NEX-FS700 hands-on at Engadget (Click here):

CreativeUk (Click here) is accepting preorders.

Sony NEX FS100 as a DSLR alternative – first impressions (EosHD)

Minolta 70-210mm f4 versus Canon 70-200mm f4 L IS at Photoclubalpha (Click here): “Most of all, comparing this lens with the relatively expensive and much larger Canon it’s clear that the performance is either equal, or better. Take into account advances in coatings, and the effects of age on any lens, and I would have to think a new version of exactly this same Minolta lens would be stunningly sharp and ideal within the Alpha system”

Amateur Photographer Magazine (not online!) tested the A57: “With its 16.1-million pixel sensor, 15-point AF and 10fps shooting with continuous AF, Sony’s Alpha 57 may suit aspiring sports and wildlife photographers. Tim Coleman puts it to the test.”

Canon 5D Mark III ‘light leak’ causes underexposed photo’s from FotoVideo.nu on Vimeo.

When Sony launched the [shoplink 8461]Sony A77[/shoplink] we were one of the first websites to report the flaws and limits of the camera. You may would think that these kind of things would not happen with the Canon and Nikon cameras specially when they are aimed for the pro market. But as you see they are also having some troubles:

Canon 5D markIII ($3499)
Light leak issue problem (Canonwatch). And the problems has been confirmed by Canon itself (via CanonWatch).

Nikon D800 ($2999)
Greencast, memory card and tethering issues (Nikonrumors). “Exploded” D800 (Dpreview).

I hope Sony will not make a mess with the A99. They should release a mature product with no major flaws and ZERO Hardware problems. If they can manage to do it they may will dethrone the most sold DSLR camera of the moment (the Nikon D800 according to A. rankings).

Sony just issued a pdf document (Click here to download) where it describes the future strategy. And there are good news for us Alpha Camera users! One of the main goal is to Strengthen the Imaging core businesses  (Digital   Imaging,  Game,  Mobile).

Here is the detailed plan:
“Sony is reinforcing its development of image sensors, signal processing technologies, lenses and other key digital imaging technologies in which it excels, and plans to leverage these technologies in both its consumer products (such as compact digital still cameras, digital video cameras and interchangeable lens digital cameras) and broadcast and professional products (such as professional use cameras and security cameras) in order to further strengthen and differentiate Sony’s overall product line. The Company also plans to extend the use of these key technologies across a wide range of business applications, from security to medical, to further expand the scope of its digital imaging business. Sony will target total sales of 1.5 trillion yen and double-digit operating income margin from the consumer, professional and image sensor businesses by FY14.”

You can find another strategy presentation here: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/viewer/strategy/2012/. One of the main aspects are the “acceleration of the 4K Innovation”.

I guess you already read the news on your daily magazine. Sony announced the worst loss ever, ¥520 billion for the past financial year. Converted this means a 6,4 Dollar or 4,9 Euro billion loss. Sony will cut 10,000 jobs to bring Sony back to profit within March 2012. There are many reasons for the bad results listed by NYT:
1) additional (unexpected) tax expense
2) heavy losses in its television business
3) strong yen
4) natural disasters in Japan and overseas.

The digital camera market is just a small part of Sony’s business and currently doing pretty decent thanks to the A77 and NEX-7. The problem is Sony has lost many battles like the music war with Apple and the TV war with Samsung. When I talk with my sources they more or less agree that Sony is quite slow and too heavy when it comes to take action. Probably the company has a to complex structure that leads to waste time and resources. That doesn’t necessary mean that you have to cut jobs! What matters more is to have a good management and clear and easy communication-action structure within the company.

Sorry if I repeat myself again but they lost so much money with their slow camera and lens release! The [shoplink 8454]NEX-7[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8450]Zeiss 24mm[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8448]50mm[/shoplink] are selling well but Sony can’t keep up with the production. Plus they are loosing money every day by not releasing new NEX lenses. Cutting jobs will not help if your product strategy…”sucks“?

I hope the latest rumors I am getting about the next FF camera are a good sign that Sony may anticipate the FF announcement. About time!

The Stratos-Sphere Project : making-of from Edouard Janssens on Vimeo.

We already knew the NEX-5n is a great camera but it’s good and very useful :) to know that it works perfectly also under very extreme conditions! A Belgian photographer sent a helium balloons up 33km into space to take photos of the curvature of the earth. At 6:05 you clearly see the NEX camera :) Their website is stratos-sphere.com. Thanks Justin for sending me this ;)
And here are the search links to that great stratosphere camera: [shopcountry 8452] :)

To remain in the reign of the weird findings someone also sent me the links to “Ducati NEX adpated lenses”. There is a DUCATI Luxtor 40mm f/1.5 you can find on [shoplink 12171 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. And a DUCATI Lator 60mm f/2.8 again on [shoplink 12172 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].

More Sony TidBits:
Kirk Tuck (Click here) fells in love with Sony :)
A special edition of the NEX-7 at DC.watch (Click here).
A Sony A77 biorthday cake on Flickr (Click here).
List of camera defects from Sony and other manufacturers at Moonlightknighthk (Click here).

From time to time readers send me links to their best work done with Sony cameras. And I am glad to share them here on SAR! Here is the list:

Luca: “I am doing a 365 project at http://366nex.blogspot.com. It is focused on using solely the NEX-7 as awalkaround, life-companion, multi-purpose camera. I hope you will enjoy it. As you’ll see in the blog, if you’ll like to visit it, I am using the NEX-7 for many (and very) different purposes, so you’ll find bit of studio photography, street photography, candids, portraits, and night shots.”

Mattia: “AutoMotoRetrò 2012 video on Youtube“

Marc: “I got my NEX5 converted to infrared by Lifepixel in the US (300$) it works terrific, it works also for video. here is a sample test http://youtu.be/Ff-T8aEyFA4 I will be using it in the coutryside during my holidays”

Tino: “Ich habe soeben nach längerer Zeit wieder einmal ein paar Bilder auf meinen Flickr-Account hoch geladen. Aller diese Fotos wurden im Bodensee gemacht.
Folgende Ausrüstung kam zum Einsatz: Sony NEX-5N. Nauticam NA-NEX5 Unterwassergehäuse (Umgebaut auf NEX-5N). Sony E 30mm F3.5 macro. Nauticam Marcro Port 45. INON D-2000 Blitz. Hier der Link zu den Bildern: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tdphoto-ch/sets/72157629567407365/“

Tomer: “I just wanted to share my Sony experience with you… I’m a filmmaker, based in Tel-Aviv. I was recently comissioned to direct a launch video for the NYC company, Boxee (www.boxee.tv). The shoot called for a high quality, low footprint camera system, adapted for first-person POV purposes. After much testing and deliberation, myself and the DoP chose the Sony Nex-5N+16mm lens+wide adapter, and have never looked back since… The camera performed admirably, in a wide variety of scenarios (no heating issues whatsoever), and the client was very happy with the end result :-) :
https://vimeo.com/36758114
On a side note, I purchased the camera after the shoot, and managed to locate a vintage Olympus 38mm Pen-F lens for it. It never leaves my camera, and has really transformed my still photography experience. As and avid music fan, I do some concert photography, and it serves my purposes beautifully:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomerbahat/sets/72157629174781312/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomerbahat/sets/72157629112168249/
That’s it, thank you very much for doing such a great work on the blog!”

Douglas: “Some of my recent work done with the Nex 5n. https://vimeo.com/37920172”

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Thanks you all!