A Sony Hong Kong poll asks readers if the like a non existing SEL18F18 lens. I bet this is an error from Sony. That said if it would be not I would certainly welcome a new 18mm f/1.8 E-mount lens :)
On SAR’s poll over 60% of the readers said they like the new Sony A6000. That’s a good score! And the popularity of the camera also shows at Amazon mirrorless camera ranking (Click here to see).Both, the camera only and the kit versions are on top. The cameras are into the top 20 of the overall camera sales which includes compacts and DSLR too (Click here to see the ranking).
The first professional lens for mirrorless systems (so writes DPreview) is actually doing well too. The lens is in the top 20 of the most popular lenses (ranking here).
I am eagerly waiting to see real reviews and test of the new Autofocus system. We have to see if Sony’s big claims (best AF of all APS-C cameras) is correct or limited to good light conditions. And as a reminder: I got 100% reliable confirmation a new A77 successor is coming. So stay tuned the coming days and weeks. Finally some A-mount news too :)
This is the updated preorder list with US and Europe links:
Sony A6000 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT
Silver A6000 at WexUK (Click here).
Sony A6000 with lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here).
Silver A6000 with lens at WexUK (Click here).
Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon (CLick here), BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT
DSC-H300 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-H400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-HX400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 White at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Silver at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
The Sony A6000 main selling point is the world’s fastest AF (0,06 sec) that covers an area of 92% of the whole sensor (with 179 Af points!). That spec alone makes it the best autofocusing camera to date and not even a $7000 DSLR can beat that! Just watch the video on top or the video made or the first testing video made by It’s DanK and the Sony presentation video. For the first time you can use a mirrorless camera just like (and better than) a pro DSLR. And the A6000 price/features will make it very appealing for the mass that takes sports and family shots (you will no more miss to shot a sharp pic of your kid).
UPDATE: Somone raised questions about Sony’s AF performance claims: Just to be clear, at Sony UK they write the A6000 has a “Quicker autofocus than a DSLR“. And as a note:
“Among interchangeable-lens digital cameras equipped with an APS-C image sensor as of 12 February 2014. Measured using CIPA internal measurement method with E PZ 16-50 mm F3.5-5.6 OSS lens mounted, Pre-AF off and viewfinder in use.”
But this raises an important question. Does SLT tech still have a future? My answer is no. There may be still one -two SLT A-mount cameras to come but I think it’s save to say the Hybrid AF of the A6000 is going to be improved quickly and it will be used by future E and A-mount cameras. And you will no more have that 1/3 stop light loss because of the semitransparent mirror.
obviously the A-mount still has at least one big advantage over E-mount cameras, the on sensor stabilization. If Sony would have used on sensor stabilization on E-mount cameras right from the start I think the A-mount cameras would have really little reason to be developed further.
In about one month Sony will announce the A77 successor. And it will certainly have an AF system that is at leats as good (if not better) as the A6000!
Sony really released a great camera (with a couple of let downs like the “reduced” EVF resolution although Sony explains in the video above that the numbers don’t tell the truth). Well done Sony! But I confess I am a bit angry at them because my Sony A7r doesn’t have that superfast hybrid AF :)
Preorders:
Sony A6000 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT
Silver A6000 at WexUK (Click here).
Sony A6000 with lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here).
Silver A6000 with lens at WexUK (Click here).
Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon (CLick here), BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT
DSC-H300 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-H400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-HX400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 White at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Silver at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
Preorders:
Sony A6000 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT
Silver A6000 at WexUK (Click here).
Sony A6000 with lens at Amazon (Click here), Adorama, BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here), WexUK (Click here).
Silver A6000 with lens at WexUK (Click here).
Sony 70-200mm FE at Amazon (CLick here), BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here). In Europe at Sony DE, UK, FR, IT, ES, AT, NL, BE, CH, FI, SE, PT
DSC-H300 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-H400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-HX400 at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-WX350 White at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Black at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
DSC-W800 Silver at Amazon (Click here), Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here).
Previews, hands-on tests:
First impression at Dpreview, First impressions at ThePhoBlographer, First look at Digitalcamerareview, Hands-on at ePhotozine, First look at Amateur Photographer, Hands-on at Photographyblog, Hands-on at Pocket-Lint, Hands-on at Gizmodo, Hands-on at Imaging Resource, First impressions at Trustedreviews, Hands-on by Quesabesde (Spanish), Preview at CameraLabs.
Hot things to know:
Sony claims the A6000 has the “world’s fastest autofocus”!
The A6000 hybrid AF covers 92% of the imaging area!
The major letdown: EVF is smaller and of lower resolution compared to the NEX-6. But IR writes: “However, comparing the two side-by-side, the A6000’s EVF is the clear winner as it produces much more accurate colors and easy to discern details.”
There is also a Silver A6000 but it’s not coming in US yet.
AmateurPhotographer: “Looking at 100% crops of a garden scene containing a mix of stone and plant detail, the A6000, utilizing diffraction reduction technology, managed to resolve sharper edge detail and reduced haloing compared to the 24.2-million-pixel Nikon D5300, particularly at f/11. Colour and contrast also appeared slightly more accurate on the images printed from the camera.”
A6000 has selective focus speed for smooth video transitions and steady shot for video.
Videos:
First look at Cnet, First look at Whatdigitalcamera, Hands-on at Digitalcameraworld, a6000 Review and AF Testing First Look at It’s DanK, First look by Sony.
Image samples:
Sample images at Photographyblog, Quick ISO test at Expertreviews,
Press text:
Slashgear, ePhotozine, Gizmodo, TheVerge, Engadget, Pocket-Lint, DSLRmagazine (Spanish), Quesabesde (Spanish), SystemKameraForum (German).
Poll:
Read the reviews and after that tell us:
Loading ...Images of the camera (Click on it to enlarge):
China, Guilin, Li River (Sony Nex-7 + SEL1855) by Sergey Kuznetsov
These are this weeks most liked picture posted by SAR readers on SAR’s facebook wall. To like other pictures and add your picture just visit us here https://www.facebook.com/sonyalpharumors?filter=2.
Sony is still facing a deep financial crisis and they plan to recover by completely selling their PC business and reduce their TV investments costs. And Sony.net reports:
In the imaging, game and mobile businesses that Sony identified as the three core businesses that would drive the growth of its electronics business, Sony has made significant progress in executing this strategy.
And Reuters reports that Sony:
will cut 5,000 jobs and trim 100 billion yen ($988 million) a year from fixed costs, while splitting off its loss-making PC and TV units.
The camera (and sensor) business is one of their high priority. Just let’s hope Sony can manage to move out of the deep crisis soon. We will patiently wait for more their new A-mount cameras, FE lenses and a more clear marketing and customer support.
Today Panasonic launched the first mirrorless interchangeable lens camera with 4K recording feature, the GH4 (specs at Amazon). It has a 10bit 4K output over 3G HD-SDI and records on fast SD cards at 200mbit/s. It’s certainly a well made camera but Sony is about to answer soon.
Like in one month from now Sony will release their first 4K camera. It will be A-mount although I don’t exclude there will be an E-mount 4K camera too. The image of the Sony 4K camera has been shown last year:
The 4K Sony displayed this year at NAB show (Image courtesy: Engadget).
Expect a 4K marketing bombardment soon. And after that 8K will follow (in 1-2 years). It never ends :)
