Sony's New Pro A9 To Be Announced in February!

[TedG954]

I retired from Canon's medical device division. And all I'll say is that I hope Nikon is managed better than Canon.

Canon likes to buy out other brands that already have built-in innovations. Then they brand it as their own. Canon boasts an excellent quality standard/system.

With all that said..... I bought Nikon equipment when I got serious about spending money on my hobby.

 

[sonicbuffalo_RIP]

From what I have read, Sony's sensor division is probably bigger than all of Nikon. They have the $$$ for R&D and I'm sure Nikon pays a premium. Sony has the deepest pockets of the the 3 and Canon is rumored to begin using Sony sensors also, they are probably tired of being left in the dust in the sensor area.

Sony is about to take the mirrorless world by storm. Once they have significant market share, they could start retaining the best/latest for their own models. At the moment, Nikon is paying their bills. They are already significant shareholders in Olympus and now have the best in body stabilization tech in their upcoming bodies, cloned from the Olympus EM-1. This 5 axis stabilization is superior to Nikon's VR and probably makes for more efficient lens manufacturing. I could see them picking up the Nikon brand down the road. If that happened, Canon may find themselves in a very uncomfortable #2 position.

Good analysis, Rick.....I think you're right!

 

[Rick M]

I think Nikon in the hands of Sony would be the in the best interest of everyone and insure the Nikon brand survives in the long run.

 

[AC016]

I just hope they keep the styling of the A7.

 

[TedG954]

I just hope they keep the styling of the A7.

From the photos I've seen (and who knows if they're representative), the A9 will be a bit fatter and have a little more DSLR traditional look. Then again, some examples show the A9 to follow the A7 style.......

Here's two versions being posted:

 

[Rob Bye]

I think Nikon in the hands of Sony would be the in the best interest of everyone and insure the Nikon brand survives in the long run.

As I understand it, Nikon is already owned by Mitsubishi, which is both larger and more financially stable than Sony.

 

[sonicbuffalo_RIP]

As I understand it, Nikon is already owned by Mitsubishi, which is both larger and more financially stable than Sony.

You're right Rob....I just checked and it's part of the Mitsubishi Group.....but there wasn't any details of exactly how much of Nikon they own, etc. I looked on Wikipedia and Yahoo Finance.

 

[aroy]

Sony supplies sensors to a lot of companies. It has a 50MP MF sensor that is now used by all major MF camera makers. Its 36MP FF sensor is used by Nikon as well as in its own camera (though Nikon's implementation is better), so we can expect Nikon to have access to the 50MP FF sensor also.

Sony has been on-off in camera business, and it is now on their corporate policy, on whether to focus primarily on a lucrative (but highly capital intensive) sensor market, or to push full steam ahead and expand in the camera market, which involves a lot more marketing and support (hence expensive) compared to sensors.

 

[Rob Bye]

You're right Rob....I just checked and it's part of the Mitsubishi Group.....but there wasn't any details of exactly how much of Nikon they own, etc.

Mitsubishi will own the controlling share of Nikon, but, by traditional Japanese business practice, other camera manufacturers will also own shares. Japanese businesses do that, so, if one company suffers a loss, the others are invested to help prop them up. This is likely what saved Olympus following their financial scandal a few year ago.

From what we've seen, though, Mitsubishi owns the biggest piece of Nikon, they seem to take a hands-off approach to overseeing operations. To Mitsubishi, Nikon would be little more than a hobby investment.

Thinking of the Sony sensors in Nikon cameras, those sensors were almost certainly produced on machinery manufactured by Nikon. Chip and sensor manufacturing equipment is another product line Nikon offers. Most Japanese camera sensors are likely produced using machines from Nikon, which helps blur the line between who makes what.

 

[sonicbuffalo_RIP]

Mitsubishi will own the controlling share of Nikon, but, by traditional Japanese business practice, other camera manufacturers will also own shares. Japanese businesses do that, so, if one company suffers a loss, the others are invested to help prop them up. This is likely what saved Olympus following their financial scandal a few year ago.

From what we've seen, though, Mitsubishi owns the biggest piece of Nikon, they seem to take a hands-off approach to overseeing operations. To Mitsubishi, Nikon would be little more than a hobby investment.

Thinking of the Sony sensors in Nikon cameras, those sensors were almost certainly produced on machinery manufactured by Nikon. Chip and sensor manufacturing equipment is another product line Nikon offers. Most Japanese camera sensors are likely produced using machines from Nikon, which helps blur the line between who makes what.

As far as the sensor issue goes, where can I read about that? I understand what you're saying, but Sony does make the sensors that Nikon uses. As far as using Nikon manufacturing equipment, I would like to see something attesting to that and to what degree. I am not disputing what you say as I have a lot to learn about Japanese business practices....but would like to see an article describing what you're claiming. Thanks Rob.

 

[Rick M]

I really like the retro/traditional look. Combined with modern buttons/dials you get a sharp functional camera, another thing that attracted me to the EM-1.