After the Tsunami in Japan now we even had the immense flood in Thailand. It is still difficult to get some info about the effects on the Sony camera production but the bad news today is a unique message from Amazon US (Click here to read it on their website). They removed the NEX-7 preorder option and said that: “Due to manufacturing concerns, availability of select Sony products are currently constrained. Some products may be temporarily unavailable from Amazon.com. We’re working hard to offer our customers the product selection they expect, but in the event we don’t have the camera you’re looking for in stock, feel free to check out products from Panasonic, Olympus and Nikon. These sleek new cameras with lens versatility are available today from Amazon.com. See all products“.
As you see not only due they remove the preorder option, they also invite you to buy Micro Four Thirds or Nikon cameras instead! I have a much better suggestion. Get the amazing NEX-5n instead! Click these search links to check the price at [shopcountry 8452]. As you see it is in Stock everywhere! No need to get the Nikon instead 😉
Anyway, I hope to get some reliable news about the NEX-7 shipment delay. But honestly, I fear the worst…which means no NEX-7 for Christmas!
49 Responses
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Global-fallout-of-Thai-floods-30167951.html
“Sony – Digital camera factory submerged.No prospect of recovery.” …:(
“Sony Corp. manufactures all of its digital SLR cameras in the industrial area of Ayutthaya.”
Eek… that is BAD!!
I wish we could get some real estimates of damage from Sony.
Well, this sucks. We knew it would be delayed, but Amazon’s notice implies that it might be delayed a long time.
Is all = ‘all’?
Not good.. not good.. And your ‘long time’ might be an understatement.
People, stop causing global warming! +_+ XD
Amazon, what do you mean check out products from P/O/N? You should put a link to NEX 5N instead! Do they pay you that much? +_+
I doubt if the floods have anything to do with global warming. It is said that these are “the worst floods for 50 years” – in other words, there were similar floods in 1961. And similar floods are likely two or three times per century.
(Global warming is certainly happening, but you cannot blame it for ordinary floods.)
Why do people persist in building on flood plains? Why do companies run by supposedly intelligent people rent factories built on flood plains?
Anyway, no NEX-7 until after Christmas. Supplies of 5N and C3 might dry up too.
nothing to do with the myth of global warming !!
dumbass global warming is happening! learn something from your science class!
Now Now! Name calling is used when nothing inteliigent can be spoken, besides it is not very nice. Obviously there was once an ice age so obviously we have warmed up.
MYTH of global warming? which rabbit hole did you just appeared out from?
Only the NEX 7? Or is the NEX 5N also produced in Thailand?
good question..
From: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Global-fallout-of-Thai-floods-30167951.html
Electronic manufacturers also are heavily dependent on production in Thailand. Nikon Corp.’s Thailand plant produces low- to mid-range single-lens reflex cameras, which account for 90 percent of the company’s SLR camera production.
Sony Corp. manufactures all of its digital SLR cameras in the industrial area of Ayutthaya.
ALL Sony NEX-es and DSLR/T are produced in Thailand.However NEX5N has more stock already build and sent to stores and dealers.
Ok,
Now we need some good Lens rumours to cheer us up.
I hope that is your next post admin. 🙂
I’m not frustrated by this. The longer the wait, the clearer the competitive picture will be. I’m really interested in seeing what Panasonic and Fuji will be announcing in the next few months. I have a feeling the Fuji mirrorless may be very good. By all means, delay the NEX-7 till early next year.
Hope that everyone who works there are safe and hope Sony’s insurance cover flooding! God bless those poor villagers and god bless us for our wait… meanwhile how about some FF Nex 9 news to brighten up our mood! Maybe by the time Nex 7 is finally ready for shipment, FF Nex 9 will ship together!?! Lmao x’D
+1, I feel for the people of Thailand. But I bet Sony might hold off on announcing a FF NEX because it would cut into sales of the NEX-7
nooo.. 🙁 And I was hoping to buy the NEX-5N in January 2012, when the problem of “click” and was solved 🙁
Man, this is horrible. I can’t imagine the human cost out there, not to mention the struggle the survivors face in the faltering economy. Cameras are such a first-world concern by comparison.
Sony, Nikon — take your time and help get the country operational again. We can wait….
Well said. I agree 100%
While I would love my toys for Christmas, the Thai people should be foremost in our minds.
Don’t forget the sales of these cameras will help the economy of Thailand. So our ability to buy will help their ability to financially recover from the floods.
!! +1!
A quick search of Ayutthaya industrial in Google images, filter by date, yielded this photo of a submerged factory in the Ayutthaya industrial complex. I searched for the complex using Google Earth and located the Sony factory. This photo happens to be across the street from the Sony factory. In fact the roof in the lower left corner might actually be Sony.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/media/content/20111016/319939.jpg
This is how Nikon factory in the same area looks:
http://www.petapixel.com/2011/10/11/nikon-dslr-factory-hit-by-thailands-worst-floods-in-50-years/
For all the people bashing Sony, here is at least their attempt at corporate responsibility:
http://www.4-traders.com/SONY-CORPORATION-6492482/news/SONY-CORPORATION-Sony-Support-for-Thai-Floods-Relief-Efforts-13842333/
I will get the NEX-7 sometime next year and knowing portion of it going towards floods relief.
Sorry Sony, Couldn’t wait longer … purchased the only APSC camera that i held a better opinion of as compared to the NEX 5N/7 (D7000). Still shoot NEX 3 occasionally though.
Give me a class beater NEX 7n 16mp under 2k next year and I’ll switch back again.
