Watch out, DJI. Sony Corporation announced today it is getting into the drone market under the brand name ‘Airpeak.’
I a short press release, accompanied by the above teaser video, Sony says the Airpeak brand will ‘reflect its aspiration to contribute to the further evolvement and the creation of the unprecedented value through its imaging and sensing technology.’
While Sony does hint at industrial purposes for its drones, the company specifically says the Airpeak brand ‘will support the creativity of video creators to the fullest extent possible.’
An illustration from a patent application Sony was granted back in January 2020.
Sony says the project will launch in spring of 2021. In the meantime, it will share information along the way and work on partnerships to test their products and get feedback from drone users. You can keep up with the latest updates on Sony’s new Airpeak website.
Ever since all DJI drones are ground for a President Xi visit in Hong Kong in 2017, I have been waiting for a new drone brand with less security concern. DJI can simply collect too much of your data on behalf of the world's largest dictatorship. It is truly a good news.
1) Patent diagrams generally obfuscate the actual appearance of the device.
2) The key is the offset of the rotors to allow easy folding into a compact form (it’s very simple, robust, and elegant compared to the designs I’ve seen). I’ve no idea how innovative this is but it’s not nothing.
There have been some lawsuits over folding arms and drones that fold. I can see some against Sony if they are too close. DJI was sued but being first to market helps.
Weird how you think it's a criticism of Sony - every e-mount camera ever made has had an SD card slot as it's primary memory slot, not memory stick, and Sony supported the format up till the A7rIV, which is 8 years after they stopped using it in cameras.
If they hadn't supported it, of course you would have slammed them for 'abandoning their users'.
The problem is that the Sony SD Card/Memory Stick slot was crippled for SD cards, and runs far slower than UHS-I speeds: https://alikgriffin.com/best-memory-cards-sony-a6600/ Even the flagship APSC camera writes at less than 40MB/s when cheaper competitors write at 70MB/s or more. This means slow buffer clears.
So instead of switching to a "pure slot" that offers normal speeds Sony's stubbornness has crippled card slots on the A6X00 and RX100 lineup through 2020!
And what do you think such drone is going to cost?
Taking into account that the extra weight for such drone and battery drainage needs to be compensated for.
Something that needs to fly needs lift, provided by power. Extra weight, needs larger batteries, needs larger engines, needs larger rotors, making more noise and increasing extra weight and costs.
Your idea is all nice, but there is a good reason why drone manufacturers primarily use smaller imaging sensors for their consumer oriented drones.
I have no problem with XM2 drones now and my Sony's, even FX5's and 7's.
Yes they cost more, but like I said, there's a market there, because XM2 have been around making money for a long time.
Also, XM2 and hopefully Sony don't support countries that murder and enslave. If you support DJI, you support the worst kind of evil, but hey, it's cheap right‽
With this attitude I guess you never will be in business ... when Sony entered the system camera marked, there already were system cameras on the marked. And so with many other successful newcomers into areas where there already are good products on the marked.
That's what they said when Sony acquired Konica Minolta's camera program and said they're after the leading position on the camera market ... "They can never compete with Canon and Nikon when it comes to cameras so will have to close down ultimately." Well ... didn't that turn out "somewhat differently" ;)
So Platstation and Mirrorless Sony’s where a mistake! If anything Sony have shown on multiple occasions that it doesn’t matter if there is a well established brand on the market, they are experts at finding a platform for themselves and even changing the game, they don’t seem like a brand that make new products without investigating the market properly first, it one of the best well run electronic business and one of the big 10.
I sincerely hope your sarcastic. Sony makes a huge profit by selling sensors to everyone. Every time a competitor sell a product Sony makes a profit, it’s sound business, Samsung is doing exactly the same thing and no one defines that as a bad idea.
"@RubberDials....Sony Mobile phones....Ipod like devices.....MD Recorders....Lol you forgot...."
No I didn't forget – those things are nothing to do with their camera division.
They weren't failures either. Something isn't a failure just because it doesn't own the market - that would make every Nikon camera after the F2 a failure. And talking of Nikon, they have presided over two significant failures in recent times: key mission and the Nikon 1 system. So my advice is stop throwing those stones in that glasshouse.
I was commenting on Sony as a Company not their camera business only and moreover it seems your definition of "failure" is different from mine so no use conversing further.
