Competition announcement: three new NEX cameras and three new NEX lenses from Sony
While we have to wait until September 17th to get our new m43 stuff Sony had the big showdown today. There is such a lot of stuff to see that I will make my life easier by simply linking you to the full live coverage that has been made by Andrea on SonyAlphaRumors (Click here). Full preorder list at AlphaCameraDeals (Click here).
My short option on the new stuff. The RX1 (Click here) would be nice if it would have an interchangeable mount. The VG900 FF camera has no great specs part of that huge FF sensor (why 24 Megapixel on a videocamera?). The NEX-6 (Click here) is certainly the most interesting news. But that just my short opinion. What do you think?
SteveO
10 months ago |DPReview already has previews up on the FF fixed-lens compact RX1 ($2800!), NEX6, FF A99 DSLR, FF NEX VG900 camcorder and the NEX 16-50mm (24-72mm equiv.) power zoom (as compact as Panny’s).
http://www.dpreview.com/
Combine these with the already announced RX100 and NEX5R along with a couple of other new NEX lenses, and quite an impressive showing from Sony.
See what Olympus has for us come Monday.
Ryan
10 months ago |NEX6 with 16-50, going for the win….That camera looks crazy good.
SteveO
10 months ago |We’ll see. Same 16MP sensor as the NEX 5R (not the NEX7′s 24MP sensor) and loses the NEX 5N/5R touch screen. I’ll also wait for tests before coming to any conclusions on the optics of the 16-50mm given past NEX lens performance.
But still, one very impressive roll-out of new product, sends a real message to their competition.
Sina
10 months ago |The NEX-6 has a touchscreen exactly the same as the NEX-5R. Read specs on official site or Dpreview please.
YouDidntDidYou
10 months ago |Sony is the only strong competitor to Oly and Panny in the mirrorless game (with the exception of Fuji perhaps) the others are either making to many mistakes or only going into it half heartily….
Miklós
10 months ago |Yeah, if you don’t care about lenses.
david
10 months ago |Does it? From the dpreview “first impressions”:
We do find some questionable decisions, the most obvious being the lack of a touchscreen in a camera that so heavily touts camera apps and Wi-Fi smartphone connectivity.
ph
10 months ago |All lenses (including the adapted ones) seem to perform much better with the 16 mp sensor. So that’s a sensable decision.
Renato S.
10 months ago |It’s just weird that Sony took the touchscreen away from the NEX-6 while the NEX-5r has it, touch shutter is pretty nice – without that the NEX-5n touch functionality was pretty useless – and a touchscreen for the apps would be nice, why did Sony take the touchscreen away from the NEX-6?
35mm f/1.8 and 50mm f/1.8 and that’s it for accessible fast primes from Sony…
Ryan
10 months ago |EVF = No touch screen. It would only cause problems… Your face would change setting and everything if there was any lag in the screen turning off.
24mm 35mm and 50mm actually….
Gabriel
10 months ago |On my phone, there is something call proximity sensor, that cut the touchscreen, so evf and touchscreen may not be a problem. I guess it’s only for price reason, to keep the camera under 1000$. Nex5r with classic 18-55 is 750$, nex 6 with 16-50 pz is 990$. I wonder how a 5r with pz kit cost?
JF
10 months ago |No problem on my E-M5 with EVF + touchscreen, I never changed any settings with my nose
Bart
10 months ago |Funny, I have 2 cameras with touchscreen, a G2 and an E-M5, and never ever encountered that issue.
First of all, when using automatic switching between display and EVF, the proximity sensor disables the screen before your nose hits it, and second because auto switching is usually annoying and turned off, and the cameras are both set to permanently use the EVF unless explicitly told otherwise.
Sina
10 months ago |According to Sony’s own site, the NEX-6 has a touchscreen.
Sqweezy
10 months ago |From Sony…
“Mode control dial and Quick Navi assure quick and intuitive operation comparable to DSLR cameras Control dial, Fn (function) button and touch screen (including touch shutter function) combine to greatly facilitate operation and speed getting the shot.”
http://store.sony.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10551&storeId=10151&langId=-1&productId=8198552921666488065#features
Jordan S.
