september, the 12th. wednesday. new product announcement day of apple, err sony. how shall one think about the event, the vast number of add-on discussions and the announced products itself?
well, the huge excitement of the masses is no accident and definitely part of a well planned sales strategy. the announcement date shortly before the
photokina as well as the associated proceedings form a coherent circle. all the
rumors that went public during the last weeks were preplanned leaks and not more than feeding for the (very) interested people. special campaigns like
luca rossini's adventure to alaska that was sponsored by sony itself and used for shooting a promotion video about the brandnew sony nex 6 show the enthusiasts that also their works are observed, principally simply everybody is able to reach the masses. such campaigns motivate the enthusiasts to make their works still more public in the future and contribute to sony's great products. additionally all the already prepared reviews, that are mushrooming up at the moment, shall immediately put the new gadgets in place on the market.
but mind, these facts affect an almost negligible number of prospects. i'm referring to a small number of internet affine photographers whose opinions are of course very important for a brand like sony while launching new products: without any further effort by sony they act as remote-controlled multipliers. photographers like steve huff are the best salesmen ever, because they convince - no, they have already convinced - the enthusiast amateurs and they again convince the main part of the prospects, the main target audience, by pushing the products in the charts, by reviewing and by also retelling the shiny image of the new must-haves. i'm spotting a perfect textbook pyramid scheme that is currently brought up by sony. so much for marketing theory, but which information can we derive from these quite ordinary processes?
in my opinion first and foremost there is the right to exist for every new (nex) camera body. believe me, they all, the f3, 5r, 6, 7 and maybe also a fullframe option will sell like hot cakes. for each of them there is a market that only has to be developed. additionally the development effort for sony to modify an existing model to a new, modest one is manageable and definitely worth the try. all the models use the same software kernel, what simplifies the statement of the problem many times over. and the hardware section is structured modularised for sure. at the moment the market of very capable and small mirrorless cameras is still desaturated and as a company like sony you have to try to reach every corner of it. so in place of sony i also wouldn't be above launching so many bodies like a few clever clogs are.
let's get around to the several announcements:
i'll pass the a99 plus the new a-mount lenses because i'm not up to date in this sector.
like many others have already said the announced rx1 is a first try to make a market for a fullframe compact. like fuji had done with the x100 and the x-pro1 and aps-c sensors sony will (maybe) do with the rx1 and a nex fullframe option: if the fixed-lens camera sells well and the people request for a changeable lens model sony will deliver. at the latest next year.
the nex 6 seems to be the better nex 7 for low light situations. an improved autofocus system, the less mp sensor, app support and the wifi feature form a good and capable package. solely the pasm dial distracts me, it isn't suitable for an enthusiast dslr replacement.
the very compact 16-50 f3.5-5.6, stabilised, retractable powerzoom (kit) lens will be by far the most sold lens in the future. it compensates the biggest contradiction in the whole nex system till now: besides the sel 16 f2.8 there wasn't any really pocketable (sony) lens - nex combination. till today. if the iq of the lens is more than average maybe also some actually fixed focal length lenses using photographers are going to buy this tiny little zoom lens.
the 35 f1.8 is the long-awaited standard lens for the nex system. stabilised, relative compact and lightweight and with a bright maximum aperture of f1.8 it is a must-have lens for everybody who hasn't covered this focal length yet. and if it is only almost as good as the 50 f1.8 it will also sell like hot cakes.
when the 35 f1.8 is the long-awaited standard lens, the 10-18 f4 must be the longest-awaited lens for the entire nex system. the sole wide angle option so far, the sel 16 f2.8, could never satisfy the high standards of the community, especially mounted to the nex 7 and its incredible 24mp sensor. i'm pretty sure that sony has developed a great ultra wide angle zoom with good iq. the killer feature stabilisation is much more than only a compensation for the maximum aperture of "only" f4, it gives you an equivalent of a non stabilised uwa lens with f2. thereby at 10mm shutter speeds of 1/4 or maybe even 1/2 could be possible with a steady hand! i'm beginning to save up money for the 10-18 f4 quite now.
some minor criticism at the sidelines: in my opinion all the nex owners may calculate on firmware updates for one big reason: firstly also sony should have recognised that their update policy is far below the policies of their competitors. although there aren't huge bugs in the firmware of the nex 5 and 7, an update especially regarding the autofocus system, auto bracketing and a few points more would be more than appropriate. again fuji has already shown how to do it. we are waiting! the product lifecycle has not ended with delivering an item!
probably in today's posting there are far too many technical points for the most of my readers and highly probable i'll never write that much text about equipment anymore, but today it was definitely apposite. i for one will keep my beloved nex 7, turn my back on the 35 f1.8 for now (because of the sigma 30 f2.8) and go for the 10-18 f4. and yes, i will be still focused on the images.
please feel free to comment my posting with your thoughts.
so let's finally come up to the daily pic, that i've shot besides the reading of plenty of websites of (useless) technical information today, of course (time that i could have used for shooting and improving my skills...):
unfortunately the poor sideshow bob is trapped in the jungle of nex equipment. nex here, nex there. he's a bit confused. what should he do? should he follow the people who stay on discussions about equipment? i think we have already helped and furnished him a fit occasion.
thx for reading and cu, trshptr
btw: furthermore as you may have recognised, a minor update of the blog layout took place, too. i hope the current rendering pleases.
