Megapixel Wars

[skieur]

Interesting that in the point and shoot area the megapixel wars seem to be slowing down with some new cameras going for 10 megapixels and less noise while still others are heading for 14 megapixels. Since a lot of picture noise tends to be random, Sony is into blending shots taken at high speed called twilight mode to considerably reduce noise.

Rather surprising is the leak that the next Sony A950 and Sony A840 will be fullframe 32 megapixels, and yet still be in the same price range as the current A850 and A900.

Interesting too that HDR and multishot panoramas and stitching have become in camera features for Sony and 15 frames per second has become the speed to beat by the other two, now that Sony seems to have a faster processor.

It seems that they are planning to invade the digital medium format area as well with the Sony 1000 to compete with Red One.

Sony is certainly trying to appeal to every market as well as proving that they have the necessary money behind them to do so. It will be interesting to see what direction Canon and Nikon take in the competition for market share. The competition seems to bode well for photographers benefitting from better prices and more features.

skieur

 

[inTempus]

If Sony puts a medium format digital camera out, Nikon and Canon will have no choice but to respond.

I like that Sony is out there flooding the market with rapidly changing offerings with various different feature sets. It's something they do well... rapid firing products out there until something sticks. But when something does stick and it's different than what Nikon or Canon are offering, it will force them to take action and compete.

Competition is a great thing for consumers. Long live capitalism!

 

[Derrel]

Some interesting points you raise skieur. I have been watching the market and reading some of the forum chatter about Sony and their aggressive body pricing; Sony has been willing to push full-frame down-market, to WELL below Canon and Nikon's Full frame price points in the $2,700 range, selling the A850 currently at $1,999 in the USA. Sony has been pricing its cameras quite low, relative to the other makers, in an effort to gain market share, and that has hurt their profit margins I think.

Sony is making its own sensors, as well as selling the same sensors to Nikon and Pentax, so they gain economies of scale there, sensor wise. Still, Sony's market share is in grave danger from two companies: Panasonic and Olympus! The Japan market sales figures were rereleased recently, and the new electronic viewfinder interchangeable lens cameras aka EVIL cameras from Pany and Oly took around 11 percent of the Japanese domestic market sales, which was a major hit to Sony's market share as compared with 2008.

Luckily for consumers, Sony has deep pockets and they are trying to "buy" customers by under-pricing their cameras in relation to the Big Two. Some say this year Sony will do a bit more lens line-up filling out.

 

[skieur]

Apparently in March Sony will be coming out with the A750 which will be a full frame at 15 megapixels, burst speed of 15 frames per second and a cost of only $1,500.

Surprisingly enough they also put full HD video, stereo sound and fast autofocus on a point and shoot. It will be interesting to see if they start adding that to their DSLRs as well.

skieur

 

[Dao]

Apparently in March Sony will be coming out with the A750 which will be a full frame at 15 megapixels, burst speed of 15 frames per second and a cost of only $1,500.

Surprisingly enough they also put full HD video, stereo sound and fast autofocus on a point and shoot. It will be interesting to see if they start adding that to their DSLRs as well.

skieur

I wish Sony do the same thing with their Lens line up. Great optics with Great price.

 

[Sachphotography]

All the reviews I have read about the A900 have been good.... A 32mp camera....WOW...
Is there anybody on here with the A900? And 15 FPS sheesh... I was happy to move up to 8!!!

 

[skieur]

If Sony puts a medium format digital camera out, Nikon and Canon will have no choice but to respond.

Competition is a great thing for consumers. Long live capitalism!

It would certainly have an effect on photography if Sony brought medium format digital down to a price level within reach of some enthusiasts and pros with a limited budget and with competition from Nikon and Canon, it is not an impossible dream.

skieur

 

[Derrel]

Apparently in March Sony will be coming out with the A750 which will be a full frame at 15 megapixels, burst speed of 15 frames per second and a cost of only $1,500.

Surprisingly enough they also put full HD video, stereo sound and fast autofocus on a point and shoot. It will be interesting to see if they start adding that to their DSLRs as well.

skieur

I wish Sony do the same thing with their Lens line up. Great optics with Great price.

First off: WOW! 15Mp at 15 fps!? Just "wow" on that. That might be enough of a technical spec to get some people to take notice,and actually decide to buy a camera that offers that type of burst speed. Sports parents would be my first thought, but maybe others would fin the idea of 15 fps intriguing.

