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Sony Semiconductor is about to drop FX sensors

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Charles Pike

Charles Pike

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That is right out of the Thom Hogan web site story dated today. He is talking about Nikon having to develope their own FX sensors and what the future of the current model Nikon cameras may be. DX has a future as that is what Sony is going to be working with as their top end sensor. Go read for your self. Thom says that a Sony FX sensor might cost $500 while the DX sensor might cost $50. There isn't enough of a market for them to make a profit with the FX sensors.
http://www.photosbypike.com
 
Hi,

I think they are already developing all their sensors for quite some time...
And the sensors for D3/D3S/D700 are not produced by Sony.

Michel
Charles Pike said:
That is right out of the Thom Hogan web site story dated today. He is talking about Nikon having to develope their own FX sensors and what the future of the current model Nikon cameras may be. DX has a future as that is what Sony is going to be working with as their top end sensor. Go read for your self. Thom says that a Sony FX sensor might cost $500 while the DX sensor might cost $50. There isn't enough of a market for them to make a profit with the FX sensors.
http://www.photosbypike.com
Click to expand...
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There is no logical reason for Sony to continue development of a FF sensor. Their biggest (only!) customer was Nikon and Sony themselves. But Sony, by itself, does not sell enough FF cameras and Nikon decided to use its own sensors.

It has been said that Nikon is at the mercy of Sony because it provides the sensors. It seems in this case that it is the other way around.
--
joeyv
 
Sony are losing ground on their APS SLRs as well, still have not replaced the A700 and dont support video on any cameras. There is already a huge gap from their consumer models to the A850, and their new NEX cameras can basically do almost anything the low end SLRs can.

I wonder if they see the future entirely in NEX, with both stills and video centric bodies around a common sensors base and optical system.
Charles Pike said:
That is right out of the Thom Hogan web site story dated today. He is talking about Nikon having to develope their own FX sensors and what the future of the current model Nikon cameras may be. DX has a future as that is what Sony is going to be working with as their top end sensor. Go read for your self. Thom says that a Sony FX sensor might cost $500 while the DX sensor might cost $50. There isn't enough of a market for them to make a profit with the FX sensors.
http://www.photosbypike.com
Click to expand...
--
Regards,
Steve
 
Hi Charles,

That is true. However the design for the one used by Nikon is by Nikon specification.

There are more producers of larger format sensors. And till so far only 1 FX sensor is produced by Sony, the other 3 sensors not.

Michel
Charles Pike said:
True, but according to Thom, the D3x uses a Sony sensor.
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Disclaimer: Posts written by me are my views, ideas and opinions only, and should not be taken as facts, unless stated otherwise. :-)

Light is eveything

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http://www.pbase.com/photopropaganda
 
CriticalI said:
Sony "....." and their new NEX cameras can basically do almost anything the low end SLRs can.
Click to expand...
Absolutely true, they can even do a bit more.

That is the reason Sony is putting an enormous amount of marketing effort into them. and what I heard they are selling quite good in Japan, especially when you look at a part of the competition which is already in this part of the market for quite some time.
CriticalI said:
I wonder if they see the future entirely in NEX, with both stills and video centric bodies around a common sensors base and optical system.
Click to expand...
It will be the future for most of the cameras' A smaller compact body, more in the shaped form for video usage with more compact lenses

Nikon seems to have several study models of crossover cameras' aimed at professional usage, hopefully they show some of them during Photokina or press meetings.

Michel
CriticalI said:
Charles Pike said:
That is right out of the Thom Hogan web site story dated today. He is talking about Nikon having to develope their own FX sensors and what the future of the current model Nikon cameras may be. DX has a future as that is what Sony is going to be working with as their top end sensor. Go read for your self. Thom says that a Sony FX sensor might cost $500 while the DX sensor might cost $50. There isn't enough of a market for them to make a profit with the FX sensors.
http://www.photosbypike.com
Click to expand...
--
Regards,
Steve
Click to expand...
--

Disclaimer: Posts written by me are my views, ideas and opinions only, and should not be taken as facts, unless stated otherwise. :-)

Light is eveything

http://www.fotopropaganda.com
http://www.fotopropaganda.com/fotopropaganda-blog/
http://www.pbase.com/photopropaganda
 
Consolidations starts...

It is worrisome that Nikon doesn't have its only fab for sensors as when you don't own one of the most critical parts of the image path I got to wonder how you figure out where / how to invest and if your longterm strategic plan might crash no matter what your best laid plans are....
Charles Pike said:
That is right out of the Thom Hogan web site story dated today. He is talking about Nikon having to develope their own FX sensors and what the future of the current model Nikon cameras may be. DX has a future as that is what Sony is going to be working with as their top end sensor. Go read for your self. Thom says that a Sony FX sensor might cost $500 while the DX sensor might cost $50. There isn't enough of a market for them to make a profit with the FX sensors.
http://www.photosbypike.com
Click to expand...
 