10 months ago |And yet, the press release omits it. Also, DPReview’s hands on preview flat out states it’s not a touch panel, and they have the camera in hand. I’m wondering if there was a bit too much copy and paste done on the website. Either that, or DPReview’s camera is WAY preproduction.
5y5y
10 months ago |I am not a great fan of DPreview but I would have expected them to get something so basic right .
http://www.sony.co.uk/hub/nex-compact-system-camera/range/nex-6
“there’s a tiltable LCD touch screen”
There will be traumatized Sony fans on the DPreview forum if they accept what DPreview say and lets be honest anyone mad enough to enjoy Dp’s forums may well believe them
Sunny
10 months ago |Yes! I think the NEX6 is the first serious competitor for the PENs and Pana G(F/X).
> small body with evf
> dslr like controls
> robust looking body
> smaller lense with 24mm
> high speed burst rate
> apps and wlan
> growing lense range
it
10 months ago |As someone who cares about video as much as stills, I would like to see Panasonic deliver comprehensive video capability in the GX2 (e.g. full manual control). If not, then I’d consider the NEX 6. I’m also watching for GH3, but really didn’t want the larger DSLR style body.
I’m curious, from a sales/marketing standpoint, about the rationale for Sony to include essentially equal video capability in most of their lineup (from NEX 5x up), while Panasonic has decided to cripple it in all but the GHx.
Jeremy
10 months ago |I think it depends on the footage… With the Vg900 I’m getting the whole, “3k is so outdated” vibe i got from Red last year when the Scarlet was announced. Basically it seemed like they just took what they had and made another camera with it because they had to shit or get off the pot… So they sold 3k like it was the devil all of a sudden. Here we have the same sensor as the A99 and it’s being sold as “versatile” for those who want to snap pictures while filming. I don’t hear about that market at all. I do hear about lowlIght issues people struggle with all the time. 1080p is around 2 megapixels. If they’d have scaled back the pixel count and made them bigger, especially on a FF, and an Exmor sensor to boot,… This thing would’ve been a lowlight spartan.
Hell it may still be, what do i know, lol
5y5y
10 months ago |The 24mp Sony FF will have pixels sized at roughly 5.94µm compared to the 3.63 µm of the GH2 so with proper scaling and processing it certainly has the potential for excellent low light performance.
Alienated
10 months ago |Rx1 … Just a show off in my view. On the other hand, people are willing to buy summicron for the same price. Sony should have made it under a different brand, either with android and touch screen for lets say photojournalists, or more conservative for snobs. As I say, give new Fuji x100 a sensor from x-pro1, make the lens somewhat brighter(1.6 would do), make the AF better( there have been some rumors FUJI made it. In the new body)keep the viewfinder as it is, ask 2000 usd and this sony is dead. The only advantage of this Rx1 would be the possibility to make crop-like mode(50 eq) with still sufficient pixel count…
Kylberg
10 months ago |Alienated: What you describe is the Fuji E-X1!
HappyVan
10 months ago |Looks like a M43 killer. Priced like EP3, with best EVF and PDAF. Cheap small power zoom lens for the NEX 5 and 3 series..
Sony is going for a big win.
mahler
10 months ago |Sony does not get it.
The A99 is probably the ugliest DSLR I have seen so far (except the Pentax K30). Button clutter at its best.
The RX1 could be nice, if it had an interchangeable lens mount and if it wouldn’t be that pricey.
Still Sony uses a menu oriented operation, and insists on this awkward multicontroller. No tiltable screen is a big minus too.
The NEX-6 does not impress either. The design with the mode dial and the control wheel stacked, will lead to misoperation. It still has the awkward NEX type controls, and the CIPA rated battery life of 270 images when using the EVF is a joke. How many years of mirrorless and still no improve,ent in battery life? I don’t get it.
Esa Tuunanen
10 months ago |> Button clutter at its best.
Direct external controls always win Point&shoot on screen menus.
Or are you trying to say you’re incapable to learning locations and functions of those buttons?
Monicalol
10 months ago |Mahler does not get it.
He is a Micro four thirds fanboy.
HRG
10 months ago |Well from the love the E-M5 gets I think all mFT guys are now Sony true believers lol
hardbonemac
10 months ago |12 megapixel fullsensor chip.
what would happen?
nobody would buy a camcorder next 5 years..
so how to hold the show running?
