Today I reported how Sony will announce a new A-mount camera in early November. But that new camera will certainly not go on sale in Australia and New Zealand because Sony Oceania decided to not sell any A-mount camera and lenses anymore.
Sony’s strategy is to sell A-mount only in areas where it sells well and where mirrorless is having a hard time to eat the DSLR market share.
Here is the official news reported by SAR reader John on Twitter:
30 Responses
Sony looks forward… Not backward like Nikon and Canon.
Accept backwards currently works a lot better than forwards. Adapt the A-Mount Zeiss 135 1.8 to your e-mount cam and try to shoot your dog/horse running about wide open. I dare you.
Or try shooting quality broadcast quality video on your A mount. I dare you!
The Times They Are A Changin’ — The Prophet Dylon, AD 1964.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7qQ6_RV4VQ
Not what the lens was designed for though and I doubt it would handle it with ease on an A-mount body. I agree however that the current ambiguity regarding A-mount is less than reassuring but hope may sprout eternal sometime in November..?
This has nothing to do with mount then. Which is why they must be dedicated on developing the e-mount and not waste any time/resources on A-mount.
Doesn’t rule out an A9 (possibly hybrid mount) camera being sold globally…
I hope they go this way, a dedicated A-mount body is a waste of resources. Would only hold back further e-mount development.
Do you see any technical solutions how they can make hybrid mount in reliable and cost-effective way?
stop with the hybrid mount crap. It’s not going to happen. Do you realize how different both mounts are? Just take a look at the contact pins position. Then look at the diameter of both mounts. What about the bayonet?
Well, in my country, they don’t sell E-Mount either.
Another nail on the A-mount coffin.
You know what this means? This means that Sony X-Country decides on their own what they focus their e-commerce sites on. This doesn’t mean Sony X-Country will not import A-mount gear, just that their own site will not sell it (probably had a lot of stock left)
So, before people keep on looking for excuses to take prozac, it is worth noting that independent companies (Calumet, WEX, Saturn, BH, Adorama) can order as much or as little of A-mount as they see fit disregarding Sony’s own retail channel.
I just don’t get where the incessant search for answers turns into depression ridden posts that give an outlook no different than where you were a few days ago. They renewed some A-mount lenses, right? They keep on saying they have not stopped development (this email says nothing about development) and if they focus on E and FE is because that’s their growing business and they need to widen their lead.
Maybe A-mount will get a nice surprise.
As an A99 user from NZ, all I can say is F@$#&@%@*($)$^T@%#&$%(%$)!!!!!!!!!!!
Not a happy camper if this is true. 🙁
Aw, shut. You beached az, bru.
Mate, there’s always cheap online sellers from Japan/Taiwan/Hong Kong/China 😉
where?
He did not answer the question. He said that A-mount cameras are still in PRODUCTION. He did not say they are still in DEVELOPMENT. Big, big difference. Political double-speak.
We all know that unfortunately A-mount is pretty much dead. If they ever decide to release another one, it would certainly be the last. There is more profit in the E-mount since that would mean most people would have to buy Sony lenses. Sony doesn’t support Minolta lenses for repair and they have released 6 FF E-mounts with about 2 yrs. which is almost three times as many cameras at the A-mount in about 8 yrs.
How do you know that there is more profit in E-mount?
That’s obvious, profit is why they are doing some much with E-mount. They are profit driven. They also stated awhile ago they planned on making alot of money from lenses, since they have the market on FE lenses at the moment they making big profits from selling the FE lenses. They are charging a premium for E-mount lenses compared to the same lens in a-mount.
OK. But why there are not 2.8 zooms in E but in A there are new MII zooms? Same is for tele and longtele?
Charging premium in E again A? Really? What about that premium price with 70-200/2.8 G II in A?
Do you have some real example of charging premium in E against A?
There is no physical possibility to build E-mount F/2,8 zooms or longer telephoto that won’t be very, very large, as large as A-mount lens with LA-EAx adaptor. So A-mount line will last as long as E-mount or longer.
LOL This doesn’t make any difference. Who buys from Sony Australia anyway? Here downunder we just grey import from the much cheaper Japan/Hong Kong/China sellers and go straight to B&H for a fuller catalog anyway. Business as usual LOL
I would rather have a single sales point globally where you could order stuff at the best price available and then send it to your local Sony store without having to shipping than having to rely on Regional Strategies.
I would be happy to wait 2 weeks for any order to be fulfilled and shipped if that means they could keep producing stuff for any region.
Kangaroos needs 5-axis stabilization! 🙂
lol…. you have to be a moron to buy into te a mount systesm right now.
it´s pretty obvious sony will abandon the amount.
Sony Australia = Very Disappointing how they are ‘supporting’ their A-Mount users if a camera is around the corner, we run a studio all based on A-Mount glass, shame on you Sony for letting Australia refuse to sell A-Mount gear.
I predict EOL for A-mount by the end of 2016.
As lenses last longer than bodies chances are a lot of people will ditch the Sony brand completely and go to Canon or Nikon if they dont want to risk having a worthless collection of lenses in a few years time. Lucky I bought a Nikon a few months back as I was looking at a Sony a mount as well.
I could be wrong on this, but I question the legitimacy of this email. What is a guy in the US emailing Sony Australia for? All you have is a supposed screenshot from a guys phone. It doesn’t add up to me.
At least I hope it’s not true. I am an Australian A99 owner, and having to buy a new A mount overseas with the current exchange rate could put the price through the roof.