In case you missed it on top you can watch the full CameraDiner Interview with Sony UK manager Joe Asai. Some of the SonyAlphaRumors readers question have been answered during the show!
*Please also check your spam folder if you don't get the confirmation mail. And mark the mail as "non-spam" to see the future newsletter.
112 Responses
Thanks
More misinformation about the the old iISO hotshoe, to provide false support for the new shoe, a really bad joke. The only thing to laugh at is Sony’s arrogance.
I thought it funny that the Sony Rep stated reason for shoe change was because users asked for it. No one asked to trade 25 years of hard earned iISO compatibility and 3rd party support abandoned in favor of a shoe which nothing but Sony works with.
Surprised that Genge actually said “nothing fit the iISO”… I hoped he, of all people, would know better, especially after he just bagged on the XLR adapter design for VG cameras… as much as I respect the work he’s trying to do, it’s the biggest misinformation act there is. Tons of stuff available for iISO right now, smart stuff with full HSS and TTL. Now adapters are needed to make it all work half assed on new shoe, and not fully compatible even then. It’s like 1995 all over again.
There are dozens of 3rd party accessories for older iISO… flash options, radio slaves both dumb and smart, with full ttl and HSS (Phottix Odin and Pixel King). Just when Sony flash is lacking nothing, and gains vast 3rd party support… they kill it dead with a new shoe. They ruined the flash system in order to provide a microphone… which should have just plugged into the side since it requires a bracket anyway.
Just search Dyxum… Here’s the latest problem with F60M foot falling off.
http://www.dyxum.com/DFORUM/hvlf60m-broken-hotshoe-lock_topic96257.html
Others, like me, have iISO systems built, which require adapter for new shoe. But the adapter doesn’t have locking pins, so it’s a loose fit that threatens stability and raises balance point uncomfortably high… just like the old adapters to iISO. The new shoe, for some reason, causes a considerable delay in wireless flash. Look for Gary Friedman video on Wireless flash delay to compare new to old. Can’t shoot kids, fashion, sports with that kind of delay. But luckily, the radio slaves above seem to solve the problem.
Nissan flash isn’t supporting Sony MIS on their newest pro units. No sign of any 3rd party support for anything. Why would they? Sony just screwed their R&D efforts to make compatible with iISO. It’s just a joke what Sony’s done to the flash system. A very bad joke… because still, all the ignorant reviewers claim the reason for change was because nothing fit iISO… That’s a LIE. Fact is, nothing fits new shoe… even reporting problems with standard old one pin Pocket Wizard slaves not fitting correctly because of the front pins blocking full insertion.
Just browse Dyxum lighting forum for real user reports.
If you want working iISO, compatible with vast selection of accessories from the last 25 years… Gonna have to get a Hasselblad Luna. Now ain’t that ironic.
+1000 … Behind you on every word on this one… Sony will do anything to get you to “invest” (Spend) more with their company… They did it with the flash mount and it looks like the Alpha Mount is next… I guess they dont want you using your minolta (most of the time better) glass anymore.. they want you to “Invest” (Spend more) on a whole new system (Nex)… But its not going to work wih me… I dint buy the a99, I dint buy the new flash with its “new” mount (and its problems) and I wont buy into the FF Nex system… I also wont buy these cheaply made bodies yearly that are more like a firmware update than a real reason to upgrade…SONY NEEDS TO WAKE UP AND STICK TO A PLAN THAT BENEFITS THE USERS EXPERIENCE, QUALITY, AND BRAND LOYALTY, NOT JUST THEIR BOTTOM LINE…
And to show you how serious I am about how disapointed I am in Sony right now… I just purchased 2 N-Word lenses with the instant rebate they have going right now (the 50 1.4G and the 85 1.8G) Until March 31st…And I dont even have a N-Word Body (Yet)…
Getting ready for the D800 I guess?
Maybe… If it has a flip screen I would have already had one. I would really like it if (N-Word) would come out with one of their better bodies with a flip screen LCD… I am 6’5″ and when I shoot a model using the view finder it looks like I am standing on a latter or something so I actually use live view quite a bit while standing… I like to pull the camera down to my chest area and flip the screen up and look down to the screen that is flipped up compose the shot… Its a lot easier than squatting for every shot… I also like to hold the camera high or low to get different angles than a lot of fashion photographers who don’t take their camera off of their tripod, lol.
