Panasonic and Sony playing cat and mouse.

Panasonic and Sony are already BIG players in the video digital camera market. The problem for Sony is that the Panasonic GH1 had an incredible success and Sony has nothing to compete against. As reported by SonyAlphaRumors Sony is waiting for the GH2 release before to unveil their direct competitor.
We made a comparison of the two future competirors based on the unconfirmed and unreliable rumors we recieved until today:
| Panasonic GH2 | Sony NEX7 |
| 14-15 Megapixel sensor | 14 Megapixel sensor |
| 1080 60/50p recording | 1080 60/50i (or progressive?) recording |
| AVCHD at 28Mbit/s | XDCAM at 35Mbit/s |
| Autofocus: contrast autofocus | Autofocus: Sensor based phase detection? |




andy
4 years ago |Interesting comparison. Just had a quick question, why do you think sony is waiting for the panny announcement? Assuming that they are going to announce this nex series of hybrid mirror less cameras, do you have any reason to believe that they are holding it back for the gh2? ( which doesn’t seem like its going to come out until the end of this year)
admin
4 years ago |Hi Andy! Maybe the want to know the GH2 price before to set the price of the NEX7.
andy
4 years ago |Well I guess than the sony nex series won’t be out until the end of this year at the very least. This is very disappointing news for many of the sony enthusiasts..
Totally random question but do you have any plans to cover the g1/gh1 strap holder issue?
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=33028029
admin
4 years ago |Hi Andy! Havn’t seen that! I am looking for it now…
Thanks
AT
4 years ago |XDCAM? Don’t expect it to be a cheap solution with a broadcast format. Just imagine when you need to buy proprietary accessories from Sony.
lorenzo
4 years ago |I think it would be a very bad mistake for Sony to wait untill the end of the year to unveil their mirrorless system. Many photographers will have chosen m43, at that point. I am now considering buying a small system to complement my Nikon DSLR one, and I am not going to wait one year…
And meanwhile, both Olympus, Panasonic and Samsung will perfect their offerings, with improvements in the existing lines and new solutions althogether…
I really think that waiting one year would kill Sony’s new system…
Tom
4 years ago |XDCAM generally is superior to AVCHD, although AVCHD uses much more aggressive compression, so it would be interesting to see it at 28Mbps, which I have never seen. I suppose this will be dependent more upon the actual performance of the encoding process than theoretical advantages. If Sony records 1080i, as long as it supports 24p, it is not a disadvantage to Panasonics “TrueHD 1080/50p 60p”. People seem to get caught up in the difference between interlaced/progressive capture and storage method, which are not at all related. 1080i can be progressive and there is no real world difference between that and something that is stored at 1080p. (assuming the image comes off the sensor in progressive frames). TrueHD introduces some efficiency to the process, while 1080i retains some backwards compatibility with existing software and displays, neither of which are of really critical importance.
Dustin
4 years ago |This articles seems ridiculous. Id love to see this in 6 months
@TOM
I beg to differ. AVCHD is superior to XDCAM
http://www.dvxuser.com/articles/article.php/25
if its XDCAM422, now thats different.
but 35mbps XDCAM isn’t superior
reverse stream swimmer
4 years ago |Nobody with an existing lens line dares to enter the world of EVIL!
Canon doesn’t, Nikon doesn’t, and Sony not either.
-So, what’s happening?
-It’s like chess.
Sony let the Samsung become the cannon-meat, and as the peasants in chess, to take the first strike. It will be a bloody fight, since for Samsung, it’s all about the size of the sensor, not the size of the camera tool itself.
If Samsung wins the first battle, Sony will run in with the the big artillery, while the Samsung and m4/3 team are licking thir wounds.
However, that is a less realistic scenario, since Samsung has on it’s own to defeat the twin sword Japanese Katana. First of all, a korean company can never win on the Japanese ground, for say cultural reasons.
Samsung has to concentrate their attack on the Asian, American or European market, but the ghost on the Japanese market will continue to haunt them.
Panasonic, Sony and Samsung are all verticalized companies, very strong in the home electronic and video market. Key elements such as semiconductor foundries are in the hands of all three companies.
Therefore, these three will be the forerunners in hybrid systems, where m4/3 with it’s unique selling points are it’s somewhat smaller lens mount, and again Samsung may continue to play on it’s larger sensor size.
Another important question is, who else with join? Who will sare lens mounts with m4/3, Sony, or Samsung? It’s interesting to see the rummour naming the Sony’s mount NEX, while Samsung officially call theirs for NX.
Future will tell, but not yet. PMA will not have an answer, so the crystal ball contiues to be dim.
reverse stream swimmer
4 years ago |P.S. The Katana:
PANASONIC LUMIX G TV Ads ( 30seconds) GF1 GH1 G1 G2 G10.wmv
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVQwSLcMlrg
Grosse Fatigue
3 years ago |I think Samsung is very capable of taking on the Japanese. They did it in flat screens and cell phones. They can do it with cameras.