24megapixi and all that can go right and all that
can worse your scene ( lowlight)
and 3 k for later 2k and full-hd endmaterial-yes.
( BMC 2.5 k)
question is how big the aps-c and fourfirth paradiese
in costable systems go ( LENSES // Samyang 35mm F1.4 ///Bodies…)
so if a good cam is then arround 499 DOLLARS
will i go for a body taht is about 3000?
will i?
why?
Reza
10 months ago |Is that a haiku?
Jankoff
10 months ago |FF smaller than EM5? Perfect news price-wise!
jevfp
10 months ago |The A99 is really something despite of some people doesn’t like the shape,.everybody have their own taste and opinion but the capability and their lenses,..is really tempting
for the RX1 ,2800$ its probably way too expensive for some people whose getting use with ILC,.and just see the camera as a P&S /Compact camera,.but for other people who owned a Fuji X100 ,its really boggling their mind,.consider that you have an FF camera with 35mm F2 lens but also with the same size as GF1,.
If Sony release AN EXTENDED LENS like fuji did with their X100 to make an 28mm F0V it will be freakin awesome,..
Nick
10 months ago |I only see ONE new NEX camera… The others are A-mount :/
bonzo
10 months ago |Nice Offerings… Can’t wait to see if the “hybrid” AF really holds up to its promises
I guess sooner or later this technology will be adapted in m4/3 cameras as well.
squeegee
10 months ago |can some one explain a 24mp video sensor to me?
right now 1080p which is HDTV is about 1920×1080=2.1mp
If you want to future proof yourself you might want 4mp or 8mp video’s right? what would you do with 24mp/frame video? no one can view it right?
I guess you could do some video cropping but 24mp down to 2.1mp is an awfull lot of cropping.
Why didn’t they just make it a FF sensor at 8mp or something more reasonable? (other than possibly for the occasional still photo which would not be the point of a video camera).
Ragnarok
10 months ago |Because it’s simpler and cheaper to use the sensor you already have instead of making a different one.
Brod1er
10 months ago |Haven’t been that interested in Sony before but the new lenses show they can match MFT for size plus they include stabilisation. Image quality is a big unknown of course.
Pressure on O&P (and even more pressure on Canikon who now are looking out of touch).
SF
10 months ago |The size comparison between Nex-6 and GX1 on dpreview shows how easy it must be to fit an EVF in the GX1 body.
Henrik
10 months ago |Yeah, you pretty much nailed it. Sony NEX6 with that zoom might be my next camera. Ive been waiting for a long time for Olympus to give me a similiar option but nope… They just wont do it.
Yowzers
10 months ago |Or they can’t….? They have been out before NEX’s and still not out with true level in terms of SIZE, SPECS, and Quality (vids especially, no jello eg.) despite your preference. NEX’s has even harder engineering problems than 4frds since there is less space in a body to accomodate an APS-C senor(lens,etc) Maybe these other companies including Canon can’t catch up to Sony’s engineering prowess?
Sqweezy
10 months ago |Wow, all these products!!!
Sony may have just stolen the whole show before it even started. I know this is a four thirds site, but just wow… In my opinion, the NEX-6 is the best, most thoughtful camera Sony has ever made. It’s got the most efficient, compact, and pragmatic design in the short history of mirrorless interchangeable lens cameras. Everything you need, right there in one small, portable package!… I really hope Olympus and Panasonic will show us something great next week! They surely have their work cut out for them!
To be honest, my hopes have for a long time been set on the GH3. But if, in the next year or two, Sony could somehow take that NEX-6 body and fit a full frame sensor in it, while not going through that whole routine of hindering its abilities, we will possibly have the first perfect mirrorless camera!
st3v4nt
10 months ago |Finally you put the news admin….Oly and Pany should came up with good answer real quick….the competition already knocking at the door.
Mark
10 months ago |Why al this Sony news on the m4/3 site? I don’t care and if I do I will go to the Sony Alpha rumors site.
I don’t see Olympus/Panasonic news spamming on the SA rumors site. It happens on this m4/3 rumor site all the time and I am done with it.