I was hoping the d7100 would have had a flip screen because other than that I am really impressed but I do think it leaves room for the very wanted d400… I am hoping that the (N-Word) d400 comes out near or at the same time the (C-Word) 7D Mark II does and includes a flip screen LCD… Maybe even a d800X, D600X, or D7100X with one… I sold my a77 and 3 Sony lenses but I still have my a580 and all of my Minolta glass so I am going to hold out on which (N-Word) body I get and hopefully one of these higher end bodies will end up with a flip screen LCD… If I have to wait too long I may just end up getting the d5200 to hold me over until they release a better model with flip screen… And like I said before I sold an a77 so even a d5200 would be a major IQ upgrade anyway…
6’5″? Wow! Somehow that doesn’t come across in your comments. Sony should pay you to walk around large crowds and shoot with their cameras. They won’t do that with me.
The D5200 could be a major IQ upgrade if you can live with the horrible banding (both in still and video).
See SLRClub samples. They have better fixed that for the D7100.
Heck.. Sony should just pay me to tell them what you guys (And Me) want and need in a camera system, Cause they obviously aren’t reading it here for themselves…
Agreed 10000% with you.
Sony just screwed us over by switching the flash shoe to the damn ISO shoe, (which it isn’t even ISO) just to please a video crowd that won’t even consider Sony DSLTs for video anyway, if the A99 is still being critiqued for its video, why would a working pro use a A58 for video?
Sony really believes that people will spend 600 dollars to buy the F60AM to light their videos. Who the hell is going to do that when there better and cheaper alternatives out there?
It took so long for third party companies to accept and provide accesories for the iISO shoe after a long time, and now Sony throws that out the door to provide a show that is not standard and it doesn’t work properly with the accesories available for the real standard shoe!!!
Way to go, Sony!! No wonder why you’re going bankrupt and had to play Monopoly by selling your buildings in order to make money…
This dumb move along with the ridiculous lens pricing policy is what is going to kill you among photographers. Not only do you make lenses very hard or impossible to acquire, now bodies have a big con against them that will make me think twice before I buy a new one.
I’m not going to please Sony and make the switch. I’ll keep buying F58 and 43 flashes, I hope they do get the damn idea and some sense into them before it’s too late.
If I had wanted a damn ISO hotshoe since the beginning, I would have gone Nikon.
Hell, they have an ISO hotshoe and they offer all their video accesories to be plugged on the side using a bracket!!!!
Get a damn grip, Sony and bring the Minolta shoe back!!!
Your contributions are worth hearing FreeRad. Excellent observations that are important to Sony customers… the real ones who can evangelize best for the brand, or turn it on its head like Sony does.
Improve iISO. Don’t abandon it, and the users who invest in it.
For CTphotographerX… really? What a long winded post. As soon as I saw it, I was like, “WTF!” Get a life you dork.
Not very informative.
Unfortunately yes – I’ve waited the whole time for Paul Genge accidentally smashing the RX100 from the table 🙁
Anyone that already has iISO smart radio slaves will be disappointed to learn that new F60M requires adapters (making the adapter issue exponentially worse than ever with iISO)… and with those adapters, the flash sits higher, risking fit into softbox investment.
We didn’t want iISO abandoned. We wanted it improved. All the little front pins could have been added to iISO, without KILLING everyone’s flash system dead. Stuff like XLR (which Sony rep didn’t even understand what it was), should have been a plug on the side. It requires a bracket anyway.
EVF for RX1 doesn’t have locking pins? How much does that plastic TV cost? Yet the thumb grip does have locking pins, but no smart pass through for EVF atop it? How much does that metal thumb grip cost?
Off with the heads of Sony flash design team.
I spotted the XLR gaff, that was an embarrassment.
CTphotogerapherX = waste of time reading drivel.
Kudos to Genge for addressing the plastic lens mount of a58. Didn’t press very hard Paul, but thanks for addressing it. Sony rep did a nice dance, doing everything possible not to say “We needed to cut costs”… he really hated having to say the word “plastic”… always prefacing it with “reinforced”. M’kay.
Yet Chinese Alpha mount lens adapters can be had for $10… all metal. If outer materials are cost cutting plastic, then what’s on the inside?
Bingo. If they’re despairate enough to make the friggin mount plastic to cut costs, then you have to believe there’s all kinds of stuff inside that are cheapened. Tin connections/circuit leads instead of gold plated…plastic frame…who knows what else. I wouldnt buy an A58.
