One of the few areas where Sony is doing really well is imaging sensor production. And today Sony announced the acquisition of the Tsuruoka fab from Nintendo! The fab used to make chips for Nintendo game console (Source: Image Sensor World). Sony reports:

This planned investment forms part of Sony’s mid- to long-term plan to increase its total production capacity for image sensors from the current capacity of approximately 60,000 wafers per month to approximately 75,000 wafers per month.Following the acquisition, Sony intends to convert part of the semiconductor manufacturing equipment that Sony is scheduled to acquire from Renesas Yamagata Semiconductor to CMOS image sensor manufacturing equipment, and also to install new manufacturing equipment for CMOS image sensors in Yamagata TEC. Yamagata TEC will primarily engage in the manufacture of photodiodes and wiring processes for stacked CMOS image sensors.

Now what we need from Sony is an increased lens production capability too and some really great new camera to put Nikon and Canon in the shadow.

Source: Camerasize.

We are all eagerly waiting to see how the new NEX-6/7 successor will be. And as Sony’s High End APS-C model it will have to compete against the just announced new Fuji X-T1 (specs and images at Amazon).

Well, the camera has a couple of features that some future A7000 or A9000 owners (whatever name it will have) could like to have on their Sony too. Like the “world’s fastest AF of 0.08 seconds”, freezeproof body or the huge 0.77x and 2,36m dot viewfinder.

Now, let me know what’s the new X-T1 feature the Sony NEX-6/7 successor should absolutely have:

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P.S.: Full Fuji coverage at MirrorlessRumors.com.

The QX100 Lens Camera Comes to Life – A New Look at the Smart Lens

Sony Global Ambassadors programme presentation at Photoclubalpha:

A new global initiative sees Sony working closely with some of the world’s top photographers and industry leaders to celebrate the beauty of photography. Inaugural participants in the Global Imaging Ambassadors programme include William Klein and photographers from the leading international photo agency, Panos Pictures.

Year of the Alpha – 365 days of Sony Alpha Photography’ at Yearofthealpha.com.
Sony RX10 review at Trustedreviews.

Taran: “I recently went to rajastan, new york, and london over the holidays… All my recent shots are NEX in my photostream…http://www.flickr.com/photos/artistwithlight”

Tommy: “I would like to share my joy of being a early adopter of SEL2470Z in China.
Sony China Online Store sent out an email to who registered their A7 purchase to Sony Club, saying only 50 SEL2470Z was available. It looks like to be a nice holiday companion with my A7. Hence I phoned them and set the order immediately.
It arrived last night with a special golden-style gift wrap, a Sony USB2.0 8G thumb driver, a Zeiss lens clean set. The package of the lens is very similar to SEL5518Z As photo below shows:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovenemesis/12116615065/
It comes with a lens hood and case, too.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovenemesis/12117254115/
Its main purpose is to replace my A-mount APS-C SAL1680Z because it has very difficulty to find a LA-EA4 adopter in China for at least a month.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/lovenemesis/12118060276/
You can see it’s a bit taller than SAL1680Z.

Since I’m busying packaging, I don’t have time to extensively test this lens. But here’s a few things I would like to share:
1. It’s probably the heaviest FE lens for A7 now. I feel more comfortable by holding it zoom rings in one hand, rather than area close to the body.
2. Its zoom and focus rings feels just right. After playing for a while, I can zoom to the exact number I want completely blindly. :)
3. Lens hood seems to be uneasy to mount. At least not as fluent as SEL55F18Z.
4. The minimum focus distance is 40mm. 5mm larger than SEL2870.

At the very end, I hope European will see this zooming lens very soon on shelf. It could be a very attractive option for A7/A7r users.”

BBC reports that “Sony, has had its credit rating cut to junk status by ratings agency Moody’s.“. The current critical financial situation has little to do with the camera business. Their weak point is the TV and PC business. And:

The ratings agency said that while Sony had taken steps to cut costs and improve profitability, the benefits of those steps were emerging “slowly” and its key segments “seem unlikely to soon regain the robust profit levels seen historically”.

As usual with rating systems, take them with a grain of salt. Sony’s difficult situation is not a real news yet and I am pretty confident they will recover from that situation. Just to say that I am not worried at all :)

A rumored possible FE mount roadmap.

AP reports that Sony will cut jobs in five Japanese factories. One of them makes compact cameras and some interchangeable lenses.

I read some comments on forums saying that this could affect or reduce the interchangeable lens production. I can tell you what I heard from my trusted sources is quite the opposite! Sony is trying to increase their lens production capability. The job cut news has nothing to do with their future lens strategy.

I hope Sony can find a way to increase their lens production without compromising the production quality. We really need so many lenses for the new FE system and obviously also the A-mount system lacks of some important lenses (primes for example). I am pretty sure Sony doesn’t make a lot of money on the cameras itself. They make more money on lenses and accessories. Less cameras and more lenses…that should be their motto :)

α5000 from Sony: Official Video Release (Feature)

With a couple of weeks of delay the A5000 has now be officially announced in Japan too (Source: Sony Japan). In the meantime reviewers already tested the camera:

First imrpessions at Trustedreviews.
Sony Alpha ILCE-5000 Hands-On Preview (ePhotozine).
Sony A5000 Hands-on Photos (Photographyblog).
A5000 first impressions at Polish Optyczne.
Polish A5000 test at Fotopolis (google translated).

Mike Kobal: Sony A7, working impressions

As you know you can post your best shots and vote the pictures you like most on the SAR Facebook readers wall (Click here). Some of the most liked pictures will be posted on SAR once in a week. Here are this weeks best: