8/31/11
It’s been a while since I had a random thought or two, so here goes:
Now that the new Sony product hoopla has faded, I have time to reflect on some of the more important things that were announced, and some mysteriously missing products.
We now know where the center of the universe is for Sony’s camera division; the NEX system. Both the NEX-C3 and NEX-5N are getting rave reviews, (even your friendly host is a wee bit excited by the NEX-5N), while the A77 luster seems to have taken a beating, especially if you read the whole review (and in between—image crops) by Imaging-resource, and others. Am I going to buy one? Not sure at this point, but the A900 keeps looking better and better as it gets older!! I bought the A900 on the first day of issue, and my prediction that it would still be considered top-line after five years of service seems like an understatement now. Could we be talking six or seven years?
The little A35 is looking very good so far, I actually find it more user friendly than the A580, although I do miss the tilt-out screen immensely. The A35 is turning out to be a perfect walk-around and vacation camera, and also as a back-up. Image quality and ISO are great, check out my last post.
Noticeably absent from last weeks announcements are new full frame lenses. Where are the long awaited 70-200 F/4, 300mm F/4, 16-35mm F/4, 200mm F/4 or F/2.8 lenses for people that don’t have a boat load of money? I guess Sony figures if you want one of those you can buy a 20 year old Minolta lens on eBay. I’m still disappointed in Sony’s lack of FF lens offerings, although I will say they have a decent selection.
MIA; remember the Sony 500mm F/4 G lens, yes, the faux super-telephoto they’ve been bragging up for a couple of years now, well, it’s nowhere to be found amongst last weeks releases, however, there is talk that a Girl Friday at Sony’s HQ is using it as a cigarette urn/paper weight, so not all is lost.
So that’s it for now, September is here…already? Stay tuned for more updates to the A35 review.