But hey, Kudos to Sony for finally making a wired remote. Boy did you guys hate me a year ago for requesting it. Looks like a nice one for price. Interesting it was announced same time Nikon announced their wireless remote, albeit at ten times the price.
The new lenses are great. Bravo all around. And I must admit, that NEX3 looks fabulous with new compact zoom. Way to go Sony!
Are any of their other episodes any good? That one had me not wanting to ever watch again… Although that admittedly might not the best episode to go off of. I think the Sony rep was far too nervous. Not his fault, everybody has different levels of tolerance for that kind of thing( I would be no better.) They only made a joke about it, but he really should have been drinking, I think it would have loosened him up a bit.
This one is quite weak IMHO – other are by far more interesting (eg. Guest actually knows what he is talking about). Oh, and since today there are 3 special episodes, one each day, about focus on imaging. Can’t wait for it!
You’d think that a senior manager in a corporate company could cope with a video interview when the presenter was a mate of his!
I loved the iISO hotshoe. Much better design than the 100 year old design everyone else uses. Quick to put on or take off a flash. Flash doesn’t fall off. But Sony had no choice but to change it because reviewers and those who have never used it see it as a problem with Sony cameras. I would stop buying Sony because of the change to the “standard” hotshoe, but everyone else uses it so there is no alternative.
Anyone else think way too much time was spent on lens hoods in that video? Who cares! Very little useful information in that video. You learn more from a Sony commercial.
“… because reviewers that never used it see it as a problem…” Yeah… and users who believe them reinforce the lie and complain to Sony about it. Shooting themselves in the foot so to speak.
Yeah… He had to say “plastic” again, when talking about the lens hood. Come on Sony… it’s a real expensive lens. Do all ZA’s have metal hoods, or just the screw drive models?
CTphotographerX is a BLOG HOG!!!!
Like I said in another post, this was less an interview an more of an hour infomercial for sony. The interviewer would only ask softball questions and start every sentence with a praise to the sony systems. I wonder if thats why the Sony management guys never fix anything? no one ever asks them hard questions or tell them what they’re doing wrong.
+1 I’m not sure this guy is responsible of anything. He look more lost, and was impatient that the show end.
And no answer to our question…
Well Paul previously had that guys job, so he knows he can’t get answers to the tough questions and he’ll also know that the guy hasn’t got any power to do anything in Sony either. They’ll have chatted privately about the SAR comments I think. 😉
Frank, just to let you know, Joe did not replace Paul as product manager for alpha and NEX at Sony.
Paul was Technical Marketing Manager, the main expert on everything photographic, not the numbers and the guy responsible.
Paul was Category Development Manager, he used to be a Product Manager too. Regardless of title, it’s the same job.
he still doesnt explain why thy degraded the 12fps of sony a57 to 8fps of a58. And i really dnt want to hear its because of the 20mp sensor because every1 should know the sony nex6/nex7/a77/ etc has a bigger sensor and 10+fps, and there are super high speed memory cards available
sry not nex6- correction
The a58 is clearly the upgrade to the a37 and NOT the a57, so not sure why everyone is comparing it to the a57.
The entry will be 5-series, step-up 6-series, flagship APS-C 7-series and keep 8&9-series for full frame.
How about the overlooked 50 1.4 zeiss with a plastic lens hood & no felt lining. For £1400, I would expect these additional features!
What’s the problem 😕 Most 50mm lenses have round lens hoods.
I have “plastic” lens hood in most lenses, e.g. in Zeiss 24/2, 16-35 and 24-70 lenses, use them often in rough conditions, those plastic hoods work in bag as additional shield and softener when turned. I prefer those plastic lens hoods compared to metal hoods!
I have 1635ZA & 2470ZA, these hoods are metal. seems only 24/2 ZA hood is made by plastic so far (not sure 50ZA and future).
Just wait till your lens with metal hood falls down on a floor. I had Zeiss 50 f/1.4 ZF with metal hood – had. Got broken after falling on a hood. With plastic one there’s no problem: hood breaks, but lens is intact.
that sony sales rep is pathetic. the host guy is doing most of his job for him (quite unprofessional!) and all the sales rep has to say is ‘yep’. btw, the sales’rep language skills is so limited, one wonders why sony ever sent him to represent such complex company products. talk about amateur hour at the big top!
