Sony A9 to be A-mount?

[shadowblade]

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/sr2-first-very-wild-rumors-abotu-the-april-23-products-a-mount-and-rx/

It's not a rumour from a known or reliable source, but, if true, this would probably rank among the dumbest things Sony has done.

Sony's success in digital photography doesn't rest with its A-mount, but with its E-mount. The full-frame A-mounts were not a success, especially among professional users - Sony just doesn't have the lens lineup to back it up, nor do they have the demonstrated long-term commitment to photography to persuade people to sell their Canon and Nikon systems to move to Sony. The E-mount, however, allows them to easily poach users from other systems - and, with the A7r especially (and, to a lesser extent, the A7s), they have done so even among professional shooters with significant investments in other systems.

A new, high-resolution, full-frame A-mount won't win over anyone, due to the requirement to invest in an entirely new lens system and due to the limited range of the lineup. A new E-mount would be much more likely to be a success and to cause Canon some pain, particularly with regards to sales of the 5Ds.

[Isaac]

Maybe this sentence will turn out to be significant -- "And E-mount stuff will be announced soon after in May!"

[shadowblade]

Maybe this sentence will turn out to be significant -- "And E-mount stuff will be announced soon after in May!"

I'd guess that'd be the A7rII, with the same 36MP sensor as the first version. It would be pretty unlikely for them to unveil a 36MP A7rII and 50MP E-mount A9 at the same time.

Sony should just consider A-mount dead and buried and concentrate on E-mount. An adapter exists for backward compatability, anyway.

[barryfitzgerald]

I'd guess that'd be the A7rII, with the same 36MP sensor as the first version. It would be pretty unlikely for them to unveil a 36MP A7rII and 50MP E-mount A9 at the same time.

Sony should just consider A-mount dead and buried and concentrate on E-mount. An adapter exists for backward compatability, anyway.

Sorry I can't agree the form factor is just too small handling suffers greatly as well as much reduced battery life. Only one E mount body has IBIS all A mount bodies do.
I've no interest in E mount the adapter is expensive and has limited AF abilities (ie it's dated) adds bulk and you'd need a few of them to run multiple bodies, the non screw driven body has horribly slow AF even with in lens motors it's a waste of time really.

The greatest strength of A mount is the vast collection of superior Minolta lenses around at bargain prices AF and stabilised all for peanuts E mount just can't offer that appeal. Also the optical compromises with native E mount lenses are significant vignetting and distortion are far bigger problems due to the short sensor to lens distance. The mount has been going 30 years it would be insanely stupid to abandon it. But Sony do need to put more effort into A mount E mount is a non starter for users such as myself it's just not attractive at all except the low priced A7 bashing around.

[BernardLanguillier]

The E-mount, however, allows them to easily poach users from other systems - and, with the A7r especially (and, to a lesser extent, the A7s), they have done so even among professional shooters with significant investments in other systems.

That's great for users, but terrible for Sony because the business model of interchangeable lens cameras is mostly to make money selling lenses...

Cheers,
Bernard

[telyt]

That's great for users, but terrible for Sony because the business model of interchangeable lens cameras is mostly to make money selling lenses...

Can't sell lenses if you don't get bodies into people's hands.  Compatibility with legacy lenses got many photographers into the Leica S system; once they have the body they can buy the lenses.  IMHO it's a good strategy for a new system.

[shadowblade]

Sorry I can't agree the form factor is just too small handling suffers greatly as well as much reduced battery life. Only one E mount body has IBIS all A mount bodies do.
I've no interest in E mount the adapter is expensive and has limited AF abilities (ie it's dated) adds bulk and you'd need a few of them to run multiple bodies, the non screw driven body has horribly slow AF even with in lens motors it's a waste of time really.

The greatest strength of A mount is the vast collection of superior Minolta lenses around at bargain prices AF and stabilised all for peanuts E mount just can't offer that appeal. Also the optical compromises with native E mount lenses are significant vignetting and distortion are far bigger problems due to the short sensor to lens distance. The mount has been going 30 years it would be insanely stupid to abandon it. But Sony do need to put more effort into A mount E mount is a non starter for users such as myself it's just not attractive at all except the low priced A7 bashing around.

