A piece of history died today: Olympus officially sells it’s camera business to JIP

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This is likely one of the worse news ever for the camera industry. And I fear this isn’t the last company to fall in the years to come. Olympus announced it sold the camera business to JIP. And now, JIP is not likely to keep MFT alive. As reported by our reader Mistral:

Japan Industrial Partners (JIP) are a Japanese private equity fund specializing in restructuring / turnaround situations. They buy loss-making businesses, strive to make them profitable and, once done, resell them to corporate acquirers.
To give an example: they bought Sony’s PC business (Vaio).

In short this is what’s likely to happen: Layoffs of personnel, killing of future products launches (from 2021) and sale of technologies to the best offer.

And I feel Olympus is just the first company that will kill it’s Imaging Division. In the short term Pentax may be next. In the long term also some bigger companies may stop making cameras.

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That’s nice from Sony: To help creators Sony will offer free maintenance service for your camera

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Well that’s a kind move from Sony:

Support Measures for Industry Creators including Cinematographers and Photographers
Financial Contributions from the Sony Global Relief Fund for COVID-19

Tokyo, Japan – Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced that it will devote funds to organizations related to creative communities and inspect Sony cameras free of charge, as support measures for industry creators including cinematographers, camera operators, camera assistants, and digital imaging technicians as well as photographers impacted by COVID-19

There are two specific initiatives:

  • Financial contribution to cinematographers and camera operators engaged in sports, filmmaking and scripted television and commercial production
  • Complimentary maintenance service of camera system for Sony Imaging PRO Support members

The global outbreak of COVID-19 has impacted content creators in nearly every facet of the industry, as sporting and music events, movies and television filming, as well as weddings and events have been put on hold. These have had a significant disruption on the commercial activities of professionals who support these industries with photo and video production. Sony will support these creators to continue their activities.
Funding for this program will be provided by the “Sony Global Relief Fund for COVID-19,” which was established by Sony in this April to help those who are affected by the pandemic.

“Sony has always worked closely with the creative community, by helping them pursue high-quality content creation”, said Hiroshi Kawano, Vice President, Sony Imaging Products & Solutions Inc. “This community’s success is vital to our own, which is why we have decided to implement these support measures in their time of need. We envision a future where content creators, especially younger generations, will be able to continue pursuing creative endeavors with superior production values, despite today’s challenging situation. We are proud to contribute funds and support to the content creation industry.”

1. Financial contribution to cinematographers and camera operators engaged in sports, filmmaking and scripted television and commercial production

Sony will start donating to the following organizations in order to support cinematographers, camera operators, camera assistants, and digital imaging technicians. This support fund will be used to support the activity of creators who belong to the organizations.

Sports Video Group (Content creators involved in the production of sports events in the United States)
Sports Video Group Europe (Content creators involved in the production of sports events in Europe)
International Cinematographer Gild “Local 600” (Cinematographers and videographers in the United States)
The American Society of Cinematography (Cinematographers in the United States)
IMAGO (International federation of Cinematographers, World Wide apart from US, Canada and Japan )
Japan Society of Cinematographers (Cinematographers in Japan)

2. Complimentary maintenance service of camera system for Sony Imaging PRO Support members
Sony Imaging PRO Support is a membership service offering premium care for professional photographers who use Sony’s camera systems in a professional capacity. Sony will provide complimentary inspection, cleaning and firmware version check services for existing members*1 globally*2, where this membership is available, in order to assure users that their digital imaging devices are ready when needed. The application for this complimentary service is planned to roll out in July *3and be available until December 31st.

*1 In addition, the applicants to Sony Imaging PRO Support by this June also be included.
*2 Service sites are located in North America, part of Europe, mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, India and Australia. For more details of the service and conditions, please visit the website of Sony Imaging PRO Support in each region.
*3 The timing to start this complimentary service may vary in each region.
In addition to these, we also plan to make a financial contribution to the National Institute of Informatics in Japan in order to promote remote education at universities.

Beyond the COVID-19 pandemic, Sony remains committed to furthering its support of creators and their activities.

