[shoplink 8461]
[/shoplink]
I talked with a couple of my top sources. They told me that the Sony A77 stocks are almost gone. Overall in some big countries the request of A77 cameras has been 4 times higher than the available amount of cameras. That’s why you should expect the Sony A77 to be not in Stock anymore. And the bad news is that the Thai flood had a much worse consequence on the Sony production than the Japanese Tsunami from March. The problem is that Sony has to rebuild a complete new plant. But also third party suppliers have been affected. The sources do not expect new stocks of A77 cameras and of course NEX-7 cameras before March! Also other camera manufacturers like Canon and Nikon will have similar problems.
I am telling you all that because if you plan to buy the A77 I would seriously not wait to much. In most stores certain A77 kits are our of Stock. At the moment there are only six cameras sold by third party resellers at Amazon US (Click here), two cameras in Stock at Amazon DE (Click here), body only in Stock at Warehouseexpress (Click here) and some kits in Stock at Jessops (Click here). It’s out of Stock in other Amazon stores, at almost in all Sony online stores. The only cameras you can find regularly in Stock right now are the [shoplink 8459]Sony A65[/shoplink] and [shoplink 8452]Sony NEX-5n[/shoplink].
As I said, I do expect new Stocks of A77 and NEX-7 in 4 months only. That’s a lot of time. I am also checking if that will affect the new product release (like the A9x). I suspect the answer is yes. It makes no sense to announce the A9x when you actually cannot produce it!
All new Sony cameras and lenses links:
A77 at [shopcountry 8461]
A65 at [shopcountry 8459].
Sony NEX-7 [shopcountry 8454].
Sony NEX-5n [shopcountry 8452].
Zeiss 24mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8450].
Sony 50mm f/1.8 [shopcountry 8448].
Sony 55-210mm [shopcountry 8444].
NEX-5n viewfinder [shopcountry 9110].
70 Responses
Bad bad year for Sony. Hopefully they will use this time to perfect the firmware.
the flood messed up Nikon’s sales too.
any word on 2.0?
Not yet. Asking around. But I guess Sony has bigger problems right now. Suppliers are not as fast as Sony in rebuilding a production structure 🙁
Sony Germany told me today (per e-mail), that they will send a press release regarding delays on NEX-7, NEX-5N, NEX-C3 and SLT-A65 in the next time. The A77 was not mentioned.
1.03 – two times A77 didn’t shut off properly – and battery emptied. And not just me – there was same problem with others A77 owners posted on russian sony-club forum.
That’s it!…switch to Canon!
Can’t use my glasses with Canikon. And don’t want to!
i would rater bye tha A77 then the new eos 1 x that offers the same specs 😉 Child disease are normal even with top canon cameras. Dont forget Nikon had a hard time with their D7000 as well 😉
Knee jerk and reactionary.
What a year for these companies, and the people that lost their homes. I mean sure it happens all the time but damn 🙁 I hope I’m gonna be able to see the a77 in my country in the next months.
Unprepare goverment tested in this crisis. We are always reactive > proactive.
Being proactive costs a lot of money. It’s difficult to justify spending money on something that may not happen. Hindsight is a wonderful thing… 😉
Now you know what costs more money. Really a big slap on the investors faces and hurt serious economy.
Like I said, hindsight is wonderful. 😉
And sometimes hindsight is a just an excuse. 🙂
I have 2 Sony A77, Maybe I will ebay one for $4000.00 USD…
lol, there’s someone at Dyxum trying to sell his slightly used a77 and a65 both asking $400 OVER msrp, its been weeks and no ones bought them 😀
I Hope the A9x is not delayed, I might hold of for it now as it’s getting closer to March for more A77 stock and I’m still waiting on Sony to confirm if there will be Tethered support for the A77 and I’m not buying it until I get confirmation of this… So for me the A9x is looking more and more likely as I’m sure it will have tethered support out of the box (what a mistake from Sony not to include it with the A77, I still don’t get it, a ‘full digital’ camera and they remove one of the great digital features of DSLR’s.. hahahah!)
Wouldn’t surprise me if Sony made us pay for tethering software, like Nikon. Hopefully Japan has had many complains fed back to them.
I wonder if during the rebuild of production facilities, Sony take the opportunity to release an updated version of the A77.
See Sony Alpha Rumours 25/10/11 Search term “a77 firmware 2 ” One more thing: Another “source” sent me this: “I was informed by person from SONY. Both camera was designed with special Bionz processor, but before releasing they put some better and new one processor inside camera and that make the problem. That is why they are going to release 2.0. It should work perfectly. Lets hope.”
If the rumors coming from asian websites are correct version 2.0 should be out in early November!
I hope they are actually working on this and not putting it on the back burner due to the production problems. There’s a whole bunch of improvements and fixes that can be put in software to make this a great camera. It would be a shame if they didn’t take advantage of the gap to throw out a couple of new software builds so that they’d be ready and user tested before production resumes.
I wonder if Firmware 2 = 1.03?
As far as I am concerned there is no firmware 2. It was a typo.
Does this also impact the SAL1650? Sony Store is still saying mid-November. I was hoping to get one for my a65.
Gentleman, I need some advice.
I have a 24-70 F2.8 Zeiss Lens and a 70-400 Sony G lens.
I do notice that the 70-400G is extremely sharp, everything about that lens is perfect except for the F4-5.6.
However the Zeiss Lens though is nearly perfect in all aspects, it tends to be a bit soft with the shot it takes.
Can anyone suggest a prime lens that I can get around the 30mm to 50mm range that can give me the same or better kind of sharpness as the 70-400G does?
Sounds like your 24-70 F2.8 Zeiss is broken.
I have two Zeiss 24-70/f2.8 and one is softer than the other.
What camera are you using?
Some have the ability to adjust and save the adjusted settings.
My a850 does.
There are several websites that supply info on how to do this, but if its real bad you need to send it in for repairs for sure.
I have micro adjusted my a77. It made a slight improvement with a +6.
However the 70-400mm still takes sharper shots than my 24-70mm cz.
The barrel also seem to shake a little inside teh casing, it’s only like 0.1 of a millimeter.
I have only had this lens for about 5-6 months.
Very disappointed.
I’d be sending it back for calibration!
I will take a few test shots with both lenses. I will make available the subject printout and the photos.
I have contacted Zeiss at Sydney office via email. I hope their customer care is as good as their products.
I use the A77 and I have tried it with no and with micro adjustments.
The microadjustment that works best is +6 and it seems to make some improvements, however the 70-400 is still sharper.
Tried microadjusting it? It should be extremely Sharp.
Most of the Canon DSLR bodies and lenses are made in japan. Only Canon printers were affected by the floods. My store will be stocking up on Canon, Panasonic, and Olympus to get through the holiday season. The good news is that the Zeiss and G lenses are made in Japan so put that on your x-mas list instead.
I guess I’ll just save my money for a while!
Since my photography business generates only some of my income, my other half sees that I don’t spend too much ……….
This year ending soon, I had a budget of $3,000 USD and planned on spending it on A-mount Len replacements. Sony’s lens roadmap never really panned out so I spent much the money on new support gear from Really Right Stuff.
Next year’s budget starting January looks to be a bit better at $4,000 because the business made more money, and I had hoped that the full frame replacement would be shipping to replace one of my a850’s………….I don’t think that going to happen ether from what I’m reading, and till I better evaluate how the EVF will work for me and what I do, I just don’t think I’ll be spending much money at all with Sony in 2012.
That’s too bad, as I love my toys and I love that I can justify them with just enough income to “reinvest” as needed 🙂
I can’t help to wonder, if companies like Canon, Nikon and Sony will even waist the corporate bandwidth announcing new cameras and or lens that can’t be manufactured till factories are repaired or built new.
It could be a slow year for us camera junkies!
2 Pleb – fixes may be. 70-400 is extremly sharp, price that paid for it – bokeh quality.
I’ve wanted to buy the 70-400 since it came out and almost did last month, but I keep hoping Sony will decide on what color Sony’s going to use as its standard.
Nikon is black, and Canon is this weird smudged off white color and Sony is ?????
The silver i
s interesting and the White is very nice but on my 70-200/f2.8 shows finger prints and coffee droplets easy.
I know, it’s not a big deal but….
I think it’d going to be silver for long teles. Including the 500 f4. Reportedly doesn’t glare as much as the Canon whites, but doesn’t get hot like the blacks.
The 70-400G Lens is amazingly sharp. Heavy as hell.
The only gripe I have is the plastic hood mount and how cheap that hood feels.
Other then that, the other gripe I have with it is that with a 2x Sony teleconverter, you lose the AutoFocus, but that comes naturally with most Zoom lens of that speed.
bugger, I have the chance of going to HK in a few month, I was going to use the cheaper prices as an excuse to buy an A77 while I was there 🙁 I guess I could pretend to be shocked by the low price of a 135 1.8 instead though…
I love that lens……..
The Zeiss 135/f1.8 is fantastic on my a850 and should be great on a a77.
The 24MP of my a850 allows me to crop up nicely and digital zoom into a space
It’s smaller and lighter and isn’t a bright shining white color like my 70-200/f2.8 so I don’t stick out like a sore thumb and at f1.8 works great for dim street shots.
Looks like that I’m very lucky, as I was able to buy the A77 last Saturday here in LA at Samys, they only had/have a few left. It performs very very well, very crisp, fast, and the EVF is excellent. Good replacement for my old Konica-Minolta 7D!
Only an issue with one of my Sigma lenses, although 3 are on the candidate list regarding a not functioning AF. It’s on the way for a firmware upgrade.
