...One thing I find interesting is nearly all of these discussions turn into model/brand comparisons. I guess I’m doing the same thing because even though prior to buying a a7s mark II, I looked at sample files and they were clean to very high iso.
Maybe it’s my version, but I can’t see it and even at 800 iso it gets ragged, in fact just a quick street test in London using practical lights at night, I could see very little if any difference between the Sony and the little 4/3 olympus em-5 mark I at 800 iso set to stills. That surprised me given the difference in sensor dimensions.
When strapped into a test stand the SONY performs. In real life a different story...
Now where have we heard that before (emissions tests)...
What does surprise me is the limitations makers put upon themselves. Obviously they are targeting a market and want to protect their up market products, but some things are perplexing and in Canon’s case they seem to artificially limit their cameras though their pricing is high next to the competition. I don’t expect them to sell an Arri quality camera with Leica level lenses for a few thousand, but just averaging it Canon is about 20 to 30% higher than Sony and some other brands.
I agree, certain brands and photo gear in particular appears to have high margins....
I think there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes between manufacturers than we know. Nikon is a good example. They have no line of expensive cameras - combo still/motion, or video cameras to protect and could rock it out with a camera that offered dual pixel autofocus, real xlr inputs, etc. It seems like Nikon gets the previous round of sensors about the time Sony announces new ones, but that’s just a guess, though I wonder what the Nikon/Sony contract is.
Theory on the D850 is that Nikon are using a towerjazz panasonic sensor made in Japan...
My understanding regards SONY is the old sensors like in the D810 can be used because they are a pure sensor. The rumor mill suggests SONY do not sell their new stacked sensors where SONY developed the back end of that sensor stack. If SONY are just trying to delay sale of the full stack to the likes of Nikon to get some market advantage then that would explain why Nikon may have gone to towerjazz panasonic....
Nikon are also working on quad split pixels for AF and layer colour masks for better colour in patents, so they could easily match Canon on sensor AF and better SONY on colour and possibly DR...
Like all technology, until made available and fully tested in the field we will have to wait and see...