Image rendering (not the real camera) via Photoarena
Welcome to a very busy week here on SAR! As you know on June 27 (Thursday) Sony will announce the new RX100MII and the RX1R. We already know everything about these cameras except the price. But there may be one more surprise coming:
We never talked about smartphones on SAR. But now we have two good reasons to talk about the upcoming Sony i1:
1) It will be the first Sony hybrid smartphone-camera with 1:2,3 inch sensor and Sony G lens. And maybe an interchangeable mount too!
2) It could feature the new JPEG engine coming soon via firmware update on the A- and E-mount cameras
What is also interesting is that this kind of smartphones will slowly replace the compact camera business. Classic Cybershot camera development will be dramatically reduced. The future are these hybrid smartphone-cameras.
By the way, I don’t know yet how a camera like this can use interchangeable lenses. It may be that it has a sort of hybrid solution. A on camera fixed G lens and a mount ring around it. I don’t know if that patent (pdf here) has something to do with it…
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While the more common and less expensive cybershots are being phased out of the market due to smartphone popularity, I just hope that the higher end cybershots (R series) will remain in constant development because I am yet to see a smartphone competing with the RX100.
Of course not. It’s supposed to replace cheap pocket cameras
Are there any news about the zoom lens for nex?
Yes, the NEX zoom was introduced in May 2010. I’m sorry, I was going to tell you…
http://www.dpreview.com/news/2010/05/11/sonynex
Hey Andrea 😉
Will there be an new mid-range flash with the new hot-shoe soon?
A HVL-43 successor with a price-tag below 300€?
Or you could just start hovering up the ’43s and ’58s that are now coming up on eBay like I have. I now have a 43 and two 58s, all at very reasonable prices.
Along with a bit of Flashbender kit, pretty much all I need for a typical impromptu three light setup.
Yes, there will be. Wait long enough and second-hand prices will eventually turn out to be below 300 euro.
No smartphone user wants to change lenses. Even most DSLR users don’t want to change lenses and just use the kit zoom. And even most p&s users who have a zoom hardly use it and just shoot at whatever focal length the camera is set to when they turn it on.
This is why cameras like the Coolpix A and the Ricoh GR have appeared. Great IQ without any need to care about lenses and focal lengths. Just point and shoot and get great IQ.
Smartphone users do just that, except they get crappy IQ. But most don’t care and it’s good enough for their use. If Sony improves IQ a bit it will be welcome. But interchangeable lenses would be silly.
Except that the Ricoh and X100 offer wide angle adapters and telephoto adapters. I see this as a is liar deal with a fixed lens and some lens mount to secure the adapters better than just a magnet. It could be like the Schneider lenses without the need for their special case. If its a cheap $20 lens, I’m fine securing it by a magnet. For $100, I want it secure.
I’m leaning towards it being a fixed lens, maybe 36mm equivalent, with mounting ring for a wide and tele converter addon.
People cant buy what isnt available.
People do use add on accessory lenses which are of poor quality.
It is reasonable to assume that some of them will use high guality lenses if available.
I can especially see people wanting extreme telephoto that are much more compact and affordable than full size.
Look at the popularity of superzoom bridge cameras often with up to 50x zooms.
Seems to me people would be more likely to buy accessories for a camera they always carry than one they usually leave home.
Recently, it’s just a massive overload of non Alpha news on this site. Just sad, I’d like some real “Sony” Alpha (Nex/A Mount) rumors.
What do you want SAR to do? Make false A-mount stories and pull them out of his ass? He already posted that there are no A-mount cameras coming in 2013. WAit till 2014.
The coming of this phone will influence alpha cameras.
let us know when you start your own alpha rumors site kthxbye
I’m very interested – I don’t often use a camera phone (for obvious reasons) but it would definitely be a good option when I don’t have my a77 handy…
@Andrea: You mentioned that Sony will release a firmware update for A-Mount cameras, which will include the new honami jpeg engine. Could you be more explicit on the rumor? Which cameras are effected? What else will be in this upgrade?
Please give us something!
BS!
I am definitely interested in a good smartphone with integrated high-end compact camera, as long as it’s small with the default lens. A 1/2.3″ Exmor RS sensor would be great for such application. If they would keep the resolution at about 8MP the image quality could be comparable to the Panasonix LX series. But knowing Sony, they will probably go way up on megapixel count, like a useless 20MP or so.
It would be nice to have lens choices in a pocket camera.
Lenses can be optimized for the smaller higher resolution sensor.
I would like something in a long focal length macro prime.
To use ff lenses a speed booster like adapter would be desirable in order to increase the resolution and speed so the lenses will work better with this sensor.
Andrea, So Honami engine IS coming to all A-mount and E-mount cameras? That is a BIG news – much bigger than all this smartphone stuff.
P.S. Is there any rumors about upcoming NEX-7n/p and G zoom and mid-range zoom? 80% of readers are waiting for this news, not smartphone camera news.
Shut up
he said “could”. I wouldn’t bet on it.
Two mirrors could be incorporated into lenses specifically for this type of cell phone camera.
