Sony NEX success was unexpected. 2012 will be a busy year for engineers!

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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].

 

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A77 ripped apart. New Zeiss 24mm f/2.0 review.

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The video you see here on top has been posted by Sonyblog (Click here / via noisy). It shows you the full naked and ripped A77 camera. To bad they toke it apart, there is now one less camera that can be delivered to a customer. The A77 is so difficult to find in Stock I found only three stores having them: SonyStore USA and Amazon Germany and of course on [shoplink 8461 ebay]eBay[/shoplink] where you find them for a crazy price only).

David from Photoclubalpha (Click here) posted a new full Zeiss Distagon 24mm f/2.0 review (A-mount): “The [shoplink 7497]Sony Zeiss 24mm f/2 SSM Distagon ZA T*[/shoplink] is probably the best, or equal to the best, in its class. It may perhaps be the best ever 84° angle fast lens ever made for the general SLR system market, and I would happy to pitch it against any of the current equivalent offerings for medium format digital“. And when David talks about the A77 and the future fullframe sensors he writes: “If Sony’s 24 megapixel APS-C sensor formed the basis for a full-framer, it would be a 60 megapixel monster and match all but the most expensive medium format image sizes. I believe the 24mm CZ could go there if Sony chose to.” Dear David, it’s going to be 24 and 36 Megapixel only for now, but with 100 Megapixel sensor coming within 2-3 years ;)
Check the Zeiss 24mm lens price and availability at [shopcountry 7497].

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For UK readers: NEX-7 body in Stock at Warehouseexpress and in New Zealand.

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Get it no before it’s sold out: http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-sony-alpha-nex-7-black-digital-camera-body/p1527077. I am not going to stay up the whole night to see when it runs out of Stock…but my bet is that it will not last for more than a couple of hours!

And also our (few?) readers living in New Zealand can find the body in Stock at Photowarehouse.co.nz :)

One more thing: Many readers contacted me to say that their NEX-7 has been shipped. Not only in Europa, Canada and USA, but also our Australian readers are getting their NEX-7 bodies! Enjoy! ;)

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Four Sony cameras in the top 20 of the most sold cameras this year in Japan.

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In Japan (and in Japan only) you can get detailed reports about the camera sales. Bcnranking (via 1001noisyc) posted the top 20 of the most sold cameras between January 1st and December 20th. Four cameras are listed on it. The Sony NEX-5 (Pos 6), the Sony A55 (Pos 13), the Sony NEX-C3 (Pos 17) and the Sony NEX-3 (Pos 17). A wonder how that ranking would have looked if the NEX-7 and A77 wouldn’t have been stopped by the terrible Thai flood.

It’s still a mystery for me why we cannot have such detailed sales reports in other countries too. As you already know the only place I can check to see if a camera is popular or not is the very fluctuating Amazon ranking:
Amazon US ranking (Click here), Amazon DE ranking (Click here), Amazon UK ranking (Click here), Amazon FR ranking (Click here), Amazon IT ranking (Click here), Amazon ES ranking (Click here).

Overall it looks like European and American markets are more “conservative” and less subject to adopt new technologies. The mirrorless and SLT cameras aren’t popular as in Japan. But I think cameras like the NEX-7 and the future A99 can slowly change this in “western” countries too. It’s time to get rid of that Canon-Nikon duopoly!

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Got my NEX-7: Send me your M-mount lens experience stories!

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Hurray! I got my NEX-7! As you see I got the body only and I am still figuring out what kind of lens I should use on it. And I have a request to you readers. I want to spend my money on lenses I can use on different systems. That’s why I am looking to get M-mount lenses that can fit via adapter on any current ASP-C NEX or future full frame NEX (or hybrid mount) camera. I usually don’t spend a lot of money on digital cameras, but I am willing to invest in good lenses because a good lens lasts forever!