@Handsome90 Manufacturing only two to three models of Smartphones and Walkman annually is equivalent to closing down in todays competitive business world and that too when competing with Chinese brands. Theoretically yes they are still in business.
Debanker...Ipod like devices, why you don't even know the products. Sony was leading the portable audio market from the tape era with their walkman until the market shifted to flash or static memory. Apple capitalised on that but it's just great marketing. Sony portable devices were actually better quality. BTW, how is iPod doing now... oh apple destroyed that with Iphones. it's all just trend... but Sony is a company that dare tryout new stuff and market. Sometimes, they fail but i like companies to tryout new market. look at what they did to Canon... we now have the R5 and R6. They also made a conservative Canon to take risk and offer tons of features to the point we have all those overheating issues. we need companies like Sony to shake up certain industries.
You call Sony a failure? the only thing that doesn’t do well are in fact the phone market, but every devision still runs in black numbers. There might be a few products that doesn’t do well like a physical product in the EP&S division, but overall those divisions makes a profit and not just that, many of these divisions experienced a growth as well. Taking one single product out to make a point makes little sense with such a large company that provides so many different solutions to so many different markets.
The company is transitioning after they merged the Home Entertainment & Sound, Imaging Products & Solutions, as well as Mobile Communications divisions into one single division the EP&S division. The problem with that division is that it’s hard to generate high profit because of the constant product development, advertising that eat up huge chunks of the sales figures and even though that devision has the highest sales of any division, it’s still only manage to be the 4th highest operation income contributer.
@Malling.."You call Sony a failure? " ........My God ......When ??
@ Vignes..The sales figure of Apple ipod was hugh compared to the same type of device Sony manufactured. Ipod rather became the de facto standard for flash and HDD based portable music device. The contribution of Sony was much greater in the tape era. The days of Sony led by Akio Morita is no more but definitely technology has also changed a lot.
Well, competition is good. I have a Sony soundbar and it just works. Maybe will buy a Playstation later for fun. Sony cameras in general are meh but maybe propellers will be good. Soon we'll see Canon drones, I bet. Both will be equipped with mini air to air missiles designed for the other brand and there will be shootouts in the air between the brands.
It reminded me of Peak Design and the Mavic Air product lines. Sony might be trying to get people to subconsciously associate whatever their new product will be with already tried-and-true quality brands.
That patent looks like a regular drone with propeller protections (102a-d). Funny thing with a patent if you change something a little, you might get by. Like all those Ab exercise devices.
Project launched in 2021..., the good news is the PS5 will be out on 11-12-20.
Quite interesting. Because what we're seeing is that many companies that are quite new to the EV world are just as good as the Tesla... Just look at Volvo.
Tesla has a huge lead in various areas (have their own battery factory, make their own motors and electronics, very efficient vehicles, lead in sales by a wide margin) except one company’s car is slightly more efficient (I’m unsure if any have been produced though)
Airpeak is a horrible name for a product - surely they could have thought of something more appealing?
It's good to see DJI now possibly facing some competition, which should boost development of future models, and help bring costs down to the consumer.
I don't use drones and probably never will, but if I did, the most important factors to me, as a stills photographer, would be the quality of the sensor and lens, areas in which Sony offer state-of-art tech and great quality.
Their experience with Playstations etc should also mean that the handsets are well designed ergonomically.
Wonder what Sony can offer in this market. Seems like they are very far behind in computational photography and that's the area where there can be the most innovation. Would have been 10x more excited if Samsung entered this business with their greatly improved computational photography algorithms.
Lol Sony make some of the best cameras, they produce most sensors including those found in existing drones and guess what they have all the know how and infrastructure necessary, it’s also a massive benefit that they have the capacity and capability to make a drone with superior lenses and sensors and every other camera related. When a top 10 electronic giant like Sony enters a market it should be taken very seriously as they have the necessary capital to compete and develop if I where making such products I would be a little concerned.
except that we've seen in the past how Sony dabbles, and then quickly abandons markets. Given how the drone market already seems saturated, and at threat of regulation stifling it further, will there be a market by xmas 2021?
kelpdiver Saturated market in drones? There’s only one brand selling 99% of consumer drones. That’s the opposite of saturated...
And how many photographers have drones? If you’re doing landscapes and you could have a camera that could go higher and give you a different POV, just like having a different lens does, wouldn’t that be fantastic? There’s such a massive number of potential clients for the right drone...
