Gary Firedmann contacted me to talk about his latest Sony related books:

“Hi, Andrea! I’ve been a regular reader of your blog for quite sometime. (I even mention your work prominently in my books!) Since you seem keen on letting people know about books for Sony cameras, I thought it would be fair to mention mine as well – I’m writing one about the A65 / A77 (which is on track to be finished by the end of January), and one for the NEX 7 (which will start just as soon as the one I ordered back in October ever arrives. :-) ). They’re available as full-color, instantly-downloadable .pdf files with no DRM (and also as printed books for those who like printed books.) You can read about my other Sony books and register your interest in the soon-to-be-released ones by visiting my website: www.FriedmanArchives.com/ebooks Many thanks, and please keep doing what you’re doing! Sincerely, Gary Friedman”

Thanks Gary!

P.S.:
Sony SLT A65/A77 for Dummies!! (Click here to see it on Amazon)
A77 book from David Busch you can preorder on Amazon (Click here).

Sony will soon announce a bunch of new compact cameras. There will be no new NEX or SLT cameras (or lenses). A leak at Sony unveiled that a new W610 and W630 are going to be introduced.

The compact camera market is still the biggest camera market in terms of unit sales but the profit margin is very low (Click here to see the Amazon photo camera ranking). Plus this market is going to shrink because of the phone cameras that do bring two advantages: When you have a phone that can take pictures why bother to bring a second camera with you? And the second more important reason is the APP world. It’s nice to know that you can upgrade your photo-creativity by using new tools like Hipstamatic. There is where Sony has to work. Create an APP friendly network for NEX and SLT cameras. Hope they will do that!

One more thing: join us here: https://www.facebook.com/sonyalpharumors
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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!

While talking with my sources about the upcoming year it clearly came out how Sony’s NEX system success has been greater than expected. Sony didn’t think the NEX-7 and NEX-5n would sell that well. For the first time since their entrance in the digital camera market Sony feels like they finally got the attention from the mass market. The NEX system is also the most profitable of all interchangeable system (better than APS-C SLT and better than the future fullframe SLT  cameras). To maximize the momentum Sony decided to redo the whole 2012 NEX roadmap. As I already told you there will be more NEX lenses than originally planed. There will be also many new NEX cameras and I have been told there will be also a “surprise”…a sort of “different” NEX (And I am not talking about the AE hybrid NEX-7 alike camera!).

In concrete, I have been told that we will see many new NEX stuff soon, starting from early Spring 2012. I am working to get the full details of the new roadmap. If you want or can help me send me your rumor at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. Or use the anonymous contact form you see here on the right sidebar. Every little help…helps! Thanks!

One more thing: You SAR readers choose the NEX-7 as camera of the year 2011 with 2,494 votes (44% of all voters). And the most expected camera of 2012 is the A99 (38%) and the NEX-7 (35%) alike fullframe camera. Keep me updated if you find the NEX-7 to be in Stock somewhere. Would liek you SAR readers to get the camera before other guys ;)  UPDATE: In Stock in Denmark at kamerahuset.

In Stock status check:
A77 at [shopcountry 8461] A65 at [shopcountry 8459].
Sony NEX-7 [shopcountry 8454].
Sony NEX-5n [shopcountry 8452].
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8450].
Sony 50mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8448].
Sony 55-210mm [shopcountry 8444].
NEX-5n viewfinder [shopcountry 9110].

An AE mount rendering from Jay (SonyAlphaLab.com)

Year 2011 has been a difficult year for many manufacturer. In March a Tsunami hit Japan and for months after the Fukushima nuclear plant limited the energy access of factories in the area. Even worse the Thailand flood from October stopped the sensor and camera production for months. Full production capacity will be reached in late February early march only. That’s why the roadmap of almost all companies changed and some of the cameras and lenses I would have expected in 2011 haven’t been announced.

So what’s going to happen in 2012?

First, it’s very likely that also the original 2012 roadmap shifted for a couple of months. So it’s not easy to guess when exactly the enw cameras will eb announced. Let me take the chance and propose you a possible general roadmap of what to expect in 2012:

January: New Sony compact cameras
February-March: New NEX camera ad lenses. As you know the original Sony roadmap showed three new lenses for 2012. I can guarantee you that the roadmap changed…in better! There will be more lenses than expected and one-two new pancakes too.
April-Mai-June: More new NEX camera and lenses + high end compact camera + new NEX camcorder + the new A99 camera. If the roadmap didn’t change because of the Thai flood the A99 with 24 Megapixel should be announced around that time. And it will come with a bunch of new lenses (high-end wide angle zoom, high end tele zoom, new Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 and the 500mm f/4.0).
August-September: It’s Photokina time and the biggest news could be the new high end FF camera with 36 Megapixel and the sort of hybrid AE mount NEX-7 alike fullframe camera. There will be again new NEX and Alpha lenses.

