OK guys, this is neither an Alpha nor a NEX camera news but it’s interesting to know that under the most sold cameras you will find the GOPRO camera series. A new source just told me that Sony will enter that kind of market with GoPro “clones” by end of the year. It sounds like Sony will focus on NEX and on that kind of cameras in order to bring in some cash within the Digital Imaging business.
For those of you not knowing the GoPro camera here are some shop search links to check specs and price: [shopcountry 12474].
48 Responses
i wonder how big this market is for sony to compete in o_O
its a bigger market than you think! i know more people with GoPro’s than with SLR’s…
It’s a huge market; any person in active sports knows about them and I’ve seen GoPro kiosks in places (I think Best Buy, for one). I almost bought one of the Hero 2 models a few months ago, but couldn’t – the new ones were sold out at B&H – for my bicycle and motorcycle commutes (use a Flip now).
As for Sony’s chances: I don’t think they are good. GoPro is really well-known and regarded in this segment, with a lot of accessories and model choices. As others have written, it’ll be another “me-too” failure.
yup adding on to hellven, i’ve seen my friends have 10+ go pro cameras for their cars when they are racing.
It’s a GIANT market. I’ve been surfing for nearly thirty years and everyone I know who is into ocean sports (and lots of other sports) either has or wants one. If Sony makes one I will definitely buy it because it would likely be superior in most ways to the current models.
They’d kill it with these.
They brought out the Bloggie series to compete with the Flips, Flip now no longer exists (owned by Cisco) but probably due more to mobile phones producing better video than because of the Bloggie.
Yes, Flip is dead due to smartphones (I had the Flip HD). Bloggie will likely go the same way. Sony were too late in that game IMHO.
if they deliver a little better performance than GoPro..I can see this as big money guaranteed.. ONLY, if they do the marketing stuff right and deliver excellent quality while keeping similar prices with the existing market.
I can see a market for this…extreme sports, any kind of motorsport/racing video productions..hope they don’t screw this plan.
It’s Sony. They’ll release 20 different versions of the camera, not do any marketing, then discontinue them a year later and do something else.
You forgot to add: all of them gonna use the same lens.
And make 1/4 the units there’s demand for and not fill backorders for six months.
Tajima’s sub 10 minute Pikes Peak run was recorded with multiple onboard GoPro cameras and the footage is amazing! It’s just a shame that it suffers from some horrific rolling shutter — given the market you’d think that they’d have solved that day one…
Anyway, I’m sure I read a rumour that Oly might be entering the same market, given their “Tough” cameras and renowned weather sealing it makes sense. Sony? Less so but if they do that’s going to make it a competitive sector, thus low profit margins… Be interesting to see what happens.
I guess that Sony is desperate to find any source of profit – as long as it’s profit. 😉
Well, Sony has invested in Olympus (supposedly) so maybe they’ll get something out of their investment.
What are they waiting for?
I want such a camera ASAP. Not after the summer is over :<
It always summer somewhere
Err, no. When it’s Autumn in the Northern hemisphere, it’s Spring in the Southern hemisphere, and vice versa.
😉
I’m sure somewhere on Venus there’s a summer while Earth is in Spring/Autumn season.
Gopro is not good as a camera. The quality’s pretty bad.
But then it’s the only cam that’s made to be versatile in its attachment.
I just hope Sony doesn’t put a ridiculous tag on it. A small premium, sure, but, yea u get what I mean
Yes please launch anything but a decent NEX lens!
It aint a strange move of Sony to bring a competitor to GoPro. They make quite good camera’s and a lot of my motor riding friends own one of them. They render quite good movies with them.
But please Sony make it a dealbreaker and make it instead of another GoPro a Gyrocam with at least 60 fps.
GoPros on their own are pretty lousy, IMHO.
The only reason it’s selling is coz there’s no true alternative to it, the durability and flexibility of placements.
I just hope that Sony don’t do their overcharging BS here. A small premium, sure, but, yea, you know what I mean.
No true alternative ??? actually there are several.
!. Contour http://contour.com/
2. Replay HD http://replayxd.com/ No jello here.
I own a GoPro hero 2 and the video quality is great. Especialy on 720P 60 frames a sec.
Why in the world would you call go pro a lousy camera? 60fps over cranking with full HD in a ultra compact, durable body and ingenious mounting system for under 500$. Get real with your expectations and you won’t be disappointed nearly as much.
Sony is about to release a waterproof and shock resistant small camcorder in the same handheld pistol type form that the Sanyo Xacti and some Panasonics have used. Lens is a F1.8-3.4 and 10X zoom. 1/4″ sensor. Full HD 50p in Europe like the Sony HX9V. iN faxt, you could say this is the tough version of the HX9V. I can see a market for it if it matches the image quality and impressive stabilisation of the HX9V.
http://www.sony.co.uk/product/cam-high-definition-on-memory-stick/hdr-gw55ve
Whatever everybody else is saying about the gopro cam, I’m getting it on top of already having a NEX and Alpha body and lenses.