I don't think DJI has 99% of the market, but even if it did, that doesn't change that the same problem exists as for Go Pro: most of the potential customers have one, and incremental improvements aren't enough any more.
The primary threat is fewer and fewer places where drones can legally be used, due to a mixture of regulatory overreach and truly asinine behavior by some. If they could continue to get smaller, but also quieter, that might alleviate much of the need for restrictions, but I think it will be too late then.
Do they really? I don't think most do. I think most people still stay away from drones. And I think there's still a lot that can be done to make drones more accessible and friendly. Landscape photographers with drones are still a small percentage of the market.
Definitely would be great if they could improve noise problems and obviously obstacle avoidance... But regarding the restrictions, for me the problem is the opposite. It's more keeping track and making sure I'm not flying somewhere I can't or that I need something extra to fly legally somewhere. A drone that can check the regulations for specific places would be great. DJI already has some warnings but sometimes is not very clear....
Name one responsible company that doesn’t withdraw if a market isn’t profitable enough. As long as the market is profitable enough Sony won’t withdraw. Sony is still in the camera market even though it’s shrinking on a rapid pace and is probably it least important assets. Sony still produce smartphones even though they are a minority player and the devision running in red. Sony still make tv panels, audio etc. even though they don’t make great profit from it.
Sonys biggest operating income are Game and network, financial services, semiconductors and Music. Although Home and entertainments is ranked as the 3 largest in revenue in most financial years they don’t make a great profit from it, just like is the case with Pictures.
Sony is good at running a business it only their mobile devision that is performing poorly and still Sony have not given up.
I'm thinking one area where nobody is innovating is propulsion systems, say if sony someone through research into auto division or some other division figured out how to make a quiet drone - that would be popular. Drones are much more than just cameras, IMHO, ease of control, obstacle detection, fly maps (and restictions), active identification systems, all those have to be in places and infrastructure to support for years to come.
Sony'd better made a good APS-C camera that could compete with Fuji XT4 before releasing another camera product. It really lags in this segment.
In drones, the Sony edge will be not a drone per se, but a very good camera on a drone. I bet this play is about a camera. Not about drones. It's a little too late to compete just based on a drone tech. Also, it probably will be a rather small consumer drone segment with an integrated camera. It's really tough to compete in the professional drones category that use other brands' cameras. Including Sony cameras.
So, I'd say it's a flying camera play, not drone play.
APS-C market is failing just like Micro 4/3 before it (ILC). That is in a camera market that is shrinking several percent every year, guess why Sony doesn’t bother investing any further in APS-C camera market, because it’s not financially sound to do so. Everybody knows APS-C is going to be absolute within the next decade or so, Sony new A7c where a massive hint that APS-C doesn’t hold any future in ILC.
Every crop sensor camera brand has shifted their attention to either fullframe or medium format. It’s not just Sony. Panasonic has more or less scraped micro 4/3, Olympus have sold their camera devision, Fujifilm has launched themselves into medium formats and Leica has laid the foundation for the L-mount alliance with Panasonic and Sigma a mount that is focused on full frame cameras. Not a single brand thinks ILC crop sensors is going to survive on the long haul.
I'm skeptical about this. Remember when Sony went into the Action Cam market. They made some nice cameras and then quietly forget about it. I have a feeling something like this will happen with drones as well. The drone market is highly competitive.
Maybe it will be just fine and they even release new Action Cams as well. One can hope.
This can be very interesting. DJI isn't the only one making drones. Parrot, Autel, Yuneec, etc., also make very good drones. At the end of the day, the flying part isn't the hardest one.
Sony can build cameras, and cameras are the key feature on this kind of drones. If they can put a camera that is significantly better on an average drone, they may have something to compete with DJI.
And the drone market is a special market. The drones are "self contained". If you buy a new drone, it probably won't share anything with the old one anyway. So changing for a different brand doesn't come at a significant extra cost.
But when would a drone come to market? It says the “project” will not start until 2021. They said they will talk to current drones users, but when will their design be finalized? Like cameras these things can take a couple years to develop and test before going to production. What do you think?
"Sony says the project will launch in spring of 2021. In the meantime, it will share information along the way and work on partnerships to test their products and get feedback from drone users."
If In the meantime they'll get drone users to test their products, it's because the products already exist. So the project starting in spring 2021 is not the start of the development of the drone.
