Do You Like Sony?

Kintarō Hattori

Now let me state that first and foremost I'm a Pentax man and probably will be for years to come. I currently don't own a Sony camera and I probably won't for the forseeable future but:

I was reading about the new Sony Alpha A33 earlier and it got me thinking that while they have been relative newcomers to the DSLR scene they really have been working hard to increase their market share. Now let's be honest they aren't doing it as an act of kindness, it's all about money but surely innovation can only be a good thing.

Perhaps I have it all wrong, but has any other company been doing as much as Sony in the last few years?

chevron

Sony as a dslr brand may be relativly new, the fact that sony bought Minolta gives them a jump start with minolta experience,
So minolta lens will fit the A mount so its not totally reliant on new sony lens.

The alpha series that sony brought does tend to be more bang for buck in the entry level dslrs (not sure about other levels)

I for one quite like sony.

Ghost Train

Seem to be very competitive in terms of price for dslrs

never tried use one though, long way to go to match nikon or canon reputation, would need some stand out dslr, very cheap full frame or something similar

In terms of compacts they seem to be doing well, but cost a bit more than the competition

do like Sony products

dave66

As Chevron says, under the Sony brand they are realtively new but they are built on the stable of older Minolta (Konica-Minolta) bodies. I'm a long time Minolta user and since I had a number of Minolta A mount lenses it was a logical progression to move to Sony Alpha bodies when I went digital. I started out with a Sony A100 some years ago and got an A550 last December. I am pleased with the Sony bodies and like using them. If I had to pick one thing I didn't like, it would be that when Sony took over Minolta they didn't change the hotshoe mount to make it standard mount. I'm sure it was done so as to try tie people into buying Sony flashguns, over time some 3rd party manufacturers have released compatible flashguns, but the non-standard mount would be my pet peeve.

Sleepy

I frequently recommend them to people who have no intention of buying a full system but want a dSLR for picture quality. The lack of second-hand lenses and relatively high price of new ones was all that put me off from buying a Sony rather than a Canon.

Kbeg3

My first DSLR was a Sony a100, switched to Nikon after that

I don't really like Sony DSLRs but my a100 did serve me well when I was starting out.

hbr

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

Now let me state that first and foremost I'm a Pentax man and probably will be for years to come. I currently don't own a Sony camera and I probably won't for the forseeable future but:......

Pentax and Nikon DSLRs use Sony image sensors. All other
things being equal, you can expect similar image quality
from all three brands, particularly when comparing models
that use the exact same sensor.

Kintarō Hattori

hbr wrote: »

Pentax and Nikon DSLRs use Sony image sensors. All other
things being equal, you can expect similar image quality
from all three brands, particularly when comparing models
that use the exact same sensor.

I was aware alright that other manufacturers used Sony sensors but I'm not taking about things being equal, image quality and so on. I was really wondering whether another manufacturer has worked as hard as they appear to have done in the last few years. Has any other manufacturer done as much? As you mentioned their sensors are used by other companies and isn't the A900 the cheapest full frame camera on the market?

In some sense I suppose I'm also asking had the camera market been rather quiet prior to their arrival. Were the other companies sitting on their laurels and have Sony shook the market up to some degree?

hopelessOne

My first DSLR was a Minolta 5D and I've stuck with the A-mount, now with an Sony a200. I'll be upgrading the a200 early next year and I'll be sticking with Sony. I also recently bought a Sony NEX-5, not out of any brand loyalty or lens compatibility, but because it's a very very good camera and another innovation from Sony.

A lot of the "Sony" innovations are actually left over from Minolta: wireless flash, in-body stabilisation and even that non-standard hotshoe (which was designed to improve the current standard by preventing the flash from falling off, without using a thumbscrew). But it is nice to see that Sony have honoured these innovations and continued to build on them. The a900 was (is still?) the highest resolution full frame slr, the NEX cameras deliver DSLR quality in a compact size, and now the a33/a55 deliver phase-detect autofocus while shooting liveview and movies, and a 10fps burst rate in a very affordable package.

Do I love Sony? Not entirely. For one thing they've a bad habit of making their SLR smaller and generally neglecting the finer points of ergonomics. But I think there are some benefits to being outside the current duopoly. In any market, the real innovation doesn't come from the "market leaders"

cnocbui

I have a firm policy of not buying Sony products - period.

AnCatDubh

cnocbui wrote: »

I have a firm policy of not buying Sony products - period.

Just curious as to why? (thanks)

nilhg

Kintarō Hattori wrote: »

I was aware alright that other manufacturers used Sony sensors but I'm not taking about things being equal, image quality and so on. I was really wondering whether another manufacturer has worked as hard as they appear to have done in the last few years. Has any other manufacturer done as much? As you mentioned their sensors are used by other companies and isn't the A900 the cheapest full frame camera on the market?

In some sense I suppose I'm also asking had the camera market been rather quiet prior to their arrival. Were the other companies sitting on their laurels and have Sony shook the market up to some degree?

Well Olympus were first to market with live view, sensor dust removal, bundled inbody IS into most of their bodies not to mention having originally built a whole new for digital SLR system from the ground up in the first place.

