At the “IR Day 2017” Sony did release more information about their goals and forecasts (you can see a list of files here). In the Imaging Segment Sony predicts a growth in sales and profit:

“Generate higher sales and profit through enhancement of Sony as a camera brand”

It was interesting to read that both camera and lens sales went up 27% during the last fiscal year.

To sum up: Sony is growing and predicts they will keep growing. Translated for us rumor addicted: We will get some exciting new products for sure:

Sony believes it must remain the “last one inch” that delivers a sense of “wow” to customers through its direct relationships with consumers

The latest photo gadget to launch on Kickstarter promises to give Sony owners a better way to control their cameras: from their smartphones.
Arsenal is a hardware device that sits atop your camera. It will give photographers full control over their DSLR and Mirrorless cameras from up to 100 feet away.
The app includes built-in modes for advanced techniques like photo stacking and timelapse. It will write the merged RAW file directly to the camera’s SD card.
Arsenal also offers manual controls, including live preview, full-resolution photo review, and social media sharing.

But the biggest innovation comes in the form of artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms that compare your scene against thousands of other photos in Arsenal’s “memory” to recommend optimal settings in any conditions.

Arsenal will support the following Sony models will be fully supported at launch: A7, A7S, A7R, A7ii, A7Sii, A7Rii, a3000,a5000,a5100,a6000,a6300, and a6500

You can track the campaign’s progress on Kickstarter or at witharsenal.com.

Links: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/2092430307/1792982088?token=b8ac1747

https://witharsenal.com

UPDATE: They hit the Kickstarter goal ($50k) in the first 9 hours!

At 7.30pm ET time you can watch that A9 Livestream Panel discussion at BHphoto (Click here). And don’t forget you can win a Sony A9 if you preorder through that BHphoto link.

And there is the first A9 superbundle with all free stuff(!) on sale at Amazon (Click here to read the list of free extras).

Sony A9:
Sony A9 at BHphoto, Adorama, Amazon, BestBuy. FocusCamera. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 with Grip Extension Kit at BHphoto, Adorama and Amazon.
Sony A9 battery grip at Adorama, Bhphoto, Amazon. Wex UK. Jessops.
Sony A9 Glass screen protector at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon.
NP-FZ100 battery for the A9 at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon. Jessops.
GP-EX1 grip at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon. Wex UK.
FDA-EP18 eye cup at Adorama, BHphoto.
MQZ1 multi battery charger at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon. Wex UK.
BCQZ1 Z-series Battery Charger at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon.

The new Sony FE lenses preorders:
16-35mm GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
12-24mm G at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy, Focus and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 100-400mm GM at BHphoto, Amazon, Adorama, BestBuy. Calumet.de. Park UK. Wex UK. Jessops.

Sony 85mm vs Zeiss Batis 85: Which one should you buy?

Sony a99 II vs Canon EOS 5D Mark IV: Where do they differ? (Digitalrev).
The RX10 III as a tele-zoom and macro (Joerghaag).
Will a damaged(notched) lens hood cause vignetting? (SonyAlphaForum).
Faking It: Getting the Anamorphic Look without the Anamorphic Expense (Explora).
Tokina 14-20mm F2 Review on Sony A6500 | John Sison

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Vikas: “his timelapse was shot entirely on sony equipment – cud it be featured on the SAR site – https://vimeo.com/212788610”

Charlie: “Here is todays video just uploaded it tonight more material for you 😉 and in 4k! https://youtu.be/AmqqULbAz4Y”

Hadrien: “My name is Hadrien Picard. I’m a french photographer & director. Even if now i shoot a lot of different subjects, my roots are in the bike world.
6 months ago, after watching that crazy light-drone video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl1xYyGom1g ), i had the feeling i could bring further that idea by filming a night ride of one of the best downhill moutain biker, lit by a Drone with a huge LED on it.
Compared to the first video our light has to be smaller & directional so we can aim the light precisely toward the rider, as there was indeed zero option that the rider would not be lit.
Obviously for its low light capabilities we use 3 Sony A7SII to film this project.
You can discover the project « Night Chase » with MTB World Champion Loic Bruni : redbull.com/nightchase
You can also find the Behind the scenes that shows how we did with Lift Cinema to fit a 800W LED on a drone & how the 3 nights of shooting on his track in the south of France went : https://vimeo.com/216732386

Sergei Gavrilov‎
md: Olga Tikhonova
https://www.instagram.com/gavrilovsergphoto/
https://www.sony.ru/alphapro/photographers/sergej-gavrilov

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2) Like and comment the pictures from other readers here: facebook.com/sonyalpharumors/photos_stream?tab=photos and on SonyAlphaForum.
3) A selection of most liked pictures by the community and by me SAR admin will be posted weekly on SAR.

Note: When sending a pic feel free to also add a link to your site to promote yourself!

Sigma issued a new firmware update for the MC-11 adapter. The improvements:

● It has become compatible with the SIGMA 17-70mm F2.8-4 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary in SIGMA mount (firmware version 1.02).
● It has become compatible with the SIGMA 18-200mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary in SIGMA mount (firmware version 1.01).
● It has become compatible with the SIGMA 18-300mm F3.5-6.3 DC MACRO OS HSM | Contemporary in SIGMA mount (firmware version 1.01).
※ Before updating the MC-11 firmware, please ensure SIGMA Optimization Pro has been updated to ver. 1.4.1 or later for Windows, and ver. 1.4.0 or later for Macintosh.

The new Sony FE lenses are already available for preorder at Calumet Germany: The 16-35mm GM will start shipping on August 10 and the 12-24mm G on June 6.

Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 GM at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.
Sony 12-24mm f/4.0 at Bhphoto, Adorama, BestBuy and Amazon. In EU at Calumet DE, WexUK, Jessops.