Sony keeps “dreaming” the medium format camera with curved sensor

SonyAlphaRumors spotted the next patent for a possible new Sony medium format camera. There are two important things we learn from the description:

  1. This is a system camera (not fixed lens)
  2. it uses a new curved sensor that allows lenses to be around 30% more compact than Fuji GF lenses

Now, we all know patents are the equivalent od “engineers dreams“. It means there is only a small chance those will become true. But hey…wouldn’t it be nice ot see this become true?

P.S.: Those are the Sony patented lenses designed for the curved sensor medium format camera:

  • 387mm f/2.8 (lens length: 679mm) – in Full Frame terms this is a 240mm f/1.7
  • 323mm f/2.8 (lens length: 576mm) – in Full Frame terms this is a 200mm f/1.7
  • 258mm f/2.8 (lens length: 380mm) – in Full Frame terms this is a 160mm f/1.7
  • 161mm f/2.8 – in Full Frame terms this is a 100mm f/1.7
  • 84mm f/2.9 (lens length: 123mm) – in Full Frame terms this is a 52mm f/1.7 (it would be only 2cm longer than the Zeiss 50mm f/1.4 FE)

Toyo Keizai Online talks about the deep Nikon camera business issues

Tokyo Keizai Online wrote an article about the Difficulty for Nikon to fall into the red and suffer from “camera slump”. Here is the google translated text from the summary written by Digicameinfo:

  • The prestigious Nikon is in dire straits. The operating loss for the April-September period of 2020 announced by the company on November 5 fell to a deficit of 46.6 billion yen. The main reason is that the performance of the main camera business is deteriorating.
  • In the video business, which includes cameras, sales for this term are expected to decrease by about 40% from the previous term to 140 billion yen and an operating deficit of 45 billion yen.
  • Toshikazu Umatate, president of Nikon, emphasized the stance of carrying out structural reforms centered on cameras, saying, “We want to create a muscular structure in the video business that can generate profits even with sales of 150 billion yen or less.” The production of the main body of the digital single-lens reflex camera handled at the factory in Miyagi prefecture will be consolidated at the Thai factory, and the sales companies will be integrated. In addition, the number of overseas employees is planned to be reduced by 2,000 by March 2022, which is about 20% of the total overseas.
  • It’s not just the external environment of shrinking the camera market that plagues Nikon. The internal factor of delay in the mirrorless camera also echoes. Nikon is afraid of conflict with single-lens reflex cameras, and finally made a full-scale entry into mirrorless cameras in 2018. The difference is clear, with Sony’s 1.65 million mirrorless production in 2019 and Nikon’s only 280,000.
  • Nikon plans to launch three new mirrorless models at once in the second half of this year, focusing on professional and high-end products, but there are still concerns about whether Nikon can catch up with the delay. Within the company, the SLR orientation that has swept the world is deep-rooted, and it is essential to shift development costs and sales promotion costs to mirrorless cameras in the future.

Oh yes: Sony wants to have their fair share in the Drone world too!

DJI pretty much dominates the Drone business. But now Sony announced they want to have their say in this segment too. They announced they want to launch their first “Airpeak” branded industrial drones in 2021. The first focus will be on high end drones for industrial and professional cinematographers. If successfull they might make some more “affordable” consumer drones too.

Here is the Press text:

Tokyo, Japan – Sony Corporation (“Sony”) today announced that it has launched a new project for drones in the field of AI robotics.

The recent proliferation of drones has contributed greatly to the delivery of previously unseen images, as well as to workflow efficiency and energy savings in the industrial sector. Sony has assigned the “Airpeak” brand to reflect its aspiration to contribute to the further evolvement and the creation of the unprecedented value through its imaging and sensing technology as well as 3R technologies (Reality, Real-time and Remote) in the drone area.

Airpeak will support the creativity of video creators to the fullest extent possible, aiming to contribute to the further development of the entertainment industry as well as to improved efficiency and savings in various industries. Airpeak will also promote this project to enable drone-use with the highest level of safety and reliability in the environments where this has been difficult in the past.

Sony will continue to post project-related information and obtain feedback from drone users through co-creation activities to prepare for the launch of the project in the spring of 2021.
The company soon plans to begin seeking for the partners in the professional space who can collaborate on the project.

Information regarding this project will be regularly updated at the following site

Airpeak Website: https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/airpeak/?j-short=airpeak

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I already spotted in the past a Sony drone patent you can see here:

Leica Q2 Monochrome will be released on November 19 and cost 740,000 yen

A Japanese site named gqjapan published the full info about the new Leica Q2 Monochrome camera. Here is their google translated text:

Beautiful from end to end
Leica Camera Co., Ltd. announced the latest model of the Leica Q series, the “Leica Q2 Monochrome”. This digital camera is equipped with a newly developed 35mm full-size sensor dedicated to monochrome photography. The lens is a fixed single focus “Leica Summilux f1.7 / 28mm ASPH.”. Also, like the Leica Q series announced so far, it is equipped with a high-definition organic EL electronic viewfinder.

The image sensor of the 35mm full-size sensor, which is the biggest feature of this camera, has 47.3 million pixels, and high-sensitivity shooting with ISO sensitivity of 100,000 is also possible. Depict the subject in detail. Looking at the example, you can see that the thin steel frame of the station is expressed sharply. Macro photography is also possible, and you can easily switch by twisting the lens barrel, and you can shoot at the shortest distance of 17 cm. Also, a function called crop shooting is unique. In addition to the normal 28mm lens angle of view, you can shoot up to a 35mm (30 million pixel) lens, a 50mm (14.7 million pixel) lens, and a 75mm (6.6 million pixel) lens-equivalent angle of view with the push of a button. Despite being a compact digital camera with a fixed lens, it can be said to be a high-performance model equipped with macro to medium telephoto lenses. It also supports 4K quality video recording.

Perhaps it was conscious of a monochrome-only machine, the appearance unified with matte black except for the engraving is also attractive. Compared to the high-end model Leica M10 Monochrome, the decoration has been cut off. The price is planned to be 740,000 yen excluding tax, and it can be said that it is a very reasonable price as a Leica “introductory machine” and a sub machine for M users. The release date is November 19th. Check out the gallery for camera details and examples.

Leica Q2 Monochrome
Dimensions: 130 x 80 x 91.9mm
Weight: 734g (including battery)

 

via Nokishita