Richard
10 months ago |+100
-
10 months ago |Well, while I usually do not care about Sony, I find their solutions interesting and innovative – like the dual AF or the whole SLT stuff. The NEX-6 looks very good on paper, but I do not understand why the heck they didn’t build a touchscreen there.
This doesnt’t make the camera bad however – if I were into 35mm stuff, then I would for sure have a closer look at it and most probably even buy it instead of a 5DIII.
RX1 – an interesting technical achievement, but at that time not really appealing to me.
SLT99 – wow, but the battery grip looks like a school summer project, I ve rarely seen something uglier
The new lenses – well, lets see how they perform. Given the fact how mediocre the 16mm or the 30mm macro are, I wouldn’t have too high expectations there but a nice surpise would make a wellcome change.
Brod1er
10 months ago |Whilst I was initially a sceptic, I now think a touch screen/AF is very important and a real advantage of mirrorless. A real oversight by Sony that makes me happy to stick with mft/OMD.
Agree also that the great Sony APSC sensors are wasted if the new lenses don’t deliver. I look forward to some reviews.
-
10 months ago |Well, at least the 16-50 doesn’t seem to break resolution records
http://www.lenstip.com/2009-news-Sony_NEX-6_and_Sony_E_16-50_mm_f_3.5-5.6_PZ_OSS_-_sample_shots.html
Sqweezy
10 months ago |I fear the GH3 will now look severely overpriced compared to the NEX-6.
The 12-35mm X kit will certainly be $2,000+ while the Sony kit is $1,000. Granted the Panny’s lens should be much better, but we’re talking a larger sensor at less than half the price! The only real advantage of the Panny body by itself is what, weather-sealing?
m43 may have the advantage right now with lenses, but that could change in time. I’m a Panasonic and Olympus fan, but this still does not speak well for the future of micro four thirds.
Arkersaint
10 months ago |+1 : Sony seems to be shooting right in the middle…
Except for the access price, due to all the used or refurbished cameras and lenses available.
But clearly the usual “Sony lacks lenses” won’t stand long now…
agachart
10 months ago |no news from M43.GH3 or new PENs, are they go to hell?.
zzvisual
10 months ago |Sqweezy
“I fear the GH3 will now look severely overpriced compared to the NEX-6.
The 12-35mm X kit will certainly be $2,000+ while the Sony kit is $1,000.”
Your comparison is wrong: new Sony 16-50 f3.5-5.6 power zoom is in the class of Panasonic GX 14-42 f3.5-5.6 (~300$):
http://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/lenses/panasonic_x_14-42_3p5-5p6_pz
while the one (hopefully not the only) to be shipped with GH3 is GX 12-35 f2.8 (~100$):
http://www.dpreview.com/products/panasonic/lenses/panasonic_x_12-35_2p8
which are obviously of different leagues. GH3+GX 14-42 will be couple hundred of bucks more expensive than NEX 6, but better spec-ed.
The real question is how bad will be this new Sony kit. If it is just a pancake version of previous 18-55 kit (with slightly more universal range), famous for its chromatic aberrations, I will be quiet for the fate of M43.
JF
10 months ago |nex6 + 16-50 is a pretty small combo. I wonder what is the IQ of the 16-50 but this combo looks like a big competitor to m43…
zzvisual
10 months ago |One correction:
GX 12-35 f2.8 is of course of 1000$ league, not 100$
Brod1er
10 months ago |Oddly Sony have stymied themselves:
-The VG900 shows they are able to fit a FF sensor in the E mount.
-RX1 gives a clear indication they will make a FF NEX.
Surely several buyers will not now want the new APSC NEX models or the old A mount cameras and will wait for the FF NEX?
Gabriel
10 months ago |The VG900 is a strange product, FF E-Mount camcorder/camera without any native FF E-Mount lenses, so you must use an adapter to be able to shoot something
erico
10 months ago |all this products…..after long 17 hours day with Sony f65
Sony just jokes arround with too expensive and jokes, that i would
not buy..no boys.. not with that loose of codecs and others..
but its fine that it will border the good GH-3 in price to 999 dollars. i work with Sony so long, and they can not take the fingers
away of jokin round in first year in second you get it…
and
we use all cameras all….. all are made for some good.