This would allow up to about a 400mm lens to be about the same size as the cell phone but maybe 2″ thick
Thats a 35mm equivelent of up to almost 2000mm!!
Small high resolution sensors really do open up great new opportunities for extreme telephotos of very small sizes.
They also allow macro photography with very good depth of field.
Bigger is not necessarily better.
The price of the RX100MII will be $749 and Rx1r will be the same price!
A bit steep…I just sold my RX100 and considering RX100MK2 now but the price seems a bit too high. But…since there is no competition…:(
Are you sure about this price ? Any sources ?
If this price is true, it seems that the RX100 will still stay in the market for some time, in a lower price bracket.
it will
Why would anybody interested in photography go for this smartphone when you can have a much bigger sensor and much better image q with the Nokia 808 Pureview (and the new upcoming model)?
I like Nokia, but the 808’s OS is that phone’s weakest link.
Therefore, why did people kept on buying any other phone but the 808?
Although the 920’s design is really nice, I find that Sony’s latest Xperia is sleeker.
Besides the camera, the look of the phone and OS are other considerations for anyone buying a phone.
I have a Blackberry and an RX100 so no other phone or compact camera is interesting for me because I always have these with me all the time.
Sensor too small, I rather buy the future nokia EOS
Andrea, the patent you referenced here seems to be intended to make the use of flange adjustment feasible. Doesn’t this sound like something they are working on in moving in the direction of a hybrid a-mount/e-mount camera?
It could be that the camera module + lens is replaced completely like Ricoh cameras.
The Pentax Q uses a 1/2.3 sensor and have interchangeable lens. Maybe that’s a good reference how large lens would be if the Sony i1 did indeed have interchangeable lens….. And Pentax is renowned in making pancake lens……..
Pentax Q lenses were originally designed with larger sensors in mind, as proven recently by their release of the Q7 which has an 1/1.7″ sensor and uses the same lenses as the original Pentax Q.
hello can you please elaborate on when the new jpg firmware will arrive? thank you.
No.
yes
Where is the g lens for sony nex ??
Also when u say that nex will get the nex jpeg engine via firmware update does that include even the lower end models like 3N and 5R or only includes nex 6 and 7 ??
I will stick up your a** when it arrives.
What is a G lens? It can’t be defined. It is a marketing label that Sony puts on a lens to justify a higher price. Hopefully it produces a higher quality image. Wags say G stands for good, but that Sony does not want to spell it out because it says too much about the other Sony lenses that don’t have the G.
G stands for GOLD for Sony & Minolta G lenses.
So many Alpha rumors have just drifted to nothingness, and no one seems to remember or care, what has happended to everyone? All we hear about are phones, cybershot, third party, and other camera vendors. Not a single thing about the promised lenses from forever ago from Sony, or Alpha branded cameras from Sony. Gee weez, its just the fumes of thrid party silliness like the Lunar or Sigma. I guess we should thank them for keeping the brand alive, becasue Sony sure isnt!
would you rather have him post nothing or make up rumors to entertain you?
It amazes me that there are always these idiots who whine about “where is so and so rumors”. If SAR had the news/rumors he would have posted them! This is the second time this guy has posted the same whine in the same post. I have to wonder if these people are missing brain cells or what.
I love it! You came back twice to read this post, twice! I feel so sad for you, I really do and you remember my earlier post today. You must be one of the those fat losers sitting in front of a computer desperate for friendship. I’m here for you friend when you come back for a third trip on this ride…
Oh, and to keep you happy, A-mount I dead, dead, dead.
No, you don’t love it. You hate the fact I pointed out that an outright idiot who must have brain damage must keep DEMANDING SAR to post A-mount rumors, regardless if he has them or not. Seriously, how would he do that? Make up false stuff pull it out his butt and post them? When he has these rumors, he will post them, when he doesn’t, he can’t. Do you understand that simple thing or you are brain damaged?
Yes, Sigma is silly. It’s the best lens manufacturer at this time, but it’s silly.
Can’t argue that sigma makes great lenses, I own a few myself. Best lens maker, not sure about that, I’d go with NASA, Zeiss, Fujinon.
Thanks for the props :o)
Sitting in a airport, waiting for the next 4 hours, thanks for the wonderful entertainment.
Nice baiting Dan :>)
It was great getting him worked up. It almost reminded me of Alph Mount World days,when us photogs vs the techies world burn each other up.
The interchangeable lens probably means that you can fit an accessory lens like you can on an iPhone. Many companies have kits where you can attach a wide angle or tele lens to the iPhone.
Sony just announced the Xperia Z Ultra phone/tablet with 8MP Exmor RS sensor. Exactly the megapixel count that I have predicted a few days ago, and a great step to high-quality pictures.
But does anyone know the sensor size of this phone/tablet ? Is it a small sensor or an 1/2.3″ or even larger ?
Maybe it’s the same sensor that will be included in the Sony i1 ?
Few more hours to see the new cams and actually looking forward to see the i1 (Honami). I’m sold if the camera is better than the Xperia Z hehe..