Ironic…this morning Amazon sent me NEX-7 email that urged me to pre-order from Amazon.co.uk:
Are you looking for something in our Digital Camera store? If so, you might be interested in these items.
Sony NEX7KB.CEH Digital Compact System Camera with 1855 Lens Kit (24.3MP, 10x Digital Zoom) 3.0 inch LCD Screen
by Sony
Price: £1,258.51
YESS I am interested but…
Bad year for Sony eh?
And why did you say so?
Bye sony hellp nikon!!!!
Umm, did you notice the part that said that the Nikon factory that produces 90% of their SLRs is also underwater?
Last Year’s NEX VG10 was made in Japan.
Did Sony move the NEX VG20 to Thailand this year?
Anyone know?
WOW! This is heavy!
Amazon Uk still showing Nex 7 as available from 7 November. Odd!
Seems like this will effect a lot of things, not just cameras. Auto manufacturing, computer hard drives (Seagate, Western Digital), etc. Check-this-out http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Global-fallout-of-Thai-floods-30167951.html
The new Nikon 1 is made in China, and will go on sale tomorrow in the US 🙂 Someone made a good decision 🙂
Good decision for whom? How’s quality control in China vs. Thailand?
Nikon’s plant in Wuxi, China isn’t underwater, and is shipping product. So it is a good decision for Nikon, and their bottom line.
Quality control is good enough for Nikon, or they wouldn’t be there. Nikon has a long reputation for making quality cameras, lenses, etc to protect.
Will this affect A65/A77?
its really submerged, water level is about 1.5 – 2.5 m
please see the slides of the factories inside Hi-tech Ban wah industrial compound, where sony alpha factory located
horrible
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoiQjW6x9dM&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1rzV0chGDg&feature=related
and this is 13 oct, one day before the barrier break
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tm97wn8RzdE&feature=related
It’s obvious that hazard assessment specialists should be employed when searching for manufacturing sites. Going with low labour costs and access to shipping will work for most days, but it’d be nice to locate on passive continental margins, not subduction zones, and also in areas not prone to hurricanes, monsoons, or tornadoes. Most areas of the world see abnormal flooding at times – so why not find locations with good drainage (slopes with good channels rather than out on some extended foreshore). Crickee.
There is a lot of rushing to conclusions, including the author of this blog.
We are missing a great deal of information and without a full report from Sony we have no way of knowing how many cameras were already produced, how many are produced elsewhere, exactly what the backup plans are, etc.
A little less emotionality folks.
As for all those other brands, irrelevant unless impatience trumps long term value for you.
Mark
Addendum.
While Amazon is apparently no longer taking pre-orders, those of us who ordered earlier have not had our orders cancelled. We’ve always been on a “wait to be notified” basis.
The Sony website still lists November 9th as a ship date.
Now all of this may change, but there is still a Henny Penny quality to this thread that appears premature.
As for sympathy for those caught by this tragedy, that is a totally separate category. Camera delays are trivial.
The tragedy is heart breaking.
Mark
Here’s how we can help. Please take some of that money since you have to wait for your cameras anyways and make a donation to help the locals. http://www.mercyrelief.org/web/Common/homepage.aspx They need it much more than us.
What irritates me slightly is folks who suddenly become very sympatetical of the suffering of the flood victims and want us all to think them first and forget about the cameras. That is so hypocritical. Literally millions of people starve to death every year – this flood has killed some 300 people, yet the victims of starvation die in silence. The only reason the flood victims are even mentioned here and oin other photography related web sites is because their relation to the camera industry problems.
For me the likely Nex-7 delay is painful. There’s likely to be an extra two, or even three month delay, if not more, until I get the product. It would not surprise me if some products were cancelled, maybe even this one, due to collapsed production capability and the need to streamline production. Considering how long I’ve been waiting for just this kind of product and how it’s snatched from me just before I get it, the pain is rather severe.
I doubt they’ll cancel the product buddy, but I’m preparing myself for my pre-order not to be fulfilled until January. A bit of a pain, but I’ve still got my old Olympus to fall back on while I wait.
Better be hypocritical than insensitive =)
As hypocritical as they are, I wouldn’t bother continue visiting a discussion site mocking the suffering =)
@ Anu Nyymi
Funny, I don’t feel like a hypocrite. Maybe because I donate food to our church which is distributed to the local community and donate blood to the Red Cross. Yes the reason flood victims are mentioned here is because we are all here for camera info and this is affected by the flooding. No we don’t talk about the starving millions here because its not related to cameras.
Putting your pain before the death of only 300 people is just selfish. I too have to wait. Maybe you will be lucky enough to lose everything you own in a natural disaster and then a camera won’t seem so important. Sorry for your rather severe pain. Have a great day.
My Nex-7 pre-order is still where I last left it. I just imagine that those of us who have pre-ordered will get first dibs on what stock has been already produced and sent off to storage. Well, let’s hope the warehouse with all the already built NEX-7’s hasn’t been flooded too. That’d be a bit of a pain.
I’d just like a clearer picture as when to expect my card to be charged, I’m on a bender ordering all sorts of gear for my nex-7 focused landscape photography rig, the gear will get used on my junk Olympus E620 while I wait for the Nex to ship.
Sucks for the Thai. Nice country, nice people too. Would love to travel there again.
Sure if your main camera plant is under meters of water there are “manufacturing concerns”. Those concerns apply to Nikon’s whole range of APS-C DSLRs and most of their consumer lenses as well (and these 2 areas have been estimated to account for 75%-90% of their DSLR sales).
This is a huge disaster for both companies – but maybe more so for Nikon which as a company is far more reliant on DSLR sales.