I don't care about form factor in a slow-shooting landscape camera (and a 50MP camera can't be anything but that). Small is good, so that I can carry it long distances. It's not like I'm holding it up to my face anyway, and I'd be shooting it by remote release.

If it were to come in an SLR-sized model, it had better do double duty for wildlife, like the 5Ds and D810 can.

[shadowblade]

That's great for users, but terrible for Sony because the business model of interchangeable lens cameras is mostly to make money selling lenses...

Cheers,
Bernard

For Canon and Nikon, yes.

Sony's imaging division makes its money selling sensors and cameras, not lenses.

You can't sell lenses to people who don't buy your cameras in the first place. And forcing them to buy a whole new lens system from a half-baked lineup with many missing links is a great way to discourage people from buying your cameras.

[BernardLanguillier]

I agree that Sony found with the a7x series pretty much the only way to increase their marketshare, partialy thanks to the hesitations of Canon on the sensor side, but is it a money making strategy?

Cheers,
Bernard

[shadowblade]

I agree that Sony found with the a7x series pretty much the only way to increase their marketshare, partialy thanks to the hesitations of Canon on the sensor side, but is it a money making strategy?

Cheers,
Bernard

The A-mount certainly isn't.

Not only would Canon and Nikon users have to buy into a completely different and incompatible system, but E-mount users would have to do likewise. In short, it would be a huge disincentive to all potential users to switch.

Considering that the vast majority of Sony shooters use E-mount models (the NEX-series crop cameras and the A7 series) it would be a losing strategy.

Much better to abandon A-mount (keeping the A-to-E adapter for legacy lenses) and concentrate on E-mount, allowing the use of third-party lenses while slowly building up the lineup and quality of Sony-Zeiss lenses to match that of Canon and Nikon's professional lines.

[NancyP]

Well, I am going to be very curious about any upcoming A7r successor. This may seem naive, but it would be wonderful if Sony made E-to-Nikon and E-to-Canon adapters that had good communication with Canon and Nikon electronics, something better than the Metabones. I would like to have a high-resolution, high-dynamic-range option for my Canon kit.

[Telecaster]

Sony has the resources to continue their strategy of throw a bunch of s…tuff at the wall & see what sticks. If they think the A mount has life left in it they'll behave accordingly. We shall see…

I try not to get too worked up about what any brand does or doesn't do.

-Dave-

[BernardLanguillier]

Sony has the resources to continue their strategy of throw a bunch of s…tuff at the wall & see what sticks. If they think the A mount has life left in it they'll behave accordingly. We shall see…

As a happy customer owning 2 of their cameras and living litteraly  a few hundred meters away from one of their main research facilities in Tokyo, I only wish them well, but if you have been following a bit the business situation of the Sony group, you must be aware that their ability to invest in non immediately profitable business lines is now close to zero.

There are clearly encouraging signs compared to 3 years ago, mostly in the gaming and banking business, but the company is still a very sick giant. They may in fact have gone bankrupt by now without their financial activities which is IMHO not something a consumer electronic company must be very proud of.

Cheers,
Bernard

[Telecaster]

As a happy customer owning 2 of their cameras and living litteraly a few hundred meters away from one of their main research facilities in Tokyo, I only wish them well, but if you have been following a bit the business situation of the Sony group, you must be aware that their ability to invest in non immediately profitable business lines is now close to zero.

I have to admit I haven't paid much attention to Sony's numbers recently. I've judged them by their product lines & marketing behavior. If they are deep in it financially they'd surely be wise to do things differently. Of course this doesn't mean they are wise.

-Dave-

[ErikKaffehr]

Hi,

I am pretty sure that A9 will be FE-mount. It is very feasible that sony makes a high res A-mount but I would be pretty sure that camera would be called A99.

Sony would be crazy to release an A-mount camera that is "better" than the FE-series. FE-mount seems to be selling well and A-mount is marginal.