+1
The host guy was Sony UK’s product manager before he, erm, let’s say, “left” Sony UK.
Shame that Sony didn’t see the value of Paul, but then it explains why they are going down the crapper, letting their ex-Konica Minolta PHOTOGRAPHERS go like Paul is a huge mistake. They get replaced by guys like that one in the video…
Just read this article (http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/paul-genge-leaves-sony-and-starts-new-website-sony-a99-developer-team-interview-at-sony-japan/) and the picture is starting to fall into place.
It seems to me like Paul knew and understood quite a bit more than the corporation wants. It seems to me like the kind of knowledgeable rep that is able to make the connection (empathize) between the people that use the product and the product maker, even if this means criticism for the product maker. As any corporation, it seems sony does not enjoy that; they like to have half-wit ‘yup’ soulless drones that do whatever they are told. Can it be a coincidence the yup drone is a sony homeland native? I suspect not. Individuality and personality is not a strong point of rising sun natives.
There is no emotion or enthusiasm for the product coming from the yup drone. The whole dialogue is so dehumanized it actually scares me, to be honest. Are these the humanoids making these products? The fact that Paul overcompensates for the lack of humanity of his interlocutor only makes the issue more apparent. The real horror is that all corporations hire, grow and desire yup-humanoids; empathy and the human bond is being crushed.
Paul is an OK guy, while in the job he couldn’t say too much obviously, but he appeared to be the sort that would at least listen if nothing else.
I have no doubt that the constructive criticisms and suggestions from Internet forums have been passed back to Japan by him. I also have no doubt they have been ignored in favour of what Sony Japan thinks photographers want, gimmicks and video. It’s why they get it wrong every single time.
Welcome to the all encompassing Corporate way… Its all about the bottom line… Look what Americas so called ‘Food companies’ are putting in our food… Its killing us… So a big corporation like Sony would have NO issue selling you plastic lens mounts, changing flash mounts, changing lens mounts, changing business plans, overcharging, no real firmware updates, etc. etc. etc…
Food corporations are pure evil, no kidding. If you trace it down, they are all controlled by a small group of people that have no interest in health for the masses. Just look at the Codex Alimentarius implemented by these corporations, it is the blue print for population control and mass extinction.
Yup, they love distributing GMO’s and other crap… Sorry to get off of topic but I worry about the health of our people…A good site for keeping up on stuff like that is naturalnews.com If you or your kids eat ccereals such as Frosted Flakes, Please do some research….
From my perspective, Paul did a great job as he was Sony. Gave me confidence that Sony will continue what they have started with the a900 — building great cameras for PHOTOGRAPHERS.
Interesting was Paul’s cameradiner show for the Photokina 2012: I had the impression that Paul explained the cool new stuff from Sony himself, while the rest (like the a99), he let the Sony guy explain, while Paul was standing bored beside…..
TO be honest I thought this was a joke! The Sony rep was terrible … just terrible. His incompetence will definately make me think twice before I ever make another Sony purchase. His product knowledge was lacking.
There was no substantive information provided here – just window dressing. No inspiration either.
I really feel Sony has treated it’s customers with contempt by sending this buffoon to a job like this.
Very, very disappointing job by SOny.
If I never heard of or saw the a58 in my life before I went on live I could have done a better job on product information and got the viewers more excited about this camera than that guy did… lol
I could have said something like…
“Here is Sony’s newest firmware update called the a58… We know the body and flash mount is actually going in reverse from all previous models we have ever produced… But Hey, it has more MP’s… And that alone is a reason to buy it… Right?”…
+10
I had tears in my eyes. But not from laughing…
I simply lost my confidence in Sony.
Not very useful no serious questions asked nothing about prices or DSLR’s (or lack of) and I think it was only product demo and not a lot more. The nonsense about users asking for a hot shoe change is just that, nonsense few A mount users would support that idea.
The Sony guy looked out of his depth, did not have a good knowledge of the products, had no sense of humour and possibly had issues with English.
This is Sony all over, people in charge who don’t have the experience or expertise to deliver products that people want. I suspect the people who actually make the choices are just as ill equipped to do so. As a video interview it’s a 3/10 really mostly a waste of time.
I think you should read some of A99 reviews. For me it seems like everybody besides Sony users actually appriciate the change and find it benefitial.
I don’t know how can you praise the downgrade… It’s like suddenly Sony would release camera with no live view and everyone would give it a positive response… woot?!