Probably though the thing which really has shook up the market has been the micro four-thirds models from Oly and Panasonic , with the Samsung and Sony models following on behind.

johnmcdnl

Gamers are often called fanboys for there undying loyalty to a brand name such as xbox, ps3, call of duty, etc etc etc...

Now I dunno how much of that comes across to photographers but I really don't see what makes canon or nikon so superior to all other camera brands bar their reputation as a camera maker..

Yes - the second hand market is there for the lens but give the sony's time and you'll have second hand lens too...

what I'd really love to see is 3 shots of the exact same thing to compare say a beginner canon, beginner nikon and a beginner sony dslr and see what difference is there in the shots.. then we could see whether canon and nikon deserve such adulation for their dslr's in comparison to sony's or pentax's

Personally I'd have no problem going for a Sony as any sony product I've ever bought has been more than reliable even though it may have cost a couple euro extra...
but if money was an issue then the second hand lens market would be a deal breaker - but give sony time to build up a range of lens which will increase the second hand market and I see sony getting up there with the canon's and nikon's...

after all - sony have always been an electronics company - canon and nikon have built there reputation on being brilliant at making film cameras.. if you ask me it's only a matter of time til sony get their reputation up - after all - how many problems have you ever had with a sony product... because I can't think of too many problems with any of my sony equipment at home..


in answer to the question - if I found a competitively priced sony that offered the features that I wanted - I'd pick it up straight away

chevron

the reason why it looks like sony are doing a lot more than others is because they are ne wto the market they have a lot of catch up to do.

canon and Nikon already have there foothold in the market and have various versions of each level of (D)SLR out on the market.
Sony needed to get there name noticed and that cant be done with just one or 2 cameras so they have created various differen DSLR's at different levels, and in order to get more market share they had to combine affordablity and quality together.

So with sony Suddenly bringing various dslrs to the market in a short period of time to help gain reputation and market share it looks like they have been doing more than the rest
but in fact its quite possible the others have been doing just as much with latest models, but with not been totally new to the market it didnt looks as busy as Sony.

Hope some of that makes sense.

cnocbui

AnCatDubh wrote: »

Just curious as to why? (thanks)

Several decades of buying high end Sony products only having them fall apart or stop working well before getting close to value out of them. They also have a habit of using non standard power plugs, battery types and formats - ATRAC - all designed to make you have to buy their overly expensive accessories - batteries, memory cards being prime examples.

Here is a list of the faiures:

Walkman FM2
XR-780 car cassette deck
MDR-80 Headphones
ICF 2001 Short wave radio
ICF Pro 80 all-band receiver
TCD-D7 portable DAT recorder
MDR - D77 headphones
SE K750i
T310 phone

Most of these products were quite/very expensive at the time of purchase.

The one and only Sony product I still use are the D77 headphones as they are simply incredible in terms of sound quality and portability, to the point they are absolutely legendary on Headfi.org

I just remembered, I also still use a set of Sony RCA leads, apparently even Sony couldn't stuff up something so basic, but more likely they are made for Sony by someone else who couldn't be bothered down-engineering them to fit Sony's failure by design specifications.

I am about to have to repair them for about the eighth time - I am not exaggerating. They would have been unusable within three years of purchase If I did not have the skills to repair them and manufacture new parts myself.

I do hear their more mundane and large consumer products like TVs are reasonably reliable, so maybe they do something right, but I have to base my opinion on what I have personally bought and experienced.

Panasonic - FTW

The micro four thirds format is the future, big SLRs are going to lose market share big time.

Typical of Sony to eschew M4/3 and try and create their own ecosystem.

hopelessOne

nilhg wrote: »

Well Olympus were first to market with live view, sensor dust removal, bundled inbody IS into most of their bodies not to mention having originally built a whole new for digital SLR system from the ground up in the first place.

Probably though the thing which really has shook up the market has been the micro four-thirds models from Oly and Panasonic , with the Samsung and Sony models following on behind.

Did Olympus really have in-body stabilisation before Minolta? I.e. Prior to the release of the Minolta 7D in late 2004?

I think you're right that micro 4/3rds camera will have a big effect on the market but it still remains to be seen whether the Sony NEX or other forthcoming micro systems will actually "win". I believe that the Sony NEX is currently outselling all the combined micro-4/3rds cameras in Asia. Who knows what will happen in the end though.

nilhg

hopelessOne wrote: »

Did Olympus really have in-body stabilisation before Minolta? I.e. Prior to the release of the Minolta 7D in late 2004?

I think you're right that micro 4/3rds camera will have a big effect on the market but it still remains to be seen whether the Sony NEX or other forthcoming micro systems will actually "win". I believe that the Sony NEX is currently outselling all the combined micro-4/3rds cameras in Asia. Who knows what will happen in the end though.

No I didn't mean that they were first with inbody IS but they did squeeze it into almost all their bodies not just the higher end ones and quickly supplied an upgraded firmware so you could manually input the focal length of any old prime you could fit on the body, which then became stabilised (some of the other makes may have had this also)

I suppose it doesn't really matter which micro system "wins", a lot of creativity is being engaged to make "better" camera's and maybe a few perceptions are being challenged at the same time.