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RUMOR: Sony A7sIII official announcement after the EOS-R5 launch and another new Sony FF camera coming end of August

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This week Sony started to show the A7sII successor to press and store owners. Like I told you before I didn’t know until today when Sony would actually make the general public announcement of the camera. Well I now have been told that Sony decided to make the PUBLIC announcement shortly AFTER the Canon EOS-R5 launch. The timeline for the public announcement is this:

– Sony A7sII successor by mid-end July
– Sony second FF camera announcement (A5?) by end of August-early September

The Canon announcement:
I have been told that the reason is that Sony wants to unveil the A7sII successor after the Canon EOS-R5 (coming on July 9) to position it appropriately with the price and marketing. If you think that’s BS and there is no way Sony would wait for the competition read these facts:

  1. History is repeating itself: Back in April Sony decided to postpone the already promoted April 20 NAB live announcement to April 30 after Canon announced it would unveil new products on April 20 too.
  2. Sony A7sII successor is already registered in Asia since April 28 (article here) and the second FF camera by end of May (article here). Nokishita also spotted the 12-24mm GM lens registration a month ago. It’s the first time in 10 years a registered High end camera and lens takes more than two months after registration to be announced!

I know you are disappointed but I am 100% sure I am right on this. As this is a rumor coming from the same sources whom correctly shared this years rumors:

May 6: ZV1 launch
February 17: Sony 20mm FE specs
February 13: Sony 20mm FE info
February 7: Sony 12-24mm GM lens rumor (lens not announced yet but Sony registered the code confirming it’s real)
February 7: Prime lens rumor

I also have been told that first journalists and film makers already got the A7sII successor in their hands during internal meetings happened this week (there will be more meetings the next days). This is also very unusual for Sony to show them the camera one month ahead of the official announcement. And I think this time we might get some specs ahead of the announcement because of this (which would also proof that Sony indeed changed strategy in last minute).

 

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New deals on SLRmagic and Laowa lenses

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You save $150 on the excellent Venus Laowa 15mm f/2 FE lens sold by Adorama.

Today only you save $200 on the SLRmagic Cine 25mm T1.5 lens sold by BHphoto.

The 30% discount on the newly announced Nik Collection 3 (Click here to see all details) will end soon. It is the very first plugin capable of accurately reproducing the effect of a tilt-shift lens. You can download the trial (Click here) and test it for yourself. And be aware that for a limited time you save 30% on the full Nik Collection 3 (Click here to see all details).

 

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What we know about the next Sony announcement: Two cameras and one lens coming

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Last week I told you Sony has an internal meeting with the press on June 26. But there might be some time for the press to play with the camera and write reviews and the general public announcement might follow a couple of days later. So please don’t expect yet a public announcement on June 26. I hopefully will be able to let you know soon when the info will become public.

While I am 100% sure Sony has two cameras to be announced soon I am yet not sure if both will be announced at the same time or if the second camera might be announced a bit later in July.

Let’s start with the facts:

  • Sony registered a High End Camera in Japan (code “WW271448“). Has 5Ghz module which suggests this is a High end Camera
  • Sony registered a camera in China (code “WW850128“). As it’s made in China it might be an entry level RX or E-mount camera
  • Sony website contains the code for a new lens “SEL1224GM” (12-24mm f/2.8 GM)

And here are the rumors:

  • A7sIII and 12-24mm lens will be shown to the press the last week of June (unclear when NDA breaks). The second FF camera may be announced a couple of weeks later?
  • 12-24mm f/2.8 GM lens will be very expensive (around or above $3,000)
  • The new High End Camera will be the A7sII successor (at least 4k120p, 10bit 4:2:2, similar A9II AF performance) and start shipping out by late July/early August
  • The second new camera will be Full frame and also a Sony “first” (which means it’s somehow not branded as a successor of a previous existing FF model). It might be a new sub $1,000 entry level Sony A5

What else?

  • Sony plans to release a fast f/1.2 GM lens (originally planed to be on market by second half 2020 but Covid-19 may have delayed this)
  • Sony new tele zooms are on the 2020 roadmap (again Covid-19 messed the timeline so we don’t know when exactly we will get them)

If someone reading this post has any kind of info about the next announcement drop me a message using this anonymous contact box (use an nickname to be recognizable in the future) or drop me an email at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com. Thanks!

 

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