Best regards
Erik

[E.J. Peiker]

Remember that most "rumors" on that site are translated from Japanese to Italian to English by somebody that doesn't know Japanese and is somewhat marginal in English.  He uses Google Translate to translate from Japanese to Italian and then tries to turn it into regular Italian and then uses his school taught English supplemented with Google translate to go from Italian to English.  "Lost in Translation" comes to mind

I admire his patience and dedication to doing this but it is very common for things to get lost or mis-stated in that double translation.

[Isaac]

April 23 -- We'll know soon enough.

[barryfitzgerald]

The A-mount certainly isn't.

Not only would Canon and Nikon users have to buy into a completely different and incompatible system, but E-mount users would have to do likewise. In short, it would be a huge disincentive to all potential users to switch.

Considering that the vast majority of Sony shooters use E-mount models (the NEX-series crop cameras and the A7 series) it would be a losing strategy.

Much better to abandon A-mount (keeping the A-to-E adapter for legacy lenses) and concentrate on E-mount, allowing the use of third-party lenses while slowly building up the lineup and quality of Sony-Zeiss lenses to match that of Canon and Nikon's professional lines.

I've no data to know what's shifting or not but I suspect that the post earlier is correct E mount is doing pretty well with bodies, but lenses really they're badly priced most of them and I see DSLR users picking up a body to use with an adapter not investing heavily in the system. If Sony did drop A mount I would not throw money at E mount I'd abandon it entirely I'm not alone in that thinking either the adapter route is not really a satisfactory solution for some users. E mount does not offer what I'm looking for at all

Dumping a 30 year mount will do untold damage to Sony as well as alienate many customer it would not be in their interests to do so. Sony's inability to tackle the Canikon dominance is their own fault they had a wonderful opportunity but didn't invest enough in IBIS and the potential cost savings on lenses with that. E mount won't be any different it's not going to wipe out the top 2 makers either. A lot of users won't even consider E mount no matter how many lenses they have and so far a lot of them have been horribly priced and not as good optically as you might expect. It's very naive to think that shifting strategies all the time works it just doesn't Canon are so heavily entrenched it's near impossible to move them esp from the pro market that's not going to change either. The E mount flurry will fade away and it will be another third placed system something A mount is already at right now.

The growth is simply not there. Dumping A mount won't help Sony bar annoy some long term users who will never trust the company ever again. Even observers will be very cautious about investing in their products Olympus moved from OM mount and the effects of that are still felt today some users won't entertain the company at all based on that alone, then the dumping of 4/3 for micro 4/3 did even more damage. Changing mounts is commercial disaster in big letters users hate it and there really is no need.

[Scotty-S]

I personally hope it's an A Mount body.  I have been waiting for this camera.

I have both a Pentax 645z system and a Sony Nex6 system and the Nex is hard to use in the cold due to the small buttons etc and I see the A7 series as no different.

However I love the EVF and in body IS and loved the A99 but never bought one.

Don't forget also that Sony announced that they are updating the A mount 16-35/2.8 and 24/70/2.8 so I would say that they are on the horizon now as is a new A mount.

Sony has all the lenses up to 500/4 and 70-400, with the exception of TS lenses they are most certainly a choice for any Canon/Nikon user. 

I was waiting for the 5ds to come out and now that it is, I will be investing in Sony A mount instead as it offers what I want that the others don't, Sony just get it, especially in their camera bodies.

Scott

[BJL]

Sorry I can't agree the form factor is just too small ...

I feel you pain about potentially orphaned SLR lenses, since most of my best and most expensive lenses are Four Thirds SLR lenses, now reduced to manual focus only on my EM5, but nothing about a mirrorless system or a shallower lens mount _forces_ the body to be smaller; it just opens up that possibility, and a lot of customers seem to like it that way.

Right now, my ideal is downsizing in most places, but having a deep hand-grip with room for lots of controls and to hold a nice big battery, and to help when carrying the camera with a long lens attatched.  Accessory grips, with or without room for extra batteries, are one possible compromise.