Antomus Prime

I bought myself a Sony Alpha A100 back in April and even though it's the first dslr I've owned and have nothing to compare it to, I can honestly say i love it! As a beginners camera it is fantastic! Real easy to use and I've taken some great shots with it.

I'm thinking of upgrading in the next 6 months or so and only for the fact that my Dad has a Nikon and i can share accessories with him, I would buy another Sony straight away!

Iv'e had a few sony ericson phones over the years and had trouble with two of them, the K750i and the W810i. Other than these two products I've never had any issues with a sony and shall continue to buy their gear in future.

Thecageyone

Some of the newer Sony models are sweet. That a55 looks like it has it all [bar OVF, but the EVF on it is supposedly one of the best you can get]

I loved my A200, great entry level dslr, coupled with a Minolta 50mm f/1.7 it produced some lovely shots for me. But it fell and the sensor knocked out of line and the SSS busted. they're not so tough as you think.

Rainbowsend

My first dslr was a Sony a100 which was their first digital slr (I think) and I loved it, it was comfortable, easy to use, gave me great service and after about three years I traded it in for the a700 another lovely camera.

I opted for Sony because I had access to plenty of Minolta lenses and it seemed sensible, I have not regretted it. I would be loath to part with it and dont feel any of the newer models warrent an upgrade. I dont own any Sony lenses but use Minolta and Sigma, just felt the lenses were overpriced.

Would I recommend Sony cameras....yes without a doubt!

ps I also own a Nikon D200 but would pick up the Sony 9 times out of 10.

Antomus Prime

Rainbowsend wrote: »

My first dslr was a Sony a100 which was their first digital slr (I think) and I loved it, it was comfortable, easy to use, gave me great service and after about three years I traded it in for the a700 another lovely camera.

I opted for Sony because I had access to plenty of Minolta lenses and it seemed sensible, I have not regretted it. I would be loath to part with it and dont feel any of the newer models warrent an upgrade. I dont own any Sony lenses but use Minolta and Sigma, just felt the lenses were overpriced.

Would I recommend Sony cameras....yes without a doubt!

ps I also own a Nikon D200 but would pick up the Sony 9 times out of 10.

I'm the same I love my A100, bring it everywhere with me, I'm still fairly new to photography and still have loooads to learn but thats the main reason why i love the a100 so much, it's so easy to learn how to use it and the second settings wheel on the top left is a god send imho.

Hence why I cant make up my mind weather or not to get another sony or a nikon when it is eventually time to upgrade..........

thefly

No

Unless you want to take photos of sunsets and swans

EriT

Just got a Sony A290 as a birthday present im a complete beginner having never owned a camera of any sort so have alot of learning to do camera seems great for beginners though

Thecageyone

Great beginner camera for sure. Very easy get into, IQ is good too.

Tallon

+1
A great camera to start out.

Happy snappin

EriT

Yeah seems perfect for me. I have exams this week unfortunately :mad: so will have a proper play with it on the weekend

Kintarō Hattori

I hate the thread title but I really couldn't think of a better title at the time. Do You Think Sony Are Innovative would have been much better!

PCPhoto

cnocbui wrote: »

I have a firm policy of not buying Sony products - period.

I had an experience with sony and vowed to do the same.

Years and years ago (I was young and innocent) .... purchased a Sony Laptop, 14months later ... internet stopped working, brought it back to the shop and they told me I had to deal with Sony, gave me contact details of sony customer service rep..... "Matthew Trigwell" ...left message after message ...no response, just answering service.

Lost respect for Sony and their products since then .... was soo tempted to purchase a Sony TV (approx €1500 2years ago - until I remembered the problems I had in the past ...so ...kept my money .... Sony were streets ahead of other TV's a few years ago)

AnCatDubh

aren't they just after winning dslr of the year with some new confangled A something or other......

/must consult dr.google or lmgtfy.com

TelePaul

I think from a commercial standpoint, Sony have done an excellent job. The Alpha series has had some great reviews over the years, and when you consider Sony's competencies lie purely with electronics as opposed to optics, they've done a stellar job at playing to their strengths.

Thecageyone

PCPhoto wrote: »

I had an experience with sony and vowed to do the same.

Years and years ago (I was young and innocent) .... purchased a Sony Laptop, 14months later ... internet stopped working, brought it back to the shop and they told me I had to deal with Sony, gave me contact details of sony customer service rep..... "Matthew Trigwell" ...left message after message ...no response, just answering service.

Internet stopped working? That wouldn't be their problem to be honest. After 14mths? Must have been something you messed about with.

You should try getting any response at all from Apple!

They've been trying the hardest to come up with fresh ideas I think. Apparently their newer models show off the best implementation of Live view on dslrs.

Antomus Prime

Sony had a great advantage when they decided to move into the dslr market because of the partnership with minolta. Then when minolta decided to sell that part of the company directly to sony it meant that sony now had the rights for all their lenses.

I'm thinking of selling my A100 to get the next sep up, the A200. It's more a less the same thing but the A100 doesn't have an automatic pop-up flash, where the A200 does