(SR5) Sony A7s price to be announced within May. Official shipment June. Real is July :)

UPDATE: Sony announce the stuff today (May 16):
Sony A7s preorder in USA at Amazon US (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here).
RX100M3 preorders in USA at Amazon (Click here), BHphoto (Click here), SonyStore (Click here).
RX100M3 preorders in Eu at Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, BE, AT, CH, SE, NO, FI, PT.
RX100M3 in Asia at Amazon Japan.
Sony A7s EU pages (no preorder yet): Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, SE, FI, PL.

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I have been told the A7s pricing will be announced soon and also that Sony will say the A7s will ship in June. But like I told you before expect real shipment in early July as best. I am yet not sure but the pricing could be announced on Thursday already because by then Sony will have an official press release for the RX100M3 launch.

I really do hope Sony doesn’t go crazy high with the price. The current only competitor is the Panasonic GH4 (priced at $1699 at Amazon). While the A7s has a larger sensor and superb High ISO performance the Panasonic can do internal 4K, has much faster AF and 10 bit 4:2:2 output. In my opinion the price should be just below $2,000 for the A7s too!

A7s tests:
Still ISO test (Click here). Full size images and video test (Click here). Low light video test (Click here).

A7s Preorder or pure notification store links:
USA: Sony USAmazon and BHphoto.
Europe:  Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, SE, FI, PL.
Asia: Digitalrev

Reminder: You will need the Atomos Shogun at BHphoto (Click here) to grab 8bit 4:2:2 4K video.

(SR3) Two more A-mount Full Frame cameras to come in 2014?

Lately a couple of “anonymous” sources got the info that Sony will launch more A-mount cameras the second half of this year. Two of these sources said they will be called “A88” and “A99II“. One is a new low-end FF and one is a high-end FF.

I have yet not received any confirmation via trusted sources so don’t get too excited for now. One of the sources also said that unlike the A77II that have been announced now the new A88 and A99II are rumored to represent a major technological advancement. As usual I hope trusted sources will read this and hopefully confirm the rumors is correct! Would be an amazing news!

The current only Sony FF A-mount camera is the Sony A99 which will become exactly two years old at the Photokina in September. Right in time to get a successor don’t you think? Well, comment this post with your features wish list and I will do a poll out of it to see what SAR readers want from Sony!

And do not forget: RX100MIII will be announced this week on May 15. And I hope Sony will announce the final A7s pricing too! Stay tuned on SAR!

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Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
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Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

Oh gosh! Hasselblad in trouble?

Ex-Ceo Hannsen with Buzz Aldrin at the Lunar launch event (Source: Hasselblad).

I really don’t know if the rumors are true but Photorumors claims to have “heard” that “Ventizz will pull the plug on Hasselblad very soon“. Ventizz Capital owns Hasselblad since 2011. A couple of months ago I reported that Hasselblad CEO Dr. Larry Hansen had been removed (article here). So probably something strange is going on…

If rumors are true than I guess the strategy to sell “Sony luxurified Hasselblads” didn’t work out. Althaugh big stares like Medvedev, BeckhamBlondie and David Lynch have been spotted owning the [shoplink 22672 ebay]Hasselblad Lunar[/shoplink].

It would be a terrible news for a such a great medium format camera maker. I guess recent Full Frame cameras with Sony sensor like the Nikon D800 and Sony A7r are eating up large part of the already small medium format market. Don’t know what Hasselblad should do to get out from their (rumored) troubles. Maybe they should have focused on launching a sub $10,000 mirrorless medium format system using Sony’s partnerhsip to drop costs. But that may be just a weird idea of mine…

Note: You can currently buy the three “Sony luxurified Hasselblads” on eBay: [shoplink 22672 ebay]Hasselblad Lunar (on eBay here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 22673 ebay]Hasselblad Stellar (on eBay here)[/shoplink] and the first [shoplink 26481 ebay]Hasselblad HV superkit (on eBay here)[/shoplink].

