The full financial report from Sony can be downloaded at http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/12q4_sony.pdf. The slides are available here: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/viewer/12q4/

The overall company results: The good news is that for the first time since 2008 Sony made a net profit of $458 million.

Imaging Division: Sales decreased 4.1% year-on-year (a 7% decrease on a constant currency basis) to 730.4 billion yen (7,770 million U.S. dollars). This decrease was primarily due to a significant decrease in unit sales of compact digital cameras reflecting a contraction of the low-end of the market as well as a significant decrease in unit sales of video cameras reflecting a contraction of the market, partially offset by significantly higher sales of interchangeable single-lens cameras and the favorable impact of foreign exchange rates.

Outlook for the Fiscal Year ending March 31, 2014: For March 2014 Sony expects to increase the sales and operating revenue by a +10.3%. The Imaging division should grow to: “Overall segment sales are expected to increase due to a significant increase in sales of broadcast- and professional-use products and interchangeable single-lens cameras. Operating income is expected to increase significantly due to the impact of the increase in sales.”

Management focus and topics: In the imaging division Sony has implemented investments for growth such as expanding production capacity for its cutting-edge and competitive CMOS image sensors.

SAR general summary: Sony knows well that to grow in the digital camera market they have to focus on the high end professional market. That is their goal. The NEX system is selling well and sales should increase in this year (thanks to the new NEX-7 successor and new NEX lenses). But it’s the future Full Frame Alpha and NEX strategy that will mark the success or fail of their goals. Can’t wait to see what kind of (game changing?) products they will announce in early 2014!!!

The 12mm and 32mm Zeiss primes will ship in 6-8 weeks according to BHphoto (Click here). And for the first time they also list the new Zeiss 50mm macro with shipment expected on october 1 (Click here to see). Some image samples shot on on NEX cameras can be found at Digifotopro.nl. More images on Fuji cameras can be seen at SystemKameraForum and at FujiRumors.

Zeiss preorder links:
12mm f/2.8 at BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Uniquephoto (Click here). In Europe at FotoMundus.
32mm f/1.8 at BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Uniquephoto (Click here). In Europe at FotoMundus.

The Japanese agency Cipa published the full Digital Camera Market sales analysis for 2012. The report is available in Japanese only but here are some key info:

. Japanese Companies produced 44% less cameras (14,4 Million cameras).
– The compact camera production declined by 50% (11,2 Million cameras produced).
– The DSLR and the Mirrorless production declined by 25% (3,1 Million cameras produced).
– Only High End Camera and Lens sales saw a small growth. There is a growth of 14,1% in the Full Frame Lens production while APS-C lens production felt by 21 %.
– In the Japanese DSLR segment Sony has a 6,1% share. In 2010 Sony had 7,8%. Canon (52,2%) and Nikon (33,6%) are the leaders.

Summary: Smartphones are eating up the compact camera market and the System Camera market is saturated. The good news for Sony is that they produce most of the imaging sensors for smartphones (for Apple iPhone’s for example). The bad news is that Sony is still not an important player in the only camera segment that is growing. The High End Full Frame system. That’s where Sony has to put their efforts. The new NEX-FF is a step into the right direction but I hope cheap FF A-mount cameras will come in early 2014 too!

Click on these two thumbnails to see the most sold Mirrorless and DSLR cameras:

found via Photoscala.

Amazon camera market rankings:
US ranking (Click here).
DE ranking (Click here).
UK ranking (Click here).
FR ranking (Click here).

Antarctica from Darek Sepiolo on Vimeo. Shot with the Sony EX1 camera.

Sony gapless sensor patent at Egami.
Sony NEX-3n review at ThePhoBlographer.
Rokinon 35mm f/1.4 review at SonyAlphaLab.
SEL 50 f1.8 Compared to Leica Summicron 50mm f2 at PhotoCineNews.
Remote Camera Control Ver.3.1 for Mac OS X adds support for the A58 (support.d-imaging.sony.co.jp).
Sony E 35 mm f/1.8 vs Sigma E 30 mm f/2.8 EX DN by Per-Analogia.
Street Photography with the Nex7 and the Zeiss 24mm Sonnar T (F-StopEight).
RX1 review by SpiegleBerg.

Kerioke: here is an excellent documentary on Sony which was recently broadcast on 28th of April. it talks about how it developed the EXMOR sensors: NHk.or.jp.

Jordan: “Sony Artisan photographer goes to Kickstarter to fund his new book project, Future Presidents.  Future Presidents is a photography project that aims to inspire children of all races and backgrounds to embrace their dreams by expressing what they would do as President of the United States. View and pledge at www.KickstarterPresidents.com”

Rishi: “I did a nice little short film that captures the essence of the 2013 Wisdom 2.0 Conference and listens to attendees and speakers who come to explore a movement towards living with greater presence, meaning, and mindfulness in the digital age. The relevance is that all of it was done on the nex 7. I love this camera for a hybrid photography and film work. The highest quality video and photography you can get in the smallest form factor. http://blog.rishio.com/2013/04/2013-wisdom-20-conference.html”

Baron:” Please share this short film with the rest of the world. It carries a social message of responsible drinking and I think everyone should watch. It has a surprising twist in the end. Here is the video: Some Stupid Drunk Driver !!! This short film is made for the world’s co-leader in wines & spirits, Pernod Ricard Malaysia. To infuse a cinematic quality to this film we chose the Sony A99 and NEX-6 cameras with Zeiss 24-70mm F2.8 ZA. Many of the scenes happen at night and this is where the A99 shines. It could give me very useable footage in low light.  The noise from A99 is monochromatic. The footage holds up well. I could bring out the details in the shadows and I could still pull the highlights during editing with Edius.
We also used the A99 on a Glidecam Smooth Shooter in 2 key scenes. The Zeiss lens with A99 was heavy enough to balance very well on the stabilizer. Surprisingly stable shots even without Optical Image Stabilization.
The NEX-6 was used for most of our car-mounted POV shots. Its lightweight and compact feature let us attach it far into the car’s windscreen so we could shoot less wide for the actress. The dynamic range matched very well with the A99.“

The video on top is the first Unboxing video for the new Zeiss lenses. It shows the X-mount versions but the NEX mount version have exactly the same package. The video is useful because at least it proves you that the lenses come with hood included :)

The lenses can be preordered at:
32mm f/1.8 at BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Uniquephoto (Click here).
12mm f/2.8 at BHphoto (Click here), Adorama (Click here) and Uniquephoto (Click here).

Current US deals:
NEX-7 $50 price drop at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
NEX-5r $50 price drop at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
NEX-3n $50 price drop at Amazon, Adorama and BHphoto.
Up to $400 savings on camera-lens kit at BHphoto (Click here).
6% reward on Sony E and A mount cameras at Adorama (Click here).
NEX-F3 with kit lens for $399 at Amazon (Click here).
Up to $200 savings on Sony SLT cameras has been prolonged through June 1 (Click here to see the list at Amazon).
A99 superkit deal (Click here).
Sony Alpha Lenses (Click here).

SAR reader Ramos sent us what could be the craziest Sony deal I have ever posted. If you buy the A77 you will get a second A77 for free! I never saw a deal like that on any camera.

One more Sony deal in Thailand: You get the LA-EA2 for free when purchasing the NEX-6 (Source Pantip).