DingieM
10 months ago |NEX series is for me a waste of money and time. Try to put on at least a decent zoom lens and you have to buy a separate backpack to store the bloody thing! COMPACT system?
Gabriel
10 months ago |Nex 6 with power-zoom is compact. I’m curious to see IQ of this zoom.
µ4/3 with decent zoom is not compact too. Sonyx lacks some pancake fixed lense, the annouced 35mm is not compact nor cheap. Why Sony can’t make the same lenses than Samsung (like the 30mm pancake, good and not expensive).
ihoe
10 months ago |A 35mm FF (?) E-mount (??) camcorder (???) which can only take A-mount lenses (????) through an adapter (?????). Seriously?! Sony?!
A 35mm FF P&S?! No weather seal, no IBIS, fixed lens, no integrated viewfinder?! Almost $3000.00?!
Who cares about the almost archaic 35mm format? Make it a square sensor or something more interesting!
Sony is again trying to prove something, just as they did with their minuscule (unusable) UX series UMPC which cost more than $3000.00 when they were announced and 2 years later could be bought for no more than $900.00.
Time will tell but right now it looks like a BIG FAIL for Sony!
Gabriel
10 months ago |The RX1 has a blue zeiss sticker and Carl Zeiss name on front, that’s make all the price
I can’t stop thinking it’s a hispter camera. The aluminium lense hood is 180$, the OVF is 600$. If the lense hood is make by an ancien dwarf from cosmic dust fallen on earth, i understand the price, but not from industrial process made with recycled material from coca canet 
Sony is not Hermes nor Leica. When i see Sony, i think of Playstation, not luxury goods.
Winnie
10 months ago |Such the formidable announcement. I’m glad that I wait and haven’t bought E-M5 yet.
Kylberg
10 months ago |Sony are really progressing photography with excellent sensors and cameras!
)
I own the tiny RX100 which produces IQ same or better than Pana G3. (My estimate, confirmed by DXO.
The NEX-6 is a very strong competitor to all compact mirrorless ILC – not least the upcoming Fuji E-X1
The RX1 looks mighty impressive (as are prices of accessories
The new sensors for Nikon D800 and RX100 are really excellent. The 16 and 24 Mpix sensors for NEX, RX1 and A99 are most likely even better!
Sorry m43, RX100 20mpix in a 250g package AT LEAST levels Pana sensor. Prices of ASP-C size competitors go down – size and weight being same. Seems the best argument for m43 are the variety of lenses…..
No doubt Sony will catch up also in this area within a year or two.
jake
10 months ago |yeah and that is why I think in the long run , you may be safet to go with Sony.
Sony up coming Sony NEX cameras will have a stop better high ISO and a stop better DR at base ISO than comparable(in terms of price) Oly cameras.
And any Sony NEx will always have a bigger sensor than similarly priced Oly OM-D successor or Pen models.
And as you say Zeiss will take care of the lens part of the E mount system.
ihoe
10 months ago |I don’t see how Sony can have “a stop better high ISO and a stop better DR”. One stop means double the light and for a sensor it means double the area.
You can say “one stop better” if you talk about 35mm FF and m4/3. NEX is APS-C, and will probably never be FF. It can have AT MOST 1/3 stop better ISO and DR than m4/3 which means almost ZERO advantage in real world situations.
And if you consider the fact that m4/3 lenses are generally faster than NEX lenses, the truth is you may be safer going with m4/3 in the long run.
HRG
10 months ago |A FF sensor is nearly 4 times the area that’s why the difference is two stops not one.Sony APS has roughly .75 of a stop better performance as it has approx 1.6x the area of mFT.I know that for the typical mFT fan-boy science is a dirty word[ type equivalence in any post and watch them frothing at the mouth lol] but facts are facts.
bart
10 months ago |Equivalence as presented by many, including you here, is a simplification that ignores a number of things.
Either you make a comparison like you do, but in that case everything has to be equivalent, so:
- same field of view
- same DOF
- same shutter speed
Because you have to close down the aperture on the 135 format camera for 2 stops, you’ll also end up with 2 stops increase in sensitivity, and as a result you do not gain anything.
Or you just use equivalence to get an idea of what fov and/or dof a lens might give on a specific system.