As far as the optics: I think Sony's prices with the Zeiss glass are simply too high to interest many hobbyists and or enthusiasts. While fine lenses I'm sure, the prices of their Zeiss-branded lenses are just too high, and the lens lineup has a lot of holes in it. Sony's current d-slr camera bodies are nicely engineered and feel solidly built for the most part, but the lens system is just not quite where I think it can exert leverage; Canon especially, and to a lesser extent Nikon, has more consumer-friendly lens pricing, and also both of those companies have low,mid, and high-end glass in plenty of models. Sony's system lacks what I would call "plain vanilla pro-grade lenses", like the Canon L series. The Zeiss lenses seem to have a super price premium placed on them, more so than Canon's L-lineup. I think it's inconsistent to have Zeiss-level lens pricing and think people who want to save $700 on a body will willingly pay $2,500 more for a complete lens kit.

 

[skieur]

As far as optics are concerned the line of Sony G lenses is their top line without going into Zeiss. They are well built with fast, silent autofocus, apparently faster (autofocus) than Nikon and Canon in normal light according to Popular Photography test labs. The popular Sigma 18mm to 50mm 2.8 and the Tamron 17mm to 50mm 2.8 as well as other lenses in both lines come in Sony versions too. Sony is also expanding their G line but as mentioned, it is nowhere near the number of Nikon or Canon lenses yet. For some photographers a Sony G telephoto, a Zeiss portrait lens like the 80mm f. 1.8 and a Sigma or Tamron 2,8 wide angle macro zoom would certainly cover a lot of the basic photo requirements and has the potential to produce great results with the right person behind the camera.

skieur

 

[DennyCrane]

I can guess that Sony can afford these price drops because they're notoriously guilty of price-fixing in other areas. Like the PS3 and PSP gaming rigs. They're the same price everywhere and the only one able to get any kind of price break is Walmart simply because of the promised volume of business. This has been a successful business model for Sony for ages and it gives them a margin that allows wiggle room in other areas... in this case, their camera line. It's a market they'd dearly love to dominate.

 

[epp_b]

Wow... full-frame for $1500? At that ptice, I'd be tempted to overlook my general hatred for Sony and buy one for that price if it were five megapixels.

Is there a big backcatalogue of good Minolta lenses?

 

[skieur]

I can guess that Sony can afford these price drops because they're notoriously guilty of price-fixing in other areas. Like the PS3 and PSP gaming rigs. They're the same price everywhere and the only one able to get any kind of price break is Walmart simply because of the promised volume of business. This has been a successful business model for Sony for ages and it gives them a margin that allows wiggle room in other areas... in this case, their camera line. It's a market they'd dearly love to dominate.

Well, they have not dominated in any other electronics area so far, that I am aware of, not televisions, not video cameras, not computers, not audio, etc., although I am not familiar with the games market. I think that Sony will be a strong number 3 grabbing some market share from Nikon and Canon in the full frame market, but I would be surprised if they ever totally dominated the camera area.

Sony does however have innovation going for them. The recent Sony point and shoot with built in GPS and compass information indicating where you shot the image and what direction you were facing, 10 frames per second, built in panorama shooting and stitching, built in HDR shooting and blending images, a 25mm to 250mm Sony G lens, WIFI connectivity, full HD video with stereo sound and fast autofocus, twilight mode blending of high speed shots to eliminate picture noise in extremely low light all done in camera with image stabilization of course.

skieur

 

[Derrel]

Wow... full-frame for $1500? At that ptice, I'd be tempted to overlook my general hatred for Sony and buy one for that price if it were five megapixels.

Is there a big backcatalogue of good Minolta lenses?

What???? I've read of your disdain for Sony products before, epp_b, but that attitude surprises me! There is a back catalog of Minolta A-mount AF lenses, including a few relatively unusual lenses, like their 400mm f/4.5, which was lightweight and SMALL for a 400, and a nice speed too. One thing I've read about is that the Minolta A-mount lenses, which were basically almost worthless for years, were suddenly snapped up once Minolta made its Maxxum 7D; what had been eBay bargains galore suddenly were snapped up by newcomers who wanted those used lenses. Minolta used to make a lovely 85mm 1.4 AF lens; Maxxum AF lenses date back to the late 1980's.

I looked at the A850 yesterday...I have to say, it feels and handles pretty good for a $2000 full-frame body. Its build quality feels significantly higher than the 5D series bodies,and the viewfinder system seems brighter and better to me as well. In-body stabilizer, pretty fast AF speed too...

 

[FrankLamont]

Canon might release a 1Ds Mark IV soon - especially with Feb 9 announcements. 32MP, apparently.

 

[skieur]

Canon might release a 1Ds Mark IV soon - especially with Feb 9 announcements. 32MP, apparently.

I would be surprised if the price came anywhere remotely close to the Sony 32mp full frames, but then the features will probably be different as well.

skieur