 2015.

via Image Sensor World.

This is how you shoot a CHEVY commercial with the A7s :)

Cinoflex is shooting a commercial for Chevrolet. And this is how they have “packed” the Sony A7s :)

Don’t worry, you can also use a more “Portable” set:

This is what Cinoflex thinks about the A7s:

The tests are very good. Everything you would expect from this camera. Our specific tests we’re focused on lens fall-off and sensor reaction. The DR was also very surprising, great tonal rendition in the shadows. For this camera the biggest challenge is the infrastructure (for lack of more familiar terms THE RIG). It is important for professional camera crews to use this camera (or any camera) in a traditional fashion, the CINOFLEX, gave the SONY A7S camera that ability. Truly a WOW camera for the quality of the sensor and ability to capture lens fall-off, focus cylinder moves, and the full frame quality image. We are shooting anamorphic Panavision tests soon, that is the true test to see how this camera can make a difference within the marketplace.


This is what we loved about the SONY A7S Camera. Details about this video grab: Camera: SONY A7S PP: SLOG2 Lens: 200mm Stop: T3.1 Color: 3200K SS: 1/50 ISO 3200 ————- so we shot directly into a light to desaturate the image and lose any detail, then we overexposed by 4 stops. The ungraded image is on the right, the graded image is on the left. With very little effort or manipulation we found good contrast, detail, shadows, highlight control, and sharpness was easily recovered. The lens fall off was also very pronounced and truly magnificent.

Sony A7s store links:
Sony A7s preorder in USA/CA at Amazon, Adorama, BHphoto, Sony USA, Sony Canada.
Sony A7s EU pages: Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, NO, FI, PL. And Wex UK.
A7s Gariz leather case in [shoplink 27569 ebay]Black (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27570 ebay]Brown (Click here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 27571 ebay]Red (Click here)[/shoplink] and [shoplink 27572 ebay]Orange (Click here)[/shoplink].

Sony Tidbits…

Sony A7s Review – A week with the A7S from Stephen Nguyen on Vimeo.

A7s review by at Filmbrosmedia.
A7s Nigh test at DSLRmagazine (google translation here).
Japanese SPeedmaster 50mm lens test at Kasyapa.
microCAST: REVIEW – Sony Alpha 7S at Akihabara.
In depth review of the Sony A7s by Josh McLeod.
An anti-chimping post about headshots using Sony mirrorless cameras :) (PMRphoto).
Apple FINALLY released RAW support for a6000 for iPhoto and Aperture.
Sony A7S con lentes de telemétrica (rangefinder) Vs. Sony A7 (CoolFrame).

First image of the new Speedmaster Dark Knight PRO 50mm f/0.95 FE lens.

This is the first image of the new Speedmaster 50mm f/0.95 Full Frame E-mount “Dark Knight” Pro edition lens. It will soon replace the current “normal” version which is sells for $849 at BHphoto or $899 on [shoplink 27366 ebay]eBay[/shoplink].

As reported before these are the improvements of the new version:

1. Improved lens coating, which makes the lens have better performance
2. Filter thread changed to 67mm from 58mm
3. New bayonet lens hood to prevent light flare and improve “back light “s situation performance.

Sony TidBits…


Sony 70-200mm F4 G series FE Lens Review

A7s for Astrophotography at 3D-Kraft.
A7s vs GH4 at DSLRmagazine (google translation here).
capturing still frames off Sony video footage (PMRphoto).

JT:people always asking which 135mm ZA or ZF. Have a look at this: http://jorgetorralba.com/?p=166

Andrei:I’m Andrei, a happy new owner of the A7s. As a long time reader, I wanted to share with you a slow motion S-Log 2 evening rain test and some first thoughts. https://vimeo.com/102817633
Everything was shot at 120 fps 270p with ISO values over 3200. Light was less than ideal and I had a hard time getting perfect exposure because of the pouring rain. The lens is the Sony Zeiss Vario-Tessar T* FE 24-70mm F4 ZA OSS. Shot in S-Log 2, with modified profile, graded with Film Convert.
Observations:
– The lens is much better than some say. It’s just not as great as the 55mm 1.8 or 35mm 2.8, but OSS is very good and colour reproduction very nice. I’m not a pixel-peeper.
– The A7s held up well in the pouring rain, I only had an umbrella so lots of raindrops spilled on the camera and the lens.
– After some 2 hours of shooting, some blue hot pixels appeared which I noticed only afterwards. Scared, I thought of sending the camera back as it is still new, but then I read online that sony maps out “bad” pixels in software and fixes them on the fly. To force a remap just set the date to a month in advance and turn the camera off. It will take a picture before shutting off, after which they’re magically gone. You can set the date back afterwards. Hope the sensor is fine though…

Jorge:Good story on Sony 50 http://jorgetorralba.com/?p=28