And how can they be well behind if they haven't released anything yet?
That wins hilarious post of the day. Google, Canon and Nikon are not behind the PlayStation and Xbox since they have not made a game console yet. According to that logic.
Hey Sony is ahead of DJI drones, or just tied? 😝😝😝
How long has sony been working on the drones? Do you have any idea? How far are they? What are they using for positioning? What kind of motors are they using? What kind of obstacle avoidance do they have? Who did they hired to develop the project? As you mentioned, they have the playstation. Does that give them an advantage on controls and ergonomics? And maybe microcomputers to deal with all the information? They also have phones. So does that translate to a better understanding of communication protocols for better reach and video feed?
How can you know if they're well behind or if they're groundbreaking?
Before the first Tesla was released you'd say they were well behind because they weren't a car company. Other brands had been making cars for decades... But they were actually quite ahead....
So is sony ahead or behind? I don't know but neither do you. And we won't know until the drones are here.
"Google, Canon and Nikon are not behind the PlayStation and Xbox since they have not made a game console yet. According to that logic."
That's perfectly reasonable logic, actually. You can only be behind if you're actually competing. It makes no sense to say that a company is behind in game consoles, if they aren't making any game consoles, just like I can't possibly be behind the leader in the Boston Marathon, if I'm not even running in the race.
So, wait until Sony enters the drone market with an actual product, and then it will make sense to compare it to its competitors, and judge whether it's behind or not.
Hard to be sure, but the scale of the drone motor looks pretty large. Tough to be sure, but I don't think they're thinking about low-end consumer drones as much as larger camera platforms. In any case, no actual content in the announcement nor URL.
Frankly, quadcopters are not that hard technically. Which is why plenty of people are able to assumble a fully functioning quad from parts.
DJI's big draw was their solid camera integration, at a time when every camera manufacturer (including Sony) was failing HARD at making a camera suitable for mounting on a quadcopter.
Can I pilot the drone while sitting comfortably in my home, and take photos of whatever I want outside? This is the future, where humans sit at home and experience the world through a robot, there's probably a movie about it.
their cameras are mostly from Thailand and Japan, of course there's a big possibility to be made outside China, especially now with the big push from the Japanese government to fund that
Wow - Didn't know China is spying on our nature reserves as no drone is allowed to fly over urban areas already and can't even take off in areas of any military importance.
So your claim is nothing more than another fudd and lie given in by your soon to be fired president.
There's "espionage", and there's true, honest-to-dog espionage. Being surveilled by your own allies, while bothersome and disagreeable, isn't the end of the world. At least the US told that to the many European allies that they were spying on after 9/11 🤣
Still, being spied on by the Chinese is on another level. No Western nation wants any more of that, considering just how vulnerable we all are against China already.
"AFP - France is the top offender when it comes to industrial espionage, and is even worse than China and Russia, the head of a German company was quoted as saying in a leaked US diplomatic cable made public Tuesday."
If they will bring one like a Mavic Pro but with bigger sensor I’ll buy it at once. I’m often asked to bring a drone for architecture (holiday homes) and landscape stuff for tourism. Better image quality is always welcome.
There are some with a 1" sensor that provide pretty impressive imagery. Keep in mind that most of the advantage of larger sensors is low-light capability, which is not the typical use case for a drone being used outdoors.
If that means more options for consumers then why not?
Do you have any issue with company not making money and still giving options to users just for charity. Why can't you appreciate a company taking loss for people to have more choices?
They are the #10 smartphone manufacturer. I think Sony is #15 or so. And like you said Sony sold only 3 million.
ZTE is #9 and sold 45 million or 15 times more than Sony. Samsung sells well over 100 times what Sony does which also shows how Sony really isn’t a competitor.
I for how much Sony has lost making smartphones but I know it was well over a trillion Yen. At the same time their market share dropped to .5%
Somehow at a time when the smartphone market exploded, Sony found a way to sell fewer, lose virtually all their market share, and lose over a trillion Yen. Let’s hope Sony fired everyone involved and didn’t put them in charge of drones.
Sony said something like they are not in the smartphone business to gain market share or make big money. Obviously they would like that, but realized that they cannot realistically achieve it. They are in the smartphone market so they have the technology and know how. They also want to be close to the fire when an innovation happens in the smartphone space, so they can jump on it.