Sony could easily have released an A700 MkII and A900 MkII with video and live view (and focus peaking in live view)
They didn’t that’s their mistake
The new hot shoe is a waste of time, the A99 is irrelevant to the market as it’s so much more expensive than rivals (when it should actually be cheaper!) Again that’s Sony’s blunder, and boy they have a great track record of making goofs.
The people asking for the shoe change are people who have never used iSIO. They are also the people who don’t use any Sony dSLR anyway…
Aint that the truth….
Yes, like me who bought an A850 and don’t have any flash with iISO mount, but 1 Nikon flash. To use the flash unit, I use adapter which I have no complaint. Appreciate what Sony has done with their flash mount.
Your decision to cripple yourself by using a Nikon flash adapted to Sony iISO has little to do with your fellow Sony users who just lost their entire smart TTL/HSS flash investment, and are left out of any resources to replace it with any alternative. The goal here is to advance without compromise, and thereby service our clients better. There is no glory to hack’n’stack workarounds that don’t work as promised.
Paul Genge calls the new Zeiss 50 “affordable.” He’s living in an alternative universe!
If you are making money out of it, it is.
Have I mentioned how much I hate the new Multi Interface Shoe?
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/50194056
Cheers,
I just updated some comments there. Only now, after months of real world use, are the fans of this new shoe design finally understanding the dire pitfalls of it. Can’t believe that ignorance was the driving force for this change. Makes me puke sick.
We need to keep pressing on this whenever, wherever we can. I’m personally not letting Sony go on this one. It goes far beyond me, as one photographer (30+ year professional strobist), whining about losing his flash investment. Changes such as this illustrate the disconnectedness that Sony has with their best professional evangelists… those who are in the wild promoting the brand beyond any campaign could offer.
I’m not shutting up about it until at least one 3rd party offering risks development for new shoe. Better yet, our discontented voices are becoming more unified now, and with a little care, could reach a tipping point to FORCE Sony to wake up and fix this disaster touted as “progress”.
+1
Sony just pissing their valued costumer only for 1, 2 or more than that new user from another brands.
Who they will end up losing anyway after discovering they bought a system that doesn’t have a flash system… used to, but now they need adapters that don’t work good enough for pro use.
BLOG HOG!
This is setup more like an infomercial than an actual review/interview.. meh..
Just new shoe is another example of Sony shooting itself in the foot as a stills camera.
If Sony would have released a complete flash solution and refreshed all of the on camera flashes I would have not been critical, but the truth is that this is not about stills camera lighting it’s about video and accessories to enhance the camera as a video capturing device.
This Zeiss lens shows you how easily people are brainwashed…. one person says its “affordable” and others believe it…
If you put this expensive Zeiss lens on an A99 it would still have worse final image quality than the same sensor (N-Word) D600 with the under-performing ‘Kit Lens’ 24-85mm !!! That a lot of people got FREE when they purchased their D600 during the special (N-Word) had going a while back!!! And you call that a good deal?… WHAT IS THE POINT OF PAYING THIS MUCH FOR A LENS TO HAVE WORSE FINAL IQ???
And… They release an expensive lens like this just as they are showing that they don’t really seem to care about the (ff) Alpha mount anymore??? How many “Blunders” Sony, How many??
Mr Lee. The D600 with kit lens will NOT provide better IQ than a99 with ZA50/1.4. Please keep an honest perspective, to prevent your comments from being waved away as bullying. And you know there are more considerations to compare D600 to a99… otherwise you’d have made the change already.
If you read above you will see I have already made the change…
My wallet can’t afford to believe it. Hahahaha.
You said as if the 50 za was already out there and you tested it. Im wondering if you’re a nikon guy trying to troll this site, lol.
I think all credit to Paul for making the interview happen with Sony. it was surprising how much more knowledgeable he seemed to be, but used that advantage to keep the show interesting.
I think as much a Paul will be appreciative of Sony coming on the show, Sony should be very appreciative of the support he showed throughout the interview. The Sony representative at one point got his range wrong which Paul politely helped him out with, only for the chap to keep saying – “Exactly”…
I think the show is a great innovation and that this is going to be a big thing going forward. I’m seeing the negative comments above, but I think that if you have a problem with the show you should contact Paul as opposed to just posting here. I was quite impressed to see him being very open to questions even during the show as well as encouraging people to write in. That makes for great viewing and he presented very well. Good on you Paul.
