Johnnie Behiri from cinema5D was invited to Sony’s HQ and among other activities, had a chance to make a quick interview with Iwatsuki-san who is a senior manager for product planning at Sony industry consumer electronics. Johnnie observes that Sony is listening to customers and even better Alpha cameras are being developed. It’s a long interview, and Johnnie provided this breakdown with timestamps.
- Where is the DSLR market heading to? (00:12)
- How does Sony see the mirrorless camera market? (01:14)
- Do you see a need for small, lightweight lenses? (03:09)
- Does Sony recognize the need for faster lenses? (04:39)
- When will Sony be implementing HDR technology on a7x cameras? (05:09)
- Can you see further improvements for low light capabilities? (05:28)
- Which camera would you consider better suited for video recoding, the a7SII or a7RII? (06:32)
- What is Sony’s recommendation for choosing the right Picture Profile? (08:29)
- What are the most significant improvements in noise reduction between the original a7S and the a7SII? (09:37)
- Any comment regarding overheating issues concerning the new a7RII and the a7SII? (10:30)
- Why can the REC function not be assigned to the shutter release b utton? (11:37)
- Why do you get a blank EVF and screen when connecting an external recorder? (12:20)
The takeaway from us is, while the DSLR market is shrinking, inside of that market is an opportunity for pros, hobbyists, and specialists for category-defining mirrorless cameras. Iwatsuki-san predicts photography and videography will merge in the near future. While mirrorless used to be the term for smallness and lightness, now it’s a different term for high quality compact cameras. Iwatsuki-san also says that despite their success, Sony has much work to do with ILC cameras to become a champion against Canon and Nikon, and they are a challenger who is making a new market, and new cameras. The reason they’re in the ILC market is to challenge the incumbents with innovations.
…My daily shooter is Sony A1 with a vertical grip and various Sony lenses attached like the FE 20mm F1.8. Find more gear recommendations in our shop. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.