Sony downgraded to JUNK rating?

[unpopular]

^^ you must be like a billionaire.

Now, you are being silly, which is no surprise. Irrespective of what/if anything happens to the company, your Sony camera is useful until it becomes obsolete, like any other camera.

skieur

WTF are you going on about old man? I swear you're senile and not making any sense.

I am referring to Cosmos ability to obtain such a wide variety of relatively expensive gear. He seems to be able to pick up all the latest and greatest stuff. It's pretty impressive, really. He must either have some pretty good connections or he's pretty well off.

 

[unpopular]

oh - and btw skieur - so long as my camera meets my needs, it's not going to be "obsolete", this regardless of what ever toys and gadgets you drool over.

 

[cosmonaut]

^^ you must be like a billionaire.

Now, you are being silly, which is no surprise. Irrespective of what/if anything happens to the company, your Sony camera is useful until it becomes obsolete, like any other camera.

skieur

WTF are you going on about old man? I swear you're senile and not making any sense.

I am referring to Cosmos ability to obtain such a wide variety of relatively expensive gear. He seems to be able to pick up all the latest and greatest stuff. It's pretty impressive, really. He must either have some pretty good connections or he's pretty well off.

Years of hard work and long hours. Plus I don't keep cameras long. Well most of them anyway. I have kept the old M6 longer than any, 10 years i think. I also live a modest life style. Some of my friends have fancy Harley's, golf clubs, smart phones and cars. I am not into all of that.
i would imagine I will most likely sell or trade the D800 off soon.

 

[CP1]

Sony is going through a restructuring phase. They sold off one of their lens making factory (which is why many Sony lenses were discontinued over the past few months) and will continue to try to run "leaner". They also have made it very apparent that they will not be competing seriously in the upper pro sector of photography, focusing on their NEX line and RX-1. Sad, I'm a Sony shooter and I'm likely to go elsewhere now.

 

[cosmonaut]

Sony is going through a restructuring phase. They sold off one of their lens making factory (which is why many Sony lenses were discontinued over the past few months) and will continue to try to run "leaner". They also have made it very apparent that they will not be competing seriously in the upper pro sector of photography, focusing on their NEX line and RX-1. Sad, I'm a Sony shooter and I'm likely to go elsewhere now.

I never really thought they would ever try to knock Nikon or Canon off of the pedestal but I still enjoy using Sony cameras. I bought the D800 because I was almost certain Sony wouldn't put out another full frame until late 2013. But the a99 surprised me.
Guitars are the same. You got Fender, Gibson and then the rest. It's not to say other people don't make good products. If you just think about it there are really not that many bad cameras on the market. It just comes down to what bells and whistles you like.

 

[unpopular]

focusing on their NEX line and RX-1. Sad, I'm a Sony shooter and I'm likely to go elsewhere now.

I'd be OK if sony only produced NEX. Honestly, I think it has more potential than SLT. Fast AF is the only thing that needs to be addressed, and I think it can with hybrid phase detection sensors integrated into the imaging sensor. I'm inclined to also wonder if in the long run the idea of "focus" will be replaced by light fields and computational photography.

 

[CP1]

focusing on their NEX line and RX-1. Sad, I'm a Sony shooter and I'm likely to go elsewhere now.

I'd be OK if sony only produced NEX. Honestly, I think it has more potential than SLT. Fast AF is the only thing that needs to be addressed, and I think it can with hybrid phase detection sensors integrated into the imaging sensor. I'm inclined to also wonder if in the long run the idea of "focus" will be replaced by light fields and computational photography.

yeah, things like the Lytro lightfield camera might be hinting at the future of focusing...but that kind of stuff I think needs a lot of fine tuning still. Sony's SLT was a good idea but seems to suffer from noise problems when compared side by side to the competition. Overall they put out good stuff for consumers, but their financial issues and what happens over the next year will likely reinforce the direction they want to take but aren't willing to tell us.

 

[unpopular]

Sony has always had a difficulty with noise performance, it never really bothered me, I think when you get into the higher ISOs it's a matter of if it looks crappy or if it looks a little less crappy; high ISO never really interested me, and never did, not even when I was shooting film. But 1/3 stop less signal is what it is, and there is no way to get around this.

Lightfield has a LONG way to go yet, definitely. Perhaps even more than 10 years before it's viable as a professional option. But I do think in the long run it's going to be the solution.

Mirrorless also I think is going to be the way of the future, as sensor sizes inevitably increase, SLRs will become so bulky that they won't be appropriate for general photography and photojournalism. I expect we'll see more dynamic hybrid viewfinders.

 

[dxqcanada]

I hope Sony stays in business ... I don't want to go through another switch to a different lens mount.
I stayed with my Canon MF cameras/lenses through those decades while Nikonians tried to bash us.
Now I have switched over to the Maxxum/Sony and getting bashed by both (Pentax and Olympus shooters just watch from the sidelines).
I use what I got ... and my TLR's still seem like the best bet.

