How Sony promotes the RX100m4 in Asia

G Master Engineers’ Interview at Sony Japan (google translation here).
Sony a7rii Studio Shoot Using The 55mm f1.8 AZ And The 135mm A Mount Lens w/ An LAEA4 Adapter (Stillsandvideo).
Low light showdown A7R vs A7RmkII (Dario Cannone).
Sony a6000 Astrophotography Review (LonelySpeck).
105mm f:1.8 Nikkor tested on the Sony A7 (SonyAlphaForum)
Sony 28-75mm f/2.8 SAM on mirrorless FF (Photoclubalpha).
There & Back Again: A Cross-Country Epic (Alphauniverse).

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Michael Christensen sent this images of an imaginary Minolta FE camera. He morphed the [shoplink 46420 ebay]Minolta SR style (here on eBay)[/shoplink] with the current Sony A7 design. Would be nice ot have a more “classic” looking FF E-mount camera don’t you agree?

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Yesterday Sony issues a press release to report this:

Due to a decrease in projected future demand, Sony has revised its Mid-Range Plan for the camera module business in the Devices segment from the period beginning with the fiscal year ending March 31, 2017.

In a second press release issued today Sony reports:

The survey of damage to the Kumamoto Technology Center conducted so far has revealed damage to certain parts of the building, clean rooms and production equipment. The timeframe for resuming operations has yet to be determined. The Kumamoto Technology Center is the primary manufacturing site for image sensors for digital cameras and security cameras as well as for micro-display devices.

But still the good news is that the company as a whole is doing better than expected:

The forecast for net income attributable to Sony Corporation’s stockholders is expected to increase from the January forecast despite the above mentioned downward revision in income before income taxes, primarily due to a reversal of valuation allowances on deferred tax assets for local taxes by a subsidiary in Japan.

If you ever wondered how a hypothetical Sony hybrid A and E-mount hybrid mount camera could work look here:
Craft Camera just announced a camera where you can swap between PL, EF and MFT mount by a push of a lever. The image above shows a MFT mount on the left and the EF mount on the right. It’s a different concept than using adapters as in the Craft Camera there is no fixed basic lens mount. Just watch the video to see how this works:

Could be a solution for the perfect Sony A-E mount camera or not?

A bit of history: The “hybrid” mount concpet isn’t anything new. The [shoplink 47137 ebay]Contax IIA (here on eBay)[/shoplink] has such a kind of mount too!

Sony had a press announcement today during the World Photo Award: They are expanding their PRO support program to the UK.

This is the press text:

Sony today announced the expansion of its Imaging PRO Support programme to include the UK. The programme is scheduled to start in the UK in September 2016 and continues to gain momentum as an increasing amount of professional photographers are switching to Sony cameras.
Imaging PRO Support offers advice and help to members including a dedicated telephone help desk offering professional photographers support in using their α camera equipment. There’s a free collection and return service for units requiring repairs, plus a free back-up loan unit to keep professional photographers up and running. In addition, members can benefit from a free twice-yearly image sensor cleaning service with filter glass replacement if necessary and firmware check-up to keep their cameras in top condition.
There’s no membership fee for the service that’s offered to professional photographers[i] who own at least two Sony α camera bodies and three Sony α lenses from the qualifying list detailed beneath.
The Sony Imaging PRO support programme is now live in Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and the United States. Rollout in other European countries is currently under consideration.

Source: Sony Eu.

Metabones T Smart IV vs Fotodiox Canon EF adapter on the Sony A6300

Magic Lantern and Sony (SonyAlphaForum).
Sony a6300 Review at RonMartBlog.
German lego advertisement shot on the Sony A7 (Welt).
Sony A68 image samples at Optyczne.
Sony A68 review at Techradar.
Sony A7II Fimware Update 3.10 review (Dsphotoblog)

Christian: “My friend Alessandro Della Bella and I just released a project that might be interesting for you. „Zurich by Night“ features some quite fancy aerial nighttime images and consists of interactive panoramic images and a short hyperlapse movie. The images are put together of 42 single photographs shot with a Sony a7RII and have a size of more than 800MP (4GB Tiff).
Check out this: http://www.helvetiabynight.com/panos/en-index.html
Some of this aerial night shots are also part of our new movie: vimeo.com/161820611“

As you know Japan got hit twice by a very strong earthquake. Sony issued the following press release:

(Tokyo, April 18, 2016) Sony Corporation (“Sony”) extends its deepest sympathies to all those affected by the earthquakes in Kumamoto.

Due to the earthquake of April 14 and subsequent earthquakes in the Kumamoto region, the following Sony Group manufacturing sites have been affected:

Operations at Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Kumamoto Technology Center (located in Kikuchi Gun, Kumamoto Prefecture), which primarily manufactures image sensors for digital cameras and security cameras as well as micro-display devices, were halted after the earthquake on April 14, and currently remain suspended. Damage to the site’s building and manufacturing lines is currently being evaluated, and with aftershocks continuing, the timeframe for resuming operations has yet to be determined.

Although some of the manufacturing equipment at Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Nagasaki Technology Center (located in Isahaya City, Nagasaki Prefecture), which is Sony’s main facility for smartphone image sensor production, and Oita Technology Center (located in Oita City, Oita Prefecture), which commenced operations as a wholly-owned facility of Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation on April 1, had been temporarily halted, the affected equipment has been sequentially restarted from April 17, and production has resumed. Sony Semiconductor Manufacturing Corporation’s Kagoshima Technology Center (located in Kirishima City, Kagoshima Prefecture) has continued its production operations after the earthquakes, and there have been no major effects on its operations.

Sony has confirmed the safety of all of its and its group companies’ employees in the region affected by the earthquakes.

The impact of these events on Sony’s consolidated results is currently being evaluated.