Robert Collins

I doubt Pentax will survive. Ricoh could probably justify (in a Japanese sort of way) keeping the business open while its core business was doing well. But now that its office equipment business has collapsed (and is likely to be difficult for several years) the camera business just becomes an obvious cost saving item. I am not sure Canon and Nikon moving their focus to mirrorless really helps Pentax. You now just find that you can pick up Canon and Nikon DSLRs (and to some extent dslr lenses) dirt cheap, so there is no real advantage to moving or choosing Pentax. My feeling is that Pentax's lack of move into mirrorless is a sign of weakness (Ricoh not committing to the investment) rather than a core strategic decision. (A bit like Olympus's decision not to join the L mount but stick to M43.)

You can shoot SLog3 at 100 iso?

Also I feel the majority of people are effectively 'married' to whichever brand they choose. They simply dont have the money, time or inclination to switch to another brand. I am a Sony user with a bunch of Sony compatible lenses, flashes and other equipment so really I only get to choose between Sony cameras. No big deal of course although it has been a little frustrating to see Sony fall behind in the video specs - particularly the move to 10 bit. Still they seemed to have made really good choices (for me) with the A7siii and I cant wait to get my hands on the camera....

I guess I am getting incredibly cynical in my old age. JIPinc just seems to be another asset stripping hedge fund dressed up in a PR cloud....

Actually I did see that - also it is probably the only laptop with a VGA port... Still my question remains - has anyone actually seen a Vaio laptop in the last 5 years? Or is it all some Sony vaporware graveyard?

I remember jipinc buying VAIO pcs off Sony in 2014. Has anyone seen a VAIO pc since?

Honestly Andrew, I think you dont fully appreciate Sony's business model. Essentially Sony has close to a monopoly of sensors. As such Sony is not trying to sell 'cameras' - it is trying to sell 'square inch of sensors'. In other words it makes perfect sense to cannibalize APSC in order to promote a sensor size that is 2.25x bigger even at a lower cost per square inch..... What Sony is doing here is making 'full frame' - the commodity..... The likes of Panasonic can pursue their small sensor, big camera model until they die - but anyone with a basic grasp of finance knows how this will end up...

Actually this is normal business practice. Becoming the largest producer (or essentially a monopoly) reduces the (profit) incentive to innovate..

Yes that all sort of makes sense apart from the fact there is probably an A7iv around the corner... Anyways it seems from the above video that the price in the US is going to be US$1800 which makes far more sense.

I get everything about this camera apart from its pricing. It just sort of seems 'priced not to sell'. I mean it is essentially being sold with a 'cheap consumer lens' so how does it make sense to position the camera above the A7iii?

Very much my thoughts too. The low key point and shoot design holds a lot of attraction to me. BUT just because it looks like a point and shoot doesnt mean I want it to have the controls of a point and shoot. The lack of front dial is a deal breaker for me... Also an 'R' sensor would be great so you can zoom with a small fast prime. All in all though, I like the concept and can see buying one (for me or the GF) in the future...

Big sensor, small body - has always marketed well to photographers....

Here in Asia, I have been told that pre-orders will come with a free 80gb 'type A' card - no idea whether this is a global thing. BTW, kudos to Sony here - the combined type A/SD card slot is a very smart and consumer friendly approach to memory storage...

I agree. And I primarily take photos and have an A7riv with 63MP. Sure those MP are nice to have and come in handy for cropping or shooting birds - but 90% of the time they are not strictly necessary. As for printing - the largest print I have in my house is 210cm x 210cm and that print was created from an 8MP photo!!

Interesting video on the gyroscope stabilization .

There are a couple of 'All I' modes - HD 240 and 4K 120 I believe - that need CF Express cards. Phillip Bloom covers it in this video.... But essentially V90 have you covered if you sacrifice 'All i' in some modes, Of course V90 are still pretty expensive - ProGrade often has good deals on them.

I dont have a definitive answer although in this video below the guy shows working with a 'Sigma EF' lens/adapter/FX9 ....

Isnt there a technical limitation for Picture Profiles on the A9 series due to the stacked sensor? I have pre-ordered an A7siii too. The camera has come through the last two weeks of reviews pretty unscathed. Biggest disappointment for me is that IBIS remains behind the competition (although improved.) But Sony seems to have got things mostly right with this camera and it is a marked improvement over their last 2 A9/A7 releases which were limited to a refresh of a few features....

In the photography stills world nobody talks about color science. Nobody says Panasonics jpegs are better than Canon or Sonys. That is because people are shooting 12/14 bit raws and you get to choose exactly what colors you want. I sort of feel in a 10 bit world straight out of camera colors are simply less important because you get so much more leeway to create the colors that you desire. Of course there will be always be people who like to shoot jpegs or straight out of camera video but then you dont really need 10 bit at all.

As a Sony user, I can say that it has been pretty easy to overheat the last 3 Sony A7 cameras I have bought - particularly the A7r3 - when shooting 4k 30p video for any length of time. As such, the A7siii seems to be something of an improvement from what I have read even though it clearly does overheat in some instances. Sony were clearly asking for trouble though by stating that that it wouldnt overheat. Overall though my theory is that Sony didnt really take the 'high road' but the Canon decided to take the 'low road'. Canon probably reasoned that if Sony can put out cameras that 'overheat' and still sell boatloads why cant they do the same?

Sony is not really in the business of selling 'cameras' but 'image sensors' - a business they dominate and until recently couldnt make enough of (smartphones now often have 5 image sensors when 10 years ago they had 1 or 2.) https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-12-23/sony-can-t-make-image-sensors-fast-enough-to-keep-up-with-demand The camera business is simply a halo product for this business where they can show off their latest tech and be at the forefront of this business. The camera business doesnt really have to make money itself if it is promoting their image sensor business. Their strategy has been incredibly successful judging from their share price.... ....in marked contrast with someone like Canon.... So I dont think Sony's camera business will be disappearing anytime soon....

On the A7siii - is it confirmed that 1080 120fps is pixel binned/line skipped (or both)? (Androidlad pointed this out.) I keep on reading reviews saying it is down sampled from 4k

Looks like Canon made a marketing mistake, focusing on video specs - where the camera clearly has some drawbacks. As a stills camera it looks to be very impressive indeed.

Going the same route. Have an A7riii and A7riv. Will sell the A7riii and buy an A7siii. Will be set for a couple of years....

The Sony has an overheating cut off setting which is normal by default but can be set to high. Probably explains the different overheating results to some extent.