In general the big new technologies in 2012 will be the Fuji organic sensor, Sony new 36 Megapixel sensor, Olympus new viewfinder and Global shutter (Sony/Panasonic). I haven’t heard anything revolutionary coming from Nikon and Canon.

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Sony fulfilled a new patent describing a sensor with global shutter (Click here to see the original patent). This is Sony’s description:
“In the CMOS type image sensor, the photoelectric conversion unit reads out the signal charges for each pixel or for each row where a plurality of pixels is arranged. In this case, exposure time for accumulating the signal charges is difficult to match in all the pixels, and thus in some cases, a captured image is distorted. Particularly, if the motion of a subject is great, this defect is noticeably generated. In order to prevent this defect from being generated, a “global exposure” is performed in which all the pixels start exposure at the same time and finish the exposure at the same time. The “global exposure” is performed by simultaneously driving all the pixels through an electrical control without using the mechanical shutter”

The same patent describes also how Sony wants to increase the number of Megapixels without to lose image quality. It’s the “foveon” alike approach. It’s not the first time we see such a patent:
“In order to realize the high sensitivity, there has been proposed one where a chalcopyrite based compound semiconductor film such as a CuInGaSe₂ film with high light absorption coefficient is used in the photoelectric conversion unit (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications No. 2007-123720).
In addition, there has been proposed a “lamination type” where photoelectric conversion units for respective colors are laminated and disposed in a depth direction perpendicular to an imaging surface, instead of disposing the photoelectric conversion units which selectively sense light beams of respective colors in a direction along the imaging surface. In the “lamination type,” each pixel senses not only light of one color but also light of plural colors. For this reason, a light sensing surface is extensively formed and thus use efficiency of light can be improved, thereby improving sensitivity (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publications No. 2006-245088).”

Can’t wait to see such a sensor coming soon!!!

It’s Christmas time and I have to give you some sort of nice present ;)

One of the most requested cameras is the fullframe version of the NEX-7. And I have good news for you…although the camera will be much different than you expected!
A couple of sources confirmed that Sony will launch a hybrid AlphaNex mount camera in 2012! Also external sources (like here on Xitek) got the same news. The main goal of that new camera is to unify both worlds, the Alpha and NEX. These are the characteristics of the camera:
– Alpha mount camera with built-in compatible E-mount (no-external adapter needed!). Current NEX lenses will work in “crop mode”.
– Full Frame sensor.
– [shoplink 8454]NEX-7[/shoplink] alike design, just a bit bigger.
– Built-in new generation OLED viewfinder
– global shutter

It’s also important for you to know that there will not be a Full Frame E-mount camera. That AE hybrid camera will be the “fullframe NEX” camera we are waiting for. The camera is already available in different prototypes. So specs can still change but the concept as a whole has been approved and will hit the market in 2012. I guess it will be announced in September at Photokina.

I still don’t know how this hybrid mount works but as I told you weeks ago an idea like that has been already realized with the Zeiss Ikon Contax I, II and III that can still be found [shoplink 10295 ebay]here on eBay[/shoplink].

One more thing: join us here: https://www.facebook.com/sonyalpharumors

—

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!

I really don’t speak japanese so I have to rely on google translation tool to read the following document: https://www.impressjapan.jp/pr/monitor/1112_dcm/271201_free.pdf. That magazine contains an interview with Sony. And here is what we can expect in 2012:

1) Smaller NEX lenses: Sony confirms what we have reported here on SonyAlphaRumors some time ago. There is a new NEX lens roadmap and it includes smaller lenses (yeah, pancakes!).

2) 100 Megapixel sensor: Sony can do a 100 Megapixel sensor. Now I guess this doesn’t necessary mean there will be a camera with such a sensor. It will be more a “look at my muscles Canon” statement :)

3) electronic shutter: This is a big news and very important technology. I bet this is coming for real at Photokina 2012!

Sony also confirms that the next FF cameras will be SLT (electronic viewfinder). Japanese readers may help me to get a full translation of the text? Thanks!