Like all the computational photography happening in the smartphone space right now. We will probably see Cameras running Android apps in the future as well (like: Instagram, Lightroom).
Huge. Pretty much every mobile phone is a Sony inside. From Xiaomi to Apple. In other words, those manufacturers have to pay in order to use Sony's imaging sensors. I know it's „in“ to be anti-Sony here - but I have no desire to discuss it. What is weird to me is the fact that some people actually want to see Sony go bankrupt. That is just ridiculous.
You do know a huge part of the internal parts in modern smartphones are Sony parts.. right... Sonys smartphones are just as much there to showcase new technology and let other bigger smartphone brands buy into the Sony ecosystem. Sony has done this for ages, allot of Sony’s profit comes from selling parts to others.
Apple hardly make anything these days but buy parts from Sony, Samsung etc. Guess what it’s a very good business for Sony.
The benefit with Sony’s approach is that they always earn money, it’s doesn’t matter if their smartphones sell well, because Sony earn money every single time a Smartphone is sold simply because the internal parts are made by them, there are two other top 10 electronic companies who make most of their profit this way...
This is one of the worst business failures in history. At a time when the industry was seeing rapid increases and a dozen companies were seeing record sales, Sony went from selling 40 million units to less than 2 million according to the article. And during that time Sony Mobile was losing more than 100 billion yen a year.
Not going to be surprised if it is more expensive than a DJI equivalent product. The Mini 2 is really nice, it has most the specs of my Mavic Pro for half the price and size.
I'm boing to be a bit of sceptic here. For professional market - yes, a $5000 Sony drone may be attractive enough to lure some customers away from DJI. But consumer market is terribly competitive, and Sony shall present really outstanding product to get any chances against DJI.
Sony financial documents have a chart entitled "Unit sales of key products". Those products are Playstation, TVs, and Smartphones. Cameras weren't important enough to make the list. Cameras aren't important enough to have their own division either.
I don't recall anyone predicting that Sony would quit the camera market in 2021. Nobody knows what the camera market will look like in 2025 and beyond.
But I would also not disclose it either. Sony does not tend to care over its customers. But it does however care for what its investors expect from them; being profitable in any segment they operate in with a two digit profit number.
If it doesn't stick they basically downsize or leave, like they have done with more of their productlines like VAIO as a good example.
We also know components, financials and entertainment is more important to them then Consumer Electronics. The latter segment they are much retreating from and that leaves the question - How long will they be in the market for these products before the division is being sold off to whoever sees bread and butter in it.
@Jones Indiana, Sony has been making video cameras since early 1980s and haven’t thrown in the towels yet. Also they have a marginal market share for mobile phones and still making them.
I still see plenty of people claiming that Sony will exit the market any day now. It's not going to happen, and if anything, Airpeak shows that their Consumer Electronics division is huddling around imaging as one of their safe havens.
Maybe "Cameras" don't have their own division, but neither do TVs or Audio equipment, two historical strongholds of Sony. It's not really relevant to this discussion. Canon subsume their sensor business under 'Imaging' - are we to infer that they don't place any particular importance in that segment, or maybe that it doesn't have much future, despite Canon's great efforts to become a competitive sensor provider in the last three years?
Maybe, maybe not - But Sony themselves have declared their Imaging Business as a future risk. Just read their latest Financial report (released nov 3rd 2020) - https://www.sony.net/SonyInfo/IR/
Or just to quote from their latest financial report:
"Results for the Six Months ended Sept 30, 2020 Sales decreased 140.9 billion yen year-on-year. This significant decrease in sales was due to a decrease in unit sales of digital cameras"
"Sony’s failure to anticipate such changes on the imaging business, may subject Sony to greater risk of liability, increase the costs of compliance, or limit Sony’s ability to engage in or expand certain operations or lead to discontinuance of certain operations."
Is it really that much different to Canon and Nikon. Many thought these old brands where a safe haven, but Olympus have just showed a few months ago, that isn’t the case.
It’s not really that hard seeing Nikon or even Canon doing the same thing as Olympus just did. As both companies share similarities with Olympus, their biggest income isn’t coming from the camera devision, so it only exist as long as it can keep its self afloat, when that isn’t the case you can be sure that their camera devision will either be sold off or binned all together.
Their investors care about one thing and one thing alone and that is profit and returns. No company in 2020 is going to hold on to something that runs in red year in and year out, if there is no market even Nikon will stop making ILC you can be sure about that.