And that is still a simplification because:
- DOF is also affected by magnification, and smaller sensors need more magnification for the same presentation size
- Smaller components produce less heat and also make it easier to get rid of this heat, and sensor heat is a relevant factor in noise level.
Pete
10 months ago |Panasonic are really gonna have to raise their game. The G5 and GX1 just don’t cut it against the NEX-6. They need a GX-2 asap (now) with EVF!
jake
10 months ago |and possibly a bit better sensor than the one used in the EM5.
I think the sensor in the EM5 is about a stop worse than the Sony 16mp APS-C in my NEX5n at any give ISO, so Pana and Oly really need to get a better sensor.
Esa Tuunanen
10 months ago |While Dpreview’s comparison tool shows E-M5 loosing to NEX-5N especially in high iso when using out of camera JPEG with RAW situation is quite even.
That darker green area of sticker in bottle immediately right from center and that tiny globe near top od the image are very good for seeing how good/bad job camera’s JPEG processing is doing in removing noise without removing details.
And E-M5′s processing clearly removes more details when comparing between JPEG and RAW than NEX-5N.
Of course it’s only natural for Sony to have more experience for processing output of their sensors.
Gabriel
10 months ago |Impossible, currently, Sony make the best sensor, in EM5, it’s also a 16mpx sensor sony based, like the one in Nex5/Nex6, but NEX are APS-C, so pixel size and light gathering are better in Sony. But Panasonic and Oly have an edge on lenses. On Sony side, there is no E-Mount 35mm pancake, no 28-80 f2.8 and no 80-200 F2.8 and no silent cine lense (like the 14-140 pana or the 12-50 Oly).
Miroslav
10 months ago |E-PL5 should look like NEX-6.
The Master
10 months ago |I think the RX1 is a good idea, but without a Nex 7 type viewfinder, it’s sort of blah. Interchangeable lenses would have been nice too, but since Sony doesn’t really make any lenses or have any decent ones available, I guess making one built in was the only thing to do. I have to say that it sure would have been nice to have been able to plop any old MF lens on there and get an uncropped natural 35 mm lens focal length – that is if it had focus peaking.
TysonRobichaud
10 months ago |Wow. Good for Sony, and honestly, good for the rest of us who do not shoot with Sony cams.
The RX1 is somewhat puzzling to me, as it seems to be a great camera/lens combo at a high price which will certainly sell well to a very small demographic, but it could be seen as a precursor to a FF NEX camera.
The only real thing holding Sony back is the NEX lens lineup. The new 35/1.8 should be great, and I know people will like the pancake zoom, but I still would be upset if I were a NEX shooter and there are still no good, high quality, fast, compact (see pancake) lenses to compliment these ambitious bodies. The NEX6 looks to be a real show stopper to me, and at the price, can really put some fire under the PanOly designers as this is going to really challenge the OMD line and even the GH line, at least from a stills (and in some aspects the video) perspective, and this is a good thing from my point of view.
Competition, especially innovative competition is really good for all. Well in Sony.
agachart
10 months ago |Sony had the big showdown today on mirrorlessrumors and sonyalpharumors is same sight.
i think 43rumors was failed.
xx
10 months ago |what is more important
1) e-mount is FF compatible
2) Sony has not issues to put FF sensor into small body + 1) = FF e-mount camera (not only videocam) is coming
3) Sony moved totally to PDAF on sensor, that + 120fps readout from sensor (if you believe that EM5 sensor is done by Sony Imaging) = Sony is just proper lens motor/gear away from matching if not overcoming m43 focusing speeds
dwdw
10 months ago |@xx 3) Sony moved totally to PDAF on sensor, that + 120fps readout from sensor (if you believe that EM5 sensor is done by Sony Imaging) = Sony is just proper lens motor/gear away from matching if not overcoming m43 focusing speeds
The E-M5 EVF is the exact same Epson one as in every other mFT EVF option with faster read off, You would be one of those guys who believes Olympus had several “new” 12mp sensors lol.Lets not forget the AF speed of mFT is only for static objects lord knows you need superfast AF for those rocks
AndersN
10 months ago |The NEX-6 is one ugly camera. Although technically impressive. Not sure which I prefer: good looks or good specs.