Good news! Sony announcement soon…and NEX-7 bodies finally shiping in USA.

HOT: The last few hours rumors are coming in like raindrops. Soon Sony will announce new SLT stuff. Stay tuned!

Meanwhile I got more than twenty emails from USA readers saying that their NEX-7 body preorder from August/October/November/December and January(!) have been shipped by Amazon or Bhphoto! The screenshot on top shows a shipped January BHphoto order.

Teh Sony NEX-7 body is already in Stock in european stores like Amazon Germany (Click here), Sony Germany (Click here), Sony France (Click here), Sony Italy (Click here), Sony Netherland (Click here), Sony Sweden (Click here), Sony Switzerland (Click here).

Nikon D800 with Sony’s 36 Megapixel sensor announced!

Nikon finally announced the Nikon D800 which uses the new Sony 36 megapixel sensor. Interesting, there is even a Nikon D800″E” version that has not Anti Aliasing filter! There is no official info about who made the sensor. But I already knew since almost a year that Nikon would use a Sony produced 36 megapixel sensor this and I wrote it on SAR many times :) Sony will very likely use the same sensor inside the full-frame camera that will be launched in early 2013. The Nikon D800 costs $3000 at Amazon (Click here). The D800E costs around $3.300 at Amazon (Click here) and Bhphoto (Click here).

So let’s take a short look on the part of the press release were Nikon talks about the sensor:

The new Nikon developed 36.3-megapixel FX-format (35.9 x 24mm) CMOS sensor realizes Nikon’s highest resolution yet, and is ideal for demanding applications such as weddings, studio portraiture and landscape, where there is no compromise to exceptional high fidelity and dynamic range.

The D800 features a wide native ISO range of 100-6400, expandable to 50 (Lo-1)-25,600 (Hi-2). Nikon engineers have created innovative ways to manipulate light transmission to the sensor’s photodiodes, giving users the ability to shoot with confidence in challenging lighting conditions.  Internal sensor design, an enhanced optical low pass filter (OLPF) and 14 bit A/D conversion with a high signal to noise ratio all contribute to a sensor capable of excellent low light ability despite the extreme resolution.  Every aspect of this new FX-format sensor is engineered to deliver amazing low noise images through the ISO range and help create astounding tonal gradation and true colors, whether shooting JPEG or RAW.

The optimized CMOS sensor reads image data at astoundingly fast rates, which results in less instances of rolling shutter distortion.

So, do you like it? 14bit, no anti aliasing filter, fast readout for less rolling sutter. That’s all stuff Sony has to offer on their cameras too!

New A77 guide from Gary Friedmann.

Our friend Gary Friedmann just released his Sony A77 guide! You can purchase it here: http://www.friedmanarchives.com/alpha77/index.htm. He is quite popular within the Alpha community and his books are always appreciated. It has 576 pages! Sample pages and table of content can be read here: http://www.friedmanarchives.com/alpha77/book_page_samples.htm. It’s a must have books for all current and future A77 camera owner. I will buy the NEX-7 guide as soon as he finishes it! For US readers: A77 body only is now available at Amazon (Click here) and so the A77+16-50 (Click here).

More A77 books:
Profibuch Sony SLT alpha 65 & alpha 77” at Amazon Germany (Click here)
Sony Alpha SLT-A65/A77 For Dummies” at Amazon US (Click here) and Amazon UK (Click here).
David Busch’s Sony Alpha SLT-A77 Guide to Digital Photography” at Amazon US (Click here) and Amazon UK (Click here).

 

New Ricoh-Pentax with Sony 16 megapixel sensor. Sony bad financial results.

It’s not a surprise that Sony just reported a bad financial quarter result. At least in the camera division it’s easy to figure out the Thai Flood as main result for the bad results. Nevertheless the company as a whole had to report huge losses (85,7 Mrd. Yen or 855 Mio. €) and CEO Stringer had to give up his post (Source: CNET). You can downlaod the full financial report here: http://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/financial/fr/index.html.

While we are still waiting to see the new A35 and A55 successors Ricoh-Pentax (now they are the same company) announced two new cameras with Sony sensor inside. The A12 module (here at MR) and the ugliest camera I have ever seen…the K-01 (here at MR). I have to say our Sony designers are much better :)

Sony A77 firmware coming as soon as A77 production problem have been solved. (A77 into top 20 at Amazon)

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Many are waiting the new 2.0 firmware update for their A77 camera. When asked about this Paul Genge answered on Sony UK facbook site that “we have had many other problems with making the actual cameras to resolve first, but hopefully we will have some further positive news to bring you in due course. No timescale can be hinted at though.

meanwhile the kit version is still in Stock at Amazon USA (Click here). And the camera sells so well that it made into the top twenty of the Amazon Ranking (Click here to see the full list).

More A77 search links: [shopcountry 8461].

Detailed Sony sales analysis for the japanese market in 2011.

Japan is the only market of the world offering super detailed info about camera sales. And this week BCNranking made a nice overview of the percentage sales in 2011. As you can see from the screenshot on top Sony is doing well in the compact camera market where it jumped on the second place with 15,1%. it was on position 4th in 2010. It’s not going well in the DSLR market but this has probably to do with the Thai flood consequences that made the A65 and A77 not available in reasonable numbers within 2011. Compared to 2010 Sony also lost 5% market share in the mirrorless market probably for the same reasons.

I think 2012 numbers will be more important because it will really show what’s the strength of the company in a “normal” year (a year without Tsunamis and Floods I hope!).

There is no such nice detailed market report in European and American countries. So I have to rely on the very general and “unscientific” Amazon rankings to see if a camera is popular or not. I give you here the links to check the current most sold cameras:

Amazon US:
DSLR ranking (Click here): No Sony camera in top 20 :(
Mirrorless ranking (Click here): NEX-5n rules!
Compact ranking (Click here): Canon dominates.
Lens ranking (Click here): No Sony in sight.

Amazon Germany:
DSLR ranking (Click here): No SLT camera in top 20 :(
Mirrorless ranking (Click here): Again the NEX-5n on top!
Compact ranking (Click here): The HX100V is doing pretty well.

Amazon UK:
DSLR ranking (Click here): Again no Sony on top.
Mirrorless ranking (Click here): Sony NEX-5n on position two.
Compact ranking (Click here): Cnaon-Nikon domination.
Lens ranking (Click here): It’s a Canon world.

Amazon France:
DSLR ranking (Click here): Canon as usual…
Mirrorless ranking (Click here): NEX-5n and NEX-7 domination!
Compact ranking (Click here): Again Canon…