Most of my cameras are Sony, and I like competition, but Sony wouldn't be my first choice for a drone. I'm looking forward to $50 replacement blades, $80 batteries, and a proprietary system which only works with PlayMemories (or some other Sony system), and Sony-only apps.
It's in their corporate DNA.
I don't think they can make a product I'd want to buy in this market. Lock-in was sort of okay in cameras since everyone did it, but drones are more of a DIY thing. I want to be able to program the thing, modify the thing, and have an ecosystem around it.
"Is that why they have a more open mount than the competition?"
Except... They don't. Their mount isn't open at all, their 2011 announcement was a PR stunt that, for 6-7+ years showed no evidence whatsoever of anything actually coming out of it. (Sigma's 2018 ART announcement was the first time anyone got anything out of Sony.)
First read the announcement and look up the definition of the word "basic" in the dictionary.
Then look at Metabones' FAQ page where they explicitly state they received no assistance from Sony.
Hank Dietz (ProfHankD) has outright said that they tell educational institutions to pound sand.
Now the next thing, you'll just have to trust me on - but as a result of my efforts to reverse engineer the E mount, an executive from a small boutique Asian lens manufacturer who has been covered here before reached out to me, he stated offrecord that Sony's offer was a "joke".
E-mount isn't open at all, despite Sony's 2011 PR stunt. MFT and L-mount, on the other hand, actually have multiple manufacturers (including some small ones) playing.
Being open doesn't necessarily mean they dish it out to anyone and every one for free of charge. It simply means they offer a way of getting hold of it if a company/entity meet certain conditions or criteria which is not even an option with some mirrorless mounts. Then as you mentioned there are "more" open mounts/standards like MFT (no idea about L-mount's openness). Its pretty clear e-mount isn't available for educational purposes (that's their prerogative).
The total lack of evidence of anyone getting access to useful information except for Sigma's 2018 ART announcement, even the most well-known E-mount adapter manufacturer, indicates that the offer was a PR stunt. And as I said, I had a personal discussion with an executive for an Asian manufacturer that has received positive coverage here for multiple products, and that executive described Sony's offer as a "joke". That's about the limit of identifying information I'm willing to provide since it was a private conversation. (I will say that if you see that manufacturer release a product with E-mount electronic control, I'll be congratulating the dude I put them in touch with as a reference in a comment.)
Meanwhile you see companies like ZCam and Blackmagic as MFT licensees.
(Yes, I know both of them also have EF-mount bodies, but due to its age EF-mount is by far the most well-documented all-electronic mount out there despite being proprietary.)
@Entropy, I didn’t write it as the most open mount or it’s an open mount. It’s a bit more open than Canon RF and Nikon Z mounts. That’s why we are seeing lens manufacturers like Sigma and Samyang making E mount lenses. They didn’t have to reverse engineer it.
Zeiss and tamron seem to have access to it too and not sure to what extent tokina, samyang, viltrox have it or if they simply reverse engineered it.
So Sony made an offer and an E-mount adapter manufacturer found it a "joke". This tells us nothing to be honest. For all we know they might have wanted Sony just hand it to them with no costs or strings attached. Now that would be joke of an expectation. Just because an offer doesn't stand to someone taste doesn't automatically make it a joke.
Also why would Sony play kindly to an adapter manufacturer that'll potentially take away sales from their own adapters and ecosystem. Lens manufacturers like sigma at least keep people in the ecosystem, adapters especially for likes of EF glass probably doesn't help that. So the cost may have well been very high for such a demand.
Basically without more information of the asks and offers from both parties we can't really tell who was "joking".
@nandbytes No one is blaming Sony for being closed. It's just that drones are not a good fit for those business models. Sony's DNA is BetaMax, Memory Stick, MiniDisc, ATRAC, and many others. Not all were failures, to be clear. It's just that Sony really likes proprietary lock-in, locked-down hardware, and DRM.
I hear the argument comparing E-mount to other mounts, but Sony isn't competing with Canon and Nikon. They're competing with DJI, Parrot, and many others who are far more open, in a market which values open.
As a footnote, MFT is super-open. And Canon has chdk and Magic Lantern.