Which lens had issues? …just curious
Just got mine last night !! So far very interesting camera (the evf is very nice, just in low light it becomes a bit grainy), Picture quality is very good, yes at 6400 iso it is a bit noisy but not unusable.. they clean up !!
So far I like it, I think until you actually use one it is hard to make definitive statements as to it’s merits..
Agreed, Kevin. Just got my A77 from Amazon and have fired off a couple hundred test shots with CZ16-80 and must say that this camera is a wonder tool that surpasses my A550 in every respect. There is so much yet to learn given the incredible breadth of available shooting options. It’s gonna take a while, but what I presently see is nothing short of revelatory. This is an astonishingly capable photographic instrument.
Update: I just shot a couple dozen photos with the exceptionally sharp Samyang 85mm using focus peaking and am VERY impressed with how easy to use and dead-on accurate the peaking function is.
I wish I knew about the focus peaking feature last summer, I would’ve kept my Rokinon 85mm (and NOT buy the Sigma 85mm)
While it is very unfortunate for the people that have suffered from these disasters, putting factories in places that are susceptible to extreme natural events seems to be cost prohibited. And if any of this is for the sake of cheaper labor is the gamble worth the risk?
Not to be rude or insulting. Do you want to purchase your product at a fifty or more percent mark up?
Yeah, that’s what they want us to believe so we continue to line the CEO’s pockets with more money than they’re worth. If markup was the case then why are Hondas being assembled in North America? I wouldn’t mind paying a little more for something knowing it was made locally.
Same reason they make Hondas in Swindon: import restrictions.
Beer_Stalker already said it, import duty is the reason for assembly in Swindon. Being assembled in the UK means that they don’t have to “import” them into the EU. The same will be for the US.
George, a large part of manufacturing costs is the cost of paying the workers. I would NOT want locally manufactured products because I do not want to pay the huge increase in price for that product. It is not just “a little more”.
Import duties are high and this is one scenario where “local” assembly works out cheaper than importing. We still end up paying high prices, but that is YOUR government taxing you through protectionism policies!
No offense taken. I want to purchase a reliable product from a reliable supply in order to supply a reliable product to my customers. I realize that most users will never sell their services and for that reason they may not be able to make a substantial investment in quality gear.
O don’t think its really that susceptible. These were freak storms far worse than usual.
Plus, consider America got katrina, new Orleans, wildfires etc..
Very true. Even without Katrina you still run into the issue that New Orleans suffers from its own unique problems due to sinking ground from man made modifications.
Sony’s Software team should have lots of bandwidth to work on 2.0 Firmware update, seeing how a lot of the other production camera’s are/will be delayed.
Amazon have A77 kit in stock now!
Sold by Amazon rather than third-party seller
Just bought one! =D
Only if Sony didn’t relocate its plant from Indonesia to Malaysia and then to Thailand… only if…
Those are all countries that could get floods at any given time.
Weren’t FF cameras and lenses supposed to be build somewhere else?
did jessops just put its prices up ?
Admin,
Not to be rude, but, you should use a spell check before posting articles. I’m talking about the misspelling of “affect” and “new”. Very unprofessional.
You are right Keith. I corrected the errors. Sorry.
But you still understood it and English isn’t the admins first language…get a life…
+1
My A77 works perfect!
No problems using sigma 10-20 DC or sigma 70-200 2.8 HSM.
I am really suprices about the preformence. I belive all the negativity and complaining about the A77 is undeserved!
It works lika a dream!
Super fast autofocus, great AWB, beautiful LCD, ISO 50 works supernice ass well as ISO 1600. flash sync 250 is great, and the oled view finder is incredible.
And the button costomization is great!
My opinion……Best camera in its price category for sure!
well done Sony!
when i was in HK last week, many smaller stores already ran out of stock, only a few selected large stores such as fortress chain, still have some stock of the camera.
I bet they would have ran out by now!
LUCKY I GOT ONE.
Got my A77 a couple of weeks ago from Sony UK (to replace a 5D). My good lady has lived and breathed all of the rumours, tests, previews, reviews and critiques as I have kept her constantly updated to justify shelling out our hard earned coin.
I’m very pleased with the camera and happened to mention this thread to demonstrate how fortunate I have been to get one…. she was on E bay in less than 10 seconds checking out the resale value and told me not to be surprised if it went missing! – not quite the loving support I was expecting 🙂
Amazon.com has the A77VQ kit listed with no quantity. It seems there is still stock left for the time being.
The water in Ayutthaya is receding and several manufacturers have restarted work. No word on the Sony plants yet.
It’s odd that people have been moaning about the EVF, small buffer and ISO noise, but the A77 is sold out!
I guess photographers are just getting on with enjoying the A77 after-all.
You can be a cow or a rhino..
the cow follows and rhino leads
I choose to be a rhino !!