Durability and compactness of the GoPro Hero 2 is worth the $$$ I’m paying. It’s a simple camera that I require for such purpose that both the Alpha and NEX cannot compete.
I’ve done my research and specific purpose I intend to use for, I can keep both my NEX and Alpha cam at home.
For outdoor time-lapse, if I intend to use my alpha, I require a weather/water proof casing that cost $$$$ and a wireless remote for time-lapse triggering. Using the NEX not even possible.
For slow-mo video, both the alpha and NEX does not have 60Fps recording.
I also intend to do under water video/photography and both alpha and Nex requires expensive third party casing.
For that amount of money I can get a few GoPro cams.
Sony needs to trim its product lines not add new ones. The only thing keeping their TV business afloat is ego.
Sony can’t make a better and cheaper GoPro type camera. Sony is always expensive and they are not making money, lets hope they don’t sell the camera division.
“sounds like Sony will focus on NEX and on that kind of cameras”. Meaning? No more DSLR/SLT or APS-C or FF?
So a real goodbye!
master of reading between the lines.
lol
Nope, it’s a quote hence the ” “.
And I see no reason to lol if the DSLR market is left to Nikon, and Sony to the Nex market…
But if that is the case better know it sooner than later.
If I remember, at least in previous GoPro camera is Sony sensor.
Sony can’t possibly do this. They never allow remote control of video for any of their cameras. Stick it on your bumper and watch it do nothing.
There are already a number of video cameras in the marketplace that competes with GoPro. For example, I saw a Vivitar unit in Ritz camera, but it’s not selling well. The cameras themselves are easy enough to make, it’s the marketing that’s the hard part. Is Sony going to just come out with product, but not do the marketing that GoPro does? If they don’t do it correctly, it’ll be another product category where Sony will be following the leader. GoPro has the advantage, as they only have a single product line, Sony has bigger product categories and won’t be fully committed to pushing the product. And, Sony’s product will likely be higher priced. They just want to be able to say “Hey, we have a product like that!”
Hey guys!
My friend who works for sony brought home the sony version yesterday! it is pretty awesome, has true 1080( gopro supposedly 1080, is a bit of a stretch. The sony version will apperently retail for below 300 and seems like a great product that is cheaper.
Can you tell us more???
Could you get/post more details on the NEX-F3?
Why don’t you ask your friend if you can take a picture of the camera? It’s not that I don’t believe you, but…
you’re talking about the sony GW55?
GoPro is to adventure cams as MapQuest was to Internet maps. Early entrant in a market ultimately to be dominated by someone bigger. I believe established players like Sony, Canon, etc. will eventually occupy the field.
Lots of uninformed/ignorant posts… Sonys DO 60p video – A65/77 and current NEX series have it, duh… even the high end DSC cams do a nice 60p!. Remotes, at least for Alphas are available if not well known – you have to dig for Sony accessories, but they are available, including “Sports Pack” shells for their Handycams… And Sony already makes some Ruggedized cams (in the DSC-TX series).
It’s not that difficult to take what’s already there and modify it to “compete”, but as has been well noted, they will have to do some agressive marketing, and reach out to markets already using SONY cams alongside GoPro (I can think of several markets where this applies). They have had POV cams before, but at “too high” prices, and not designed in a way they are a “must have” package at a “can’t refuse” price.
They can do this “right” (as in the NEX7, which even though it’s relatively expensive, it’s a loaded camera that’s hard to resist – I went with A65 instead, but still lust after a NEX7) OR Sony can do this “wrong” (the current overpriced DSC-TX200V, a $500 price tagged “bling” camera, although it IS somewhat ruggedized ).
Logically, Sony CAN offer a GoPro competitor, but it can be a success or epic fail depending a LOT on how they implement and market it!
Show me a video remote for Alpha or NEX. I’ll believe you when I see the link.
Having followed this website for over a year now and waiting for Sony to finally release a genuine professional successor fullframe alpha camera i have now decided that i am done with this companys idiotic flaws. When will Sony finally wake up? Where do they see themselves positioned on the camera market in 5 years?? Just release a FF body already! Just let us know about nex lens roadmap..
To me it seems that the Sony has acquired the behaviour of an ADHD child.
All I am asking for is to finish what you began and not come up a new stupid idea each day.
Yours sincerely, a frustrated customer!
Sony already has cameras out there that are in every thing but name GoPros. They are video cameras from their video division. The ones I looked at were not cheap cameras, that’s why folks may not have noticed them, look off in the corners of their pro video stuff. That’s where I ran into them.
“The ones I looked at were not cheap cameras”
In other words, they are NOT GoPros in everything but name.
It is already live http://blog.sony.com/povcamera?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+SonyElectronicsBlog+%28Sony+Blog+%29
Founds this on the Sony too:
http://www.actioncameras.co.uk/blog/sony-helmet-camera-teaser-video/