@Handsome90 - No, that is EXACTLY what you wrote. "More open than the competition"
@nandbytes - Zeiss and Tamron are not valid examples, as both have long established cross-branding and contract manufacturing relationships with Sony, with lenses with release dates such as the 18-200LE that would have been impossible without development starting long before Sony's announcement.
@Alphoid - I am not defending Sony either :-) Don't like the way they do business in some case you mentioned. I am simply saying e-mount is open and I don't feel its just a PR stunt as it was mentioned above. They may well go back their crappy proprietary way of doing business in which case they can keep their drones, I won't be buying it. I am in market for a drone and competition in general is good though.
@Entropy512: I think zeiss and tamron are as valid an example as Sigma. Yes they have a partnership just as the L-mount folks have a partnership (but not in the same way or as closely). Tamron cross-brands or designs optics for a bunch of brands including pentax, zeiss and others. They are a rather large optics company bigger than many realise and its no surprise if they have bunch of partnerships. And presence of one does not mean Sony's e-mount is not open on the contrary its proof that it is open.
@GrapeJam - wait, aren't you always bashing Sony for being "nuclear" because you can't be bothered to use a proper color profile in your RAW converter?
I'm guessing you're judging DJI based on their failure to follow the DNG specification with the Phantom 2 Vision+ (that had a horribly broken embedded color profile...)?
"proper color profile in your RAW converter" Like Lightroom and C1? You can spout about "darktable" and "raw therapy" all you want but those converters simply aren't suitable for pro works.
And yes, DJI color science is far worse and even more nuclear than Sony, just look at the new DJI Mavic Mini 2 gallery.
Yeah, one is edited photo, one is in in adobe standard which does alot of normalizing difference between brands, one thing is thought, is RAW colors behavior, you can ask Entropy512 about that.
Grape your comment only shows that once edited properly you can't see the difference.
That actually also proves that anyone can edit Sony colors just fine if he knows how to.
As far as you are concerned you do not buy the brand you think has best of colors but rather use Sony. So why don't you use the cameras that you think the best of colors??
Is there anything special in Sony that you have to use it??
"That actually also proves that anyone can edit Sony colors just fine if he knows how to."
Yeah, as long as he's ok with his photos constantly having weird tint when he tries to fix the skin tones, there's a reason why Sony photos even when edited almost always look like it has some kind of tint, and it's the same story even with the newest A7S3:
"So you see that weird tint in canons too and that hindered you from picking the right camera in brand blind test???"
It shall be easy to pick for you every time no, since you claim sony output is marred by strange tint. You can't spot that tint or what when you do not know what photo is from what brand??
@Grapejam, if the tint is so obvious in skin tones then why couldn’t you identify the camera brand. One was straight out of the camera so the skin tone wasn’t “fixed.”
Sufferfest - "There is nothing wrong wrong with making lighthearted jokes in comments"
No, of course there isn't, provided it is balanced with intelligent comments. The issue is that almost every post you've made since adding your duplicate account, has been very negative.
Adopting a neutral approach would be more adult.
Try to see good as well as bad, and find something constructive to say, if you can. There's a good lad.
Fujifilm's 30mm F3.5 R WR is a super sharp 24mm-equivalent lens for the company's GFX lineup of digital medium-format cameras. Is it good enough to warrant a place in your camera bag? Find out in our field review.
The Insta360 One R is a unique action camera: it has interchangeable camera modules, including one with a large 1"-type sensor and a Leica lens. We show you how it works and ask, 'who's it for'?
Exposure X6 is the latest Adobe Lightroom competitor from Exposure Software. With great image quality, impressive speed and powerful features, it's a compelling option that doesn't require a monthly subscription.
Sigma's 35mm F2 DG DN designed specifically for mirrorless cameras is a compact, well-built lens that produces lovely images. Is it a good fit for you? Find out in our field review.
US manufacturer Really Right Stuff just released a new lightweight travel tripod, aimed at active and weight-conscious photographers that don't want to compromise on quality. Does its performance justify its high price? Find out in our initial review.
Whether you make a living out of taking professional portraits, or are the weekend warrior who knows their way around flashes and reflectors, you'll want a camera with high resolution, exceptional autofocus and a good selection of portrait prime lenses. Click through to see our picks.
What's the best camera for shooting landscapes? High resolution, weather-sealed bodies and wide dynamic range are all important. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for shooting landscapes, and recommended the best.