I think Sony changes their hot shoe only to target a new user from CaNikon fans (it’s mainly to attract other users which they use another brands). I see many CaNikon complaining about the hot shoe on my a700 with F58AM. They were mention that you can not use other accessories!!!!
So much for the standard Sony hot shoe.
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/post/50964704
It’s not standard it’s another proprietary shoe but bring your own tools to try to get standard hot shoe stuff to fit!
What a blunder, epic one at that
“It’s not standard it’s another proprietary shoe but bring your own tools to try to get standard hot shoe stuff to fit!”
Standard(Nikon/Canon)flash won’t physically fits? I must admit, I haven’t tried the new Sony shoe yet(must bring Nikon flash next time I go to Sony store..) but according to Wikipedia – “The physical dimensions of the ‘standard hot shoe’ are defined by the International Organization for Standardization”. So at least it should physically fit, by definition. I presume it can also be fired manually(non-ttl).
Try reading the article linked above, that details real user experience of front pins blocking full insertion of radio slave that fits standard ISO, but not the new Sony shoe, unless cut out is hacked by user.
Read Dyxum lighting forums for more problems with the supposed new ISO shoe. Yes, it’s supposed to work. It doesn’t.
How else would they add 20 more pins to the old hotshoe? I’m actually looking forward to seeing new smart accessories.
iISO had just as much open space in front as the new shoe needs. They could have simply improved iISO, rather than abandon user base investment.
The accessories are a joke. The XLR adapter requires a bracket… designed by Fred Flintstone. It cables up to the hot shoe with no pass through connection for additional accessories atop… like video light, or EVF. Why isn’t it an elegant component based system that snaps seamlessly into the left side of camera, without the need for cable or additional bracket. Were Minolta to design this, it would have been a one button click and go, like the iISO. Or look at the old Maxxum 9000 flash bracket for 4000AF… no cables required. The bracket connected through smart ports syncing with camera, and even could provide extra power to flash with additional unseen smart connections… back in 1985.
Check out Camera Diner review of XLR adapter used on VG cameras. It’s a joke. The biggest kludge of a joke ever requiring circus maneuvers in the field just to get the thing onto the camera… and still live with cable hell after mounting. Sony designers of new shoe are brain dead.
Look at Canon 1DS wifi adapter… http://justinedmonds.com/blog/Canon-wifi.jpg
That’s all the XLR needed to be. Elegant without cables to camera… CaNikon didn’t suffer losing their entire flash system because of a microphone. Their user base would have gone ballistic crazy frenzied outrage. Yet we’re supposed to get excited about all the new incompatibility and cable kludge. Oh boy.
I see, thank you for explanation. Using word “smart” was not probably a good idea then.
CTphotographerX + long, boring blog entries = BLOG HOG
Then you missed a golden opportunity to educate their ignorant perceptions and be an evangelist. Apparently you are also ignorant to the fact that iISO needs nothing. Two smart radio slaves TTL/HSS available from Phottix Odin and Pixel King that are better than CaNikon fanboy almighty Pocket Wizards. Dozens of 3rd party flash available for iISO native. Even more radio slaves that are not smart.
We just lost 20+ years of hard won iISO acceptance in the industry. Now we’re back to 1985, and no company that just lost their iISO R&D is going to take Sony seriously for screwing that up. I certainly won’t be purchasing any new Sony flash. They might change it tomorrow.
If someone changes brands only because of a flash mount, they don’t need a dslr anyway…
That doesn’t sound like a good idea anyway… Potentially gain a canikon user and piss off and lose a person that is ALREADY a Sony user???
This was supposed to be a response to AbuBaqer, But this site puts responses in the wrong place a lot of the time…
You maybe right. But believe this trick may also works on some people then Sony will gain a low extra money from those who didn’t read carefully what’s happening.
Not all people knowledgeable.
Then again when they found out the real truth they will sold what they bought. LOL.
They’ll end up losing the CaNikon convert after they discover they bought into a system without a flash system. That IS enough for a pro strobist user to consider changing… and that IS one of the reasons Sony changed it, to make it appear to be more compatible, which is a real reason for considering changing either way.
They’ll end up losing the CaNikon convert after they discover they bought into a system without a flash system. That IS enough for a pro strobist user to consider changing… and that IS one of the reasons Sony changed it, to make it appear to be more compatible, which is a real reason for considering changing either way.
