I’m not a Sony shooter, but I have to admit I’m starting to get a little jealous of those photographers who are. Nobody can reasonably argue that Sony hasn't enjoyed a successful year, with the brand sweeping the board at the recent EISA awards being the icing on the cake.
In fact, Sony picked up 7 of 19 possible awards with winners including the a9 for the main camera award, the a6500 for the Prosumer Compact System award and the RX10 III for the Superzoom Camera award.
Sony’s success makes the challenging times Nikon and Canon have experienced even more stark. Canon’s big release of the year, the EOS 6D MkII has had mixed feedback and Nikon has cancelled planned product launches and recalled cameras.
In contrast, Sony’s new flagship a9 has blown everyone away and is indicative of Sony’s approach to their battle to break Canon and Nikon, the big two. However, it hasn’t always been this way and I remember a few years back that the guy in our office using Sony DSLRs was often the butt of endless jokes. Early DSLRs were arguably unnecessarily complicated - an example of this was the strange hotshoe mount of cameras like the a350.
Sony's a9 boasts market-leading features
But unlike Samsung, who effectively gave up on the photography market, even though the brand had produced a great camera in the shape of the NX1, Sony stuck at it and its cameras got better and better. Fast forward to 2017 and Sony’s a9 can proudly claim to be the fastest full-frame camera on the market. Besting Nikon’s D5 and Canon’s 1DX MkII.
One reason for Sony’s success can be put down to the brand developing stills and video features in tandem. Most current Sony cameras shoot 4K video and that’s a very tempting variable for photographers wishing to develop video skills alongside their photography. This eagerness to readily add their best video features onto stills cameras is despite Sony also offering a range of dedicated video cameras, such as the FS5.
Sony's a6500 shoots 4K and is a viable option for videographers
A second reason is Sony’s ability to adapt to new technology. Sony’s DSLRs (although they’re technically DSLRs) were the first in their class to include a translucent mirror, which sped up the amount of frames you could shoot per second. Thirdly, Sony’s ethos of producing compact bodies offered a real alternative to bigger DSLRs, which was especially useful for photographers seeking more lightweight equipment.
Sony's range of cameras picked up seven 2017 EISA awards
So what now? Well, it’s fair to say Sony is at what can be described as a crossroad. Push on the way they are going and there’s every chance Sony could well take on Canon/Nikon in a straight fight for number one. Whatever happens, it's photographers who are going to be the real winners of the coming battle of the brands.
. digitalrev.com2017-8-22 03:00
