Sony record sales at The Photography Show…A7III rules it!

CameraJabber reported this:

Sony has sold more cameras on Day 1 of The Photography 2018 than during the whole of the show last year, retailers have told us. In fact, we’ve heard rumoured figures that Sony sold £200,000 worth of gear on Day 1 of the show, largely driven by keen interest in the company’s new A7 III.
One retailer told us the business had sold more Sony equipment on Day 1 of The Photography Show 2018 than it did during the entire show last year, while other retailers confirmed to us that Sony gear is flying from their shelves.
Another retailer confirmed for us that of all the major camera manufacturers, Sony was dominating the sales at the show so far.

I had no doubt the Sony A7III would become a hotseller. In terms of performance-price balance this is the best Sony camera in years.

Sony A7III preorder links:
Sony A7III in USA at Adorama, BHphoto, Amazon,  BestBuy, FocusCamera, BuyDig.
Sony a7III in Europe at Amazon DE, Calumet Germany, Amazon UK, ParkCameras UK, WexUK, Amazon FR, Amazon IT, Amazon ES.
Join our Sony A7III Facebook group!

Adobe Achieves Record Revenue in Q1 2018

Well folks, you can hate the subscription model as much as you like but for the company this is working quite well. Adobe reported this:

  • Adobe achieved record quarterly revenue of $2.08 billion in its first quarter of fiscal year 2018, which represents 24 percent year-over-year revenue growth.

I still use the old Photoshop 6 for my photo editing. But it literally pissed me off that Lightroom is now available on subscription only. This is why I am switching over to Capture One. In general I can recommend two alternatives:

Capture One:
I think this is the only TOP level alternative to Adobe. And in some aspects it even beats it (like RAW editing). Use the coupon code “AMBSAR” to get a 10% discount on Capture One 11 (Click here) and Capture One 11 for Sony (Click here).

Luminar:
It’s certainly NOT on par with Adobe but they are growing fast. The big news is that they will release a DAM module this year which should give you similar Lightroom functions. And it’s also a lot cheaper than anything else out there. And if you use the coupon code “SAR” you will get $10 off! Check out Luminar 2018 here.

 

This week SAR readers photos selection

maurotandoi.photo on Sony Alpha Forum
Rain
A7r2 | FE 50mm F1.4 ZA
f 1.4 | iso 400 | 1/100

1) You can submit one single picture per week only.
2) To submit your picture for the weekly readers roundup post you can choose one of the following three options:
– Instagram: Follow @sonyalphagallery and tag us on your picture to give us the permission to repost your image on the instagram gallery and on SAR (we will credit you)
– Facebook: Submit your picture on our group: facebook.com/groups/sonyalphacamera. Please add the hashtag “#sonyalphagallery ” to grant the permission for reposting on SAR. Without the   hashtag we will not add your picture!
– Forum: Submit your picture on the SonyAlphaForum image section and add the hashtag “#sonyalphagallery ”
3) Like and comment the pictures from other readers here: instagram.com/sonyalphagallery,  facebook.com/groups/sonyalphacamera and on SonyAlphaForum.
4) 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! And please do share one single picture per week only. Do not spam :)

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Samsung wants to dethrone Sony in the image sensor business

The NX1 still sells for $2,460 on Amazon

Samsung is going to challenge Sony’s leadership in the Image Sensor Business. Etnews.com reports that Samsung wants to become number 1:

Reason why Samsung Electronics is greatly increasing production capacity of image sensor is due to its confidence. Through its internal evaluation, it believes that its technologies are already near that of SONY. SONY and Samsung Electronics are the only ones in the world that developed and commercialized 3-stack image sensors (sensor+ analogue logic+ DRAM) that can process 960 frames per second.

Samsung has yet no goal to make APS-C or FF Image Sensor for the photo industry. Their focus is on smartphone cameras and automotive industry. Still, their NX1 camera was ahead of times in many areas, pity they did quit. Oh and by the way, back when they had their NX system Samsung was bragging that they would become number 1 in the camera mirrorless camera industry. It didn’t work out well.

via Dpreview

Sony interview at Dpreview

Dpreview interviewed Mr. Tanaka from Sony. A few highlights:

400mm f/2.8 FE lens: “The weight of our 400mm F2.8 is very light, and you can use it handheld, which makes it easy to create different kinds of photographs. We already announced the development of this lens, and the launch is scheduled for this summer.”

About weather sealing: “in really bad conditions, in really heavy rain, will photographers keep on taking pictures [for long periods of time?] I don’t think so. In those conditions, most photographers will use some kind of rain cover.”

About new APS-C E-mount lenses: “please be patient – we will never ignore APS-C.”

About the lack of proper firmware update support like Fuji: “We’re still in the early stages of challenging the market with our products, and the new model cycle is relatively rapid, compared to our competitors. But the next step is to increase our market share. And if we want to reach new customers, we need [to make] new types of cameras.“

Sony Tidbits…


Why to stay with Sony instead of switching to Canon

Lensbaby Burnside 35: sample gallery and impressions (Dpreview).
Things We Love: Sony Cyber-shot DSC-RX100 Series Cameras (Allan Weitz).
Voigtlander 50mm f/1.2 and 110mm f/2.5 – CP+ 2018 (Newsshooter).
The Best from Japan: Sony’s 400mm f/2.8; Olympus’ crazy concept cameras; Sigma’s “VR” lens hood service and more (Imaging Resource).
WPPI 2018: DJI Ronin-S (Explora).

Personal photos and tests from SAR Admin Andrea on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and 500px.

Andreas: “So is there really such a great color difference between a Sony a7r III and a Canon 5D Mark III? Spoiler: there isn‘t.  I compared those two with manual white balance and the same (!) lens. Myth busted. 
MYTHOS Farbunterschied: SONY a7r III vs CANON 5D III https://youtu.be/ZTettajPFN8
Additionally I made an review of the Sony a7rIII after using it for two month:
SONY A7R III: Erfahrungsbericht nach 2 Monaten https://youtu.be/gw8nrzXC-7c
Both in German but maybe still relevant for your audience. ”