(SR4) RX100M3 announcement next Thursday (May 15)

I got this from one trusted source and I hope to double confirm it soon (including exact announcement hour). The source said the RX100M3 will be announced on Thursday May 15. Specs have been confirmed by multiple sources and here they are again in case you missed to read them:

20MP sensor (same as RX100M2 model)
ISO 125-25600
24-70mm f/1.8-2.8 lens
Built in View finder (SVGA OLED Tru-Finder 1440k dots)
Tiltable screen (180 degrees up)
Record in XAVC S format (Same format of the Sony A7s but with no 4K output option).
Almost same size and weight as the current RX100/M2 models.
I have been told all other specs are the same of the current RX100II model.
Price is said to be around 800-850 Euro in Europe. Should be around $800-850 in USA (US price is my guess)

———
Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
——–

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

Spotted: Next star using Hasselblad Lunar….


Frankfurt Airport Duty Free area shows Hasselblads. Image courtesy : Ulrich.

After Medvedev, Beckham and David Lynch we spotted a fourth star using the Hasselblad Lunar: American Chef and super star TV Personality Rachel Ray, was sporting a Hassey Lunar in the photo pit during a set from Blondie at Stubb’s BBQ – SXSW 2014 (Image here).

You can currently buy the three “Sony luxurified Hasselblads” on eBay: [shoplink 22672 ebay]Hasselblad Lunar (on eBay here)[/shoplink], [shoplink 22673 ebay]Hasselblad Stellar (on eBay here)[/shoplink] and the first [shoplink 26481 ebay]Hasselblad HV superkit (on eBay here)[/shoplink].

 

(SR5) Sony A7s to ship in July (not sure about the price yet).

Pricing listed by Australian Store Teds (not the official price).

The next Sony announcement will be made next week on May 15. And let’s hope Sony unveil the final A7s pricing by then. In the meantime I got confirmation for sources that the “real” shipment period for the A7s will be July! With “real” I mean that Sony will officially state it will be abit earlier but as usual first camera will be in Store a couple of weeks later.

There is still a lot of uncertainty about the final A7s pricing. Sony is spreading different pricing info to different stores. All I heard from one of my trusted sources is that the price could be “lower than expected”. Let’s hope he is right :)

A7s Preorder or pure notification store links:
USA: Sony USAmazon and BHphoto.
Europe:  Sony DE, UK, ES, FR, IT, NL, SE, FI, PL.
Asia: Digitalrev

Reminder: You will need the Atomos Shogun at BHphoto (Click here) to grab 8bit 4:2:2 4K video.

———
Message to sources: You can send me more info anonymously by using the contact form you see on the very right of your browser. You can also contact me directly at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com.
For readers: Subscribe the RSS feed (Click here) and Twitter (Click here) stream and the Facebook fan page (Click here) in order to not miss any news!
——–

Reminder (SR = Sonyrumor):
SR1=probably fake rumor
SR2=rumor from unknown sources
SR3=50% chance it is correct
SR4=rumor from known sources
SR5=almost certainly correct!

(UPDATED) Sony Hong Kong/Japan announce the new A77II and A7s.

This is the Sony Hong Kong event flyer which says there will be a product announcement at 19.15-20.30 local time (That’s 12.15-13.30 London time). Like I told you yesterday do not expect too much from it. It may be that they show the A77II only. The A77II also got announced today only(!) in Japan (Source: DC.watch).

UPDATE: Indeed Sony Hong Kong announced the already known Sony A77II (chinese pdf here) and Sony A7s (chinese pdf here). They didn’t unveil the pricing for the A7s :(

The one real big announcement to follow will be made next week on May 15! We will see the new RX100M3 and likely also the final A7s pricing. And hopefully Sony will also shows us the first image of the new Zeiss 16-35mm f/4.0 FE lens too!

Thanks Mike for the translation!