But it’s not an easy task as you might think. Some lenses do have rear nodal points that do not match perfectly on cameras. If that happens then you get huge vignetting and what’s worse color shifting on the corners. Most M-mount lenses have been designed for film cameras like the [shoplink 10898 ebay]Leica M7[/shoplink] or [shoplink 10899 ebay]Zeiss Ikon[/shoplink]. That’s why I would like to collect your stories with those lenses to see which one fits better on NEX cameras. There are many Leica M-mount lens which are very beautiful but far to expensive for me. As I often shot for work in “dangerous” situation I am not willing to risk to get robbed of a $6.000 lens! Here is the list of M-mount lenses I am looking for:

Zeiss ZM
[shoplink 10875 ebay]Distagon T* 2,8/15 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9803 ebay]Distagon T* 4/18 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9804 ebay]Biogon T* 2,8/21 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9804 ebay]C Biogon T* 4,5/21 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9805 ebay]Biogon T* 2,8/25 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9806 ebay]Biogon T* 2,8/28 ZM  (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9808 ebay]Biogon T* 2/35 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9808 ebay]C Biogon T* 2,8/35 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9809 ebay]C Sonnar T* 1,5/50 ZM  (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9809 ebay]Planar T* 2/50 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9810 ebay]Sonnar T* 2/85 ZM  (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 9810 ebay]Tele-Tessar T* 4/85 ZM (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].

Minolta
[shoplink 10876 ebay]28mm f/2.8 M-Rokkor (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10877 ebay]40mm f/2 M-Rokkor (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10878 ebay]90mm f/4 M-Rokkor (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].

Konica
[shoplink 10879 ebay]21mm f/3.4 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10880 ebay]28mm f/2.8 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10881 ebay]35mm f/2.0 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10882 ebay]50mm f/2.0 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10883 ebay]50mm f/1.2 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].
[shoplink 10884 ebay]90mm f/2.8 Hexanon (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink].

Voigtländer
[shoplink 10885 ebay]12mm f/5.6 Ultra Wide Heliar Aspherical II (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10886 ebay]15mm f/4.5 Super Wide Heliar II (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10887 ebay]21mm f/4 Color-Skopar P type (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10888 ebay]25mm f/4 Color-Skopar P type (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10889 ebay]28mm f/2.0 Ultron (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10890 ebay]35mm f/1.2 Aspherical Nokton (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10891 ebay]35mm f/1.4 Nokton classic (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10892 ebay]35mm f/2.5 Color-Skopar P type II (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10893 ebay]40mm f/1.4 Nokton classic (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10894 ebay]50mm f/2.0 collapsible Heliar (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10895 ebay]50mm f/1.1 Nokton (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]
[shoplink 10896 ebay]75mm f/1.8 Heliar (Click here to see price on eBay)[/shoplink]

Send me your stories at sonyalpharumors@gmail.com and I will post them! Thanks!

A note for all current “classic” Alpha camera user. I am not going to buy the A77 for one simple reason, because I want the A99 ;)

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Zeiss 24mm for NEX in Stock! Buy the lens and NEX-7 separately to get them first.

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To date some NEX-7 bodies has been shipped but it will take much longer if you are waiting to get the kit option (camera+lens). I have been told all kit options (with Zeiss or with the black 18-55mm lens) will be available much later. If you preordered the NEX-7 plus Zeiss 24mm lens kit I suggest you to buy the single camera and lens separately like I did!

The Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 is now in Stock at Amazon (Click here), Sonystore US (Click here), Amazon Deutschland (Click here), Amazon France (Click here), Amazon UK (Click here), Amazon Italy (Click here),

The NEX-7 isn’t in Stock right now but it keeps appearing in Stock sometimes at Adorama (Click here), BHphoto (Click here) and of course on [shoplink 10857 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink]. I got mine at Fotomundus but they haven’t any camera yet.

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What to expect from Sony in 2012. A rumor-speculation mix.

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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.

Which lens are you considering to buy?

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