Some hope: (SR5) Complete change on the Sony Full Frame roadmap! | sonyalpharumors

 

[CP1]

I hope Sony stays in business ... I don't want to go through another switch to a different lens mount.
I stayed with my Canon MF cameras/lenses through those decades while Nikonians tried to bash us.
Now I have switched over to the Maxxum/Sony and getting bashed by both (Pentax and Olympus shooting just watch from the sidelines).
I use what I got ... and my TLR's still seem like the best bet.

Some hope: (SR5) Complete change on the Sony Full Frame roadmap! | sonyalpharumors

Yeah, that's an interesting roadmap. But there is more to address than just that. Like how Sony doesn't cooperate with software companies like Adobe to give profile support. It's a collective problem that just makes you scream "WHY!!!!!" lol. Really hope they don't keep their customer base waiting too long, some people just can't sit around forever...

 

[skieur]

^^ you must be like a billionaire.

Now, you are being silly, which is no surprise. Irrespective of what/if anything happens to the company, your Sony camera is useful until it becomes obsolete, like any other camera.

skieur

WTF are you going on about old man? I swear you're senile and not making any sense.

I am referring to Cosmos ability to obtain such a wide variety of relatively expensive gear. He seems to be able to pick up all the latest and greatest stuff. It's pretty impressive, really. He must either have some pretty good connections or he's pretty well off.

If you had been clear in the first place, you would NOT need to explain what you were referring to.

You are the one who is senile if you expect me to read your mind.:lmao:


skieur

 

[nycphotography]

OUCH. If I worked for Sony I think I'd be job hunting before the market is flooded. Too bad because they've really made some improvements in their DSLR's in the last couple years.

You mean Minolta's DSLR's? ;-)

FWIW, Sony lost it's way about 10 years ago... they've been trying to sell "apple type branded premium products" but they've failed to deliver on the upscale features or the upscale cool (or both) needed to support the higher prices and overcome their arrogant refusal to integrate with standard stuff.

It seems Apple out cooled them in computers, Panasonic ate their bread and butter lunch in video, samsung killed them in TV's, Xbox slaughtered playstation, the ipod killed the walkman, and the list goes on and on and on.

Too bad they weren't satisfied creating competitive technology that integrates with other stuff you may own and selling it at competitive prices.

As much as I find Sony products to be useless... I really do wish they could find their way and get back into the game (hopefully making more useful products in the process).

 

[nycphotography]

Too bad they can't stay in business just based on camera sales... right? They used to have a huge share of the TV market, and lost it due to bad decisions, and better products from the competition. Even with cameras, if they concentrate on the non-photographer market (as they seem to do)... that won't get them out of the red. They may sell a body.. maybe a kit lens, but those buyers won't buy much more. That is where the majority of the money is made... sells AFTER the body and kit lens, and that market won't provide those sales.

What about Canon, who sells a 5D here and there but then totally BANKS on the 10 million grandmas who buy Rebels and never remove the lens lol.

Canon has the market share to do that.. and the rep (as does Nikon). They are considered a real camera, by most people. Almost everyone knows Canon and Nikon... but there are a lot of people that don't even know Sony makes a DSLR. Or at least Canon and Nikon are the first names they think of when they think of a camera... not Sony. There again, market share, and the amount of time they have been around.

Your point above is also a reason I much prefer Nikon!

Sony is a arrogant company, as exemplified by making the mistake of buying their way into the SLR market (Minolta) they then throwing away the valuable brand they had just bought. So everyone who knows how great Minolta technology was will NEVER give that credit to Sony. wtf.

They should have branded them the Minolta Alpha, and made the Sony branding secondary but prominent. And KEPT the ROKKOR trademark on the lenses. I know hindsight is 20/20, but with where Sony was trying to go with the VIAO and their "I won't play nice with others" video cameras, I saw this one coming a mile away.

 

[Patriot]

Maybe it's just the Japanese culture. Too much pride to play with others that you see as beneath you in your eyes. If Sony gets rid of its' old leaders and replace them with younger adults that know the new world then maybe things will change. Sony still make great TVs IMO that are better than most. The price for them is what kills it. I have a 60'' Sharp but the 60'' Sony next to it looked much better. I hope Sony can recover from this, it's not good for a company like Microsoft to have no competition. Also as a PS3 owner I would be hurt to lost the system. The Xbox just doesn't do it for me. Microsoft doesn't seem to put much out there for their fans, Sony gave the PlayStation community so much already.

 

[digital flower]

It is still a huge company with the means to turn itself around if it wants to. I don't use their cameras but have owned some pretty solid a/v components from both Sony and Panasonic over the years. I love the Sony TV that I own now.

I think the Japanese economy has to turn around for them to be truly successful. I am pretty sure the downgrade dosen't mean bankruptcy it just means it will be harder/more expensive to raise capitol.