Don't know why but just Sony's DSLRs are no good. It's pretty hard for people to invest in their Zeiss lens system. NEX is selling good because people like stylish small cameras. And NEX is indeed some kind of advanced DC.
CriticalI said:
Sony are losing ground on their APS SLRs as well, still have not replaced the A700 and dont support video on any cameras. There is already a huge gap from their consumer models to the A850, and their new NEX cameras can basically do almost anything the low end SLRs can.

I wonder if they see the future entirely in NEX, with both stills and video centric bodies around a common sensors base and optical system.
Charles Pike said:
That is right out of the Thom Hogan web site story dated today. He is talking about Nikon having to develope their own FX sensors and what the future of the current model Nikon cameras may be. DX has a future as that is what Sony is going to be working with as their top end sensor. Go read for your self. Thom says that a Sony FX sensor might cost $500 while the DX sensor might cost $50. There isn't enough of a market for them to make a profit with the FX sensors.
http://www.photosbypike.com
Click to expand...
--
Regards,
Steve
Click to expand...
 
Could we see the emergence of a CCD FX .

a) The technology has been getting faster. less power hungry

b) They are better at video?

c) They are less application oriented (off chip electronics as required).

d) Potentially very good IQ.

John
 
Sony Semiconductor is about to drop FX sensors...for nikon's use maybe ?
...and Sony will soon to release their FF 24/2....for use on DX only?
Boris
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I believe that this rumor placed by Thom Hogan is completely nonsense. (Or is it conspiracy to damage Sony DSLR business?)

Certainly, Sony has made some decisions that Sony DSLR photographers do not like or understand, but I can't imagine that they will be so stupid. Without full frame cameras, there would be no complete A-Mount system. Stopping the full frame production would sooner or later lead to abandoning the whole A-Mount system. There have been speculations about that, but those are the regular and frequently repeated apocalypse phantasies after Sony (successfully) took over the Minolta DSLR business. I never believed in those phantasies and they never came true.
 
M Lammerse said:
CriticalI said:
Sony "....." and their new NEX cameras can basically do almost anything the low end SLRs can.
Click to expand...
Absolutely true, they can even do a bit more.
Click to expand...
The NEX is a video camera that can also take stills, its not very good for replacing a DSLR. It doesn't even shoot RAW. I can't imagine anyone using it as a stills only camera. Who would want to use a camera with a video form-factor and a large built-in microphone for serious still photography?

At least for me, a DSLR form-factor that can also shoot video is the proper utility since I shoot more stills than video.

Sal
 
You talk like "they" are a single entity. This is a Sony Semiconductor decision, not a Sony Imaging decision. I imagine Sony Imaging, if this turns out to be true, isn't too happy about it.

You also sound like a Sony Fanboy...

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joeyv said:
There is no logical reason for Sony to continue development of a FF sensor. Their biggest (only!) customer was Nikon and Sony themselves. But Sony, by itself, does not sell enough FF cameras and Nikon decided to use its own sensors.

It has been said that Nikon is at the mercy of Sony because it provides the sensors. It seems in this case that it is the other way around.
Click to expand...
It is/was very much a mutual dependence. Nikon relies on Sony sensors (at least all non-pro DX sensors so far) and Sony Semiconductors relied on Nikon as their main customer for DX sensors (at least until the Sony Alpha cameras were launched).
 
But then Nikon decided to design the sensors themselves and Hire sony to fabricate them. So right now, the whole relationship between sony and nikon was more like nikon hiring sony as a fabrication lab. They don't have to hire sony for fabrication, any company, such as Micron can fabricate the sensors as long as they have the design given to them.
 
A lot of interesting points being raised:

Sony Imaging is NOT Sony CSBD (Component Solutions Business Division) - they are separate business divisions and each have their own interests to protect.

Nikon can and has designed their own sensors. (D2H, D700, D3, D3s)

Nikon can and has hired semiconductor fabrication plants to manufacture their designs.

However, what remains to be seen is how much depth Nikon's Sensor R&D department has - can they design 2 or more sensors from the ground up at the same time? They have historically just designed 1 wholly Nikon sensor at a time and for the remaining sensors just taken Sony's design's and added some modifications.

Will there be enough volume to justify a run from the fabrication plant or will the cost be so high to make the final product (FX camera body) priced out of the market. Remember that Sony Imaging was also using the FX sensors for their own camera before. Will Nikon start looking for a partner to take up some excess inventory?

Its interested from Thom's article that the rumour is about Sony Corporate Head Office that wants to stop FX sensor AND camera production. Sounds like headoffice doesn't like the ROI coming out of both divsions. The free ride that Nikon has been enjoying with Sony CSBD I think is coming to an end - Head office is stepping in to stop the infighting between Sony Imaging and Sony CSBD. This infighting has been benefiting Nikon with cheap sensors.

Not sure what this is going to do to the price of future Nikon FX bodies.
 
Funny this rumour comes out just the day before Nikon are expected to announce the release of the CZ 24mm f2 - and possibly some other FF lenses.

Now all the talk will be about these lenses are not worth buying as the system probably has no future - instead of about the lenses themselves.

Could it be that the competition are trying to spread FUD and spoil Sony's announcement?
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