I’m trying to sell my Sony stuff off.. but I’ve only had 2 emails with lowballs for my 16-50 and my 35 1.8 🙁
Time to go to Nikon.
Did that 2 weeks ago….
Well I could say the new hot shoe sucks, but you’d expect that 😉 Sucks indeed
Sony really seem to be annoying their users, dumping their DSLR’s and now a new non standard hot shoe.
It’s quite shocking really how a company can be so far out of touch with its users
Maybe Sony will “change their mind” again and bring back their “Other” flash mount on the a58-1/2 and the a99-1/2… LOL
The remote uses USB cables, but does it also use USB protocol?
If so, all Sony’s from now on will be possible to control from a PC,
whenever they release software for it.
/E
I wish I was as cool as CTphotographerX! Don’t waste your time on his lengthy, boring, self-serving blog attacks. Get a life, DORK!
You’d rather waste your time replying to every comment instead then?
+1
SonyCyberPumk: STFU!
300mm f/4, 70-210 f/4 and 400mm f/4.5 should be brought back. The 200mm f/2.8 too. Also, I didn’t get the idea behind the new hotshoe…it isn’t standard at all. Why not put the normal pinouts for flash control so it is easier for 3rd party manufacturers to offer their flash units and remote controllers? Way to go down Sony.
Hah, you are right, add to that some missing prime links such as a 35f2, 50f1.8 (for FF), 85f1.8, 100f2, 135f2.8 and the 50+100 IF macro all including some decent built in motor like SSM. I won’t even start with zoom lenses and APS-C specifics. Wouldn’t it be great to have a 15-19, 50 and 90-135mm 35mm FOV equivalent prime set for APS-C all starting at f1.4-f2?
I really really don’t get Sony logic with their Alpha SLT/SLR range…Minolta had a 35mm f/2 FF lens, but all they just released was a DT 35mm f/1.8. So we are left with a massive gap between the DT 35F18 (APS-C only) and the FF 35F14G (we are probably never going to see a Zeiss 35mm f/1.4 or f/2)
As you say, we’re missing a lot of lenses. Don’t know if Sony is limited again to produce their own lenses instead of just using Minolta designs due to patents or loyalties required but I think a good offer of a lot of lenses and accesories is better now instead of messing around with new “not needed at all” features in their cameras.
Having met Mr. Asai personally, I can tell you that many of you are being overly harsh. In order to understand what I mean though, you have to put yourself in Mr. Asai’s position BEFORE making a critical comment. You need to understand that he works for Sony and therefore Sony are very cautious about what the public need be told (so its Sony to blame, not Joe Asai).
I think Sony’s needed transparency when they took over Alpha in order for it to succeed. Being secretive means being disconnected to the end user and that doesn’t fly with camera enthusiasts much.
But please have some manners and understanding about Mr. Asai, he’s doing and saying all he can representing Sony I know that much. Plus, Joe is a more one on one guy from what I gathered and many of you here would probably like meeting him in person one on one just as I did.
He’s probably a lot more like us that the impression he gives you here, and I say that out of being one of the few to have met him in person.
-Carl Garrard
Carl, I don’t see that anyone offends Joe personnally. It is the Sony System. Sony has/had three systems:
1/ APS-C A-Mount, which adresses mainly the consumer market
2/ a900/a850 A-Mount, which me(e)t professional needs and price tags
3/ NEX
Those of us, who invested 5.000-20.000 USD (or even more) in a900/a850 SYSTEM feel pissed off now that there is no successor to the a900/a850 and that there is no sign from Sony that there will be one. Instead, they have changed the hot-shoe for some reasons (perhaps in order to be able to connect an EVF to it and standard accessories like levels) — but making the new hot-shoe incompatible to the existing professional flash equipment. Now, as Sony has no body anymore which meets the needs of professionals, thus there is a small professional market, only, and there is little chance that 3rd party manufacturers of professional flash lights will support the new system.
And for pros, a system without sophisticated flash light is no system. A clear exist reason.
Of course, Joe couldn’t say much. But somehow Sony has to give signs whether they intend to continue to serve the pro market or not. And making your system incompatible to pro light technology, is a clear sign of “No.”. On the other hand, the CZ 50/1.4 is a clear sign for “yes”.
You see, it is not consistent. But when you earn your money with your SYSTEM, you need clear statements, better a consistent pro-line, like Canikon does.