What’s the best camera costing over $2500? The best high-end camera costing more than $2000 should have plenty of resolution, exceptional build quality, good 4K video capture and top-notch autofocus for advanced and professional users. In this buying guide we’ve rounded up all the current interchangeable lens cameras costing over $2500 and recommended the best.
What's the best camera for travel? Good travel cameras should be small, versatile, and offer good image quality. In this buying guide we've rounded-up several great cameras for travel and recommended the best.
There are a lot of photo/video cameras that have found a role as B-cameras on professional productions or A-camera for amateur and independent productions. We've combed through the options and selected our two favorite cameras in this class.
Sony has announced the Alpha 1, a fast, high-res 50MP camera capable of shooting at 30 fps with no blackout. It can capture oversampled 8K video, has refined menus and comes in a weather-sealed body.
Sony's latest smart device, the Xperia Pro, doubles as a 5G smartphone, the world's first portable, affordable external 4K HDR OLED monitor for HDR productions, and an all-in-one 5G live streaming and file transfer solution when paired with a supported Sony camera.
Filmulator is an open-source raw editor designed to be simple and straightforward. The app has basic management tools and raw editing capabilities. Filmulator's tone curve enhances local contrast and perceived sharpness, similar in spirit to the stand development process for developing black and white film.
The Fujifilm 10-24mm F4 R OIS WR is a reasonably priced wide-angle zoom for the company's X-mount, updated with weather-sealing and some ergonomic improvements. We've been shooting with it for a few days to see how it performs.
You've no doubt heard warnings about the effects of diffraction at small apertures. But what exactly is it? Our resident mad scientist, Don Komarechka, explains what diffraction is and how it impacts your photos.
Tamron's 17-70mm F2.8 III-A VC RXD is a lightweight zoom for Sony APS-C E-mount shooters. Equivalent to a 25-105mm F4 in full-frame terms, this lens handles nicely on a6000-series cameras and offers great versatility for daylight shooting.
The Canon 200mm F1.8L may be over 30 years old, but the fact that it still keeps up with the newest high resolution sensors is a testament to its design. Featuring guest photographer Irene Rudnyk.
We teamed up with Canadian portrait photographer Irene Rudnyk to shoot a sample gallery with the legendary Canon 200mm F1.8L. Check out the photos and tell us what you think!
Is the SD card slot coming back to the MacBook Pro? Is the polarizing Touch Bar finally getting kicked to the curb? Bloomberg is reporting that there are many changes coming next-gen Mac computers and the changes all sound promising.
Today, B&W film photography remains popular both for its aesthetic appeal and its ease-of-use, whether you're a beginner, taking an intro to darkroom photography class or a seasoned pro. Here's everything you need to know about the medium.
The new limited edition Reporter version of the M10-P comes with a Kevlar jacket and a deep green paint — though you (probably) won't be taking it to war
Last year we covered PhotoStatistica, a macOS app that visualizes the EXIF data of your images and shows you the ways in which you capture photos. A new version was just released, introducing many improvements, including a new UI and new filtering tools.
Fujifilm's 30mm F3.5 R WR is a super sharp 24mm-equivalent lens for the company's GFX lineup of digital medium-format cameras. Is it good enough to warrant a place in your camera bag? Find out in our field review.
The next-generation AAT system can identify more objects in photos, perceive where each object is located relative to each other and provide more detailed descriptions.
US face recognition developer has been found to have used pictures from the Ever storage app without permission, and now has to delete all its algorithms.
Irix's new 45mm F1.4 Dragonfly lens is fully-manual and ready to be used with Fujifilm's GFX 50 and 100 camera systems. It's currently available to pre-order for $795.
The Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 is a fast, large aperture zoom for Sony E-mount APS-C cameras. Does it hit the sweet spot between price and performance for an everyday zoom lens? We tested it to find out.
If you're a Sony APS-C shooter in search of a versatile, walk-around zoom lens, the Tamron 17-70mm F2.8 should probably be on your short list. Check out our sample gallery and judge image quality for yourself.
Exploredinary has published a video tour of the Ilford photographic film and paper factory in Mobberley, England. The factory, operated by Harman Technology, which trades as Ilford Photo, has been operating on the same site since 1928. Ilford Photo traces its roots back to 1879.
Qualcomm has introduced its new Snapdragon 870 5G, a faster version of the aging 865 mobile platform that brings support for 200MP single cameras and 720p slow-motion recording at 960fps.
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