Editors note: wrong patent post

Quick note for our readers. For one hour an article went online with the wrong patent link and patent description. Sorry for that. I will soon post the real patent articles. (the mistake happened because I have been in very hurry at work).

You have the full right to blame me for that mistake ;)
Bye!

Sony TidBits (with links to NEX-C3 and A35 manual downloads!)

AF100 vs F3 vs FS100 Part 1: The Real World from Philip Bloom on Vimeo.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9 Review (Digitalcamerareview).

Japan’s factory not back to normal until autumn (AmateurPhotographer).

Moves To Dump Stringer As Head Of Sony (Channelnews)

Sony and Zstudio did remove the NEX-C3 and A35 manual download page. But our readers did copy the manual and posted them online:
NEX-C3 manual can be downloaded here: http://s230731361.online.de/NEX-C3_CZ-SK_screen.pdf (Thanks Stefan)
A35 manual viewable on: http://viewer.zoho.com/docs/ua4dWc (Thanks “x”)

Sony removes the website with username and password for the C3-A35 manuals

It is not a suprise that Hackers got access to the credit card data of Playstation useres. Our readers found the official Sony article that did contain the username and password to access the C3 and A35 manual directory! I guess Sony has a lot of work to do to safe their websites. And I hope they will manage to do that as soon as possible. Anyway I am writing that article because (finally!) Sony removed that page: http://www.sony.cz/article/id/1091522716812.

The only thing we don’t knwo now about those cameras are WHEN they are going to announce them. Let’s hope it will be soon!

 

USA-today: Sony could benefit from shortages of Canon, Nikon SLRs.

Mike Worswick (president of the Photographic Research Organization) said at USA TODAY that with the shortages in cameras, due to the crisis, “The opportunity for Sony, Olympus and even Samsung to grow a little market share in the next few months is clearly out there“. At a time when many Canon SLRs are hard to find, due to production issues, the Sony models are not only in amply supply, but discounted to sell with special promotions.

Thom Hogan commented that statement on his website: “USAToday speculates that the shortage of Canon and Nikon cameras caused by the Japanese earthquake and tsunami will benefit Sony’s DSLR market share. Maybe, but not for any of the reasons USAToday suggests. First, Canon has already announced that it doesn’t expect any drop in DSLR sales, so USAToday would essentially be saying the Sony share increases would come at the expense of Nikon. That’s probably true, but it isn’t really the earthquake and tsunami that is the root cause here.“..:”Sony’s inventory problems had been somewhat the opposite of Nikon’s: most items have been in plentiful stock, partly because they’re not as efficient as Nikon in getting a customer in a store asking for something. So, yes, USAToday’s basic premise is correct: if sales shift away from Nikon, Sony should gain.”

My two cent on that: I learned via my sources that Sony has quite a problem with the CMOS sensor production. I have my doubts that what Mike Worswick is telling us is true.

P.S.: The deals we are talking about are only running in US (didn’t find any deals in european countries:
-$50 on the A580 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H and J&R.
-$50 on the A55 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the A33 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-5 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.
-$50 on the NEX-3 at Amazon, Adorama, B&H, J&R, eBay.

DSLR with video has no future. The future are videocameras with larger sensors (says Thom Hogan)


Let’s start with a short editor’s note: On April 21 we reported about a new Sony CMOS sensor with amazing 120 fps at a full 12 Bit resolution (source DC.watch.Impress). I still noticed that many readers didn’t understand that this is a sensor for videocameras (and not for Alpha cameras). Thom Hogan explains why this is so: “It’s 24.3×12.8mm in size, which makes it slightly wider than APS-C but substantially shorter. The 2160 vertical pixels are exactly double what’s needed for 1080P (the horizontal component is almost exactly 4x). It looks like a straight-out video sensor to me. That’s confirmed by the other details: 60 fps 14-bit output, 120 fps max speed, and the first target: NHK’s Super Hi-Vision format.”

But the real interesting part of Thom Hogans article is the following one:
“To what end? Well, DSLR-enabled video is pretty compromised and about to be eclipsed by prosumer and pro video equipment, much as I predicted some time ago. Both Sony and Panasonic now have large sensor video products, with more coming. Those products blow away the capabilities within DSLRs for one simple reason: the sensor is optimized for video use. In order to get 1920×1080 (1080P) or 1280×720 (720P) out of our DSLR sensors, the cameras do two things: they line skip and they sub-sample within a line. The results are rolling shutters, artifacts, and less than optimal color information. Those dedicated large-sensor video cameras fix all those things. The output from the new Sony NEX-FS100E is noticeably better than any video-enabled DSLR I’ve seen to date. If I’m serious about video production, why would I compromise by using a DSLR? Plus the FS100E is configured to be a video camera from the get-go.”

What do you think?

Reminder: The Sony NEX-FS100U will be in Stock in July (Source: B&H).