But Joe didn’t address any of these issues. Instead he was talking NEX and video, things you are not really interested in, when you are a PHOTOGRAPHER and committed to a900-Mount.
If your living depends on your camera system, you better leave Sony today than tomorrow, as long as someone pays you something for your lenses and flashes…
You’re turning your personal opinion into a suggested general one. Many people do feel the A99 to be the successor of their A900/A850 after using/switching/adding.
Professionals included. In fact, the large majority of users seems to feel positive about it overall.
No one is going to deny you the opinion that for you it isn’t, but let’s not turn personal opinions into suggested general ones or even facts.
Are you a Sony employee? At least, this is exactly how I feel about Sony: Sony closes its eyes and ears and says “Everybody is happy with the a99 and the new hot-shoe”. Perhaps you’re right and it’s only me and the few others here on SAR which express here their minority opinion. But then I’m wondering why the majority of a900/a850 and, yes, a99 owners doesn’t buy the CZ 1.4/50 by pre-orders (after all, it’s cheaper than the standard 2.8/24-70 and just half the price of a body). Instead I find many used high-end lenses you would never ever sell, like the 2.8/24-70, 1.8/135, 1.4/85, recently. I mean, I’m talking about lenses which were for many people the motivation to switch to Sony…
Silly questions will be answered with silly questions. Are you a Canon employee?
There you have my answer.
I stated how it is and I didn’t say everyone is happy, that would be a typical fallacy.
Not sure how you can claim to know anything about the interest of A99 owners in a lens that isn’t even released let alone tested yet. Maybe you’re going by silly Amazon statistics, which are irrelevant for too many reasons to mention in a single post.
I hear ya Carl. No need to shoot the messenger here. Good of Asai to make himself available to the users.
At 25:06, answering a question from “ThinkTanker”, I really felt sorry for Asai, having to tell him that no mod was available for shoe conversion. But I felt more sorry for the a77 owner being stuck with a new camera with a dead flash system, with no clear path to address the issue other than to deal with Asai’s laughter and comment of “No response”. How much more is Sony corporate laughing out loud behind the scenes, with no hope of getting them to comment on the trouble we’re in with flash.
At 17:50, it was made clear that new shoe had absolution no advantage for flash. It’s all video-centric to accept handycam accessories. An admission of screwing the entire flash user base, then blaming it on them. Something is REALLY wrong here.
Understand something… Sony is trying to make still togs feel like they are being accommodated by their efforts in Auto Portrait Mode technology. But money spent on that innovation is just a knife twist in the backside of heavily invested speedlight loyalists. Asai should feel enough of that sting himself, to hopefully share his discomfort with superiors.
But perhaps it’s a cultural gap, not having an appreciation for recent American distaste of politico adhoc. The “spokesperson” is often perceived as just another shill, reading contrived script rather than engaging in genuine open dialogue.
Oh trust me, I see behind the veil that Sony has it’s people present to the public, it’s as plain as day to me.
I just know Joe and think he’s one of the good guys of the company that unfortunately was put in a bad position here. I mean, for him, the advancement into his current position must have been really exciting, can’t say I wouldn’t do the same thing… however Sony makes sure and put the muffler on anyone that sees press or the public. Some things that Sony doesn’t want the public to hear are understandable, but a lot of them are not.
To me, I just hate seeing individuals get blamed for the corporates mistakes. It’s not fair but neither is working for a corporation either- it’s the sacrifice you make representing a corporation’s name and reputation.
C
What was this? Some advertising and nearly no information blown up to 1.25 hours. Save your time for something better and avoid wasting your time by watching this so called interview.
Poor bastard,
The only thing new about the whole interview was a remote trigger accessory…
Wi-Fi Remote Triggers… why wired….
If you are going to design a new MULTI port, at least put it where you can attach new modules to it… eg. extended frame buffer addon card…
WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY!!!! SONY!!!!!!!!!!!
/facepalm
I’m sure Joe is everything Carl claims but he just doesn’t come across as remotely enthusiastic in this own company’s products in this video, the presenter is more excited and (in a few instances) more informed.
Going by the bags on his eyes I just assume he’s totally knackered.
We all have our off days, nobody is perfect. Knackered, good word though, I might have to use that here in the states and throw people off :).
-C
Wow, the Sony UK rep is embarrassing…
It wasn’t great.
Def not half as exciting as a good episode from Vampire Diaries 😉